Finding Nature

Hosted by Nathan Robertson-Ball

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141

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Oct 2026

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Find inspiration and guidance for the change you want to create and learn how others have achieved it in their life and work in pursuit of a more just, safe and healthier future. Nourishment for the change making class.

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October 27, 2026Episode 1411 hr 46 min

Manoa Duwai Is On A Mission - Restoring Pacific Coral Reefs One Day At A Time

So what did you do when you met someone and you hear their story and it humbles you to your core? When you learn and feel firsthand the experience of another human that acts as a cattle prod to make clear that the path you’ve been on is no longer the path you can be on? That’s what today’s guest - Manoa Duwai - did to me when we spoke. Today I bring you a conversation that has unsettled and inspired me in a way none of the other 100 plus episodes of this show has. I am changed having met Manoa, and I’m proud to be sharing his story and remarkable work with you today. Manoa is a Fijian man who was recently in Sydney to spread the word of the work he has been and is doing in his village of Naidiri. To help set the scene for the episode, let me help you picture Manoa. He’s well over six feet tall and in his prime was on the cusp of representing one of the most incredible sporting teams on the planet - the Fijian Rugby 7s team. He’s big and he’s fit, and he’s also not the archetype of who I and probably many other imagine when you think about those who are making an outsized impact on the state of the planet’s environment. That’s my own bias speaking, and with some sporting background, it’s surprising as they are not two worlds that overlap too often. In Manoa those worlds do, and I suspect his athletic prowess and everything that comes with what’s required to be a top level sportsperson is what’s served him well over the last 17 years in building the Naidiri Marine Biodiversity Park - perseverance, discipline, a zealous commitment to a goal and the ability to lead and build a great team. So I’ve mentioned the Naidiri Marine Biodiversity Park and that is what this conversation focuses on - the 17 year quest Manoa has been on to regenerate the coral system that sits on the shore to his village. It traverses the night where he and his best mate came back from rugby to find only rice and tea for dinner and their subsequent failed effort to catch some fish. This was the spark that altered his trajectory, the village of Naidiri and has now seen the marine park recognised by both the Fijian Government and the UN as a site of environmental value. What started by blocking off a 30 by 40 metre area with noone’s knowledge nor permission to what is now a site measuring over 28,000 square kilometres of protected reef. We chat about seeking forgiveness instead of permission, the work this has involved and how climate change is upending this work far faster than he and others can keep up. The second part of today’s episode is with sibling duo Gauri and Akshay Salunkhe who for the last couple of years have been working with Manoa on his work in Fiji. That part of today’s show extends on how remarkable Manoa and the villagers work has been, the lack of resources they’ve had and the way all of us can get involved and help from afar. And on how you and we can all help, Gauri and Akshay are running a crowdfunding campaign to help support Manoa and others with their mission, and I highly encourage you to check it out and to give what you can. They’re seeking to raise $5000, and are currently sitting just below the one thousand mark. So Finding Nature listener, here’s my call to action and direct appeal to you. Over the next four weeks I’m going to be talking about this campaign here and on all the various social media places, and I think we can get to that $5000 figure. If you’re already sold - pause this, go to the link in the show notes, and donate. If you still need persuasion, hopefully after this episode you’re hitting the link and contributing to this community’s goal of getting Manoa, Gauri and Akshay $5000 that will go an enormous way to contributing to the work they have upcoming in transplanting corals that are going to be affected by huge El Niño heat, as well as the myriad youth programs they have going on. $5000 - we can do this. Ok Manoa, as well as Gauri and Akshay. The question I have to you is a simple one - how willing would you be to protect the place you love the most? Because the willingness of these three is nothing short of astonishing. I'm heading to the Investor Group On Climate Change Summit on November 24 and 25. See you there. Use code SUMMIT26GRP for 10% off when you get three or more tickets. Naidiri Marine Biodiversity Park crowdfunding campaign - we can get them to $5,000! Support Dharawal Spirits . Drink country to save country. Enjoyed this conversation? Check out Altiorem for your episode companion guide. Diving deep: Finance, ocean pollution and coastal resilience Super-duper El Nino and the bigger problem Ocean investment protocol: 2026 revised draft for consultation: A multi-stakeholder plan to enable funding for the Sustainable Ocean Economy Check out everything Finding Nature . Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

October 20, 2026Episode 1401 hr 35 min

Reclaiming Agency In An Age Of AI Boosterism - Aubrey Blanche On Where To Start, What To Do And Valuing Dignity

This week on the show is Aubrey Blanche. Aubrey is somewhat of a professional enigma - she’s lived multiple careers already, from time inside big tech and early stage investing, and now she’s at the Ethics Centre, while she’s an expert in human resources, diversity and inclusion and ethical AI. Aubrey has also established one of Australia’s largest regular AI newsletters and her writing has been featured in publications like Wired, The Wall Street Journal and Australian Financial Review. I wanted to get Aubrey on the show to chat about her myriad professional and personal experiences, to try and chart a course to understand the thread that runs through the life of someone with such diverse perspectives and experiences, but also to chat about her work in recent years in advising organisations with their own artificial intelligence deployment and implementation. If any organisation in Australia who may have a clue how to do this - and not focussing on the false flag of productivity and hooked by the marketing spin of large language model AI - it’d be The Ethics Centre, an organisation I have a huge regard for. Aubrey’s work there, and her background more broadly, struck me as resonate considering it was framed as requiring design with the affected people, to question its value and understand how it could be useful, but also that conscientious objection and the right to opt out is a legitimate option too. So this is a conversation that I hope does justice to Aubrey’s personality and spirit - it traverses everything from pain and trauma to healthy relationships and the need to undertake ongoing honest self appraisal, this moment of deranged LLM AI tech bro bubblemaxxing and how organisations fixated on using it for short term productivitymaxxing benefits are likely in for a rocky future. Fundamentally though, this is a conversation about values and what we value - from ourselves in this moment of job uncertainty to how we uphold the dignity of humanity to reprise a spirit of custodianship and responsibility for life more broadly. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . AI systems at work: A changing psychosocial work environment AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model Top 10 principles for ethical artificial intelligence Welcome to Drinking Country To Save Country. Check out Dharawal Spirits , and grab yourself something - drink responsibly!!! Check out our upcoming events, get all the info and grab your tickets. Events Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

October 13, 2026Episode 1391 hr 45 min

Impermanence And Uncertainty - Geoff Mann On Anticipating Futures

Today’s guest is Geoff Mann. Geoff is a Canadian political economist who was recently in town and I loved having the opportunity to not only sit down and record this conversation, but to indulge in the breadth and depth of his unique background. His research, teaching and books have intersected around political economy, political theory and the history of ideas, with much of his writings in recent years delving into climate change, macroeconomic crisis, the far right and fascist politics, as well as how uncertainty underpins much of this. How do we make sense of what we don’t understand, or what has never happened before? What gives actual confidence to understand what could occur, what lessons do the past offer, how to identify false and fake confidence, what role does power play, how is our political system set up to deal with any form of complexity and uncertainty? These and much more were questions Geoff’s work has explored. What struck me though before and then meeting Geoff was how adamant he was in the necessity for humility in this moment. A climate crisis, wars, shifting geopolitical currents - yet many still stand up and let us know that they’ve seen the future, that they know - with a bizarre level of certainty - what all of this means. Chatting with Geoff I realised that the natural state of impermanence of living each day - which I do my best to ignore and hope to impose my own grand plans of control over regardless of how delusional that is - that impermanence is perhaps one of the most important concepts for our society to come to grips with today. How can we predict the impacts of climate change in economic models that weren’t built for that with any sense of certainty and think they give us the answer for what’s to come - when we have never in human history experienced anything like this climate ever, and when it will only become more volatile, unstable and unknown? Yet we try. And aren’t the consultants and lawyers enjoying that cash cow at the moment helping client after client deliver integrated climate assessment models that don’t in any way reflect the reality of disaster and creeping ecological changes underway in every corner of the planet. We cover so much in this conversation. The malady of mainstream economic theory and modelling to deal with a whole new reality, the role of story in beginning to imagine and anticipate potential futures, how to think about trade-offs, the potential for a climate leviathan or climate Mao, and the necessity for modesty, generosity and curiosity to be infused in any form of inquiry or action. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . The Climate Average Trap Prosperity without growth: The transition to a sustainable economy Rewiring finance – a new approach to financing a sustainable economy Check out our upcoming events, get all the info and grab your tickets. Events Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

October 6, 2026Episode 1381 hr 18 min

One Of Australia's Illnesses - Sonia Orchard On What Kids, And All People, Need

Today I’m particularly honoured and humbled by today’s guest, Sonia Orchard . Now Sonia isn’t a name most people would recognise, but her story likely is, which is exactly why she’s on the show and why I wanted to speak with her. 60% of Australian kids are reported to experience some form of abuse or neglect. 1 in 10 Australian men admitted to committing a sexual offence against a child. NSW police are responding to an incident of domestic violence every three minutes. These are horrifying, harrowing, overwhelming statistics, just three of them too, and yet for the most part everything just carries on. What happened to children being the most important thing in our society? How can there be such a pervasiveness of something so awful? That’s why Sonia is on the show, to discuss these questions and much more. Sonia is the author of two books, her memoir Groomed, which tells the story of her own childhood sexual abuse by a man ten years her senior, as well as the most recent In The National Interest titled Before the Harm: Preventing Abuse, Protecting Children. The latter is an enlightening and shocking read, something I implore everyone out there to go and get a copy of. At the heart of her writing lies one simple question - we know how to prevent harm to children, and yet we don’t, so why not? As difficult as the book sounds, and as daunting as the subject matter is, the book is optimistic, determined by nature and a call to arms to every single one of us - as citizens, parents, colleagues, family members, voters, leaders - action prevents harm to kids. It’s available and it’s available now. There is much Sonia and I chat about here - from the current status of what is going on with how kids are harmed to the drivers of that, the behaviours of perpetrators, the victim victimiser paradigm, the need for moral courage in not waiting at the bottom of the cliff to try and rescue those being abused but go way upstream and examine the health of a society when 60% of its children are reported as abused or neglected. From what we can do everyday practically to the structural reforms and types of leadership needed. This was an incredibly powerful experience for me, and I was compelled to share a little of my own experience in the context of this topic too and how it’s affected me both as a child and now navigating life as a parent. Preventing harms to kids - we all want it. What do we need to change to do that? Everything. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . A roadmap for private investors: Investing to address gender-based violence Our Watch: Change the story and key frameworks Looking beyond traditional gender lens investing approaches using Access Impact Framework in support of SDG 5: Gender equality Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

September 29, 2026Episode 1371 hr 21 min

We Are The Existential Risk - No-one Knows AI Like Toby Walsh

If there is one topic that has come to dominate this moment, it is artificial intelligence. Is it going to wipe us out? Will I lose my job? Is a data centre going up in my neighbourhood? Why are all these tech bros so incapable of sounding anything like a normal, sane, relatable person? Why do I have to hear so much about AI? Can’t I just have my connection and attention and identity back, please? I’m an avowed cynic of the broad set of technologies AI represents, and I’ve been fortunate to learn from some of the best minds in the world on this show as to how these technologies are warping and distorting our relationship to ourselves, each other, work, identity, even reality itself. People like Emily M Bender and Nina Jankowicz have made clear the hazards and harms of a technology we seemingly have no innate capability to withstand - like the Wizard of Oz, it’s omniscient existence and self-proclaimed extraordinary potential has our society captured. Haven’t we seen this all before though? Weren’t there warnings about climate change in the 1960s we’ve ignored ever since? What’s that saying about power tending to corrupt, and absolute power corrupting absolutely? Aren’t we observing that with a tiny number of companies seemingly holding all the chips against us? Yes, yes, I sound like a luddite. I’m obviously extraordinarily anti-progress, anti jobs and anti growth. Also a hypocrite too as I get to enjoy the quality of life I do today because of the evolution of technology over all of human history. Well, I’d love to believe AI could be helpful and valuable so I was very excited to invite Toby Walsh onto the show. Just about all Australians probably recognise Toby now - he’s become not just a prolific author helping to make sense of this moment after decades working in and leading University of New South Wales’ AI Institute, but he’s featured regularly on traditional and digital media. He addressed the National Press Club earlier this year, was a featured expert in Channel Seven’s AI reporting, and is regularly popping up on the ABC, SBS the BBC, CNN, The Guardian, NPR and The New York Times. If there is anyone in Australia to learn and hear from about not just the current world of AI, but also its history and heritage and where this all may be going, it’s Toby. His most recent book, God AI; Boom or Doom? What to expect when machines outsmart us examines the existential risk of AI. As we’ve heard repeatedly in recent weeks, some techbrogods are foreshadowing the end of all human life by the end of this decade! What does that even mean, how could it even be possible, and what other extinctions have occurred over the course of history that offer precedent to understand if these apocalyptic warnings are even credible. We also get into much else - the history of AI to help understand this moment, the potential of ubiquitous intelligence, use cases where it is proving to be helpful, but also how humans are so ill-prepared to handle something so compelling and convenient and laden with potential - maybe the AI prompted to maximise paperclip production and ends up causing humanity’s extinction is all just a furphy, and we’ll end up degrading, eroding and eventually fracturing our ability to relate and cohere together in drastic and irreparable ways. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . Artificial intelligence and the future of finance: A framework for structural change Modeling ghost GDP: Macro-financial risk and diversified portfolios in the age of artificial intelligence, automation, and populism Artificial intelligence and human rights investor toolkit Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

September 22, 2026Episode 1361 hr 20 min

Senator Rosa Galvez On The Need For Government Before Calamity Hits

Today’s guest is Canadian Senator Rosa Galvez . This was a very special experience to meet and speak with Rosa, whose background, expertise and humanity made this a conversation I both really enjoyed but also took so much from. Rosa, originally from Peru, is one of Canada’s leading experts in pollution control and its effects on human health. She was appointed to Canada’s Senate in late 2016, representing Québéc, and been involved with or led many of the country’s most substantive environmental, human health, finance and planetary wellbeing regulations, initiatives and committees over the last decade, which reflects her mindset and experience in appreciating the reality of complex systems, interconnectedness, the need for holistic approaches to both thinking and acting, and her own grounded experience as and with First Nations peoples and their practices. She’s a member of Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources and Standing Senate Committee on National Finance . She’s has also served on the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications and the Special Committee on the Arctic . She’s published widely - on Canada’s building codes, what a clean and just recovery from Covid-19 would involve and look like, Aligning Canada’s Finance with Climate Commitments, introduced Bill S-243, the Climate Aligned Finance Act and helped to drive the legislation of Canada’s financial sectors approach to transitioning to a net zero economy. Beyond her political and policy work, Rosa has been acknowledged broadly for this work and her career as an engineer. She was included in the Clean50 award in 2021, the 2022 Ecological Society of America Regional Policy Award, and the 2023 Top 25 Women of Influence Award. In this chat we get into many and various topics - a primer on the Canadian political system and her appointment, their nation’s choices currently under pressure from Trump’s tariff and economic warfare tactics, understanding and attempting to make decisions that account for multiple and simultaneous considerations and impacts, the language of human, our disconnection from nature, ceremony and each other, as well as the idea of needing government for before inevitable calamity and crisis hits. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . Climate Engagement Canada Directors' liability and climate risk: Comparative paper - Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom The state of sustainable finance (2025-2030) global architecture, jurisdictional approaches and emerging trends Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

September 15, 2026Episode 1351 hr 19 min

All We Have Are Our Stories - Damon Gameau On What Really Moves Us

Damon Gameau is on the show today. This one was many many months in the making so I’m incredibly excited to be sharing it and so glad the diary Gods eventually made possible a chat that will live long in my memory for me. Damon is a renowned, award winning actor, filmmaker, and director who has made some of my favourite documentaries of the last little while. Most recently, Future Council centred children in their pursuit of understanding why adults seem so incapable of dealing with a series of problems that are so obvious to see, be affected by and seemingly addressable too. Before that, 2040 examined and highlighted the technological and governance solutions that already exist to deal with decarbonisation, pollution and circularity. He made That Sugar Film which revealed the captured dietary and health system all of us struggle to free ourselves from on a daily basis. Each of these and much more of his work goes to a simple truth - story is what moves humans. We care when we know others. We care when we understand. We care by knowing the stories of others and having them explain what’s not working and what is working, what’s possible if we change and also what’s likely if we don’t. I was keen to speak with Damon not only because of his body of work and learning from him through conversation, but also because over the last six months I’ve had my own epiphany which he helped me realise - that story is most likely the most disregarded yet necessary component of any change process. Easy to disregard as story can get wrapped up in stereotypes of advertising’s dark arts or the lamentable challenges associated with greenwashing. Story also takes time. It involves being with others, slowing down, listening, openness, a humility to let in what you may not already know, ultimately, to be challenged in what you believe or think is right. Story is inconvenient and may not work - much easier and faster to turn to a powerpoint or petition or to find blame in what and who you don’t like. After 20 years attempting to do change I never realised that every single time I’ve been moved and shifted a belief, it’s because of a story I was told, read or watched. From Inconvenient Truth and The Weather Makers in the mid 2000s, to the experience of watching Future Council to prepare for this chat. What resonates are stories. In this conversation Damon and I speak about all of this, including his own philosophy on story, their cultural significance, as well as how it matters in countering darker visions of a future that seems inevitable in our common consciousness. We also get into his and my own journeys as men and parents who’ve been cracked open by difficult life events, how we both had the stories we told ourselves fissured and needed to go through the proverbial crucible - something our whole society may also need - to come out cleansed, refreshed and buoyed by a new perspective and closer relationship to reality. Check out more of Damon's work at Future Council and The Regenerators . Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . Framing and language for effective climate conversations We need a revolution in environmental communications What do sustainability disclosures disclose? Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

September 8, 2026Episode 1341 hr 27 min

Playing Catch Up With Reality - Hugh White On Australia's Hard New World

That’s Hugh White, and I’m Nathan Robertson-Ball, and welcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast. Each week I sit down with the leading thinkers and doers across policy, business, academia, civil society and the creative arts to explore their perspectives on and experiences in contributing to a world that is healthier, safer and more just. Lost in my career and having suffered a dramatic life oblivion I was sick and tired of the constantness of feeling disappointment and despair in my daily life. I wanted to better understand how change worked, how it happened, how others understood it and what the best across multiple fields did to pursue and activate it themselves. That simple question was the beginning of what Finding Nature is, and it’s a privilege to spend time with remarkable people every week and be curious about their insights and wisdom. I’m glad you’re here to experience it too. This is Hugh White’s second appearance on the show, and he is on the show as his latest book, Hard New World; Australia’s Post-American Future has just hit the shelves. This is a follow up to his extremely popular Quarterly Essay from the middle of 2025, as well as an extension on many of the ideas and commentaries there. I’m lucky doing this that I now get to read a lot of excellent writing that help me better understand this moment, how we got here and where we might be headed, and Hugh’s work has been central in helping me re-frame my own perspective. Hard New World is compelling reading that explores Australia’s position and identity in an era of significant geopolitical re-ordering, as well as what’s driving that re-ordering. Hugh’s expertise lies in Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia Pacific and world security, as well as global strategic affairs. Starting his career as an intelligence analyst, was a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald, was International Relations Advisor to Bob Hawke during his Prime Ministership and served as a senior official in the Department of Defence. He was the founding Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, served as the head of the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, has authored nine major publications as an author, co-hosts The Foreign Exchange podcast and his writing features regularly in publications like The Saturday Paper, Australian Financial Review and The Lowy Institute. That’s an abridged bio, but what it points to is if there is anyone in this country more credentialed and capable of eloquently and comprehensively sharing about the state of global affairs and Australia’s place in the world, Hugh is it. We cover so much ground in this chat. From Australia’s required identity shift to move with a changing world, the narrative required to do that and the political consequences of dealing with the geographical realities of Australia’s place in the world, the dynamics of the transition underway to a unipolar world, Trumpism and US isolationism, nuclear weapons, climate change as a threat multiplier but maybe as a challenge of such significance humanity can’t ignore reprising its cooperative spirit to address, the role of imagination in all of this and historical precedents how for post colonial Australia has shifted with the times - from Federation to the abolishment of the White Australia Policy. If you care about or are curious about the shifts underway in our world, this one is for you. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . Responsible investing in defence, security and resilience ADS group: UK defence ESG charter Geopolitics of the energy transition: Critical materials Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

September 1, 2026Episode 1331 hr 29 min

Embracing Wildness - Claire Scobie Has The Stories That Awaken A Dormant Light

Today’s guest is Claire Scobie , who’s the author of the new book ‘ Wild Hope; Stories of Leading and Living In Uncertain Times .’ Now anyone who knows me knows that I’m generally a sceptic of hope and many of its connotations, especially in regards to the serious business of chasing political reform or addressing any and all of the many systemic and structural challenges we as a species and this planet faces, but I was convinced to pick Claire’s book up as I knew former guest Reece Proudfoot was one of the stories highlighted. Anything involving the serious and grassroots derived work Reece is doing in the Southern Highlands I both wanted to read about but also appreciate how his work fits within a larger story of community activation and development - the place where real change occurs. Claire is an author and journalist and she works with organisations through her business Wordstruck to help them uncover and tell the stories that shape their work and the change they want to make in the world. Her work has been featured in publications like the Observer, the UK’s Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald, and this book is the result of her own journey of curiosity and discovery since her ecophany involving the unlikely moment she discovered a tiny marsupial found only on the islands of the Torres Strait was thought to have gone extinct, all while sitting on a plane in Hong Kong. Cracked open, Claire’s world has been different ever since, and Wild Hope is that story. I found great joy and comfort in Claire’s work and this conversation. Over the course of building Finding Nature the last two years I’ve had the extraordinary opportunity to meet and learn about literally thousands of projects and groups and activations occurring in every corner of our society. These may not be broad-scale in their impact, but they are what we have agency over and deliver essential ingredients for the human spirit - connection, nourishment, self efficacy and progress. In our communities - whether it’s a bush regen group, a LGBTIQ poetry slam series, attending something like a writers or film festival - it is in these arenas we meet like-minded and like-hearted people. It’s here we can feel safe and part of something bigger than ourselves, and where action becomes possible. Wild Hope tells this story and the stories of dozens of these types of communities from around the world. In this conversation Claire shares about this, her own journey of transformation and how through local connection, immersing in nature and learning about First Nations cultures and practices, she has learnt to walk a path filled with mystery, joy and love. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem . Doughnut economics for regenerative business design Investing to reconnect financial value with people, nature and the real economy: An iterative blueprint for capital markets actors, policymakers and regulators 100 million farmers: Breakthrough models for financing a sustainability transition Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

August 31, 2026Episode 1321 hr 17 min

The Fresh Start Effect - A Masterclass On Starting Spring With A Boost

Hello and welcome to a special edition of and extra episode of the Finding Nature podcast. If you’re new here, hello, if you’re a returning listener, welcome back. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and this is my show where each week I sit with people leading us towards a safer, healthier and more just future. This episode is different though - it’s my Fresh Start 2026 show that is a compilation of many of the brilliant people I’ve had the pleasure of spending with and learning from. The Fresh Start Effect is something I fall for basically every Monday, every first of the month, every new season, and today being September 1, the first day of Spring here in Australia, I wanted to create something that helps give you the boost you may be looking for as we enter this new season and time of year. The fresh start effect was coined by some behavioural scientists in 2014 and it represents how some people have a tendency to take action on new goals, make positive changes, try to get into healthy action after a date or milestone has passed. These are temporal milestones, like New Years Day, a birthday, starting a new job, every monday, every first day of the month or at a new season. I am a total sucker for these, and despite my best efforts, still find the allure of these to be compelling, even though I know right now is the moment I have to make the changes and choices I’d like to in my life. Something that both fascinates me but I also know is essential is to live a life and to have an identity that is broader and more layered than work and career and a professional status. Having gone through a significant change in that regard this year I’m grateful for my practices of meditation and running and group therapy, for my friends and being a father and also this whole apparatus that have helped to keep me grounded and mostly healthy through it. Much of what I seek to create through Finding Nature - in many ways it’s purpose - is a portal for us all to connect with what our true nature might be, to be curious about, to nourish it and to bring it into the world in the pursuit of our goals and aspirations. I know I need to remain connected to my own deeper sense of meaning to do this well, consistently and to show up in service of this purpose over the blaring spotlights of external validation and plaudits. This episode is about two things within that context. The first is to offer you snippets from episodes to help you feel connected and inspired by hearing the experience, strength and hope of others. The second is to either introduce you to a guest you haven’t heard from or to be reminded of the lessons the first time around. This show is about having largely timeless conversations about to live well and wisely, and I know the insights shared by these remarkable people stand the test of time. I’m very proud of the diverse and extraordinary quality of people I get to have on this show, and being able to compile something like a masterclass from such a group has been a fun and rewarding process. So this episode covers everything from workplace influence to community politics, mental wellbeing and pursuing athletic and physical goals. I think there’s plenty for everyone here, and the diversity of guests and the snippets are a reflection of my own curiosities but also what I think are essential ingredients to live a whole, nourishing life. It’s tough and daunting out there at the moment, and none of us do anything in our lives alone. I hope this episode offers you the message you need to get connected to your true nature, and to have the faith and courage required to get into healthy action. Here's every episode featured today linked up (Spotify only, sorry Steve Jobs et al). The Neuroscience of Change: The Role of Dopamine in Obstructing or Obtaining What We Want In Life With Dr Anastasia Hronis Built To Create - Holly Rankin Is The Voice Of A Generation Surrendering Attachment and Lessons from His Holiness The Dalai Lama - Geshe Lhakdor on What Ancient Spirituality Teaches Us About This Moment The Voice of A Community: Nicolette Boele on Local Politics, Local Change and the Potential For A Real Shift Steve Martin on How Influence Works and Change Really Happens Clarity, Creativity and Connection - Dave Murphy On How Breath, Hypnosis and Visioning Are The Path To Flow State Ask Tammi Anything - The Help We All Need In Pursuit Of What We Are Seeking Rising Above Loss and Languishing - Hector Arisitizábal on New Beginnings Benn Coubrough Keeps Moving - What One Of Australia's Greatest Ultra Runners Can Teach Us All About Mindset, Living and Going For It On The Hook - Emily M Bender Isn’t Falling for the AI Hype Machine Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram