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PODCAST EPISODE #5: From Stars to Stones with Cate Larsen

Summary: In episode 5 of Beneath Your Feet, A Geoscience Podcast, host Veronica Klassen interviews geoscience communicator Cate Larsen. Cate discusses her non traditional route from astronomy to geology and her passion for making geoscience accessible and engaging through social media platforms like TikTok and Twitch. She emphasizes the importance of dispelling misconceptions about geology, highlighting that it’s more than just the study of rocks. Cate also shares insights into her daily activities, including content creation, scripting, and planning educational content. Throughout the conversation, she underscores the value of face-to-face interactions and creative approaches in effectively communicating complex scientific concepts to the public. Listen now: You can also listen to our podcast on these platforms: Audible Apple Podcasts Spotify Read along with the podcast transcript: Introduction Hello, everyone. Welcome to Beneath Your Feet, a geoscience podcast. I’m Veronica Klassen, science communicator, geology enthusiast and your host. Here at the APGO Education Foundation, our mission is to spark curiosity and passion for the geology of Ontario. Whether you’re a geology nerd, science enthusiast, or nature lover, this podcast is for you. Join us as we geek out over fascinating geology, uncover the hidden stories and secrets of our extraordinary planet and explore the captivating world beneath your feet. Veronica Klassen: All right, well, welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m here with Cate Larsen, who’s a geoscience communicator, so both in person doing workshops, conferences, things like that, and through your really cool social media accounts and podcast as well. I found Cate through your TikTok account where you talk about what it’s like to be a geoscientist and what your life is like as a geoscience communicator. So thanks so much for being here with me. Cate Larsen: Thank you for having me. This is so fun to talk about this stuff with a fellow scientist person who are interested in sciences. It is so fun to just geek out about this stuff and kind of talk about our experiences. Veronica: Yeah, I’m super excited. All right. Do you want to start just by telling us about yourself? Who are you and what do you do? Cate: Well, my name is Cate. I talk about rocks for a living. That’s a very simplified version of it. That’s what it says on my business card. I definitely feel like there’s so much more to geology than just rocks, but, and I’m, I mean, I keep it simple for the for the business card and for my quick intro pitches. But in in all I love to teach about geology and geoscience being more than just rocks because it is. And there’s such a huge misconception that it’s a boring science. It’s not a real science. It’s it’s just rocks. Who cares? We don’t need to be studying this. So I go out there and I go on social media, and I make these fun educational videos to kind of teach about geology in all these different ways that people I teach it in interesting, creative ways. But I’m also teaching interesting and creative stuff that people don’t know about. That’s what I mean to say. Veronica: Yeah, yeah. It keeps people’s interest when you’re talking about something that, yeah, they might have no experience with. All right. So as a geoscience communicator, what does a day in the life look like for you? Is there a lot of variety or are you kind of doing the same things. What’s that like? Cate: Well, today happens to be a day that I have just a lot of meetings. This is one of my meetings. I’ve got two more today. I definitely like to connect with people. That’s my whole thing. I love connectivity and just like personal conversation, I feel like that’s one of the best ways to, you know, effectively communicate stuff is face to face, and that’s why I spend so much time with my social media, because I know that that face to face you know, showing I’m explaining something and my face is here, I’m talking to you. I’m making it sort of casual, conversational, almost. So I’ve got meetings today. I’m going to hopefully try to work on I’m going to finish up a script that I’m doing for a new YouTube video. And hopefully be able to record that before I lose daylight. Also this week I’ll be working on some itinerary plans for a field expedition that me and some people are doing next month in March. But we have to prepare for it way ahead of time. Veronica: Where are you guys going? Cate: Oh, we’re going to Southern California to make a bunch of educational content, in person with the geology hands on. So it’s a really cool opportunity to get out there and not just have to use green screen to teach about stuff that we’re pointing to. I feel like that’ll really show people that geology is is very hands on. It’s really interesting. And you can learn so much just from going in person. I’m also looking forward to just, bothering random passersby. I love grabbing hikers and being like, hey, do you want to learn something cool about these rocks? I love doing that. That’s going to be really, really fun. Veronica: That sounds so cool. How did you hear about that opportunity? Or is this something that you guys are making for yourselves? Cate: We created this. So me and my friends are a bunch of other geoscience communicators. If you are on YouTube, you probably have heard of Geo Girl. That’s that’s our wonderful, wonderful friend Rachel. She is a postdoc, and she’s doing her postdoc on geoscience communication. So she had written into her new grants like, hey, we can go do this, and we will track the data on these posts and the performances and show how effective it is to get out in the fields and do this stuff and

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PODCAST EPISODE #4: Reefs and Reels: Evolution and Communication with Charlotte Spruzen

Summary In this episode of Beneath Your Feet, A Geoscience Podcast, host Veronica Klassen interviews Charlotte Spruzen about her research on ancient reef systems in the Yukon and their role in the evolution of complex life. Charlotte explains how these ancient ecosystems provide clues about early animal life and Earth’s changing environments. Beyond her fieldwork, she shares insights on geoscience communication, including her experiences making educational TikTok videos and the challenges of debunking misinformation online. The conversation highlights the importance of making science accessible, engaging, and accurate in a digital age where myths can spread quickly. Listen now: You can also listen to our podcast on these platforms: Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music Audible Read along with the podcast transcript: Introduction Hello, everyone. Welcome to Beneath Your Feet, A Geoscience Podcast. I’m Veronica Klassen, science communicator, geology enthusiast and your host. Here at the APGO Education Foundation, our mission is to spark curiosity and passion for the geology of Ontario. Whether you’re a geology nerd, science enthusiast, or nature lover, this podcast is for you. Join us as we geek out over fascinating geology, uncover the hidden stories and secrets of our extraordinary planet and explore the captivating world beneath your feet. Veronica Klassen Welcome. Thanks so much for being with me here today. Today I’m going to be talking to Charlotte Spruzen, who is a PhD candidate at McGill University, studying the evolution of complex life. So, thanks for being with me here today. Charlotte Spruzen Thank you for inviting me, I’m so excited to be here. Veronica So, yeah, why don’t we just start with, tell us a little bit about yourself, who are you and what do you do? Charlotte Yeah. So I’m Charlotte. My pronouns are she/ her. I came to Canada three years ago, so I’ve been in Montreal since then, working at McGill University. I’m a PhD candidate in sedimentology and stratigraphy. So that’s basically looking at sedimentary rocks and seeing how they change as a function of distance from the shoreline and how sea level changes as well. And before that, I was in the UK, as you can probably tell from the accent. I love it, I love Canada, I love being here. I am really into my research and yep, that’s a little bit about me. Veronica Amazing. Thanks so much. Yeah. And I found you via your TikTok channel, which is really fun. And so you also do a little bit of science communication there, which is also a really cool part of what you do. Charlotte Yeah. I keep forgetting to plug that. Yeah. So I do a bit of science communication under the username @charbonate. And I do that on Instagram and TikTok it’s the same content on both and I make videos about mostly sedimentary rocks but I’m moving a little bit more into climate change just because I feel that’s important in the current political landscape. Veronica Yeah, that is definitely very important. All right. So with your studies, what what is it day in life look like for you both when you’re out doing research in the field or when you’re at home at the university? Charlotte So my time, as you kind of alluded to, is split between fieldwork, which is maybe like 1 or 2 months per year and office work. So when I’m in the field, it sort of depends on where we are. But most of my fieldwork has been in Yukon, so that’s helicopter fieldwork out in the Ogilvie Mountains just north of Dawson City. It’s an absolutely beautiful part of the world and I’m so lucky to work there. And a day in the life there, we’ll be staying in like individual tents. So we will have slept in the tent overnight. You wake up, you go into a group tent, you make coffee, you make breakfast, which is normally just oatmeal with just the same thing every single day. It gets pretty boring. And then we leave at, you know, between 8 and 9 a.m. and we go out into the field and we do between an eight and a ten hour day. And we’re walking off to the outcrops and we’re studying the rocks, mostly taking what are called stratigraphic logs. So that’s when you walk up a hill and you’re measuring how the rocks change through time. Well, how the rocks change up the hill, which means how they’re changing through time. And then we come back, we make our dinner, which again, is pretty much the same thing every day. It’s just a dehydrated meal and you add hot water. And so we have that. We have maybe some like, fun snacks and then we go to bed. So, yeah, it’s very much the same routine, but different rocks every day, which is pretty cool. Veronica Hm, that’s awesome, yeah. Charlotte And then when I’m in the office, again, there’s like a lot of, so I guess kind of the opposite of the fieldwork where there’s a lot of variety. I’m kind of doing something different every day. So sometimes I might be doing some lab work measuring the geochemical composition of things. Sometimes I might be writing or maybe doing some coding, figure plotting, basically preparing things for manuscripts or for my thesis. And then other days I’d say most days right now I’m doing microscope work. So my main area of interest is looking at really thin slices of carbonate rocks and trying to figure out if they’re getting more complex through time. So I’m just spending hours staring down the microscope looking at these tiny little like micron scale features, which I love, but it does give you a headache after a little bit. Veronica I believe it. Okay, awesome. That’s super cool. I love that, there’s so much variety in what you do. I think that’s really fun. How did you get where you are? Like, how were you originally

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PODCAST EPISODE 3: From Books to Bedrock: Student life with Keira Hum

In this episode, we sit down with Keira Hum, a passionate Integrated Science student at McMaster University, to explore the ins and outs of student life in the world of Earth Sciences. Keira shares her journey from the classroom to the field, offering invaluable advice for balancing academics, personal growth, and career aspirations. Whether it’s navigating coursework, finding opportunities in the geoscience community, or preparing for a future in the field, Keira’s relatable stories and practical tips are sure to inspire students and geoscience enthusiasts alike. Tune in for a fun and insightful conversation packed with guidance for thriving in geoscience studies! 🌍🎙️ Listen now: You can also listen to our podcast on these platforms: Audible Apple Podcasts Spotify Read along with the podcast transcript: Introduction Hello, everyone. Welcome to Beneath Your Feet, a geoscience podcast. I’m Veronica Klassen, science communicator, geology enthusiast and your host. Here at the APGO Education Foundation, our mission is to spark curiosity and passion for the geology of Ontario. Whether you’re a geology nerd, science enthusiast, or nature lover, this podcast is for you. Join us as we geek out over fascinating geology, uncover the hidden storiesand secrets of our extraordinary planet and explore the captivating world beneath your feet. Veronica Klassen Thanks so much for joining me. Today I’m here with Keira Hum, a third year university student at McMaster. We’re going to be talking about some tips and ideas for being in school, studying geology,all those sorts of things. And I think it’ll be a really good conversation. I’m really excited to talk with you. Keira Hum I’m really excited to talk to you, too, Veronica. I’m excited to kind of talk about my job and experience going through a geoscience program. VeronicaYeah, for sure. All right, so why don’t you just start by introducing yourself? Who are you? What do you do? KeiraSo, yeah, my name is Keria Hum. I go to McMaster, and I’m in the Integrated Science program. I’m going into my fourth year of study and I have a concentration in Earth and Environmental Science. So I do a lot of, like, scientific research and take a lot of environmental electives. VeronicaAwesome. How does it feel being almost done? KeiraPretty good. I know I’m going to miss my friends a lot so that I’ll be going over my mind throughout the year and kind of thinking about master’s programs too, right now. So that’s been what I’ve been doing. VeronicaYeah. And how did you get where you are now? So how did you originally become interested in geoscience and what was that journey like for you? KeiraSo in my first year of undergrad in my Integrated Science program, we did have an introductory lecture and course in Earth and Environmental Science, and I really enjoyed that compared to like all the other courses that we had to take. And I just thought the Earth Science course was so much more fun and so much more interactive. And I also took an intro to Environment, Climate and Water, and I thought that was really interesting too. And I had a bunch of field events, which was really fun, and I thought, you know, can’t hurt to try going into that concentration. And I’m so glad that I did. VeronicaYeah, that’s awesome. And I think I remember you saying that you were not imagining that you would do Earth Science before university. You had a different track in mind. Is that the case? KeiraYeah. I was thinking I would go into biology. That’s kind of what I was interested in during high school. But getting introduced to the course at a university level and the concepts I thought was really interesting. I really like the idea of sitting in the classroom, learning about the concepts and then doing labs outside and in the field. That was really interesting to me and I learn so much better in those kind of environments. So it was kind of perfect for me. Yeah, and I just thought, it’s so applicable to so many different types of disciplines, like I could do biology and geoscience if I wanted, or earth and environmental science and biology. And I really liked how the discipline can, kind of, interact with so many other ones. VeronicaYeah, definitely. That’s one of the things that I also love about geology is just like how universal is and like it relates to so many different scientific and also nonscientific areas of study. KeiraYeah, for sure. VeronicaAnd you also said that you decided to try to get your PGO certification. So could you tell us a bit about how that process has been for you? KeiraYeah. So I first got introduced to what PGO is and the importance of it in my first year of study. So I was kind of thinking about it and trying to plan my courses for the PGO and because I’m in ISci, it’s hard to manage my electives just because I have limited space every year. So I had to do a lot of planning field courses and extra courses during the summer and spring terms just so I can make up all the knowledge requirements to get the PGO certificate. So it’s been a lot of planning and stress, but I know it’ll be worth it in the end. Yeah, I love the courses that I’m taking anyway that are required for the PGO knowledge requirements, so I find it, you know, not too difficult and pretty enjoyable because I’m getting more exposure to courses I might not have noticed or taken if it wasn’t for the PGO requirement list and seeing the course offerings on that document. VeronicaRight? Yeah, it’s different things that necessarily you would always get to get to explore. So that’s cool. On that note, do you have any other piece of advice that you would give for younger students who are maybe considering PGO or geoscience in general? What

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PODCAST EPISODE 2: Stories, Science and Society: Reframing Geoscience Communication with P.Geo. Paul Hubley

Join podcast host Veronica Klassen and guest Professional Geoscientist and CEO of Geoscientists Canada Paul Hubley in this discussion of geoscience communication and the future of geoscience. Hear from Paul on his career, life advice, and how we can start to create a more accurate perception of geoscience in society. Join us in discussing how Earth Science can help us wrestle with the big issues of our time, and the importance of relationship building, storytelling, and listening in addressing these issues. Episode Audio: You can also listen to our podcast on these platforms: Episode Transcript: Veronica Klassen Hello, everyone. Welcome to Beneath Your Feet, a geoscience podcast. I’m Veronica Klassen, science communicator, geology enthusiast and your host. Here at the APGO Education Foundation, our mission is to spark curiosity and passion for the geology of Ontario. Whether you’re a geology nerd, science enthusiast, or nature lover, this podcast is for you. Join us as we geek out over fascinating geology, uncover the hidden stories and secrets of our extraordinary planet, and explore the captivating world beneath your feet. Today I’m meeting with Paul Hubley, and we’re going to be talking a little bit about his career, we’re going to be talking about advice for students, the perception of geoscience in society and some other really cool things. So yeah, if you want to just do like a quick introduction to yourself, that would be great. Paul Hubley, P. Geo Fantastic. Thank you very much. Thanks for inviting me here today, I’m excited to be here. So, Paul Hubley, I’m a male in my in my 50s, born in Halifax, living with my wife, Caroline, and on any given day, between two and three of our five kids are living with us as. We also have a little chihuahua. And I’m a professional geoscientist. Before we go further, geoscience is a regulated profession, just like engineering. So I’m a P. Geo. I’ve been in environmental consulting for 35 years, and the vehicle that brought me there is an education in Earth Sciences. I’ve got a Bachelors of Science with Honours in Geological Sciences from Brock University and a Master’s of Science in Earth Science from the University of Waterloo. That was way back when, in 1995 before the turn of the century, turn of the millennium. Other than being a father and geoscientist, I’m a self described serial volunteer. Just to pick up skills and contribute in ways that work didn’t bring bring to me. I like to landscape and build things outside, as long as it doesn’t have to be too fancy, then count me in. I’m a measure once, cut twice, kind of person. So I like to dabble. And I found out recently I like to do some creative writing, so I’m a bit of a groundskeeper as well. Veronica Yeah. And you’ve been doing some creative writing for our blog, which has been very fun. So you can check out those articles on our website.  Paul Yeah, it’s more of a dabbler. So the groundskeeper is the landscaping and the creative writing is a bit of a dabbler. So yeah, I hope that people do check it out. Veronica Yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right. Thanks so much. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about how you first got interested in geoscience. Like what drew you to geology? Paul Well, I had always been drawn to the ocean. Being born in Halifax and going to Nova Scotia almost every year and summer, the ocean was just part of my life. And somewhere around grade 10 or 11, I was convinced that I wanted to be in the Coast Guard. It would take me to the East Coast that I loved, keep me on the water for my entire life. That’s what I was thinking and I thought I’d like to push myself, I like to travel, all those things. And for some reason I just got the feeling that that particular thing was going to be too limiting. And also the 1980s were the time of deep sea exploration. Jacques Cousteau was sending submarines down to deep sea vents and they were finding these black smokers in the bottom of the Mariana Trench and things like that. And I just thought, this is amazing stuff. So then I switched from the Coast Guard to wanting to be a marine biologist. I was absolutely convinced I was going to be a marine biologist until I took a Grade 13 biology class and felt it wasn’t connecting. It was just a lot of memorization and just technical terms I just wasn’t connecting with. And I also had the opportunity to take a geology class in high school, which is pretty rare. That was inspiring. So, at the same time, the biology bubble was deflating and the geology bubble was inflating. And I thought, wow, I decided that I really wanted to work on environmental issues. And this could be a vehicle to do it. And it is. It has been. And I never looked back. I don’t know where I got it in my head. I thought it was my idea and nobody else had this idea, but apparently I was wrong. There was a whole industry that was building up at the time, so I probably picked it up somewhere else, but I took it on as my own. Veronica That’s awesome. Yeah. So you’ve been on quite a journey. What’s your best piece of advice for young students and how how can they figure out, kind of, what they are interested in, what they want to do? Paul Yeah, ultimately the journey was convoluted and it was difficult and there’s a lot of choices and that can be difficult for people. I guess I could say a couple of things here. One is that what you choose, if you’re lucky enough to feel, it feels right like I was, then go for it, do it.

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PODCAST EPISODE 1: Devonian Discoveries: Fossils at Wainfleet Wetlands with Paleontologist Dr. Daniel Dick

Join podcast host Veronica Klassen and guest paleontologist Dr. Daniel Dick as we delve into the creation of a GeoHike at Wainfleet Wetlands. Discover the unique ecosystem of the middle Devonian period through an array of fascinating features: encounter colonial organisms, massive corals, glacial striations, and pop-up structures. We’ll discuss potentially undiscovered fossils, augmented reality animations to bring fossilized animals to life, and what counting layers on rugose corals can tell us about the speed of the Earth’s rotation in the Devonian. Episode Audio: You can also listen to our podcast on these platforms: Episode Transcript: Dr. Daniel Dick (Dan) It looks like an ecosystem where the water was just drained out of it. It feels alive and it will really help you understand just how different the world used to be. I think that is the main thing that makes paleontology interesting. It just shows you that the world has changed so much, and it will blow your mind. [musical interlude] Veronica Klassen Hello, everyone. Welcome to Beneath Your Feet, a geoscience podcast. I’m Veronica Klassen, science communicator, geology enthusiast and your host. Here at the APGO Education Foundation, our mission is to spark curiosity and passion for the geology of Ontario. Whether you’re a geology nerd, science enthusiast, or nature lover, this podcast is for you. Join us as we geek out over fascinating geology, uncover the hidden stories and secrets of our extraordinary planet, and explore the captivating world beneath your feet. [musical interlude] Veronica All right, let’s get started. Today, I’m going to be talking to Daniel Dick, who is a researcher at McMaster University. Daniel, why don’t you start by telling us a bit about yourself? Dan Yeah, I mean, you covered quite a bit there. I’m Dan. I’m a postdoc at McMaster, primarily working on this public outreach project that we’ve been developing over the last few years. Which, in conjunction with the APGO Education Foundation, is developing this website, GeoscienceINFO, and primarily we are working on the GeoHikes. Research-wise, I’m a paleontologist. I focus primarily on fossils. I work on mass extinction events and trying to understand the dynamics of them, with the end goal of hopefully applying some of the knowledge we might learn from past extinction events to help us understand contemporary extinction dynamics and areas of risk and things like this. Yeah, so, my research sort of takes me all over. It’s primarily focused on Ordovician-Silurian fossils. So that’s a lot of stuff that we find here in Ontario, but also in other parts of Canada and the United States and such. Veronica Amazing. So how did you originally get interested in geoscience? Like, what led you here? Dan I’ve definitely been interested in it for a very long time. I have photos as a kid at the Royal Tyrrell Museum staring at the fossils, and you can sort of see that it’s already something I’m obsessed with at that point. But the beginning of the journey, I think, was in high school because my high school actually had Earth science courses up to grade 12 in B.C., where that’s sort of more standard. And I’d kind of forgotten how much I like geoscience, I think until those late courses. And it reminded me, oh yeah, I forgot that this was a thing. And that was something that I enjoyed and was good at as well, which helped. Veronica So, it was kind of high school, then you decided to study it in university. Did you go straight into geoscience? Dan Yeah, I didn’t actually go straight into it. I went into evolutionary anthropology, so I was focused more on human evolution and human fossils and things like that. But then found myself realizing that the questions and things I was more interested in could more easily be answered by working with non-human fossils, because you need large numbers of things, so you need lots of fossils in order to start to understand things like extinction dynamics and climate change and all that kind of stuff. And so, I switched over to more standard and invertebrate paleontology at that point for my Ph.D., which then looked at those kinds of questions. Veronica So, when you say those kinds of questions, you’re talking about extinction events and how we can learn from that? Is what you mean? Dan Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Veronica Yeah, for sure. And just for a little bit more context do you want to explain kind of like what the GeoHikes are, what’s like the purpose of the GeoHikes? Dan For sure. So basically, like the GeoHikes are kind of a, they’re sort of a freely accessible trail guide in a literal sense, that’s what they are. They take you along an existing hiking trail that has some sort of geologically interesting features on it, and there’ll be a series of stops which will take you to these different features and will describe for a general audience what’s going on geologically. Occasionally we do other things beyond geology. We also look at ecology, for example, talk about invasive species or we’ll find fossils on some of the hikes, and we’ll talk about ancient ecosystems or mass extinctions or whatever it is we’re doing. And my personal vision for them, is I see them sort of as a living first year Earth science lecture. They’re simple in the sense that they should be understood by anyone. But instead of having a textbook figure or something explaining the process of erosion or soil formation or something, you go to a physical location where this is all on display. And so, the figure that you would normally look at in a textbook is now there in front of you in real life and offers an opportunity to learn this. Ideally, the way I see it is if you do enough of these GeoHikes, you will get all the basic information you would need to understand, you know, the sophistication of

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