Instagram story viewer> @biophilicsolutions> Posts

Biophilic Solutions

@biophilicsolutions

674

followers

317

following

Nature has the answers. 🌱🎤🎧
Interviews about the human connection to nature. Building a biophilic movement.

POSTS STORIES REELS

Hi! If you're new here, allow us to introduce ourselves. Biophilic Solutions™ is a podcast all about the human connection to nature. Every other week, hosts Monica Olsen and Jennifer Walsh sit down with thought-leaders and experts across a wide range of industries to discuss the impact that nature has on our wellbeing and how we can all live in greater harmony with the natural world. Faced with global challenges like climate change, food insecurity, and political polarization, reconnecting with nature has never been more important.⁠
⁠
We hope you’ll join the biophilic movement. Subscribe and listen today, because nature has the answers! by @biophilicsolutions

We were honored to welcome @richlouv to Biophilic Solutions week. An award-winning journalist and author, Richard transformed 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.

Listen wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

“What does it mean to tell the bees? To draw the natural world into our grief.” 🐝

In her new book, Carrying the Bones: Rituals for a Dying World, writer, multimedia artist, and professor @eilyana 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 asks what we might gain if we allowed ourselves to sit more fully with death and grief rather than rushing to move forward.

In our latest 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.

Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

From roads and highways to schoolyards and massive parking lots, pavement is 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 were so excited to speak with Malena Marvin, Executive Director of @depavepdx, a Portland, Oregon-based grassroots organization that works with communities to remove underutilized pavement and replace it with permeable, living green spaces. But Depave’s work is about so much more than regreening. Their work connects environmental restoration with community health and agency, climate resilience, and environmental justice.

Listen to Biophilic Solutions wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

Are humans inherently destructive? It’s complicated. It’s certainly true that the driving forces behind climate change – burning fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial agriculture – are human-driven. But it’s also true, as @chelseasteinauerscudder suggests, that humans have the potential to be incredible stewards of the land. Many Indigenous communities have done just that for millennia. When we approach the natural world from a place of respect and care, rather than a place of control, we put talents like creativity, complex problem solving, and empathy to good use. 🌀🌿

Stewarding the land is one of the ways we can all become ecological mothers. Listen to the latest episode of the podcast, featuring Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, author of Mother Creature Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling. Available wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

How do we care for the living world when so much around us feels uncertain? In our latest episode, Monica sits down with @chelseasteinauerscudder, author of Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling. Together, they explore what it means 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 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.

Listen to Biophilic Solutions wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

In her new book, ‘Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms’, @madisonmurphybarney makes the case that mushrooms (and the vast, unseen networks beneath them) have much to teach us about how to be better humans. 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.

Madison is a Two Spirit Shoshone sister, a doula, author, and a public-health storyteller. She holds a master’s degree from @harvardchansph and has become a sought-after voice, using storytelling as a tool for building more just and connected communities. ‘Our Ancestors Want Us To Be Mushrooms’ is her debut book.

On the podcast, Monica and Madison talk about ancestral wisdom, doula work in the literal and metaphorical senses, and why we all need to start embracing our weird.

Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

It seems like urban design is having a moment on social media. And that’s a very good thing, because smart urban design is good for the environment. Zoning that allows for walkable, compact communities and diverse housing options make better use of existing infrastructure and open up more opportunities to walk, bike, share resources, and connect with nature.

On our podcast feed, we recently revisited a 2022 conversation with urban policy expert Diana Lind about smarter, happier housing. Four years since its release, the themes are more timely than ever. Check it out at the link in our bio. by @biophilicsolutions

Where is biophilic design headed?

This week on the podcast, we’re thrilled to welcome back Oliver Heath (@oliverheathdesign) alongside guest co-host Dr. Vanessa Champion (@journalofbiophilicdesign). Together, they are two of the UK’s leading proponents of biophilic design. We’ll explore how thoughtfully designed spacesimprove our physical and mental wellbeing, 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.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
#NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

The best solutions don’t solve just one problem. Like healthy ecosystems, they create ripple effects, strengthening communities, restoring nature, improving health, and building resilience all at once.

Listen to our special compilation episode featuring some of the most impactful conversations from Biophilic Solutions.
Available wherever you get podcasts. #NatureHasTheAnswers by @biophilicsolutions

Diversity of thought may have helped our prehistoric ancestors survive.

Many anthropologists point to neurodiversity as an example of what’s known as an evolutionary mismatch or the idea that traits that were once highly adaptive don’t always fit the world we’ve built today.

ADHD is a prime example. Characteristics like heightened awareness, impulsivity, and abundant energy may have been valuable in hunter-gatherer societies, where staying alert, responding quickly, and exploring new environments could mean the difference between life and death. In today’s world, those same traits often collide with expectations of prolonged sitting, sustained focus, and rigid routines.

It’s a reminder that there isn’t one “right” way to think. The qualities that make someone different are also the qualities that make them invaluable.

Listen to our latest episode with @ancestralhabits to explore how our evolutionary past continues to shape the way we live today. by @biophilicsolutions

Did you know that humans rely on oxytocin (the bonding hormone) in remarkably complex ways?

When we talk about reconnecting with nature and each other, it’s more than a pithy turn of phrase. We evolved in nature, and our minds and bodies are still deeply tuned to its rhythms. More than almost any other mammal, we’re also wired for connection, to live in community, build relationships, and communicate openly.

In the latest episode of the Biophilic Solutions podcast, Monica sits down with Andie Edwards, creator of the popular Instagram account @ancestralhabits, to explore how hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution continue to shape our bodies, minds, and relationship with the natural world.

It’s a fascinating conversation about using our deep history to better understand ourselves — not to return to the past but to build a healthier, connected, and more aligned future. by @biophilicsolutions