Episode Twelve: Fracking Latour (March 9, 2012)

A diagram of the natural gas fracking technique

Today on the show we were down a man, as Jake had to take the week off. Henry and Ben made up for his absence, presenting a feature on hydraulic fracturing, and a two-part feature on Bruno Latour and ANT.

Bruno Latour & Actor Network Theory
By: Ben Garlick
Ben presented a two-part feature on Latour and ANT, talking about why Latour is so awesome, of course.

Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing
By: Henry Hawkins
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has expanded huge growth in recent years, as it has opened up massive reserves of natural gas previously inaccessible. It hasn’t been without controversy – in the US, waste water from fracking has been exempted from regulation, despite the use of hundreds of hazardous, even carcinogenic chemicals. Many homes near fracking wells have been found to have methane contamination, with some people being able to light their tap water on fire. Henry talked about some of these issues on the show today.

Listen [1:00:00]

Episode Eleven: The Mash-Up (March 2, 2012)

The Evolution of Life

Today on the show we had a special episode; we weren’t able to record in the studio, so we recorded all of our parts separately, stuck them together, and saw what happened. Much absurdity ensued, of course! Ben presented a feature on relevance in geographic research, Henry talked about wind farm opposition in the news, and Jake did a feature on life and non-life.

Wind Farm Opposition in the News
By: Henry Hawkins
Recently, Prime Minister Cameron was sent a letter signed by over 100 conservative MPs, opposing the future development of wind turbines. Many other stories of opposition to wind farms developments have been making news recently, and today Henry took a look at the future significance of this opposition, and what it means for Scotland.

Relevance in Geographic Research
By: Ben Garlick
Is relevance in geographic research based on current affairs, wider research, usefulness in the real world, or by popularity? There are a number of ways this topic can be addressed, and Ben considered a few of those ways.

Life & Non-Life
By: Jake Barber
Jake considered the boundaries of life and non-life – how does one consider where life begins and ends, how did it evolve, and how do we measure the fundamental requirements to being considered alive?

Listen [1:00:00]

Episode Eight: A New Season, A New Studio (February 10, 2012)

The River Tyne in Newcastle

For the first show back, we heard a discussion from Ben about what Geography really is, we had a (completely unplanned) Wheel of Disagreement, and the environmental song of the week was Big River, by Jimmy Nail

What is Geography?
By: Ben Garlick
Today Ben attacked on of the major basic disputes of the discipline, discussing what Geography really is. Covering a few ideas about what some notable academics have to say on the matter, the divide between Physical and Cultural geography, and finished with a brief comment on what Geography is to each of us.

Geographical Song Analysis
By: Henry Hawkins
Today our geographical song was Big River, by Jimmy Nail (by request). The song refers to the River Tyne, and takes an ‘elegaic’ look at the decline of shipbuilding industry of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Wheel of Disagreement: Manifest Destiny
We also had a spur of the moment wheel of disagreement, featuring Henry and Ben, Ben making up for his previous loss with a well-earned victory.

Listen [59:59]