The Wild Minds Podcast

In this episode, Marina explores why climate education is a health issue by looking at what actually keeps us well, and what happens when the systems we depend on begin to destabilise.

This is a reflection on the living world, on physical reality, and on why informed climate education matters at a time of change.

Key points:

1. She begins in gratitude for the living world, and how amazing this biosphere really is!
2. Health is not something we create alone; it arises from stable temperatures, clean water, fertile soils and a functioning atmosphere.
3. Climate conversations often focus on ecology or policy, but beneath them sit physical laws that govern energy, heat and motion - Physics and Chemistry.
4. Climate change is driven by an energy imbalance, not by opinion or belief.
5. Chemistry explains what substances are, but physics explains what energy does in a system.
6. Climate change is already a health issue, showing up in bodies, hospitals and food systems.
7. Human health has always been intertwined with ecological health.
8. What’s most at risk and the stability of ecosystems, food systems and social systems
9. Denial persists not because the science is unclear, but we don’t assimilate it and come together - I would love to see Cross Party politics.
10. Language matters with Net Zero and Real Zero, especially the difference between delaying harm and stopping it.
11. Education is not an extra burden here; it’s one of the few tools we have for prevention.
12. Staying human means staying in relationship - with each other and with the living world.

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-84-why-climate-education-is-a-health-issue/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

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In this conversation, Professor Hugh Montgomery names climate change for what it is:

A survival crisis driven by “radiation gain” and accelerating feedback loops. He cuts through denial, delay and mixed messaging with five simple moves anyone can make now - switch your power, move your money, change your food, shift your travel, and talk about it - then shows how asking seven others can cascade into mass action.

We touch on real zero vs net zero, why money we can do now, and how unity across politics beats division.

Here are the essentials:

1. Hugh reframes climate change as “radiation gain,” explaining that greenhouse gases trap longwave heat and create positive feedback loops driving escalating warming.
2. Humanity is emitting over 54 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually, and a fifth of what’s emitted today will still be heating the planet in 33,000 years.
3. Natural systems like oceans and forests can no longer absorb enough carbon; atmospheric CO₂ now rises about four parts per million per year, reaching around 430.5 ppm.
4. Feedback loops include methane release from permafrost (83 times more potent than CO₂), forests becoming net emitters, and loss of reflective ice - 9 trillion tonnes gone - accelerating heating.
5. Hugh warns that the real threat is not only to health but to human survival within the next one or two decades, not centuries.
6. He compares Earth’s situation to a patient long ignoring symptoms - what could have been minor surgery now needs radical, painful treatment to survive.
7. Inaction stems from circular blame between individuals, business, and politicians - each claiming it’s someone else’s responsibility.
8. Many in government and business remain ignorant of climate science or see it as a political issue; some even believe warming will benefit economies through resource access or growth from destruction.
9. Human psychology also plays a role: people avoid short-term loss or pleasure deprivation even when long-term risk is high - similar to health behaviors like smoking or drinking.
10. Fear-based climate messaging fails when it offers no agency; effective communication must link truth with action, empowering people to act immediately.

Hugh outlines five tangible actions anyone can take:

1. Switch to 100% renewable electricity
2. Move personal banking away from fossil-fuel funders
3. Shift to a largely plant-based diet (less meat, smaller portions)
4. Reduce air and car travel where possible
5. Talk about climate concerns openly to normalise action

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-83-climate-change-health-and-survival-with-professor-hugh-montgomery/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

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Episode 82 invites listeners to arrive into 2026 with honesty, care and a sense of shared responsibility - not as individuals carrying the world alone, but as part of a wider web of life.

Drawing on reflections from Jane Goodall’s work, seasonal change and lived experience, this episode explores how we stay present without panic. It asks what it really means to act with courage, dignity and relationship in uncertain times.

Here are some of her reflections:

1. Opening the year with Jane Goodall’s reminder that what we do makes a difference - and that change begins with choosing the kind of difference we want to make, rather than acting from fear or urgency.
2. Reflecting on the seasonal crossing between hemispheres, and how growth, decay and renewal are always happening somewhere, all the time - whether we notice or not.
3. Sitting with Alder as a teacher: a tree that carries water and fire, masculine and feminine, strength and softness and how this mirrors our inner lives, our fragility, and our need for both boundaries and surrender.
4. Honouring Jane Goodall’s long life of peaceful activism and her understanding that people can only carry what they can - that survival, dignity and stability matter before wider responsibility.
5. Realising that while I never thought of my work as “democratic,” the erosion of democracy makes it clear how relational, sociocratic and consent-based outdoor learning really is.
6. Sharing the moment from the interview that stayed with me most: Jane Goodall’s mother responding to her disappearance not with punishment, but with curiosity and listening - and how her spirit was not broken.
7. Returning to regulation through breath, movement, sensory connection and time outdoors - remembering that responsibility was never meant to be an individual burden, but a collective one shared with the more-than-human world.
8. Realising that healthy outdoor learning mirrors healthy systems: listening matters, power works best when shared, and sociocratic, relational ways of being together are deeply needed now.
9. Closing with a reframing of “together we can” - not as fixing everything, but as listening more deeply, carrying only what is ours, acting where we are, staying in relationship, and choosing our difference with care.

Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-82-together-we-can/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

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Today, I’m joined by Rosemary Reed, trustee of the Jane Goodall Institute UK, and Jasmina Georgovska, Director of Outreach for Roots & Shoots UK — the global youth programme Jane founded to support young people to take action for people, animals, and the planet.

In this episode, we talk about what it means to raise changemakers without breaking spirits. About listening, really listening, to children, and to each other. About how environmental responsibility can only grow where people feel stable, respected, and supported.

1. Hope is described as an active choice - a way of meeting difficult realities with belief, responsibility, and small, purposeful actions.
2. True mentorship helps people remember what they’re capable of, shifting mindsets from limitation to possibility through education, trust, and belief.
3. Jane Goodall’s power came not from force or argument, but from listening deeply, holding conviction with humility, and responding through story rather than confrontation.
4. Information alone doesn’t move people - connection does. When an issue is felt, not just understood, action becomes possible.
5. Jane’s early experiences with her mother model an ethic of learning that protects curiosity, encourages exploration, and listens before correcting.
6. Care, kindness, hope, enthusiasm, determination, teamwork, and personal responsibility sit at the heart of this work - alongside the belief that every individual matters.
7. Rather than being managed or directed, young people are invited into leadership, supported to identify what matters locally and respond meaningfully.
8. Seeing a problem isn’t the same as registering responsibility. Change begins when awareness turns into even the smallest act.
9. Roots & Shoots (www.rootsnshoots.org.uk): Hands-on projects and immersive experiences - including thoughtful use of technology - help young people feel their relationship with the living world and offer small, tangible acts that build confidence rather than overwhelm.
10. TACARE (Take Care) is the Jane Goodall Institute's (JGI) community-led conservation program, started in Tanzania in 1994 shows that conservation only works when human dignity, stability, and community wellbeing are addressed first, because everything is connected.
11. The invitation is to listen more deeply, act more kindly, and take responsibility in small, grounded ways - carrying hope without collapsing under its weight.

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-81-jane-goodall-legacy-roots-and-shoots-uk/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

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As winter gathers and the days shorten, in this final episode of the season, Marina reflects on the Rowan tree, the act of wintering, and the hidden life beneath stillness. 

Here are some of her reflections:

• The Rowan as a winter guardian, its bright berries offering sustenance and protection in the dark months.
• The solstice as a time of descent, when we enter the heart’s cave and tend the inner fire that keeps us alive through uncertainty.
• How stillness and retreat restore our capacity to listen, dream, and notice what truly matters.
• The importance of reworking our stories — how memory, identity, and imagination can evolve with the seasons.
• The denials that shape our modern crisis: of planetary limits, of our entanglement with the living world, and of our own vulnerability.
• How fear and defensiveness rise in turbulent times, and the invitation to find gentler, more connected ways forward.

Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-80-tending-the-embers

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

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Today I’m speaking with Nick Stoop, founder of Pangea Impact Investments - a company that’s trying to change something most of us rarely think about.

Where our pensions are invested, and what that money is actually doing in the world.

In this episode we get practical and brave about money — banks, pensions, and the difference between light green labels and deep green impact — so our savings can serve the living world as well as our future selves.

• What happens to our money inside banks and pensions.
• Why pensions can outweigh everyday “green” habits in impact.
• Agency in an opaque system and how to start using it.
• Light green screening versus deep green positive impact.
• Ethics, risk, return and the futures we’re funding.
• The problem with labels and why “ethical” often isn’t.
• Transparency as reconnection to place and consequence.
• The role of workplace pensions and scope 3 emissions.
• Third-party verification, B Corps and better metrics.
• Moving money without sacrificing performance over time.
• Imagining local, regenerative investments we can visit.
• Small first steps that build a values-aligned portfolio.

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/money-with-a-conscience-with-nick-stoop/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!

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In this solo episode, Marina explores what Linda Buzzell calls “level two ecotherapy” - a shift from using nature as a tool for human wellbeing to recognising our reciprocal relationship with the living world.

Moving from “me” to “we,” she reflects on how our practices, systems, and mindsets can evolve toward a more ethical, embodied, and relational way of belonging.

Key Ideas Explored

• The move from extraction to relationship — recognising nature as a living partner, not a service.
• From “me” to “we” — human development as a journey toward community and interconnection.
• The many meanings of ecotherapy and why values and worldview matter more than labels.
• The power of shared outdoor activity — fire, craft, and stillness as natural therapy.
• Reclaiming the roots of eco and therapy — caring for our shared home and one another.
• Nature-centric models that place humans within the circle of life, not above it.
• The need to move beyond individual healing to include the health of the Earth.
• Western culture’s mindset of extraction and the call for reciprocity and re-education.
• Bringing nature-based practice into health and education systems despite structural barriers.
• Seeing bullying and domination as symptoms of fear and disconnection from relationship.
• The importance of moral courage, ethical conduct, and grounded self-worth in our work.
• Community ecotherapy and deep ecology as ways to restore belonging and collective care.

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-78-level-2-ecotherapy-from-me-to-we/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

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This week, I am in conversation with Linda Buzzell who is a psychotherapist, ecotherapist, author, and pioneer in the field of ecopsychology, working at the intersection of psychology, ecology, and culture since the late 1990s.

Linda co-edited 'Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind' with Craig Chalquist and has written widely on the ecological crisis as both a psychological and spiritual challenge.

In this episode, we explore what ecotherapy truly means - not as a treatment or technique, but as a way of healing our relationship with the living Earth.

We talk about nature as therapist, community as medicine, and what it means to move from a culture of domination to one of partnership and reciprocity.

Topics include:

• Ecotherapy as healing our relationship with our home world.
• Level one vs level two ecotherapy from personal benefit to reciprocal, culture-shifting practice.
• Nature as the ultimate therapist practitioner as catalyst, guide, witness.
• Eco-psychotherapy within clinical practice and the wider, community-facing field of ecotherapy.
• Zookosis in animals as a mirror for human nature-deficit and why habitats matter for sanity.
• Evidence beyond exercise research showing green and blue contact improves mood and health.
• Caution on “nature prescriptions” moving beyond individual fixes to place, community, and systems.
• Rooting in place bioregionalism, terra psychology, and rebuilding bonds with land.
• Decolonising therapy learning from Indigenous wisdom without appropriation and with repair.
• From dominator culture to partnership Riane Eisler’s lens and McGilchrist’s hemispheres.
• Eco-spirituality reclaiming the sacred through seasons, ceremony, bodies, and relational awe.
• The path of hope small groups, community ecotherapy, and standing together for the living world.

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-77-the-deeper-work-of-ecotherapy-with-linda-buzzell/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

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In this episode, Marina reflects on power, responsibility, and duty of care. As November marks a season of endings and beginnings, she looks beneath the surface of our systems — from education to environment, and asks what happens when we stop paying attention, and what it costs us when we do.

This conversation traces the threads between integrity and innocence, corruption and accountability, and how our personal and professional ethics shape the wider ecology we live within.

Key ideas explored

• The uneasy link between wealth, power, and moral compromise
• November as a time for renewal
• How concentrated power in health, education, and business leads us to protect ourselves instead of our purpose
• Teachers and leaders navigating the “topside world” while tending what lies beneath — our own psychology and hidden systems
• Moving beyond naïveté without losing hope or care
• Reclaiming duty of care — asking whether our systems live up to the ethics we teach
• Practicing stewardship: leaving no trace, enhancing biodiversity, and restoring the flow of responsibility

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-76-the-cost-of-looking-away/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!

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In this episode, I’m speaking with Ash Smith, the founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution. A retired Detective Superintendent, former angler and scuba diver, Ash has spent the last eight years investigating the truth about what’s happening in our rivers.

His love for the natural world, combined with a deep sense of justice, led him to gather a team of committed people from different disciplines to form one of the most effective groups holding water companies and regulators to account.

In our conversation, Ash shares what’s really going on with our rivers, the scale of sewage pollution, and the failures of government and regulatory bodies to protect our waterways.

This is a passionate, evidence-based discussion, grounded in data that you can find on the WASP website. The Windrush itself flows for 65 kilometers from Gloucestershire into the Thames - but this story reaches far beyond one river. It speaks to the health of our ecosystems, and to our own health as well.

Topics include:

• A vivid picture of what a living, healthy river once was — and how the “new normal” hides a quiet collapse.
• How WASP (Windrush Against Sewage Pollution) turns citizen science and data analysis into undeniable proof of illegal pollution.
• The shocking reality of regulators who no longer investigate — and water companies marking their own homework.
• What happens when public services are sold off and profit replaces purpose.
• The money trail — how customers fund dividends while private shareholders drain the system.
• Why some water companies are now in “special measures” and what real accountability could look like
• Ash’s journey from detective superintendent to river defender — following the evidence wherever it leads.
• The quiet power of ordinary people who refuse to look away.
• How anger can become fuel for change rather than despair.
• Practical ways to take action — join with others, use local data, and make enough noise to tip the balance

Shownotes:

https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-75-the-river-of-truth-with-ash-smith/

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com 

Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

If you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!

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