“I love watching Naked and Afraid, but I know most people never experience that kind of solitude. He got it and he understood the gift of that silence.”

When Ezri Mayeri first heard about Back to Earth, he wasn’t interested.

“I kind of said yes just to get my mom off my back,” he laughs. “She saw a flyer for this wilderness program and thought it would be good for me. But I was reluctant."

At 14, Ezri was more at home in front of a screen than under the stars. He’d never backpacked, never carried a heavy pack, never slept outside for a week. “I was this scrawny teenage boy - nervous, intimidated. I remember thinking, do I even belong here?”

Catch up on the latest reports of our adventures into the wilderness.

Watch Eli Marienthal's TEDxYouth video: "Everything Is A Ripple"

Recorded just as the world was going into shutdown in March of 2020, this was a fascinating conversation with one of the great podcasters working today. I was a fan of Chris Ryan's before we were introduced, so it was a real honor to get to be in the guest seat on a show I'd long listened to and admired.

As we embark on another season of Back to Earth’s WILD program, we take a moment to consider the context in which our work unfolds, from long term trends in adolescent mental health, to the cultural zeitgeist of toxic bro culture.