The Natural History Museum has launched a new podcast titled Our Broken Planet. The series will discuss some of the problems facing the Earth, with commentary from leading scientists and those who are affected the most.
The first two episodes are available to download from the Natural History Museum website and other podcast platforms. Further episodes will be released every Tuesday until 22 August.
Our Broken Planet builds on the museum’s exhibition Our Broken Planet: How we got here and ways to fix it. The podcast aims to educate listeners about key environmental issues and equips them with information to help effect change.
A collective responsibility
This podcast takes listeners on a journey around the world and places them in the heart of the global emergency. It is hosted by Dr Tori Herridge, evolutionary biologist, and Daphne Jackson, research fellow at the Natural History Museum in London, together with Dr Khalil Thirlaway, creative producer at the Natural History Museum.
Each episode shares a compelling and insightful viewpoint, through discussions with acclaimed scientists, dedicated activists, and those who have personally experienced these problems.
Episode one is titled A rising tide: Ice Sheet Melts & Sea Level Rises, and episode two, Fire: Adapting to life in the new Pyrocene.
Herridge says: “The health of our environment is hanging in the balance, and we have a collective responsibility to protect and restore it. Through ‘Our Broken Planet,’ we aim to empower individuals to become informed, hopeful, and inspired advocates for the planet.”
The ten episodes will provide a thorough examination of the complex concerns affecting our natural environment, including catastrophic wildfires, the pernicious crisis of plastic pollution, zoonotic infections, the significant challenges relating to agriculture, and more. Each episode reveals the scientific understanding of these problems and also explores nature-inspired solutions that hold the key to a future in which both people and the environment flourish.
Thirlaway comments: “Many aspects of our relationship with the planet are pretty broken right now. It’s important that we understand the problems – but we also need to know a better world is possible, and to talk about how we can create this together. I hope our listeners come away feeling fired up and empowered to work together towards a better future for both people and planet.”
The Natural History Museum recently received a further £20 million in government funding for a new collections, digitisation and research centre at Thames Valley Science Park, in partnership with the University of Reading. The centre will house 28 million specimens.
Image: Our Broken Planet Podcast © Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
