Earth Beat, 9 December 2011. We’re heading up, up and away to take a look at the view from above. From using Google Earth to discover archaeological sites to a scientist with a head for heights, and a group of intrepid twenty-something canoeists who decided to paddle 7000 km across the second largest country in the world to understand exactly how big it is. Comment on the show.
Subscribe to podcast feed
Subscribe in iTunes 
Like us on Facebook 
Follow us on Twitter 
It’s weird that sometimes you can tell more about your environment from further away. A great example is aerial archaeology.
This is a method of viewing large archaeological structures from above, often by plane.
David Kennedy from APAAME is one of the pioneers of the field, and he talks to host Marnie Chesterton about how come being far away, sometimes thousands of miles away, is better than standing right on top of your treasure. View more aerial photos below.
Visit the APAAME Flickr archive.
Google Inside Search - David Kennedy: Ancient Ruins
Medellin, in northern Colombia, has three million residents, set around a valley, with the poorest neighbourhoods perched higher up on the ridge of the hills. But until recently, most people who lived there, used to have to travel over an hour on a series of buses, just to get to other parts of the city.
So authorities in Medellin decided to build a cable car capable of carrying 150,000 people up and down the hill to make their commutes faster, cheaper and easier. They named it Metrocable. Theodor Kurk says it’s the first city in the world to use such a system for public transport, and it works (more photos below).
This spring, Trans CanEAUda a group of intrepid young Canadians decided to go on a road trip. They started in Ottawa, in south-eastern Canada, and canoed 7000 km northwest across the country to the Arctic Ocean, ending at Inuvik.
For over five months, the team covered anywhere from 20-100 km a day, depending on currents, wind and weather. Alex Bevington and Ellorie McKnight talk to Marnie about what it was like to get to know their country kilometre by kilometre, and the surprises they found on its waterways (more photos and route below).
Cultivating crops at the top
Jason Aloisio is a PhD student at Fordham University in New York and has taken advantage of the faculty building’s flat roof, which he’s using to grow some unusual crops: weeds (more photos below).
Jason’s discovered hardy varieties of some little-known plants, which he says are a useful food source in an urban environment.
He tells Marnie why the top storey’s the ideal setting for growing things.
Blog - Fordham Urban Sustainability and Ecosystems – FUSE
No show about the view from the top would be complete without an Mount Everest-related story.
Former journalist Rebecca Stephens, MBE fell in love with the Himalayas after travelling there for a story, and went on to climb the world’s tallest mountain (more photos below).
She claims we can use the same skills needed to scale a peak, to tackle a variety of workplace problems.
Email this Radio Show
Printer-friendly version
Post new comment
Please be reminded all comments must be in English, short and to the point - guideline 250 words. Abusive and inappropriate comments will be removed.