Asphalt and concrete. Not exactly the sexiest topics in the world, but think about it: pavement is everywhere we look. From roads and highways to schoolyards and massive parking lots, it’s such a ubiquitous part of our environment that we hardly even notice it anymore.

And there’s a reason for that. Pavement makes roads safer and provides ADA accessible sidewalks. But it also comes with a significant environmental cost. Dark asphalt can absorb as much as 80 to 95 percent of sunlight, contributing to the urban heat island effect and making our cities (and the people who live in them) hotter and more vulnerable as the climate warms.

That’s why we’re excited to speak with Malena Marvin, Executive Director of Depave, a Portland, Oregon-based grassroots organization that works with communities to remove underutilized pavement and replace it with permeable, living green spaces. For example, an empty parking lot can become a public gathering space filled with trees and native plants, or a place where rain can return to the soil instead of rushing into storm drains.

Depave’s work is especially powerful because it connects environmental restoration with community health and agency, climate resilience, and environmental justice.

Show Notes

• Depave
• The Depave Crew
• Depave Resources
• Urban Heat Islands

Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

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#NatureHasTheAnswers

How do we continue to care for the living world when so much around us feels uncertain? On this episode of Biophilic Solutions, Monica Olsen talks with Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, author of Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling.

Chelsea’s book asks us to rethink what it means to care for each other, for the places we call home, and for the more-than-human world. Her journey began with becoming a mother herself, which opened up a deeper understanding of how caring for one life can expand into caring for an entire web of life.

Monica and Chelsea explore what it might mean to think of ourselves as “mothers” of the living world, along with ideas of entanglement, sacred place, axis mundi, and the powerful sense of awe and belonging we can find in certain places. And while Chelsea doesn’t shy away from ecological loss and uncertainty, she reminds us that we still have agency. By paying closer attention to the places and creatures we love, we can find ways to care, connect, and take action, even when it feels like the world is unraveling around us.

Show Notes

• Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn From Nature’s Mothers In A Time of Unraveling
• Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder
• Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder on Instagram
• The Entwinement (Substack)

Keywords: Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder, Mother Creature Kin, Biophilic Solutions, biophilia, nature, motherhood, ecology, environmentalism, climate change, nature connection, biodiversity, ecological grief, sacred places, axis mundi, awe, entanglement, regenerative living, environmental responsibility, nature and motherhood

Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn and learn more on our website.

#NatureHasTheAnswers

What can mushrooms teach us about becoming better humans? How can doula work, in the literal and metaphorical senses, help us navigate the uncertainty of the near future? These are just two of the compelling questions we’re exploring today alongside Madison Murphy Barney.

Madison is a Two Spirit Shoshone sister, a doula, author, and a public-health storyteller. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health and has become a sought-after voice, using storytelling as a tool for building more just and connected communities.

In her new book, Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms, Madison makes the case that mushrooms – and the vast, unseen networks beneath them – have much to teach us about how to live. Themes like humility, adaptability, nourishment, creativity, protection, and even mystery become guides for rethinking how we relate to ourselves, to each other, and to the planet.

In this conversation, Monica and Madison talk about mushrooms, ancestral wisdom, the power of embracing your weird, and what the natural world is trying to teach us about how to live together.

Show Notes

• Our Ancestors Want Us To Be Mushrooms by Madison Murphy Barney
• Terracotta (Substack)
• Madison Murphy Barney Website
• Biophilic Solutions on Substack

Biophilic Solutions is available wherever you get podcasts. Please listen, follow, and give us a five-star review.

Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn and learn more on our website.

#NatureHasTheAnswers