The Tools at Hand with Harrison Gardner

What if the way we build our homes and cities is part of the problem and the solution is already around us? Architect Robert Bourke joins me to explore how we can rethink the way we build, from the materials we use to the relationship between buildings, nature and the communities around them. With construction contributing significantly to global carbon emissions, Robert questions why concrete, st...

In 1935, dancing became illegal in Ireland unless you had a licence. You couldn’t simply organise a dance in a barn. You couldn’t dance at a crossroads. And in rural Ireland, you couldn’t even hold a dance in your own home. The Public Dance Halls Act was part of a much wider attempt to control Irish social life — with the Church and authorities deeply involved in deciding where, how and even wheth...

What does the future of farming in Ireland look like? Sophie Bell is a young farmer from County Cavan who took on the running of her family farm at just 17, while finishing her Leaving Cert. Today, she’s balancing farming with a career in social media, speaking about agriculture across Ireland and Europe, and rethinking what it means to build a sustainable life from the land. We talk about the pre...

What can music do when the world feels divided? For Clare Sands, it can be a way of bringing people together. Clare is a sixth-generation fiddle player, singer and composer from Ireland. In this conversation, we talk about Irish culture, activism, Palestine, and the role music can play in starting difficult conversations. Clare shares the story of swimming across the Bosphorus from Asia to Europe...

What happens when you decide to travel to all seven continents without spending any money? That was the challenge Shantanu Starick set himself after stepping away from a career in architecture. Trading nothing but his photography skills for food, shelter and transport, he created The Pixel Trade — a three-and-a-half-year journey built entirely around exchange, trust and the people he met along the...

Sarah Schwimmer is a naturalist, ecologist and polar expedition leader who has spent the last decade guiding more than 125 expeditions around the world. In this conversation, Sarah talks about her upcoming expedition to Svalbard aboard a first-of-its-kind solar-powered polar expedition vessel, how she dropped out of university to sail across the Atlantic at 19, and how following her curiosity shap...

Paul Noonan and Brian Crosby have been making music together, in one form or another, for decades. From Juniper and Bell X1, through 16 years of separate creative journeys, they eventually found their way back into a room together. What started with Brian’s solo piano record Imbrium and a voice note from Paul during COVID became Pilgrims — a new project built from everything they had learned and e...

What if we're preparing young people for a future that will never exist? After more than 15 years working across education systems and helping schools improve outcomes for students, Owen Losse has reached a surprising conclusion: we spend too much time trying to predict the future, and not enough time understanding how people actually learn. In this conversation, Owen draws on his experience as an...

What if your home could produce its own water, energy, food, and comfort? For more than 50 years, Michael Reynolds has challenged conventional architecture by building off-grid, self-sustaining homes from materials most people consider trash. As the creator of the Earthship movement, he believes our homes should take care of us, not the other way around. But this conversation isn't really about ar...

When I was 19, I went to Kenya because I wanted to make myself useful in the world. Instead, I found myself caught in the middle of the 2007–08 post-election violence and came home with a feeling of helplessness and a question that has stayed with me for almost 20 years: why do some people keep believing their actions matter while others eventually stop trying? Years later, I went back to the jour...

Ireland wastes over a million euro of renewable energy every day while over half a million households can't afford to heat their homes. Alan Wyley is the CEO of Energycloud and has a €500 device that connects those two factors. He and Harrison talk about elegant solutions, stubborn optimism, and what it takes to bring an end to energy poverty. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. S...

Dr Clare Noone has sat in the rooms where the world tries to agree on its future. As a climate scientist who attended the most recent COP summit in Brazil, she has seen up close the gap between what the science says and what actually gets decided. She and Harrison talk about turning research into action, what it costs to keep communicating clearly when the stakes are this high, and what the rest o...

Ankur Delight is a conflict mediator, farmer, mathematician, and one of Harrison's oldest friends. They met at the Gandhi Ashram and in this conversation they explore why conflict might actually be a gift, what really happens in a mediation room, and what it means to build community and connection in a world that keeps pulling itself apart. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Ene...

Ainle Ó Cairealláin has just returned from Cuba, where he travelled as part of the Nuestra América Convoy's humanitarian mission. He's also one of the most compelling voices in Ireland on the relationship between language, community, and identity. He and Harrison talk about language as a form of infrastructure, what it means to hold a culture together from the inside out, and why the communities w...

IFTA award winning actor and writer Clare Dunne joins Harrison in the studio. Clare's performance as Amanda Kinsella in Kin has made her a household name, but what Harrison really wanted to talk about was Herself, Clare's film about a woman who builds her own home when the system fails her. She and Harrison talk about craft, identity, and the courage it takes to make the thing you need when nobody...

After years on the ocean, and then years growing vegetables, Matt Smith co-founded the charity Hometree to restore native woodland across Ireland. He and Harrison talk about ecological restoration, long-term thinking, and what it takes to build something with results you may never see. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

Aoife Dunne is repeatedly selling out her hit comedy show GOOD GRIEF across Ireland and lucky for us, she found a moment in the middle of it all, to join us in the studio. In this episode, she and Harrison talk about what it actually takes to build a creative life, trust your own voice, and use comedy to process the harder parts of being alive with some honesty. Contains strong language. Brought t...

Most climate action starts with a government or a corporation. Seán McCabe started with a community football club. As the Head of Climate Justice & Sustainability at the Bohemian Climate Cooperative, he and his community are using cooperative ownership to fund renewable energy and retrofit homes from the ground up. He and Harrison talk about what it really means to give people a stake in somet...

Every day in Ireland, good food is thrown away while families go without. Iseult Ward co-founded FoodCloud to close that gap and has built one of Europe's most effective food redistribution systems. She and Harrison talk about what it takes to turn a good idea into real infrastructure, and why food is rarely just about food. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Before the guests arrive, Harrison sets out the idea at the heart of this podcast. From a slum in Ahmedabad to Gandhi's salt march, a piece of American legislation that affected everyone… but that nobody read, and a damp stone cottage on the west coast of Ireland, this is the episode that explains why the show exists and what it is for. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acas...

Ten conversations. Ten people who stopped waiting and started building. The Tools at Hand podcast. First episode drops this Thursday, and then every Thursday after that. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.