In this episode, Nate is joined by biologist and biophysicist Olivier Hamant to explore why living systems prioritize robustness over performance, and what that means for a civilization built almost entirely in the opposite direction.

Why Too Much Efficiency Makes Us Fragile with Olivier Hamant | TGS 230

YouTube video by Nate Hagens

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What might it mean for ordinary people if the credit and dollar system that has funded American consumption for eighty years starts to break down?

Is the world entering a new commodity supercycle driven by scarcity and deglobalization, or is the market going to keep shrugging off these shocks?

How would it feel to be truly at one with the planet, and how might it change the way we act?

In this episode, Nate is joined by Jeff Currie for a wide-boundary look at what happens when the buffers that have suppressed energy price signals for fifty years finally run dry.

Why Abundance Is an Illusion with Jeff Currie | TGS 229

YouTube video by Nate Hagens

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A growing chorus of psychologists, contemplatives, and systems thinkers argue that most of us, and most of our institutions, are running an outdated psychological and spiritual “operating system,” one never built for the converging ecological, economic, and cultural crises we face.

Is “might makes right” becoming the central pillar governing the world’s oceans, and if so, what does that mean for the cost of everything that arrives by ship?

In this episode, Nate welcomes Dr. John Churchill, a psychologist and former Buddhist monk, to explore a map of human development that runs from “first-person” perspective of the isolated self all the way to a felt, embodied sense of interdependence with the planet itself.

How Love & Wisdom Shape Human Development with John Churchill | TGS 228

YouTube video by Nate Hagens

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Why does the volume and velocity of modern trade make a conflict like the one in the Strait of Hormuz so much more consequential than at any other time in history?

In this episode, Nate is joined by maritime historian and former merchant mariner, Sal Mercogliano, to break down what the ongoing events in the Strait of Hormuz reveal about the state of global shipping and trade.

The Chokepoints Changing Global Shipping Forever with Sal Mercogliano | TGS 227

YouTube video by Nate Hagens

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What would it take to build financial infrastructure that actually gets capital to the people already doing the work of healing land and community?

In this episode, Nate is joined by Matthew Monahan, co-founder of the nonprofit @maearth.com, to explore the emerging field of regenerative finance.

How to Fund Communities Doing the Real Work with Matthew Monahan | TGS 226

YouTube video by Nate Hagens

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The acceleration of global heating is just one of many critical "shifting baselines" that go mostly unnoticed in our everyday lives.

What would it mean to live, even briefly, at a metabolic rate closer to what your body actually requires?

Is the projected Super El Niño a signal of more extreme climatic swings to come?

If energy is the invisible labor force underlying every product and service in your life, does that change the way you see the economy?

This year’s projected Super El Niño forming in the Pacific could become one of the strongest climate oscillations in over a century. What do we know about the trajectory our climate is currently on, and what gaps of knowledge still need to be filled?

If the work performed by a single barrel of oil is worth orders of magnitude more than its price, what does it say about the systems we have built on top of it?

Drawing on research showing that creativity and imagination scores have been declining for decades, author Rob Hopkins argues that our collective inability to vividly picture a better future may be the deepest barrier to building one.

In this episode, I welcome Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network and author of “How to Fall in Love with the Future,” for an exploration of what tips people over the edge and into action to build more livable futures, and what role imagination plays in cultural motivation and agency.

Complex living systems researcher Nora Bateson explains how subtle changes in our lives can affect how we perceive and engage with the world around us.

In this episode, Nate is joined by Michael Every, Global Strategist at Rabobank, for an unflinching analysis of the Hormuz crisis and the fundamental principles pointing toward the Strait’s closure for several more months.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s is one of the worst ecological disasters in American history. What if we could name and replicate the techniques used to rehabilitate this once inhospitable landscape and use them to restore and regenerate local ecosystems across the planet?

In this episode, Nate is joined by Nora Bateson, creator of Warm Data Labs, alongside her colleagues Jonathan Goldsmith and Lucas Jackson, for a rich conversation about what it actually takes to build community and why so many of our attempts fail.

The desolation of foundational, life-supporting ecosystems has resulted in our planet now operating at roughly half its biological productive capacity.

Could confronting fear – by learning to move through it rather than avoid it – be one of the most practical preparations for navigating future uncertainty and social fracture?

In this episode, Nate is joined by regenerative change practitioner Brett KenCairn for a conversation that reframes the dominant narrative about climate change, emphasizing that it was never just a carbon problem but also one centered on living systems degradation.

Who will we be as The Great Simplification unfolds, and how do we prepare our inner terrains for what’s coming?

What are the effects on critical thinking and development as a result of years of memorization and high stakes testing?

In this episode, Nate is joined by meditation practitioner, Andrew Holecek, for an exploration of the concept of dark retreats, periods of extended time in complete absence of light, as a practical path toward reflection and reconnection with ourselves and others.

How Constant Stimulation Has Shaped our Consumption with Andrew Holecek | TGS 221

YouTube video by Nate Hagens

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