{"id":3267,"date":"2025-12-14T09:43:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T09:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=3267"},"modified":"2025-12-14T09:43:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T09:43:31","slug":"wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilko Graf von Hardenberg &#8211; Sea Level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, Research Scholar at Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin (Germany), discused his book\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/S\/bo221935080.html\">Sea Level: A History<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(University of Chicago Press, 2024) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 27 January 2025. Wilko is our first \u201csecond book appearance\u201d on the book talk series (which also shows how long we\u2019ve been doing these talks!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">News reports warn of rising sea levels spurred by climate change. Waters inch ever higher, disrupting delicate ecosystems and threatening island and coastal communities. The baseline for these measurements\u2014sea level\u2014may seem unremarkable, a long-familiar zero point for altitude. But as Wilko Graf von Hardenberg reveals, the history of defining and measuring sea level is intertwined with national ambitions, commercial concerns, and shifting relationships between people and the ocean.<br>&nbsp;<br><em>Sea Level<\/em>&nbsp;provides a detailed and innovative account of how mean sea level was first defined, how it became the prime reference point for surveying and cartography, and how it emerged as a powerful mark of humanity\u2019s impact on the earth. With Hardenberg as our guide, we traverse the muddy spaces of Venice and Amsterdam, the coasts of the Baltic Sea, the Panama and Suez canals, and the Himalayan foothills. Born out of Enlightenment studies of physics and quantification, sea level became key to state-sponsored public works, colonial expansion, Cold War development of satellite technologies, and recognizing the climate crisis. Mean sea level, Hardenberg reveals, is not a natural occurrence\u2014it has always been contingent, the product of people, places, politics, and evolving technologies. As global warming transforms the globe, Hardenberg reminds us that a holistic understanding of the ocean and its changes requires a multiplicity of reference points.<br>&nbsp;<br>A fascinating story that revises our assumptions about land and ocean alike,&nbsp;<em>Sea Level<\/em>&nbsp;calls for a more nuanced understanding of this baseline, one that allows for new methods and interpretations as we navigate an era of unstable seas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, Research Scholar at Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin (Germany), discused his book\u00a0Sea Level: A History\u00a0(University of Chicago Press, 2024) in the Greenhouse environmental [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-01-27-Hardenberg.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-01-27-Hardenberg_pod.jpeg","cover_image_id":"3268","duration":"00:58:21","filesize":"41.18M","filesize_raw":"43183763","date_recorded":"2025-01-27","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"2","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"6","itunes_episode_type":"full"},"tags":[17,18],"series":[16],"class_list":["post-3267","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","tag-books","tag-environment","series-greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-01-27-Hardenberg_pod.jpeg","download_link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-download\/3267\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level","player_link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3267\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level","audio_player":"<a class=\"wp-embedded-audio\" href=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3267\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level\">https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3267\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level<\/a>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks\/id1664960759","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/feed\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks\/","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0TNTSCl3zRBues4Eqjkwwm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/feed\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"UafM5MUxnf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level\/\">Wilko Graf von Hardenberg &#8211; Sea Level<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/wilko-graf-von-hardenberg-sea-level\/embed\/#?secret=UafM5MUxnf\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Wilko Graf von Hardenberg &#8211; Sea Level&#8221; &#8212; The Greenhouse Book Talks\" data-secret=\"UafM5MUxnf\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! 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