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
Socially Distanced with Marcia Bjornerud
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…
Socially Distanced with Doug Tallamy
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 "so…
The Apocalyptic with Bernard McGinn
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 …
Nature's Best Hope with Doug Tallamy
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 …
GMOs
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 s…
For the Love of Penguins
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 …
The Hidden Cost of Clothes with Amy Hall, VP of Social Consciousness for Eileen Fisher
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, …
Fashion Mash-Up
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 b…
The Pope's Encyclical on the Environment
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…
Gotham Coyote Project with Chris Nagy
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…
Coyote America with Dan Flores
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 th…
Genesis
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 Ge…
Bonus Episode: The Twilight Saga
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 …
In the Company of Actual Wolves
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 …
The Wolf in the Woods
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…
Ojai Olive Oil
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, …
What is culture?
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…
Shade-Grown Isn't Good Enough
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 …
The Violist
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, o…
The Violin Maker
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 th…