Blue Lab's Mining for the Climate team conducts field work and interviews in Nevada, summer 2023. Photo by Juan Manuel Rubio.

Blue Lab is incredibly proud to announce the launch of three original environmental podcast series this winter!

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Archival Ecologies, led by Jayme Collins, investigates how fires, floods, mold blooms and other ecological events are affecting cultural collections and the artifacts and memories they preserve.

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Carried by Water, led by Mario Soriano, explores stories revolving around water as a force of nature, a resource and a pillar of well-being. Season one travels to communities in the Philippines impacted a decade ago by Super Typhoon Haiyan, which made landfall on November 8, 2013.

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Mining for the Climate, led by Nate Otjen and Juan Manuel Rubio, examines the different narratives that are being told about the extraction, production, and development of lithium in the context of a changing climate and global histories of energy extraction.

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Three of the project leads, Jayme Collins, Mario Soriano and Nate Otjen, are postdoctoral research associates in the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI), and Juan Manuel Rubio is a postdoctoral research associate and lecturer in the Effron Center for the Study of America.

Six undergraduate interns, supported through HMEI, provided critical collaboration and project support during summer 2023 research and fieldwork, as well as storyboarding, writing, hosting and postproduction of podcast episodes:

  • Jamie Rodriguez '24 and Molly Taylor '25 (Archival Ecologies)
  • Braeden Carroll '26 (Carried by Water)
  • Alex Norbrook '26, Grace Wang '26 and Max Widmann '24 (Mining for the Climate)
Julita Abal, a traditional tikog weaver of almost 60 years, tells our team about the importance of the Saob Cave. Local weavers have long taken advantage of the temperature and humidity of the cave environment, which the locals found was ideal for the traditional grass material. This cave was also used as an evacuation center during 2014’s Typhoon Ruby, the next major storm to hit the region after Yolanda. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Julita Abal, a traditional tikog weaver of almost 60 years, tells our team about the importance of the Saob Cave. Local weavers have long taken advantage of the temperature and humidity of the cave environment, which the locals found was ideal for the traditional grass material. This cave was also used as an evacuation center during 2014’s Typhoon Ruby, the next major storm to hit the region after Yolanda. Photo by Mario Soriano.

Archival Ecologies, Carried by Water and Mining for the Climate are executive produced by lab director and PI Allison Carruth, Professor in the Effron Center for the Study of America and the High Meadows Environmental Institute. Project artwork is designed by Barron Bixler, Blue Lab's Creative Director. Philadelphia-based Kouvenda Media provided training and mentorship in audio storytelling production and postproduction. We're grateful for their support and expertise.