TYPE 2: Episode 020 - Shannon Galpin

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism. My guest for this episode of Type 2 is Shannon Galpin an explorer, writer, journalist, artist and global activist known primarily for her work on climate action and women’s rights. I first became aware of Shannon through her long-running work in Afghanistan, where she has been involved with womens’ rights projects for over a decade now. She first visited the country in 2009, eventually helping to establish the first Afghan Women’s National cycling team, and continuing to advocate for the right of women in the country to ride bikes in safety. Shannon wrote two books about this experience, as well producing the documentary Afghan Cycles. Today, with social and political change sweeping the country once again, she has been working to help evacuate the women she worked with and their families from the country, as well as setting up post-evacuation programmes for them around Europe, the US and Canada. In addition to this important, emotionally involving work, Shannon is also collaborating with her daughter Devon on a project called Endangered Activism, through which she focuses “on field research and the use of street art as a way of …inspiring youth activism for wildlife conservation and climate justice” As you’re going to discover from our conversation, Shannon has a truly remarkable range of interests and is creating important, transformative work across a number of different creative fronts, something she sums up by saying ‘my curiosity outweighs my fear’. I found her empathetic, inquisitive approach to activism to be hugely inspiring - I hope you do too. New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.