On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Prof. Danny Dorling of Oxford University, author of ‘Finntopia: What We Can Learn From the World’s Happiest Country.’ He discusses some of the problems in Finland, such as gambling and racism, which the government is trying to tackle. He also talks about how Finland ranks in the top three of more than 100 different world happiness indexes, the country’s tough history and how this forced its citizens to come together, how left-wing unity in Finland has led them to become a dominant force in Finnish politics, how the nation’s education spending differs from that of other Western countries, policies which have led to the virtual ending of homelessness, how the UK is at the bottom of most rankings such as equality among European states, whereas Finland consistently remains at or near the top, and more! Finally, we speak to Prof. Jeffrey Shaman, director of the climate and health program at Columbia University. He discusses the possible effects of the climate on influenza viruses and coronavirus, why it’s significantly harder to forecast fatality with the Covid-19 pandemic due to atmospheric conditions and human behavior, how coronavirus may have innate seasonality, how winter could make the coronavirus more transmissible, the findings of studies which have looked into how atmospheric conditions affect the coronavirus, and much more!
