How the Ocean Shapes Our World

Intelligence Squared

News Commentary, Arts, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To understand the world you need to understand the ocean. That’s the argument of physicist Helen Czerski who has long studied the complex ecosystems and forces that drive the ‘blue machine’ which covers 71% of our planet. Czerski joins Intelligence Squared to discuss her new book Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World, and what we should know about these vast bodies of water – the waves, currents, invisible ocean walls and underwater waterfalls that are part of an interlinked system that shapes the world around us. In conversation with science editor of The Times Tom Whipple, Czerski discusses how, since the beginning of human civilisation, the oceans have been central to the way human societies have evolved and how threats like climate change and overfishing could threaten our future. We’d love to hear your feedback and what you think we should talk about next, who we should have on and what our future debates should be. Send us an email or voice note with your thoughts to podcasts@intelligencesquared.com or Tweet us @intelligence2. And if you’d like to get ad-free access to all Intelligence Squared podcasts, including exclusive bonus content, early access to new episodes and much more, become a supporter of Intelligence Squared today for just £4.99, or the equivalent in your local currency . Just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Jeremy Bowen, the International Editor of BBC News and I'm here because I want
0:05.1	to talk to you about an event I'm doing with Intelligent Squared on the 2nd of November in London
0:11.5	and I'm going to be talking about the more than 30 years that I've spent reporting on major
0:17.6	events in the Middle East with my great friend and colleague over many, many years just in web
0:25.6	and I'm sure we'll talk about a few other things as well, just in and I started at the BBC
0:31.5	on the same day in 1984. So if you'd like to join us either in person or online then visit
0:41.6	IntelligentSquared.com to find out more. Welcome to Intelligent Squared. I'm Senior Producer Connor
0:49.5	Boyle. Today we're hearing from Helen Cheriski, one of the UK's most popular science presenters,
0:54.4	a physicist, oceanographer and friend of the show. Her new book is Blue Machine, which looks at
0:59.1	the complex ecosystems that make up our seas, which covers 71% of the planet. In conversation with
1:05.2	Helen is science editor of the Times, Tom Whipple. This episode was recorded live online on 5th June
1:11.0	2023. Let's join Helen and Tom now. I am delighted to introduce our guest today. She is Helen Cheriski,
1:18.5	the author of books, including Storm in a Teacup, The Physics of Everyday Life and her new title,
1:25.3	Just Out, Blue Machine, How the Ocean Shapes Our World, which we will be discussing today. Helen,
1:32.8	welcome and tell us why you're writing a book about oceans. It's a slightly complicated
1:37.2	question because it's partly what I do now is that I am a physicist but I use my physics to study
1:41.9	the surface of the ocean. But really it comes about from a frustration that we don't talk about
1:46.8	the ocean. We talk about fish and dolphins and pollution, all the things that are in the water,
1:51.4	but we don't talk about the water itself. I didn't I didn't grow up with the ocean. I grew up in
1:56.8	Manchester and it's not particularly close to the sea. There are two seas, the Irish sea in the
2:03.3	North Sea and if you're a child who is about 10 years old and you live in Manchester as far as
2:07.7	you're concerned, they're both cold and horrible. So I did not go near the ocean until after I finished
	...

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