Biophilic Solutions: Nature Has the Answers

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
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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

What can mushrooms teach us about becoming better humans? How can doula work, in the literal and metaphorical senses, help us navigate the uncertainty of the near future? These are just two of the compelling questions we’re exploring today alongside Madison Murphy Barney. 
Madison is a Two Spirit Shoshone sister, a doula, author, and a public-health storyteller. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health and has become a sought-after voice, using storytelling as a tool for building more just and connected communities. 
In her new book, Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms, Madison makes the case that mushrooms – and the vast, unseen networks beneath them – have much to teach us about how to live. Themes like humility, adaptability, nourishment, creativity, protection, and even mystery become guides for rethinking how we relate to ourselves, to each other, and to the planet.
In this conversation, Monica and Madison talk about mushrooms, ancestral wisdom, the power of embracing your weird, and what the natural world is trying to teach us about how to live together. 
Show Notes
Our Ancestors Want Us To Be Mushrooms by Madison Murphy Barney
Terracotta (Substack)
Madison Murphy Barney Website
Biophilic Solutions on Substack 
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers

This week on the podcast, we’re revisiting a 2022 conversation with urban policy expert Diana Lind, author of Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing. In this episode, we explored the rise of the single-family home and the many challenges that come with it: the isolation created by large homes on expansive plots of land, outdated zoning, high energy use for relatively few people, and a built environment that makes cars a necessity. 
Almost four years to the day after its original release, these themes are as relevant as ever but the context around them has changed. More and more people seem to be recognizing the connection between urban planning, the environment, and our own wellbeing. Young creators like Luke Hillman are getting hundreds of thousands of views and likes for videos about land use, walkability, and freeing ourselves from auto-dependence. That growing public awareness of how we shape our communities, particularly among a younger audience, is incredibly encouraging.
But there’s another reason this conversation feels timely: data centers. Communities all over the country are confronting the enormous demands for the land, energy, water, and new utility infrastructure that data centers require. New transmission lines and grid expansions also put pressure on residential land, in some cases power companies are using eminent domain to acquire property. And that’s to say nothing about immense concerns over noise and air pollution.
That’s why Diana’s ideas are now more important than ever. The challenges may be evolving, but the underlying question remains the same: What kind of places do we want to build and what would it take to build them differently?
Shownotes
Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing by Diana Lind
About Diana Lind
Luke Hillman on Instagram
Against the White Picket Fence (New York Times)
WATCH: Five Things Diana Lind taught us about housing (Philadelphia Citizen)
Ideas We Should Steal: Treat Homelessness as a Health Issue by Diana Lind (The Philadelphia Citizen)
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers

Research suggests we spend close to 90% of our lives indoors. While we all need more time outside, there's another part of the solution: designing the places where we live and work to better support our health and wellbeing.
In this episode, Monica Olsen sits down with two of the UK's leading voices in biophilic design: Oliver Heath, an expert in regenerative and wellbeing-led design for the built environment, and Dr. Vanessa Champion, founder of the Journal of Biophilic Design and host of the podcast of the same name.
Together, they explore how thoughtfully designed spaces can improve our physical and mental wellbeing, the formative project that first inspired Oliver to connect nature with health, why diverse minds need diverse spaces, the exciting innovations emerging in fields like biomimicry, and the growing body of evidence demonstrating the value of biophilic design.
Whether you're an architect, designer, developer, or simply curious about creating healthier places, this conversation offers an inspiring look at how nature can transform the built environment—and the people who inhabit it.
Show Notes
Oliver Heath Design
Journal of Biophilic Design
Journal of Biophilic Design Podcast
Oliver Heath Design: Case Studies
Design a Healthy Home: 100 Ways To Transform Your Space For Physical and Mental Wellbeing by Oliver Heath

Biophilic design, regenerative design, nature-inspired design, wellbeing, healthy buildings, healthy spaces, built environment, sustainable design, architecture, interior design, biomimicry, biophilia, wellness design, environmental psychology, human-centered design, natural materials, natural light, biodiversity, placemaking, Oliver Heath, Vanessa Champion, Journal of Biophilic Design, design innovation, resilient communities, wellbeing-led design, people and planet
Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn and learn more on our website.
 
#NatureHasTheAnswers