Nature: The Cure for Ed Yong's Burnout?

Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

WNET

Science, Pets & Animals, Nature, Kids & Family, Natural Sciences

4.9 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sign up for Nature's newsletter: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/newsletter/ As a science journalist, Ed Yong spends a lot of time writing about nature without actually being immersed in it. After three years of covering the COVID pandemic, Ed found himself anxious, depressed, and in need of a change - despite winning the Pulitzer Prize. He took a step back from pandemic reporting to write a book about nature. During this time, Ed also discovered something that prompted him to fall in love with nature in a way he never had before. Birding brought him renewed joy and helped him realize that curiosity, empathy, and a “childlike” fascination with nature might be precisely what we need to reconnect with and save the world around us, as well as to foster community in times of need. Thanks for listening to Going Wild. You can learn more about season four ⁠HERE⁠ and catch up on seasons one through three ⁠HERE⁠. If you want to support us, you can follow Going Wild on your favorite podcast-listening app. And while you're there, please leave us a review. It really helps. Follow PBS Nature and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠, ⁠X⁠, and ⁠Facebook⁠. You can find more information on all of our guests this season in each episode's show notes. And you can catch new episodes of Nature, Wednesdays at 8/7 Central on PBS, pbs.org/nature, and the PBS app. Going Wild is a podcast by PBS Nature. NATURE is an award-winning series created by The WNET Group and made possible by all of you. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Since we've been doing this talk, I have seen out the window about two crows, about a dozen
0:10.1	cedar wax wings, one hermit thrush, one Bewick's Wren, a couple of Yellow Runt Warblers,
0:15.3	and that's just like life now.
0:19.5	I think it just makes you realize it's all just there.
0:23.7	It's right there.
0:25.2	Like nature is on my doorstep.
0:28.5	There are all these incredible species around us all the time.
0:37.4	I'm Dr. Ray Wynne Grant, and this is a different kind of nature show, a podcast about the human drama of saving animals.
0:46.2	This season, we're talking to all kinds of nature advocates.
0:50.4	From a paleoanthropologist who hunts fossils in conflict zones to someone who helped save an endangered species while in prison.
0:59.2	We're going to hear from real-life heroes with widely different expertise and life experiences about what led them to be champions for the natural world.
1:09.2	What transformation did they go through
1:11.3	to create change within themselves,
1:13.5	their community, and the world?
1:15.9	Together, we'll find out
1:17.4	how these ordinary people
1:18.9	fell in love with nature
1:20.6	and became their most extraordinary selves.
1:24.5	This is Going Wild.
1:39.6	In this episode, I'm talking to Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and author, Ed Yong, from his home in Oakland, California.
1:40.7	Hi, Ed.
1:42.4	Hi, Ray. Hello.
	...

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