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Every episode
The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh
30 episodes
Exploring the Edges of the Universe With Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Ep 29 · Jul 21, 2026 · 28 min
What if the universe is stranger and more full of possibility than we've been taught to imagine? This week, Willow sits down with cosmologist and The Edge of Space-Time author Chanda Prescod-Weinstein for a conversation about the cosmos, curiosity, and the power of expanding our perspective. They explore the physics of dark matter and other mysteries, what the universe can teach us about possibility, and why it’s always a good idea to have a beginner’s mind. For more about Chanda Prescod-Weinste…
Lindsay Mack: Growth Is a Spiral, Not a Line
Ep 28 · Jul 7, 2026 · 35 min
Lindsay Mack spends their time helping people rewild and reconnect with their intuition—but not in the way you might expect. This week, Willow sits down with the teacher, author, and host of Tarot for the Wild Soul for a conversation about spirituality rooted in nature, healing that moves in spirals rather than straight lines, and finding meaning in uncertainty. Together, they explore how the living world can become a mirror, a guide, and a reminder that we already carry much of the wisdom we’re…
Rebecca Solnit: Why Cynicism Feels Smart—and Isn't
Ep 27 · Jun 23, 2026 · 40 min
Hope isn’t found in looking to the future; it’s in the past. This week, Willow sits down with legendary writer and activist Rebecca Solnit for a conversation about uncertainty, change, and the stories we choose to believe about what’s to come. Together, they explore why hope is not naïve optimism when rooted in evidence, and how history reminds us that change often arrives in unexpected ways. Drawing from Rebecca’s new book, The Beginning Comes After the End, this conversation examines the progr…
Vivien Sansour: Saving the Seeds of Palestine
Ep 26 · Jun 9, 2026 · 37 min
What can seeds teach us about memory, resilience, and the possibility of renewal? This week, Willow sits down with Vivien Sansour, seed keeper and founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library. They explore how seeds carry stories across generations and why protecting threatened varieties is a way of preserving the knowledge and traditions they hold, particularly during times of loss. From childhoods spent foraging in the hills to the role food and seeds play in connecting people to place, Vivi…
From Soil to Shelf: The Science of Beauty With Jorge Blanco
Ep 25 · May 26, 2026 · 22 min
What does it mean for beauty to be part of ecology rather than separate from it? Willow sits down with Jorge Blanco, Davines' North America Culture & Creative Director, for a conversation about regenerative agriculture, green chemistry, and the hidden systems behind the products we use every day. They explore how soil, science, farming, and haircare are deeply interconnected and what it means to move beyond sustainability toward regeneration. This conversation invites us to rethink what it means…
Maria Popova on Turning Matter Into Meaning
Ep 24 · May 12, 2026 · 50 min
How do we stay open amid uncertainty? In this episode, Willow sits down with Maria Popova, writer and founder of The Marginalian, for a conversation about meaning, wonder, and the unknown. They explore Maria’s idea that “selfing” sits at the root of much of our suffering and how wonder can be an antidote. Moving between the scientific and poetic, the historical and the personal, they trace surprising connections across time in Maria’s new book, Traversal. This conversation is an invitation to lo…
Pattie Gonia: How Nature Can Help Us Transcend Binaries
Ep 23 · Apr 28, 2026 · 44 min
How can we see nature as an invitation to break down binary thinking? In this episode, Willow sits down with environmental drag queen Pattie Gonia to explore the outdoors as a space that bridges divides. From hiking in heels to building community through art, Pattie shares how drag became a pathway back to both nature and self. Diving into the deep connection between identity, self expression, and the natural world, this conversation is an invitation to reconnect with what is most alive within u…
Artist Olafur Eliasson on Seeing What We’ve Been Blind To
Ep 22 · Apr 14, 2026 · 30 min
How can getting in touch with our senses help us reconnect with the world around us? Nature has shaped the work of artist Olafur Eliasson for decades. From glowing suns indoors to melting glaciers in city streets, his installations invite us to see what we’ve been blind to. In this episode, Willow and Olafur explore how art can reach beyond language, allowing us to feel what is often too vast or abstract to grasp. They consider the ways art can help us see the world in new dimensions—and feel se…
Giuliana Furci Is Your Guide to the Enchanting World of Fungi
Ep 21 · Mar 31, 2026 · 44 min
Beneath our feet, fungi connect forests, turn death into life, and quietly sustain the world we live in. Mycologist Giuliana Furci has spent decades studying and sensing into them. In this conversation, she invites us to see life differently, not as separate individuals, but as a web of relationships that holds everything together. Together with Willow, she reflects on how learning to notice fungi can open our eyes to the hidden collaborations that make life on Earth possible. For more about Giu…
Uncovering the Holy Ordinary with Terry Tempest Williams
Ep 20 · Mar 17, 2026 · 43 min
Note: This episode includes a brief mention of death by suicide. Please take care while listening. Willow sits down with award-winning author Terry Tempest Williams to explore the spiritual dimensions of attention, climate change, and our relationship with the living world. Together, Willow and Terry look at what it means to live with our eyes open in a time of unraveling and revealing. From a desert ant carrying a single blossom across the sand to the story of a beloved oak tree lost at the Har…
Suzanne Simard: How to Be a Mother Tree
Ep 19 · Mar 3, 2026 · 54 min
What if the forest is not scenery, but kin? In this episode of The Nature Of, Willow speaks with forest ecologist, Suzanne Simard, about the hidden networks that connect trees beneath our feet and what those relationships reveal about our own. Drawing from decades of research and her new book When the Forest Breathes, Suzanne reflects on mother trees, shared breath, and the responsibility of caring for forests in a time when they desperately need us—and we need them. On the Mother Tree Project:…
Death Doula Alua Arthur: Dying Is the Secret to Living
Ep 18 · Feb 17, 2026 · 52 min
What if remembering we will die is what teaches us how to live? In this episode of The Nature Of, Willow is joined by death doula and New York Times bestselling author, Alua Arthur, to explore how reflecting on our mortality can reshape the way we live. Together, they consider what shifts when we stop looking away, and how that awareness can deepen love and bring our choices into focus. This conversation is a meditation on grief, transformation, and the fierce tenderness of being alive for a lim…
Elizabeth Kolbert: Why Wonder Is Still Worth Searching For
Ep 17 · Feb 3, 2026 · 31 min
This week on The Nature Of, Willow speaks with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author Elizabeth Kolbert about what it means to bear witness to a changing world. Drawing from her new book Life on a Little-Known Planet and her landmark work The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth reflects on climate change, biodiversity loss, and the emotional weight of documenting both. She shares stories from the field, from melting ice in Greenland to scientists racing to catalog disappearing species, and conside…
Stories from the Deep with Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen
Ep 16 · Jan 20, 2026 · 41 min
What does it cost to truly document the natural world, and why do some people keep returning even when the risk is real? In this episode of The Nature Of, Willow sits down with renowned conservation photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen, whose lives and love story have unfolded at the edge of danger, from plane crashes and near-drownings to an encounter with a whale that nearly turned fatal. Together, they reflect on what it means to document the natural world with intimacy rather…
Baratunde Thurston on Natural vs. Artificial Intelligence
Ep 15 · Jan 6, 2026 · 31 min
What does it mean to live in right relationship with intelligence, human, more than human, and now artificial? In this episode of The Nature Of, Willow sits down with writer, storyteller, and Life With Machines host Baratunde Thurston to explore the complicated emotions many of us are carrying about AI, from fear and overwhelm to curiosity and cautious hope. Together, they reflect on what it means to encounter a technology that feels less like a tool and more like a presence, one that may soon l…
Robin Wall Kimmerer: The Land Loves You Back
Ep 14 · Dec 16, 2025 · 50 min
In this week’s episode of The Nature Of, Willow sits down with Robin Wall Kimmerer, beloved scientist, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. They explore the shift from learning about to learning from nature, understanding that the land loves us back, and her new initiative Plant Baby Plant. Robin invites us to step back into belonging, and to see the natural world not as something separate from us, but as a generous teacher offering guidance every single da…
Roxane Gay: How Feminism Grows From Here
Ep 13 · Dec 2, 2025 · 45 min
Movements evolve the way ecosystems do—through tension, adaptation, and collective resilience. In this episode, Willow is joined by writer and cultural critic Roxane Gay to explore the shifting landscape of feminism. Together, they revisit the ideas at the heart of Bad Feminist, question what’s really in crisis, and trace the possibilities that emerge when we stop ceding ground and begin tending to a broader, more interconnected ecosystem of care. This conversation invites us to imagine feminism…
Kate Marvel Will Change How You Feel About Planet Earth
Ep 12 · Nov 18, 2025 · 42 min
In this episode, host Willow Defebaugh is joined by renowned climate scientist and writer Kate Marvel for a conversation about her book, Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. With poetic insight and scientific precision, Marvel reframes climate change not just as a planetary emergency, but as an emotional experience, one that demands our full humanity. Together, they explore how feelings like wonder, anger, grief, and love can become tools for engagement rather than paralysi…
Robert Macfarlane on Embracing Flow and Letting Rivers Heal Us
Ep 11 · Nov 4, 2025 · 42 min
What does it mean to move like a river and to live in flow with the world around us? In this episode, Willow is joined by one of the world’s most celebrated nature writers, Robert Macfarlane, to follow the many forms of flow—of water, of language, and of life itself. Together, they explore the question at the heart of his newest book: Is a River Alive? They trace the currents that shape our stories and laws, asking what becomes possible when we see water as something that moves through us. This…
Suleika Jaouad on Living Every Day Like It’s Your First
Ep 10 · Oct 21, 2025 · 55 min
How can we alchemize pain into possibility? In this episode, Willow is joined by bestselling author, artist, and three-time cancer survivor Suleika Jaouad to explore the nature of imagination as a tool to help us navigate life’s most impossible moments.Through the lens of her new book, The Book of Alchemy, Suleika shares how creativity became her lifeline during her years of treatment: not just a means of expression, but a vital practice of presence, transformation, and survival. Together, they…
‘The Nature Of’ Returns Oct. 21
Oct 7, 2025 · 2 min
The Nature Of is coming back with even more inspiring conversations. Every other week. All year long. Join us as we continue walking this path towards reconnection with ourselves, each other, and the Earth. New episodes begin on October 21, 2025. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Esther Perel on Interconnection and Curing Modern Loneliness
Ep 9 · May 27, 2025 · 52 min
How can the way we cultivate relationships with one another offer insight into healing our fractured relationship with nature? In this episode, Willow is joined by renowned psychotherapist and bestselling author Esther Perel, whose work has reshaped how we understand intimacy, communication, and belonging in the modern world. They explore the intersections between human and ecological connection, and the epidemic of loneliness that so many are experiencing today. From the importance of relationa…
Maggie Rogers on How to Protect—and Nurture—Your Creativity
Ep 8 · May 20, 2025 · 39 min
Nature is the ultimate artist—shaping landscapes over millennia, sculpting coastlines with waves, and composing symphonies in birdsong. In this episode, Grammy-nominated musician Maggie Rogers joins Willow for a conversation on creative rhythm, artistic sustainability, and the deep inspiration she draws from the natural world. As an artist who has intentionally crafted a career that honors both personal well-being and creative integrity, Maggie shares insights into how slowing down can actually…
Bayo Akomolafe: How to Move Through Chaos Without Needing Control
Ep 7 · May 13, 2025 · 40 min
What if the rupture of these tumultuous times is not an ending, but an opening? In this episode, Willow speaks with Bayo Akomolafe, philosopher, poet, and thinker whose work challenges us to step beyond binaries and into the fertile, unpredictable space of emergence. They dig into how transformation doesn’t come from rigid certainty or oppositional thinking, but from the cracks—where new possibilities take root. Nature does not resolve tension; it composts it, making way for something unexpected…
Wildlife Photographer Ami Vitale on Why Intimacy Will Save Us
Ep 6 · May 6, 2025 · 43 min
In the season finale of The Nature Of, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale joins Willow for a powerful and emotional conversation about witnessing extinction and choosing hope, drawing on her extensive career photographing the most critical conservation stories of our time. Ami takes Willow through her decades-long journey from documenting human conflict to the lives of endangered species—including the final days of Sudan, the last male Northern white rhino—and the people working…
Maggie Baird on the One Thing You Can Do for the Planet Every Day
Ep 5 · Apr 29, 2025 · 48 min
In this episode, we explore the nature of food as a profound act of care—with the power to transform not only our health and the planet, but the very systems we live within. Maggie Baird, longtime activist, founder of Support + Feed, and mother of artists Billie Eilish and Finneas, joins Willow for a conversation rooted in compassion for humans, animals, and the Earth. From her early awakening to animal welfare to her family’s shared commitment to cultural and climate transformation, Maggie shar…
Steph Speirs Will Change How You Think About Money—For Good
Ep 4 · Apr 22, 2025 · 41 min
Wealth is often defined by accumulation—but what if it was instead measured by what we sustain, regenerate, and share? In this episode, Willow speaks with Steph Speirs, co-founder of Solstice and board member of the Sierra Club Foundation, about how capital—in all its forms—can be stewarded to better support a flourishing planet. Together, they explore the shifting definition of wealth beyond money, the power of community in the clean energy transition, and how movements like the Sierra Club Fou…
“Small Is All”: adrienne maree brown on Unlocking Everyday Magic
Ep 3 · Apr 15, 2025 · 37 min
Transformation is both a personal and collective spell—one cast through intention, practice, and the courage to embrace change. Here, Willow is joined by adrienne maree brown, writer, activist, and emergent strategist, for a conversation on alchemy, witchcraft as resistance, and the magic of small, everyday acts that create lasting change. Together, they examine adrienne’s philosophy that small is all, the ways we can embody transformative justice in our relationships, and her latest book, Lovin…
Janine Benyus on Biomimicry and Designing With Life’s Intelligence
Ep 2 · Apr 8, 2025 · 41 min
Nature is not just a place—it’s a teacher, a guide, and a blueprint for innovation. Willow is joined by Janine Benyus, biologist, author, and co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, whose groundbreaking work has transformed the way we think about designing with nature rather than against it. Together, they outline the principles of biomimicry—the practice of looking to ecosystems, organisms, and natural patterns for sustainable solutions to human challenges. From the way forests manage resources…
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson: Stop Doom-Scrolling, Start Building the Future
Ep 1 · Apr 1, 2025 · 40 min
In nature, solutions are everywhere—coral reefs regenerate, forests heal, and ecosystems self-balance when given the chance. So, how can we apply that same wisdom to the climate crisis? Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, policy expert, a Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College, and co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, joins Willow for an illuminating conversation about climate optimism, systemic change, and the power of solutions-driven storytelling. As the creator of the What If W…
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