The RegenNarration

Blue Health, Big Waves & The Sacred Sea, with Easkey Britton

My wife recently shared an episode of the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, and said I had to watch it. It was called Celtic Waves, with reporter Sean Murphy tracing his ancestral Irish roots to a place that’s become globally renowned for its big wave surfing. Anyway, yes, the surf is amazing, and the people who pioneered it, but it was when Sean met the daughter of one such pioneer, and introduced her as a pioneering ‘marine sociologist’ that my interest was really piqued. Then after listening to her speak, I just had to reach out to invite her on the podcast.Easkey Britton has continued her family legacy, 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 showThe 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!

Meeting The River: A New Award-Winning Film, with Mara Tasker

Mara Tasker is the director of the new award-winning documentary The River. It follows the people living inside the Colorado River Basin, from farmers and ranchers to suburban families, tribal communities, and the seven state negotiators trying to rewrite the rules of a river that no longer matches the paperwork. What starts as a personal admission of “I didn’t really know the river I depended on” becomes a map for charting how we might be able to breathe life back into the Colorado, and really, rivers everywhere.  Mara’s story, too, is worth the telling – with no straight lines, from rabble rousing school girl, to gutsy cold calling young creative, with a passion for engaging with all kinds of people, and a river running through it all. Plenty of uncanny laughs run through this conversation too.I was introduced to Mara by Melissa Grumhaus, who was an Executive Producer on the incredible documentary film Bring Them Home, about the Blackfeet Nation's effort to restore wild buffalo herds. You might remember her from episode 278 in Denver last year. And this time, she’s part of the production team alongside Aussie company Songbird Studios. I noted recent popular podcast guest, Pete McBride, was also in the credits. So it was clear how good and meaningful this film was going to be. If you value what you hear, follow the podcast, subscribe if you can, and of course head to the film’s website. Please share this podcast too.Featuring music from the film’s soundtrack: The Story of a River, and Eric’s Grasses, by Mark Crawford.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 26 June 2026.Host a community screening of The River.And a community screening of Bring Them Home.You can hear the podcasts with Liz Carlisle for ep309 (with her beautiful music), Pete McBride for ep305 (with his live mandolin), Jeff Goebel for, most recently on-location in New Mexico, ep211, and Judith Schwartz for ep175, all among my very favourites. Send us a voicemailSupport the showThe 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!

Whatever It Is, Floor It: Linley Dixon on Real Organic, Regen Threats & Becoming Irresistible

Linley Dixon is co-host of The Real Organic Podcast, the weekly Anthem Award-winning ‘Best Sustainability, Environment and Climate Podcast’, recently also named one of the ‘best climate podcasts’ by Earth.org. That pod is produced by The Real Organic Project, that Linley co-directs with Vermont organic farmer Dave Chapman, a farmer-led movement, and add-on food label, dedicated to preserving the integrity of organic food. Right now, Linley sees the same patterns that have beset organics, coming for the regenerative movement. And in response to a challenge from Paul Hawken, and inspiration from so many pioneers, including some Aussies, Linley argues it’s time to join forces. Linley is a power of knowledge and experience in all this, with an incredible story to tell. Having started with nothing, her family did the hard yards and made a go of farming, but in the face of industrialised headwinds almost had to give it up, before a legacy moment occurred. But then, a horror contamination event. It was gutting. And it transformed Linley’s life. Along with so many others now, in turn.Perhaps inevitably, as a fellow podcaster, Linley interviews me at times here too! So it’s a kind of 2-in-1. We compare all sorts of notes, including of our respective journeys across the States and Australia, speaking to people of all kinds, politics and other beliefs. Again, you guessed it, painting a picture you don’t commonly see on the TV, and mapping out the successful stuff we can build on. And again, it all culminates in an incredible exchange stemming from the music question! Before we go out with a subscriber voicemail.This conversation was recorded just before the article I published on Substack last week on Trump’s Executive Order apparently advancing regenerative farming, said to be in part some MAHA triage. But we explore all its contexts here, including MAHA, its promise, and signs of divergence from Trump. We also look for what actually works: alliances across labels, cooperative models, food-as-medicine programs, directories and online marketplaces that connect eaters directly to trustworthy farms, and the cultural fuel it takes to keep pushing when the system is designed for consolidation. So ultimately, this episode feels perfectly timed this week. It really felt like we’d settled in on the porch at the farm too. I hope you enjoy the Summer evening hang with us.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 2 July 2026.If you care about regenerative farming, organic integrity, soil biodiversity, pesticide contamination, and building a food system that earns trust, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend who buys groceries, and leave a review with the most important standard you think “regenerative” should require.You can hear our visit to Churchtown Dairy, with Judith Schwartz and company, in episode 221: Restoring Dairy Farming with Family, Food & Festival. And the first listener mailbag went out from there too, in ep 219.And the Grounded Festival podcast that features the session on Food as Medicine, with Steven Chen MD, and me hosting, is here.Music: Organic Reflections, by Roie Shpigler (sourced from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Send us a voicemailSupport the showThe 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!

If Rewilding Is Colonised, How to Remake Wilderness? With Cal Flyn

‘A brilliant exploration of wildness in both nature and humankind.’ That's what Alice Winn said about the new book by Cal Flyn. Cal is an award-winning writer from the Highlands of Scotland, and the book is called The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness. A five-year odyssey she sometimes thought would kill her, Cal travelled the world exploring the concept of wilderness as it ‘shifted from a spiritual notion to an aesthetic and later to an (increasingly controversial) conservation ideal.’ Which led to a critical question, as we go about things like rewilding and the 30 by 30 conservation target, how do we decolonise that ideal, while not losing all it has gained? Then, having been introduced to the new book, I got even more excited looking over Cal’s back catalogue. Her previous book was the award-winning best-seller, Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape. What a collection of stories that was too. And out of both books, Cal says ‘coming out hopeful was a surprise to me.’But we start with her first book, being on her harrowing connection with Australia. Thicker Than Water emerged as she traced the path of a distant relative who became fêted as a pioneer hero in Australia, but has more recently been implicated as ringleader of a number of brutal massacres of the Gunai Aboriginal people.We talk about all this, the telling connections across some of her most extraordinary encounters, and what Cal’s found in herself, the rest of us, and the rest of nature, that continues to surprise and inspire.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 4 June 2026.Title image of Cal sourced from The Guardian.Music: Scotland Mountains, by Angel Salazar (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Subscribe for more conversations on rethinking conservation, decolonising wilderness, and building a future where nature and culture can both thrive, and share the episode and leave a review so more people can find it.Send us a voicemailSupport the showThe 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!

The Food The World Forgot: Helianti Hilman live at Grounded

A plant that gives you salt and sugar. A forest “supermarket without the bills.” And a business model that treats farmers, foragers, and fishers like artists with a world stage, not beneficiaries waiting for help. We’re live at the 2026 Grounded Festival in the Otways with Helianti Hilman, founder of Javara, following her mission to help revive Indonesia’s rich food culture and turn food biodiversity into dignified livelihoods.We talk terroir across an archipelago of landscapes and 1,300 ethnic groups, and what traditional knowledge still holds: slow cooking methods that protect nutrition, hyper-local souring agents and herbs, and delicious ingredients that serve many different functions. Helianti shares vivid examples, from lower-sodium salt in Papua to spice diversity that challenges what “normal” flavors even mean, plus the practical reality of mapping edible ecosystems without damaging them.Then we get into the reeds in conversation: commercialisation without extraction. Helianti explains why rarity matters more than volume, how Javara develops processing methods that don’t rely on electricity, and how ancient packaging with no plastic, the right narrative, and traceability help indigenous foods compete on quality instead of pity. We also unpack her “artist manager” approach, the Food Artisan School for rural women and youth, cooperative structures for shared infrastructure and financing, and what hotels chasing ESG standards actually need from local supply chains.We close with questions on sustainability, access, and intellectual property, including the limits of protecting traditional knowledge through trademarks and geographical indication, and why “food is medicine” isn’t a trend but a daily practice embedded in spices, herbs, and low-glycemic palm sugars. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find the work.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 22 April 2026.Title image by Alan Benson.See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below. Nicole Masters, live in conversation at Grounded for episode 307.Liz Carlisle on the living ancient roots of regeneration and its healing ground for episode 309 last week.Music: Working the Fields, by Falconer (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.Send us a voicemailSupport the showThe 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!