The Wild Idea Podcast
Explore All Our Episodes
Conrad Anker: Mountains of Perspective
Conrad Anker has spent a lifetime chasing peaks, from his early days in the Sierra Nevada to the tallest and most technical mountains around the world. Along the way he has become one of the world’s most respected alpinists and a passionate advocate for wild places and the people who care for, and depend on, them.
In this rich conversation, Conrad reflects on what a life in the mountains has taught him about humility and responsibility. He talks about watching glaciers retreat firsthand, the cultural and spiritual meaning of sacred peaks, and his work co-founding the Khumbu Climbing Center in Nepal to train and support local climbers. He also shares candid thoughts on climate change, the contradictions we all face in how we live, and why giving back to the wild places we love matters now more than ever.
“If wild places are meaningful to you, however you visit them, give something back. They have no voice, so it’s up to us to be their advocate.” — Conrad Anker
Brooklyn Bridge Park: From Piers to Parklands
What happens when abandoned shipping piers get a second life as wild parkland? In this episode of The Wild Idea, Bill and Anders talk with Rasheed Polson and Bella Ciabattoni, who lead the horticulture team at Brooklyn Bridge Park. They share the story of how community voices turned a post-industrial site along the East River into 85 acres of thriving wetlands, meadows, and woodlands.
From planting for floods and wind to keeping invasive species in check, Rasheed and Bella describe the creative practices that sustain this young urban ecosystem. They also reflect on the role of volunteers, interns, and curious visitors in shaping the park’s future, and why a city park can feel just as wild, joyful, and awe-inspiring as the backcountry.
Chris Hill: Community Power for Public Lands
Chris Hill’s story is proof that sometimes the outdoors wins you over when you least expect it. Growing up in humid Washington, DC, she wanted nothing to do with summers outside. But a week at camp introduced her to climbing, then later a trip to Alaska led her to fly fishing, and she never looked back. Today, Chris lives in Southeast Alaska and leads the Conservation Lands Foundation, a national organization that helps local communities protect and care for some of America’s most remarkable public lands.
In this conversation, Chris talks about why the National Conservation Lands matter, from well-known places like Bears Ears to hidden gems like Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. She shares the power of grassroots advocacy, the challenges facing the BLM, and why public lands thrive when they welcome everyone.”
Labor Day: The Human Cost of Federal Cuts
This Labor Day, we’re spotlighting the people behind our public lands. Bill and Anders talk with three former federal employees who thought they’d found their dream jobs protecting forests, rivers, and wildlife. Instead, Alex Troutman, Liz Crandall, and Mikayla Moors were suddenly fired despite strong performance reviews.
They share what drew them to public service, what those jobs meant, and what it feels like to be pushed out. From carrying 50-pound packs in the Rockies to protecting sea turtles and monitoring backcountry campfires, their stories show the real cost of cuts on both people and the places we all depend on.
Southern Currents: Environmental Injustice and Energy Innovation in Virginia
How do we turn the scars of environmental injustice into real innovation for a healthier future?
In the fourth and final episode of our Southern Currents series, Bill talks with Josephus Allmond, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. Josephus shares how environmental justice fights in Virginia—from stopping new compressor stations in already overburdened communities to expanding access to shared solar in Appalachia—are reshaping the state’s energy future. They also dig into the rise of massive data centers and what it means for energy demand, costs, and fairness.
It’s a conversation about community resilience, fair access to clean energy, and how local voices are driving solutions for healthier, more sustainable places to live.
Theodore Roosevelt IV: Americans for Alaska
Theodore Roosevelt IV joins us today to talk about Alaska, public lands, and what it means to carry forward a legacy of stewardship. Ted shares powerful stories from his own time in Alaska, like camping on the banks of the Kongakut River and waking to the sound of caribou herds moving with their calves, or exploring Southeast Alaska’s coast with his family and watching his son wander ahead in the wild. These moments shaped his deep belief that Alaska’s vast landscapes are irreplaceable and that we have a duty to protect them.
Southern Currents: Appalachia in Recovery
Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene tore through the Southern Appalachians, we catch up with four great friends and trusted conservation partners, Ben Prater, Sam Evans, Josh Kelly, and Jill Gottesman, to share stories of loss, resilience, and hope. From flooded towns and downed forests to endangered Hellbenders and shifting policies, this conversation captures both the challenges and the possibilities in a region forever changed by the storm.
What emerges is a portrait of community strength and a reminder that these mountains, like the people who call them home, are resilient. We talk about neighbors helping neighbors, the risks of rushed recovery efforts, and the importance of protecting public lands and biodiversity. Through it all, there are sparks of hope, and the shared commitment to care for Appalachia’s wild places and communities.
Kim Bednarek: Community-Led Wins in the Okefenokee
Bill and Anders head into the Okefenokee with Kim Bednarek, director of the Okefenokee Swamp Park. She shares how the community stopped mining on Trail Ridge, why that $60 million win mattered, and how the swamp’s future depends on conservation and local voices.
They dig into the swamp’s cultural history, from Indigenous roots and Swamper families to an all-Black CCC crew, and talk about new paths to prosperity through paddles, boardwalks, and tourism. There’s also gators on the trail, favorite movie debates, and a look at why the Okefenokee is now in the running for UNESCO World Heritage status.
Southern Currents: The Ozark Society and the Buffalo River
In this Southern Currents bonus episode of The Wild Idea, Bill chats with Stuart Nolan, Tommie Kelly, and Martha Morris from the Ozark Society, the group that came together in 1962 to keep the Buffalo River from being dammed and went on to make it America’s first National River in 1972. They swap stories from that fight, like riding the Jubilee Bus to Washington, D.C. and floating the river with Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and talk about how the work to protect the Buffalo has come up again and again with new threats like landfills, dams, and hog farms. They also share how the Society keeps pushing forward, protecting rivers and wilderness, building trails, and getting the next generation out on the water.
Joe Whitson: Marketing the Wilderness
Environmental justice scholar Joe Whitson joins Bill and Anders to talk about how our stories about nature shape the land itself.
Joe explains his concept of “wildernessing,” the process of making a place look and feel “untouched” through policy decisions, land management, and marketing, even though these landscapes have deep human histories. The conversation moves from history to the present, exploring how our cultural definition of “wilderness” has shifted over time, why climate change is challenging the myth of pristine nature, and what it will take to create a more just and inclusive future for public lands.
Bob Marshall and Jack Rudloe: Land Loss and Citizen Science on The Gulf Coast
In this first installment of our special Southern Currents series, Bill travels the Gulf Coast (sadly, without Anders) to explore the crisis of coastal land loss and the role of citizen science in protecting the region’s future.
We begin in Louisiana with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bob Marshall, who has spent decades covering the collapse of his home state’s coastal wetlands, before shifting east to the Florida panhandle, where marine biologist, author, and lifelong mischief-maker Jack Rudloe tells the story of founding the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, Florida.
Blain and Monique Anderson: Sailing Alaska’s Wilderness Waters
Join us as we climb aboard the BOB, a 50-foot Catalina sailboat, with Blain and Monique Anderson—a husband-and-wife team navigating the remote waters of Southeast Alaska. As the founders of Sound Sailing, they’ve turned their love of sailing and wild places into a platform for sharing the raw beauty and singular experience found only in Alaska’s coastal wilderness. Today’s episode is part travelogue, part meditation on modern wilderness, and part love letter to the wild waters of Alaska.
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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.
