The Wild Idea Podcast
What is The Wild Idea?
Humans have been part of Earth’s natural cycle for 300,000 years, with brains much the same as ours for the past 100,000 or so. What’s evolved isn’t our biology but how we understand our place in the natural world. As small populations grew into communities and then into societies, we created cultural, religious, and legal frameworks to help explain and define our connection to the rest of life on Earth.
How did we come to see our relationship with wild places the way we do?
Is that relationship thriving—or falling apart?
And where could it, and should it, go from here?
These are the questions we’re excited to explore with you on this journey.
Explore All Our Episodes
Randy Newberg: The Host of Fresh Tracks Offers Fresh Ideas on Advocacy and Access
In this episode, Randy joins Bill and Anders for a wide-ranging, funny, and deeply personal conversation that moves from his childhood hunting on public lands in northern Minnesota to testifying before Congress and building a media platform to fight for the places that fed and shaped him.
Andis Arietta: The Uncertainty Inherent in Wilderness
In today’s conversation, evolutionary ecologist Dr. Andis Arietta joins us to explore the deep connections between ecology, evolution, climate change, and how (and whether) we manage wild places.
Jon Jarvis: Are Our National Parks Being Set Up To Fail?
In this bonus episode of The Wild Idea podcast, Jon Jarvis, the 18th Director of the National Park Service, joins us for a wide-ranging and urgent conversation about the future of America’s public lands.
Ingrid Lyons: Save the Boundary Waters, Join the National Wilderness Coalition
Executive Director of Save the Boundary Waters, Ingrid Lyons, joins us to talk about defending Minnesota’s beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Senator Tim Kaine: Walk, Ride, Paddle, Protect!
It’s not every day a sitting U.S. Senator joins us to talk about the places that shaped him. In this special bonus episode, Senator Tim Kaine reflects on his journey across Virginia—on foot, by bike, and by kayak—and how that experience shapes his approach to...
Kaitie Schneider: Wolverines Reissued
In this episode, Kaitie Schneider of Defenders of Wildlife joins us to talk about the long-awaited reintroduction of Gulo gulo, the wolverine, to Colorado.