Finding Nature

Hello out there and welcome to or welcome back to the finding nature podcast. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and this is my show where I speak to the change makers and paradigm busters who are working towards and making a difference in our collective efforts to make the world a safer, more just and sustainable place. I love doing this show, and over the last couple of days finding nature as an e...

This week’s guest is a huge one - the one and only Nadya Hutagalung . Activist, conservationist, film maker, model, mother and attuned citizen on Planet Earth. Nadya’s experiences, her work and her own efforts to heal herself from all she has seen, encountered and felt is extraordinary, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing this episode with you. Nadya’s trajectory to stratospheric stardom in...

Today’s guest is someone who has absolutely been one of those people on the forefront of impacting business, our world and particularly the voiceless for the better. Richard Boele is on the show today to chat about his remarkable life and career - from visiting China and Tibet in the late 1980s and witnessing violence on his first day in Lhasa, to playing a vital role in making public to the world...

Dr Anastasia Hronis is a clinical psychologist and founder of the Australian Institute for Human Wellness. She is a practicing clinician, as well as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney. She has published in a number of prestigious academic journals, appears regularly on TV discussing all manner of topics related to mental health and wellbeing, and has also performed at...

Finding Nature wouldn’t exist without today’s guest. A man I’ve known for 25 years and has been a role model, coach and mentor to me through much of that. Richard Burton is the perfect person to be kicking off the new year. Why’s that? Being the new year, no matter how much we seek to avoid the platitudes of new year’s resolutions, I find it impossible not to experience moments and periods of refl...

Welcome to the show and my podcast where I endeavour to have long form in depth conversations that matter - or at least I hope they matter - with thought and action leaders who are making positive change across business, health, society and politics. Today’s episode is the second and final part of the finding nature 2024 anthology. I hope you managed to enjoy the first part reprising some of your...

Hey everybody, how are you all doing. Happy holidays to all the good people out there, and welcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast. I do my best on this show to have meaningful, insightful and valuable conversations with people who have made it their mission in life to make a positive difference and to bring their stories to you. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball, this is my show a...

A topic and issue I’ve been grappling with is artificial intelligence. It’s a space that has dominated so much in 2024 - news, investment, executive wish lists, fears, hopes, fantasies. Personally, I’ve just been overwhelmed and it’s a topic that’s allowed me to find compassion and empathy for all the folks out there that aren’t consumed and living the issues of environmental protection, human rig...

Today’s guest is the indomitable Catherine Fox. A woman of such immense fierceness, incisive analytical powers and a mastery of craft that has led to authoring or co-authoring six books. Catherine was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2022 for significant service to journalism, gender equality and diversity. Catherine’s career is nothing short of phenomenal - beyond the books and order...

Cameron Tonkinwise is back on the show today. The first repeat guest which is fun and exciting for me, but also because he is someone who I think more than anyone I’ve met in my career deeply understands and seeks to learn about and apply novel and innovative ways by which change happens. Cameron is a Professor of Design at the University of Technology Sydney, and has a storied career here and in...

Today's guest is a very wonderful privilege to be bringing to you - Lesley Hughes. Lesley is one of Australia's most distinguished and recognised experts on climate change. Beginning her career as an ecologist where she studied the role ants played in dispersing seeds across landscapes, she turned her attention to studying the climate and its impacts on biodiversity in the early 90s. She...

Today's guest is Tammi Miller - a Certified Practising Counsellor registered with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia. She works with people to improve mental wellbeing, improve health literacy and looks to facilitate a path towards happier, healthier and more mindful ways of living. I dare say a lot of us could benefit from this type of work. I've wanted to get Tam...

Hello earthlings, my name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and welcome to or welcome back to the finding nature show. What a week it's been on planet earth too. Election results, the beginning of the latest COP kicking off in an authoritarian oil state, the abandonment of a peace process in the Middle East, but at least the Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services - that is, the astonis...

Dr Vanessa Pirotta is a whale scientist, an author, an educator, an entrepreneur and a social media sensation. I read Vanessa's book recently - Humpback Highway - and was captivated by the stories of her work and research in the presence of these majestic and remarkable creatures. I remember visiting beaches in Sydney during the humpack's migratory seasons and being amazed by catching gl...

Ann Austin joins the show today, and it's a great pleasure and a lot of fun. Ann is someone I've known for well over a decade now, and she's been plying her trade and craft in the corporate sustainability field for more than two decades. From when saying the word was met with either confusion or scorn back in 2004 to where things are at today. I like to think the scorn is now largel...

Today's guest is the greatest personification of the sustainability change maker I've met - Chris Nunn. Chris is what many of us likely aspire to be as professionals - deeply knowledgable, remarkably driven and incredibly hard working. It's easy to be impressed by the sheer depth and breadth of what he knows. But The more I've come to know Chris over the years, the more I'...

Today's guest is Erin Billman, who is the Executive Director for the Science Based Targets Network. She was recently in Sydney from the US for the global nature positive summit and to share about her important and ground breaking work in setting standards and guidance on how organisations and cities need to play a role in halting and reversing the destruction of habitats and ecosystems, and t...

Today's show is another duo - the CEO of the Green Building Council Davina Rooney and their Chief Impact Officer Jorge Chapa. Many of you probably know either or both of Davina and Jorge - their work as key ambassadors and incredible contributors for two decades each to Australia's green property boom is significant. Both posses bodies of work that are individually impressive, but since...

On the topic of climate change and an increasingly volatile and unprecedented future, the way we think about and structure finance has a key role to play and I have two very special guests - Emeritus Professor Bruce Chapman and Chris Andrew.  Starting with Chris, well, I don't know if I can do justice in describing this extraordinary man. I first met Chris nearly a year ago and I instantly co...

Satyajit Das - or Das - is a man who's worn many hats. Financier, author, traveller, speaker - a strenuous protagonist for evidence and fact. He's a man who wants to understand and take into account the reality of a situation and to look deeply into the meaning of that information, no matter how confronting, surprising or alarming. Das came to Australia from India in the late 70s, and a...

Regina Featherstone is a Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Legal Centre and  co-authored their recent publication Climate and Environmental Whistleblowing: Information Guide. On Regina, well you know when you meet someone who is clearly a star rising - articulate, steady, eager and virtuous - that is Regina. We didn't have the time today to get into more than just this guide but her backgroun...

Nina Jankovich is today's guest and she is a world leading expert on the mysterious and imperceptible worlds of mis and disinformation and how information in any and all forms can be weaponised in nefarious, poisonous and pernicious ways that degrade social cohesion, democratic health and how many people - including myself - perceive and make sense of the world. Nina's personal experienc...

Today's guest is Dr Dominique Hes - an author, educator, policy advisor and regenerative thinker. She certainly fits the bill of the change makers and paradigm busters I'm curious speaking with as part of my own quest to understand and contemplate and experiment with how to go about making the world a healthier, safer and more beautiful place. There was a lot that I took from this chat w...

Today's guest is a special one, and a little shorter than normal. Kevin Bell's prestigious career is incredible - in 2024 he received an award of Officer of the Order of Australia for his 'distinguished service to the law and to the judiciary, and to human rights through education and reform. For fifteen years from 2005-2020, Kevin was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, whe...

David Cooke is a man likely familiar to many out there. A business leader of serious repute who through his own personal journey transformed the practices and cultures of the businesses he led and worked at. Most notably David spent eight years as the Managing Director and Chairman of Konica Minolta here in Australia, but has also held the position of Chair at the United National Global Compact Au...