Nature’s Genius: A Bioneers Podcast Series

What if Plants Are Conscious?

Plants make up over 80% of life on earth. No animal would exist without plants’ ultimate magic trick of turning sunlight into food. Today, scientists are unearthing a wild, weird world of vegetal genius. But how can we truly understand beings so different from ourselves? We consider the emerging science of plants from the vantage points of philosophy and ethics, with Harvard scholar Rachael Petersen.

More than Human Life

Scientific evidence is increasingly supporting the theory that the Earth is alive and replete with intelligence. How is it then, by the law, that a corporation is a person, but nature is not? What if we expand the anthropocentric boundaries of our systems of laws, rights and responsibilities to encompass ALL living beings? We imagine a planet with rights for all with lawyer César Rodríguez-Garavito.

COMING SOON

Reconnecting the River

Yurok Attorney Amy Cordalis is one of many Indigenous leaders who have fought for the un-damming and healing of the majestic Klamath River Basin, spanning Oregon and California. She tells the story of the decades-long struggle to remove dams that have choked the life flow of the river and severed salmon migratory routes, and how a combination of traditional ecological knowledge, environmental law, and old-fashioned diplomacy helped remove 4 of 6 dams and ushered in a $515 million settlement agreement to restore the river and riparian lands.

COMING SOON

How the Chicken Crossed the Road to Build a Regenerative Food System

Visionary agricultural innovator Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin unearths a startling natural-world template for building a global movement that puts the chicken at the heart of bioregional food systems. These Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agroforestry farms can both renew the land and ultimately support the hundreds of millions of small farmers who produce 70% of the world’s food.

COMING SOON

How Would Nature Do It?

Mother Nature is the ultimate designer. After all, since life first emerged on Earth, she’s had 3.8 billion years of evolutionary R&D to get it right. Biomimicry is the art and science of learning from this ineffable genius: tapping into the patterns of nature to live harmoniously with life’s principles. Janine Benyus, co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, is known as the “godmother of modern biomimicry.” She shares her journey in this flourishing field of design innovation guided by nature’s genius.

COMING SOON

The Quest to Decode Whale Speak

Talking and listening to other animals is a shared experience across humanity—intuitive to anyone who has ever conversed with their pet. Researchers have struck up conversations with chimps and parrots, and revealed language-like qualities in bee dances and meerkat calls. However, translating other animals’ communication is a formidable endeavor – and there’s the question of whether it really constitutes language. Marine biologist David Gruber and his team at Project CETI, the Cetacean Translation Initiative, are tackling a mind-bending challenge: to crack the code of sperm whale communication.

The Universe Beneath Our Feet: Mapping the Mycelial Web of Life

Imagine an underground web of mind-boggling complexity; quadrillions of miles of tiny threads in the soil pulsate with real-time messages, trade vital nutrients, and form symbiotic partnerships. Visionary biologists Toby Kiers and Merlin Sheldrake guide us through the intricate wonders of the mycorrhizal fungal networks.

What Does Water Want?

Water makes life possible. From the tiniest bacteria to the tallest tree, every living thing relies on this irreplaceable substance. Erica Gies, author of “Water Always Wins,” explores water’s unique role in the web of life, and how we might repair and reshape our relationship with it. Rather than telling water what to do, maybe we should start by asking what it wants?

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

We trek into the ancient old-growth forest where the trees reveal an ecological parable: Forests are mightily interwoven communities of diverse life that run on symbiosis. They’ve operated on nature’s slow time to evolve a complex choreography in a kind of forest kin-dom that breathes life into the world. We hear from Dr. Suzanne Simard and Dr. Teresa Ryan, two leading Canadian ecologists whose work has helped reveal an elaborate tapestry of kinship and mutual aid.

Beaver Believers: How to Restore Planet Water

The restoration of beavers offers ancient nature-based solutions to the tangle of challenges bedeviling human civilization. Droughts, floods, soil erosion, biodiversity loss – you name it, and beaver is on it. Ecologists Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman share their semi-aquatic journey to becoming Beaver Believers. They are part of a global movement to bring back our rodent relatives.

The Nature of Language, the Language of Nature

Over 7,000 languages are spoken around the world. Each one reflects a rich ecosystem of ideas – seeds that grow into a multitude of worldviews. Today, many of these immeasurably precious knowledge systems are endangered – often spoken by just a handful of people. We hear from Indigenous language champions, Jeannette Armstrong and Rowen White. They reflect on the words, stories, songs and ideas that influence our very conception of nature, and our place within it.

Urban Forests: A Nature-Based Solution to Climate Breakdown and Inequality

Visionary urban planners and community organizers recognize that addressing the climate crisis requires drawing down carbon out of the atmosphere and sequestering it back where it belongs in natural systems. Urban forestry is a nature-based solution that addresses the parallel crises of climate change and wealth inequality. With Brett KenCairn, Center for Regenerative Solutions, and Samira Malone, Urban Sustainability Directors Network.