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 a consultancy business she's started to help other businesses that want to address their environmental and social impact (http://www.impactorum.com).

In the Weeds

Socially Distanced with Amy Hall

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, Brian mentions The Jacob Burns Film Center. I reference a YouTube video featuring actress Ali Ewoldt filmed in our town of Pleasantville, New York. I also share a song my husband Dave Larzelere recently recorded at home, "Snap Back Mama." I've been needing to thank him for letting me use a piece of "Sweet Long Odds," from his album, Sweet Science, in my intro and outro. Thank you, darling.

Socially Distanced with Brian Skarstad

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 the Susquehanna with two biologist friends to research the book; his discussions with a religious friend that helped shape the novel, which he says he wrote so that it could yield both secular and religious readings; and his work as a journalist, which provided insight into the human and material costs of war. We also compare notes on the apocalyptic in popular culture - why some people like it; what Slattery thinks is good (and isn’t) and the kind of mental and emotional work it faciliates. 

The Apocalyptic #2: Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery

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.

Socially Distanced with Marcia Bjornerud

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 more time at home, including, in Tallamy's case, catching up on gardening and tuning into the natural world. He also recommends the use of apps such as iNaturalist and Bug Guide which can help you identify creatures you find on walks or in your own garden.

Socially Distanced with Doug Tallamy

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.

The Apocalyptic with Bernard McGinn

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 comprised of all of our gardens and private spaces stitched together to form corridors of wilderness all across the United States. It's a bold vision and a call to action in which all of us can take a part. He also offers new tips and insights about how to make parks and gardens wilderness-friendly that may give you ideas of projects to take on while we keep a safe distance from other humans but are free to tune in to the lives of other creatures.

Nature's Best Hope with Doug Tallamy

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 science, which, Kaplinsky points out, very few of us have the education to properly understand, and you have to look at the complex picture of agriculture today and what is at stake both in the U.S. and in countries such as India and Bangladesh, where a genetically-modified form of rice known as “golden rice” could alleviate the devastating effects of vitamin A deficiency for those who subsist primarily on rice.

GMOs

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.

For the Love of Penguins

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

The Hidden Cost of Clothes with Amy Hall, VP of Social Consciousness for Eileen Fisher

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

Fashion Mash-Up

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 of ethics and spirituality and much more. For a link to the full text of the Encyclical and other episode notes, go to in-the-weeds.net.

The Encyclical on the Environment

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.

Gotham Coyote Project with Chris Nagy

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 state agencies to wipe them off the face of the earth, thrive throughout the lower 48 states today. As such, they have much to teach us about the natural and cultural history of America and, more broadly, about our own species.Thank you to David Larzelere for playing the guitar on the "Coyote National Anthem."For more see in-the-weeds.net

Coyote America with Dan Flores

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 own background - he grew up in a mixed-race family in an ultra-orthodox community, in Monsey, New York - and how this led to his current position with Hazon; about the current Jewish environmental movement and Hazon’s declaration that the Jewish new year, 5270, is the year of the Environmental Teshuva, and I ask Rabbi Rothstein to walk me through the Hebrew of the creation story in Genesis.Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for a bumpy (and fascinating) theological ride!For more information see:hazon.org/environmentalteshuvain-the-weeds.net

Genesis

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.

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In the Weeds

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