Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Author: Bioneers October 8, 2025 Duration: 32:11
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.⁠ 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 | Bioneers Podcast ⁠Suzanne Simard – Dispatches From the Mother Trees⁠ | Bioneers 2021 Keynote ⁠Suzanne Simard – Dealing with Backlash Against Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change⁠ | Bioneers 2024 Keynote ⁠The Wood Wide Web: The Intelligent Underground Mycelial Network ⁠| Bioneers interview with Suzanne Simard ⁠Unraveling the Secrets of Salmon: An Indigenous Exploration of Forest Ecology and Nature’s Intelligence⁠ | Bioneers interview with Teresa Ryan ⁠Teresa Ryan: How Trees Communicate⁠ | Bioneers 2017 Keynote ⁠Deep Dive: Intelligence in Nature⁠ ⁠Earthlings: Intelligence in Nature⁠ | 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

There's a quiet revolution unfolding, one that draws its most profound ideas not from boardrooms or labs alone, but from the living world itself. Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature gives voice to that movement, presenting conversations that feel both urgent and deeply grounded. This award-winning podcast, curated by Bioneers, acts as a gathering place for some of the most compelling social and scientific thinkers of our era. Each episode explores how the genius of natural systems can inform our approach to modern crises. You’ll hear detailed discussions on topics ranging from practical biomimicry and ecological design to the interconnected realms of social justice, indigenous wisdom, and restorative psychology. The series refuses to silo these subjects, instead weaving them into a coherent vision for transformation. What emerges is a kaleidoscopic view of solutions that are as much about healing our communities as they are about restoring the planet. Tuning in, you encounter a rare depth of perspective, where the separation between ecological and social health dissolves. It’s a space where leading-edge ideas feel less like abstract concepts and more like a viable path forward, all explored through genuine dialogue and a celebration of human ingenuity working in concert with nature’s intelligence. This is a podcast for those looking to move beyond the headlines and into the heart of what it means to build a truly regenerative future.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature
Podcast Episodes
Shamans and Scientists: Changing the Landscape of Power [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:15
As we hurtle into the Sixth Age of Extinctions, we face the cataclysmic loss of half the world’s biological diversity. 80% of the remaining biodiversity is on Indigenous lands. Ethnobotanist and Indigenous rights advocat…
Whale Whisperers: Making Deep Contact [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:15
In the late 20th century, a handful of scientists proved that aquatic mammals have advanced communication capabilities and a consciousness strikingly similar to humans. Author and adventurer James Nestor leads us on a de…
Wild Pharmacies: How Animals Heal Themselves [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:19
Humans have harnessed many plants, fungi, and even animals, for our medicines. But we aren’t the only species that can do this. From chimpanzees to dolphins to geese, a striking range of animals use remedies that grow na…
Breaking the Male Code: The Tyranny of Masculinity [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:05
To transform our culture from its focus on dominance and hierarchy to one of connection, empathy and collaboration, it’s vital that we re-envision the essential (or archetypal) masculine, which changes everything. This r…
Saving Democracy Means Ending Extreme Inequality [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:17
Labor organizer Saru Jayaraman makes a clarion call to action: support workers across the United States who are saying there’s always been an affordability crisis and are asking politicians what has democracy done for me…
Patriarchy: Thousands of Years Old But Only a Few Days Deep [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
What will it take to begin to heal the deep wounds between women and men? What is the role of men in this transformation? Cynthia Brix and Will Keepin from ⁠Gender Reconciliation International⁠ say that only by bringing…
Nature’s Phoenix: Fire As Medicine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
Contemporary Western fire science is integrating what Indigenous Peoples discovered over thousands of years of observation, and trial and error: fire is key to optimizing forest vitality and biodiversity. The merging of…
3-D Ocean Farming: Making a Living on a Living Planet [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
What if there are ways to sustainably harvest protein and nutritious vegetables from the seas in ways that restore coastlines, local economies, produces abundant food, and sequesters vast amounts of carbon dioxide? Pathf…
Challenging American Patriarchy at Its Roots [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:15
Sociologist, storyteller, and best-selling author Anna Malaika Tubbs calls for dismantling the key system that has determined who actually gets to be considered human in the United States: The American patriarchy. She sa…