Ursula Goodenough is a Professor of Biology Emerita at Washington University in St. Louis, and serves as president of the Religious Naturalist Association. She authored the textbook Genetics and the best-selling book The Sacred Depths of Nature. She has presented the paradigm of the Religious Naturalist Orientation and the Epic of Evolution in numerous venues around the world. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Ursula describes what it means to be a Religious Naturalist. By first establishing a basis of scientific knowledge and then discussing topics such as spirituality, death, meaning, and separating technology from science, Ursula presents a perspective that reconciles our modern scientific understanding of reality with our timeless spiritual yearnings for reverence and continuity.
Episode 91: John Navazio - The Importance of Seeds
John Navazio breeds genetically-resilient, open-pollinated leafy greens and root crops for regenerative farming practices at Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine. He is also the author of The Organic Seed Grower. His work focuses on developing varieties with robust growth, broad resistance to disease and environmental stress, and superior culinary quality. In this episode of Nature Revisited, John discusses his lifelong relationship with seeds, their importance, and his philosophy & approach to breeding robust, genetically-diverse crops.
Episode 90: Jackson Newman - A Year on the Slough
After graduating college, Jackson Newman discovered and read A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, and immediately felt compelled to join the Aldo Leopold Foundation. He was awarded a fellowship, and spent a year in Sand County, Wisconsin's 'Slough', writing two articles for the Foundation about land ethics and conservation. These two articles, titled The Backwash of the River Progress and The Guiding Virtues of the Land Ethic are the basis of this episode's discussion on land conservation between Jackson and host Stefan Van Norden.
Episode 89: Vítor da Silva - Working For Indigenous Rights
Click to go to Vítor’s Instagram page
Vítor da Silva is an indigenous-rights researcher, ethnographer and storyteller. He has a background in anthropology, human rights, and is a trained criminal investigator. He has conducted fieldwork with different indigenous communities around the world, including: the Maasai tribe in Kenya, the nomadic Changpa people in the Indian Himalayas, and the Noke Kuin people in the Brazilian Amazon. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Vítor recounts pivotal childhood events that led him to reject the status quo and instead seek meaningful experiences and pursuits into adulthood. Combining his military, investigative and anthropological experiences, Vítor outlines how these skills inform his holistic and dedicated approach in working to aid indigenous groups all over the world.
Episode 88: Sara Dykman - Bicycling With Butterflies
Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure through three countries and over 10,000 miles. Her book Bicycling with Butterflies recounts this incredible, nearly nine-month odyssey. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Sara talks about being drawn to animals as a child into adulthood, how she became enchanted by monarchs, the evolution of her experiences into a book, and how all of us can connect with and help save monarch butterflies by planting milkweed.
Help the monarchs by visiting Save Our Monarchs and Monarch Watch
Episode 87: Benjamin Vogt - Prairie Up
Benjamin Vogt is an award-winning author and garden designer based in Lincoln, Nebraska. He owns Monarch Gardens LLC, a prairie garden design company, and speaks nationally on garden design and landscape ethics. His new book Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design is an actionable guide for gardeners and homeowners who wish to not only support wildlife but please the eye. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Ben talks about his passion for prairie, why prairie is so important, and how embracing lawn-to-meadow conversions can revive diversity and wildness in our communities.
Episode 86: Jesse Hildebrand - Nature For All
Jesse Hildebrand is a science communicator who has been working to connect scientists and explorers with the public throughout Canada, and operates as the Canadian Coordinator for Nature For All - a global movement whose mission is to inspire, celebrate, and restore the love of Nature. He is also the VP of Education for the organization Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Jesse talks about how his love of nature as a child oriented the direction of his life and career, his foray into educating through media, the importance of nature in the classroom, the Backyard Bio initiative, and more. He also discusses his introduction to Nature For All, its mission, and how it is a community of interested organizations and individuals who are working together to affect change.
Episode 85: Stefan Van Norden - Making Of A Podcast
As Nature Revisited approaches its fifth year, we go behind the podcast in this episode to meet its creator - Stefan Van Norden. From his experiences in nature during his formative years, to a rediscovery of nature as intrinsically sacred through the act of gardening, Stefan relates through personal accounts the origins and philosophy of Nature Revisited - The Podcast. Interviewed by friend and actor Jamie Horton, Stefan talks about our responsibility to give back to nature, and how his search to fulfill that duty - first with gardening, then filmmaking - ultimately led to creating Nature Revisited as a diverse community-building platform for those who are passionate about sharing, protecting and giving back to nature, which we are all a part of.
Episode 84: Ron Bowen - Restorationist
Ron Bowen founded Prairie Restorations, Inc in 1977 as one of the first companies in America devoted to designing, restoring, and managing native prairie plant communities. Having expanded to six locations throughout Minnesota, their work now also encompasses restoring wetland, woodland, and shoreline plant communities. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Ron talks about his formative background and influences regarding environmentalism and land ethics, the founding of Prairie Restorations and its mission, as well as fascinating insights into the methods and tools they use to accurately restore lost and threatened ecosystems.
Episode 83: The Jungle Journal
The Jungle Journal is an online platform/annual print magazine covering themes around the environment, global cultures, ecosystems, indigenous activism, and more. Founded by Sara Lopez and Gabriel Alvarez out of a mutual passion for travel and curiosity about the world, its mission is to remind people of who they are and where they come from - that we are nature and we come from nature. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Sara and Gabriel interview each other from within a remote Mexican jungle, recounting their personal journeys, the origins of the Jungle Journal and its mission, and some of the remarkable experiences they've had during their world travels.
Episode 82: Missouri Prairie Foundation - Saving Our Prairies
For over 55 years, the Missouri Prairie Foundation has been conserving Missouri’s prairies and other native grasslands - some of the most imperiled habitats on the planet. In this episode of Nature Revisited, we join Executive Director Carol Davit, as well as Bruce Shuette, VP of Science and Management, who talk about the prairie's natural and human-influenced history, its vital role in the health of the planet, and the Foundation's mission to protect and conserve some of the most biologically rich habitat on earth.
Episode 81: Kristen Miskelly - Meadow Maker
Kristen Miskelly is a trained biologist with a passion for nature, a love of native plants, and an aspiration to facilitate local ecosystem restoration work. In 2013 she and her husband James opened what is now Satinflower Nurseries in Victoria, British Columbia. Satinflower Nurseries aims to inspire and empower people to restore and conserve nature by providing native plants, seeds, and expertise, and specializes in the restoration and ecology of Garry oak ecosystems and meadowscaping. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Kristen talks about her background in nature and biology, the evolution of her nursery business, and why acting locally to promote the propagation of native species is so beneficial to migratory pollinators and the overall ecosystem.
Episode 80: Ben Rawlence - The Treeline
Ben Rawlence is a British writer based in the Black Mountains of Wales where he is the founding director of Black Mountains College, an institution devoted to creative and adaptive thinking in the face of the climate and ecological emergency. His latest book The Treeline: the last forest and the future of life on earth explores the shifting frontier of the boreal forest and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Ben talks about the boreal forest - which contains about one third of the the earth's trees - and the myriad repercussions its northern expansion is having on a local and global scale.
Episode 79: Kristin Ohlson - Sweet in Tooth and Claw
Kristin Ohlson is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of Sweet in Tooth and Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World, and The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers and Foodies are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Kristin talks about the connection between soil and climate health, rethinking our relationship with the land and each other, and how we can work with the land and its natural processes to regenerate damaged habitats, drawdown carbon, and more.
Episode 78: Dani Baker - The Enchanted Edible Forest Garden
Dani Baker is a forest gardener, owner of Cross Island Farms, and author of the book The Home-Scale Forest Garden. When she attended a permaculture workshop, she was inspired by its message of working with nature to create a thriving edible garden ecosystem. She immediately launched a new experiment she dubbed “The Enchanted Edible Forest”- a beautiful, bountiful edible landscape. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Dani talks about making the transition from market gardener to forest gardener, her discoveries along the way, and tips for those who would like to create their own forest garden - at any scale.
