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The World Shaped by Us

The U.S. Atlantic Coast as viewed from the International Space Station

As the writer Diane Ackerman tells it, homo sapiens is a force of nature nearly unprecedented in Earth's 4.5-billion years. Like an asteroid blast, humans altered some of the planet's fundamental processes in a geological blink of an eye. In her latest book, Ackerman takes stock of the changes wrought in the Anthropocene or "human age," from the stamp of our settlements viewable from space, to the redistribution of life-forms, to ocean acidification. She joins us Monday to take stock of the world shaped by us.

Diane Ackerman will be in Salt Lake City on Saturday, October 22, as part of the the Utah Humanities Council's 2014 Book Festival. That event is at 6 p.m.

Diane Ackerman is the author of numerous books, including The Zookeeper's Wife and A Natural History of the Senses. Her new book is called The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us [Amazon|Indiebound]

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.