Into the City

10/16/18 • 27 min

Over half of the world’s population lives in a city. How do these environments we’ve created for ourselves contribute to the rapidly changing climate?

In this episode, we tackle the urban Anthropocene. Sarain speaks with Julia Langer, CEO of the Atmospheric Fund in Toronto, about the role of cities in the fight against climate change, and what “cityzens” can do to help. We also meet Susan Blight, a Toronto-based Anishinaabe artist and activist, who discusses urban indigeneity and reclaiming space in cities through art and language.

For more information:

The Atmospheric Fund, Transform T.O. Project: taf.ca/projects/transformto/

Ogimaa Mikana Project: ogimaamikana.tumblr.com/

This episode was produced by Nadia Abraham, Shiralee Hudson Hill and Matthew Scott at the Art Gallery of Ontario. For more information on the podcast and the Anthropocene exhibition, visit our website: www.ago.ca.

Over half of the world’s population lives in a city. How do these environments we’ve created for ourselves contribute to the rapidly changing climate?

For more information:

The Atmospheric Fund, Transform T.O. Project: taf.ca/projects/transformto/

Ogimaa Mikana Project: ogimaamikana.tumblr.com/

Previous Episode

Whose earth is it anyway?

Humans now change the Earth’s systems more than all other natural forces combined...but are we all equally responsible?

In this episode, Sarain talks to scholars Zoe Todd and Heather Davis about decolonizing the Anthropocene. Then we break down the term “environmental racism” with Dr. Ingrid Waldron, sociologist and author of There’s Something in the Water, and discuss the effects of climate change in the Arctic with Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit rights advocate and the author of The Right to be Cold.

For more information:

Heather Davis and Zoe Todd, On the Importance of a Date, or, Decolonizing the Anthropocene: www.acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1539

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, The Right to Be Cold-One Woman’s Story of Protecting her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/417373/the-right-to-be-cold-by-sheila-watt-cloutier/9780143187646

Ingrid R.G. Waldron, There’s Something in the Water-Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities: fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/there8217s-something-in-the-water

The ENRICH Project: www.enrichproject.org/

Next Episode

On the Brink

Human beings have altered life on this planet in ways no single species has before.

In today’s episode, we talk to Dr. Winnie Kiiru, elephant researcher and wildlife biologist, about the endangered African elephant and Kenya’s symbolic 2016 ivory tusk burn. Thousands of species are currently endangered and on the brink of extinction—what will we lose when they are gone? Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker staff writer and author of the Pulitzer prize–winning book The Sixth Extinction, reveals how species loss impacts the planet. Finally, we talk to poet Adam Dickinson, who embarked on a very personal journey into his own body for his latest book, Anatomic, about the unimaginable ways we’ve changed our own biological chemistry.

For more information:

The Elephant Protection Initiative: www.elephantprotectioninitiative.org/
Stop Ivory: stopivory.org
Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History: us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062185
Adam Dickinson, Anatomic: chbooks.com/Books/A/Anatomic3