The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh

What does it cost to truly document the natural world, and why do some people keep returning even when the risk is real? In this episode of The Nature Of, Willow sits down with renowned conservation photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen, whose lives and love story have unfolded at the edge of danger, from plane crashes and near-drownings to an encounter with a whale that nearly turned fatal. Together, they reflect on what it means to document the natural world with intimacy rather than distance, and why storytelling, vulnerability, and reverence are essential tools in the fight for our planet. This is a conversation about risk, devotion, and hope, about falling in love with each other, with the ocean, and with a living world worth protecting.
Cristina Mittermeier Reflects on Her Life Underwater: https://atmos.earth/science-and-nature/cristina-mittermeier-ocean-conservation/
60 Seconds On Earth with Cristina Mittermeier: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/60-seconds-on-earth-with-cristina-mittermeier/
Behind the Lens: https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/behind-the-shot-nature-photography/
Thin Ice: https://atmos.earth/climate-solutions/antarctica-conservation-campaign/

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What does it mean to live in right relationship with intelligence, human, more than human, and now artificial? In this episode of The Nature Of, Willow sits down with writer, storyteller, and Life With Machines host Baratunde Thurston to explore the complicated emotions many of us are carrying about AI, from fear and overwhelm to curiosity and cautious hope. Together, they reflect on what it means to encounter a technology that feels less like a tool and more like a presence, one that may soon live alongside us as collaborator, colleague, or even neighbor, while tracing unexpected connections between artificial intelligence and natural intelligence, creativity and extraction, domination and relationship. If you are navigating your own boundaries, questions, or ambivalence around AI, this conversation is an invitation to slow down, embrace nuance, and stay in dialogue with each other, with nature, and with what is emerging.
For more about Baratunde Thurston: https://www.baratunde.com/
To watch Life With Machines: https://www.lifewithmachines.media/

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In this week’s episode of The Nature Of, Willow sits down with Robin Wall Kimmerer, beloved scientist, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. They explore the shift from learning about to learning from nature, understanding that the land loves us back, and her new initiative Plant Baby Plant. Robin invites us to step back into belonging, and to see the natural world not as something separate from us, but as a generous teacher offering guidance every single day. This conversation is full of wonder and clarity, and it just might change the way you walk outside.
On Embracing the More-Than-Human Through Law and Language: https://atmos.earth/ecological-wisdom/embracing-the-more-than-human-through-law-and-language/
On Why The World Needs Spiritual Ecology: https://atmos.earth/ecological-wisdom/why-the-world-needs-spiritual-ecology/
Find out more about Plant Baby Plant: https://plantbabyplant.com/

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Movements evolve the way ecosystems do—through tension, adaptation, and collective resilience. In this episode, Willow is joined by writer and cultural critic Roxane Gay to explore the shifting landscape of feminism. Together, they revisit the ideas at the heart of Bad Feminist, question what’s really in crisis, and trace the possibilities that emerge when we stop ceding ground and begin tending to a broader, more interconnected ecosystem of care. This conversation invites us to imagine feminism as a living practice—one that grows with us, holds us accountable, and makes room for all of our complexity as we work toward a more generous future.
For Roxane Gay's substack: https://audacity.substack.com/
On Reproductive Choice: https://atmos.earth/political-landscapes/when-the-world-is-on-fire-what-does-reproductive-choice-really-mean/

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In this episode, host Willow Defebaugh is joined by renowned climate scientist and writer Kate Marvel for a conversation about her book, Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet. With poetic insight and scientific precision, Marvel reframes climate change not just as a planetary emergency, but as an emotional experience, one that demands our full humanity. Together, they explore how feelings like wonder, anger, grief, and love can become tools for engagement rather than paralysis, and what it means to hold both scientific truth and emotional complexity in a time of profound transformation.
For more about Kate Marvel and her book Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet: https://www.marvelclimate.com/
On Climate Science: https://atmos.earth/ecological-wisdom/the-emotional-whiplash-of-a-climate-scientist/
 

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