Internet of Nature Podcast

Dr. Nadina Galle

How can we make our communities wilder, greener, healthier, and happier—and which technologies can help us along the way? Ecological engineer and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Nadina Galle—best-selling author of THE NATURE OF OUR CITIES and pioneer of the Internet of Nature®—shares stories of people using tech to bring the wild back into streets, schools, and homes. This is where the wild meets the wired.

  1. S6E10: “Mushrooms Aren’t a Death Sentence” — Fungumentals for Arborists Who Diagnose Before They Cut with Kyle McLoughlin of Ironwood Arboricultural

    12/14/2025

    S6E10: “Mushrooms Aren’t a Death Sentence” — Fungumentals for Arborists Who Diagnose Before They Cut with Kyle McLoughlin of Ironwood Arboricultural

    A mushroom on a tree isn’t a verdict — but in arboriculture, it’s often treated like one. In this episode, Nadina Galle talks with Kyle McLoughlin, a Board Certified Master Arborist and founder of Ironwood Arboricultural, from his two-acre, tree-filled property in St. George, Ontario. Together, they unpack why fungi should be foundational knowledge for anyone caring for trees — and why “there’s a mushroom, cut it down” is more often fear than good practice. They explore Armillaria and other misunderstood fungi, how decay actually affects tree risk and failure probability, and why arborists should think more like physicians: diagnosing before treating. The conversation also examines how many urban fungal problems are created not by nature, but by how we design, dig, drain, and pave our cities. Nadina and Kyle discuss the tools that could help shift tree care from reactive removals to proactive preservation — including pneumatic excavation, sonic tomography, and ground-penetrating radar — while returning to a core insight: better growing conditions matter more than any technology. This episode will resonate with arborists, urban foresters, city managers, and anyone involved in tree risk, urban tree preservation, or the future of urban nature. By the end, you’ll never look at a mushroom on a tree the same way again. Find Kyle and Ironwood Arboricultural at ironwoodarboricultural.ca and @ironwoodarboricultural on Instagram.

    51 min
  2. S6E8: “National Park City” — What If the Whole City Were a Park? with Mark Cridge of National Park City Foundation

    11/30/2025

    S6E8: “National Park City” — What If the Whole City Were a Park? with Mark Cridge of National Park City Foundation

    In this episode, Nadina meets Mark Cridge just off Oxford Circus, inside a quiet, plant-filled HQ that serves as the visitor centre for something radical: a city that calls itself a park. London was the first place in the world to become a National Park City—but what does that actually mean when you’re standing in the middle of one of the busiest urban intersections on Earth? Mark shares the story behind the National Park City idea, from the map that rewired how London sees itself to the moment the city formally embraced a new identity as a living landscape. We talk about how over 50% of London is already green and blue space, why perception matters as much as policy, and how reframing a city can unlock entirely new conversations about health, belonging, biodiversity, and the future of urban life. At the heart of the movement are the community Rangers—ordinary people running extraordinary local projects, from tracing hidden fruit trees across neighbourhoods to turning allotments into spaces of healing, mental health support, and connection. Together, we explore how these small, human-scale interventions quietly reshape entire neighbourhoods from the ground up. We also dig into the deeper questions beneath the movement: the global collapse of human connection to nature, why teenagers so often lose that bond, what it means to raise nature-connected children in dense cities, and whether cities—rather than rainforests or remote wilderness—may now be the most important battleground for reconnection. This is an episode about maps, movements, rights to grow and swim, and what happens when a city stops treating nature as decoration and starts treating it as its backbone.

    55 min
5
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

How can we make our communities wilder, greener, healthier, and happier—and which technologies can help us along the way? Ecological engineer and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Nadina Galle—best-selling author of THE NATURE OF OUR CITIES and pioneer of the Internet of Nature®—shares stories of people using tech to bring the wild back into streets, schools, and homes. This is where the wild meets the wired.