Ecological grief

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the Earth experiences more extreme weather, and wildlife is dying, from corals, to insects, to tropical forests, more people are experiencing ecological anxiety and grief. Science journalist Gaia Vince has been reporting on the growing crisis across our planet’s ecosystems, and has met many who are shocked and saddened by the enormity of the environmental changes taking place. She talks to scientists and medics working at the frontline of environmental change, and hears that, despite being expected to distance themselves from what’s happening, they are affected emotionally. Ashlee Consulo, of Memorial University on the Canadian island of Labrador, and Courtney Howard, a doctor in Yellowknife, tell Gaia about their experiences of living and working with indigenous peoples in areas where temperatures are rising rapidly and the ice is melting. Steve Simpson of Exeter University and Andy Radford of Bristol University are both professors of biology who have watched coral reefs become devastated by climate change. Recently they wrote a letter to the journal Science headlined Grieving environmental scientists need support to raise awareness of the issues researchers are facing. And Gaia visits the aquarium at the Horniman Museum in London, where Jamie Craggs is trying to breed corals for future generations. Image: Greenland Inuit hunter (Credit: Earl Grad/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
0:05.2	I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy
0:10.1	podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really. Comedy is a bit of a dream job really.
0:13.0	Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh,
0:18.0	making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things.
0:22.0	But you know, I also know that comedy is really
0:24.3	subjective and everyone has different tastes. So we've got a huge range of comedy on offer from
0:29.8	satire to silly, shocking to soothing, profound to just general pratting about.
0:35.0	So if you fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	Things that we always took for granted, we wonder can we still do them, which is putting a big stress on a lot of people.
0:50.0	I'm Tim Gordon, I'm a marine biologist. I'm part of a research group that studies the impact of climate change on the sea and on marine ecosystems.
1:02.0	You look around you and you just think,
1:04.0	wow, it's all dying.
1:07.0	There's been times you cry into your mask
1:10.0	and you just aren't able to do anything
1:12.0	because you look around you and you just realize't able to do anything because you look around you and you just
1:13.4	realize how tragic it is. Australia is burning, the Arctic is melting, weather is
1:19.7	more extreme globally, and wildlife everywhere is dying from corals to insects to
1:26.4	tropical forests as we humans pollute the air and water and soils. I'm Gaya Vince and as a science journalist I've been reporting on this growing crisis
1:38.0	across our planet's ecosystems.
1:40.0	It's hard not to be shocked and saddened by the enormity of the environmental changes taking place around us,
1:48.0	as we see people and wildlife battling to survive dangerous conditions and mourn the loss of
	...

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