Telephone Poles

We explore the history of telephone-like poles in the ancient world and discover how they came to be so prominent in the American landscape.

 We learn that these apparently tumbledown structures – more than 100 million – are highly engineered structures that showcase shared networks to keep us all connected, and are also creating new habitats for some non-human friends.

What is Real World: Exploring The Built And Created Environment?

​The Real World podcast explores, celebrates, and seeks to help listeners understand and possibly improve the built and created environment which surrounds us.

​We look at everything from high-rise buildings to street signs, to leggings to rocking chairs.

​We examine what the world is made of, how it came to be this way, and how it functions – in sometimes surprising ways.

​We invite listeners to understand that the built and created environment is designed and can be re-designed and modified.

​When you know a bit more about the real world, you can understand it, use it, possibly challenge it, and maybe even enjoy it a bit more.