The Eco Enthusiast

Today I chatted with Anne Beate Hovind, the woman who commissioned and created FUTURE LIBRARY. In 2014, 1000 spruce saplings were planted in a forest just north of Oslo. Each year until 2114 a writer is asked to submit a piece of writing. The catch? No one can read the piece until 2114 when the spruce trees will be felled and the manuscripts will be printed into books. A stunning piece of conceptual art that plays with time, patience, and nature. Active hope, and a gift to the next generation. MUSIC: Emmis Davis & Aidan Roberts BOOK: Birth At The End Of The Earth www.theecoenthusiastpodcast.com

Today we chat with comedian Lisa Timmons who is on a mission to destroy celebrity worship culture one lipdup at a time. MUSIC: Aidan Roberts & Emma Davis www.theecoenthusiastpodcast.com

Sara Nilson Lööv is a clinical psychologist, climate activist, and mother. Last summer, in Sweden, she created ⁠MOTHERS REBELLION⁠. In one year the movement has swept across 25 countries and six continents. Mothers from all over the world, finally embrace and publicly declare their grief as a call to action. MUSIC: Emma Davis & Aiden Roberts PROSE: Maria Backman www.theecoenthusiastpodcast.com

Amanda Lewis was an overachieving, burned-out book editor most familiar with trees as dead blocks of paper. A dedicated "indoorswoman," she could barely tell a birch from a beech. But that didn't stop her from pledging to visit all of the biggest trees in British Columbia, a Canadian province known for its rugged terrain and gigantic trees. The "Champion" trees on Lewis's ambitious list ranged from mighty Western red cedars to towering arbutus. They lived on remote islands and at the center of dense forests. The only problem? Well, there were many. . .Climate change and a pandemic aside, Lewis's lack of wilderness experience, the upsetting reality of old-growth logging, the ever-changing nature of trees, and the pressures of her one-year timeframe complicated her quest. Burned out again―and realizing that her "checklist" approach to life might be the problem―she reframed her search for trees to something humbler and more meaningful: getting to know forests in an interconnected way. In this episode, we discuss her fantastic book ⁠Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest ⁠ Poem: 'The Peace Of Wild Things' https://onbeing.org/poetry/the-peace-of-wild-things/ Music: 'Meetings' by Emma Davis and Aiden Roberts

 Australian Parents for Climate Action is taking Energy Australia to court. If they win...it will be a global game-changer.  An incredible story of community action driven by parents' love for their children. If you would like to sign their open letter please click here. Music: 'Meetings' by Emma Davis and Aidan Roberts. www.theecoenthusiastpodcast.com

I was led to today's guests in a roundabout way. I came across the captivating story of Gina Chick, a woman who triumphed in the challenging survivalist show Alone Australia. Spending over 60 days alone in the unforgiving Tasmanian wilderness, Gina showcased a unique approach. Instead of battling nature, she seemed to flow with it, connecting and thriving in harmony. That's how she won. Gina's journey and website led me to her women's program, an eight-day rite of passage called Dirt Time that she created with today's guest, Karina Bontes. Dirt Time isn't about survival. It's about reconnection. Gina and Karina, developed Dirt Time as a path that encourages women to know themselves on a deeper level and rediscover their connection with the earth. I had the privilege of sitting down with Karina to explore this transformative experience that she is offering Australian women.

Today I chat with Dr. Jun Yao, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, We discuss his team's incredible accidental scientific discovery. When attempting to create a device to measure the humidity in the air...one of the students forgot to plug it in. The device, which was producing an electrical signal regardless. In May, the team published a paper declaring that they had successfully generated a small but continuous electric current from humidity in the air. MUSIC: 'Meetings' by Aidan Roberts & Emma Davis

Pilots turned climate protestors, George Hibbard and Todd Smith take us on a turbulent journey. Once living their dreams as masters of the skies, these two men made the difficult decision to relinquish their wings, seeking a higher purpose, a purpose that transcends individual achievement, money, and social status. Former Thomas Cook pilot, Todd Smith, is now a member of Extinction Rebellion and former Easy Jet pilot, George Hibberd, now works with Just Stop Oil. In today's episode, I learned how the aviation industry silences and gags its employees, I came to understand just how polluting the airplanes truly are, and most importantly I learned that sacrificing something great for something we know to be right can lead to a profound connection to other human beings and the world around us.

Emily Cunningham is a respected expert at the forefront of driving positive change for our ocean and all of us that depend on it. She has a strong track-record in the development of pioneering projects that engage people with our ocean and its protection; and has secured over £5m in funding for inclusive marine and coastal conservation projects in the UK. Emily is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and previously served as a Trustee of the UK’s leading marine charity, Marine Conservation Society. Emily is a co-founder of the #Motion4theOcean initiative. Alongside fellow ocean experts, Dr Pamela Buchan and Nicola Bridge, Emily co-authored a model “Motion for the Ocean” – an evidence-based blueprint for local ocean action.  14 councils, together serving over 2 million people, have so far made an Ocean Recovery Declaration using the Motion for the Ocean – positive news for ocean health and the coastal communities that depend on it. MUSIC: Aidan Roberts

Behaviour change specialist Anna Hughes has worked in sustainable transport since 2008, at first focussing on bikes with Sustrans, and now on aviation with Flight Free UK. A lifelong environmentalist, she stopped flying more than ten years ago and this was where her adventure truly began. Her favourite flight-free trip was cycling the length of France to swim in the Mediterranean. She is now on a mission to encourage all of us to take the pledge to forgo flying for one year so we too can experience the incredible benefits of slow travel while protesting against the destruction caused by the fossil fuel industry. MUSIC: Emma &Aidan Roberts POETRY: Dr Willo Drummond is a Sydney poet, researcher, sessional lecturer, and supervisor in creative writing who lives and writes on Dharug and Gundungurra land. With interests spanning the ecological and cognitive humanities, she writes about creativity, human and non-human animals, gender, disenfranchised grief, and the fragile landscapes of identity. Willo was shortlisted for the Arts QLD Val Vallis award in 2022 and placed second Tom Collins Poetry Prize in 2021. Her debut collection Moon Wrasse was published by Puncher & Wattmann in March 2023.