On the Brink

Into the Anthropocene

Human beings have altered life on this planet in ways no single species has before.

In today’s episode, we talk to Dr. Winnie Kiiru, elephant researcher and wildlife biologist, about the endangered African elephant and Kenya’s symbolic 2016 ivory tusk burn. Thousands of species are currently endangered and on the brink of extinction—what will we lose when they are gone? Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker staff writer and author of the Pulitzer prize–winning book The Sixth Extinction, reveals how species loss impacts the planet. Finally, we talk to poet Adam Dickinson, who embarked on a very personal journey into his own body for his latest book, Anatomic, about the unimaginable ways we’ve changed our own biological chemistry.

For more information:

The Elephant Protection Initiative: www.elephantprotectioninitiative.org/
Stop Ivory: stopivory.org
Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History: us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062185
Adam Dickinson, Anatomic: chbooks.com/Books/A/Anatomic3

This episode was produced by Nadia Abraham, Shiralee Hudson Hill and Matthew Scott at the Art Gallery of Ontario. For more information on the podcast and the Anthropocene exhibition, visit our website: www.ago.ca.