“I think fundamentally it all comes down to the systems and structures we live within. We are all trapped within this economic structure at the moment. We are trapped in a carbon structure. I mean even what we do every day - let’s be brutally honest - we all go to work and do things that are reliant on those things. It’s not straight-forward.
What I do think, is that there’s paralysis within the government because of that. The changes that we need are pretty dramatic. It will cost jobs from certain industries, in fossil fuels and in damaging industries. But it has to be presented as creating new opportunities. Renewable and sustainable businesses. The benefits we’ll get at protecting big parts of our world and taking the public on a new journey through that. And people also need to talk about western consumption levels, which are absolutely unsustainable.”

Hugo Tagholm is the Chief Executive of the national marine conservation and campaigning charity Surfers Against Sewage. He is an environmentalist, campaigner, surfer, charity professional and public speaker. A rare breed, Hugo embodies a wildness from his deep relationship with the ocean and the natural world. He mobilises and helps enable community led participation in change and has vision for how we can evolve. With courage and energy he uses his influence on business and politics to help make the transformative shifts we need for all future life.

Listen to Dan and Hugo discuss:

- Creating change together in the most radical decade of environmental activism

- The fear yet also the strength, lessons and impact made throughout the pandemic


- Hybrid activism. Embracing diversity in campaigns

- Decade of government action required to bring back thriving natural systems

- Trapped within human made systems and structures

- On a knife-edge. The pandemic highlights how fragile society and individuals have become

- Economic systems rely on exploitation and destruction. Individual choice is not enough. Entire systems need to reform and change

- Impacts of large businesses extracting nutrients from communities

- Social media’s ability to dis-connect us from life

- Diversity of collaborations to enrich discussions and solutions

- Changing our stories from scarcity and competition, to abundance, generosity and reciprocity

- Active hope for life. And catching waves

- Action is a non negotiable. And many still have the imagination to dream up new possibilities

- G7 protests call for urgent action on the ocean and climate crisis

- Radical action. Radical humans

Community and Links

Projects:
Surfers Against Sewage - https://www.sas.org.uk
Biosphere 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

Books:
Active Hope - https://www.activehope.info/the-book

Films:
Spaceship Earth Documentary - https://mattwolf.info/Spaceship-Earth

People:
Tom Kay
Prince Charles
Joe Biden
Justin Trudeau

Places:
Cornwall

Connect:
https://www.instagram.com/surfersagainstsewage
https://twitter.com/sascampaigns

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Play out track:
Blurred by Kiasmos (Bonobo Remix)
https://kiasmos.bandcamp.com/track/blurred-bonobo-remix

Thanks for listening to The Spaceship Earth Podcast.

Host: Dan Burgess @dansolo__
Edit: Charlie Shread
Shownotes: Vicki Turner
Music: Escape Goat by Soren Lorenson
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