The RegenNarration

Mid-last year I accompanied film-maker Damon Gameau as he toured his film Regenerating Australia around WA. We were with Di Haggerty and Heidi Mippy which became ep122 from the Leederville screening, and in ep131 I hosted student Kate Fenech in Busselton. Well, there were two other event conversations on that tour that Damon hosted with other local guests, and they were exceptional. And as I listened back to the one from Margaret River this week, I thought this has just got to go out.

So conversing with Damon, you’ll hear the former international sports star, Amy Steel, whose career was ended by a near-fatal heat stroke. And since then, she has dedicated her life to working with business and First Nations communities on cultural and climate matters. She’s currently the WA Leader | Decarbonisation and Climate risk at Engie, and in the process of moving to the new Witchcliffe Ecovillage near Margaret River.

Alongside Amy is Wadandi Bibulmun man, Zac Webb. Born in Undalup (Busselton), Zac grew up on Wadandi Boodja (Country) listening to his Great Grandmother, Grandparents and his Father Dr Wayne ‘Wonitji’ Webb. Zac is highly respected in his work with Elders and Custodians, giving the wider community a better understanding of Cultural Protocols, and their Connection and Responsibilities to the Boodja that we all share together.

3.30 Damon sets the scene
8.45 Panel starts
21.55 Audience question on fire
29.08 On shared local knowledge working with bureaucracies
31.58 On understanding biodiversity - in numbers or knowledge of place
36.48 Young person on the sustainability of drones for planting trees
37.42 On the mining rush for minerals for renewables
38.42 Young person on how to make the film’s vision a reality
41.55 Damon on what we can do including some funding opportunities

Head here for automatic cues to those chapter markers.

This conversation was recorded at the HEART Centre in Margaret River, on 17 May 2022.

Title slide: Redgate Beach, near the Witchcliffe Ecovillage and the town of Margaret River (pic: Anthony James, just before the event).

See more photos including behind the scenes by becoming a subscriber via the Patreon page.

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.
Micro Biome, by Formidable Vegetable.

Find more:
Regenerating Australia film on The Regenerators website.
Zac Webb (and his father Wayne).
Hear more from Amy on episode 73, The Biggest Sports Story.
Regenerators film ‘What is Regeneration?’
Join me at Regenerating Country, a live podcast conversation at the World Science Festival Brisbane on 26 March 2023.

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The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

For over 40 years, Rosemary Morrow has travelled the world, blazing a pioneering trail teaching permaculture as a tool for restoration. From Vietnam and Cambodia, to Greece, West Africa, and Australia, her at times death-defying journey has helped countless communities in all sorts of situations restore healthy living systems. And it was arguably all set in tow when, at the age of 15, she ventured solo to the Kimberley here in WA.

This is a conversation Rowe’s not accustomed to having, but she was customarily fearless in having it. And for me, it continues a kind of accidental series with women elders. One I’m finding to be a great gift. In this case, Rowe was kind enough to spend some time with me on a visit back to where she grew up, here in Perth. She was touring her new book, a revised and updated edition of her classic Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture – now called the Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture.

It’s been endorsed by the UN as part of this Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, has a foreword by Vandana Shiva, and throws down the gauntlet for what’s still to be done.

This conversation was recorded at Ecoburbia, just south of Walyalup / Fremantle, on 24 November 2022.

Title slide: Rosemary Morrow (pic: Permatil Global).

See more photos including behind the scenes by becoming a subscriber via the Patreon page.

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.

Earth People Fair, by Formidable Vegetable.

Find more:
Rosemary’s book, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture.

Enter the draw for a gift pack of books from Melliodora Publishing, including Rosemary’s new one.

Join me at Regenerating Country, a live podcast conversation at the World Science Festival Brisbane on 26 March 2023.

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Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Neeve Blackham-Jennings is a school student who wrote and illustrated what ‘accidentally’ became an award-winning book when she was fifteen. It’s a story that hoped to change a story – the story of Australia’s most endangered reptile, the Western Swamp Tortoise. But that’s not the half of it.

Last September’s Quantum Words Festival in Perth opened with Schools Day. I was fortunate to host Bruce Pascoe later in the day, which you may have heard on episode 140. But opening the festival was this session, featuring Neeve alongside a couple of brilliant women whose chance encounters with Neeve continue to reverberate, as they work to bring this species back from the brink of extinction.

Mandy Bamford is an ecologist and environmental communicator, fascinated by innovative ways to engage people with nature. And Nicki Mitchell is an award-winning tertiary educator and Associate Professor of Conservation Biology at UWA.

Their work includes the rehabilitation of wetland habitats, and the translocation of zoo-bred animals to nature reserves – joining forces with passionate community members, including young people like Neeve, to enable more positive stories of change. We talk about all this, and related topics of voting age, media and more, with some terrific student questions.

24.00 - Q&A starts with Lyn Beazley AO, on the effect of global warming ‘feminising’ the genders of many species
24.45 - Student question on the ethics of species translocation
26.00 - Question on some of the pioneers in this space
27.45 - Anthony asks Neeve her thoughts on the voting age
28.55 - Student question on how literature can affect social issues besides conservation
31.30 - Student question on other endangered species like the numbats
32.30 - Anthony asks if anyone’s studying journalism - and what we need and might do in media
35.50 - Student question on what’s driven the Western Swamp Tortoise decline

Head here for automatic cues to those chapter markers.

This conversation was recorded in the theatre at John Curtin College of the Arts in Walyalup/Fremantle, on 16 September 2022.

Title slide: Nicki Mitchell, Mandy Bamford & high school student Neeve Blackham-Jennings (pic: Olivia Cheng).

See more photos of this & other events including some behind the scenes stuff by becoming a subscriber via the Patreon page.

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
The event website, for the Quantum Words Festival Perth 2022 (inc. more info on each guest).

Buy a copy of Neeve’s book, Wally’s Way Home.

And on that new global news literacy project I mentioned, tune in to episode 133 ‘You Are What You Read’, with Jodie Jackson (links in the show notes).

Join me at Regenerating Country, a live podcast conversation at the World Science Festival Brisbane on 26 March 2023.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Zach Bush toured in Australia in December last year. This event, in Byron Bay, sold out in a matter of hours. So a humming full house of 250+ people filled the local theatre for Zach’s rousing keynote, and this subsequent panel conversation. The two women joining Zach and myself for this were Bundjalung woman and founder of The Returning, Ella Noah Bancroft, and regenerative farmer and award-winning writer, Tanya Massy.

You’ll hear me introduce Ella and Tanya in a bit more detail on the night. And for those less familiar with Zach, he’s the highly decorated physician who’s become globally renowned for his work on the microbiome as the basis of all human and planetary health. He’s since become a co-founder of Farmer’s Footprint, a not-for-profit in the US supporting farmers who are regenerating their landscapes to produce healthy, nutrient-dense food for a healthy planet.

And last year, Zach supported Blair Beattie and the growing team here, to launch Farmers Footprint Australia. This tour was its first big national splash. And there was no shortage of big breakthroughs to dive into as our conversation evolved, in what became a highlight of highlights on tour.

This conversation was recorded in the Byron Bay Community Centre theatre, on 6 December 2022.

Title slide: Zach Bush delivering his keynote before this panel conversation (pic: Elle Jeffrey).

See more photos of this event & behind the scenes of the tour by becoming a subscriber via the Patreon page.

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
Farmer’s Footprint Australia.

Film of this event including Zach’s keynote – podcast subscribers can get 25% off the purchase of this film via the Patreon page.

To hear more of Zach, including his fascinating back story, listen to episode 62.

Join me at Regenerating Country, a live podcast conversation at the World Science Festival Brisbane on 26 March 2023.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Over the last couple of years Damon Gameau, the brilliant Aussie film-maker behind Regenerating Australia, 2040, That Sugar Film and Animal Beatbox, has joined me at this time to take a look at the year ahead. Last year happened to land on Valentine’s Day. So while Damon’s giving himself and his family some well-earned dedicated time right now, it gives me the chance to share this unique event with you.

This was a Town Hall dialogue that followed a community screening of Regenerating Australia, in Beverley, in the wheat belt of WA. Local woman Claire Broun & husband Martin brought together a rare and powerful line up, featuring prominent local Noongar man Oral McGuire, nearby regenerative farmers Di & Ian Haggerty, locally engaged landscape architect and rural planner Grant Revell, and Damon online from the other side of the country. Yours truly was host.

We start with a profound Welcome to Country by Oral, before I introduce our guests, and later our audience. With love.

3.20  Oral
7.20  Panel conversation
24.50 Audience gets involved

This conversation was recorded in the Beverley Town Hall, with Damon appearing online from home in New South Wales, on 17 June 2022.

Title slide: Damon Gameau (on screen), Anthony James, Grant Revell, Ian & Di Haggerty, Oral McGuire - & Claire Broun managing the stage (pic: Martin Pell).

See more photos of this event & behind the scenes by becoming a supporting listener on our Patreon page.

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
Regenerating Australia – community film screenings are available.

To hear more of Di & Ian Haggerty, with another unique line up out at their place, tune into episode 142.

Join me at Regenerating Country, a live podcast conversation at the World Science Festival Brisbane.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Starting the year with Carol Sanford feels incredibly special. She’s been at the heart of what we might call the ‘regenerative paradigm’ for decades. Friends and colleagues have spoken about her with me for years, right up until the end of last year. And last month, a previous guest and author of Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta, featured Carol on his podcast. That’s when I learned the sad news that she has only a few months to live. When I wrote to her expressing my care and respect, and to see if she’d possibly be up for a chat with another Aussie podcaster, she said sure, but ‘I am declining and so can’t wait long.’ Days later, we shared this conversation.

Carol is Executive Producer at The Regenerative Business Summit, 5x TEDx presenter, and a highly awarded best-selling author of six books – currently writing her seventh. Carol launched two startups, ran and sold them, then turned to educating businesses globally, from big companies like Google and DuPont, to ‘new economy businesses’, as she puts it, ‘developing leaders toward the business of the 21st Century, with individuals who want a Regenerative Paradigm education’. Rebecca Henderson from Harvard Business School said Carol "​created an approach that reimagines business. Her approach will be The Future of Business."​

But all that’s just the touching the surface. This is a deeply cherished conversation about Carol’s regenerative life.

This conversation was recorded online with Carol at home in Seattle and Anthony in Perth on 2 February 2023 (Australian time).

Title slide: Carol Sanford.

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
Carol’s website.

Carol Sanford Institute.

A fundraiser organised by Carol’s family to help her with much needed care and assistance.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Starting the year with Carol Sanford feels incredibly special. She’s been at the heart of what we might call the ‘regenerative paradigm’ for decades. Friends and colleagues have spoken about her with me for years, right up until the end of last year. And last month, a previous guest and author of Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta, featured Carol on his podcast. That’s when I learned the sad news that she may only have a few months to live. When I wrote to her expressing my care and respect, and to see if she’d possibly be up for a chat with another Aussie podcaster, she said sure, but ‘I am declining and so can’t wait long.’ Days later, we shared this conversation.

Carol is Executive Producer at The Regenerative Business Summit, 5x TEDx presenter, and a highly awarded best-selling author of six books – currently writing her seventh. Carol launched two startups, ran and sold them, then turned to educating businesses globally, from big companies like Google and DuPont, to ‘new economy businesses’, as she puts it, ‘developing leaders toward the business of the 21st Century, with individuals who want a Regenerative Paradigm education’. Rebecca Henderson from Harvard Business School said Carol "​created an approach that reimagines business. Her approach will be The Future of Business."​

But all that’s just the touching the surface. This is a deeply cherished conversation about Carol’s regenerative life.

This conversation was recorded online with Carol at home in Seattle and Anthony in Perth on 2 February 2023 (Australian time).

Music:
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, off the soundtrack for the film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
Carol’s website.

Carol Sanford Institute.

The RegenNarration is an independent, ad-free, freely available podcast, thanks to the generous support of listeners. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them, by heading to the Support page on The RegenNarration website.

You can become a subscriber to the podcast, connect with other listeners & receive other benefits, directly via the Patreon page.

Visit The RegenNarration shop. And please keep sharing, rating & reviewing the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Our last summer flashback ‘episode that people still talk to me about’ is episode 9, with Frances Pollock (nee Jones). Frances and David Pollock became nationally famous about a decade ago now, for ‘destocking’ the 375,000-acre Wooleen Station in the Murchison region of Western Australia. That was step one in what has become an extraordinary story of regeneration, increasingly reverberating far beyond Wooleen. David’s since been on the podcast a few times, and Frances continues to be recognised and awarded for her work in the region.

I also look back on this episode as a huge turning point for me and my family. This was the first episode out on Country, connecting directly with food and agricultural systems. I was set on a path of understanding regeneration, Country, agriculture, food and all other systems at greater depth, in the lived realities of people’s lives, in their places.

And while David Pollock was still a bit shy at this stage, at least with this bloke he’d never heard of, thankfully Frances wasn’t! And the names she sent us on our way with set up a transformative journey around Australia in 2018 that gave birth to The RegenNarration and everything it’s become to date.

This is an excerpt featuring the last 25 minutes or so of our conversation at the Wooleen Homestead. It picks up with their initial harrowing experiments with letting dingoes roam wild on the property. And on to another harrowing experiment with the bank as they were on the cusp of foreclosure, before the Australian public rallied behind them. We close with the Native Title judgement delivered at Wooleen, and all that might mean.

This conversation was recorded in late 2017.

Title slide: Frances Pollock (pic: Olivia Cheng) – the full photo (with Anthony in it) is on the episode website.

Music:
Let Them Know, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.

Find more:
Read a transcript of our full conversation on the episode web page.

Hear the rest of our conversation back in episode 9.

Hear more of Frances with David and Charlie Massy on episode 16.

And hear more from David (eventually) on episodes 44, 66 & 111 (what’s with the repeating numbers?!) – episode 111 has links to all the others, and more.

Wooleen Station.

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Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Our next episode from the archives that people still talk to me about is episode 3, with Kate Raworth. She’s the best-selling author of Doughnut Economics: Seven ways to think like a 21st century economist. And the instigator of the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), helping put it into practice in communities everywhere.

This is an excerpt of the first 20 minutes or so our conversation just a couple of months after the book came out. And this release comes just a week after the launch in Oxford of Doughnut Economics Live, a free course for all economics students in the city who want to think like 21st century economists.

Kate said last week: “It's time for every university's economics curriculum to address the world's extraordinary and extreme realities.” And “We have had to change venues three times to accommodate all the students applying to join the course - now it's in the biggest lecture theatre available in the university and it's oversubscribed. Students demand and deserve change.”

You can hear more on the global student revolt that was kicking into gear in the last decade, and has continued to pick up since, in the rest of our conversation (link below).

Here, we kick off on with the shift in thinking involved, and how to communicate and practice it. Then it’s onto Kate’s journey, and how she came to this concept that took off around the world.

Interestingly, Kate brings up the work of George Lakoff, on the metaphors we live by – which used to be the primary text for the postgraduate students in sustainability that Frank Fisher and I worked with.

We close here with how we might go beyond growth and GDP as proxies for society’s progress, towards tracking what’s actually important to us.

This conversation was recorded in June 2017.

Title slide: Kate Raworth (pic: Roman Krznaric).

Music:
43, by Owls of the Swamp.

Find more:
Read a transcript of the full conversation on the episode website.

Hear the rest of our conversation back in episode 3. We go on to talk more about the practicalities of change, the student revolt that has only continued to grow since this conversation, and how we can go about the shift in thinking and acting in our own lives.

Kate’s website & book.

Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL).

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

A warm welcome to the new year. We’ll resume normal transmission of the podcast in February. But to gear us up, I thought to release a summer flashback or two, delving way back in the archives to episodes that people still speak to me about today. 

First up is an excerpt from the very first episode I recorded, with John Fullerton. He’s the former Wall Street executive who left that life, and through a fascinating personal journey ended up founding the non-profit Capital Institute, dedicated to bringing about new, regenerative economic and financial systems.

We had this conversation back in 2017, but it’s lost none of its currency, and gives wonderful context to the growing influence and activity of the Capital Institute today, and the movement as a whole.

Note: Enrolments are now open for the third running of the flagship course of the Capital Institute: Introduction to Regenerative Economics (featuring a number of guests on this podcast).

More on John Fullerton: John’s work draws deeply on systems thinking, a broad range of other contemporary and ancient schools of thought, and a range of ‘real world’ case studies, impact investing and other experiments on the ground. All this features in his extensive speaking and writing, including in his booklet, Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape Our New Economy.

This conversation was recorded in May 2017.

Title slide image: John Fullerton.

Music:
43, by Owls of the Swamp.

Find more:
Read a transcript of the full conversation on the episode website.

Hear the rest of our conversation, including more on the role of big business and other business structures, in the last 10 minutes or so of episode 1.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!