Finding Nature

Today's episode is a real honour to be sharing. Alexander Pui is the guest, and he is an old colleague and someone I hold closely as a professional and person. He has been developing a significant volume of work across his career in both academia and industry for two decades, working in some of Australia and the broader region's largest and most influential organisations. Alex is an engi...

Welcome to the show, my name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and today's episode is slightly different from some of the others. It's with author and journalist Megan Maurice, about her new book Life Goes On that is her account - told through her own experience and that of several others - about life after a cancer diagnosis. Something I enjoy and want to explore through Finding Nature is how ot...

Today's guest is a legend of Sydney's sustainability landscape - Lee Stewart. He's here today to chat about the release of his upcoming book titled How to Build Sustainability Into Your Business Strategy , but that becomes a proxy for him and I to chat about and discuss the progression and evolution of sustainability as a notion for organisation's of all shapes and sizes to gra...

Joe Steensma is today's guest and he comes all the way from St Louis, Missouri where he is a Professor or Practice at the Brown School which is part of Washington University. Joe has a diverse and fascinating background - a forest kid who came to admire and love birds, studied biology and chemistry and ever since has been applying his deep observational strengths and technical skills to addre...

Today's guest is Mark Rowland - a man of many hats and bows, and this conversation is a gem. I promise that you're in for a treat today. Meeting Mark has been a great gift of starting Finding Nature - he came to one of the events I held a few months ago and since then we've run into each other and chatted a number of times. From those simple introductions it's revealed to me in...

Sam Kernaghan is someone I've had the very good fortune of spending quite a bit of time with over the last couple of years and I'm grateful for that. Sam is the Resilience Director for the Committee for Sydney - an urban policy think tank that has the rare opportunity of being able to work above the challenges and messy interactions of problems, risks and opportunities the city faces. Sa...

Warning: This episode contains conversations about abuse and exploitation, domestic and family violence and some other topics you may find distressing. If those are difficult topics for you then I suggest skipping this episode and coming back next week. There are a number of resources and support services out there including 1800 Respect, Bravehearts, Lifeline and beyondblue where you can access f...

Today's friend of the pod is Rory Martin. Rory has a great title - Vice President of Group Sustainability for Frasers Property, based in Melbourne here in Australia. That is probably the least interesting thing about him though, and the life he's lived til now and the stories he reveals in this chat about his incredible life to date - the highs and the lows - reveal how he has come to be...

Here's my questions for you - how are you treating and looking after your body? That same body you rely upon to withstand the daily stresses of living each day? The body you want to take you over mountains or through the ocean or into races or to train in gyms? Well, for me. It's been a bumpy ride. Physical health and exercise have always been a part of my life, but as a result I've...

Camille Goldstone-Henry is today's guest, and her story as a conservation biologist turned nature tech founder and CEO holds lessons for all of us. An upbringing characterised by the normalcy of self sufficiency and localisation  before her tertiary training in conservation biology followed by beginning her career working on the frontlines of species protection and loss. Like we've been...

Today's friend of the pod is Adam Verwey, someone I was really pleased to meet towards the end of 2023 and he began sharing with me his work at SIX - Sustainable Investment Exchange - and how it was going to deliberately combine the worlds of activism and change making with that of retail wealth management. I was immediately excited to begin to appreciate how Adam and his team are looking to...

Today's friend of the pod is Paul Oosting - someone I was thrilled to chat with and learn from based on his career to date as a successful social and environmental change activist and advocator. I want to learn more about how change can be designed and organised and made possible and I know few who have a record like he does. Paul's professional career started out in the volatile world o...

Today's guest is Kate Cotter, the CEO of the Resilient Building Council . The RBC have been on the front foot for over a decade in seeking to support at risk households and home owners adapt their property so that it is more climate adaptive and able to withstand the threats that bushfires pose. This is no small deal - the loss of lives and properties to fire is a trend here in Australia as w...

Today's guest is a courageous soul doing the hard but necessary work to positively alter the trajectory of our society and the ecosystems we rely upon - Mathew Mytka. Mat is someone I've gotten to know in recent months and it's been a pleasure. He helped as the special guest in a Finding Nature event titled Deceit, apathy and desperation - Addressing the uncertain harms of artificia...

Today's guest is the delightful Jess Miller . Jess has been and remains a totem here in Sydney for many important and successful socially and environmentally impactful campaigns and initiatives - from delivering improved cycling infrastructure in the early 2010s to the Garage Sale Trail to the 202020 Vision or Greener Spaces Better Places program. Add to that a five year side hustle as one of...

Today's guest is Cameron Tonkinwise , a Professor in Design at the University of Technology here in Sydney on unceded Gadigal Land. Those of you who know me have probably either heard me speak about Cameron, have had me introduce Cameron to you or have brought Cameron in to work on a project you're involved in. He is someone I think very highly of and have a very strong regard for. I met...

Emma Pocock is the CEO of an amazing organisation called Frontrunners, but is someone I have known about and admired from afar for over ten years. Emma is a reformed (but not really) social justice warrior who grew up firstly in the Pilbara in Western Australia before finishing her schooling in Perth then going on to university there as well, before she met someone who, 'plays a bit of rugby&...

Today's guest is a really special one - award winning author James Bradley is on the show to chat about his new book - Deep Water - The World in the Ocean . I can't say enough good things about this book. It is a beautiful, immense telling of our ocean and the planet's aquatic systems, and how humans are interacting with and slowly eroding a critical aspect of what enables our stabl...

If you're listening to this you know there are difficult and interconnected challenges everywhere, and today's guest is someone who has a unique and broad perspective on these. If you've been working in the sustainability or ESG profession for a little while there is a very good chance you've heard of, listened to or read Pablo Berrutti's work and thinking. He has become a...

What do you get when a serial coffee entrepreneur moves to Sydney right before the beginning of the Covid pandemic and starts to wonder why the Iron Cove Bay in Sydney is such a dilapidated natural site yet paradoxically is often overrun with walkers, runners and cyclists? Of course Blue Green - an organisation dedicating itself to re-naturalising Sydney harbour to reprise some of its original bea...

Today's chat is with Rob Rogers - a legend of the advertising world. A world that is probably foreign and unimaginable to the sustainability people out there. I realised in preparing for this conversation that as a sustainability professional for over 15 years I've never had any formal education or focussed and consistent training in how I communicate, pitch or campaign the work that I&a...

Today's guest is Dr Abby Bloom , and talk about a woman with a remarkable attitude towards and record of delivering meaningful change. Abby is a powerhouse. Her life is incredible. She was born and grew up in New York City before gaining a scholarship to the prestigious Yale College in Connecticut where she was one of 200 who made up the first intake of women into that institution. Abby has g...

Today's guest is Tash Ritz, a social enterprise & impact oriented professional from Sydney who is about to launch her fantastic book Souling into the world. Tash is an experienced brand, marketing and campaign expert who's worked at and with organisations who are looking to make a real difference. Tash was generous enough to offer me an advanced copy of her book, her first, and I fou...

Today's guest is the iconic, the indomitable and the insatiable Bob Carr . Most will know Bob and be familiar with his political appointments and achievements - leader of the NSW Labor Opposition Party from 1988 until he and his party won government election in 1995, where he went on to win three further elections was Premier for ten years making him the longest continuously serving Premier i...