Nat Geo Channel's The Great Human Race returns to BORN PRIMAL this week with co-star, Cat Bigney! Two weeks ago, Dr. Bill Schindler had a conversation with us  about his part in this experiment. Today, Cat joins us to talk about her experience traveling the globe reenacting early man's life.

Cat spent most of her childhood hanging out in a teepee and exploring the Wasatch Mountains. She later spent a portion of her college years in the shack she built in her youth, accompanied by chickens and a flood-irrigated garden.

Her atypical background and love for the wilderness led her to Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS), where she has worked as a survival and primitive skills instructor since 2000. She has extensive remote medical training and instructs for the Wilderness Medical Institute of NOLS. Cat has a degree in Anthropology and Earth Sciences, and is passionate about primitive cultures, especially when it comes to art and social infrastructure.

She is driven by her desire to connect with people and encourage them to truly live. She wants to be a positive influence for girls and women, not only in the outdoor arena, but to also dare to be themselves, to be different and to take risks to achieve their dreams.

In The Great Human Race they must survive in the harshest locations ever occupied by ancient humans, and utilize only the tools and technology available to people in a predetermined time period. They encounter the same challenges that our ancestors once faced, and overcome them in a similar fashion – by adapting their technology and behavior, and in essence, evolving throughout the course of an episode. The big question to be answered is “Can modern humans survive in the same way primitive humans did?” Each episode takes them to a new location. They are placed in a specific time period and follow a migration route that our ancestors travelled in pursuit of food and resources.

SHOW TOPICS:

Entitlement culture

Food in our society

Accountability in plant-based diets

Considering sustainable models for our offspring

Girl empowerment

STEM and girls

How we can connect deeper to our primal selves

Gratitude and empathy