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
Social Medicine:  Restoring Public Health by Changing Society [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:15
We are told that our personal health is our individual responsibility based on our own choices. Yet, the biological truth is that human health is dependent upon the health of nature’s ecosystems and our social structures…
Plastic Planet: Stopping Big Oil, Big Plastic, and Big Misdirection [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
After World War II, the U.S. government worked with industry to create a single-use, disposable consumer culture as a way to ensure ongoing market prosperity. Who benefited? Consumer product companies like Coca-Cola, and…
The Nature of Language and the Language of Nature [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:23
Over 7,000 languages are spoken around the world. Each one reflects a rich ecosystem of ideas - seeds that grow into a multitude of worldviews. Today, many of these immeasurably precious knowledge systems are endangered…
How, Then, Might We Live?  with Krista Tippett & Azita Ardakani [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:55
After accomplished stints as a journalist, author and diplomat, and studying theology at Yale Divinity School, Krista Tippett was struck by a significant gap in the media landscape—a lack of deep, intelligent conversatio…
Saving Nature Means Saving Ourselves | Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:15
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant shares her personal odyssey as a wildlife ecologist, conservation biologist and co-host of the famed TV nature show “Wild Kingdom.” As a scientist dedicated to protecting and conserving the diversity o…
Laboring for Justice: See No Stranger [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:15
In a world that’s unraveling from climate disruption and gaping inequality, another climate crisis confronts us: the climate of hate and othering. Award-winning scholar and educator Valarie Kaur says to overcome racism a…
The Apology: Love Means Having to Say You’re Sorry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:15
They say love means never having to say you’re sorry. But what if that popular aphorism from the 1960’s is wrong and that love precisely means having to say you’re sorry? Can an apology release the trauma, grief, rage an…