The Understory - a podcast where nature restoration gets real

The Understory is a podcast about restoration where practitioners can real talk — no polished conference-stage performances, no organizational spin, just honest conversation about what's working, what isn't, and what it will actually take to reforest the world the right way.

What if everything we're doing to restore the world's forests is missing the point?At every COP, every Climate Week, every major nature summit — the panels are the same, the talking points are the same, and the hard questions never get asked. In this first episode, Jad Daly and Sweta Chakraborty introduces The Understory: a podcast built for the people who are ready to talk about what's actually happening on the ground.Why are we talking about forests without talking about forestry? Why do the voices closest to the work — indigenous communities, local practitioners, field scientists — keep getting left out of the conversation? And what would it take to go from 15% tree survivorship to 85%... just by being willing to geek out on the details?This is the space for that conversation.In this episode:Why the big climate forums have become a "performance" — and what we're missing because of itThe forest understory as a metaphor for everything our movement is getting wrongWhy braiding indigenous knowledge with climate science is the unlock no one's talking aboutThe "pre-mortem" question every restoration project needs to askSubscribe so you don't miss upcoming episodes, including live recordings at EarthX, COP, and Climate Week.🌱 Real talk. Real practitioners. Real solutions.