Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature

Bioneers
  • 4.7 (250)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
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The Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature is an award-winning series featuring breakthrough solutions for people and planet. The greatest social and scientific innovators of our time celebrate the genius of nature and human ingenuity. The kaleidoscopic scope covers biomimicry, ecological design, social and racial justice, women’s leadership, ecological medicine, indigenous knowledge, spirituality and psychology. It’s leading-edge, hopeful, charismatic, provocative, timely and timeless – like nothing you’ve heard before.

  1. JAN 21

    Plastic Planet: Stopping Big Oil, Big Plastic, and Big Misdirection

    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 fossil fuel industry, whose petrochemicals are at the source. The result? Plastic pollution is now found in virtually every living organism – including humans – and is one of the worst threats to ocean ecosystems. Now, a global resistance movement is rising to abolish petrochemical plastics and to shift to a zero-waste, circular economy. Anna Cummins, Deputy Director and Co-Founder of the Five Gyres Institute. With more than 20 years experience in environmental non-profit work—including marine conservation, coastal watershed management, community relations, and bilingual and sustainability education—Anna is an expert in the field. Credits Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Monica Lopez and Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Producer: Teo Grossman Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Production Assistance: Claire Reynolds This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    29 min

  2. JAN 14

    Erosion and Evolution: Our Undoing is Our Becoming | Terry Tempest Williams

    Erosion and evolution. Shadow and light. Death and rebirth. These are some of the strands that the acclaimed author, naturalist and activist Terry Tempest Williams weaves together in the face of today’s broken world. Standing in the lineage of the greatest nature writers, she links her deepest inner experiences with the state of the web of life. In this program, Williams asks: How do we find the strength to not look away at all that is breaking our hearts? Hands on the earth, we remember where the source of our authentic power comes from. We have to go deeper. She also explores histories of privilege, religion, and identity in Utah, and how reconciling her experiences with these cultural strands have helped unleash and shape her voice as a storyteller who translates the voice of nature and speaks for justice. Featuring Terry Tempest Williams, one of the greatest living authors from the American West, is also a longtime award-winning conservationist and activist, who has taken on, among other issues, nuclear testing, the Iraq War, the neglect of women’s health, and the destruction of nature, especially in her beloved “Red Rock” region of her native Utah and in Alaska. Credits: Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Monica Lopez and Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Producer: Teo Grossman Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Production Assistance: Claire Reynolds Music was made available by: Jami Sieber at ⁠JamiSieber.com⁠ Gigi Masin at ⁠MusicFromMemory.com⁠ APM This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    31 min
  3. The Nature of Language and the Language of Nature

    JAN 7

    The Nature of Language and the Language of Nature

    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 - often spoken by just a handful of people. We hear from two Indigenous language champions, Jeannette Armstrong and Rowen White. They reflect on the words, stories, songs and ideas that influence our very conception of nature, and our place within it. 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 Jeannette Armstrong, Ph.D., (Okanagan) is an Indigenous author, teacher, ecologist, and a culture bearer for her Native language. She is also Co-founder of the ⁠En'owkin Centre⁠. Rowen White (Mohawk) is a seed keeper and farmer, and part of the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network. She operates a living seed bank called ⁠Sierra Seeds⁠. Resources ⁠En’owkin Centre⁠ ⁠Indigenous Seed Keepers Network⁠ ⁠Sierra Seeds⁠ ⁠Language Keepers: The Struggle for Indigenous Language Survival in California⁠ ⁠Hand Talk, Native American Sign Language⁠ ⁠Native Seed Rematriation⁠ Credits Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Cathy Edwards and Kenny Ausubel Produced by: Cathy Edwards Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Associate Producer: Emily Harris Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Program Engineers: Kaleb Wentzel Fisher and Emily Harris Producer: Teo Grossman Graphic Designer: Megan Howe

    31 min
  4. How, Then, Might We Live? with Krista Tippett & Azita Ardakani

    12/31/2025

    How, Then, Might We Live? with Krista Tippett & Azita Ardakani

    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 conversations to explore the spiritual, ethical and moral aspects of human life. What began as a national public radio show in 2003 evolved into the multiple award-winning podcast “⁠On Being⁠” (“wisdom to replenish and orient in a tender, tumultuous time to be alive.”) Gifted with insatiable curiosity, profound relational intelligence, a poetic sensibility, and an ability to unearth revelatory ideas to live by, Krista creates spaces where wisdom can emerge. With her interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral whole systems overview, she’s hosted luminaries as disparate as Mary Oliver, Thich Nhat Hahn, Isabel Wilkerson and Desmond Tutu, among many more. Listen to this rare intimate, live interview with her friend, insightful strategist, philanthropist and activist Azita Ardakani. This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    1 hr
  5. Saving Nature Means Saving Ourselves | Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

    12/24/2025

    Saving Nature Means Saving Ourselves | Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

    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 of the web of life, she reminds us that, as human beings, we are part of nature. It’s all connected, and it’s high time to bring about peaceful coexistence, not only with nature, but with one another. Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D., is a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist, creator of the award-winning podcast “Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant,” co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom,” and author of “⁠Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World⁠.” Resources ⁠Rae Wynn-Grant – Wild Life: How Personal Journeys are Essential to Sustainable Leadership in Environmental Science⁠ | Bioneers 2024 Keynote ⁠Rae Wynn-Grant – Becoming a Wildlife Ecologist in a Rugged World⁠ | Excerpt from “Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World” Credits Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Leo Hornak and Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Producer: Teo Grossman Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Production Assistance: Leo Hornak and Monica Lopez This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    31 min
  6. Busting the Myth of Primate Patriarchy: The Nature of Sex and Gender in Our Ape Relatives

    12/17/2025

    Busting the Myth of Primate Patriarchy: The Nature of Sex and Gender in Our Ape Relatives

    The late world-renowned primatologist Professor Frans de Waal (1948-2024) explores the nature of sex and gender among our cousins the apes, and how gender diversity is a common and pervasive potential on nature’s masculine-feminine continuum. In the quest to overcome human gender inequality, he suggests that our focus needs to be on the inequality. Featuring The late Frans B. M. de Waal, Ph.D., was a Dutch/American biologist and primatologist widely renowned for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. C. H. Candler Professor Emeritus at Emory University, de Waal was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and was declared one of The Worlds’ 100 Most Influential People Today by Time magazine in 2007. The author of numerous highly influential books including Chimpanzee Politics, Our Inner Ape, and Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist. Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Producer: Teo Grossman Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Production Assistance: Anna Rubanova Resources Read an excerpt from Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    31 min
  7. Laboring for Justice: See No Stranger

    12/12/2025

    Laboring for Justice: See No Stranger

    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 and nationalism, we must not succumb to rage and grief. As someone who has spent much of her life challenging horrific injustices and intolerance, Kaur learned the lesson that historical nonviolent change-makers understood: social movements must be grounded in an ethic of love. She founded the Revolutionary Love Project, and has emerged as one of the most important voices of the American Sikh community, and a highly influential faith leader on the national stage. Featuring Valarie Kaur, born into a family of Sikh farmers who settled in California in 1913, is a seasoned civil rights activist, award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, faith leader, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, which seeks to champion love as a public ethic and wellspring for social action. Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Monica Lopez and Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Producer: Teo Grossman Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Production Assistance: Claire Reynolds Music includes pieces by: Edamame, EdamameBeats.com This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    31 min
  8. The Apology: Love Means Having to Say You’re Sorry

    12/03/2025

    The Apology: Love Means Having to Say You’re Sorry

    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 and disfigurement arising from past abuse? But what if the perpetrator does not apologize? Can you still resolve or reconcile the trauma and hurt? How? These are some of the agonizing questions that the artist, playwright, performer and activist Eve Ensler, now known as V chose to face to resolve her own relationship with her abusive late father. She did it by writing a book, ⁠The Apology⁠. In writing it, she tried to imagine being her father. Who was he? What allowed him to do such terrible harms? Could she free herself from this prison of the past? Could she free both of them? Featuring V (formerly Eve Ensler), Tony Award-winning playwright, performer, and one of the world’s most important activists on behalf of women’s rights, is the author of many plays, including, most famously the extraordinarily influential and impactful The Vagina Monologues, which has been performed all over the globe in 50 or so languages. Credits Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Producer: Teo Grossman Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Additional music was made available by: Ketsa at ⁠FreeMusicArchive.org⁠ Gigi Masin at ⁠MusicFromMemory.com⁠ This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

    31 min
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The Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature is an award-winning series featuring breakthrough solutions for people and planet. The greatest social and scientific innovators of our time celebrate the genius of nature and human ingenuity. The kaleidoscopic scope covers biomimicry, ecological design, social and racial justice, women’s leadership, ecological medicine, indigenous knowledge, spirituality and psychology. It’s leading-edge, hopeful, charismatic, provocative, timely and timeless – like nothing you’ve heard before.

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