“The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see.”

— HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Podcast Episode: “Earth Alive”

Here at The Nature Institute, the oaks and maples are fully leafed out. The buttercups, trefoil, and clovers are in bloom. The air is reverberating from the songs of bluebirds and robins, and buzzing from the never ending work of honeybees. In stepping outside, one is immediately greeted by innumerable living beings.

We take for granted that microbes, plants, animals, and human beings are alive. Does “life,” however, only exist within organisms? Might life be a fundamental feature of our planet? In what sense might we say that the Earth itself is alive?

In our new podcast episode, we are happy to share a talk Craig Holdrege gave in celebration of Earth Day, which he called “Earth Alive.” In it, he explores the living dialogue between organisms and their dynamic environments. He invites listeners to consider that we can only see the earth as alive if we first learn how to think life differently.

Latest Publications

In Context: Spring 2025 Issue

The spring 2025 issue (#53) of our biannual publication, In Context, is now available in print and online. New writings include a feature by Jon McAlice and Craig Holdrege on challenging the inquiring mind to see beyond boundaries, and Marisha Plotnik’s images and impressions from her recent study of leaf color change. You’ll also find a report on our third Climate Change Colloquium by Marisha, plus news of our many activities.

 

Separate entities can either compete or develop strategies to cooperate. In either case, the starting point is separation. This is a foundational assumption of modern biology. But what if relatedness is more fundamental? How would we behold living beings and what we call their environment? A consideration of oak trees guides this exploration of sympoiesis — creating together.

 
 

News From The Institute

Read here about recent staff activities at the institute as well as abroad including lectures and workshops with farmers, gardeners, botanical enthusiasts, college and graduate students, and collaborative trainings in climate science, mathematics, and Goethean practice with teachers and visiting scholars. Also, a thank you to our departing editor, grant writer, and treasured staff member, Elaine Khosrova.

 
 

Our online Bookstore offers titles from our faculty and other Goethean authors whose work we value. We encourage you to browse or contact us with any questions.

Other Research and Resources

In addition to publishing our staff’s work relating to Goethean Science and Phenomenology on this site, we also periodically showcase the work of others in the field. A new such addition to our Writings By Author section is the work of Mark Riegner PhD, who taught Ecology and Evolution for 35 years at Prescott College in Arizona, and has authored four insightful articles that you can link to from here.

About the work of The Nature Institute — In a rare interview, recorded in Brazil, Henrike and Craig Holdrege speak of their transformative work and the Goethean perspective that has long inspired it. This Q & A followed a two-week course, “Seeing Nature Whole,” that the Holdrege’s have frequently taught each December in Florianópolis.

 
 
 

From a Reader…

Dear Craig,

Once again I’m introducing papers from The Nature Institute website, this time for a HS botany course, and I’m just so grateful for your work (and Steve’s) and that a resource like yours exists. …I appreciate so much those who approach science thoughtfully, with open minds and hearts. It has lit a fire in several students over the years, and helped to humanize even those who are not especially otherwise interested in science.

- Executive Director, Waldorf High School