The Shape of the World

A Podcast About Cities, Nature and People

How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Change the World (Update)

Structural geologist Marcia Bjornerud was raised by free-thinking parents who instilled in her a love of books and nature. She’s published many professional papers (read mainly by experts in the field) and two popular books that, in the opinion of this podcast, ought to be read by every inhabitant of our planet...

11-20
34:26

Is the Earth Alive?

Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth, claims that it is: that Earth is a vast interconnected living system and we humans (and all other living things) don’t just live...

08-21
21:27

Zoned Out: Race, Property, and Ownership in America

Dr. Adrienne Brown reads cities the way professors read novels: carefully, and with lots of attention to what’s written between the lines...

07-31
28:37

Existential Risk: A User’s Guide

Daniel Holz studies black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmology, all while also running the Existential Risk Laboratory...

07-10
30:40

The Secret Lives of Fireflies

Biologist Sara Lewis doesn’t just study fireflies—for her, fireflies are a living reminder that the world is pure magic. In this episode...

06-19
33:55

Cities and Wildlife: Frenemies or Friends?

Biologist Dr. Seth Magle wants to rethink what a city is – and who it’s for. As part of an alliance with 50 cities around the globe, Seth and other wildlife researchers have discovered an overlooked truth: that our large cities teem with interesting native wildlife.

05-29
34:50

Can a Tiny Organism Transform Human Relations?

Artist Laurie Palmer believes they can. In her book, The Lichen Museum, Laurie explores what we can gain from learning to see life the way a lichen does.

05-09
28:26

Season Six Coming Soon

Season SIX Will Launch This Friday, May 9th New episodes, new guests, and new insights about nature and our built environments coming soon with season 6 of Shape of the World. And more on how we can live together–with nature, with cities, and with one another. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite platform.

05-05
01:01

Episode 33: Can Listening Be a Political and Moral Act?

Biologist David George Haskell says this collective inattention is a huge loss for each of us. It's like leaving money on the table because paying attention to the living world is a source of beauty, joy and renewal—one we can access at anytime from anywhere.

12-22
01:02:30

Episode 32: What Should We Fix First?

Margaret Renkl's new book "Graceland at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South is mix of graceful observations and practical solutions.

11-18
28:53

Episode 31: Who Trashed My River?

The organization Nick Wesley co-founded, Urban Rivers, is creating The Wild Mile, the first-ever floating eco-park of its scale in the world.

10-12
23:58

Episode 30: Privilege & Inequality in Animals

Guest Jenn Smith says that human concepts of intergenerational wealth and inequality occur also in the behaviors of animals.

08-02
33:07

Episode 29: Disruption & Resilience

When Jane Watson encountered a ruined meadow of seagrass in the ocean, instead of getting furious, she grew curious.

07-25
25:48

Season Five Coming Soon

Season Five Will Launch July 2022 New episodes, new guests, new insights about nature and our built environments are coming soon. And more on how we can live together--with nature, with cities and with one another. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app or check back here.

06-23
01:50

Episode 28: The Wild Card

Sarah Cowles encourages radically rethinking the synthetic landscapes found in cities. When welcoming nature to our human cities, do we aim for an...

06-16
40:25

Episode 27: The World Is Not Static

Dr. Caitlin Rankin’s research shows that a long-held theory about why an ancient civilization passed out of existence was wrong. Cahokia Mounds in...

06-03
32:23

Episode 26: Bees Understand the Concept of Zero

Dr. Scarlett Howard’s research on cognition of honeybees got a lot of media attention when in 2018, she published a paper that showed bees can...

05-20
30:44

Episode 25: Think Beyond the Possible

Tony Hiss’s new book, “Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth,” lays out both the urgency for and possibility of protecting...

05-13
22:50

Episode 24: Humans Need Nature

Architect Jeanne Gang has an explicit intention to make the human built environment as kind as possible for birds, nature, wildlife and the Earth’s atmosphere...

08-14
43:56

EPISODE 23: Cutting Through the Noise On Climate: How to Do Something That Matters, Do It Consistently, and Then Move On with Your Life

Climate change is scary. The magnitude of the problem makes it hard for people to commit to direct action to solve it, hoping instead (reasonably but perhaps impractically!) that government will do the work...

07-24
46:22

Happy⚛️Heretic

Just found this show while browsing, it seems interesting.

01-21 Reply

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