Beware of Biophobia with Journalist Emily Harwitz

At this point, we all know that biophilia literally means the love of nature, right? But have you ever stopped to consider its opposite, biophobia? If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, we’d be willing to bet you haven’t - and to be honest, we hadn’t either until we met today’s guest, science journalist Emily Harwitz. Emily’s recent article, ‘Beware Creeping Biophobia’ was picked up by multiple outlets like The Atlantic, The Tyee, and Haikai due to its insightful breakdown of the cycle that begins when humans become irrevocably disconnected from the natural world. Basically, disconnection leads to fear, which leads to outright rejection and even destruction. 

We were thrilled to catch up with Emily to break down the cycle of biophobia, how we can convert the biophobic to the biophilic, and we also dive into the reasons why humans are drawn to collecting rare species. 

Show Notes

• Beware Creeping Biophobia (Haikai Magazine)
• Humans Fondness for the Odd and Rare Make Us Particularly Overwhelming Predators (Haikai Magazine)
• I’ll Go If You Go Podcast 
• Emily Harwitz Website
• Emily Harwitz Instagram 
• Jackson Wild Summit - 2023 Media Lab Fellows

Key Words: Biophobia, Biophilia, Nature, Outdoors, Journalism, Science Journalism, Ecosystem, Environment, Wildlife, Wildlife Restoration

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