Two friends - Margaret Ables, co-host of the podcast What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood , and Sonia Fujimori, educator and former coordinator of the edible garden at our children’s elementary school - join me in conversation with educator and anthropologist of education Lorie Hammond to discuss her new book, Growing Whole Children in the Garden . For more information see https://in-the-weeds.net/podcast/growing-whole-children-in-the-garden/...
Jan 31, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 30
Geologist Marcia Bjornerud gives us primer in “reading rocks.” We start by discussing where the “stuff” of our solar system comes from - you’ll be amazed by the origins of water on Earth, for example - and then delve into the different rock types, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Bjornerud explains the “grammar” of these different rock types and gives us tips for what to look for as well as reading recommendations. Though it clearly takes practice and experience, learning to read the rocks ...
Jan 17, 2021•54 min•Ep. 29
There are two things about Christmas that you can count on, says historian and author Judith Flanders: most of the origin stories you’ve heard are false and people have always thought ‘Christmas was better in the old days.’ Though it may not be true that Santa’s red suit came from Coca Cola, nor that Prince Albert brought the Christmas tree to Britain, the history of Christmas that Flanders relates in her 2017 book, Christmas: A Biography, is just as compelling. In this episode, I talk to her ab...
Dec 13, 2020•30 min•Ep. 28
Since the 1990s, we’ve been seeing the same kind of commercials: sweeping vistas of the American wilderness, forests and clear streams, rocky ledges, perhaps a dusting of snow. And, cutting through the landscape, a jeep or an SUV. No other cars in sight. Such a vision would seem to be fraught with contractions. For starters, this is not how most of us experience driving. Where we experience roads and traffic, SUV ads give us off-roading in beautiful country, using nature to sell technology. And,...
Nov 25, 2020•46 min•Ep. 27
When my daughter was eight years old, she came home one day and announced that she "knew what the B word was." But she was confused: why was a word for a female dog - the most awesome of creatures, in her mind - also an insult for girls and women? Interesting, I thought. What did this insult say about our relationship to animals, to dogs specifically, and about the gendering of that relationship? What did it say about how our culture connects animals and women? These questions sparked a series o...
Nov 14, 2020•38 min•Ep. 26
How fragile is our economy? Can it rebound from the impact of the shutdown and - similarly - from stresses climate change might inflict in the future? These are some of the questions I’ve found myself asking during the Covid pandemic. Looming over all of these was a broader and more troubling question: were the success of our economy and the future health of our planet somehow at odds? Following the logic of capitalism, would we only thrive if we produced and consumed at a rate that would eventu...
Oct 26, 2020•53 min•Ep. 25
After a long hiatus, In the Weeds picks up where we left off with a third installment of our series on the apocalyptic! From parasitic wasps to zombie ants and the hive mind, Joe Wallace’s novel Invasive Species takes strange natural phenomena and spins them into an apocalyptic yarn, in which a new, emergent predator threatens the human species. This is an unusual take on the apocalyptic genre I explored previously in interviews with theologian Bernard McGinn (episode #18) and novelist Brian Fra...
Oct 01, 2020•43 min•Ep. 24
In the fourth and last of my "socially distanced with" episodes, I touch base with Amy Hall, VP of Social Consciousness for the clothing brand Eileen Fisher with whom I discussed "the hidden cost of clothes" in episode 14. The clothing industry is among those being hit hard by the pandemic. Amy and I speculate about the long-term effects this may have and the ways in which it may alter our buying habits. We also chat about what she's up to, including her new blog ( http://www.amyjhall.com ) and ...
Jun 09, 2020•18 min•Ep. 23
In the third of my “socially distanced” episodes - shorter episodes in which I touch base with former guests to see what they are up to during the quarantine - I talk to violin maker Brian Skarstad. He tells me about some of the advantages of socially distancing for him, such as taking on projects he normally doesn’t have the time for, as well as the challenges. Together, we reflect on the way this unusual time is changing our relationship to music. A few links you might find useful. In our chat...
May 07, 2020•19 min•Ep. 22
In the second episode of my series on the apocalyptic, I talk to Brian Francis Slattery about his novel Lost Everything , which won the 2012 Philip K. Dick award. The novel follows two friends on a mission up the Susquehanna River, in an apocalyptic not-too-distant future, in which climate change and civil war have transformed the Northeast of the United States into a tropical wasteland, replete with monkeys climbing over post-industrial ruins. Slattery and I discuss the canoe trip he took along...
Apr 27, 2020•47 min•Ep. 21
In the second of my “socially distanced” episodes, I talk to geologist Marcia Bjornerud at her home in Wisconsin, who says that the coronavirus pandemic is a reminder that, throughout all of geologic time, microbes have been in charge. We talk about viruses, what odd entities they are, the curious role they have played in evolution, and we muse over the possible long-term effects of the dramatic changes to our lives and culture this virus has wrought.
Apr 20, 2020•23 min•Ep. 20
In a series of short episodes, I check in with previous guests to see what they are up to under stay-at-home orders and to find out what they have to say about the pandemic. In the first of these "socially distanced" chats, I talk to entomologist Doug Tallamy who tells us that the biologists saw this coming due to the problems of overpopulation and crowding in cities. Look at what happens when you have too many caterpillars in a container, he tells me. We also talk about the possible benefits of...
Apr 14, 2020•19 min•Ep. 19
The word “apocalyptic” pops up in conversation a lot these days, at a time when fiction and reality seem to be blurring. In the first episode of a series on the apocalyptic and what it reveals about how we feel about what’s happening to the natural world, I talk to the world-renowned theologian Bernard McGinn about the origins of the “apocalyptic imagination” and how fundamental it is both to Christianity and to narrative in Western culture.
Apr 10, 2020•33 min•Ep. 18
Gardening and observing the natural world may offer us solace during this time of worry and confinement. So I bring you my latest interview with entomologist Doug Tallamy, who has been teaching many of us about the need to garden with native plants in order to feed insects, especially pollinators, and preserve all of the "ecosystem services" that we humans, along with other animals, need to survive. Tallamy's latest book, Nature's Best Hope , introduces the idea of a Homegrown National Park comp...
Mar 22, 2020•48 min•Ep. 17
Nick Kaplinsky, Chair of Biology at Swarthmore College, and I discuss Nina Fedoroff's book Mendel in the Kitchen , on the genetic modification of food, going back the earliest domestication of crops such as wheat and corn, to foods currently labeled as “GMOs.” Kaplinsky surprises me with the statement that opposition to GMOs on the left ressembles climate change denial on the right. What is at the heart of this claim? To better understand genetically-modified foods, you have to delve into the sc...
Mar 02, 2020•43 min•Ep. 16
How do baby birds learn their songs? Why does a female bird want a mate who knows his neighborhood songs? What impact does bird migration have on the 9/11 memorial “Tribute in Light”? These are some of the many fascinating issues that come up in my discussion with Alan Clark of Fordham University, a biologist and expert in bird vocalizations, whose career was inspired by the experience of falling in love at-first-sight with penguins he met during a research fellowship in New Zealand....
Feb 07, 2020•45 min•Ep. 15
We go down the rabbit hole of how clothes are made and contemplate the hidden social and environmental costs of fashion with Amy Hall, VP of Social Consciousness for the fashion brand Eileen Fisher, as our guide. When you return to the surface, you're likely to look at your clothes in a whole new way! More more info go to in-the-weeds.net
Jan 13, 2020•44 min•Ep. 14
Listen to some giggly girls tell about the camp where they took old clothes, cut, patched and sewed them into new ones, flippy, sparkly....OMG. A little morsel of podcast to tide you over while I'm busy tending to our new puppy Coco and juggling kids and the general slobber of family life. Coming up... my interview with Amy Hall, VP of Social Consciousness for Eileen Fisher on fashion and the social and environmental cost of our clothes. More more info go to in-the-weeds.net...
Dec 27, 2019•9 min
In “Laudato si,” known as the Encyclical on the Environment, Pope Francis presents an “urgent challenge” to protect our “common home,” the Earth. I discuss this letter addressed not just to Catholics but to all people, with Christiana Zenner, Associate Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics in the Department of Theology at Fordham University. We talk about Pope Francis’ folding together of his concern for the environment and for the lives of the poor; his framing of the issues in a language o...
Dec 13, 2019•57 min•Ep. 13
Using heat-sensitive cameras and radio collars, Gotham Coyote Project tracks coyotes, as they make a life for themselves in the Bronx, in parks and a golf course and, occasionally, show up in Central Park or trotting along the West Side Highway. This amazingly resilient animal challenges our understanding where “nature” resides and gives us a blueprint for how we might welcome wilderness into our suburbs and our cities.
Nov 29, 2019•38 min•Ep. 12
Predators are a two-faced god for humans, according to Dan Flores, historian and author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History . After all, we were once both predators and prey. With this episode, we continue to explore this complex relationship of humans and predators by looking to the song dogs of the prairie. Coyotes inspired several Aztec dieties, served as the model for the protagonist of the earliest American stories, and, in defiance of a concerted effort by federal and sta...
Nov 15, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 11
In 1967, medieval historian Lynn White published a now-infamous paper that traces the current environmental crisis back to a Judeo-Christian worldview… essentially, he blames the creation story in Genesis, especially the part in which God gives humans the task of “ruling” over animals. I wanted to take a closer look and knew the thing to do was to ask a rabbi. I got help from Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, rabbi-in-residence for Hazon, the Jewish lab for sustainability. We talk about Rabbi Rothstein’s ...
Nov 01, 2019•52 min•Ep. 10
I’m having trouble letting go of wolves…I’m fascinated with the way we use these predators as models for who we are, as humans, and who we are, as animals. So, before we move on to our next topic, I thought it would be fun to look at an example from popular culture. My friend Alisa Hartz and I discuss the Twilight movies, based on the YA novels by Stephenie Meyer, in which Bella, a teenage girl who has recently moved to a small town in the Pacific Northwest to live with her father, has to choose...
Oct 25, 2019•25 min
Last time, we looked at Little Red Riding Hood and the “big, bad wolf” of the fairy-tale tradition. This time, we turn to actual wolves and their situation in North America today. I interview Maggie Howell, the Director of The Wolf Conservation Center. We talk about why wolves are important to the ecosystem (and how the Northeast has suffered in their absence) and what is being done to protect endangered wolf species, including a rather unusual approach to reintroducing captive wolves into the w...
Oct 19, 2019•31 min•Ep. 9
How did the wolf come to be “carnivore incarnate”? Why do we project our own beastliness onto wolves? With the help of Maria Tatar, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and of Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University, and Aleksander Pluskowski, Associate Professor of Archeology at the University of Reading, I deconstruct the figure of the fairy-tale wolf.
Oct 05, 2019•27 min•Ep. 8
How do you shop for a good bottle of olive oil? What’s the difference between organic and conventional? 1 percent and .25% acidity? Learn this and much more from my conversation with Philip Asquith, Master Miller of Ojai Olive Oil - oh, and, my brother. We recorded this interview while exploring the olive grove and mill, on the edge of the Sespe Wilderness Area.
Sep 20, 2019•39 min•Ep. 7
Environmentalists tell us that to save our species - and many others that depend on us - we need a change in our culture, not just our technology, but what exactly is culture? With the help of Michael Ziser, Associate Professor of English at UC Davis, and Caleb Scoville, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at UC Berkeley, I explore the history and meanings of the word culture. It turns out this history has a lot to tell us about our relationship to the natural world.
Sep 08, 2019•36 min•Ep. 6
I'm traveling, so I don't have time to produce a full episode this week, but I hope you'll enjoy this segment of my interview with Doug Tallamy that didn't make it into my first episode. In this part of our conversation, Tallamy talks about his recent research on the impact of coffee production on bird habitat and the new "Bird Friendly" label he's developed with the Smithsonian.
Aug 23, 2019•6 min
Part 2 of my inquiry into the connections between wood and music and, by extension, trees and people. I interview Judy Nelson, violist for the New York Philharmonic, who tells me stories of violas, old and new, teaches me what makes an instrument "speak" and gives me insight into the dynamic relationship between a musician and her fiddle. For pictures and more info see in-the-weeds.net.
Aug 09, 2019•27 min•Ep. 5
In my quest to understand the relationship between trees and music, I seek out Brian Skarstad, an expert violin maker (he scoffs at the term "luthier") who makes violins by hand, employing many of the same techniques that violin makers have been using for hundreds of years. I talk to him about tonewood, how a violin is made and the myriad details that affect a violin’s sound and quality. It’s like opening a portal to a secret world.
Jul 26, 2019•31 min•Ep. 4
