Biophilic Solutions: Nature Has the Answers

Award-winning journalist and author Richard Louv helped transform how we think about our relationship with nature in his landmark 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods, which introduced the term “nature-deficit disorder” and brought national attention to nature’s vital role in our health and well-being.
In his latest book, Noticing: Intimate Encounters with the Natural World, Richard invites us to go beyond simply spending time outdoors and rediscover the wonder of truly paying attention. From the effects of our screen-saturated lives to the challenges of climate anxiety, loneliness, and digital fatigue, he explores how deeper sensory engagement with nature can help us reconnect with ourselves and the world around us. He also introduces the concept of “bioenchantment”—the profound sense of wonder that emerges when science, mindfulness, and direct experience with the natural world come together.
Shownotes
Noticing: Intimate Encounters with the Natural World by Richard Louv
Richard Louv on Instagram
Children & Nature Network
Books by Richard Louv
Serenbe Events Calendar 
Keywords: Richard Louv, Noticing, Last Child in the Woods, nature-deficit disorder, biophilia, biophilic design, nature and human health, nature and well-being, connection to nature, nature and mental health, bioenchantment, mindfulness, sensory awareness, nature connection, climate anxiety, digital fatigue, screen time, loneliness, attention restoration, environmental awareness, Richard Louv interview, Biophilic Solutions, nature and childhood, human-nature relationship, nature and creativity, planetary health
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#NatureHasTheAnswers

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 Tim invites us to consider that tipping points can also work in the opposite direction. What if small, positive shifts could build momentum, reinforce one another, and spark rapid, transformative change? At a time when climate concerns, political polarization, and uncertainty about the future often leave us feeling overwhelmed, and hopeless, this idea offers something more meaningful than optimism alone: a reason to look for the changes already underway and understand how we can help them grow. 
In this episode, Tim, Jennifer, and Monica explore global movements that have changed the world for the better, the promising shifts already taking place in the UK and Norway, and why we don’t have to agree on everything to start moving in a better direction. 
Show Notes
Professor Tim Lenton, University of Exeter
Global Systems Institute
Earth System Science: A Very Short Introduction by Tim Lenton
Revolutions That Made the Earth by Tim Lenton and Andrew Watson
Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth by Jim Lovelock 
Positive Tipping Points Could Save the Climate - This Man is Showing Us How (Positive.News)

Keywords: Climate Change, Tim Lenton, Climate Solutions, Tipping Points, Climate Tipping Points, Positive Tipping Points, Electric Vehicle, Clean Energy, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Biophilic Solutions, Social Movements, Social Change
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers

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 we know it. This beautiful book weaves together memoir, cultural analysis, poetry, and reflections on ritual and asks what we might gain if we allowed ourselves to sit more fully with death and grief rather than rushing to move forward.
In this episode, Monica and Eileen talk about the role nature has played in mourning throughout history, the ways American culture and capitalism shape our relationship to death, and what it means to grieve not only those who have died, but those who are still living and the world itself. They also talk about creating personal rituals and whether grief can become not just an experience of loss, but a way of reconnecting with the natural world, with one another, and with what we still have to carry forward.
Show Notes
Carrying the Bones: Rituals for a Dying World by Eileen Elizabeth
Eileen Elizabeth on Instagram 
Boshemia Magazine
Biophilic Solutions on Substack 
Keywords: grief, mourning, death, death rituals, mourning rituals, ecological grief, climate grief, environmental grief, nature connection, environmental crisis, ritual, spirituality, secular spirituality, Indigenous traditions, capitalism, grief and capitalism, wilderness,Carrying the Bones, Eileen Elizabeth
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers

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. Dark asphalt can absorb as much as 80 to 95 percent of sunlight, contributing to the urban heat island effect and making our cities (and the people who live in them) hotter and more vulnerable as the climate warms.
That’s why we’re excited to speak with Malena Marvin, Executive Director of Depave, a Portland, Oregon-based grassroots organization that works with communities to remove underutilized pavement and replace it with permeable, living green spaces. For example, an empty parking lot can become a public gathering space filled with trees and native plants, or a place where rain can return to the soil instead of rushing into storm drains. 
Depave’s work is especially powerful because it connects environmental restoration with community health and agency, climate resilience, and environmental justice. 
Show Notes
Depave
The Depave Crew
Depave Resources
Urban Heat Islands
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers

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 began with becoming a mother herself, which opened up a deeper understanding of how caring for one life can expand into caring for an entire web of life.
Monica and Chelsea explore what it might mean to think of ourselves as “mothers” of the living world, along with ideas of entanglement, sacred place, axis mundi, and the powerful sense of awe and belonging we can find in certain places. And while Chelsea doesn’t shy away from ecological loss and uncertainty, she reminds us that we still have agency. By paying closer attention to the places and creatures we love, we can find ways to care, connect, and take action, even when it feels like the world is unraveling around us. 
Show Notes
Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn From Nature’s Mothers In A Time of Unraveling
Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder
Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder on Instagram 
The Entwinement (Substack)
Keywords: Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, Mother Creature Kin, Biophilic Solutions, biophilia, nature, motherhood, ecology, environmentalism, climate change, nature connection, biodiversity, ecological grief, sacred places, axis mundi, awe, entanglement, regenerative living, environmental responsibility, nature and motherhood
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers