Earthling Theory Dr. Rich Blundell, Nantucket, MA Maria Mitchell Association’s Science Speaker Series

Website Editor • July 29, 2022

Earthling Theory: A Natural History of Story

When the Earth was young, she wanted to see herself - so eyes evolved.

As the Earth matured, she wanted to know herself more deeply - so science arose.

Now the Earth needs to heal and she’s imagining what’s possible - so we tell new stories.


Through a series of narrative-nonfiction vignettes on the lives of early-hominid mothers, Dr. Rich Blundell will recount a creative course of human evolution. Analysis of the geological, archaeological and anthropological record will reveal how our cognitive capacity for storytelling has, at every turn, been endowed upon us by the Earth itself. We will also see how human prosperity has always depended upon our ability to see the signals and hear the stories the Earth is telling us.


Dr. Rich Blundell is an ecologist and philosopher working at the convergence of art, science, nature and culture. As the founder of Oika, his research examines how transformation happens across the scales of person, place and planet. As a communicator, Rich tells a scientific story of the universe that includes art and human creativity as natural phenomena. Dr. Blundell’s research and work has received numerous grants and awards including, an ongoing TIDES innovators award, The National Science Foundation grant for Science Out There, the Michael Brinkman Award, The Deep Time Values video award for An Earth Story, The Macquarie University Innovation in Scholarship award for The Cosmosis1 Explorer app, an Oculus Creators Award for In the Light of the Forest VR, and nomination for the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Best New Media for Saving Grey’s Zebra. Blundell’s creative video work has appeared on PBS, National Geographic and numerous social media platforms. He is currently the Visiting Scientist at the Maria Mitchell Association


Science Speaker series proudly sponsored by Bank of America.



VIEW RECORDED PRESENTATION

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