Second Nature

Why expand into Europe now — and why Elena Doms? This conversation marks a defining moment for Oxygen Conservation as it steps into Europe, with Elena Doms joining as Director of Europe. It’s not an expansion driven by ambition alone, but by timing — capital is mobilising, regulation is hardening, and credibility is suddenly the limiting factor. Rich Stockdale and Elena unpack what it really takes...

What does elite talent really look like in conservation — and why do most hiring systems miss it completely? Rowan Martin is a walking contradiction to the sector’s stereotypes. A PhD scientist in butterfly vision. A mountain biker with an instinctive grasp of risk. An estate manager running real land, real projects, and real decisions in West Wales. A mother, creator, and operator who refuses to...

British politics has a problem — and it isn’t policy. It’s belief. Ben Gascoigne has lived at the heart of the machine. From Downing Street to the House of Lords, he’s seen how power is won, how it’s lost, and why so many leaders fail to hold the country’s attention once they get there. This conversation cuts straight through the spin. Why politics feels empty. Why no one’s listening. Why authenti...

Britain’s food system looks calm on the surface. Underneath, it’s under strain. Tom Bradshaw, President of the NFU, sits down with Rich Stockdale for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about what it really takes to feed 70 million people — and why UK farming is being pushed to the edge. From balancing family life with national leadership, to fighting for farmers inside Westminster, Tom pulls back th...

Alok Sama has lived where most people only speculate. Inside Morgan Stanley. Inside SoftBank. Inside the long, lonely thinking of Masayoshi Son. Rich and Alok strip away the mythology of success — the status, the deals, the adrenaline — and examine what’s left when the noise dies down. From the absurd rituals of high finance to the quiet psychological cost of ambition, this is an unvarnished look...

English wine didn’t evolve — it accelerated. And now it’s facing the consequences. Ed Mansel-Lewis, Head of Viticulture at Knight Frank , joins Rich Stockdale for a wide-ranging conversation about what really determines success in modern wine — and why the industry is quietly shifting from rapid expansion to ruthless consolidation. From Champagne houses planting vines in Kent, to £30 non-alcoholic...

Nye Gordon, Director at Guidehouse, joins Rich Stockdale PhD for a conversation that moves fast — from politics to engineering, from nature markets to climate resilience, from imposter syndrome to the dream of working from a lochside in Perthshire. Nye argues that nature isn’t a backdrop to energy infrastructure — it is infrastructure. A tool for resilience. A shield for assets that are about to f...

Tom Sobey built Origin Coffee long before specialty coffee became a trend — and long before the industry understood what “quality” actually meant. ☕️ This episode goes deep into the real story behind one of Europe’s most respected coffee brands: the early graft, the relentless focus on culture, the obsession with craft, and the uncomfortable decisions needed to scale without selling your soul. We...

Dryrobe didn’t just invent a product — they created a culture. In this episode, Rich sits down with Tasmin Chilcott, the unstoppable force behind Dryrobe’s sustainability mission, to unpack how a cold-car-park problem became one of the most influential outdoor brands in the world. From a mum’s homemade prototype to GB Olympic kit, Dryrobe has become the Hoover, Dyson and Google of its category — a...

What happens when an ecologist stops waiting for government — and builds the system himself? Professor David Hill CBE, founder of Environment Bank and the architect of biodiversity net gain (BNG), joins Rich Stockdale PhD for a conversation that rewrites the rules of conservation. From founding the UK’s first environmental consultancy to forcing Westminster to legislate for nature, David’s journey...

Neil Beamsley doesn’t just build homes — he builds habitats. As Group Head of Biodiversity at Bellway Homes, Neil is leading one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders into uncharted territory: a world where development enhances nature, not erases it. From his early days in archaeology and ecology to shaping national policy on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Neil’s story is one of balance — between progre...

Scotland has just passed one of the most controversial pieces of land legislation in modern history — and we brought the experts into the Shoot Room for our first-ever round table to break it wide open. Rich Stockdale PhD sits down with Don MacLeod (lawyer and land reform specialist) and Crawford Mackay (partner at Galbraith) to dismantle the real implications of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill —...

Joe Stanley has spent his life on the land, but this conversation isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about the brutal, beautiful, and misunderstood reality of modern farming. A farmer, writer, and NFU environmental representative, Joe joins Rich Stockdale PhD to dismantle the myths about what it means to feed the nation while fighting climate change. From soil carbon and silvopasture to biochar and burea...

They called Knepp reckless. Now it’s the blueprint for Britain’s environmental future. Molly Biddell, Head of Natural Capital at Knepp, joins Rich Stockdale PhD to talk about what happens when you stop controlling nature — and start trusting it. From the death of “sustainability” to the birth of new markets for nature, Molly pulls no punches on the realities of rewilding, regulation, and the coura...

What if the future of tech wasn’t about faster chips — but deeper values? Richard Peers, founder of Responsible Risk and former Microsoft and Accenture leader, has lived through every technological revolution from the birth of the PC to the rise of AI — and he’s seen what we keep getting wrong. He built alliances without power, sold the future to people terrified of change, and watched as the worl...

What if the best leaders stopped giving orders altogether? David Marquet — former US Navy submarine commander and author of Turn the Ship Around! — took command of the worst-performing crew in the fleet and transformed them into one of the best. His breakthrough wasn’t about charisma, authority, or discipline. It was about letting go. By replacing command and control with intent and trust, Marquet...

James Shepherd’s journey began in a family boatyard in South Staffordshire, but his path was never straightforward. Growing up with challenges at home, he learned responsibility far earlier than most, lessons that shaped both his resilience and his ambition. From Cambridge to Knight Frank, from shaping land to shaping a family, James shares how he’s navigated the shift from son to father, and what...

What does “scale” really mean when you’re talking about saving the planet? For Carl Atkin-House — Head of Natural Capital Strategy at Climate Asset Management — it’s projects measured in tens of millions of dollars and thousands of hectares. Regenerative agriculture. Sustainable forestry. Environmental assets that prove nature can deliver institutional-grade returns. In this conversation, we go de...

Andy Creak isn’t here to talk about sustainability — he’s here to rewire finance itself. After decades building fintech platforms and taking on titans like Fidelity, Andy turned his attention to the one market still stuck in the dark ages: natural capital. With his company Kana, he’s creating the digital infrastructure to make investing in nature as easy — and as powerful — as buying stocks or bon...

Alex Godfrey left a career in high finance to rebuild the rules of investment around the only capital that matters: nature. From the Bolivian Amazon to UK estates, he’s seen firsthand how regenerative agriculture, biodiversity credits, and carbon markets can reshape not just land—but entire economies. This conversation cuts through the noise on ESG and digs into the real questions: How do we make...

Guy Hayler doesn’t just talk about business as a force for good — he’s building the ecosystem to prove it. As co-founder of Blue Earth, Guy has raised £155 million for 60+ purpose-led companies and is connecting founders, corporates, and investors who actually want to change the system, not just tick a sustainability box. From the BE100 campaign filtering 1,000+ startups into the top 100, to BE Ve...

Julia Armstrong D’Agnese isn’t selling software. She’s building Earth Knowledge — digital twins of the planet that Fortune 500s, governments, and insurers use to see the future before it hits. From hurricanes to droughts, supply chain shocks to financial collapse — the risks are here, but most of us are still blind to them. Julia and her team fuse climate, weather, and nature data into something m...

Peter Stein has spent his life proving that conservation isn’t about nostalgia—it’s about power, money, and strategy. From building urban parks in the South Bronx to managing Lyme Timber’s $900 million portfolio of forests, Peter has been at the intersection of land, finance, and community for decades. He’s seen how conservation easements can outlast politics, and how private capital can scale nat...

Anika Staccone has always lived at the edge of forests and frontiers. From watching pine beetles devastate her childhood landscapes in Colorado, to leading research on nitrogen-fixing trees at Columbia, her path has been shaped by the question of how we truly understand nature. Today, as Product Owner at Earthshot Labs, she is fusing AI, geospatial data and field science into tools that don’t just...

Can markets really bring ecosystems back to life? Tripp Wall thinks so — and he’s putting capital where most only put campaigns. As founder of Trailhead Capital and Pantheon Regeneration, he’s scaling restoration projects that don’t just conserve nature, but rebuild it: rivers, forests, biodiversity, and the communities that depend on them. We dive into the economics of regeneration — from volunta...