Waterpeople Podcast

What is enough to move you to action? For heavy water specialist Fergal Smith , nuclear meltdown became the impetus for a radical shift in life and livelihood. As the founder of Moy Hill farm , Fergal and his team aim to “grow worthy food, build soil, regenerate systems, plant flowers and trees, and work to leave what is in their care healthier than they found it," while also nurturing commun...

What is lost when a language perishes? What becomes of a language on the edge of  extinction ? Artist Mick Laurie is a man of story and culture, who is revitalising the language of his forefathers by making the first ever modern music in Gumbayngirr, using words spoken by his ancestors for tens of thousands of years.  Mick, a  Gumbayngirr / Yaegl musician and storyteller, is based near the mouth o...

Olympian and two-time surfing World Champion John John Florence masterfully navigates the edges of flying and falling. Riding big waves  and sailing at high speed around the Hawaiian Islands are amongst his most instructive and inspiring moments. Seen as the most technically gifted surfer on the planet right now, John has the eyes of the surfing world focused on everything he does. His broad rangi...

We’ve already lost 50% of Earth’s coral reefs. It's estimated that 90% will be gone by 2050 at the current pace of destruction. Coral Vita   just built the world’s first commercial land-based coral farm for reef restoration in The Bahamas.  They are regenerating reef systems with innovative methods that expedite the growth rate of corals, and allow for self-selection of the most resilient spe...

In 2011, Sachi Cunningham quit her dream job and her psychiatric medication  ( for Bipolar 1 ) in search of a deeper sense of wellbeing in daily relationship with the ocean. She and her partner hit the road for what became a 14-month-long road trip across the Americas along the Pacific from LA to Chile. Today, Sachi  is an award winning documentary filmmaker, photographer, journalist, and Professo...

Louie Psyhoiyos is an Academy- Award winning filmmaker and Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society . He makes movies that ignite and galvanise movements to protect the planet , including The Cove,  Racing Extinction, and Game Changers. The Oceanic Preservation Society  uses film, photography, and social media – one “exposure” at a time – to inspire, empower, and connect a global com...

The living world moves in pulses, defined equally by motion and pause. As waterpeople, we know this.  Daize & Aamion Goodwin are a couple of exceptional surfers who have  taken to applying the philosophy of the pause to daily life as a family. Daize is a two time world longboard champion and Aamion made a successful career as a multi-faceted waterman renowned for his casual approach to Pipelin...

Co-founder of Surfers for Climate and iconic waterwoman Belinda Baggs shares her story of taking action on what she sees as the greatest threat to her son's health and wellbeing: climate change. Belinda shares a cornucopia of solutions for getting involved today; from everyday changes we can all make, to applying systemic pressure for legislative change. We talk through the critical importanc...

He fled from civil war on foot as a six year old, physically unscathed, but forever changed  by the unthinkable violence, rhythms, and energy of Liberia's internal conflict. After making his home in California, Taki Gold set out to transform the dark relationship he’d once had with the ocean by taking up surfing. Along the way, he's grown into a multi-faceted artist and musician. Taki&ap...

What does the way we treat children say about who we are as individuals, and as a culture? Our guest, psychologist and father Robin Grille ,  believes that parents and teachers are amongst the most powerful agents for social change. We meander through stories about finding flow in parenting, moving away from the power-over paradigm,  how colonialism has historically guided parenting norms, and the...

Seven years ago, an episode of breathlessness after bodysurfing -- and  subsequent health challenges (including a 15% chance of survival) --  shook up Jack McCoy 's single-minded focus on filmmaking. Jack has crafted 25 feature films. From his 1976 debut Tubular Swells , to the contrasting narratives of Blue Horizon , and the historical themes of A Deeper Shade of Blue , Jack’s films have doc...

Rhonda Harper is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, and founder of the NGO Black Girls Surf, which creates access opportunities for black and brown women and girls to experience surfing. Black Girls Surf is fostering a new generation of recreational and professional surfers through international training camps, while  pushing back on exclusive surf media. Parallel to  Black Girls Surf, Rhonda is working...

If the act of looking at something changes it – an effect that holds true for people, animals, even atoms -- then what further impact does documenting have? Over the course of the last 30 years, Taylor Steele's observations and interpretations have helped to define and redefine surf filmmaking -- and to shape the modern, California-centric culture of surfing. In the 1990s Taylor documented a...

Do you have a memory about the movie JAWS? Australian icon Valerie Taylor was commissioned by Steven Spielberg, along with her partner Ron Taylor, to shoot the live action scenes for his unforgettable classic -- a film that ultimately drummed up irrational fears about sharks. Valerie spent much of the rest of her career trying to dispel those myths. Valerie's life’s work has become the basis...

Our cultural heros, and especially our sheros, seem to always glimmer with a steely façade of smiling heteronormative perfection. The soft underbelly of this manufactured reality is often left unspoken. Parallel to her time at the top, two time World Champion Lynne Boyer ( '78 and '79 ), struggled with addiction and stifling her sexual orientation. Still, she managed to define radical su...

How far are you willing to go to protect the place where you live, love and belong? Native Hawaiians have had to face this question regularly over the last century or so, as colonialism threatened, and continues to threaten, indigenous ways of being, playing and thriving in their islands. Professor/Surfer Isaiah Helekunihi Walker contextualises Hawaiian localism within the historical framework of...

What do you do with sparks of curiosity? Susan Casey follows many of them into full immersion: jet skiing down the face of a Pe'ahi set wave with Laird Hamilton, into the lightless innerspace of the deep marine biosphere via submersible, and straight to the ruins of forgotten ancient cultures to ascertain truth and significance for herself --- while taking readers along for the ride. Susan Ca...

How do we apply pattern literacy learned from ocean life to the land? What have we learned from our historically colonial approach to surf culture? How do we move ourselves and our culture forward in regenerative ways that favour meaningful relationship within our own community and the living world?  Homesteading surfer, filmmaker and entrepreneur Cyrus Sutton invites us to engage with these quest...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill, Dave Rastovich and Waterpeople's sound engineer/ in-house musician Shannon Sol Carroll as they sit down to recalibrate for another 21 episodes of conversation with some of the world's most adept waterpeople -- and those stretching the culture in imperative ways. ..... Hosts:  Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound Engineer & Music By: Shannon Sol Carrol...

One year after founding the Women's International Surfing Association in 1975, Mary Setterholm bought a bus ticket and left surfing behind -- her community and the culture she was helping to shape. Mary is a  graduate of Harvard Divinity School has gone on teach hundreds of women and at risk youth the art of riding waves. She shares the painful story of why she left and how she found her way...

Artists take us to other worlds; they reflect or refract the beauty in ours, or not. They transport us and stretch us and dream for those of us who have forgotten. We are the artful animal -- and perhaps we need art more now than ever. For more than two decades, Thomas Campbell has  shown us a quirkier and more open minded culture of surfing via sculpture, painting, photography and film. In watery...

How do we navigate our own inner ocean -- the fear and anxiety and unhelpful fixations ? Student of Zen Buddhism, and surfer, Jaimal Yogis shares some of his learnings from a life committed to riding waves and cultivating peace through varying practices of meditation and mindfulness. Jaimal has become one of the leading literary voices in fleshing out the metaphorical depth, richness and spiritual...

Dr. Liz Hawkins is a marine ecologist who has spent more than 20 years researching cetaceans. Liz is the founder and CEO of Dolphin Research Australia, where she heads up research and education about the social systems, communication, population dynamics, and health of dolphins in Northern New South Wales and South East Queensland. ... Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound Engineer...

At least once a day for 36 years, Tory Strange has provided a surf report for waterfolk in his hometown of St. Augustine, Fl.  Waking most days to see the sunrise for the dawn patrol report, Tory has developed an especially intimate understanding of his local beach. Tory is also an entrepreneur and owner of one of the world's most community-centric surf shops, The Surf Station . He has shaped...

Dr. Pia Winberg is marine ecologist and entrepreneur . A fascination with the scientific properties of seaweed led her to a decades long career in both researching and implementing sustainable marine food production systems – specifically the human and eco-systemic health impacts of growing, consuming and nurturing our relationship with seaweed.  Seaweed is recognized as a potentially major ally i...