Danica Novgorodoff has spent her career turning complex ideas into visually stunning stories — and A Better World Is Possible may be her most personal yet. The New York Times bestselling illustrator and 2022 Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal recipient, whose work includes the graphic novel adaptation of Jason Reynolds' Long
I was waiting for an elevator in the lobby of a building I was catsitting at. I pushed the elevator call button and stared blankly at the wall. There were various notices to the residents, but one was printed on bright yellow paper, like a warning notice. My eyes caught
Miist is a Billboard-charting artist and author whose life reads like it shouldn't be possible — abandoned at five, a terminal cancer survivor, and a self-taught songwriter who didn't pick up a pen until her 30s. That unlikely path produced over 100 compositions, a historic
This year, we didn't do anything for July 4th. And I was completely okay with it. No barbecue, no friends or family over, no sense that we were supposed to be marking something bigger than an ordinary Tuesday. We saw some fireworks from a distance, little bursts of
In 1974, an Austrian philosopher named Ivan Illich sat down and did the math on the American car. He added up everything — the driving, the parking, the hours spent earning money to pay for the thing, the gas, the insurance, the registration, the repairs. All of it. He came up
Meera Subramanian is an award-winning environmental journalist with over two decades of experience writing about the natural world and climate crisis. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Nature, and Orion, where she's a contributing editor. Her first book, A River Runs
There's an elephant in the room when it comes to sustainable living that we all feel but rarely say out loud: shame. Not just guilt about flying, or recycling wrong, or buying something you didn't need. Deeper than that. The quiet, nagging feeling that it doesn&
Scott Weidensaul is a writer and researcher specializing in birds and bird migration, and the author of nearly thirty books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Living on the Wind and the New York Times bestseller A World on the Wing. He joins us today to talk about his latest, The
Life Is Mostly Ordinary Recent mainstream culture has taught us one thing: you gotta optimize your time for maximum productivity. I was on that train for a long time: as an Engineer who loves systems, the idea of a “perfectly performed day” where you wake up, blast through your optimized
Hillary Rosner is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, and The Atlantic. Her new book, ROAM: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World, explores how roads, fences, and cities have fragmented the planet—and how reconnecting habitats
Planting Deeper Roots Verdant Growth started as a small experiment. A place for me to ruminate on sustainability, and it led me to thinking a lot about the gap between how we've normalized harming others, and how better living actually feels. I didn't know if anyone
Jack Ratliff — retired Navy SEAL, lawyer, and law professor — and the author of Riding the White Bull: The Making of a Navy SEAL. Rather than focusing on the battlefield, Jack's memoir traces the formative years that shaped his character long before elite service began — from a West Texas
Last week I was in Waikiki and I saw something that I see all the time: A girl taking a selfie in front of the iconic, beautiful scenery of Waikiki beach. She pulled out her phone, flashed a huge smile with every one of her pearly white teeth showing, and
Holly Latteman is an environmental scientist and conservation leader serving as Director of Science and Research at The Dawes Arboretum, where she oversees native seed collection, living collections, and the Advanced Training Program for emerging conservationists. With a background spanning zoology, anthropology, and environmental studies — and research ranging from black
Plastic pollution
[4/9/2026 - This post is about my recent podcast episode interviewing Chris DeArmitt. If you're interested in hearing the interview, you can find it here: https://verdantgrowth.blog/tslsfn-the-plastics-paradox-w-chris-dearmitt/] There's a specific feeling you get when someone tells you
Plastic
The sustainability world has a pretty clear verdict on plastic. Chris DeArmitt disagrees. A PhD polymer scientist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and author of The Plastics Paradox, DeArmitt has read thousands of peer-reviewed studies without funding and made it his mission to translate complex science into
Conservation
Pat Maher is the CEO of Atkins Ranch, the New Zealand-based collective of over 100 family farms producing 100% grass-fed, pasture-raised lamb for premium markets in the U.S. and Canada. Under his leadership, the company champions regenerative agriculture with third-party verification that promotes soil and
The Moment of Change Sitting behind the wheel of my car, staring into the glaring red brake lights of the car in front of me on the H-1 highway. The idyllic, world-famous Waikiki just several miles away to my left, beautiful green mountain ranges (think Jurassic Park) in
books
Ken Callison is an entrepreneur, researcher, and author of the new book The Way to World Peace: An Idea Whose Time Has Come. Written in a moment of rising geopolitical tension, nuclear risk, and environmental instability, the book reframes world peace not as a lofty ideal but as a practical
Conservation
Julie Brams is an Earth-centered psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and author of The Nature Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves. Her work sits at the intersection of psychology, ecology, and social justice, exploring how our deep sense of separation from nature affects both
About Me
In this solo episode, Eugene steps out from behind the interview mic to reflect on where Solve for Nature has been—and where it’s going next. He shares why sustainability often feels like “suffering,” why that framing misses the point, and how real, lasting change starts with values, not
eco living
Today I’m thrilled to welcome Matthieu Mehuys, Belgian-born landscape architect, regenerative garden designer, award-winning author, and an inspiring voice in practical ecological living. Raised on a farm and trained in landscape design, Matthieu has spent years helping everyday people transform their yards into thriving, biodiverse ecosystems that
Interview
Hillary Rosner is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, and The Atlantic. Her new book, ROAM: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World, explores how roads, fences, and cities have fragmented the planet—and how reconnecting habitats
About Me
It's Christmas Eve. I'm writing this post, and to be honest, it's too late to do me any good this year. But my experiences from this year led me to writing this in hopes of starting something good. Even if it's too