Welcome to 2023! After a short break, I'm so excited to bring you more conversations with incredible people this year, starting with a wonderful friend of mine, Blair Beattie.

Blair is the Founder of Farmer's Footprint Australia, which is a not-for-profit that gives voice to Australia's regenerative food story, and inspires, educates, and supports farmers to integrate regenerative practices.

Farmer’s Footprint Australia shares a vision with its sister organisation, Farmer’s Footprint US, which was co-founded by Dr Zach Bush and works collaboratively to create global programs and initiatives that support the regeneration of human and planetary health.

Blair is a great conversationalist and, as usual, this conversation is wide-ranging covering topics from the impacts of industrial agriculture, the story of glyphosate, and the commodification of our food system, right through to Blair's spiritual experiences with plant medicines, and how these experiences can give us a glimpse into a world bigger than ourselves.

And one of the core essences of this convo was the metaphor that regenerative farming is for our daily lives; just like when tending a landscape we need to shift our focus from extracting a yield to cultivating the soil and creating conditions for growth to occur... how can we create the conditions in our lives for growth to happen, naturally, as the path of least resistance?

Enjoy

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I have an incredible guest for you today.

Joost Bakker is many things. He’s an artist, a florist, a restauranteur, designer, entrepreneur, father, and so much more, but most of all he is an inspiration.

Joost’s projects over the years have continued to capture our imagination about better ways in which we could be living in this world.

Whether that’s through zero waste restaurants, completely rethinking building designs, or integrating food and living systems, Joost’s projects are known for their incredible impact and sheer audacity.

One of most recent projects was Future Food System in the Fed Square; a zero-waste, sustainably built and operated building in the heart of Melbourne CBD which grew its own food on site for the chefs that inhabited it and cooked there, and it was fucking EPIC. If you didn’t get a chance to see it or hear much about it, you’re in luck, because his documentary, ‘Greenhouse by Joost’ is out this week in cinemas across the country, which you should definitely check out.

In this conversation we talk about a whole lot of topics including Joost’s inspirations for his work, his stories from travelling the world, the impacts of the modern world on human health, the idea that technology will save us, our human tendencies towards comfort and convenience, and so much more.

But the essence of this conversation, and what all of Joost’s projects show, is that we don’t have to wait for, or demand other people to, change. In Joost’s words: “No revolution started with a politician”. If we want to create a better world, we need to be better. And it’s not only possible; it’s the only way.

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Today I am excited to bring you a very interesting conversation indeed, with safe technology advocate and founder of We Are Not Sam, Rinat Strahlhofer.

Obviously, the endless march of technological progress has and continues to bring us many amazing benefits in life. But we seem to be in a stage now where technological changes are being implemented so rapidly and with such complexity, that we’re seeing either horrific societal impacts (like the psychological problems with social media), or we’re just seeing the flat out misuse and corruption of certain technologies by governments and corporations.

In a world of cyber attacks, data farming, surveillance, and intrusive technologies (such as facial recognition scanning), we can’t keep up with the role and impact of tech in our lives.

Well, this is what Rinat speaks to as an advocate for safe technology use, who asks ‘What is an appropriate relationship with, and approach to, technology?'

Rinat shares her personal story from being a young marketer within Telstra, on a corporate career trajectory and being part of the rollout of 3G wireless network. Through that she saw the haphazard and frankly, unsafe way we approaching technological advancements in our society, which led her to want to use her voice to stand up for what she believes in.

In this conversation Rinat shares a bunch of specific industry information such as the way in which technology standards are set and tested, and some of the practical dangers of being constantly exposed to electromagnetic frequencies.

And much more than that, Rinat sheds light on the mental, emotional, and psychological problems that we’re just not talking enough about; like the fact that we’re just so addicted to and reliant on our phones to the point where can feel ‘naked’ without them.

We talk about A LOT of things in this episode, ranging from manipulative marketing tactics, cognitive dissonance, the lack of the precautionary principle, conspiracy theories, the growing influence of big tech, dopamine addictions, being apocoloptimists, and so much more.

But the essence of this conversation is that we don't need to be asleep at the wheel, mindlessly scrolling our way through life. We can choose HOW we want to interact with the world around us (natural or engineered) in a discerning and meaningful way, and then take steps towards that, together.

I think you'll find it fascinating and empowering, just like I did.

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