Field Notes

Ep 59: Anna Radkovic – Messy glorious conservation

For Anna, no two work days at A Rocha Kenya are the same. She may be underwater doing a bit of coral gardening, helping scouts from Dakacha forest think through a Christian response to a machete attack, writing an impact report for a major donor or counting crows from a rooftop. In all the variety there is consistency though - in her love for God and for Kenya, and in her determination to support her team to be effective and hopeful conservationists.This is a frank and unvarnished account of how one brave, joyful and faith-filled woman is responding to God’s call to care for his creation. Find out more about A Rocha Kenya’s work at arocha.or.ke.

Ep 58: David Anderson – Sorrow and joy

If you have lived longer than five minutes on this planet you will have realised pain and delight, suffering and consolation, anguish and ecstacy co-exist. For a conservationist and pastor like David Anderson, the tension is all the more vivid. He has seen the places under his care, with their human and creaturely communities, thrive and flourish and also come under extreme pressure. In his own life David has faced a father’s worst nightmare with the loss of his precious daughter Thea at only nine years old. With generosity and courage he shares some of what that experience cost him and why he is still open to the risk of loving what he could lose.Find out more about David and his work with A Rocha Canada at www.arocha.ca

Ep 57: An anthology of hope

Creation is groaning with ever increasing distress. Those at the frontlines of the fight to reverse the frightening trends need strategies for staying strong. Each episode of Field Notes concludes with our guest sharing practices they have adopted in pursuit of a life lived hopefully and in a departure from our usual format, Rick and Jo revisit some of their favourites. Listen and be inspired by the creative, profound and wise ways conservationists around the world embody hope in their daily lives.

Ep 56: Thomas Chhoa – Plastic pollution to possibility

Plastic has a rather dirty reputation these days. There are few places on land or underwater where you won’t find discarded plastic waste causing harm and havoc. Thomas Chhoa has spent his life in the petro-chemical industry creating plastic, and he still believes this is a wonder-material and overall a force for good in the world. Now a Senior Advisor with the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, he is working at the highest levels to develop a circular plastics economy, and argues we need to return to the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle - on steroids.Thomas is a man of deep faith, moral fibre and intelligence and his message is both realistically sober and hopeful.

Ep 55: Peter Harris – Why does nature matter?

Peter Harris founded A Rocha in the early 1980s and has given his life since to the cause of nature conservation. He has long known the vital importance of the question of how and why to value nature. In this conversation with Rick and Jo (his daughter!) he explores the different explanations he has encountered for the worth of the non-human world and why he believes money lies at the heart of it all.