In the Weeds
In the weeds explores how culture shapes our relationship to the natural world through interviews with a wide range of guests, from scientists to artists to cultural critics and theologians.
- Update frequency
- every 19 days
- Average duration
- 39 minutes
- Episodes
- 64
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
The Unnatural World with David Biello
In the second installment of our series on climate change, I talk to environmental journalist and science curator for TED Talks David Biello about his book, The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Ci…
Reckoning with our Emotions About the Climate Crisis with Daniel Sherrell
In his new book, Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World, Daniel Sherrell reflects on his career as a climate activist and tries to process the emotional fallout, for himself and his generation…
We’re Back! Intro to A New Season on the Climate Crisis
This past summer, the UN Secretary General, in connection with the UN report on climate change, spoke of a “code red for humanity,” a warning that was underscored by the fires, floods and searing tem…
Mountains and Desire with Margret Grebowicz
In 1923, when British mountaineer George Mallory was asked why he wanted to summit Mount Everest, he famously answered “Because it’s there.” These days, there are still many who want to climb Mount E…
The Rich Ecology of Oak Trees with Doug Tallamy
Entomologist Doug Tallamy and I discuss his new book, The Nature of Oaks, in which he pulls back the curtain on the fascinating world of living creatures that inhabit oak trees. From acorn weevils to…
The Forests of Toni Morrison’s Beloved with Philip Weinstein
In our fourth episode on the forest in fiction, I speak to Philip Weinstein, Professor Emeritus of Swarthmore College and author of numerous books on fiction, including What Else But Love? The Ordeal…
The Forest of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Randall Martin
In our third episode on the forests of the Western imagination, I discuss A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Randall Martin, Professor of English at the University of New Brunswick and author of Shakespe…
The Tangled Woods of the Psyche: Ellen Handler Spitz on Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods
In the second episode of our series on the forest in fiction, Ellen Handler Spitz - a renowned specialist of psychology and the arts and senior lecturer in the Humaninties program at Yale - and I dis…
The Forests of Dante’s Inferno
If you hear a story that begins “in a dark wood,” you’re instantly transported to a place of fear, of danger and disorientation. Where does this come from? One important, early source is Dante’s Infe…
The Forests of Our Imagination - Intro to a new series
Whenever we enter a fictional forest - whether in a film, a novel or a fairy tale - we know we’re bound for a story of adventure, possibly of danger, magic or transformation.
In the next few episodes…
Growing Whole Children in the Garden
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 el…
Reading Rocks with Marcia Bjornerud
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…
A History of the Christmas Tree with Judith Flanders
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 …
Using Wilderness to Sell Cars
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 t…
The B Word
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, i…
Covid, Economics and the Environment: A Chat with Marc Conte
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 mysel…
The Apocalyptic #3: Invasive Species by Joe Wallace
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 Invas…
Socially Distanced with Amy Hall
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 …
Socially Distanced with Brian Skarstad
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.
…
The Apocalyptic #2: Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery
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 mi…