The RegenNarration

You might recognise Dr Vanessa Rauland from the renowned ABC TV series Fight for Planet A. Vanessa’s the co-founder with Alexander Karan of ClimateClever, one of a growing number of WA social enterprises that have been realising some of the enormous opportunities in our energy transition. When I spoke with Vanessa for this podcast, a few years ago, the ClimateClever team had nearly doubled in the months prior (even during COVID-19), working with an increasing number of schools, their communities and then businesses, to help them reduce emissions, save money and up-skill the next generation around regenerative living. Vanessa’s long-dedicated her days to addressing climate change and increasing awareness about the vast benefits of living in such a way. And in the wake of the extraordinary youth-led global climate strikes, it’s arguably fitting that schools would take a lead role in the energy and related transitions we so urgently need. For this conversation, Vanessa takes us to one of the WA schools doing just that.This episode was originally released as part of a series of nine episodes I produced a few years ago for the Clean State podcast, dedicated to regenerative transitions in my home state of Western Australia. Sadly, the podcast and its host non-profit are no more. But the series of episodes featured such brilliant guests and stories, that are still so very relevant, and not just to West Australians, so we resolved to re-release them here.To hear the rest of this special series of Clean State episodes, and more stories of regeneration from around WA, Australia and the world, follow The RegenNarration wherever podcasts are found, or on the website.You can access the Clean State Plan, and its brilliantly formatted Summary, towards the bottom of the episode web page.And for more from behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below. Recorded in October 2020.Title slide: Vanessa and AJ.With thanks to the Conservation Council of WA, auspicing organisation for Clean State WA, for permission to re-release this series. Music:Eden is Lost, by Selfless Orchestra.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Professor Gary Kendrick’s great love is the WA coastline and its seagrasses. Gary and colleagues have been at the forefront of seagrass restoration and the blue carbon movement more broadly. And with such a massive extent of coastline featuring globally significant carbon stores, world heritage sites, and deep community and cultural knowledge, the potential for WA – and beyond - is enormous. Gary takes us to one of his favourite parts of WA, to share a little of this spectacular story.This episode was originally released as ‘Blue Carbon, Conservation Economies & the Great Seagrass Restoration, with Professor Gary Kendrick’.It was part of a series of nine episodes I produced a few years ago for the Clean State podcast, dedicated to regenerative transitions in my home state of Western Australia. Sadly, the podcast and its host non-profit are no more. But the series of episodes featured such brilliant guests and stories, that are still so very relevant, and not just to West Australians, so we resolved to re-release them here.To hear the rest of this special series of Clean State episodes, and more stories of regeneration around WA, Australia and the world, follow The RegenNarration wherever podcasts are found, or on the website.And for more from behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below. Recorded in one of Gary’s favourite parts of WA, in September 2020.Title slide: Gary Kendrick (pic: OzFish).With thanks to the Conservation Council of WA, auspicing organisation for Clean State WA, for permission to re-release this series. Music:Eden is Lost, by Selfless Orchestra.Find more:The seagrass restoration being done by Gary and colleagues.The Wirriya Jalyanu (Seagrass) Festival at Shark Bay. A video of Gary from 2017 talking more about the story and value of seagrass.Listen to another extraordinary story of seagrass restoration from the south of WA on ep82 of The RegenNarration.And you can find the Clean State Plan (in full and in summary) towards the bottom of the episode web page linked below.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

A brief bonus featuring part of my conversation with Chantal Caruso that never saw the light of day, due to Clean State’s mandate for shorter episodes.A poignant moment occurred at the launch of The Clean State Plan, with a group of First Nations people there expressing concern at the impending renewables revolution. It raised an important question - how do we transition energy systems without repeating colonial extractive patterns? And moreover, without unwittingly hampering the regenerative work they, farmers and others of the land are also pioneering?Then we talk about the low-cost, exponential positive impacts of First Nations radio, and one of Chantal’s favourite stories, stemming from her childhood. If you’ve come here first, tune into the main episode with Chantal Caruso, ep237 ‘Introducing The Clean State Stories, with former director Chantal Caruso.’To hear the rest of The Clean State Stories series, and learn more about the sorts of things talked about here, be sure to follow The RegenNarration podcast.And for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below. Music:By Jeremiah Johnson. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

As introduced last week, today launches a special festive season series of the Clean State Stories. This was a series of nine episodes I produced a few years ago for the Clean State podcast, dedicated to regenerative transitions in my home state of Western Australia. Sadly, the podcast and its host non-profit are no more. But the series of episodes featured such brilliant guests and stories, that are still so very relevant, and not just to West Australians, so we resolved to re-release them here.The opening episode features highly respected former Director of Clean State WA, Chantal Caruso. Chantal was also the lead author of the Clean State Plan, outlining how to create hundreds of thousands of livelihoods for people in energy, agriculture, building, transport, tourism, and the care economy. The vison was to house and employ everyone, avert multiple catastrophes, and transition to a regenerative, fair and prosperous society.And the plan highlighted a stack of brilliant stories from around WA of people already going about achieving that vision, also highlighting the enormous opportunities that await. You can access the Clean State Plan, and its brilliantly formatted Summary, towards the bottom of the episode web page (where you can also find a 7 minute bonus episode of previously unreleased material from this conversation, if you didn't catch it in your podcast feed).Recorded in one of Chantal’s favourite parts of WA, in September 2020.Title slide: Chantal on-location (pic: Anthony James).With thanks to the Conservation Council of WA, auspicing organisation for Clean State WA, for permission to re-release this series. This episode was originally released as ‘Launching the Clean State Jobs Plan: A conversation with lead author Chantal Caruso’.To hear the rest of this series, and more stories of regeneration around WA, Australia and the world, follow The RegenNarration wherever podcasts are found, or on the website.And for more from behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below. Music:Eden is Lost, by local artists Selfless Orchestra.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

A brief new year's greeting from Guatemala, to herald a special festive season series of short episodes. Around four years ago, some of you might remember I produced a series of nine episodes for an organisation called Clean State WA. That became the Clean State podcast, dedicated to regenerative transitions in my home state of Western Australia. Sadly, that organisation is no more, but the series of episodes produced featured such brilliant guests and stories that we resolved to find a way to keep them alive in the record. Their premise is so related to The RegenNarration podcast – it’s why I was asked to produce them of course – sharing a vision, narrative shift, and a plan of action, grounded in stuff that’s already happening. In that sense, their relevance remains, these few years on, and not just to West Australians. So I hope you’ll enjoy the listen to these half hour stories on-location across WA, wherever you are.Title slide: Fray Bartolome de las Casas, Guatemala, where I recorded this. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Welcome to the customary package of highlights from another brilliant array of guests throughout 2024, accompanied by some of the music and sounds of Country heard along the way – this time across two continents, 49 episodes and 78 guests, from all walks of life. Listening to it all together in one place last night was just incredible. I hope you enjoy it too.You’ll hear a little from me first, with a short summary of the year in review, along with a snapshot of where we are right now, some intent for next year, and an update on the Kachana hearing just concluded. With enormous thanks to subscribers and other supporting listeners for making all this possible. And to everyone who sheltered, fed and generally cared for us throughout the year, around Australia and the States. With enormous thanks also, to all the wonderful musicians who generously granted permission for their music to be heard here. And of course, to you, thanks for listening.The track list for this episode, identifying the music and people, is found in the chapter markers. A transcript is also available (on most apps now too). The transcript is AI generated and imperfect, but hopefully provides greater access for those who need or like to read.Title image: AJ in a personal highlight visit to Joshua Tree National Park (pic: Olivia Cheng).Find more:To access the full catalogue of episodes, head to the website at https://www.regennarration.com or wherever you get your podcasts.Thanks for listening, have a wonderful festive season and see you again in 2025!Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

A few weeks ago I released a podcast marking the premiere of an episode of Australian Story that featured the incredible story of regeneration at the hands of the Henggeler family at Kachana Station. Many of you already know the story, from its popularity on this podcast. Well, that Australian Story has gone onto well over half a million views already. And no sooner had it gone out than I got the news that fellow legendary regenerative farmers in Western Australia, Dianne and Ian Haggerty, had been awarded the 2025 Australians of the Year for WA. Now they’re in the mix for the big one, the national Australian of the Year award.You can let the Council know how happy you are about this, and what incredible national ambassadors Di and Ian would be as the Aussies of the Year next year, via the Australian of the Year awards website and social media outlets. When sharing, use the hashtags #AusoftheYear and #NaturalIntelligenceFarming, and maybe #SustainableFarming and #RegenerativeFarming.Marking this moment, today we revisit episode 68: Natural Intelligence Farming: The ‘world breakthrough’ regenerating land, food & communities. This was the first time I’d been out to their farm back in 2020. And listening back now was a reminder of its first impacts on me out there, which I speak about at the end, after I’d spent two days with them touring the farm and chatting back at the homestead. I also remembered my little mate, chirping in my ear from the get go.I start with a few updated layers to the story and some thoughts from Di and Ian. Chapter markers & transcript.Original episode recorded on 17 & 18 July 2020.Title slide: Di & Ian Haggerty with their award (Auspire - Australia Day Council WA)See more photos on the original episode website linked above, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below.Music:Intro by Jeremiah Johnson.Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Find more:ThSend us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

On the morning of Wednesday the 27th of November, I got the news that the legendary Carol Sanford had died. You might remember the conversation I was privileged to share with her at the start of last year, for our 150th episode. Carol knew she was dying, so much was getting difficult or impossible for her, and even speaking was tough, as Motor-Neuron Disease (as we call it in Australia) was taking hold. Yet she was as sharp, generous and forthright as ever. Within minutes she was saying things that have stayed with me ever since, including the statement that’s become the sub-title to this episode. So today, a tribute to Carol, featuring the conversation we shared last year, and a few words I’ve recorded here today, at a place very close to my heart.For those who didn’t catch that 150th episode, and may not know much about Carol, she’s been at the heart of what we might call the ‘regenerative paradigm’ for decades. I spent a while scrolling through her last posts on LinkedIn yesterday, and noted that she’d hosted her last Regenerative Business Summit just weeks ago. And poignantly echoing what’s been coming through The RegenNarration podcast in these weeks also, she had written:“Citizens are less ideologically polarized than they think they are, and that misperception is greatest for the most politically engaged people. As a result the tendency is to work on fixing the polarization directly and work on issues more actively. What if the means we are going about change and agreement is only making it worse?”So it seems like a good time to hear from Carol again. And I can tell you that she did finish her seventh book that she was writing at the time, called No More Gold Stars. Ironically, it went onto win one.This episode has chapter markers & a transcript (available on most apps now too).Conversation recorded 2 February 2023, with introduction recorded today.Carol’s family also posted: ‘If you would like to participate in her transition over the next 49 days, she invited you to practice “phowa”, which can be found in Chapter 13 of the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, or offer your own readings, prayers, or meditations.’For more from behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below.Music:Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This week we’re back with Chloe Maxmin, for a debrief that has been eagerly awaited – by me and many of you, I know – on how the Dirtroad candidates went at the recent US elections, and where to from here.For those who didn’t catch Chloe in episode 225 last month, from up at the farm in Maine, Chloe became the first Democrat ever to represent Maine House District 88, and the youngest member of the 129th Maine Legislature. Two years later, she’d become the youngest female state senator in Maine's history. And all on the back of engaging with her community directly and in ways that transcended the partisan politics so many of us have had enough of. Then, at still just 30 years of age, Chloe co-founded a non-profit that trains others in how to run for office in this way called Dirtroad Organizing. In just 18 months, this resulted in 38 alumni running at the recent election. So, how did they go (including Lucia and Maria from episode 228), how did her partner (from episode 226), incumbent independent Bill Pluecker go, what does it all mean, and what comes next?We talk about the spectrum of emotions since the election, the successes of the ‘Dirtroad candidates’, making sense of people voting for those candidates and Trump, whether there are bigger shifts taking place with the 2-party system, how much this was a gender election, whether the US is as divided as it’s said to be, opportunities for regenerative agriculture with the coming administration, issues with the integrity of the election, a burgeoning ‘Dirtroad media’, what comes next for Dirtroad Organizing, and of course music.This episode has chapter markers and a transcript (available on most apps now too). The transcript is AI generated and imperfect, but hopefully provides greater access for those who need or like to read.Recorded 22 November 2024.Title slide: Chloe Maxmin.For more from behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below.Music:Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, from Regenerating Australia.Intro music by Jeremiah Johnson.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests (thanks to Josie Symons).Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The Regenerate conference in Denver a couple of weeks ago was like no conference I’d experienced in the ‘regen ag’ / food systems space. Such a presence of next generations, women and varied cultures amongst the 500 attendees. And multiple moments of crazy serendipity. It also started the day after the US federal election. So the air was heavy with emotion and uncertainty, when Sarah Wentzel-Fisher, the ED of Quivira Coalition, the primary organising body, opened the conference in tears. It was a unique context to this gathering, a context that also couched some of the most extraordinary stories of regeneration you’re likely to hear in one place.So, come the last snowed-in day of the conference, I pulled out the mic and recorded four short grabs of 15 to 20 minutes each. I wondered if I might chase more good folk down. I’d had such wonderful conversations with dozens of people. But in the end, this small sample of voices seemed to represent those conversations pretty well. While they were also each notable in some way, offering particular insight about the conference and its election context. Each guest introduces themselves as we go:Anica Wong, Communications Director at Quivira.Shumaisa Khan, Carbon Ranch Initiative Manager at Quivira.Aria McLauchlan & Harley Cross from Land Core.Emma Ractliffe from the Agrarian Futures podcast. Then we launch into where they’re from, their ancestry, brilliant regenerative work, conference reflections, how it might change what they do, and finally their raw reactions to the election result (and of course their favourite tunes). It resulted in some viscerally felt wisdom for this moment. I also offer a bit more on the conference and surrounding vibe at the start and end of the episode. With thanks to Quivira, HMI and AMA for kindly having me along.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 8 November 2024.Title slide (counter-clockwise): Anica, Shumaisa, Emma, Aria & Harley.For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Music:Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Intro music by Jeremiah Johnson.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!