Internet of Nature Podcast

• S6E7: “Urban Acupuncture” — How Pocket Forests Heal Our Cities with Adrian Wong of SUGi

  In this episode, Nadina sits down with Adrian Wong, SUGi’s UK Forest Lead, in the middle of the Forest of Thanks—a 10,000 m² Miyawaki forest planted in one of London’s most under-resourced boroughs. What was once a simple lawn is now a thriving woodland of oaks, elders, cherry trees, brambles, birds, and even resident foxes.Adrian explains the Miyawaki method, a powerful approach to creating fast-growing, self-sustaining native forests in urban areas by planting densely, rebuilding living soils, and embracing the natural “messiness” of ecological succession. With 31 SUGi forests across London, most no bigger than a tennis court, Adrian shares how tiny forests can improve biodiversity, clean the air, soften noise, cool neighborhoods, and help stitch ecological corridors back into the city.We also explore the human side of this work—from greening schoolyards next to airport runways, to kids planting their first-ever trees, to how daily access to nature boosts mental health and builds community resilience. Along the way, we discuss bioacoustics, iNaturalist, parakeets, fox dens, community gardening, and why messy forests may be the future of urban greening.This is an episode about what happens when you loosen your grip on a piece of land—and watch life flood back in.

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• S6E6: Microdosing Nature with Pieter van den Braak of N8RLND

  Filmmaker and N8RLND founder Pieter van den Braak joins the Internet of Nature Podcast for a walk through Eindhoven’s Philips de Jonghpark—a city park dense enough to feel like a pocket forest. Pieter shares how, during a period of feeling unmoored in his early twenties, nature became the one place that offered clarity, calm, and a sense of belonging he couldn’t find anywhere else.We talk about the quiet drift into burnout, why awe can reset an overwhelmed mind, and how “microdosing nature” for five minutes a day can shift the tone of an entire morning. Pieter explains how this personal turning point led him to build N8RLND, a media platform designed to counter doomscroll culture with films and stories that reconnect people to the living world.Along the way, we explore why solitude in nature feels different from loneliness, how simple outdoor rituals can anchor mental health, and why, as Pieter puts it, “you don’t need to know anything about nature to feel part of it.”

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• S6E5: Don’t Count Trees; Count Crowns with Jan Willem de Groot of Terra Nostra

  Amsterdam’s trees haven’t “stopped growing” — they’ve stopped growing the way they should. Arborist-turned-CEO Jan Willem de Groot explains why maturity matters more than planting counts, why crown volume is the metric that actually reflects ecological function, and what happens when cities focus on keeping the trees they already rely on.We explore why large trees provide exponentially more shade, cooling, habitat, and carbon storage than saplings; how risk-averse maintenance has erased vital hollows and “imperfections” that wildlife depends on; and why the real frontier of the urban forest is private land, where most canopy sits and most removals happen. Jan Willem shares how Terra Nostra and greehill are using LiDAR-based smart inventories to create accurate, city-wide digital twins — not to replace arborists, but to free them to focus where their expertise matters most.We also talk about Ukraine’s lanes of heroes — memorial trees that carry names, grief, and continuity — and what they teach us about trees as living memory, not just infrastructure. Technology can help us see what is worth keeping. But meaning is what keeps it standing.

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• S6E4: The Garden That Listens — and Teaches: eDNA, Bioacoustics, and the Secrets of Urban Life with Dr. John Tweddle

  John Tweddle joins the Internet of Nature Podcast to share how the Natural History Museum in London turned five acres of ornamental lawn into a living laboratory for the future of urban nature.From eDNA that uncovers invisible life to bioacoustic microphones that map the city’s soundscape, John and his team are reimagining what a museum can be: not just a keeper of fossils, but a sensor-rich, public-facing experiment in coexistence. We talk about the 2,000 species found in a single acre of soil, why “data alone will not help nature recover,” and how machine learning and citizen science can work hand in hand to monitor—and mend—the living city.Along the way, we explore what it means to listen to landscapes, how five million visitors a year unknowingly become research participants, and why, as John says, “the Internet of Nature isn’t about more data, but connected data that works for nature.”

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• S6E3: The Tree Is the New Sewer System with Erwin van Herwijnen of New Urban Standard

  Recorded in the heart of Tilburg—a Dutch city that has transformed from one of Europe’s hottest urban heat islands into a showcase of regreening—this episode explores the hidden worlds that decide whether city trees live or die. Arborist and Senior Advisor Erwin van Herwijnen of New Urban Standard joins the Internet of Nature Podcast to talk about why soils matter more than species, and how climate-adaptive growing places can turn trees into the new sewer system.We discuss why most city trees never make it past adolescence, why climate-ready trees won’t save us without climate-ready soils, and how stormwater makes or breaks survival. Erwin explains why tree professionals can’t afford to be “softies,” why spreadsheets might be the Lorax’s greatest ally, and how making civil engineers happy is the secret to long-lived urban forests.Plus: the tragedy of cutting down trees before they reach maturity, what it takes to plant for 80 years instead of election cycles, and why, for Erwin, the city only truly comes alive when its people can sit in the shade of a tree.

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