Biophilic Solutions: Nature Has the Answers

Latest Episodes:

Biophilic Leaders Fireside Chat: Ryan Gravel, Michael Phillips & Steve Nygren Jun 25, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Biophilic Solutions, we are presenting a Fireside Chat recorded live at the 2024 Biophilic Leadership Summit, a multi-day conference for leaders in the Biohpilic world to come together, share ideas, and learn from one another.
This features Serenbe founder, Steve Nygren, moderating a conversation with Ryan Gravel, Atlanta BeltLine creator, and Michael Phillips, President of Jamestown. Ryan discusses the process behind developing the BeltLine and explains how incorporating biophilia in Atlanta’s architecture has and will continue to help change the city for the better. Similarly, Michael shares his perspective as a key player in the development of Ponce City Market and other major real estate found along NYC’s The High Line, specifically highlighting how nature plays a key role in his decision to transform cities all over the world.

Listen in to hear about their unique experiences with sustainable urban development and how incorporating biophilic principles into our cities promotes community, connectivity, and wellness.

Links:

Jamestown Properties
Michael Phillips Bio
Ponce City Market
The High Line
Ryan Gravel Book
Ryan Gravel Website
The BeltLine

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Biophilic Summer Reading: Our 2024 Picks Jun 11, 2024

Show notes

Hello! Monica and Jennifer here, back yet again with some of our favorite books from the past year. We think that there is no better way to enjoy the summer months than by unwinding with a good book and we've got just that. Our picks range in subject matter, some talk about mental health, while others discuss architecture and design, but they all place importance on our natural environment. Especially in this busy, digital world we live in, taking time to reconnect with our roots (literally) promotes wellbeing and allows us to live our best, most fulfilled lives. So, buckle up and get ready to find your next summer read in today's episode!
Show Notes:

The Nature of Our Cities by Nadina Galle
The Connection Cure by Julia Hotz
Humanise: A Maker's Guide to Building Our World by Thomas Heatherwick
The Light Eaters by Zoe Sclanger
Life as We Know It (Can Be) by Bill Weir
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

Beauty, Awe, and Biodiversity in Old Growth Forests with Joan Maloof May 28, 2024

Show notes

Old Growth Forests, natural forests that have grown undisturbed over a long period of time, offer a wide variety of benefits including storing more carbon and nitrogen than typical forests, providing a unique structure that supports rich ecosystems, and offering an example of what nature looks like when it flourishes on its own. Unfortunately, due in large part to human intervention, these old forests are hard to come by - but our guest today wants to change that.

Joan Maloof is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Salisbury University and the Founder of the Old Growth Forest Network, the only national network of protected, old-growth, native forests in the United States. The organization’s goal is to locate and designate at least one protected old forest in every U.S. county that has the right climate to sustain a forested area. In this conversation, Monica and Jennifer chat with Joan about her journey to founding the Old Growth Forest network, the intricate and rich ecosystems that these old forests support, and beauty as a catalyst for positive change.

Show Notes

The Old Growth Forest Network
About Joan Maloof
Find a Forest
Nominate a Forest
Volunteer with the Old Growth Forest Network
Nature’s Temples: The Complex World of Old Growth Forests by Joan Maloof
Among the Ancients: Adventures in Eastern Old Growth Forests by Joan Maloof
Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest by Joan Maloof

Harnessing the Power of New Technology for Greener Cities with Nadina Galle May 14, 2024

Show notes

The smart cities movement, which seeks to optimize public wellbeing through the use of technology and data, and the biophilic cities movement are happening at the same time - but it rarely feels like these two movements are working together towards a common goal. Our guest today, Dr. Nadina Galle, hopes to change that.

Nadina is an ecological engineer who studies emerging technologies that can enhance nature in urban environments, a concept she calls the Internet of Nature (ION). Her forthcoming book, "The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet", offers insight and examples of how nature benefits when we use new technologies the right way. In this episode, we chat with Nadina about her impressive body of work and dive into some examples - from emailing and texting trees to AI robots that can actually perform a controlled burn with less smoke.

Show Notes

Dr. Nadina Galle
Pre-order The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet
The Internet of Nature (ION)
Nature Has The Answers with Monica Olsen and Jennifer Walsh of Biophilic Solutions (Internet of Nature Podcast)
How Central Park Keeps New Yorkers Healthy with Jennifer Walsh of Biophilic Solutions (Internet of Nature Podcast)
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

Myth, Science, and the Age of Deer with Erika Howsare Apr 30, 2024

Show notes

In the lives of many humans, deer occupy a really fascinating middle ground between so many binaries: domestic and wild, familiar and alien, beautiful and pest. They’re also, interestingly, the only large mammal that seems to thrive in human-dominated environments. So, what exactly is going on with deer? On today’s episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Age of Deer author Erika Howsare to discuss the role that deer play in human life - from mythology to natural history to science - and what these enigmatic creatures can teach us about our own relationship to wildness.

Erika Howsare is a writer and journalist based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her new book, The Age of Deer, has been hailed as a “masterpiece” by the Washington Post.

Show Notes

The Age of Deer by Erika Howsare
If You See a Deer Podcast
About Erika
Deer: friend or foe? Or how about both? - Washington Post book review
From endangered to cuddly to ‘pests’: What the Age of Deer says about the human mind - LA Times book Review

How Austin L. Ray is Fixing Atlanta Apr 16, 2024

Show notes

Today’s episode is a great example of using your unique skills to amplify your impact. This week, Monica is chatting with Atlanta-based writer Austin Louis Ray, who has contributed to publications like Rolling Stone, GQ, Creative Loafing, and Eater, just to name a few. He is also the publisher of How I’d Fix Atlanta, a seasonal collection of essays from Atlanta natives about the action steps they would take to improve their city. Topics include Biophilic Solutions favorites like walkability, wildlife in the city, supporting pollinator habitats, clean energy, and more.

The conversation today, however, really revolves around how Austin does it: how he finds his writers, how he raises money to pay those writers well, and how he uses the How I’d Fix Atlanta series to build awareness at the city council and beyond.

Show Notes

Photo Credit: Jason Travis

Calling Business Leaders to Action with David S. Eady Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

It’s easy to think that business interests are diametrically opposed to environmental progress - and in many cases, you wouldn’t be wrong. However, meaningful evidence suggests that many businesses would actually improve their bottom line if they adopted more sustainable practices. Enter today’s guest, David S. Eady, the director of industry engagement at the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. In this role, David works with companies in the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact, which leverages the collective impact of the Georgia business community to achieve net zero carbon emissions in the state through a just, prosperous, and sustainable transition. In his (limited) spare time, David also serves as the mayor of Oxford, Georgia, where his lifelong career in environmentalism has inspired a number of important sustainability initiatives.

In this interview, Monica catches up with David about the power of collective action and partnership, measuring impact over time, and meeting business leaders where they are.

Show Notes

Key Words: Climate Change, Climate Action, Environmental Issues, Corporate Responsibility, Georgia Tech, GA Tech, David S. Eady, Drawdown, Drawdown GA, Ray C. Anderson, Carbon, Carbon Emissions, Biophilia, Biophilic Design

Nature in Recovery & Corridors of Beauty with Karen Lloyd Mar 19, 2024

Show notes

What does it really mean when we talk about reconnecting with nature? To actually connect with nature, is it enough to simply get outside? Who speaks for the rights of nature to remain undisturbed? These are just a few of the compelling questions raised by our guest today, Dr. Karen Lloyd. Karen is the author of acclaimed book Abundance: Nature in Recovery and is a lecturer at the University of Lancaster, as well as writer in residence at the university’s Future Places Institute. Her work largely explores themes like abundance, restoration and repair in the natural world.

In this episode, we chat with Karen about a wide range of issues including habitat loss in her native Lake District, why the tendency to shift our baseline isn’t helping us in the climate fight, the city that has declared pollinators as citizens, and how we can meaningfully re-entangle ourselves with the natural world.

Show Notes

About Karen Lloyd (University of Lancaster)
Karen Lloyd Website
Abundance: Nature in Recovery by Karen Lloyd
Are You Suffering From Shifting Baseline Syndrome? (Earth.Org)
Sweet City: Defeating the City-Nature Antagonism (Congress for the New Urbanism)
Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World by Tim Morton
Follow Karen on Facebook and X

Key Words: Nature, Nature Based Solutions, University of Lancaster, Lake District, English Lake District, Pollinators, Pollinator Habitats, Hyperobject, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Solutions, Biophilia, Biophilic Design

Expedition Behavior: Growing Leaders with NOLS President Sandy Colhoun Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

Time and time again, we’ve seen that spending time in nature has profound effects on our physical and mental wellbeing, but did you know that the outdoors are also uniquely suited for imparting leadership skills? This week, we’re chatting with Sandy Colhoun, the President of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), a global nonprofit wilderness school that is dedicated to stewardship & sustainability, diversity in the outdoors, education, leadership, safety, and community. Their programs range from expeditions for young students and semester-away programs to executive leadership and even NASA training courses.

In this conversation, we chat with Sandy about his own formative experience in a NOLS program, discovering yourself in the wild, and we define a core tenet of the NOLS philosophy, expedition behavior.

Show Notes

Key Words: NOLS, Outdoor Education, Leadership, Outdoor Adventure, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Nature Based Solutions, Nature Based Learning, Wilderness, Wilderness Medicine

Native Plants, Keystone Species, and Ecosystem Restoration with Doug Tallamy Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

E.O. Wilson once said, “if insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos”- and he wasn’t wrong. In fact, our entire food system depends on the energy that tiny bugs transfer to vertebrates. So, what’s the issue? Insects themselves depend on native plants and larger portions of our outdoor spaces have been overtaken by non-native, invasive species and resource-intensive, environmentally futile lawns.

It sounds dire, but there are plenty of solutions according to today’s guest Douglas Tallamy, the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. Dr. Tallamy has dedicated much of his career to raising awareness about the significance of native plants and outlining the simple, common-sense solutions that everyone can use to improve biodiversity in their own backyard. In this conversation, we chat with Doug about the promise of keystone species, the amazing progress he’s made reintroducing native plants on his own Pennsylvania property, and the nonprofit he founded to encourage private landowners to join the movement.

Show Notes

About Douglas Tallamy
Homegrown National Park
Homegrown National Park: Native Plant Resource Directory
Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy
The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Douglas W. Tallamy
Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy
The Nature of Oaks by Douglas W. Tallamy
Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash the Wild on Your Backyard (Smithsonian)

Key Words: Native Plants, Pollinator Garden, Oak Trees, Keystone Species, Ecosystem, Ecosystem Restoration, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Crisis, Douglas Tallamy, Doug Tallamy, Food System, Biophilia, Biophilic Design

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