NUNM Nutrition faculty member joins leading thinkers to reimagine humanity’s place in nature.

National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) adjunct faculty member Corey Pressman, recently co-authored an article in Orion Magazine exploring the intersection of fungi ecology, imagination, and health.

Pressman, who earned his master’s degree in anthropology, has taught culinary track coursework in NUNM’s Nutrition program since 2015.

In the article, “A New Naturalism”, published in the magazine’s Summer 2025 issue, he explores how fungi can serve as a metaphor and model for reimagining the self, society, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

Based on an earlier video conversation, the piece highlights a discussion between Pressman and scholar Kaitlin Smith, artist Jeff VanderMeer, and scientist Merlin Sheldrake. In their conversation, they present the concept of a “new naturalism”—a movement emerging across disciplines that reconsiders humanity’s place within the environment.

In the article’s introduction, Pressman writes: “This view is causing us to reconsider, realign, reappraise, and reimagine what nature is and therefore our place in it,”

He notes that Western language and thought often separate humans from nature, but a shift is underway to recognize humans as part of, not apart from, the natural world.

Pressman poses the question: If society embraces this view, what effect could it have on our collective future?

The article was adapted from a video conversation and live event, co-presented with the Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination.

Watch the full video conversation, titled “The Future of Fungi: The Rise and Rhizomes of Mushroom Culture”, here: