It has been said that all change starts with mindset.

And that to solve the environmental challenges of this world, we first need to people to believe that the environment does matter, a better world is possible, and all those excuses for why renewable energy or protection of our wild places can't happen are just that excuses.

Natalie Kyriacou is making it her life's work to just that. Her latest creation is 'Nature's Last Dance', a book that adventures into the wonders of our planet and makes the environmental fascinating and fun. 

This special episode: 

🐵 Starts with an underwear-stealing Orangutan and gets wilder from there

🚢 Takes you on a ride from Borneo to Costa Rica to explore how systems change is essential if we want environmental change

🐋 Uses the words ‘whale poo’ at least twice

🌳 Sees our guest getting stuck up a tree with her whole family 

💪 Has a whole lot of depth too as we discuss topics like the importance of women and children to the environmental movement, how everyone everywhere can play a role in making the world we want, and what it takes to stay positive in a sometimes challenging world.

Want to know more? Here's what AI had to say after we gave it a listen:

Meet Natalie Kiriakou, an environmentalist whose journey began when an orangutan named Miko stole her underwear in the jungles of Borneo. That unexpected encounter sparked a career dedicated to reimagining our relationship with the natural world – not through dry statistics or corporate jargon, but through captivating storytelling that makes environmentalism fascinating again.

Natalie's approach is refreshingly different. Rather than focusing on isolated solutions like tree planting (though important), she challenges the underlying systems that perpetuate environmental harm. "If we made these systems up, we can change them," she explains, highlighting Costa Rica's remarkable transformation from a war-torn nation to an ecological paradise through deliberate systems change. By abolishing their military and redirecting funds to education and environmental protection, Costa Rica demonstrates what's possible when we dare to reimagine our priorities.

Her upcoming book "Nature's Last Dance" weaves quirky tales – from Australia's failed war against emus to the climate-regulating powers of whale poo – into profound insights about our interconnectedness with nature. It's her rebellion against the tedium that often surrounds environmental discussions, offering instead a love letter to our planet that's as entertaining as it is enlightening. Natalie also highlights the disproportionate impact of climate disasters on women, especially Indigenous women and women of colour, while emphasizing their crucial role in creating lasting solutions.

Despite the overwhelming nature of global environmental challenges, Natalie finds hope in connection – with nature, community, and the countless individuals quietly working to make a difference. Her philosophy is beautifully simple: "At the end of the day, my goal is pretty simple: to live a life that creates more good than harm." This begins with small actions – how we treat the barista, whether we smile at strangers, if we stop to help an injured bird – and grows into larger commitments to community and planet.

Discover "Nature's Last Dance" is now available at all bookstores. Connect with Natalie at nataliekyriacou.com and join her mission to make environmentalism engaging, accessible, and genuinely inspiring once again.

Goodtrepreneur is the podcast about good people with good ideas for a better world.

Please 👀 follow, 👂listen, 🌟 rate and share 📢 to help spread the word and deliver on our mission to inspire and enable more people to create more world changing ideas - and succeed - more often.

Learn more at goodtrepreneur.co

Plastic is a global problem.

Since 1950 it’s estimated that together we humans have produced over 9 billion tonnes of the stuff - and half of that in the last 13 years alone.

Every piece ever made still exists and much of it makes its way into our oceans, breaking down into microplastics that end up in our food chain and, eventually, us.

Lucy Jackson and Ricky Gilbey have made it their mission to help solve the problem by creating ocean toys out of ocean plastics.

In this episode you'll hear the story of how they've made it happen, and it's a story that has it all.

❤️ Love. It starts with them meeting over a shared passion for the ocean and explores how their relationship has evolved alongside the challenge of being entrepreneurs while still having time for partner and family.

👊 Determination. It's all too easy in this world to take no for an answer, but in this story determination makes the impossible possible.

⚡️ Ingenuity. We all build skills throughout our lives but the way Lucy and Rikki put their collective skills and resources together, from woodwork to marketing, is deft.   

🥾 Adventure. The most fulfilling journey's aren't always the easiest, and you don't always end up where you thought you would, but Lucy and Rikki show the importance of an adventure mindset that embraces the unknown.

🌊 Community. If determination is what makes the WAW Badfish possible, it is the ability to bring the bodysurfing community together that ultimately makes it a success.


Want to know more? Here's what AI had to say after we gave it a listen:

When Rikki Gilbey discovered body surfing hand planes while working at Patagonia, he was instantly hooked by both the experience and the sustainable ethos behind them. Starting with handcrafted wooden versions made from reclaimed timber, he quickly identified both a market opportunity and a production ceiling—he could only make about 60 per week by hand. The solution? Create hand planes from recycled ocean plastic.

This seemingly simple idea launched Rikki and his partner, Lucy into a three-year journey filled with rejections, challenges, and unwavering persistence. Manufacturers repeatedly told them it was impossible, but Rikki's self-described "naivety" kept them pushing forward. By partnering with beach cleanup organisations and connecting with the right manufacturer, they eventually created the "Bad Fish"—hand planes made from plastic collected from the Great Barrier Reef.

Their dedication earned them National Geographic's Defy Plastics award and sparked media attention that propelled their business forward. Today, they've expanded into sustainable golf gear with Wild Golf while maintaining a flexible lifestyle that allows them to prioritise family alongside entrepreneurship.

What makes their story remarkable isn't just the products they've created, but how they've demonstrated that seemingly impossible sustainability challenges can be overcome with passion, community support, and persistent problem-solving. 

Ready to ride the wave of positive change? Check out their products at wawhandplanes.com.au or wearewildgolf.com and see how you can join their mission to clean our oceans, one hand plane at a time.

Goodtrepreneur is the podcast about good people with good ideas for a better world.

Please 👀 follow, 👂listen, 🌟 rate and share 📢 to help spread the word and deliver on our mission to inspire and enable more people to create more world changing ideas - and succeed - more often.

Learn more at goodtrepreneur.co

This demo episode of Goodtrepreneur talks to Darryl Nichols and Andrew Valder about Australia's biggest day of reuse, the Garage Sale Trail. 

Started in 2010 in Bondi Beach, Australia, the Garage Sale Trail gets over 300,000 people out on the street every year, buying and selling over 4m kilograms of stuff, saving these items from landfill. 

Just as importantly, it creates community, with people meeting their neighbours, turning garage sales into parties and proving that buying second hand can be more fun and rewarding than buying new. 

Please note that this is a shortened test version of a Goodtrepreneur episode for demonstration purposes only. 

A two minute introduction that introduces you to the idea of a Goodtrepreneur and what to expect from this podcast. 

Goodtrepreneur is the podcast about good people with good ideas for a better world.

Please 👀 follow, 👂listen, 🌟 rate and share 📢 to help spread the word and deliver on our mission to inspire and enable more people to create more world changing ideas - and succeed - more often.

Learn more at goodtrepreneur.co