Shows
Finding NatureWithout Reality It Falls To Pieces - Nina Jankowicz On The Path From Disinformation To AutocracyHi out there, how goes it? My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and welcome to the finding nature podcast. Today is a huge episode and one I’ve been excited to share with this audience for months. Nina Jankowicz is one of the world’s leading authorities on disinformation and democratisation - and what a time to be having this conversation. Nina was recently in Australia and after having the privilege to speak with her for the first time in 2024 getting to do so again was a thrill.Nina’s own career charts well beyond this moment of politi...
2026-02-171h 48
Finding NatureClarity, Creativity and Connection - Dave Murphy On How Breath, Hypnosis and Visioning Are The Path To Flow StateImagine if there was a way to improve your quality of living and wellbeing - from your sense of creativity to feelings of clarity, boost the performance of your immune system and reduce stress, enhance your sleep and gain insights into your subconscious, and it was all available right now to you, free of cost? It’s too to be true isn’t it? Well, today’s conversation with hypnobreath practitioner Dave Murphy debunks myths and provides the facts on how breathing, hypnosis, visioning and meditation can help unlock a new way of being and living. My name’s Nathan R...
2026-01-131h 30
Finding NatureA Love of Life - Amanda Sturgeon Is Making The Wild AvailableWelcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and this is my show where each week I go longer form with the people who are on the vanguard of driving and delivering work that matters in pursuit of safer, healthier and more just futures. This show is about examining and exploring our inner nature, our relationships to others and our place in the world as custodians of the future to come and the ancestors we follow. I love getting to do this, having conversations with and learning from brilliant people every week...
2025-12-021h 30
Finding NatureWhen the Music Stops - Alexander Pui and Preparing For The WorstAlexander Pui returns to the show today to chat all things climate science, climate risks and climate impacts. Alex is an old colleague who’s made an indelible mark on my career and it’s a pleasure to have him back while he’s in town escaping Tokyo’s suffering heat. Alex has worked across academia, reinsurance, insurance, banking, consulting and technology, is an adjunct fellow at the university of New South Wales’ climate change research centre, a visiting scholar at Kyushu university and completed his phd in applied statistics and flood risk assessment. There are few I’ve met who are...
2025-07-221h 17
Finding NatureMaking Good Men - Daniel Principe Champions Boys and Challenges CultureDaniel Principe is today’s guest, and this is a conversation I’ve been wanting to have for the entire year, so I’m very pleased to be bringing him onto the show and into your earbuds. I can’t overstate just how important and serious the work that Dan does visiting schools day in day out to engage mostly boys on topics of masculinity, responsibility, pornography, identity and countering the onslaught of toxic and unhealthy messages an unfilled and unregulated information system that kids today are exposed to. Dan has spoken in front of 76,000 school kids - 53,000 of which ar...
2025-07-151h 22
KELY 1230AM/98.5 FM News and CommentaryMayor Nathan Robertson gets a grant for security, talks about 7th Street Drainage Grant and new parksMayor Nathan Robertson talked with us about a new Federal Grant to improve security at local facilities, the 7th Street Drainage Improvement Project Grant, and two new parks in the County.
2025-07-1508 min
Finding NatureOn The Hook - Emily M Bender Isn’t Falling for the AI Hype MachineToday’s guest is Emily M Bender. She was recently in Sydney from Seattle to talk about her new book that she wrote with her co-author Alex Hanna called The AI Con; How to fight big tech’s hype and create the future we want. She’s a professor of linguistics at the University of Washington and received her PhD from Stanford, Time Magazine included her as one of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence globally, has her own fantastic podcast called Mystery AI Hype Theatre 3000 and has been featured in The Guardian, New York Times, Fast Company, The At...
2025-07-081h 17
Finding NatureConflict & Consequence, Compromise & Sacrifice - Hugh White Has a Clear Picture of The Hard New WorldToday’s show is with Hugh White, one of Australia’s most prominent figures on strategic and defence policy, whose career has spanned government and academia. Hugh was a senior advisor to Kim Beazley and Bob Hawke through the 80s and 90s in what was a period of substantial changes for this nation and the way we saw ourselves in the world, before becoming Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence in the Department of Defence. Hugh has now also spent the best part of two decades in academia, where he is an Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at The Aust...
2025-07-011h 51
Finding NatureInsider to Outsider & Gas's Place in The Energy Transition - Alex Hillman Has Been On Both Sides of The DebateAlex Hillman joins the show today. With the approval of the Woodside North West Shelf approval in recent weeks and the metaphorical fires that’s flamed, Alex’s visit to Sydney was serendipitous to say the least. He’s got 15 years working in the oil and gas sector, including nine in Woodside as their climate change advisor. Now though he the lead oil and gas analyst for the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility having made the jump from insider to outsider. His work now is focussed on helping institutional investors demand better climate performance from their portfolio companies, all from u...
2025-06-241h 40
Finding NatureA Fragile World & Inevitable Conflict - Sam Jones Has Seen The Unimaginable & Wants Us To Act Before We Do TooSam Jones is today’s guest, he’s the President and Co-founder of the Heartland Initiative and was recently in town from Atlanta in the US. His work at Heartland Initiative focuses on helping investors understand and address human rights issues and related risks within their investment portfolios. He develops methods, tools, and guidance to assist investors in preventing and reducing harm to human rights through their investments.Sam has over 25 years of experience in areas like Conflict-sensitive research, analysis, and program management, International humanitarian and human rights law and Working with multiple groups on these issues. In a...
2025-06-171h 39
Finding NatureFrom Bystanders of Financial Abuse to Action - Catherine Fitzpatrick Has The Answer to Disrupt Another Form of PerpetrationCatherine Fitzpatrick is on the show today, and what an impressive career she’s already had, all while her scope of influence continues to grow and the evidence of what she’s affecting is increasingly visible and demonstrable. Catherine has 30 years of experience as a journalist, corporate executive and now an entrepreneur, she’s an author and researcher and advisor to the NSW and Australian governments plus the World Bank. In 2018 she was awarded an AFR 100 Women of Influence in recognition for how she’d catalysed and then led the establishment of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s domestic and family...
2025-06-101h 04
Finding NatureA Time of Monsters - Marco Lambertini Has The Recipe for Nature PositiveMarco Lambertini is on the show today, and where to start with describing one of the most iconic and visionary leaders of the environmental movement of the last 50 years. From eight years spent as the Global General Director of WWF, to being a current sitting member on the China Council, he was the CEO of Birdlife International too amid many other appointments. Marco forged a career in local and regional wildlife and landscape conservation campaigns, and with training as an ecologist and an inherent love of the natural world from before the beginning of his memories, having Marco and...
2025-06-031h 39
Finding NatureStart Again - Ben Rennie Wants You to Know It's Your Time to Build Creative Confidence and Be The Person You Dream of BeingBen Rennie is on the show today. A jack of many trades, from life as a prodigious rising star of Australian cricket during one of it most remarkable periods of success, to Dolce and Gabana red carpet events in Milan with Brazilian Ronaldo to starting and re-starting business endeavours to becoming the Chair of Design Declares Australia, attempting to quick describe Ben and his life is no easy feat. From walking away from the national game with everything in front of him to leaving a gig with bank executives and then pulling a professional geographic, Ben has done what...
2025-05-271h 36
Finding NatureResponsibilities, Duties & Obligations - Bec Blurton is Another Agent of ChangeBec Blurton is on the show today. A Noonga woman who has built a substantive career at the intersection of First Nations rights, climate action, justice, gender, policy and finance. Speaking with Bec was a pleasure and offered me many lessons. Understanding the experiences and perspectives of those who come from different backgrounds and circumstances, but where I find commonality in experience and belief is always powerful for me. I was humbled several times in this chat with Bec being reminded of my own inherent privilege, and despite the efforts I go to and versions of challenges I face...
2025-05-201h 36
Finding NatureBorn to Rule: Carl Rhodes on the Myths of the Good Billionaire and How We’re All PayingToday’s guest is Professor Carl Rhodes. It’s new book season at the moment and Carl’s latest offering is titled Stinking Rich - The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire. This is his latest work, coming after previous titles such as Woke Capitalism; How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy and CEO Society: The Corporate Takeover of Everyday Life. Carl is also the Dean of the Business School at the University of Technology Sydney, but he’s also held professorships at Swansea University, The University of Leicester and Macquarie University. His career in the private sector involved senior position...
2025-05-131h 30
Finding NatureThe Clean Energy Race - Dean Spaccavento Is On The BlocksDean Spaccavento is on the show today. And if there is someone who embodies the mind, body and spirit of the enormity we as attempted change makers more than Dean does, then I haven’t met them. In a week where we’ve seen nuclear energy and the Liberal party totally poleaxed by the electorate - and what a surprise that is - the race to decarbonise the Australian and global energy systems is absolutely on at the moment. For more than 15 years Dean has been on the vanguard of what a new energy system in this country could and...
2025-05-061h 41
Finding NatureImagining Human/Nature and Magical Thinking - Jane Rawson Is Examining Ideals of PurityToday’s episode is with Jane Rawson - an author, novelist and essayist whose new book Human/Nature On Life in A Wild World is just out and she’s on the show to chat about it. Jane has a diverse and brilliant background where she’s worked extensively as an independent writer, within governments supporting citizen communication initiatives and was also the Environment and Energy Editor for The Conversation in its early origins. Her work has focussed on bringing stories of climate change and environmental degradation to life, and how to think about both proactive chosen change and reacti...
2025-04-291h 14KELY 1230AM/98.5 FM News and CommentaryEly Mayor Nathan Robertson on Summer Jobs and Water RestrictionsEly Mayor Nathan Robertson talks about Summer Jobs with the City for youth, Positions open on the Utility Board and the City Tree board, and the need for watering restrictions, and it's not for the reason you might think.
2025-04-2912 min
Finding NatureDecolonising Finance, Agriculture and Culture - Jocelyn King Is Interrupting Business As UsualJocelyn King is on the show today. Joc is a Bundjalung woman who over the course of her life and career has worked to develop her own understanding of and connection to traditional knowledge systems. She’s worked in and around finance for more than a decade, where today she is the Chair of First Australians Capital. At the same time, she’s building a farm in NSW’s Hunter Valley that reprises First Nations knowledge of caring for and re-awakening Country while adapting regenerative agricultural practices too. Jocelyn walks the talk as she seeks to advocate for First Nation...
2025-04-221h 33
KELY 1230AM/98.5 FM News and CommentaryMayor Nathan Robertson talks about the new Judge and the City BudgetEly Mayor Nathan Robertson talks with us about new Municipal Court Judge Matt Hibbs and the selection process, and about the process of the City budget.
2025-04-1711 min
Finding NatureLandfall: James Bradley on Facing the Future, TodayToday’s show is with James Bradley - renowned Australian author who is returning to the show a year after releasing what was one of my favourite books of 2024 - Deep Water, Life in the Ocean. James’ books have been nominated and awarded prizes all over the country, and in 2021 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to literature as a writer’. He’s written for the Guardian, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper and The Conversation. His work is incisive and always brilliantly written, and at a time when it’s difficult to keep up or full...
2025-04-151h 19
Finding NatureBreaking Moulds and Braving The Dark - Michael Bones on The Long Road to Individual, Collective & Planetary HealthHello out there, this is the Finding Nature podcast and my name is Nathan Robertson-Ball. I started this show with the intent of creating the types of conversations that I knew I needed but also thought people that work in the broad tent of sustainability wanted to hear too - combining discussions on the issues and problems our civilisation and planet face with the optimism of what has and could be done but also getting into the mindsets and philosophies of the people who have been on the frontlines of attempting and succeeding in this work. I wanted to...
2025-04-081h 41
Finding NatureNew Ways of Deciding - Victoria Whitaker Knows That How We Choose MattersI’m very pleased to bringing you a chat with Victoria Whitaker. I was really excited to chat with Vic - she’s another of the originals of the Sydney and Australian sustainability crew like Lee Stewart and Nicolette Boele I’ve had the chance to chat with on this show. I did some work with Vic the best part of a decade ago when she was at The Ethics Centre, and it was immediately evident how thoughtful, well regarded and insightful she was.Vic has held a number of different roles in various organisations over time. From b...
2025-04-011h 26
Finding NatureHard Problems & Cosmic Acceleration - Brian Schmidt Is The Abnormal CosmologistBrian Schmidt is absolutely one of these extraordinary people - a normal person who’s lived an entirely abnormal life. Besides being awarded a Nobel Prize, Brian was also the Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University for eight years, including during the Covid pandemic. He’s a physicist, astrologist and astrophysicist by training, receiving his undergrad from the University of Arizona then his PhD from Harvard. For more than 30 years he’s called Australia home, making the move here and becoming one of the most significant figures in the history of humanity’s understanding of the universe and our extr...
2025-03-251h 38
Finding NatureKaylene Langford Wants You To Start Now - The Power of Creation and Owning Your FreedomToday’s guest is someone I’ve wanted to bring on the show for a little while - Kaylene Langford. The reason why I wanted to have Kaylene on is because her job is all about helping people take their hare brained schemes or half concocted ideas and turn them into businesses. This matters to me - both because I’ve done it and experienced a remarkable transformation in how I understand and can exercise my agency in attempting to make a difference, but because I know just about everybody listening today does harbour ideas and visions of starting their...
2025-03-181h 39
Finding NatureKal Glanznig is a Force Among Us: Rising Up To Be The Change We All NeedToday’s guest is a larger than life personification of that change - Kal Glanznig. Kal is a force - animated, enthusiastic, humble, curious and as a youth climate leader he’s entirely committed to doing all he can to avert a climate catastrophe.Kal’s successes to date are plenty.- from activating a school solar installation to launching a community anti-plastic platform, to scaling and changing a retail business to becoming one of the youngest local government councillors in this state to now driving a national youth eco anxiety mental health initiative. His list of achiev...
2025-03-111h 31
Finding NatureSo Little Time, So Much To Do - Digby Hall Appreciates The Scale of Our Adaptation RequirementToday’s guest though is someone I was very excited to spend some time with - Digby Hall. Digby is a renowned architect who for more than three decades has played a leading role in shaping and delivering versions of sustainability and resilient projects. More than that though, his thinking, influence and understanding of complex dynamic systems and being able to make sense and create practical actions that are necessary for adaptation is outstanding. To go with his registered architect label, He’s also a Ted Speaker, advisor, PhD scholar and entrepreneur who has helped me appreciate that adaptation isn’...
2025-03-041h 27
Finding NatureA New Force We Haven't Reckoned With Before - Emma Bacon Knows The Heat That's Coming For Us AllEmma Bacon is the Executive Director of Sweltering Cities and she’s on the show this week to talk about and share more on the terrifying reality of what she describes as the personal tragedies of a hotter everywhere world.My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and welcome to the Finding Nature podcast. I started this show nearly a year ago and the broader endeavour that is Finding Nature as a response to my own disaffection and distress over the trajectory of so much. In that time we’ve had another record year of greenhouse gas emissions, heat reco...
2025-02-251h 33
Finding NatureThe Garbologist Has Your Waste Prescription - Bel Chellingworth is Pursuing CircularityToday’s guest is a really fun one - Bel Chellingworth - none other than the Garbologist - joins to chat all things waste, packaging, circularity, business models, structural change and individual agency.Bel's career to date spans government, corporate and is now Director and Principal Consultant of BC Consulting, continuing to help business and community reduce waste and make circular economy real. Previously she's led the circular economy portfolio for the London School of Economics, The GPT Group, Australia Post, and ALDI Stores AU - always advocating for prevention, reuse and repair to be the first re...
2025-02-181h 38
Finding NatureNot All Heroes Wear Capes - Zack Schofield Is Organising New FuturesToday’s guest is Zack Schofield - one of the lead organisers and who Murdoch media describe as a prominent member of the climate action and activist group Rising Tide. Now I know protest and civil disobedience isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I suspect just about everybody listening to this show has joined one at some point - whether the school strike for climate, one seeking justice regarding Indigenous deaths in custody, respect for women and an end to gender based violence, or maybe it was the Rising Tide prostevial in Newcastle in November last year or in...
2025-02-111h 30
Finding NatureIntroducing: The Encroaching Apocalypse or A Glorious New ViewToday I’m launching and introducing to you the listener and the reader over on the Finding Nature Substack a project titled The Encroaching Apocalypse or A Glorious New View.Like all things Finding Nature I feel compelled to examine and imagine what could be possible, but I want to know more about the barriers and the blockers of the present moment. I’ve spent the past few years working almost exclusively in the baffling world of climate risk management - the science of climate, the efforts to convince people that benign historical data is no indicator of a...
2025-02-041h 13
The Jeff Robertson ShowFrom Rock Bottom to Resilience: Nathan Buttigieg’s Inspiring Journey of Overcoming Addiction and Building a Purposeful Life🌟 Discover Nathan Buttigieg's Transformational Story! 🌟In this episode of the Second Chance Podcast, we sit down with Nathan Buttigieg, a 27-year-old fitness professional from Victoria, Australia. Nathan opens up about his incredible journey of resilience after hitting rock bottom during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. From losing his job, battling addiction, and facing overwhelming odds, Nathan found the strength to rebuild his life—without outside help.💡 What You’ll Learn:How Nathan overcame addiction and embraced a fitness-focused lifestyle. The mindset shifts needed to move past victimhood and take control of your life. How self-discipline and setting goals can tra...
2025-01-2942 min
Finding NatureRe-plumbing the Global Financial System: Nathan Fabian is Ahead of The Curve for What’s InevitableHello 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 endeavour turned one years old - what started as an experiment by running hosted conversations at my actual job just like this and holding three pilot...
2025-01-281h 33
Finding NatureDiscovering Real Meaning In The Dismantling: Nadya Hutagalung Wants You To Find ContentmentThis 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 the mid 90s didn’t come from a normal or predictive route - an Indonesian Australian child growing up in regional NSW, she was catapulted into modelling in Japan at the age...
2025-01-212h 15
Finding NatureAgainst, Inside and With Business: Richard Boele Finds Meaning In Giving Voice to The VoicelessToday’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 the deleterious impacts Shell’s oil operations in Nigeria have had and the impact that Ken Saro-Wira had on him, through to how businesses today and thei...
2025-01-141h 34
Finding NatureThe Neuroscience of Change: The Role of Dopamine in Obstructing or Obtaining What We Want In Life With Dr Anastasia HronisDr 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 some of the world’s greatest music venues as a concert pianist. If that’s not enough, she’s also the author of The Dopamine Brain which I found an utterly compelling and valuable read.
2025-01-071h 20
Finding NatureTransforming The Year Ahead: Richard Burton Is On Purpose & Will Help You Uncover YoursFinding 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 reflection. Many of us have a bit of time and space from our usual routines, habits and obligations over this period, and for me tha...
2024-12-3156 min
Finding NatureBest of 2024 - Part IIWelcome 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 favourite guests or coming across some new ones, and the second part is more of the same.The intent of these two episodes is to...
2024-12-282h 12Finding NatureBest of 2024 - Part IHey 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 and thank you for listening. Thank you for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, thank you for spreading the word with your friends or colleagues...
2024-12-242h 09
Finding NatureLee Schofield Is An Unusual Suspect in Artificial Intelligence's Mirror DimensionA 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 rights and sustainability more broadly - this stuff is technical, expansive and has a lexicon all of its own. Artificial intelligence is something I want to explore more in 2025, but to begin tod...
2024-12-171h 24
Finding NatureThe Slow Road to Gender Equality: Catherine Fox Wants to Break The Delusion and Realise The Power of Intention and ImaginationToday’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 of Australia medal, she wrote for the Australian Financial Review for more than two decades, editing their Corporate Women column, was awarded a Walkley award for women’s leadership in media in 2017. While at the AF...
2024-12-101h 16
Finding NatureCollective Voices for Different Futures: Cameron Tonkinwise On Interdependence, Designing Support & Sustainable TransitionsCameron 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 the United States at some of the world’s greatest design schools. Few have influenced me as much as Cameron so to get him...
2024-12-031h 34
Finding NatureClimate Councillor Lesley Hughes on the Race To Catastrophe and The Power of UnityToday'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 was a lead author of the 4th and 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports - including being part of the IPCC group who were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. She was appointed a...
2024-11-261h 43
Finding NatureTammi Miller Will See You Now: Work Addiction, Identity and The Perils of Pursuing It AllToday'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 Tammi on the show for a few months, so when the chance came up after reading her book Bare Therapy I jumped at it. It's reasonable to expect that many of us can struggle...
2024-11-191h 35
Finding NatureThe Voice of A Community: Nicolette Boele on Local Politics, Local Change and the Potential For A Real ShiftHello 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 astonishing malpractice of big four accounting and consulting firms - final report is in and its 40 recommendations are designed to - and I quote - lead to a comprehensive overhaul of the...
2024-11-121h 21
Finding NatureDr Vanessa Pirotta is Forging New Paths: Humpbacks, Drones and Creating What Doesn't ExistDr 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 glimpses of their existence out at sea. Over the last thirty years humpbacks have continued to recover their population numbers right around the world - a rare species conservation success story.Vanessa is one...
2024-11-051h 39
Finding NatureChange Junkie Ann Austin On Shifting Commitments & How to Turn the DialAnn 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 largely gone, but the confusion certainly remains for many - what do you mean sustainability means changing? Ann and I get into that today, her dedication...
2024-10-291h 18
Finding NatureSisyphus is No Obstacle - Chris Nunn on the Clarity to CatalyseToday'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've come to know him as a person. Warm, compassionate, generous and grounded.With a career spanning law, consulting and large scale property businesses, Chris has also dedicated a large part of...
2024-10-221h 39
Finding NatureThe Way Out Is In - Erin Billman Does The Work For a Nature Positive FutureToday'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 the biodiversity all of these places hold and call home.It's easy to be cynical about the enormity of the task we have at hand to deal with not just a...
2024-10-151h 06
Finding NatureWe're Allies On The Same Team - Davina Rooney and Jorge Chapa Make Friends and Change BuildingsToday'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 coming together at the GBCA they have been able to take that organisation to even higher heights. I have an enormous regard for both, and talking about the job and what's involved practically when...
2024-10-081h 35
Finding NatureIndigenous-Designed Finance - Bruce Chapman and Chris Andrew Want To Reflect RealityOn 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 connected to his vision of restorative justice for the role banks have played in financing colonisation in Australia and the massacres, dispossession and marginalisation that First Nations p...
2024-10-011h 21
Finding NatureThe Animals Do Not Want To See Us - Satyajit Das On The Perils of Wild QuestsSatyajit 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 career in banking followed, until he had some unexpected life changing expeditions in nature - one in Zaire, now Congo, and the other Antarctica, which seems to...
2024-09-241h 33
Finding NatureBlowing The Whistle on the Climate Crisis - Regina Featherstone Won't Go With The FlowRegina 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 background is immensely impressive.Regina has worked in top corporate law firms but also in community legal centres where she has focussed on migrant worker exploitation and workplace sexual harassment, and for several y...
2024-09-1756 min
WP Builds389 – All New ‘The Community Show’ with Courtney Robertson. Episode 1.So this is fun! A new show! This is the next one that I'm announcing… The Community Show! It's with Courtney Robertson, who knows more about the WordPress community than almost anyone else I can think of. We're going to be doing this show, just like the other ones (stay tuned, I'll announce them soon too) every 3 months or so. That means that our new podcast hosts won't get burn out, but also we'll have plenty to talk about. So what's this new show about… well… the WordPress community, and all the things that it does. Events, meetups, online sessions, update...
2024-09-1253 min
WP Builds389 – All New ‘The Community Show’ with Courtney Robertson. Episode 1.So this is fun! A new show! This is the next one that I'm announcing… The Community Show! It's with Courtney Robertson, who knows more about the WordPress community than almost anyone else I can think of. We're going to be doing this show, just like the other ones (stay tuned, I'll announce them soon too) every 3 months or so. That means that our new podcast hosts won't get burn out, but also we'll have plenty to talk about. So what's this new show about… well… the WordPress community, and all the things that it does. Events, meetups, online sessio...
2024-09-1253 min
Finding NatureWhat You Don't Know Does Harm You - Nina Jankowicz Is The Valiant We NeedNina 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 experience after being appointed by US President Joe Biden to become the Department of Homeland Security's first Executive Director of their Disinformation Governance Board is a harrowing first hand account of the dangers and threats...
2024-09-101h 31
Finding NatureVibrancy and Vitality - Dr Dominique Hes Makes Regenerative FuturesToday'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 with Dominique who for nearly three decades has pursued more than just sustainable futures but has been investigating and experimenting in ways by which to bring about real transitions...
2024-09-031h 24
Finding NatureFrom Housing Dream To Inalienable Right - Kevin Bell is Reframing For DignityToday'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, where he sat in all divisions of the court. During that time he played a pivotal role in the implementation and operation of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 within the...
2024-08-271h 02
Finding NatureKind Business - David Cooke Is The Leader We All WantDavid 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 Australia and the UNSW's Human Rights Institute Advisory Committee, he was a roundtable member of Westpac's Safer Children Safer Communities programme, and is now an author of his first book...
2024-08-201h 32
Finding NatureThe Baffling World of Climate Risk Management - Alexander Pui is a Green SheepToday'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 engineer and lawyer by training, received a PhD for his work in applied statistics specific to understanding hydrology and flood risk in the context of a changing climate, and is...
2024-08-131h 54
Sweat CapitalAlvia Asset Partners - Nathan Robertson and Josh Derrington'Patient capital invested across public and private markets, building long-term intergenerational wealth.' This is the line that our next guests live by. This week's guests are Nathan Robertson and Josh Derrington from Brisbane-based family office advisory firm, Alvia Asset Partners.
From humble beginnings and valuable lessons learned in their early careers to the inception and growth of Alvia Asset Partners, they offer insights into the challenges and triumphs of building a successful investment firm. They delve into the strategic decisions behind assembling a respected advisory board, including notable figures like former QIC and Telstra Super CIO...
2024-08-0846 min
Finding NatureLife Goes On - Megan Maurice Keeps MovingWelcome 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 other people do change, how they grow and evolve from the person they were to who they are now and where they're ideally trying to get to. Most of...
2024-08-061h 39
Finding NatureWhat Needs to Change for Sustainability to Work - Lee Stewart is Throwing Down The GauntletToday'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 grapple with for over 20 years. Where it came from, how it's changed and where it may be going.Lee is someone who has been a literal pioneer here in Australia and in New...
2024-07-301h 34
Finding NatureBiology as Business Teacher - Joe Steensma is a Feral Kid Grown UpJoe 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 address system challenges by using the lessons he has accumulated from the natural world. Joe is a Ted speaker and has started, run and sold dozens of businesses, and his applied...
2024-07-231h 27
Finding NatureInternal Integration, External Actualisation - Mark Rowland is Here NowToday'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 each conversation that there's another aspect of Mark's career and personality that I have great regard for. A Brit who was...
2024-07-161h 45
Finding NatureTime Will Tell - Sam Kernaghan Knows What's ComingSam 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. Sam does this after more than 20 years working in similar fields - from his time in Sri Lanka helping with post tsunami reconstruction, to working on and leading a lot...
2024-07-091h 51
Finding NatureBlazing Trails - Anna Bowden & Keeping Kids SafeWarning: 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 free counselling in Australia. Hello and welcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and this is my show where I explore the stories, philosophies and missions of...
2024-07-021h 43
Finding NatureBuilding, Rebuilding & Building - Rory Martin on The Life & Lessons of a Sustainability LeaderToday'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 one of Australia's leading corporate sustainability thinkers and practitioners.Rory grew up in Ireland and trained as an architect, before curiosity got the better...
2024-06-251h 49
Finding NatureBuilding and Maintaining A Body To Live, Work & Play In with Dr John PanagopoulosHere'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 gotten injured a lot. There along the way for me for over 15 years has been today's Friend of the podcast - Dr John...
2024-06-181h 48
Finding NatureFrom Trapping Tassie Devils to Nature Tech Founder - Camille Goldstone-Henry is Channeling Constructive PainCamille 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 hearing increasingly from the climate scientist community regarding their fears, grief and disdain for the seemingly intractable and repetitious political battles, Camille had her own analogous experience in coming to know intimately the gloomy and despairing statistics and i...
2024-06-111h 40
Finding NatureFrom Broken Hill to Finance Maverick - Adam Verwey is About To Do It AgainToday'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 extend the ethical investment world into something that leverages the passion and enthusiasm of everyday people to drive intentional and deliberate change within large listed businesses....
2024-06-041h 13
Finding NatureUnderstanding Power and Being The Underdog - Paul Oosting is Concerned With What's RightToday'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 of Tasmanian forestry politics and community dynamics where he worked as a leading figure during the 2000s as part of successful campaign to halt the destruction...
2024-05-281h 23
Finding NatureAdapt or Lose - Kate Cotter Has Inconvenient TruthsToday'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 well as globally. A warming planet means a burning planet, and the past few years have seen record fires not only here in Australia, but...
2024-05-211h 51
Finding NatureAI or Salami - Mathew Mytka is Filling Technology's Soul-Sized HoleToday'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 artificial intelligence, and I came away in awe of how Mat brought serious play to such a dense topic yet also a space I hadn't expected play could be a part of.
2024-05-141h 49
Finding NatureSubversion and Exertion - Jess Miller Wants to Have Fun, Win Hearts and Change CitiesToday'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 Sydney's youngest ever city councillors, plus mothering and you have the ingredients for someone who is made from audacity and insanity, depending on who you ask and at what stage her visionary process is at.
2024-05-071h 25
Finding NatureDesigning Transitions for Sustainable and Equitable Futures - Madness or Mission with Cameron TonkinwiseToday'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 Cameron a little over six years ago and we speak a little about how I insisted on us catching up when he had recently emigrated...
2024-04-301h 31
Finding NatureReaching for What's Possible - Emma Pocock's Vision for Sport as a Vehicle for ChangeEmma 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' - and would forever alter the trajectory of her life. But more on that later. Emma's life changed very shortly after this, taking her conceptual understanding and...
2024-04-231h 35
Finding NatureThe Word For World Is Ocean: James Bradley On The World In The OceanToday'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 stable civilisation to exist and to be maintained. It weaves James' own experience of encountering the ocean, the experts studying it and the incredible array of...
2024-04-161h 01
Navigation and Discovery with Cameron SinghEpisode 50 | Mike Robertson | Discover Your Potential, Live Life To The FullestEmbark on a transformative journey towards unlocking your full potential with the 50th podcast episode inspired by the book "I Can Help You If You Let Me" by Mike Robertson. Join us as we delve into the insightful wisdom and practical guidance offered with Mike Robertson, drawing from decades of ministry experience. Through vulnerable storytelling and profound biblical insights, we explore how to deepen your connection with God, enhance relationships, manage resources, and leave a lasting legacy. Whether you're feeling stuck in survival mode or seeking to soar to new heights, each episode is a beacon of hope and...
2024-04-0945 min
Finding NatureChanges Requires Changing - Grounding Helicopter Thinking With Pablo BerruttiIf 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 an anchor of the responsible investment community through his work at Stewart Investors and also as the founder of Altiorem, to go with over 20 years in financial risk management, ESG and funds management, including time. Pablo...
2024-04-091h 53
Finding NatureSane Choices, Insane Choices - Nature as Infrastructure For a Safer Climate Changed FutureWhat 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 beauty to help address chronic climate perils in the form of rising sea levels, mitigate the risks of extreme rain events and ever higher king tides, protecting state significant infrastructure, creating opportunities for...
2024-04-021h 58
Finding NatureThe Open Secret Change Relies Upon & Sustainabilators Have Missed - Rob RogersToday'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'm doing. Considering I think a significant proportion of my time has been and is spent attempting to share, influence, teach and alter hearts and minds that results in more sustainable outcomes, this was a shocking...
2024-03-261h 37
Finding NatureChanging & Change Making - Dr Abby Bloom & The Longevity ImperativeToday'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 gone on to lead a myriad of careers - US Foreign Service, epidemiologist, health system designer and creator, entrepreneur, investor, Board director.In this conversation we...
2024-03-191h 36
Finding NatureFinding Soul & The Superpower of Knowing Yourself - Tash RitzToday'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 found it utterly compelling reading. We go through a lot in this episode, but in so many ways what Tash has gifted in Souling is a way to move through the sometimes...
2024-03-181h 40
Finding NatureInto Action and For Service - The Remarkable Life of Bob CarrToday'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 in NSW's history. He then served as the Australian Foreign Minster for 18 months from 2012-13 as part of the Gillard Government.In what now seems like a much more sane and reasonable period of...
2024-03-181h 06
Fuel For The Harvest: The Forge Podcast NetworkEpisode 212: A Call to Endurance w/ Dwight Robertson (Endurance Part 1)Jesus endured much throughout his life, culminating at the cross, for the joy of saving the world. By his example and His power we can learn to live our lives with endurance. Join Charlie and Nathan as Dwight Robertson shares on this powerful subject.
2024-01-2332 min