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The episode discussed on today's Sound Judgment is Famous & Gravy: Poetic Justice (Maya Angelou). Amit Kapoor is co-host and co-creator of the podcast Famous & Gravy. Amit has spent nearly two decades in management positions for media organizations, both commercial and non-profit, ranging from Match.com to Wikipedia. He is also a stand-up comic, former Wienermobile driver, video game voice actor, and a certified meditation instructor. Amit has an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in American Studies from The University of Texas.Michael Osborne is co-host of Famous & Gravy – a conversation about quality of life, one dead celebrity at a time." Michael has over twelve years of experience as a podcast creator and host. He currently heads 14th Street Studios, a podcast production and marketing firm based in Austin, Texas. Michael started his first podcast, Generation Anthropocene, while he was finishing his PhD in climate science at Stanford. After completing his degree, he spent five years running a podcast incubator for Stanford. During that time he created his second show, Raw Data, which partnered with PRX. In his role at 14th Street Studios, Michael specializes in creative development and podcast marketing for individuals and organizations.Websites14th Street StudiosFamous & Gravy Socials:Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076654703402LinkedIn linksFamous & GravyMichael OsborneTwitter handles @famousandgravy@osbornemc
Our guest on this episode is the host of Generation Anthropocene, a science podcast that explores planetary change. So, what is the Anthropocene? "The Anthropocene is a statement: Humanity is a geologic force, reshaping the earth's surface. We are on par with ice ages and tectonic plates. But who, or what, is really in control? What are the limits of our power as a species, or as a society? How did we get here, and what are the forces that will shape this humbling and awe-inspiring new geologic age?” (genanhtro.com) Michael Osborne is an academic and a digital content producer. As a graduate student at Stanford in 2012, he created Generation Anthropocene with fellow student Miles Traer as a response to the environmental crisis. Michael is both passionate and knowledgable, and brings a new and refreshing perspective to the topic of climate change. This was one of those zoomed out conversations where we got to talk about some really big questions with a really smart guy. So what is the Anthropocene, and what does it have to do with The Good Dirt? Tune in to this fun and fascinating episode to find out! Topics Discussed What is the Anthropocene? How did Michael get so involved in the topic? The power of podcasts/ audio in communicating the issue of climate change Michael's assessment of where we're headed in the climate situation. Are we worried about the earth, or ourselves? Creating connectivity in a world of alienation and disconnection Humans as story tellers Alienation as driven by a materialistic lifestyle Environmentalism and misanthropy A discussion on capitalism, how the issues we're facing are about more than that The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric Marshmallow thinking vs acorn thinking "Weaponized despair" and mental health implications Awareness of the climate change crises has increased There is no place on earth that hasn't been touched by human influence Creating an aspirational future that we want to live in The grief we feel in the climate crisis What will it feel like to live 50 years from now Generational empathy/ Michael's position on climate change as a parent The trap of nostalgia in thinking about the changing earth Mindfulness in environmentalism Michael talks about Famous and Gravy, another one of his podcasts Connect with Michael: Michael's Website This Episode is Sponsored by Ettitude Use code THEGOODDIRT for $25 off your first order! About Lady Farmer: Our Website @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Join The Lady Farmer ALMANAC Leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com Original music by John Kingsley. Our technical partner for this series is CitizenRacecar, Post-Production by Alex Brouwer and José Miguel Baez, Coordinated by Gabriela Montequin and Mary Ball. The Good Dirt is a part of the Connectd Podcasts Network. Statements in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not to be considered as medical or nutritional advice. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and should not be considered above the advice of your physician. Consult a medical professional when making dietary or lifestyle decisions that could affect your health and well-being.
Our guest on this episode is the host of Generation Anthropocene, a science podcast that explores planetary change. So, what is the Anthropocene? "The Anthropocene is a statement: Humanity is a geologic force, reshaping the earth's surface. We are on par with ice ages and tectonic plates. But who, or what, is really in control? What are the limits of our power as a species, or as a society? How did we get here, and what are the forces that will shape this humbling and awe-inspiring new geologic age?” (genanhtro.com) Michael Osborne is an academic and a digital content producer. As a graduate student at Stanford in 2012, he created Generation Anthropocene with fellow student Miles Traer as a response to the environmental crisis. Michael is both passionate and knowledgable, and brings a new and refreshing perspective to the topic of climate change. This was one of those zoomed out conversations where we got to talk about some really big questions with a really smart guy. So what is the Anthropocene, and what does it have to do with The Good Dirt? Tune in to this fun and fascinating episode to find out! Topics Discussed What is the Anthropocene? How did Michael get so involved in the topic? The power of podcasts/ audio in communicating the issue of climate change Michael's assessment of where we're headed in the climate situation. Are we worried about the earth, or ourselves? Creating connectivity in a world of alienation and disconnection Humans as story tellers Alienation as driven by a materialistic lifestyle Environmentalism and misanthropy A discussion on capitalism, how the issues we're facing are about more than that The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric Marshmallow thinking vs acorn thinking "Weaponized despair" and mental health implications Awareness of the climate change crises has increased There is no place on earth that hasn't been touched by human influence Creating an aspirational future that we want to live in The grief we feel in the climate crisis What will it feel like to live 50 years from now Generational empathy/ Michael's position on climate change as a parent The trap of nostalgia in thinking about the changing earth Mindfulness in environmentalism Michael talks about Famous and Gravy, another one of his podcasts Connect with Michael: Michael's Website This Episode is Sponsored by Ettitude Use code THEGOODDIRT for $25 off your first order! About Lady Farmer: Our Website @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Join The Lady Farmer ALMANAC Leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com Original music by John Kingsley. Our technical partner for this series is CitizenRacecar, Post-Production by Alex Brouwer and José Miguel Baez, Coordinated by Gabriela Montequin and Mary Ball. The Good Dirt is a part of the Connectd Podcasts Network. Statements in this podcast have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not to be considered as medical or nutritional advice. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and should not be considered above the advice of your physician. Consult a medical professional when making dietary or lifestyle decisions that could affect your health and well-being.
This month, the SpokenWeb Podcast features an episode created by our former supervising producer and project manager Judith Burr. This audio is part of Judith's podcast, “Listening to Fire Knowledges in and around the Okanagan Valley,” which she produced as her master's thesis at UBC-Okanagan. While Judith was working on The SpokenWeb Podcast, she was also working on the research methodology of making a podcast as thesis and on the compiling of interviews and tape that would become the sound of this representation and intervention in ecological thinking. The episode features a number of Judith's interviews about living with wildfires in the Okanagan, including the story and poetry of Canadian poet Sharon Thesen. Listeners of the SpokenWeb Podcast might remember Thesen from past episodes, including Episode 7 of last season about the Women and Words Collection, or from episodes of our sister podcast SoundBox Signals produced by the Audio-Media-Poetry Lab at UBCO. In Judee's conversations with Sharon and other interviewees, we hear first-hand perspectives of those who have witnessed and lived through the dangers of these wildfires. We hear about challenges of resource management and land-use planning in fire-prone geographies. And we hear about the role that storytelling may have to play in helping us reckon with these challenges.SpokenWeb is a monthly podcast produced by the SpokenWeb team as part of distributing the audio collected from (and created using) Canadian Literary archival recordings found at universities across Canada. To find out more about Spokenweb visit: spokenweb.ca . If you love us, let us know! Rate us and leave a comment on Apple Podcasts or say hi on our social media @SpokenWebCanada. Episode Notes from "Listening to Fire Knowledges in and around the Okanagan Valley":This episode features interviews with poet Sharon Thesen; foresters Daryl Spencer, Dave Gill, and Gord Pratt; UBCO Living with Wildfire project lead Mathieu Bourbonnais; forest technologist Jeff Eustache; and FireSmart program lead Kelsey Winter. They discuss protecting communities in and around the Okanagan Valley from wildfire danger in light of recent wildfire seasons.“Listening to Fire Knowledges in and around the Okanagan Valley” was created by Judith Burr as her master's thesis project in the Digital Arts & Humanities theme of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. This work was supported by UBC-Okanagan's feminist digital humanities lab, the AMP Lab. This project was also supported in part by the Government of Canada's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) through UBC Okanagan's “Living with Wildfire” Project. This podcast was created on the unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. EPISODE PRODUCER: Judith (Judee) Burr is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. She recently completed her MA in the IGS Digital Arts & Humanities theme at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan. Her research uses audio media and storytelling tools to examine the complexities of human culture in fire-adapted landscapes, connecting to the rich world of the digital environmental humanities. She has worked as an environmental researcher and writer on projects including the Value of Rhode Island Forests report and the Forestry for RI Birds project. She also co-founded the live lit reading series Stranger Stories in Providence. She graduated with a BS in Earth Systems and a BA in Philosophy in 2012 from Stanford University, where she contributed to the podcasts Generation Anthropocene and Philosophy Talk. SHOW NOTESThese show notes are approximately in order of mention, rather than alphabetical. See them cited to specific moments of the episode using the episode transcript.In this episode, we hear clips from a cover of Bob Dylan's “All Along the Watchtower” from the Lent Fraser Wall Trio's album “Shadow Moon.” Used throughout this episode with permission from John Lent. The rest of the music in this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions, and you can find specific tracks cited in the transcript: https://app.sessions.blue.Catherine Owens, Locations of Grief: An Emotional Geography (Hamilton: Wolsack & Wynn, 2020).“It is clear that a successful record of fire suppression has led to a fuel buildup in the forests of British Columbia. The fuel buildup means that there will be more significant and severe wildfires, and there will be more interface fires, unless action is taken.” Filmon, G. (2004). Firestorm 2003: Provincial Review. Government of British Columbia, https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/public-safety-and-emergency-services/wildfire-status/governance/bcws_firestormreport_2003.pdf.“Master Plan for Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park.” 1990. Kamloops, B.C.: B.C. Parks, Southern Interior Region.My analysis of B.C. Wildfire Service data using QGIS. Okanagan watershed defined by watershed atlas polygons and compiled by fellow Living with Wildfire researcher Renée Larsen. Area burned data from: “Fire Perimeters – Historical.” Statistics and Geospatial Data. BC Wildfire Service. Available at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status/about-bcws/wildfire-statistics.Xwisten et al., “Xwisten Report Executive Summary,” Revitalizing traditional burning: Integrating Indigenous cultural values into wildfire management and climate change adaptation planning (Department of Indigenous Services Canada (DISC) First Nations Adapt Program, 2019), Accessed April 2022 at https://www.fness.bc.ca/core-programs/forest-fuel-management/first-nations-adapt-program.; Eli Hirtle, Xwisten (Bridge River Indian Band) (Masinipayiwin Films, 2019), Accessed April 2022 at https://vimeo.com/383104228.; Shackan Indian Band et al., “Shackan Indian Band Report Executive Summary,” Revitalizing traditional burning: Integrating Indigenous cultural values into wildfire management and climate change adaptation planning (Department of Indigenous Services Canada (DISC) First Nations Adapt Program, 2019), https://www.fness.bc.ca/core-programs/forest-fuel-management/first-nations-adapt-program.; Eli Hirtle, Shackan Indian Band (Masinipayiwin Films, 2019), https://vimeo.com/383108850.Forest Enhancement Society of BC, “Projects,” Accessed May 2022, https://www.fesbc.ca/projects.Amy Thiessen, “Sharon Thesen's ‘The Fire',” English Undergraduate Honours Thesis, 2020, https://sharonthesenthefire.omeka.net/about. More Resources: FireSmart Canada, https://firesmartcanada.ca/; Blazing the Trail, https://firesmartcanada.ca/product/blazing-the-trail-celebrating-indigenous-fire-stewardship.; Nature Conservancy, Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX), http://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/FireLandscapes/HabitatProtectionandRestoration/Training/TrainingExchanges/Pages/fire-training-exchanges.aspx; Karuk Climate Change Projects, “Fire Works!,” https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects.com/fire-works; NC State University, “Prescribed Burn Associations,” https://sites.cnr.ncsu.edu/southeast-fire-update/prescribed-burn-associations; Firesticks Alliance, https://www.firesticks.org.au. More Fire Podcasts: Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff (Hosts), Good Fire Podcast, https://yourforestpodcast.com/good-fire-podcast; Amanda Monthei (host), Life with Fire Podcast, https://lifewithfirepodcast.com; Adam Huggins and Mendel Skulski (hosts), “On Fire: Camas, Cores, and Spores (Part 1),” Future Ecologies Podcast, August 29, 2018, https://www.futureecologies.net/listen/fe1-5-on-fire-pt-1.
Transcriptions of podcasts provide visual renderings of audio that increase accessibility. But what are the best practices for transcribing a podcast, specifically a podcast about literary audio? In this episode, Katherine McLeod of ShortCuts and Kelly Cubbon, transcriber of The SpokenWeb Podcast, explore the role of transcription in the making of podcasts and how responsible transcription unfolds through collaboration and conversation. In fact, their episode uncovers just how much transcription is collaboration and conversation.Part One starts with reflections from Katherine and Kelly about how they came to the work of transcription and key concepts that have influenced their thinking throughout the process of making this episode, such as accessibility and ableism. This section also features an interview with Dr. Maya Rae Oppenheimer, a studio arts professor at Concordia University and a regular user of podcast transcripts.Part Two consists of an interview with Judith Burr, the Season 3 SpokenWeb Podcast supervising producer and project manager, about generative challenges that have come up during collaboration on podcast transcription for the podcast and how decision making has evolved over time.And Part Three is an interview with Bára Hladík, a poet, writer, and multimedia artist, about the convergence of disability, accessibility, technology, and poetics. Here, Bára discusses the healing possibilities of sound and the creative potential of transcripts.SpokenWeb is a monthly podcast produced by the SpokenWeb team as part of distributing the audio collected from (and created using) Canadian Literary archival recordings found at universities across Canada. To find out more about Spokenweb visit: spokenweb.ca . If you love us, let us know! Rate us and leave a comment on Apple Podcasts or say hi on our social media @SpokenWebCanada. Episode Producers:Katherine McLeod @kathmcleod researches archives, performance, and poetry. She has co-edited the collection CanLit Across Media: Unarchiving the Literary Event (with Jason Camlot, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019). She is writing a monograph (under contract with Wilfrid Laurier University Press) that is a feminist listening to recordings of women poets reading on CBC Radio. She was the 2020-2021 Researcher-in-Residence at the Concordia University Library and, at present, she is an affiliated researcher with SpokenWeb at Concordia, where she is the principal investigator of her SSHRC Insight Development Grant, “Literary Radio: New Approaches to Audio Research” (2021-2023).Kelly Cubbon is a recent graduate of Simon Fraser University's Master of Publishing program. She is a content marketing specialist and perpetual history nerd who is passionate about the transformational power of storytelling in environmental, disability, and social justice. Featured Guests:maya rae oppenheimer (phd) @mayarae is a daughter, sister, aunt, plant-mother of Icelandic and Canary Islander descent who receives financial remuneration as a writer/researcher /educator. She was born in Treaty 1 territory and spent over a decade living in London (UK). maya is now an uninvited guest on Kanien'kehá:ka territory where she preoccupies herself with writing as a social practice and the tangles of narratives that inform our worldviews. Structures of institutional knowledge formation and validation are often the focus of her projects, from museum narratives to histories of social psychology and laboratory experiments. Experimental writing, performance, radical pedagogy, open-access publishing, DIY tactics and rogue archival gestures make up her tool-kit. maya joined the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University in September 2017 as Assistant Professor in Art History. She now works across the Department of Studio Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies in Fine Arts and is the founder of OK Stamp Press.Judith (Judee) Burr is a MA Candidate in the IGS Digital Arts & Humanities theme at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan. Her research uses audio media and storytelling tools to examine the complexities of human culture in fire-adapted landscapes, connecting to the rich world of the digital environmental humanities. She has worked as an environmental researcher and writer on projects including the Value of Rhode Island Forests report and the Forestry for RI Birds project. She also co-founded the live lit reading series Stranger Stories in Providence. She graduated with a BS in Earth Systems and a BA in Philosophy in 2012 from Stanford University, where she contributed to the podcasts Generation Anthropocene and Philosophy Talk.Bára Hladík is a Czech-Canadian writer and multimedia artist. Born in Ktunaxa Territory, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Literature from the University of British Columbia in 2016. Her work can be found in Contemporary Verse 2, Carte Blanche, EVENT Mag, Hamilton Arts and Letters, Bed Zine, Empty Mirror, Cosmonauts Avenue and elsewhere. Bára's first book New Infinity is published with Metatron Press. She is now a guest in Esquimalt, "B.C." SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES‘About Us', Queer ASLAIM Lab: an experimental research hub concerned with disability, access, and affordances, based at Concordia University.Alt Text Poetry Project by Shannon Finnegan and Bojana Coklyat. Plus, the Alt Text work at the Banff Centre for the Arts: Distinct Aggregations.Amanda Monthei's Life with Fire podcastBara Hladik – poet. artist. Facilitator.Place an order for Bára's first book New Infinity published June 2022.Listen to Bára's ambient electronic album Cosmosis here on Bandcamp.Join Bára for Dreamspells (@dream_spells), a collaborative project with Malek Robbana (@melekyamalek) with a monthly new moon dreamspells eventregistration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMpc-ygqTouHtaiP7HfwXvhxLi-GXljKu8oBodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life (BIT)Carmen Papalia, An Accessibility Manifesto for the ArtsDaniel Britton on typeface designDisability Art is the Last Avante Garde with Sean Lee, Secret Feminist Agenda S4E22SoundBox Signals podcast (UBCO)SpokenWeb Podcast Transcription Style GuideTalila A. Lewis, “Working Definition of Ableism January 2022 Update” ‘Terminology', Critical Disability Studies Collective, University of Minnesota“The Show Goes On: Words and Music in a Pandemic” produced by Jason Camlot for The SpokenWeb Podcast“The Voice That is the Poem, ft. Kaie Kellough” produced by Katherine McLeod for ShortCuts on The SpokenWeb Podcast, 03:10. Transcription ToolsDescript (audio and video editing through text, paid), https://www.descript.com/Express Scribe (speech to text, free), https://www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.htmlOtter AI (speech to text and real-time transcription, paid), https://otter.ai/TEMI (speech to text transcription, paid), https://www.temi.com/ Music Credits“Wavicles” from Cosmosis by Zlata (Bára Hladík)“Erudition” from Cosmosis by Zlata (Bára Hladík)“Atmosphere” from Cosmosis by Zlata (Bára Hladík)“Scarlett Overpass” by Kajubaa via Blue Dot SessionsCloud Cave by Kajubaa via Blue Dot SessionsPacific Time by Glass Obelisk via Blue Dot Sessions Sound Effects“campfire in the woods” by craftcrest, https://freesound.org/people/craftcrest/sounds/213804/“Page turn over, Paper turn over page turning” by flag2, https://freesound.org/people/flag2/sounds/63318/“Wall clock ticking” by straget, https://freesound.org/people/straget/sounds/405423/“Mechanical Keyboard Typing” by GeorgeHopkins https://freesound.org/people/GeorgeHopkins/sounds/537244/
Find merch and support the show through our Patreon: https://patreon.com/genanthro With his landmark book, The End of Nature, Bill McKibben was one of the first journalists to start writing about climate change for a mass audience. He's since become one of the most prominent American environmentalists of our time. With his most recent endeavor, Third Act, he's trying to mobilize the older generation that drove the political and social change of the 1960s. This episode, published on Earth Day 2022, marks the 10 year anniversary of Generation Anthropocene.
As we work on Part 6 of Carbon Valley, we're excited to present an episode of Worldview Stanford's Generation Anthropocene. Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton tells us the story of how he became "The Soundtracker," an unorthodox career choice that has led him around the planet three times in pursuit of the last pristine soundscapes. Journey along with Hempton from tropical jungles to the frozen North as he records the music from the solar-powered jukebox that is Earth.
Before us, after us, and without our realizing it: geology, ecology, and biology uniquely record human activity. Geoscientist Miles Traer, co-host of the podcast Generation Anthropocene uncovers the many “natures" of the San Francisco Bay Area that exist beneath our feet.
Science fiction has always been an outlet for our greatest anxieties. This week, we delve into how the genre is exploring the reality of climate change. Plus: new words to describe the indescribable. 1. Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer, author of the Southern Reach Trilogy and Borne, on writing about the relationships between people and nature. 2. Claire Vaye Watkins @clairevaye talks about Gold Fame Citrus, her work of speculative fiction in which an enormous sand dune threatens to engulf the southwest. 3. Kim Stanley Robinson discusses his latest work, New York 2140. The seas have risen 50 feet and lower Manhattan is submerged. And yet, there's hope. 4. British writer Robert Macfarlane @RobGMacfarlane on new language for our changing world. **The recording of huia imitation heard in this segment was performed in 1949 by Henare Hāmana and narrated by Robert A. L. Batley at Radio Station 2YA in Aotearoa New Zealand. Julianne Lutz Warren, a fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature, has written about it in "Hopes Echo" available here. Her work was also described by Macfarlane in his piece "Generation Anthropocene.” Throughout the show: listeners offer their own new vocabulary for the Anthropocene era. Many thanks to everyone who left us voice memos! Support On the Media by becoming a member today at OntheMedia.org/donate.
President Trump’s proposed 2,000-mile long, 30-foot high border wall would obstruct more than just a pretty landscape. It could bring an end to the species that live in the lush coastal grasslands, searing hot deserts, and staggering mountain peaks in the path of the wall. In this episode of Trump on Earth, we team up with a fellow environmental podcast, Generation Anthropocene, as Stanford student Maddy Belin talks with Penn State University Professor Jesse Lasky for their episode entitled “Oh Right, the Animals.”
Andy Revkin is an award-winning journalist whose life work has centered on reporting about the environment and climate change. He spoke to producer Mike Osborne about his early seafaring adventures, how he got his start in journalism, and his view that climate change is a symptom of a much bigger story about our species coming of age on a finite planet. We also have a short bonus segment featuring David Biello, who has just published a new book about the Anthropocene titled “The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age.” Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
00:00:00 - It's our annual Thanksgiving show! That means 100% for 100% of this one show. Enjoy it! First up, Bettina wants to know what Ryan, Patrick, and Charlie think about the concept of rewilding. Ryan discussed this topic on an episode of Generation Anthropocene, but Patrick and Charlie have their own thoughts to contribute as well. Plus it's already happening in Siberia because of course it is. 00:14:29 - Drinking helps many of us survive the holidays, and we're no exception. Ryan begins with some Epic Artisinal Turkey Sipping Broth. Sounds gross? Yeah, it kind of is. But it goes down smooth with Surly Hell. Charlie has some dirty Italian table wine, but he makes it sound good somehow. Last up, Patrick is worried the guys will snub his economic choice for a Founder's All Day IPA, but he is wrong... sort of. 00:21:49 - Next up, Keith has many many questions. The guys have fewer answer, but they try their best. Here are some of the topics considered: Why do so many tetrapods have five digits? How are cockroaches, shrimps, and spiders all related? How did sexual reproduction evolve? And some physics stuff with help from Ben, especially episode 59 of The Titanium Physicists! 00:46:44 - Clay the Human requests a return to form, so the guys oblige and discuss a movie preview in the return of Trailer Trash Talk! This week, the sci-fi thriller Passengers, which earns a thumbs-up from all three in addition to revealing one of Ryan's greatest fears. 01:01:04 - Last up, Cesar M. from Australia already knows about the Azolla event, but we didn't so we explain that a bit, and wants to know about it's potential to mitigate climate change. Thanks to everyone who listens and contributes to the show, we literally couldn't do this without you! Music for this week's show: Wild One - Those Darlins Jive Turkey - Ohio Players Questions And Answers - The Apples in Stereo Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day
"What if life isn't something that happens *on* a planet, but is something that happens *to* a planet? What if the planet itself is alive?" Thus begins one of the many intriguing thought exercises in astrobiologist David Grinspoon's new book, Earth in Human Hands (available Dec. 6, 2016). David has long been a friend of the show, in large part because he possesses a unique ability to bring the geologic imagination to life. His approach to the Anthropocene draws extensively from deep time and close observations of other planets to see what we might learn about our uncomfortable situation here on Earth. If the Anthropocene is part of the geologic time table (it is), and if the geologic time table is largely defined by life (it is), then does our current situation mean something much broader in terms of planetary evolution? David chats with GenAnthro producer Miles Traer about the new book, mind-bending perspectives on time, and why the Anthropocene hopefully marks the start, and not the end, of something quite spectacular. Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
Sometime in the near geological future, the landscape of life on earth as we know it will be transformed. It’s a mass extinction, and it’s only happened five times before in Earth’s history. There have been severe ice ages, perplexing loses of oxygen from our oceans, massive volcanic eruptions, meteor impacts. And now, we’re on the precipice of a sixth mass extinction... and it’s nothing like our planet has ever seen before. In Season 8’s final episode, producer Miles Traer dives into the sixth mass extinction: Are we in it? What can the previous mass extinctions teach us about what’s going on today? And how is it going to affect not just our lives, but the long term trajectory of human evolution? Paleobiologist Jonathan Payne takes us back into the geologic past and searches for biological patterns hidden in the rock record. In the previous moments of ecological chaos, Payne finds a surprising trend that no longer holds true today. Then, biologist Rodolfo Dirzo takes us into the heart of complex ecosystems to find out why large animals are so crucial for their health and survival. Based on experiments in the tropics and in East Africa, he shares what he’s seen when those large animals disappear. Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
How did life begin on Earth? Curiously, scientists often search for the answer on other planets or moons in our solar system. After all, if we want to see whether our theories are right, we need to find another example of life somewhere. The search has taken us to some strange places seemingly frozen in time that give us hints to what Earth looked like billions of years ago when life first appeared in the geologic record: places like Mars that show evidence of fossil oceans, and places like Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, that show evidence of liquid water oceans containing organic molecules hidden under an icy crust. NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay has been a member of missions that sent spacecraft to these and other places in search of that elusive other example of life in the universe. He recently sat down with producer Miles Traer to discuss the best current theories for the origin of life on Earth, why Antarctica is a lot like one of Saturn’s moons, the challenges of collecting data from other planets, and the reasons we’re captivated by the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
“In Asia or Africa around 60 million years ago, snakes became more venomous, though scientists aren't quite sure why then and there.” Sometimes understanding global environmental change requires that we simply know how nature works. And not just the pleasant side of nature, but all of it. When we look back through the wonders of Darwinian evolution, we gain a deeper appreciation for certain aspects of the natural world that seem… uncomfortable: things like snakes, spiders, jellyfish, Komodo Dragons, and tiny caterpillars that can easily kill humans. This week, scientist Christie Wilcox takes us on a journey through the evolution of the chemical cocktails we call “venom,” which she wrote about in her new book called, “Venomous: How Earth’s Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry.” Travel along from venom’s earliest formation, its evolution into a potent weapon, and its further transformation by doctors today as a potentially revolutionary tool in developing new medicines. Image by Brent Myers Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Generation Anthropocene is produced by Miles Traer, Michael Osborne, and Leslie Change. The podcast is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
Think of the Anthropocene as a science fiction thought experiment. We imagine future geologists looking back into the rock record, and trying to pinpoint when humans became the dominant geologic force. In many ways, science fiction is the perfect genre for exploring environmental issues – running out scenarios and “what ifs” to their extremes, and imagining how that world would look and feel. Award-winning science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson does exactly that in many of his works. In this thought-provoking conversation, producer Mike Osborne sits down with Robinson to talk about his creative process and environmental thinking, what makes for good science fiction, and the genre’s capacity to imagine future societies shaped by climate change. Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford
As cities around the world absorb more and more people, many urbanites want to reconnect with local food. This has led to the rise and spread of urban agriculture, and at the center of this movement is Will Allen, the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Growing Power. In today’s episode, Allen shares his life story, and discusses his passion for urban agriculture and food security, as well as how urban farming can strengthen community ties. We also have a short bonus segment this week, brought to us by Reade Levinson. She recently traveled to Alaska to research salmon fishing, which is under threat from the side effects of the Canadian mining industry. Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
When we think of space, we typically think of beautiful images taken by powerful telescopes and interplanetary rovers. We think of the rings around Saturn; the giant red spot on Jupiter; or Martian rover selfies. But what does the surface of Mars sound like? What haunting melody should we expect from our Sun? And what do these sounds teach us about our cosmic neighborhood? On today’s episode, producer Miles Traer takes us on an audio tour of the solar system, with a rich library of sounds recorded and converted from satellite and rover data. So put on a pair of headphones and join us for a voyage of exploration and discovery as we explore the sounds of space. Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
The Anthropocene is characterized by exponential global change driven by human activity. But humans have been impacting the planet since the very earliest days when we first appeared on the evolutionary tree. In fact, one of the longest running debates in paleontology centers on homo sapiens’ role in wiping out North America's enormous land animals, known as megafauna. In this interview with paleontologist Liz Hadly, we talk about what life looked like in the Pleistocene, the pattern of human dispersal around the globe, and new scientific techniques that allow us to understand how ecosystems respond to perturbations, like the arrival of early humans. Generation Anthropocene is supported by the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
Trash. Garbage. Refuse. Waste. Call it whatever you like, this is the stuff we deal with everyday that we no longer want in our lives. It’s not that it has no value; it actually has negative value. That’s why we’re getting rid of it! And apart from remembering when to drag out the bins to the curb, our trash mostly stays out of sight and out of mind. But on today’s show, we explore what happens when we don’t look away and follow our trash around. Where does it go? What happens to it? And what does our garbage say about who we are? Generation Anthropocene is supported by the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
Perhaps you've noticed recently that there's been a shift in way experts are approaching climate change. While much of the focus (rightly) continues to be on "bending the CO2 curve downward," there's also been a growing literature on climate adaptation. The sobering reality is that climate change is already upon us – so given that we cannot escape some of the consequences, we're now faced with a whole new series of questions. Who is most at risk? What are the social, cultural, and political forces that render some people more vulnerable than others? And, maybe most importantly, what can we do for the people and places who will suffer most? On today's show, we feature an interview with Petra Tschakert by producer Mike Osborne and student Sarah McCurdy. Dr. Tschakert was the Coordinating Lead Author of the AR5 IPCC report chapter "Livelihoods and Poverty.” In this conversation, we examine the often surprising influence of social dynamics on who will be most vulnerable to climate change, and learn more about the emerging research agenda from an expert on the frontier of climate adaptation. Generation Anthropocene is supported by the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford.
Disney movies have captured the imaginations of children and adults for decades. The endearing characters, the colorful landscapes, and the epic tales of heroism carry a sense of wonder and playfulness. But what we rarely notice is that woven into many of these films is a deeper story about the natural world. In Disney movies we learn the rules of the forest, the hierarchy of the jungle, and humankind's relationship to nature. Underlying every film is an implicit morality, one that seems so logical and universal that, as the audience, we hardly ever question its origin or message. In this interview, environmental historian Richard White helps us see the world of Disney with fresh eyes. Along the way, he challenges our assumptions about nature, and exposes how the stories of Disney are really stories about ourselves. Generation Anthropocene is supported by Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and by Worldview Stanford Image by wbeem Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic
Student reporter Reade Levinson travels to Mongolia in hopes of witnessing a practice known as sky burial, in which bodies of the dead are prepared for the afterlife. But as Reade learns in her journey, in Mongolia the forces of urbanization, modernization, and environmental change may be threatening this sacred ritual. This piece is a collaboration between Generation Anthropocene and the Stanford Storytelling project.
Seeds of Change by Generation Anthropocene
00:00:00 - Charlie and Ryan are delighted to be joined by Miles Traer and Leslie Chang of the Generation Anthropocene podcast. The discussion begins, albeit easily and effectively distracted (by things like sea dragons aka oarfish), talking a bit about their paths leading up to the inception of the podcast. 00:12:00 - Drinks are definitely something our generation excels at. Ryan enjoys some Daybreak dark roast COFFEE from Turtle Rock Coffee & Cafe near his lab. Miles is wrapping his head around an Arnold Palmer made with rooibos, an herbal tea whose pronunciation is debated. Leslie struggles with her lactose-infused tiger spice chai latter. And Charlie has water, but he's clever about it. You'll see. 00:20:48 - This conversation couldn't have finished without at least once discussion of the apocalypse and the preview of the upcoming movie The Colony in this week's Trailer Trash Talk! 00:38:44 - In part 2 of our discussion with Leslie and Miles we dive into the specifics of their show. What it is, how it happened, where it's going. And perhaps a few more distractions along the way. Be sure to check out their podcast, twitter feeds (@GenAnthropocene and @leslie_chng), Tumblr, and, of course, the episode of their show that had Ryan on. 00:59:56 - PaleoPOWs are a lot like geologic ages, the start and end are often up for debate. Ryan presents a recurring donation from Jenna G. of Ryan's home-state of West Virginia. Thanks, Jenna! Charlie addresses the idea, as presented by Jeff S., that solar flares could be causing summertime heat waves, including a reference to an episode of The Titanium Physicists. Short answer: NO, but the science is worth a full listen. Thanks for listening and be sure to check out the Brachiolope Media Network for more great science podcasts! Music for this week's show provided by: Gone Wanderin' - Jackie Green Smell of Coffee - Greg Brown Brand New Colony - The Postal Service My Generation - Green Day
In our changing climate, wouldn’t life be simpler if we had a thermostat we could dial down the earth’s temperature with? It turns out we do, actually. And a few billion dollars is all it would take to deploy a version of solar-radiation management (SRM), one form of geoengineering. SRM uses stratospheric aerosol particles to shade the earth’s surface from incoming sunlight, thus lowering temperature. Whether or not it would be nice to ‘turn the dial’ on this atmospheric thermostat is another matter though. To wrap our heads around how geoengineering works, we sat down with Granger Morgan, a Carnegie Mellon professor and director of the Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making. He discusses whether we should use geoengineering or not, the geopolitics behind the idea, and the ethical and moral dimensions of controlling the earth’s temperature. Above all, Morgan argues that we urgently need more scientific research to understand the possible side-effects of deploying geoengineering. This interview was conducted by both Ellis and Daniel for the Generation Anthropocene podcast at Stanford University. Also, check out Ellis’ write-up for the interview on Grist: http://grist.org/climate-energy/geoengineering-expert-tinkering-with-the-climate-is-tempting-also-kind-of-insane/
How much does a genetically-engineered tomato have in common with your dog? A lot more than you might think. Both are shining examples of PostNatural organisms, a term Rich Pell, assistant professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon, uses to describe living things whose evolutionary path has been controlled by humans. He is the curator of the Center for PostNatural History in Pittsburgh, a one-of-a-kind museum dedicated to classifying, cataloguing, and archiving PostNatural organisms. In this interview, Pell gives a tour of his museum, explains the story of postnaturalism, and discusses visitors’ reactions to his project. This interview was written and recorded by Ellis for the Generation Anthropocene podcast at Stanford University (http://www.stanford.edu/group/anthropocene/cgi-bin/wordpress/).