This is a special release episode with Tim Winton, broadly considered the preeminent Australian writer of his generation. And not just in Australia. His books have been translated into 28 languages, sold millions of copies, and resulted in numerous prestigious awards (including another one just this week). He’s also in the Australian Surfing Awards Hall of Fame, and has a species of native Australian fish named in his honour. But over the last few years, we were aware Tim had jumped in the deep end as writer, narrator and executive producer of a major film production.

Ningaloo Nyinggulu surfaced at a community screening in Exmouth a few days ago, and will premiere nationwide in Australia on Tuesday 16 May, having also just launched globally as Ningaloo Nyinggulu: Australia’s Ocean Wonder.

The blurb reads: ‘Over three episodes filmed in remote Western Australia, Tim shares the wonders of the place that has inspired his work for decades, joining Traditional Owners, scientists and other experts to understand how Ningaloo endures as a mighty global lifeboat of biodiversity, and showcases why it is a beacon of hope in the face of an extinction crisis and climate emergency.’

This story is grounded in rich cultural heritage dating back more than 40,000 years, in a place that colonial Australia had once destined to be little more than a quarry and oilfield. Over 2000 hours of footage was shot over a 2-year period for this, portraying the extraordinary resurgence of culture and country happening here.

You’ll also hear some of the wonderful soundtrack from the film, in this episode.

This conversation was recorded on 5 May 2023.

Title slide: Tim releasing a very eager rescued turtle (from the film).

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.

The Sargassum piece, by Ash Gibson Greig, off the soundtrack for Ningaloo Nyinggulu, with the kind permission of Artemis Media and the artist.

Find more:
Watch the trailer of Ningaloo Nyinggulu. It premieres in Australia on the ABC from Tuesday 16 May 2023. The global release

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In last week’s episode, we heard from Dr Katherine Trebeck on the latest significant developments in the domain of wellbeing, regenerative or just plain good economics. You might remember Katherine alluded to a brilliant conversation she had been part of a few days prior, for the launch of a major new report and project by not-for-profit outfit, Sustainable Table.

Regenerative farmer and award-winning writer, Tanya Massy, is the lead author of that report, part of an all-star team frankly, including a number of past guests on this podcast. And on this day, she and Katherine were joined by two truly trailblazing international guests, CEO of Cienaga Capital, Esther Park, and CEO of Steward, Dan Miller. With an opening statement from Wiradjuri man and director at Black Duck Foods, Joshua Staines.

3.00 - Anthony setting the scene
7.20 - Panel conversation
56.30 - Tanya Massy re a stand out case study from the report, leading into audience questions
83.50 - Tanya’s closing words including how we can each engage from here.

Head here for automatic cues to those chapter markers.

This conversation was recorded online with live audience on 20 April 2023.

Title slide: A screen shot of the panel and some of the Sustainable Table team on the day (L-R: CEO Jade Miles, Megan O’Malley, Kristie Van de Velde, Anthony James, Tanya Massy, Katherine Trebeck, Jess Eddy, Esther Park, Justin Wolfgang, Hayley Morris, Dan Miller).

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.

Find more:
Sustainable Table web version of the report.

Hear more from Tanya Massy on episode 115, Serenity Hill on episode 126, and Jade Miles on episod

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Dr Katherine Trebeck helps make sense of the state of our economy, amidst recurrent gloomy global forecasts, and stark reports about what’s really driving such drastic inflation and inequality. All that informs the back half of our chat on some recent significant global shifts towards economies that make more sense here and now, and that are inherently designed to work well for people and planet.

This includes an opportunity to get involved here in Australia, with our federal government’s current initiative, and last week’s major project launch by the Sustainable Table team. And we look at some of the stories that are really blazing the trail - beyond profit, financial returns and GDP.

Dr Katherine Trebeck is co-founder of the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance and the group of Wellbeing Economy Governments. Now back in Australia, Katherine is also a senior advisor for The Next Economy (featured in episode 134 of the podcast), and co-author of The Economics of Arrival: Ideas for a Grown Up Economy.

This conversation was recorded in Canberra on 23 April 2023.

Title slide: Katherine Trebeck, just as we were about to record.

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.

Find more:
Katherine’s website.

Hear more from Katherine on episode 99, and more of her life story on episode 29.

Have your say in the Australian government’s Measuring what matters, second consultation process, ending 26 May 2023.

Join us at a mini-festival with community forum hosted by Anthony James this Sunday 7 May.

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Last week's episode with Dr Alessandro Pelizzon contained a series of global paradigm shifting updates in its last 15 minutes or so. So this week's release is an excerpt of that part of the episode, in case you missed it.

We pick up our conversation at the back half of Alessandro's announcement that he is co-founding a new place of education – akin to the Schumacher College in the UK - offering more of the education we need in these times. And we go on to the rapid developments around the world in the Rights of Nature, along with the recent rescinding by the Pope of the Doctrine of Discovery (if you don't know how significant that is, Alessandro explains).

Title slide: a view of the northern rivers region of NSW, where this conversation took place (pic: Anthony James).

Find more:
Tune into the full episode 159, where you'll also find a few links.

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I met up with Dr Alessandro Pelizzon at his place in Byron Bay, for a long-awaited chat on some of the extraordinary work he’s been doing, outside his day job, on the immense value, almost unbelievable collapse, and opportunity for renewal of the public university as one of our oldest and grandest Western institutions. And there’s been a host of global paradigm shifting developments since we last spoke 18 months or so ago, in the domain of his day job (including just days ago with the Pope’s rescinding of the Doctrine of Discovery). Along with his co-founding of a new place of education – offering more of the education we need in these times.

Dr Alessandro Pelizzon is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He is a co-founder and Executive Committee Member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, the current Director of its International Academic Hub, and an expert member of the UN Harmony with Nature programme. Alessandro has been exploring the emerging discourse on rights of nature, Wild Law and Earth Jurisprudence since its inception. And his book on all this will be published soon, titled Ecological Jurisprudence: Law, Representation and Environmental Metaphysics.

This conversation was recorded at Alessandro’s home just outside of Byron Bay NSW, on 2 April 2023.

Title slide: Alessandro at home after our conversation.

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

Music:
The sounds of the Byron Bay hinterland.

Find more:
Alessandro Pelizzon on LinkedIn.

Academics for Public Universities.

Public Universities Australia.

Resonant Earth.

Hear more of Alessandro on the rapid rise of ‘earth laws’ in episode 97, from the Kimberley (and on a panel featuring Michael Leunig, Kate Auty and Nicola Rivers for episode 71).

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I headed out of Brisbane this week to Camp Mountain, to learn about some of the regenerative work being done around there. One of the outstanding places I visited nearby was where Loop Growers happens. Alice Star and Phil Garozzo, hairdresser and marketing graduate respectively, are its founders.

They call it a ‘bio-intensive market garden’, which produces a wide range of chemical free fruit and veg that feeds their growing community of households and local businesses. The loop they refer to comprises 15 cafes, restaurants, bars and brewers who provide their excess organic materials (read, not waste) to feed the worms at the farm, which the farm in turn, cycles back as fresh produce. A functional loop at one level, and at another, a paradigm change in the heart of the places we gather.

With tiny houses, event space and seed bank also emerging onsite, that initial loop is just the start of it. Though it could also have been the end, as the biblical-scale floods of last year almost wiped them out entirely. How this community is rebounding together says so much about what’s possible everywhere.

This conversation was recorded at Loop Growers in the Samford Valley around 30 kilometres outside of Brisbane, on 31 March 2023.

Title slide: Phil & Alice by the creek where we had our conversation.

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

Music:
No Such Thing As Waste, by Formidable Vegetable.

Find more:
Loop Growers.

Broadsheet piece with a series of photos at Loop Growers from before and after the flood.

Bush Tekniq.

Upcoming launch of Sustainable Table report on Regenerating Investment in Food & Farming.

GoFundMe page set up by the family of Carol Sanford (our guest in ep 150).

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The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

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Yesterday I hosted a yarn with two brilliant First Nations guests at the World Science Festival in Brisbane, to discuss 'the rise of regenerative agriculture, the intersection with First Nations Knowledges, and the synergies for a harmonious and sustainable future on earth'.

Barkandji woman Zena Cumpston (aka Zena Sky Ranger) is a writer, researcher and story-teller who has also curated some exceptional exhibitions including Emu Sky. She is passionate about plants, particularly the many ways they elucidate the ingenuity and scientific knowledge of her people. Indeed, Zena has co-authored a new book called Plants: Past, Present & Future – the latest in the First Knowledges series – that featured in Booktopia’s ‘best non-fiction’ list for 2022. Her writing also appears in the extraordinary anthology Unlimited Futures, and in the Federal Government's pivotal 2021 State of the Environment Report.

Jacob Birch is a self-described native grains die-hard. He’s an academic, entrepreneur and Churchill Fellow who is working towards reawakening and restoring the grassland foodways that sustained his Gamilaraay ancestors for thousands of generations. Walking within and between many convergent spaces, including lecturing in regenerative agriculture, Jacob is helping to reignite the native grain economy, led by First Nations people, for the benefit of all people. He has just led a national consultation and authored the Australian Native Grains Strategic Plan. And works with the Yunus Centre to develop innovative business frameworks for the native grain industry.

This conversation was recorded live at the World Science Festival Brisbane, in the Cremorne Theatre at QPAC, on 26 March 2023.

Title slide: Zena, Anthony & Jacob against the backdrop of one of the native grain farms Jacob talks about, that was the cover image for 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.

Meanjin Sunrise, by local Aboriginal artists, played as we got ready to take to the stage.

Find more:
Regenerating Country, a live podcast conversation at the World Science Festival Brisbane.

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Daniel Christian Wahl is the world-renowned author of Designing Regenerative Cultures, still being translated into various languages years after release. Daniel’s also called himself a consultant, educator, activist, speaker, blogger, weaver, catalyst - he’s also become a farmer of sorts, which you’ll hear more about today, along with some other very interesting and entirely relevant parts of his life – like marine biology, martial arts, permaculture, his ongoing learning with elders, and how he looks to live it all, in what has become his home in Mallorca, Spain.

Daniel's blog on Medium is followed by over 25,000 people, and his online advocacy has a combined audience of over 850,000 people around the world. He was an RSA Bicentenary Medal recipient for Regenerative Design in 2021, a Volans Fellow in 2022, and was previously the Director of Findhorn College.

Daniel actually first reached out to me a few years ago, with kind words after my conversation with the late Hazel Henderson, someone we both admired a lot. And for him, as for many, the years since have included some tumult and burn out. All of which made this a doubly cherished conversation, as Daniel talks publicly in a way he never has before, in a moment of great reflection about the state of things and how to approach it.

This conversation was recorded online with Daniel at home in Mallorca, on 15 March 2023.

Title slide: Daniel Christian Wahl in the Tramuntana mountains near Lluc (source).

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

Find more:
Daniel’s highly acclaimed book, translated into multiple languages, Designing Regenerative Cultures.

Daniel with Satish Kumar on his YouTube channel recently.

Daniel’s ongoing writing on Medium.

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

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The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

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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

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The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

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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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Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

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