Geologists from Planet Earth
Ever wondered what kind of people dedicate their lives to rocks? ‘Geologists from Planet Earth’ might challenge your ideas. In this podcast, geologists tell their stories, a geologist who dodged lions during fieldwork, another who turned ancient rock data into music, and one who found love (and radioactive rocks) working for the Pentagon in Afghanistan. There's a geologist who found working on Greenlandic cliffs more terrifying than the north face of the Eiger and another who navigated a career through mining and motherhood, while proving her father gloriously wrong. ‘Geologists from Planet Earth’ reveals the surprising and inspiring journeys of geologists who - every one of them - are passionate about the planet that we live on.
For a teaching resource (question prompts) for 12-16 year olds, find a free download here: https://lnkd.in/e9_ChNPk
Episodes
12 episodes
Marit Brommer: Connecting to natural landscapes through clean, geothermal energy
In this episode, Marit Brommer – once a Dutch teenager enchanted by landscapes charts her career journey from oil and gas super-majors to geothermal diplomacy to her newest venture: transforming geothermal wells into places of wellness, ritual,...
Dennis Bird: Getting paid to go camping — for 43 year
A California kid who just wanted to go climbing and dodge the draft ends up in a life spent between the lecture hall and the high Arctic. From Yosemite’s granite walls to magma chambers under the ice, Dennis Bird’s story is one of chance and cu...
Adrian Finch: Geology as a journey through generations
Adrian Finch hailed from South London and - in his own words - started out utterly hopeless at fieldwork. His lifelong love of crystal structures led him to research into car catalysts and superconductors, before settling on the Arctic for a lo...
Helen Degeling: It's okay to change: a geological career
Ever wondered what happens when a young geologist, told she'd only ever be the "token female," decides to prove everyone gloriously wrong? Here's Helen Degeling, whose journey has careened from academia, to surviving a decidedly un-gentle...
Kristopher Szilas: Geological fieldwork: the ultimate adventure
Kristopher Szilas's geological journey began by abseiling down a 500-meter cliff face. In this episode, we hear how his rock-climbing prowess landed him a dream job sampling for gold in Greenland – an experience he'll tell you felt more
Richard White: Solo geological fieldwork: a path to independence
Richard White is a man whose PhD involved spending weeks utterly alone in Australia's central desert. In this episode, he recounts tales of encountering herds of camels (while in bed!), carrying half a ton of rocks in an overloaded 4WD, and exp...
Alina Khalida: The power of a geology education
Alina Khalida, with stunning grace and grit, transformed herself from a village girl tending cattle to an indomitable spirit, working for her nation's water security. From stumbling upon geology, to drilling for water in the driest corners of t...
Chris Carson: The Omega man: alone in the Antarctic
Chris Carson is a geologist whose passion for the planet was ignited by a trekking trip to K2. Prepare for an absorbing tale of Antarctic fieldwork, traveling by icebreaker (much better than flying), battling katabatic winds strong enough to la...
Emily King: Geology and self-reliance: figuring stuff out in Afghanistan
This episode introduces Emily King, who quite literally found love (and some really interesting rocks) while running a Pentagon-backed mineral exploration program in Afghanistan. Prepare for "free-range geologists" navigating perilous terrain i...
Tim Ivanic: Communicating geology as art
Meet Tim Ivanic, a British-Australian geologist who started life as an artist. Tim fused his passions for rocks and art in the 'Aeon Sounds Project', turning geological data into music and sound: imagine volcanoes as instruments, geological tim...
David Schofield: Geological fieldwork as a window to the world
David Schofield never really planned on being a geologist. But sometimes, life (and an outbreak of foot and mouth disease) throws you a curveball. David recounts his adventures mapping vast stretches of the Saharan desert, learning to survive o...
Gillian Becky: We belong here too: women in field geology
Gillian Becky is a Nairobi-based geologist who didn't exactly stumble into the field, but rather, geology found her, from a phone call that led her on a new path to discovering her purpose. Gillian's early experiences of fieldwork in a remote K...