PALOOLA: Botanical

While listening to her husband's Great Society speech in 1964, Lady Bird Johnson found her mission. 

The following year, and during a turbulent time of race riots in America, speaking at the National Council of State Garden Clubs, and the American Forestry Association, Lady Bird said “Beauty cannot be set aside for vacations or special occasions. It cannot be for the occasional privilege of those who come long distances to vis...

Unlike the kelp forests of Chile, and South Africa’s Cape Peninsula, which are mostly stable, all of the kelp forests of the northern hemisphere are rapidly declining. Off the coast of California, kelp forests have declined more than 95%, with just a few small isolated patches remaining, mainly because of rising water temperatures

Kelp, called the sequoias of the sea for their capacity to store large amounts of carbon dioxide and i...

Each year about 31% of the US population over the age of 16, swim in oceans, lakes and rivers.

Yet, despite such low percentage, a quintessential image of an American summer is children swimming and playing in a lake. In fact, the top swim city in the US measured by the number of active swimmers, accessible pools and top-level swimmers, is Ann Arbor, built along the banks of the Huron River in Michigan.

As more people concentrate i...

Botany in Music.

We talk to Texas-based music producer Spencer Stephenson about his band Botany. Stephenson was inspired to name his band after his wanderings through Fort Worth’s botanical garden in 2009.

Botany is part abstract hip hop and part psybient—electronic music that combines chill-out and psychedelic elements—and like many psychedelic ambient bands, is named after botanical themes. Do we inhabit nature the way we inhabit...

Botany in Art

Why are flowers a cliché of femininity in art, when so many of them have both female and male reproductive organs? Today, we talk with Sixtine Dubly, a Paris-based journalist, author and curator, who focuses on the evolving use of flowers in art. Please join us to discuss the role of nature in art, and the value of art in botanical research. Take a look at photos of the art mentioned in this episode at my instagram Pa...

Botany in Safaris: Part II

As part two of our episodes about traveling in the Mara, I am talking with Fred Ronko, a Maasai naturalist from Lemek—a village in the northern, greater Maasai Mara. For decades, Fred has been guiding photographers and film crews in the Mara, as well as visitors traveling with the award-winning safari company, Asilia Africa.

Fred will share where he grew up, and insights into the Maasai natural world. Why...

Botany in Safaris: Part I

Great discussion with Nicky Fitzgerald, owner of Angama Mara a safari lodge perched on the edge of the Rift Valley overlooking the Mara Triangle in the south of Kenya. Nicky’s experience in the safari world is unparalleled and her zest for life comes through in her stories: where the Mara gets its name, a surprising encounter with an elephant mare, and why looking at plants and birds lead to the elusive bi...

Botany in Architecture

The Hawaiian way of living mostly in nature, and in airy homes has attracted thousands of families who have relocated from the Continental US since the pandemic started. Right before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the tourism industry, Mauna Lani, one of the most iconic resorts on the Big Island, had just finished its $200 million, 15-month renovation. It closed soon after and just reopened this past November. Bes...

Botany in Communication

We wouldn’t have posters without paper, and we wouldn’t have paper without trees. Posters were one the earliest forms of advertisement, and they are to this day the most cost-effective form of promotion. But we also buy posters for their design and art value, as well. Today, I talk with Angelina Lippert, Poster House chief curator, the first museum in the US—based in New York—dedicated exclusively to posters...

Botany in Psychology

In 2015, 55% of the World’s population lived in urban centers, a number that will increase to 68% by 2050, according to the UN. Today, half of the World’s urban population lives in cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, and many with little daily access to nature. Just before the pandemic hit New York in March, I started Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)—something I had wanted to try for some time—and it ...