Postcards From The Floating Coast

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

In The Company Of Walruses

20221214

Environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth travels to the Arctic ice and tundra to show how humans and animals together have shaped its landscape and history.

In this episode she looks at how the human relationship to walruses has changed and changed again, from seeing them as ancestors to part of the socialist future, offering an example of how what we value can endangeror savea species.

Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian and writer who spends much of her time in Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America. Her work draws on archives, ecology, and experience of the landscape to ask how places and people change each other.

Her interest in northern environments and cultures began when, at 18, she moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon. For two years, she mushed huskies, hunted caribou, fished for salmon, tracked bears, and otherwise learned to survive in the taiga and tundra.

She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred.

From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs' emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world.

Writer and reader: Bathsheba Demuth

Producer: Natalie Steed

Whale recordings: Kate Stafford, Oregon State University

A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3

Historian Bathsheba Demuth seeks human and animal traces in the Arctic ice and tundra.

In The Country Of Whales

20221213

A story of how animal cultures come to matter.

In this episode Bathsheba Demuth heads to the country of bowhead whales to examine how different people in the Arctic have valued these creatures. She shows how these whales responded to commercial hunting by changing their culture and how their choices pushed into the domain of people.

She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred.

Writer and reader: Bathsheba Demuth

Producer: Natalie Steed

A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3

Bathsheba Demuth examines how different Arctic peoples have valued bowhead whales.

In The Land Of Reindeer

20221215

A story about how not even superpowers can escape ecological context.

In this episode Bathsheba Demuth looks at how reindeer are deeply sensitive to the climate, and how that sensitivity thwarted plans to make them part of capitalist and socialist economies.

She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred.

From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs's emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world.

Writer and reader Bathsheba Demuth

Producer: Natalie Steed

A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3

Bathsheba Demuth explores the impact of reindeers' sensitivity to the Arctic climate.

In The Lives Of Salmon

20221216

Environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth travels to the Arctic ice and tundra to look for the ways people and animals shape each other's lives.

In this episode, she journeys to the Yukon River, to see how the history of salmon connects to the present - and shows how even those of us living far away have a relationship with the fish of this great river.

She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make history - and in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred. From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs's emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world.

Writer and reader Bathsheba Demuth

Producer Natalie Steed

A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3

Bathsheba Demuth journeys to the Yukon River to investigate our relationship with salmon.

In The Minds Of Dogs

20221212

In this essay series she brings us into the intertwined pasts of people and animals of the lands and waters around the Bering Strait - the ice-studded stretch of ocean between Alaska and the Russian far east. She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred.

In this episode she looks at the shifting historical relationship between humans and dogs and the impact of that intimacy on commerce and imperial aspiration.

Writer and reader: Bathsheba Demuth

Producer: Natalie Steed

A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3

Bathsheba Demuth looks at the shifting relationship between humans and dogs in the Arctic.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
In The Company Of Walruses	20221214	Environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth travels to the Arctic ice and tundra to show how humans and animals together have shaped its landscape and history. In this episode she looks at how the human relationship to walruses has changed and changed again, from seeing them as ancestors to part of the socialist future, offering an example of how what we value can endangeror savea species. Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian and writer who spends much of her time in Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America. Her work draws on archives, ecology, and experience of the landscape to ask how places and people change each other. Her interest in northern environments and cultures began when, at 18, she moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon. For two years, she mushed huskies, hunted caribou, fished for salmon, tracked bears, and otherwise learned to survive in the taiga and tundra. In this essay series she brings us into the intertwined pasts of people and animals of the lands and waters around the Bering Strait - the ice-studded stretch of ocean between Alaska and the Russian far east. She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred. From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs' emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world. Writer and reader: Bathsheba Demuth Producer: Natalie Steed Whale recordings: Kate Stafford, Oregon State University A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3 Historian Bathsheba Demuth seeks human and animal traces in the Arctic ice and tundra.
In The Country Of Whales	20221213	A story of how animal cultures come to matter. In this episode Bathsheba Demuth heads to the country of bowhead whales to examine how different people in the Arctic have valued these creatures. She shows how these whales responded to commercial hunting by changing their culture and how their choices pushed into the domain of people. Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian and writer who spends much of her time in Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America. Her work draws on archives, ecology, and experience of the landscape to ask how places and people change each other. Her interest in northern environments and cultures began when, at 18, she moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon. For two years, she mushed huskies, hunted caribou, fished for salmon, tracked bears, and otherwise learned to survive in the taiga and tundra. In this essay series she brings us into the intertwined pasts of people and animals of the lands and waters around the Bering Strait - the ice-studded stretch of ocean between Alaska and the Russian far east. She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred. From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs' emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world. Writer and reader: Bathsheba Demuth Producer: Natalie Steed A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3 Bathsheba Demuth examines how different Arctic peoples have valued bowhead whales.
In The Land Of Reindeer	20221215	A story about how not even superpowers can escape ecological context. In this episode Bathsheba Demuth looks at how reindeer are deeply sensitive to the climate, and how that sensitivity thwarted plans to make them part of capitalist and socialist economies. Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian and writer who spends much of her time in Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America. Her work draws on archives, ecology, and experience of the landscape to ask how places and people change each other. Her interest in northern environments and cultures began when, at 18, she moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon. For two years, she mushed huskies, hunted caribou, fished for salmon, tracked bears, and otherwise learned to survive in the taiga and tundra. In this essay series she brings us into the intertwined pasts of people and animals of the lands and waters around the Bering Strait - the ice-studded stretch of ocean between Alaska and the Russian far east. She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred. From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs's emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world. Writer and reader Bathsheba Demuth Producer: Natalie Steed A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3 Bathsheba Demuth explores the impact of reindeers' sensitivity to the Arctic climate.
In The Lives Of Salmon	20221216	Environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth travels to the Arctic ice and tundra to look for the ways people and animals shape each other's lives. In this episode, she journeys to the Yukon River, to see how the history of salmon connects to the present - and shows how even those of us living far away have a relationship with the fish of this great river. Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian and writer who spends much of her time in Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America. Her work draws on archives, ecology, and experience of the landscape to ask how places and people change each other. Her interest in northern environments and cultures began when, at 18, she moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon. For two years, she mushed huskies, hunted caribou, fished for salmon, tracked bears, and otherwise learned to survive in the taiga and tundra. In this essay series she brings us into the intertwined pasts of people and animals of the lands and waters around the Bering Strait - the ice-studded stretch of ocean between Alaska and the Russian far east. She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make history - and in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred. From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs's emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world. Writer and reader Bathsheba Demuth Producer Natalie Steed A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3 Bathsheba Demuth journeys to the Yukon River to investigate our relationship with salmon.
In The Minds Of Dogs	20221212	Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian and writer who spends much of her time in Arctic communities across Eurasia and North America. Her work draws on archives, ecology, and experience of the landscape to ask how places and people change each other. Her interest in northern environments and cultures began when, at 18, she moved to the village of Old Crow in the Yukon. For two years, she mushed huskies, hunted caribou, fished for salmon, tracked bears, and otherwise learned to survive in the taiga and tundra. In this essay series she brings us into the intertwined pasts of people and animals of the lands and waters around the Bering Strait - the ice-studded stretch of ocean between Alaska and the Russian far east. She shows how dogs, whales, walruses, caribou, and salmon have helped make historyand in turn, how people have changed how they value and relate to creatures finned and furred. From shifts in the culture of whales to how reindeer flummoxed Soviet plans and dogs's emotions mattered to the British Empire, each essay is a journey into how paying attention to the environment and the animals within it helps us better understand history, the nature of change, and our place in the world. In this episode she looks at the shifting historical relationship between humans and dogs and the impact of that intimacy on commerce and imperial aspiration. Writer and reader: Bathsheba Demuth Producer: Natalie Steed A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3 Bathsheba Demuth looks at the shifting relationship between humans and dogs in the Arctic.