ABOUT THE SHOW
Stories of people doing the
work
Hopeful by Nature travels the world to find the educators, parents, organizers, and community leaders who are connecting young people to the natural world through outdoor learning in ways that build something real. Each episode is a conversation with someone who refused to wait for permission — and built something anyway.
Hosted by Scott Shepherd, founder of Wildward Institute.
LATEST EPISODE
Teaching Climate Change Without Easy Answers
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Asking Better Questions: Matt Baker-White on Grappling with Complexity Outdoors
I left home at sixteen to sail around the world on a tall ship. I climbed the mast, set and doused sails, and learned to find our position on the open ocean with a sextant. We stepped onto isolated islands where I tried new food, heard new languages, and learned history no classroom had taught me. It was a significant life event, and it opened my eyes to how unequal access to experiences like that really is. I've spent my career working on that part.
What I couldn't have told you at sixteen is that a trip like that doesn't just hand you answers. It changes which questions you know to ask.
Matt Baker-White builds those experiences for college students. He's the executive director of the Wild Rockies Field Institute (WRFI) in Missoula, Montana, which teaches accredited college courses outdoors, in environmental studies, geography, Native American studies, philosophy, studio art and climate change.
