The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh

How do we stay open amid uncertainty? In this episode, Willow sits down with Maria Popova, writer and founder of The Marginalian, for a conversation about meaning, wonder, and the unknown. They explore Maria’s idea that “selfing” sits at the root of much of our suffering and how wonder can be an antidote. Moving between the scientific and poetic, the historical and the personal, they trace surprising connections across time in Maria’s new book, Traversal. This conversation is an invitation to loosen our grip on certainty and let ourselves be astonished by the marvels of existence.

For more about Maria Popova and The Marginalian: https://www.themarginalian.org

For Reweaving the Rainbow: https://substack.com/@reweavingtherainbow

Reweaving the Rainbow: Science, Poetry, and the Magic of Nature: https://atmos.earth/ecological-wisdom/reweaving-the-rainbow/

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How can we see nature as an invitation to break down binary thinking? In this episode, Willow sits down with environmental drag queen Pattie Gonia to explore the outdoors as a space that bridges divides. From hiking in heels to building community through art, Pattie shares how drag became a pathway back to both nature and self. Diving into the deep connection between identity, self expression, and the natural world, this conversation is an invitation to reconnect with what is most alive within us—and to remember that healing ourselves might be part of how we heal the world.

For more about Pattie Gonia: https://www.pattiegonia.net/

60 Seconds on Earth with Pattie Gonia: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/60-seconds-on-earth-with-pattie-gonia/

Pattie Gonia on Drag and Identity in the Outdoors: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/pattie-gonia-environmentalist-drag-queen-interview/

Why Pattie Gonia, Yo-Yo Ma, and Quinn Christopherson Won’t Give Up: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/why-pattie-gonia-yo-yo-ma-and-quinn-christopherson-wont-give-up/

Watch Bonnie Wright and Pattie Gonia Road Trip for the Planet: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/watch-bonnie-wright-and-pattie-gonia-road-trip-for-the-planet/

 

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How can getting in touch with our senses help us reconnect with the world around us? Nature has shaped the work of artist Olafur Eliasson for decades. From glowing suns indoors to melting glaciers in city streets, his installations invite us to see what we’ve been blind to. In this episode, Willow and Olafur explore how art can reach beyond language, allowing us to feel what is often too vast or abstract to grasp. They consider the ways art can help us see the world in new dimensions—and feel seen in return.

For more about Olafur Eliasson: https://olafureliasson.net/

For more about the Weather Project: https://olafureliasson.net/artwork/the-weather-project-2003/

For more about The New York City Waterfalls: https://olafureliasson.net/artwork/the-new-york-city-waterfalls-2008/

For more about Ice Watch: https://olafureliasson.net/artwork/ice-watch-2014/

Decarbonizing the Art World: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/decarbonizing-the-art-world-olafur-eliasson-onassis-stegi/

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Beneath our feet, fungi connect forests, turn death into life, and quietly sustain the world we live in. Mycologist Giuliana Furci has spent decades studying and sensing into them. In this conversation, she invites us to see life differently, not as separate individuals, but as a web of relationships that holds everything together. Together with Willow, she reflects on how learning to notice fungi can open our eyes to the hidden collaborations that make life on Earth possible.

 For more about Giuliana Furci: https://giulianafurci.com/

For more about the Fungi Foundation: https://www.ffungi.org/

Saving the World's Fungi, Might Save Us, Too: https://atmos.earth/science-and-nature/saving-the-worlds-fungi-might-save-us-too/

 

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Note: This episode includes a brief mention of death by suicide. Please take care while listening.

Willow sits down with award-winning author Terry Tempest Williams to explore the spiritual dimensions of attention, climate change, and our relationship with the living world. Together, Willow and Terry look at what it means to live with our eyes open in a time of unraveling and revealing. From a desert ant carrying a single blossom across the sand to the story of a beloved oak tree lost at the Harvard Divinity School, they reflect on mysticism, grace, and the quiet practice of noticing. If attention is a form of prayer, then perhaps the work of our time is learning how to see. This conversation is an invitation to meet the holy ordinary as it finds us: what Terry calls The Glorians.

For more about Terry Tempest Williams: http://www.terrytempestwilliams.com/

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