202. Some Big News: An Earth Day Launch

The news is that my family and I have just arrived in the Americas , specifically in North America , Turtle Island , and , more specific than that , in San Francisco , where we're just about to be picked up by the most popular guest on the podcast , as it happens , and dear friend now , Paul Hawken .

Yes , for those who've been listening a while , RegenNarration meets Regeneration , or something like that . In all seriousness , this is a very unexpected turn of events for us . My wife and I both last travelled internationally 17 years ago . We both resolved at that time independently , as it happens , before we even met that we weren't going to do any more of that .

Flying is just so energy and emissions intensive and inherently disconnecting from the earth .

Obviously , though , I have enjoyed that aerial perspective and even nearly won a songwriting award with a friend with a song I wrote up there once , but hey , we'd also had a good share of that energy-intensive form of travel by any measure , so perhaps we could help leave some greenhouse gas space , as it were , for those who hadn't experienced it which , let's face ,

it is most of the world , let alone future generations and meantime , perhaps we'll take some of that pressure off the atmosphere and all the related consequences we're coming to know too well .

So in the time since our passports expired and , to be honest , that emissions intensive travel wasn't missed , as you well know we turned our attention to getting to know our own country properly , and the podcast really grew legs when we embarked on a journey around Australia back in 2018 and thought it might be worthwhile sharing some of what we learned along the

way . Of course , in doing that , I didn't shut the rest of the world out . There have been strong global connections , explored throughout the years online and with those that lobbed up on our shores . Some wonderful new friends have been made from that too , which again is a large part of what led us to being in this airport right now .

But we have prioritised getting out on country and connected with it in a way we never had , via the people who are enabling it to regenerate in all sorts of wonderful ways , the people who are enabling it to regenerate in all sorts of wonderful ways .

In a sense , being here right now was the next logical thing to do , having returned to Australia 20 years ago from an incredibly blessed time living with Mayan and Mestizo communities in Guatemala for several years . I shared a little of this the last time I released a personal tale on this podcast , in episode 91 .

Essentially , I guess I was a kind of independent volunteer , as conventional frames would put it , offering whatever I could to a rural municipality called Freba Toromera , las Casas In return for a place to stay and a tab at the local restaurant . That's all a bigger story , some of which squeaks out on this podcast from time to time .

But for all that I was doing in Guatemala , all that I still believe was worthwhile , and for all the wonderful relationships shared , I ultimately couldn't help but feel that my very presence reinforced the impression that countries like mine remained the benchmark of development .

After all , I could go there and work for supposedly nothing , certainly no salary but wow , the rewards . And of course , ultimately I could leave . Just about no one where I was could do that . Now , this in no way disparages the brilliant , full-hearted and gutsy people who do continue in the field , as we say , of international development .

I'm humbled to have met many awesome folk and , oh , for a while could I see a wonderful , meaningful life into the future in Guatemala .

I love that place still , but for me , I guess there was another call and , it's fair to say , part of that call was also the country of Australia , as in the land , sea and cultures , a sense of home , perhaps for the first time , and that's a longer story too , really .

Anyway , those 20 years ago I resolved to head back to Australia , try to get upstream of the unsustainable systems of international development , you might say , and work to change those benchmarks and narratives . You can imagine , then , how strange it was to have found ourselves even considering this a couple of years ago .

Our great fortune was to receive some wonderful invitations through the podcast , and increasingly we were learning about how some of the burning questions in Australia were being answered in some way abroad . So , to cut a long story short , over that couple of years we started to take the suggestion that we travel beyond our country more seriously .

I tested the idea against the number of you listening , even to check against indulgence , and was it worth the intensive impact .

Sure , we travel slow there or here , like we mostly do back home , but to the other side of the world first , as you might be imagining hearing this , all we got while the concerns were shared was affirmation it was important , it would contribute . Even . We need you to do it . So if I have faltered in any way with this , it's in believing that nice press .

There was one particular conversation I shared with recent podcast guest judith schwartz about this . While we made the decision , she asked when we were thinking of flying over . I broadly said april 22 . I just pegged a date in at that stage for the sake of it . She said oh , earth day .

I admit I didn't know that , never paid much attention to isolated days or earth hours or whatever . Not that I'm dissing those efforts either . Judy said what a great narrative for the start of the journey , and I thought you're right . If we're gonna do this , that's the day we leave and that's the narrative point . So here we are Happy Earth Day .

I've also admitted to more than one person , though , that if someone said to me they were going on a journey dedicated to the regeneration of the living world , starting on Earth Day , and the story starts by flying to the other side of the world . I'd have thought what a ning-nong .

A lesson in judgement , maybe , but also a measure of how strongly this call dare I use that word started to sound for us , much as it did back in 2018 when we first went around Australia with a similar motivation . Back then , we said to each other let's be prepared to be changed . And wow , we were .

I could never have imagined what has played out in the last five years . As I said recently on the 200th episode of the podcast , I never expected to be doing this here with you . Well , we're saying the same thing again right now Be prepared to be changed . What will this turn of events hold ?

What is consistent with the ethos I returned from Guatemala with , I guess , is that the journey is for an extended period and maybe the whole time , even in the US , as a listener recently responded Ah , right to the heart of the systems and stories we live by , and , wow , at an interesting time too .

No , so here we go , still following the thread of the setting of the goals of those systems , the nature of those stories , right through to shaping what we take as normal and even possible . And hey , the US is certainly also the heart of so much brilliant regeneration .

So so yeah , continuing the approach forged back home , we'll get out on country with people doing some of those extraordinary things , learn and share , see if we can't weave a few more unsuspecting threads together and produce more of the so-called impossible . There is something else too .

The first place I ever travelled internationally to was Turtle Island , the part we call Canada today , nearly 30 years ago . Funnily enough , though , I had nothing to do with farming for many a year more . It was to a farm , the family of my partner at the time , and hello , if you happen to be listening , all interesting to look back on now .

Anyway , I did feel a very strong affinity to this continent . I don't really know why , aside from , of course , its incredible landscapes and cultures of all descriptions , but there did feel something deeper . So the fact it's calling me back unexpectedly now , well , we'll see what reveals itself on that front too , I guess .

And in case you're wondering , yep , we looked at getting across the seas to North America , turtle Island by cargo ship , though , again , as another listener recently pointed out , that's not much better environmentally when all things are considered . There's sailboat , of course , which I do love the thought of or sails on cargo ships .

That's coming on , but it's a whole other time frame and skill set and connections to make . Not a reason not to try , though , is it ? Who knows ? Maybe we'll make some of that happen . On the way back , there's our favourite travel mode bicycle touring . Geez , that's a magic way to go . Talk about connection with people and country and good old self .

We could start by following the regenerative threads through Asia on bikes . That'd be interesting and vital too , I think , for all sorts of reasons , but that's not where the call is yet anyway .

So those were some of the twists and turns in deciding if this upholds notions that we talk about all the time here Stewardship , integrity , perpetual reciprocation with nature . I trust we've chosen right . I can't tell you , I'm sure we have .

I feel a bit like when I see a big winter swell come in and I'm not sure whether I should mix with it and take it on . But once you decide , you are , you go for it and you trust . As for Earth Day , as usual there's so much more amazing stuff to the story when you stop to pay attention .

Earth Day traces its origins to a grassroots movement that emerged in the US during the 70s . The inaugural Earth Day , held on April 22 , 1970 , not long before I was born , was a response to mounting environmental concerns . Earth Day began as a student and teacher-led process . Sounds familiar today , doesn't it ?

This mobilised 20 million people across the nation on that first go to advocate for environmental protection .

The movement gained momentum , contributing to all sorts of things the establishment of the EPA , passage of other key environmental legislation , including the Clean Air Act , clean Water Act and , more Fair to say , now I'm approaching this Earth Day more respectfully , respectfully , gratefully and meaningfully than I've done before .

So in honor of all those brilliant people instigating that part of the movement in the lands we'll be privileged to travel on shortly , and in honor of all of you doing your parts too , here we go . This whole podcast thing's been an honor project , really . I've said it often .

You just try and stack up to your part of the bargain when you get to meet the sort of people and share the sort of spaces I do , all the more in my incredibly privileged position of being supported in this financially by a number of you . That honour only dawns on me more the more I do this . So thanks very much .

So we'll see where all this leads us in the privileged presence of cultures , ancient and new , in the Americas this time around . I hope you continue to enjoy sharing the journey together . Do keep in touch , jump on board Patreon to help support us doing it , if you can , and , of course , to enjoy behind the scenes photos and footage , etc .

With all my gratitude , I'll be back in touch with more soon .