Reconnecting to Nature with Adventure, Purpose, Fun, and Travelers’ Curiosity with Alastair Humphreys
What if the travel mindset you bring to far-off places is exactly what's needed right where you live?
Alastair Humphreys is a British adventurer, bestselling author, and speaker named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. He spent four years cycling 46,000 miles around the world and has since canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River, rowed across the Atlantic, walked the length of India's Kaveri River, and crossed Iceland on foot and pack raft. In recent years he has become one of the most well-known advocates for microadventures and local exploration, and his newest book is Unwilded: Finding Our Way Back to Nature.
Alastair joins me to unpack the ideas in his book, including why our growing disconnection from nature matters personally and planetarily, and how a travel mindset and nature connection can be tools for changing both.
Alastair has made this case before on the show, but Unwilded takes it somewhere new. This isn't just a conversation about microadventures or getting outside more. It's about a specific kind of blindness that builds slowly across generations, and what it costs us without anyone quite noticing. Alastair brings the same practical, adventure-first framing he always does, but this time it's in service of something bigger: a way to take the traveler's curiosity you feel on the road and put it to work where you actually live. The episode ends with a surprisingly simple exercise that can help you turn the world's overwhelming problems into something personal, actionable, and genuinely fun to pursue.
What's one small thing in your immediate environment that you've stopped really noticing? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.
Tune In To Learn:
Why the traveler's curious, enthusiastic mindset is exactly what's needed at home, and why most of us leave it at the border
What "shifting baseline syndrome" is and why understanding it changes the way you see the world around you
How two apps transformed Alastair's relationship with his daily run, and how to try the same thing
Why spending 15 minutes in nature daily is harder than it sounds, and why that's actually the problem
How connecting with even a tiny patch of local nature can deliver the same buzz as a far-off adventure
What the Overton window has to do with how we approach climate change, travel, and everyday behavior
Why Alastair stopped flying and moved to a vegan diet, and the surprisingly positive effect it had on his life
What the 5-25 exercise is, and how it can help you identify the issues closest to your heart and take action without burning out
How the Netherlands transformed its streets in a generation, and what that says about what's actually possible
The vision Alastair wrote for the world 25 years from now, and why it's closer to reality than it might seem
And so much more
Resources:
Sign up for our FREE newsletter
Alastair Humphreys' website
Unwilded: Finding Our Way Back to Nature
Adventure + Purpose newsletter by Alastair Humphreys
Follow Alastair on Instagram
Merlin Bird ID app
Seek app by iNaturalist
4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Want More?
How To Have An Adventure On Any Budget With Alastair Humphreys
Exploring A Single Map: A Travel Adventure For Everyone With Alastair Humphreys
Is Your Summer Vacation Destroying The Planet? w/ Seth Kugel
Thanks To Our Sponsors
Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel
Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alastair Humphreys is a British adventurer, bestselling author, and speaker named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. He spent four years cycling 46,000 miles around the world and has since canoed 500 miles down the Yukon River, rowed across the Atlantic, walked the length of India's Kaveri River, and crossed Iceland on foot and pack raft. In recent years he has become one of the most well-known advocates for microadventures and local exploration, and his newest book is Unwilded: Finding Our Way Back to Nature.
Alastair joins me to unpack the ideas in his book, including why our growing disconnection from nature matters personally and planetarily, and how a travel mindset and nature connection can be tools for changing both.
Alastair has made this case before on the show, but Unwilded takes it somewhere new. This isn't just a conversation about microadventures or getting outside more. It's about a specific kind of blindness that builds slowly across generations, and what it costs us without anyone quite noticing. Alastair brings the same practical, adventure-first framing he always does, but this time it's in service of something bigger: a way to take the traveler's curiosity you feel on the road and put it to work where you actually live. The episode ends with a surprisingly simple exercise that can help you turn the world's overwhelming problems into something personal, actionable, and genuinely fun to pursue.
What's one small thing in your immediate environment that you've stopped really noticing? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you'll share by sending me an audio message.
Tune In To Learn:
Why the traveler's curious, enthusiastic mindset is exactly what's needed at home, and why most of us leave it at the border
What "shifting baseline syndrome" is and why understanding it changes the way you see the world around you
How two apps transformed Alastair's relationship with his daily run, and how to try the same thing
Why spending 15 minutes in nature daily is harder than it sounds, and why that's actually the problem
How connecting with even a tiny patch of local nature can deliver the same buzz as a far-off adventure
What the Overton window has to do with how we approach climate change, travel, and everyday behavior
Why Alastair stopped flying and moved to a vegan diet, and the surprisingly positive effect it had on his life
What the 5-25 exercise is, and how it can help you identify the issues closest to your heart and take action without burning out
How the Netherlands transformed its streets in a generation, and what that says about what's actually possible
The vision Alastair wrote for the world 25 years from now, and why it's closer to reality than it might seem
And so much more
Resources:
Sign up for our FREE newsletter
Alastair Humphreys' website
Unwilded: Finding Our Way Back to Nature
Adventure + Purpose newsletter by Alastair Humphreys
Follow Alastair on Instagram
Merlin Bird ID app
Seek app by iNaturalist
4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Want More?
How To Have An Adventure On Any Budget With Alastair Humphreys
Exploring A Single Map: A Travel Adventure For Everyone With Alastair Humphreys
Is Your Summer Vacation Destroying The Planet? w/ Seth Kugel
Thanks To Our Sponsors
Become a Fora Advisor today at foratravel.com/zerototravel
Experience intelligent trip planning for calmer travel with the TripWaffle app
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices