Animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki has produced timeless masterpieces at Studio Ghibli, featuring gorgeous fantastical worlds and complex characters. We discuss three of these films which have a particular focus on the relationship between human civilization and the environment.

In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, an agrarian society on the border of a toxic jungle is invaded by a violent industrial civilization bent on destroying the jungle. In Princess Mononoke, a young woman defends a magical forest from the encroachment of Iron Town's clear-cutting and mining. And then in Laputa / Castle in the Sky a floating city provides an example of a harmonious technologically-augmented nature - but is it a utopia or a cautionary tale?

Host Charlie Boyd is joined by designers Aurora Li and Shankar Saanthakumar (studiowavy.com) to explore these worlds and the lessons embedded within.