The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh

Are Plants Intelligent? Zoë Schlanger Has the Answer

What if plants are more intelligent than we've ever imagined? This week, Willow sits down with journalist and The Light Eaters author Zoë Schlanger for a conversation abo

Exploring the Edges of the Universe With Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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 a

Lindsay Mack: Growth Is a Spiral, Not a Line

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,

Rebecca Solnit: Why Cynicism Feels Smart—and Isn't

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 uncert

Vivien Sansour: Saving the Seeds of Palestine

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 Palestin

From Soil to Shelf: The Science of Beauty With Jorge Blanco

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, f

Maria Popova on Turning Matter Into Meaning

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

Pattie Gonia: How Nature Can Help Us Transcend Binaries

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

Artist Olafur Eliasson on Seeing What We’ve Been Blind To

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 i

Giuliana Furci Is Your Guide to the Enchanting World of Fungi

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

Uncovering the Holy Ordinary with Terry Tempest Williams

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 e

Suzanne Simard: How to Be a Mother Tree

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

Death Doula Alua Arthur: Dying Is the Secret to Living

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, A

Elizabeth Kolbert: Why Wonder Is Still Worth Searching For

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. Dra

Stories from the Deep with Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen

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 dow

Baratunde Thurston on Natural vs. Artificial Intelligence

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 wri

Robin Wall Kimmerer: The Land Loves You Back

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

Roxane Gay: How Feminism Grows From Here

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

Kate Marvel Will Change How You Feel About Planet Earth

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 A

Robert Macfarlane on Embracing Flow and Letting Rivers Heal Us

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 writer