大象传媒

Mark Tully hears how winds like El Ni帽o, the Sirocco and the Trade Winds connect the earth's ecosystems, as well as human societies and beliefs.

The science of this inter-connectedness is explained by David Carlson, Director of the World Climate Research Programme. He discusses with Mark how commerce, conflict and culture have been shaped by the flow of air around our planet, and how ideas can be carried on the breeze.

From idyllic breezes to tempestuous storms, and from the Saharan desert to the South China Sea, artistic images of the wind are summoned, in music, by Benjamin Britten, Nina Simone and Frederic Chopin - and, in words, by Joseph Conrad, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Jan DeBlieu.

Mark considers also how the wind can be one of the wonders of nature that connect us to God, and how it can so overawe us that we lose our self awareness and experience the transcendent.

A Unique production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.