Episode 7 is all about how language shapes our environment and how the environment shapes our language. In exploring this topic, we talk to two renowned academics working in this field. Firstly, we talk to Arran Stibbe, who guides us through the world of ecolinguistics, looking at how language choices really do matter with regards to the environment and how they can be a powerful weapon in fighting the climate crisis. This theme is picked up in From the Field, where we hear from the innovative Living-Language-Land project, which is attempting to create a living lexicon – a word bank drawn from minority and disappearing languages in relation to land and nature.

 This global approach is echoed in The Green Glossary, where climate vocabulary in languages other than English, such as flygskam (Swedish), Heißzeit (German) and lonu gan’du (Dhivevi) are discussed. In our second interview, we talk to Ros Appleby, who talks about climate refugees, rewilding pedagogy, and how she created an English language course based on her experience of swimming with sharks.

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