In a world full of noise, we will cut through the confusion and explore the growing divide on climate science. Hosted by Kathryn Nelson (aka Plastic Free Mermaid), a passionate environmental activist with two decades of ocean conservation experience, this podcast dives deep into the issues that matter—examining the rising mistrust in climate science, the role of misinformation, and how political and social divides shape the debate. Each episode explores the complexities of the climate conversati...
Apr 06, 2025•11 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In the 1930s, Australia’s Government Shark Control Program planted baited drum lines and shark nets around its beaches to protect swimmers and surfers. But what if the true killer isn’t sharks but the very same program that claims to protect us? In this episode, I’m joined by Andre Borrell, director of Envoy: Shark Cull; a documentary that exposes the ugly truth behind Australia’s shark control program. Partnered with experts, it debunks the program’s effectiveness and highlights sharks’ undeser...
Nov 17, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 48
When we begin our move into a more sustainable life, we can be so quickly reeled into the idea that consuming animal products and byproducts are bad; that we should be into much more plant-based food, but what if that isn’t the big picture? In this episode, I have Ryland Engelhart, producer of Netflix’s Kiss the Ground, which is a documentary that focuses on our soil health situation. He shares with us what we need to do to keep our soils diverse, and how we can contribute as soil advocates. Bei...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 47
As a mixed fair-skinned Bundjalung native born in Australia, Ella Noah Bancroft always felt like she was challenged about just how pure she was as an indigenous person. With growing up to words and notions like that, Ella knew she needed to pay homage to her lineage and respect to the stolen generation by continuing their culture and bringing it to the modern era. Ella is now the founder and pioneer of The Decolonisation Movement, and had dedicated her life to the rise of female energy as the wa...
Mar 24, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Plastic pollution is a problem that affects so many animals, habitats, and people. Turtles have come into the spotlight in recent years though, thanks to the rise in social media awareness for their protection and preservation; with a big factor to that being the viral video of the straw stuck up in a poor turtle's nose. This video hit the world hard, but we cannot stop at feeling bad for what is happening when we can make conscious efforts now to save more than just the turtles. Today I’m joine...
Mar 17, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Periods, something so natural for our bodies as females are oftentimes considered taboo to talk about. In this episode, we have Michele Wilson, co-founder of a sustainable and carbon-offset brand of period-proof underwear named Awwa. She's here with us to talk about her Maori roots and how she’s taken inspiration from their innovation and made it widely available to the world. Periods don’t have to and shouldn’t contribute to pollution and plastic waste, especially not when it's an integral part...
Jan 27, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 44
To conclude my five-part series with the amazing Helena Norberg Hodge, we discuss reclaiming our power of choice by making the switch to using local products and reducing our emissions. We bring to light the faults of industries, proposing a new way to tackle our overall impact on the planet. For the youth listening in-- Helena has a special message for you, addressing the quality of life corporations have placed on you and how we want to support you all through your journeys. In This Episode, W...
Jan 20, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Corporations and businesses ferry across the world goods just for one part of their value chains-- much like being shipped from England, processed in China, then packaged in Thailand. We must ask; do we really need to move food and goods around so much? In this episode, Helena and I go in-depth about the importance of making sustainable choices to uplift our local farmers' markets and support the community economy. In This Episode, We Discuss: The flow of goods in this globalised world The probl...
Jan 13, 2021•13 min•Season 1Ep. 42
In our global society today, multinational corporations remain faceless and nameless to us as consumers to the point where it affects our mental health greatly. We strive for fame, for being known, and in this increasing globalization of the world, our likelihood to rise slim down immensely. In this episode, Helena talks about what we can do, from our conscious choices to how we treat the world at our fingertips we call our cellphones, all to cure this world's deep loneliness. In this Episode, W...
Jan 06, 2021•14 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Climate change has been in people's minds since Al Gore’s efforts to expose the truth with his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” from a little over a decade ago. But what a lot of us don't know is that there are larger forces with far greater impact than us individuals. Corporations produce so much waste that even the great former U.S vice president had failed to address or even acknowledge it. Listen in this second part of a five-episode special with Helena Hodge as we uncover these larger fo...
Dec 30, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 40
With the world moving at such a pace, it's easy to make the decision to choose convenience over consciousness. These seemingly small individual decisions only rear its ugly head when we look at the much bigger picture-- one we call pollution. To share with us today her 45-year journey in the making, is Helena Norberg-Hodge, a woman with a mission to revitalise cultural and biological diversity. We bring up issues from big business that contribute the most to plastic waste, all the way down to so...
Dec 23, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Solving the ocean plastic pollution won’t be easy but we have no choice since the ocean is littered with million metric tons of plastics every single year. This problem is a great threat to all the marine species and their habitats. Everyone can do something to reduce the amount of plastic that enters the ocean and our guest for today is contributing in reducing the plastic waste that’s being thrown at the sea. Join me in this episode as I interview Bureo’s co-founder and CEO, David Stover! Bure...
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Plastics not only destroy our planet but also degrades our health. Harmful chemicals like endocrine disrupting-chemicals can be easily found in today’s products. To have a better understanding of these hazardous chemicals, Dr. Leo Trasande returns to talk about the impacts of chemicals on hormones in our bodies! Dr. Leo Trasande is a physician at NYU and the author of Sicker, Fatter, Poorer and an internationally renowned leader in environmental health. He is best known for a series of studies p...
Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Plastic pollution is emerging as a top threat to ocean ecosystems and no one knows how much un-recycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean that is killing millions of marine life every year. To make sure Australia takes responsibility for its waste, the Recycling and Waste Reduction Bill was put into place! It's designed to ban the export of waste glass, plastics, tires, and paper. And this is a great opportunity for us to transform our waste and recycling ways into a resource! To better underst...
Nov 04, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Our guest for today is a surfer who’s been fighting against plastic pollution for 30 years! Hugo Tagholm is the Chief Executive of SAS (Surfers Against Sewage), a community dedicated to protecting our oceans, waves, beaches, and wildlife. They bring people together and empower communities to create positive change for the ocean and our environment. In this episode, Hugo will share with us his years of experience and expertise working with grassroots activists, the government and the youth! He ta...
Mar 25, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Imagine you’re on a cruise ship enjoying the beautiful view of the majestic blue ocean until you see floating garbage of plastics and waste. Sucks right? Not only did it ruin your experience but also the ocean and the aquatic life in it. Sadly, there’s actually a huge plastic garbage out there in the ocean floating called the Great Pacific Patch. And this is continuously damaging ocean life since its discovery. Join me in this episode as we sail across the sea with Captain Charles Moore, as we t...
Mar 18, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 34
In today’s episode, Sean Doherty joins us to further talk about The Fight for the Bight campaign. He is a Surf Journalist and has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, and for the Surfer and Surfing magazines in the United States. He talks about the #fightforthebight campaign and explains the climate change performance index. He also shares his opinion on the issues that currently surround Australiaparticularly around the topic of oil, coal, and gas. We also touch the importance of activism, ra...
Dec 20, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Today’s coral reefs our on a major threat due to the ongoing impact of climate change. To prevent coral reefs from further dying, many organisations are on a mission to recover degraded coral reefs through the process of reef restoration. In this episode, we are joined by Azri Separwan, a Marine Biologist and Conservation Professor her at Fisher Island for the Restoration project. He’s going to share with us the Reef Restoration project and how this project is helping conserve our underwater eco...
Dec 18, 2019•22 min•Season 1Ep. 31
One of the most unspoiled marine environments in the world is the great Australian Bight. And we all know that an oil spill would ruin the pristine coastline and threaten coastal homes and livelihood. Unfortunately, the Australian government is trying its best to sell the rights to drill more oil to just any foreign bidder. BP and Chevron has already pulled out, but Norwegian company Equinor remains. In this episode, Patagonia Surf Ambassador & BIG OIL Activist, Heath Joske, joins us to talk...
Dec 16, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Today’s episode will surely make you crave for food as we talk about the best burger for our health and planet, the weed burgers! Join me in this conversation about healthy foods with Mark Kulsdom, the co-founder and CEO of The Dutch Weed Burger! Today we’re going to try the famous “Dutch Weed Burger”, which is one of the healthiest hamburgers in the world! It’s packed with proteins, more than in meat and contains more calcium than with milk! Okay before you click play, maybe you’re thinking, it...
Dec 13, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 29
We’re all experiencing the stress and effects of climate change. But how we communicate this emergency is critical in motivating collective action. If we manage to come together to mitigate the crisis that we’re in, then we’ll surely achieve our goals. Our guest for today is Linda Moreland, she works in corporate finance and she’s also a very active rebel within the Extinction Rebellion, a global movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimize...
Dec 11, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Our birth canal is chock full of bacteria. Newborn babies get their first microbiome from their mother. During childbirth, they are completely covered with bacteria, giving them a brand-new microbiome. In today's episode, we are joined by Ara Katz who is the Co-CEO and co-founder of Seed. She explains the gut microbiome and her journey through pregnancy and life which led to her discovery of seed. Seed is a microbial sciences company pioneering applications of bacteria to improve human and envir...
Dec 09, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 27
You might think buying and eating organic food is good for you, which it is. But, what happens then if that organic product is put in a plastic container? In today's episode, we are joined by Linda Birnbaum, the recently retired director of NIEHS, an institute dedicated to learning more about how the environment affects our health. In our conversation, Linda explains how the environment affects the food that we eat in various ways. She explains how fish has mercury from their food, or how organi...
Dec 06, 2019•10 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Don’t you just enjoy the popping sound of popcorn as it sits inside the microwave, ready for your relaxing movie night? But what might be scarier than your horror movie (if you're watching one), is knowing that there are chemicals from the packaging of your microwaveable popcorn transferred into your movie snack which you already ingested. Today we are joined by Researcher, Maricel Maffini. She discusses with us a summary of her presentation from the UNWRAPPED about the chemicals in packaging th...
Dec 04, 2019•8 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Plastic food packaging indeed protects our food but it can also be the source of chemical food contamination and increased risk in health. We don’t know every material used in making these packaging and this knowledge gap can actually hurt us. Join me in this episode as we unfold the different packaging materials and chemicals that touch our food with Dr. Jane Muncke, the Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Food Packaging Forum. In this conversation, she talks about the differe...
Dec 02, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Have you ever thought about what materials your ketchup sachet was made of? Or even thought of what this type of packaging may do to your health? In today's episode, we are joined by Shilpi Chhotray from the UNWRAPPED Conference. She shares with us the huge problem that comes from sachet packaging and how it is being used by various companies for multiple products. Join us as we discuss this problem and the possible actions we can take to counter and modify Corporate Accountability and make sure...
Nov 29, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Microplastics are everywhere, from the shirt that you use, the food that you eat, and even in the air that you breathe in. In this episode, We interview Dr. Martin Wagner from the UNWRAPPED Conference as he debunks claims on microplastics and educates us about the research around Microplastics and Nano plastics. Dr. Martin Wagner is a professor of biology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He talks about how plastic pollution is everywhere and how we need to start acting on it. H...
Nov 27, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 22
The single most important thing for us to do about the general chemical and plastic issue is to redesign plastic. - Pete Myers Join me in this episode as we unravel the chemicals that are in plastics with Dr. Pete Myers. He is the founder and Chief Scientist of Environmental Health Sciences. In this conversation, he summarizes the presentation he did at the UNWRAPPED Conference. He talks about the challenges in dealing with the rate of global plastic productions. He also talks about redesigning ...
Nov 25, 2019•19 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Join me in this part 2 episode with Dr. Leo the author of Sicker, Fatter, Poorer, as he explains the economics of plastic-free packaging and the dangers of food packaging with hormone-disrupting chemicals. He also shares simple steps and actionable solutions that’ll not only benefit us but also our economy as a whole. Get yourself informed, don’t forget to grab a copy of Dr. Leo’s “Sicker, Fatter, Poorer” HERE! In this Episode, We Discuss: The economics of plastic-free packaging The negative cos...
Nov 18, 2019•7 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Did you know that you can become fatter, sicker, and poorer because of plastics? In this episode, we interview Dr. Leo from the UNWRAPPED Conference as he exposes the chemicals that break our hormonal systems and harm our health in ways where it’s difficult to recover. Dr. Leo Trasande is a physician at NYU and the author of Sicker, Fatter, Poorer , a book that reveals the alarming truth about how toxic chemicals have the ability to disrupt your hormones and what can we do to fight back and prot...
Nov 11, 2019•10 min•Season 1Ep. 19
