Biophilic Solutions: Nature Has the Answers

We’ll be back next week with an exciting new interview, but this week, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite episodes with Tim Lenton, Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter and a founding director of the Global Systems Institute.

Tim is best known for his work on positive tipping points. When we hear the phrase “tipping point,” we tend to think of disaster and collapse. But...

Death and decay are among the most natural processes that exist. And yet, we often approach them with fear rather than recognizing them as part of the natural world.

In her new book, Carrying the Bones: Rituals for a Dying World, writer, multimedia artist, and professor Eileen Elizabeth explores the ways we mourn, not only for the people we’ve lost, but for relationships, places, ecosystems, traditions, and even the world as w...

Asphalt and concrete. Not exactly the sexiest topics in the world, but think about it: pavement is everywhere we look. From roads and highways to schoolyards and massive parking lots, it’s such a ubiquitous part of our environment that we hardly even notice it anymore.

And there’s a reason for that. Pavement makes roads safer and provides ADA accessible sidewalks. But it also comes with a significant environmental cost. ...

How do we continue to care for the living world when so much around us feels uncertain? On this episode of Biophilic Solutions, Monica Olsen talks with Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, author of Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling.

Chelsea’s book asks us to rethink what it means to care for each other, for the places we call home, and for the more-than-human world. Her journey beg...

What can mushrooms teach us about becoming better humans? How can doula work, in the literal and metaphorical senses, help us navigate the uncertainty of the near future? These are just two of the compelling questions we’re exploring today alongside Madison Murphy Barney. 

Madison is a Two Spirit Shoshone sister, a doula, author, and a public-health storyteller. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s T. H....

This week on the podcast, we’re revisiting a 2022 conversation with urban policy expert Diana Lind, author of Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing. In this episode, we explored the rise of the single-family home and the many challenges that come with it: the isolation created by large homes on expansive plots of land, outdated zoning, high energy use for relatively few people, and a built environmen...

Research suggests we spend close to 90% of our lives indoors. While we all need more time outside, there's another part of the solution: designing the places where we live and work to better support our health and wellbeing.

In this episode, Monica Olsen sits down with two of the UK's leading voices in biophilic design: Oliver Heath, an expert in regenerative and wellbeing-led design for the built environment, and Dr. Vanessa Champi...

After five seasons of Biophilic Solutions, which ideas have stood the test of time?

In this special compilation episode, Monica Olsen revisits some of the most impactful conversations from the podcast to uncover the common thread connecting the most powerful solutions to today's biggest challenges. From climate scientist Tim Lenton's hopeful vision of positive tipping points to Helena Norberg-Hodge's call for localization, economist...

What can our evolutionary past teach us about living healthier, more connected lives today? In this episode, Monica sits down with Andie Edwards, creator of the popular Instagram account Ancestral Habits, to explore how hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution continue to shape our bodies, minds, and relationship with the natural world.

Together, they discuss evolutionary mismatch, our biological need for nature, the import...

How do the places we inhabit shape our sense of meaning, connection, and well-being?

In this episode, Monica sits down with architect, author, and placemaker Dr. Phill Tabb for a wide-ranging conversation on the relationship between place, spirituality, and human flourishing. Together, they explore how thoughtful design, biophilia, ritual, awe, and sensory experience can help create environments that support deeper connections to ou...

In this episode, we explore a question that feels more urgent than ever: what if healing ourselves and healing the planet are deeply interconnected?

Monica is joined by author Lindsay Branham, whose book Heartwood: The Wisdom and Healing Kinship of Trees chronicles her personal journey through chronic illness and toward a deeper relationship with the natural world. Guest co-host Florence Williams, bestselling author of The Nature Fi...

On this episode of Biophilic Solutions, Monica Olsen is joined by wildlife conservationist and author Beth Pratt alongside special guest co-host Tim Beatley for a conversation about urban wildlife, national parks, and the future of conservation in our cities.

As California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, Beth shares the story behind the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Los Angeles, the cultural...

Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, has become shorthand for one of the most urgent environmental justice crises in the United States. Lined with more than a hundred petrochemical plants, it’s often talked about in terms of statistics and headlines. But in the new podcast The Corridor, those abstractions start to fall away, revealing something much more human: the lived experiences, hist...

Climate change can feel overwhelming, especially for those already deeply attuned to the natural world. Alongside that awareness often comes anxiety, grief, and a lingering question: how do we move from overwhelm to action?

In this episode, we’re joined by climate leader and author Dr. Katharine Wilkinson to explore her fantastic new book Climate Wayfinding. In it, Katharine offers a hopeful framework for navigating climate em...

As we welcome a new season of Biophilic Solutions, we’re also sharing a bittersweet farewell to our wonderful co-host, Jennifer Walsh. From the very beginning, Jennifer has brought a thoughtful, grounded perspective to nearly every conversation, drawing on her work as a business leader and expert on biophilia. 

The silver lining is that she’s stepping away precisely because her message is resonating. From speaking e...

Is it important to understand the cultural context of a place? And how can landscape architects help us feel more connected to the natural world? This week, we’re revisiting our most popular episode ever, a thoughtful, wide-ranging conversation with Alfie Vick on Native American ethnobotany, environmental ethics, and the delicate balance between wildness and order.

Alfie is the Georgia Power Professor of Environmental Ethics a...

Today, we’re revisiting a favorite from the Biophilic Solutions archive: a thoughtful conversation on beauty, the brain, and our relationship to nature with Anjan Chatterjee. In this episode, we explore whether our aesthetic preferences are culturally shaped or more universal, why nature brings deep calm to some people while evoking unease in others, and how researchers are beginning to measure the real cognitive and emotiona...

We’re excited to bring back a favorite conversation from 2021 with the incomparable Florence Williams. Florence is, of course, the acclaimed author of The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative, a book that beautifully explores the science behind nature’s profound effect on our minds, bodies, and sense of connection. It’s biophilia in its purest form.

In this episode, we dive into the...

As we gear up to launch another season of incredible guest interviews we’re revisiting a few of our most beloved episodes, starting with the fabulous Doug Tallamy.

Over the course of his career, Doug has become a leading voice helping people understand why native plants matter and how simple and accessible it can be to support biodiversity right in your backyard. In this conversation, we talk about the power of keystone specie...