Earth + Humans

Geography of Music: Prince and the Minneapolis Sound

For decades, Prince created music that sold 100+ million records worldwide, released 39 studio albums, and won seven Grammy's. What inspired Prince's unique sound that made him so popular and successful? In this episode, we welcome Dr. Rashad Shabazz, associate professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. Dr. Shabazz uses a geographical lens to understand black culture and gender and has extensively studied Prince and his music, but also the history of Prince's hometown of Minneapolis and its impact on music. Join us now as we discuss the geography of music, Prince and the Minneapolis Sound.

Arizona Love

February 14th is most commonly known as Valentine's Day, but this day is also special for another reason, because on February 14, 1912, Arizona became the 48th state! For this special episode of Earth + Humans, we talk to three students in our PhD of geography program to ask them about their favorite places to visit in Arizona, how they handle our extreme heat, and their interesting research topics. Join us as we celebrate our love for the state of Arizona.

Healthy Communities

Listen closely. Do you hear the wind blowing through the trees? A bird singing in the distance? Probably not, because you are listening to Earth + Humans, but even imaging this scene can make you feel slightly less stressed and more relaxed. Now, imagine you actually step outside and visit your local park – think of how much better you could feel! Liza Golden, a community health planner with Maricopa County Department of Public Health, sat down with us to talk about her work to bring the topic of health to the forefront of community planning, as well as her project Park Rx, working with healthcare providers to prescribe time in parks to increase health and happiness in our communities.

Urban Climate

Cities are affected by climate, but cities also create their own climate. To discuss this interesting relationship, we sat down with Dr. Dev Niyogi, who is a professor of agronomy and earth, atmospheric, planetary sciences at Purdue University. Dr. Niyogi was recently a guest of our school to be the keynote speaker for the Urban Climate Research Center's annual Anthony J. Brazel Urban Climate Lecture. In this episode, Dr. Niyogi and our host Dr. Trisalyn Nelson discuss urban climate, the relationship between cities and climate, the role of universities in climate science, and more!

Climate Change and Weather Extremes

On this episode of Earth + Humans, we sit down with Dr. Randy Cerveny, President's Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University. He also serves as Rapporteur on Extreme Records for the United Nations/World Meteorological Organization where he is responsible for researching and verifying global weather records. An expert on weather extremes and climate change, Dr. Cerveny provides some insights into what is causing rising temps in cities like Phoenix, which areas holds the record for the hottest temps, and his hopes for the future when it comes to climate. In light of the growing movement of youth concerned about climate change, we also spoke with two young people (who might be related to our host!) to ask them about what they know about climate change and how they think we should tackle the issue. (A serious subject can also be fun, so be sure to listen for the outtakes at the end of the episode!)