The RegenNarration

The Purpose Pledge: Changing Capitalism As We Know it, with Dr Bronner’s Les Szabo

‘Dr. Bronner’s Has a Plan to Change Capitalism as We Know It.’ That’s the headline that Inc. Magazine ran with on the recent launch of the Purpose Pledge. Describing it as ‘a new gold standard of social entrepreneurship,’ the article led off with this: ‘The B Corp and the billionaires’ Giving Pledge are broken—so says the team at Dr. Bronner’s.’ Well, it might be a bit more nuanced than that, but Bronner’s has discontinued its B-Corp certification. I spoke with CEO, David Bronner, at the company’s HQ in California a couple of years ago, for episode 207, about the incredible story of this top-selling brand of natural soaps, body care and food products. Since David became CEO in 1998, the company has grown from $4 million in revenue to $250 million, and all while continuing to change so much about the systems and stories we live by.Back then, this podcast happened to be the first to feature the breaking news that the Purpose Pledge was readying for launch. That launch happened earlier this year. And today, more breaking news, as another four companies have just signed on.The key architect behind the Pledge, and its Executive Director, is Les Szabo. He’s the quietly spoken Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at Dr. Bronner's, described to me as having flown under the radar for a long time. Part of the family behind the family in a way, as his wife is also a senior long-term executive at the company. And how they met and came to be where they are at Bronner’s, and with Les now launching the Pledge (and related Fund), is one enormous, heart-rending, death-defying, instructive, hopeful and crazily serendipitous story, that in large parts I sense hasn’t been shared before. If you’d like to go straight to a particular part of our conversation, you can navigate via the chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 13 August 2026.Les’s blog on the Dr Bronner’s site. My conversation with David Bronner back in episode 207, from May 2024. And with the couple behind Food Connect in Brisbane, who have used the term ‘careholder’ since their successful crowd-funded equity raise, which we first talked about for episode 28, Transforming Food, Finance & Society.Episode 227 featured Joel Caldwell talking about his award-winning short film The Green Buffalo.For a short story about the uncanny moment that took place after this conversation, that's in my latest Substack piece.  Music: Honey Mustard, by Randy Sharp (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Send us a voicemailSupport the showHit play, share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and enjoy the hundreds of episodes available. The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits, and help keep the show going - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find writing too).You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks for your support!

How a Tropical Farmer Helped Build A Global Regeneration Network, with André Leu

André Leu is co-founder and Director of Regeneration International. That’s the world's largest network geared towards the transition to regenerative food, farming and land management, for the purpose of restoring climate stability, ending world hunger and rebuilding social, ecological and economic systems. It includes over 740 organisations across more than 80 countries, and humble individual members like your host, and is in the midst of exponential growth in interest. I catch up with André as he sits on the deck at his pioneering tropical fruit farm in the Daintree of far north Queensland. I’m eager to chat about his 50 years as a farmer, educator, author, rock musician and movement builder.We start with the regenerated farm, now lush, green and productive, and he says, ‘just getting better and better’. How’s that for a narrative we could do with hearing more of right now? We go on to chat about his coming of age in the heart of the Aboriginal land rights movement, and the dawn of rock’n’roll.We hear stories of legends, and a love story too, with his wife of almost 50 years. More well-known than him too, he says. And why did this pioneering organic farmer who’s led a movement for organics and regeneration for decades ditch his organic certification? And is Gina Rinehart really the world’s biggest organic farmer? So much to talk about. So settle in with us, on André’s veranda, with the sound of the trees in the tropical breeze. Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 6 August 2026.See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Music: Rowdy, by The Lonely Ramblers (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Send us a voicemailSupport the showHit play, share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and enjoy the hundreds of episodes available. The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits, and help keep the show going - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find writing too).You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks for your support!

Trailer

Welcome to the new trailer for the podcast! Hit play, share it with a friend, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and enjoy the hundreds of episodes available. This is The RegenNarration podcast — conversations with the people changing the systems and stories we live by, enabling the regeneration of life on this planet.Music (sourced from Artlist):The Lonely Ramblers - Rowdy - Instrumental version Mark Grundhoefer - Barefoot Yarin Primak - Galaxy Groove Yehezkel Raz - Flight of the Inner Bird Patrick Sebag - Hours - Instrumental versionAnd Regeneration, by friend of the podcast, Amelia Barden.Thanks for listening!Send us a voicemailSupport the showHit play, share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and enjoy the hundreds of episodes available. The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits, and help keep the show going - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find writing too).You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks for your support!

Regenerative Fashion, Witch Hunts & Re-Enchantment, with Lucianne Tonti

How does a fashion editor cotton onto regenerative agriculture, and then find that thread leads her back to the witch hunts? Lucianne Tonti is a prominent journalist, author and consultant specialising in regenerative fashion systems. Her first book was duly called Sundressed: Natural fibres and the future of fashion. That’s now being developed into a docuseries.Lucianne’s subsequent epic tale is told in her new book, Good Witch: In Search of Our Lost Feminine Power, published by Summit Books. It’s described as ‘A paradigm-shifting book that asks what the world might be like if divine feminine power had never been devalued. And shows us how it is being reclaimed.’This is the book I wish I read as a young bloke in my teens. I hope both women and men get hold of it in numbers. Lucianne has been on some incredible journeys in the last half dozen years, including visiting many guests on this podcast. But her last couple of years have really dug back into the roots of our struggles, and possibilities. And it makes sense of so much. From gender relations, to health epidemics, to land, politics, economies and so much more.More on the book:Today, we can still feel the legacy of the witch hunts: In the way the natural world has been degraded. In the way humans have become disengaged from the things that make us truly happy. A campaign of disenchantment has sought to disconnect us from the earth – and from each other.But enchantment was never truly lost. Here, Tonti shows us how a return to feminine power is what the world desperately needs now, more than ever.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 30 July 2026.Title image of Lucianne by Anne Peeters.See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Lucianne’s Substack, including dispatches from her journeys accompanied by photos.Her series of book launch events. Her write up of her visit to the Haggerty farm last year for Elle Australia, Follow the Flock.Music: Silhouettes, by Muted (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Send us a voicemailSupport the showHit play, share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and enjoy the hundreds of episodes available. The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits, and help keep the show going - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find writing too).You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks for your support!

Blue Health, Big Waves & Deep Change, with Easkey Britton

Easkey Britton is a pioneering marine sociologist, writer and surfer. She has continued her family legacy in Ireland, becoming a legendary surfer in her own right – from being the only kid surfing in her area, to later becoming a 5x national champion and the first woman to surf the huge wave near Mullaghmore, to inspiring and guiding more women and girls into the sport, even where you might least expect it (think Iran - where it was her life that was transformed). For her, though, it’s always been much more than a sport. Her PhD, best-selling books and immersive ocean retreats are all about our deeper connections with water, and its power to revive old stories, places and kinships, that heal and inspire. And for Easkey, it all turned on a decision her grandmother made. And an impromptu moment of crazy, or brave, or maybe flow state. With some key mentor presences along the way, including one we share. So that's where we start.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 17 July 2026.Easkey riding a giant wave in her 2014 Ride of the Year Entry.You can listen to my conversation with the late Manchán Magan (that I still hear from listeners about) in episode 173 (or the tribute from the start of this year, which includes the last 25 minutes or so from that original episode, in episode 290). And with Tyson Yunkaporta in episode 70.Music: Ocean sounds by Charles Rose.Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.If this conversation sparks something, subscribe, share it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Thanks for listening!See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Send us a voicemailSupport the showHit play, share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and enjoy the hundreds of episodes available. The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits, and help keep the show going - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find writing too).You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks for your support!