While the idea of sourcing all our meals from nature and creating our own tools may seem unrealistic and absurd for most people, I have spent the last five years with people doing just that. I realized that learning these skills is crucial to healthy human development and beneficial for our children and families.

In this episode, we explore the profound call to immerse ourselves in nature and acquire ancient skills that have sustained humanity for generations. Jessica begins by shedding light on her awakening to the disparity between the promises of Silicon Valley technology and the harsh reality of an overwhelmed, stressed, and disconnected society. The allure of screens and gadgets has drawn us away from our innate human nature—observing, connecting, and using all our senses. Join us in this enlightening conversation as we rediscover our primal roots and embrace the endless wonders of the natural world.

We spoke about rewilding our lives while living in techno-utopia, how to integrate wild food into your diet, how nature is the center of a better life, why Californians spend all their time inside when they don’t need to, and transitions in motherhood.

Human rewilding — a return to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle — could help us address the impending threat of global climate change and future pandemics. If human rewilding is to work, foragers have to respect the lands by planting back, providing a positive benefit to ecosystems. The rewilding movement must take its cues from the time-tested wisdom of primal cultures.

“Jessica’s book deeply affected me, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to speak with her about her process of untangling herself from the high-stress, app-addled culture of technology work. I hope her story can inspire others, including myself, to find ways to disconnect from the digital and reconnect with our true nature – getting as wild as we can manage in this world. After all, nature is basically the original form of technology, and probably still the best.” August 24, 2023.

I discussed my book and my experiences with wilderness education programs, along with the human affinity for life and natural settings (biophilia) and the crisis in our culture due to nature separation. August 23, 2023.

For Shepherd.com, a book recommendation platform, I selected five books for your post-collapse library. The secret to mastering your apocalypse experience is to think of it not as surviving, but as thriving—in the way that humans did for over 300,000 years as hunter-gatherers. August 25, 2023.

In Episode 29, we interview Jessica Carew Kraft about her deeply engrossing debut book that chronicles her journey from surviving the tech world to embracing the ancestral skills community that has allowed her to finally thrive. If you’ve ever watched an episode of “Alone,” your curiosity might have been piqued about the people who have the skills not only to survive, but to thrive in the wild. August 22, 2023.

Jessica shares 5 key insights from her new book, Why We Need to Be Wild: One Woman’s Quest for Ancient Human Answers to 21st Century Problems. Listen to the audio version—read by Jessica herself—in the Next Big Idea App. Next Big Idea is a curated list of new books selected by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, and Adam Grant.

Could paleolithic wisdom solve our 21st century problems? Jessica Carew Kraft took her family on a journey to find out. The author of "Why We Need to Be Wild" joined us to share her story. Jessica was joined by her daughters Simone (13) and Lazarre (10) Elias.

John Zerzan is the long-time anarchist author and anti-civilization advocate who hosts a weekly radio show on KWVA University of Oregon radio, 88.1 FM. I spoke with him about Why We Need to Be Wild, my publishing journey, my next book ideas, and why rewilding presents hopeful answers to our 21st century dilemmas. August 15, 2023.

I spoke with Tony Jones of the Reverend Hunter podcast about what it means for a species to be successful, the rewilding movement, living like the Pleistocene, being called by ancestral wisdom, converting to Judaism then away from it, the importance of social ties, when kids discover the wonder, how the whole idea of the world is a little absurd, Rod Carew, and more.

Relying on ancient traditions from the time when humans were hunter-gatherers, rather than a species hooked on small electronic devices, has become a way of life for Kraft. She has spent the last few years learning how to forage for food for herself and her two daughters. She picks fruit from trees and bushes, harvests wild roots, culls seaweed to dry, makes salad from wild greens, and hunts in the damp for wild mushrooms. August 11, 2023.

Talking to Uncivilized Podcast about Why We Need to Be Wild, rewilding, motherhood, and why anarchy is the evolutionary blueprint for human social organization.

“Anyone who has found themselves longing for more meaning in life will want to check out Jessica Carew Kraft’s new book. In Why We Need to Be Wild: One Woman’s Quest for Ancient Human Answers to 21st Century Problems, this mother of two details what it was like to quit her job in the tech world and spend time learning about “rewilding”—rejecting the comforts of our modern world and turning to ancient tools and skills to survive.” Diablo Magazine, August 2023.

The top journal for librarians called the book: “A great read for naturalists, those interesting in rewilding, survivalists, and anyone searching for a different way of life.” — Booklist, July 2023.

For San Francisco Magazine I covered the wilderness skills program, Trackers Bay, which teaches kids how to rewild. Here in the Bay Area, where almost every educational organization is trying to get kids excited to code, parents see a program like Trackers Earth as a necessary antidote. It offers what we might call the original STEM curriculum, developed by our hunter-gatherer ancestors to survive and thrive in the natural world. (May, 2017).

(June 16, 2023) Kraft's Top Takeaways from the Heroic Coach Program:

• How to balance using technology without it using you

• The power of hormesis to boost your immune system and rewire your nervous system

• The moment she knew she was Heroic and the tools she used to get there (you won't believe this one!)

“Despite your 21st-century digital trappings, you are actually a bipedal social hominid who thrives outdoors collecting and preparing food in a tight-knit group. You evolved to range over the landscape, build simple tools and shelters, recount your tales, and dance your dreams around a collective fire. If it weren’t for your technological dependence and lack of training in a clan, you would excel at finding everything you need in nature.” Swarthmore Bulleti (Summer 2023).

Why We Need to Be Wild has been chosen as an August 2023 Must-Read selection. All nominated books will be shared with our Next Big Idea Club curators—Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink—who will narrow the list down to a handful of finalists and, ultimately, two official season selections.