By Matthew Bryant
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.
In this episode, we hear from Dr. Ken Bridle, who’s been a professional botanist for over four decades, and who has focused on plant physiology. His expansive career includes working as a natural heritage and watershed inventory biologist, a field ecologist, science museum exhibits director, and environmental consultant. He talks about how he came to be a naturalist and scientist, and his involvement with protecting the precious natural resources of the Piedmont region of North Carolina and beyond.
In this episode, we hear from Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper and the new Executive Director for the Haw River Assembly, a citizen-fueled nonprofit located in Chatham County, North Carolina. We learn what it means to be a riverkeeper, environmental nonprofit leader, nature educator, and advocate for protecting our watersheds and natural resources.
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Nadja Cech, who is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and a leader in the field of medicinal plant research. In addition to being a scientist, she’s a writer, mother, teacher, mentor, community builder, and manager of an urban community garden. We talk about all of these things, and the power of connection, wonder, and inspiration that a community can bring to an urban setting.
Dr. Carolyn Finney is a storyteller, author, and cultural geographer. Her work looks to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action.
Her work is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursued an acting career for eleven years, spent five years backpacking through Africa and Asia and living in Nepal, and eventually returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete her bachelors, masters degrees, and eventually a Ph.D.
She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Canon National Parks Science Scholar, and she received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Studies. Carolyn has worked with the media in various capacities including the Tavis Smiley Show, MSNBC, and Vice News Tonight; she’s written op-eds for Outside Magazine & Newsweek; was a guest editor & contributor for a special section on Race & the National Parks in Orion Magazine; participated in a roundtable conversation with REI and The Atlantic; and has appeared in interviews with NPR, Sierra Club, Boston Globe, National Geographic, and The Guardian; and she served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014.
In this episode, I talk to Dr. Finney about what sustainability means to her, how sustainability and environment became part of her work, and her unique approach in working both inside and outside of academia. She discusses how her scholarly work complements her creative artistic practice, and vice versa. We also get a glimpse into current and upcoming projects.
About This Podcast
This show explores how the themes of nature, weather, climate, and environment interrelate. Visit the accompanying blog at www.ponderingskies.org
Dr. Finney snaps a selfie for the podcast.
Artifacts gathered by Finney for use in her creative nonfiction book project.
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.