Listening to the Earth

Preserving oral histories of organisms for the future.

This is the final exhibit and online repository for the course, LIBR 588: Theory and Practice of Oral History, in the School of Information at the University of British Columbia. The title of this exhibit, “Listening to the Earth” is a call to answer the question: “How might we preserve stories about organisms for future generations?”. Students in the course interviewed nine experts and scientists and asked them about their favourite organisms. What results are nine interviews that examine the interesting, funny, and sometimes sad, futures for these organisms.

What appears here are longer interviews that accompany a physical exhibit on a Museum in a Box – a non screen based digital museum learning tool. This will be installed on UBC campus in Fall 2020.

As you listen to the nine interviews here, we invite you to imagine what a world without these organisms might be like, and what stories you would share about animals and plants in order to preserve their memories.