Episode 163: Concrete Botany: Reconnecting with the Living World in the Age of Disturbance with Joey Santore

About this episode

Tad Hussey interviews Joey Santore about his journey in botany and the importance of reconnecting with nature.

In this episode, Tad Hussey sits down with Joey Santore, the self-taught botanist and former railroad engineer behind the cult-favorite YouTube channel and podcast, Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t. Joey shares his journey from "slamming rail cars" for 15 years to becoming one of the most distinctive voices in ecology today. The conversation dives deep into the "anthropocentric" way we view nature—asking what a plant can do for us rather than learning its unique story—and rants against the "horticultural atrocities" of modern landscaping. From the evolution of "edaphic endemics" on stressful soils to the mental health crisis caused by our "concrete cages," Joey makes a passionate case for looking past the human world and reconnecting with the "living machine" that holds up the entire terrestrial biosphere.

People in this episode

Host: Tad Hussey

Guest: Joey Santore

Topics covered

• botany
• ecology
• mental health
• landscaping
• nature
• human impact

Keywords

• botanist
• ecology
• landscaping
• mental health
• nature
• edaphic endemics
• anthropocentric

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t

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