Nature’s Genius is a Bioneers podcast series exploring how the sentient symphony of life holds the solutions we need to balance human civilization with living systems. For all the talk about

Nature’s Genius is a Bioneers podcast series exploring how the sentient symphony of life holds the solutions we need to balance human civilization with living systems. For all the talk about the Age of Information, what we’re really entering is the Age of Nature. As we face the reality that, as humans, we have the capacity to destroy the conditions conducive to life, avoiding this fate requires a radical change in our relationship to nature, and how we view it. Looking to nature to heal nature, and ourselves, is essential. 


Traditional Indigenous wisdom and modern science show us that everything is connected and that the solutions we need are present in the sentient symphony of life. We can learn from the time-tested principles, processes, and dynamics that have allowed living systems to flourish during 3.8 billion years of evolution. 


In this enlightening series, we visit with scientists, ecologists, Indigenous practitioners of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, community organizers, and authors reporting from the frontlines of ecological restoration. They explore the intelligence inherent in nature and show us how to model human organization on living systems.


Guests featured in the series include: Jeannette Armstrong - Co-Founder, Enwokin Centre; Brock Dolman - Co-Founder and Program Director, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center; Erica Gies - Author and Journalist; Brett KenCairn - Founding Director of Center for Regenerative Solutions (https://naturebasedclimate.solutions/) ; Toby Kiers - Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Co-Founder of SPUN (https://www.spun.earth/) ; Kate Lundquist - Water Institute Co-Director, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center; Samira Malone - Urban Forestry Program Manager, Urban Sustainability Directors Network; Teresa Ryan - Teaching and Learning Fellow, Forest and Conservation Sciences Dept., Univ. of British Columbia; Merlin Sheldrake - Biologist and Author; Suzanne Simard - Author and Prof. of Forest Ecology, Univ. of British Columbia; Rowen White - Seedkeeper/Farmer and Author from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne


Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel


Written by Cathy Edwards and Kenny Ausubel


Produced by Cathy Edwards


Senior Producer: Stephanie Welch


Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris


Producer: Teo Grossman


Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey


Post Production Assistants: Monica Lopez and Kaleb Wentzel-Fisher


Graphic Designer: Megan Howe

We trek into the ancient old-growth forest where the trees reveal an ecological parable: A forest is a mightily interwoven community of diverse life that runs on symbiosis. With: Doctors Suzanne

We trek into the ancient old-growth forest where the trees reveal an ecological parable: A forest is a mightily interwoven community of diverse life that runs on symbiosis. With: Doctors Suzanne Simard and Teresa Ryan, ecologists whose work has helped reveal an elaborate tapestry of kinship, cooperation and mutual aid.


This is an episode of Nature’s Genius, a Bioneers podcast series exploring how the sentient symphony of life holds the solutions we need to balance human civilization with living systems. Visit the series page to learn more. (https://bioneers.org/natures-genius/)


Featuring


Dr. Sm’hayetsk Teresa Ryan is Gitlan, Tsm’syen. Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Science Lecturer at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Forest & Conservation Sciences. As a fisheries/aquatic/forest ecologist, she is currently investigating relationships between salmon and healthy forests.


Dr. Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and author of the bestselling, Finding the Mother Tree, is a highly influential, researcher on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence.


Resources


Forest Wisdom, Mother Trees and the Science of Community (https://bioneers.org/forest-wisdom/)  | Bioneers Podcast


Suzanne Simard – Dispatches From the Mother Trees (https://bioneers.org/suzanne-simard-dispatches-from-mother-trees-zstf2112/)  | Bioneers 2021 Keynote


Suzanne Simard – Dealing with Backlash Against Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change (https://bioneers.org/suzanne-simard-backlash-against-nature-based-solutions-climate-change-zstf2404/)  | Bioneers 2024 Keynote


The Wood Wide Web: The Intelligent Underground Mycelial Network  (https://bioneers.org/the-wood-wide-web-the-intelligent-underground-mycelium-network/) | Bioneers interview with Suzanne Simard


Unraveling the Secrets of Salmon: An Indigenous Exploration of Forest Ecology and Nature’s Intelligence (https://bioneers.org/unraveling-the-secrets-of-salmon-an-indigenous-exploration-of-forest-ecology-ztrz2405/)  | Bioneers interview with Teresa Ryan


Teresa Ryan: How Trees Communicate (https://bioneers.org/teresa-ryan-bioneers-2017/)  | Bioneers 2017 Keynote


Deep Dive: Intelligence in Nature (https://bioneers.org/intelligence-in-nature-media-collection/)


Earthlings: Intelligence in Nature (https://bioneers.org/earthlings/)  | Bioneers Newsletter


Credits



•
Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel


•
Written by: Cathy Edwards and Kenny Ausubel


•
Produced by: Cathy Edwards


•
Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch


•
Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey


•
Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris


•
Producer: Teo Grossman


•
Graphic Designer: Megan Howe