Sarah Patterson on the Earth, disease, and human interactions

You may have heard the phrase “geography is destiny” which alludes to how our natural resources are the source of civilization’s wealth and it's catalyst. Well, our guest today, Sarah Patterson a mine geologist, would instead suggest that “geology is destiny”

In a previous encounter with Sarah, she said “if civilization is a ship, the rudder is geology and the sails are epidemiology.” At first glance, I thought this notion was preposterous but after hearing the logic, I wanted to share this with our audience. Sarah is biased in her view as a geologist, but she makes the case that Earth’s dynamism, tectonics, geomorphology, and other natural phenomena, set the stage for where humans were able to flourish. For example, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were a nearly insurmountable barrier caused by our dynamic planet and kept people from reaching the Americas for tens of thousands of years!

More importantly, is the fact that geology stopped us from interacting with other diverse populations. Sarah argues that epidemiology, the study of diseases and how they spread, can provide the answers to understanding how people interacted with one another when crossing these geological barriers and intermingling.

One of the most surprising facts I learned during the discussion is that Sarah was thinking about this before COVID and now her years of contemplation are seeing a high in popularity.

I do want to highlight her thoughtfulness. Sarah is one of the few people that I have met who is unafraid of sitting in silence to think about how she would like to respond to a question. It is something I admire and respect as someone who strives to speak eloquently and carefully to optimize my communications.

After we finished recording the episode, Sarah mentioned her interest in TB, tuberculosis, and the conversation was so interesting that we thought it should be recorded. So if you make it to the end you get a "bonus snippet" of fascinating facts about TB.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

Caelen Burand - Our Resources host