The Happy Pear Podcast

For episode 4 of our Community series, we present to you the very man who changed our own perspective on community living years and years ago. The co-founder of the Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, Mr Rob Hopkins!To give you a bit of background on Rob, he is the author of numerous books including, The Transition Handbook, 21 Stories of Transition and most recently, From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want. He presents the podcast series ‘From What If to What Next‘. In 2012, he was voted one of the Independent’s top 100 environmentalists and was on Nesta and the Observer’s list of Britain’s 50 New Radicals. Hopkins has also appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Four Thought and A Good Read, in the French film phenomenon Demain and its sequel Apres Demain, and has spoken at TEDGlobal and three TEDx events.This was by far one of our favourite episodes. The expression ‘you should never meet your heroes’ does not apply here. Rob was our hero 15 years when we first came across him, and now all these years later when we finally get to meet him, he is still our hero!"At the moment we measure the success of an economy by how much bigger it is than last year. Imagine with your kids; there is a while in the evolution of your children where the fact that they are bigger than they were last year is a good thing. They are growing in the right direction. If that was the only measure, and they just kept on growing and growing and growing, till they were about 50 metres tall… after a little while you would think something is going really really wrong here. Actually what you want is for your kids to grow, ideally to slightly shorter than you are! And then to start growing in different ways; become kinder, wiser, more skilled, more connected, and more resourceful. We don’t have that assumption for our economy, we just say - ‘is it bigger than last year? Grand!’ The fact that cancer rates are rising, anxiety is rising, and people are less and less able to walk home alone after dark, all the things that we don’t want to happen in a society, we don’t measure, we don’t factor them in.”This quote says it all, he is a creative thinker who lets no walls or structures limit his imagination and willingness to strive for a better future. The ultimate doer and who leads by example. We delve into everything from how Totnes became a self-sufficient transition town to how you as an individual can start thinking outside the box and become the change you want to see happen to your own community.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bruce Parry, Bruce Parry, Bruce Parry! What a gent!How often do you get to speak with someone who has fully immersed themselves in 15 different indigenous tribes all across the world?He ate what they ate including maggots and insects, he slept where they slept at times on hard dirt floors tangled between legs and arms and mosquitos crawling at his skin, he took part in ceremonial practices and plant medicines awakening his soul to all kinds of other realms, but most importantly he opened his mind to old wisdom, other ways of being and thinking which has shaped his existence and shown him new perspectives on life."Just hanging out with people who have a completely different perception of reality, different spirtual beliefs, different relationships with each other, different nature beliefs. All these things that I had to go through massive internal shifts to understand. Because you can just carry on looking at the world through your own scientific material prism but when you start taking on board that actually these people have got something else going on and maybe it’s worth listening too because they are not the ones messing the planet up. I started out kind of thinking I knew it all and ended up realising I didn’t know anything and thats a humbling journey."Bruce is an explorer, indigenous rights advocate, author, former Royal Marines officer, but he is possibly most well known for the three BBC documentary series; Tribe, Amazon, and Arctic. All of which documenting Bruce's exploration of extreme environments, living with remote indigenous peoples, and highlighting many of the important issues being faced on the environmental frontline.We covered it all with Bruce and to be honest could have spoken for days, maybe even months more, we feel a friendship was been made and look forward to keeping an eye on his progress with his next adventure; an egalitarian community in Wales.Further information on Bruce and his latest work:https://www.bruceparry.com/References:Viktor Frankl Sir Ken Robinson George Lamb and We Are Grow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our second episode in our Community series, we are delighted to present the magical Dan Buettner!Buettner is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, award-winning journalist and producer, and a New York Times bestselling author. He discovered the five places in the world—dubbed Blue Zones—where people live the longest, healthiest lives. Buettner now works in partnership with municipal governments, large employers, and health insurance companies to implement Blue Zones Projects (well-being initiatives applying the lessons from Blue Zones) in communities, workplaces, and universities. The program has dramatically improved the health of more than 5 million Americans to date.In this podcast, we cover the main correlating factors for longevity in these Blue Zones, and how we can start to implement changes in our own lives to be healthier and happier.“If you are overweight in America and possibly Ireland it is probably not your fault. If you go back to the 1980s, in this country about a third as many people were obese and about a seventh as many people were suffering from type 2 diabetes. Back in the 80’s they didn’t have better diets or better discipline. What’s changed is there are about 20 times more fast-food chains now, we drive about 60% more instead of being on our feet, a full 40% of all retail outlets, pharmacies and gas stations... all have junk food. We are genetically hardwired to eat fat and sugar and take rests whenever we can, and that's okay when you live in an environment of hardship and scarcity like we have for 99% of human existence but now you throw that same genetic makeup into a cesspool of burgers, fries, pizzas, and package snacks, your genetics are going to win out all day long!”A great episode to follow from Helena Norberg-Hodge last week. We really hope you enjoyed it! Further information on Dan Buettner:His books:The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest PeopleThe Blue Zones of Happiness Reference:Richard Leider Calling Cards  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the first guest of our new season titled Community, we are delighted to give you “Mother Earth” herself - Helena Norberg-Hodge.To say we were blown away is an understatement - Dave announced at least three times that he was her new biggest fan!Helena is a pioneer of the new economy movement and recipient of the Alternative Nobel prize, the Arthur Morgan Award and the Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.” She is author of the inspirational classic Ancient Futures, and Local is Our Future (2019), and producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness. The impact of the global market on food and farming has been a focus of Helena’s work for almost 40 years, including two books (From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture and Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness, as well as a Local Food Toolkit, which won a prestigious UK award for investigative journalism.She is the founder and director of Local Futures and The International Alliance for Localisation, and a founding member of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network.Helena speaks with such wisdom and compassion. Her response to the destruction globalisation has had by way of media, food production etc.. and the impact it has had on businesses and individuals, is truly inspiring. "I really wish before I die that we wake up to look at the bigger picture, which is the bigger system that has essentially imprisoned us and kept us running faster and faster, and as we are running faster and faster we are becoming more and more disconnected internally. We are becoming more and more disconnected from others and from nature, from the land..."There is so much we can learn from Helena, one podcast episode isn’t enough! We need to rethink how we have been programmed in order to recognise the flaws and make the necessary changes to save our own health and the health of our planet. This episode is the perfect start to kick off our series on Community. It leaves you wanting to learn more, which we aim to help you with, with our line of equally amazing and inspiring guests.Each speaker has their own unique experience and wisdom to share with us on a variety of topics, from indigenous tribes to the Blue Zones (areas with the most centenarians), building your own community, farming, and local economics. We cover it all!Stay tuned each Wednesday for the next episode.Big love,Dave & SteveReferences:World Localization DayDocumentaries:Biggest Little FarmThe Uber StoryPeople:Naomi KleinZach Bush MD Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's podcast is with the brilliant Professor Paul Dolan.Paul is a Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also is an author and hosts his own popular podcast called Duck-RabbitWe had a great laugh with Paul, our conversation focused on the many facets of Happiness and how one glove does not fit all.“This idea that one size fits all approach to living well, would be evolutionarily stupid. We would never evolve to be where we are if everyone was the same. So purely from an efficiency perspective, it makes sense that society has different types of people. So it’s about finding out where you are in that distribution…”Paul uses data and analytics to question our perceptions of happiness and the myths we have been fed or “narrative traps” around stories of love, marriage, ambition, and success. He has an amazing way of using everyday examples to convey his points, which makes his work so relatable and brilliant.“What you want money to be is like a referee in a football game. They always say referees have the best game when no one knows they are there. And that’s kind of how you want money to be, you want it to be there because you need it but not paying attention to it.”A great episode, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.Further reading by Prof Paul Dolan:Book: Happiness By DesignHappy Ever AfterPodcast: Duck-Rabbit Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wow, to say our minds were blown is an understatement! This week we are delighted to present to you our wonderful guest and friend, the mighty brain that is Zach Bush MD.For those who don’t know Zach, he is a renowned, multi-disciplinary physician of internal medicine, endocrinology, hospice care, and internationally recognised educator on the microbiome as it relates to human health, soil health, food systems, and a regenerative future.And if all that wasn’t a mouthful… Brace yourselves, you might need a pen and paper beside you for this one! Dr. Zach takes us through chemotherapy, death, the killing of intuition, soil degeneration, dinosaurs, our dying food system, energy, afterlife and somehow manages to link them all beautifully together in an episode that I repeat had us flabbergasted.“Her intuition was not to put those tablets in her mouth. Her intuition was that there was another cause for her cancer, there was another path she could have taken. And I wore her down over a 45 min period and broke her instinct. I broke her intuition not to take those pills. And when she swallowed those pills, it was probably the worst day of my life as a physician. It was the moment I realised I was breaking human beings intuition to follow my pharmaceutical pathway.”You won’t regret giving this episode a listen and if you want to find out more about Zach, ION and his work visit: www.zachbushmd.comReference:The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For any of you who haven't had the pleasure of listening to Doctor Alan Desmond, this is a real treat.In many ways, we feel he is our 'Father of Gut Health'! A great friend of ours that we have had the pleasure to work with on a number of occasions, including on our own Healthy Gut Course. For over 17 years Dr Al has been studying the gut. Not the easiest undertaking as you'll hear from this episode. He voices the connection between your gut, your immune system, your mental health and how the food you eat is the backbone behind your overall health."What should I eat could be one of the most important questions of the 21st Century... When you look at any gut health issue the evidence all points to the same thing, the emulsifiers, the junk food, the food-like substances that make up 60% of the food consumed in the western world, these have massive effects on our gut health and gut microbiome..."He has an amazing way of distilling information in a tangible and relatable way. We talk in length about the importance of gut health, nature, food, and questioning our western approach to health and our current state of affairs in this pandemic."The UN report published last August says the number one thing we can each do to reduce the risk of a future pandemic is by removing or reducing the animal protein that we eat every day. Our current western diets with high consumption of animal protein mean that we keep hundreds of millions of animals in badly sanitized closed confined spaces, which is a breeding ground for future pandemic virus"In 2019 we had the pleasure of going over to Devon where we assisted in the South By South West Plant-Based Challenge, a phenomenal challenge where Dr Al invited more than 70 medical professionals from the NHS to adopt a healthy plant-based diet to prove to them it would improve their energy levels, reduce their cholesterol, and overall make them feel good. It really was an amazingly rewarding experience that has done a lot of good for spreading awareness of our broken western health system. However, we have still so much work to do.This is an episode that packs a punch! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.Further Information:For those interested in learning more about Doctor Alan Desmond, he has a brilliant book called The Plant-Based Diet Revolution Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we are delighted to bring you, YouTubers and VanLifers, Eamon & Bec!As their title suggests, Eamon and Bec are a couple who spend their time traveling around in their customised van. Earning their money from their popular youtube channel which follows all their adventures.“The overnight success that took 10 years to build - that couldn’t be more true for us! You could look at our channel now and think wow that looks like a great living… for us it has been a very very slow burn. However, it has shown us that we love it enough to keep going.”However, it seems things are changing for our favourite Vegan nomads. As for most of us, covid has meant we have had to take a pause, reflect and rethink elements of our lives. For some these have been small reflections and for others, like Eamon and Bec's, it has meant standing still for the first time in years and investing in a solid foundation (one without wheels!).Eamon and Bec's have a wonderful appetite for life, they are a fascinating couple with an abundance of insights on creativity, living as a nomad, working and traveling as a couple, and now building their own cabin in the woods.We highly recommend giving this episode a listen, we had a great laugh and look forward to hosting the pair in Ireland again soon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This weeks podcast is with the delightful Dr Gemma Newman.Gemma is a friend of ours, a GP with a special interest in the environment, women’s health, and nature. We have had the pleasure of working with her on a number of health courses, including our recent The Happy Skin Challenge.This was a very informative chat to say the least. We covered so many topics from antibiotic resistance, agriculture and soil regeneration; to the importance of nature.“The UN warns us that by 2050 we could have 10 million excess deaths due to antibiotic resistant infections in humans, because the antibiotics that we are now using will become ineffective and one of the main ways that we are exposed to antibiotics is through the meat that we eat.”Dr Gemma is so knowledgeable and was such a joy to talk with. We really really enjoyed this episode and hope you got as much from it as we did. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philippa Perry, what an amazing person. The type of person you always want on your side in an argument!She is a psychotherapist and author of many books, including the most recent no. 1 best selling “The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will be Glad That You Did)”I believe the title says it all! In our chat Philippa really puts us in our box and made us rethink our basic approach to parenting, which hopefully it's not too late to start implementing now :)“Teenagers biologically know they need to find a new tribe, because they know you are going to die first. In order for them to find their new tribe they are going to have to make you horrible, as they can’t leave their first tribe if they think their parent(s) are gorgeous and amazing. So they start picking fights with you… don’t take them hating you personally, they have to hate you to find their new tribe”We discussed teenagers to toddlers, boys vs girls to restrictions on social media and mobile phone usage.Again we cannot recommend listening to this episode and more of Philippa in general. A wonderful person and to top it all off she’s a great laugh! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.