The Overview

Welcome to The Overview, a weekly newsletter in which Editor-in-Chief Willow Defebaugh offers a holistic look at life on Earth, seen from above.

Playing Our Part Sea lions are renowned for their propensity for play—a reminder of what it means to live lightly.

The Overview Deep Ecology

Saving Grace Deer have an artful elegance with which they attempt to avoid their attackers. What lessons can they impart on us about grace?

The Overview Deep Ecology

Sturdy as an Oak Storms are always going to come. Looking to oak trees, we can learn how to weather them.

The Overview Deep Ecology

Staying Alive Crocodilians have endured apocalypse, swimming murky waters for millions of years. What’s their secret to survival?

The Overview Deep Ecology

Coming of Age For thousands of years, humankind has told tales of the fountain of youth. Has it been swimming in the ocean all along?

The Overview Deep Ecology

The Webs We Weave Spiders have much to teach us about extended cognition—and what it means to be part of a larger web.

The Overview Deep Ecology

It All Depends In the natural world, species find ways to not only coexist but support each other as a means of survival—a symphony of symbiosis.

The Overview Deep Ecology

To Build a Home Beavers may be busy, but for good reason. What can they teach us about progress both personal and collective?

The Overview Deep Ecology

Hermit Wisdom The hermit crab is a creature of constant change: as they grow larger, they must seek out new shells that better fit their expanded selves.

The Overview Deep Ecology

Out of Curiosity For all of human history, curiosity has been leading us to discovery. In the new year, it can help lead us to new worlds.

The Overview Deep Ecology

Stay the Winter This season is often dominated by darkness and a feeling of lifelessness, but it is also a time to reflect, restore, and recharge.

The Overview Deep Ecology

On Ice The Patagonian ice dragon has adapted to survive amidst frigid glaciers—and plays a role in ensuring that neither become mythical.

The Overview Deep Ecology

World’s End Lichens invite us to embrace curiosity: to admit where we may have gotten it wrong and question where one thing ends and another begins.

The Overview Deep Ecology

Ride With Me Humans have long shared a unique companionship with horses, which—humans aside—may have altered history more than any other animal.

The Overview

A Star Is Born Humanity has always searched the stars for answers, whether through navigation, prophecy, or clues to our wider universe.

The Overview Deep Ecology

Ebbs and Flows Tide pools are microcosms of life—unlikely, marvelous, and home to all kinds of creatures that have learned to exist amidst ephemerality.

The Overview Deep Ecology

60 Seconds on Earth,Anthropocene,Art & Culture,Climate Migration,Black Liberation,Changemakers,Democracy,Environmental Justice,Photography,Earth Sounds,Deep Ecology,Indigeneity,Queer Ecology,Ethical Fashion,Ocean Life,Climate Solutions,The Frontline,The Overview,Biodiversity,Future of Food,Identity & Community,Movement Building,Science & Nature,Well Being,

The Overview

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