SANDWALK PODCAST

A Sandwalk for 3 April 2020 during the pandemic.

A Sandwalk about bats and their role in the pandemic.

“Play the Flash Gordon noise and put more science stuff around!” said Crow T. Robot in MST3K. Now during the COVID-19 pandemic we are seeing a world where science is at the forefront — and it seems confusing. Dr. Laura Marsh does a Sandwalk to break it down.

Modernity is what people in today’s world aspire to.  In much of the world, living within as part of nature is considered backwards, associated with poverty, uncivilized, or is for unhealthy people.  With this in mind, places like Tokyo and Manhattan, with very few trees and high population, are at the higher end of “modernity.”  A country like Kenya lies part way along the slope – a fair proportion of its population now lives in a town or city, but many still return to their family villages on long weekends and holidays where their lives are still closely linked to the natural environment.  Coming full circle in the world, a subgroup of wealthy people now spend large sums of money to visit or actively engage in projects in non-modern parts of the world – as they seek to re-establish connection to the natural world and/or people in those areas who continue to live a life more connected to the nature. 

We want to discuss how it is for the rest of us, who live perhaps a modern, disconnected life, to become “rewilded” from within - without necessarily ever stepping foot in a natural habits. We are interested in talking about what it means to be in nature, whether a tree in a parking lot, a pigeon in the Metro station, or rainwater flowing through gutters to the sea - how can we be connected to our environments as they are? And once we have achieved a sense of internal “wildness” - will that allow for an interest in understanding and acting on behalf of the natural world around us?

How can each of us go from “inspired” to “action” without leaving the comfort of our homes, or is that even possible or desirable?

Welcome to our Sandwalk where we will get to the heart of all the hard questions with asking.