Join us as we chat with people from across the globe who care about education and the environment—the trailblazers, visionary leaders, and everyday heroes making a difference.
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Imagine a world where communities thrive, curiosity sparks change, and hope isn't just a wish—it's a plan in action.
Welcome to The World We Want, the NAAEE podcast that's not just talking about a better future—we're bringing it to life, one inspiring story at a time.
Listen to More Episodes
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Love as the Root of Impactful Nature-Based Education with Sean Southey | S1 Ep 12
What does it mean to fall in love with nature—and why does that love matter for the future of our planet? Explore how love and connection form the foundation of lasting change. Join us as we hear from someone whose confidence in love’s ability to change the world and our relationship to it is both inspiring and activating.
Upcoming Guests
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Quilen Blackwell
Coming soon! Quilen Blackwell is the president of Southside Blooms and Chicago Eco House. His work focuses on restoring vacant properties, building urban farms, and creating spaces where people can reconnect with both land and community in meaningful, practical ways.
In this upcoming episode, Quilen and our host Gerry Ellis explore how community-based environmental work emerges from lived experience—particularly in urban neighborhoods facing disinvestment—and how restoring land, housing, and local spaces can reshape how people relate to both their environment and each other.
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John "Jack" Muir Laws
Coming soon! John Muir Laws (aka Jack) is a principal leader and innovator of the worldwide nature journaling movement and the co-founder of the Wild Wonder Foundation. An award-winning naturalist, artist, scientist, and educator, Jack has dedicated four decades of his life to connecting people to nature through art and science, including through initiatives like the Wild Wonder Foundation and Nature Journal Club.
At the heart of his work is a simple but powerful idea: that careful observation leads to understanding, and understanding leads to care. By teaching people how to notice—really notice—plants, animals, patterns, and ecosystems, he is helping people build a personal connection to the natural world that can last a lifetime.
“The world I want is a place where we ask hard questions, where we are sober about that verb 'love' and genuinely ask ourselves out loud, in public, with and in front of others.
How much do we love? How much do we love this planet? How much do we love our kids? How much do we love our neighbors?
It's the hardest question facing us as human beings. And I would love a world in which very publicly, very loudly, we talk about what it means to love.”
Greg Behr
"When You Wonder, You're Learning" co-author
S1 Episode 4
