Finding Nature

Nathan Robertson-Ball

Find inspiration and guidance for the change you want to create and learn how others have achieved it in their life and work in pursuit of a more just, safe and healthier future. Nourishment for the change making class.

  1. 3 days ago

    Playing Catch Up With Reality - Hugh White On Australia's Hard New World

    That’s Hugh White, and I’m Nathan Robertson-Ball, and welcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast. Each week I sit down with the leading thinkers and doers across policy, business, academia, civil society and the creative arts to explore their perspectives on and experiences in contributing to a world that is healthier, safer and more just. Lost in my career and having suffered a dramatic life oblivion I was sick and tired of the constantness of feeling disappointment and despair in my daily life. I wanted to better understand how change worked, how it happened, how others understood it and what the best across multiple fields did to pursue and activate it themselves. That simple question was the beginning of what Finding Nature is, and it’s a privilege to spend time with remarkable people every week and be curious about their insights and wisdom. I’m glad you’re here to experience it too. This is Hugh White’s second appearance on the show, and he is on the show as his latest book, Hard New World; Australia’s Post-American Future has just hit the shelves. This is a follow up to his extremely popular Quarterly Essay from the middle of 2025, as well as an extension on many of the ideas and commentaries there. I’m lucky doing this that I now get to read a lot of excellent writing that help me better understand this moment, how we got here and where we might be headed, and Hugh’s work has been central in helping me re-frame my own perspective. Hard New World is compelling reading that explores Australia’s position and identity in an era of significant geopolitical re-ordering, as well as what’s driving that re-ordering. Hugh’s expertise lies in Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia Pacific and world security, as well as global strategic affairs. Starting his career as an intelligence analyst, was a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald, was International Relations Advisor to Bob Hawke during his Prime Ministership and served as a senior official in the Department of Defence. He was the founding Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, served as the head of the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, has authored nine major publications as an author, co-hosts The Foreign Exchange podcast and his writing features regularly in publications like The Saturday Paper, Australian Financial Review and The Lowy Institute. That’s an abridged bio, but what it points to is if there is anyone in this country more credentialed and capable of eloquently and comprehensively sharing about the state of global affairs and Australia’s place in the world, Hugh is it. We cover so much ground in this chat. From Australia’s required identity shift to move with a changing world, the narrative required to do that and the political consequences of dealing with the geographical realities of Australia’s place in the world, the dynamics of the transition underway to a unipolar world, Trumpism and US isolationism, nuclear weapons, climate change as a threat multiplier but maybe as a challenge of such significance humanity can’t ignore reprising its cooperative spirit to address, the role of imagination in all of this and historical precedents how for post colonial Australia has shifted with the times - from Federation to the abolishment of the White Australia Policy. If you care about or are curious about the shifts underway in our world, this one is for you. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Responsible investing in defence, security and resilience ADS group: UK defence ESG charter Geopolitics of the energy transition: Critical materials Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Playing Catch Up With Reality - Hugh White On Australia's Hard New World

  2. 1 Sept

    Embracing Wildness - Claire Scobie Has The Stories That Awaken A Dormant Light

    Today’s guest is Claire Scobie, who’s the author of the new book ‘Wild Hope; Stories of Leading and Living In Uncertain Times.’ Now anyone who knows me knows that I’m generally a sceptic of hope and many of its connotations, especially in regards to the serious business of chasing political reform or addressing any and all of the many systemic and structural challenges we as a species and this planet faces, but I was convinced to pick Claire’s book up as I knew former guest Reece Proudfoot was one of the stories highlighted. Anything involving the serious and grassroots derived work Reece is doing in the Southern Highlands I both wanted to read about but also appreciate how his work fits within a larger story of community activation and development - the place where real change occurs. Claire is an author and journalist and she works with organisations through her business Wordstruck to help them uncover and tell the stories that shape their work and the change they want to make in the world. Her work has been featured in publications like the Observer, the UK’s Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald, and this book is the result of her own journey of curiosity and discovery since her ecophany involving the unlikely moment she discovered a tiny marsupial found only on the islands of the Torres Strait was thought to have gone extinct, all while sitting on a plane in Hong Kong. Cracked open, Claire’s world has been different ever since, and Wild Hope is that story. I found great joy and comfort in Claire’s work and this conversation. Over the course of building Finding Nature the last two years I’ve had the extraordinary opportunity to meet and learn about literally thousands of projects and groups and activations occurring in every corner of our society. These may not be broad-scale in their impact, but they are what we have agency over and deliver essential ingredients for the human spirit - connection, nourishment, self efficacy and progress. In our communities - whether it’s a bush regen group, a LGBTIQ poetry slam series, attending something like a writers or film festival - it is in these arenas we meet like-minded and like-hearted people. It’s here we can feel safe and part of something bigger than ourselves, and where action becomes possible. Wild Hope tells this story and the stories of dozens of these types of communities from around the world. In this conversation Claire shares about this, her own journey of transformation and how through local connection, immersing in nature and learning about First Nations cultures and practices, she has learnt to walk a path filled with mystery, joy and love. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Doughnut economics for regenerative business design Investing to reconnect financial value with people, nature and the real economy: An iterative blueprint for capital markets actors, policymakers and regulators 100 million farmers: Breakthrough models for financing a sustainability transition Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Embracing Wildness - Claire Scobie Has The Stories That Awaken A Dormant Light

  3. 31 Aug

    The Fresh Start Effect - A Masterclass On Starting Spring With A Boost

    Hello and welcome to a special edition of and extra episode of the Finding Nature podcast. If you’re new here, hello, if you’re a returning listener, welcome back. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and this is my show where each week I sit with people leading us towards a safer, healthier and more just future. This episode is different though - it’s my Fresh Start 2026 show that is a compilation of many of the brilliant people I’ve had the pleasure of spending with and learning from. The Fresh Start Effect is something I fall for basically every Monday, every first of the month, every new season, and today being September 1, the first day of Spring here in Australia, I wanted to create something that helps give you the boost you may be looking for as we enter this new season and time of year. The fresh start effect was coined by some behavioural scientists in 2014 and it represents how some people have a tendency to take action on new goals, make positive changes, try to get into healthy action after a date or milestone has passed. These are temporal milestones, like New Years Day, a birthday, starting a new job, every monday, every first day of the month or at a new season. I am a total sucker for these, and despite my best efforts, still find the allure of these to be compelling, even though I know right now is the moment I have to make the changes and choices I’d like to in my life. Something that both fascinates me but I also know is essential is to live a life and to have an identity that is broader and more layered than work and career and a professional status. Having gone through a significant change in that regard this year I’m grateful for my practices of meditation and running and group therapy, for my friends and being a father and also this whole apparatus that have helped to keep me grounded and mostly healthy through it. Much of what I seek to create through Finding Nature - in many ways it’s purpose - is a portal for us all to connect with what our true nature might be, to be curious about, to nourish it and to bring it into the world in the pursuit of our goals and aspirations. I know I need to remain connected to my own deeper sense of meaning to do this well, consistently and to show up in service of this purpose over the blaring spotlights of external validation and plaudits. This episode is about two things within that context. The first is to offer you snippets from episodes to help you feel connected and inspired by hearing the experience, strength and hope of others. The second is to either introduce you to a guest you haven’t heard from or to be reminded of the lessons the first time around. This show is about having largely timeless conversations about to live well and wisely, and I know the insights shared by these remarkable people stand the test of time. I’m very proud of the diverse and extraordinary quality of people I get to have on this show, and being able to compile something like a masterclass from such a group has been a fun and rewarding process. So this episode covers everything from workplace influence to community politics, mental wellbeing and pursuing athletic and physical goals. I think there’s plenty for everyone here, and the diversity of guests and the snippets are a reflection of my own curiosities but also what I think are essential ingredients to live a whole, nourishing life. It’s tough and daunting out there at the moment, and none of us do anything in our lives alone. I hope this episode offers you the message you need to get connected to your true nature, and to have the faith and courage required to get into healthy action. Here's every episode featured today linked up (Spotify only, sorry Steve Jobs et al). The Neuroscience of Change: The Role of Dopamine in Obstructing or Obtaining What We Want In Life With Dr Anastasia Hronis Built To Create - Holly Rankin Is The Voice Of A Generation Surrendering Attachment and Lessons from His Holiness The Dalai Lama - Geshe Lhakdor on What Ancient Spirituality Teaches Us About This Moment The Voice of A Community: Nicolette Boele on Local Politics, Local Change and the Potential For A Real Shift Steve Martin on How Influence Works and Change Really Happens Clarity, Creativity and Connection - Dave Murphy On How Breath, Hypnosis and Visioning Are The Path To Flow State Ask Tammi Anything - The Help We All Need In Pursuit Of What We Are Seeking Rising Above Loss and Languishing - Hector Arisitizábal on New Beginnings Benn Coubrough Keeps Moving - What One Of Australia's Greatest Ultra Runners Can Teach Us All About Mindset, Living and Going For It On The Hook - Emily M Bender Isn’t Falling for the AI Hype Machine Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    The Fresh Start Effect - A Masterclass On Starting Spring With A Boost

  4. 25 Aug

    A Moral Philosopher's Take - Hanno Sauer On Understanding The Present With A Five Million Year View

    This week’s guest is German philosopher Hanno Sauer. Hanno was here in Sydney for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas and the opportunity to go deeper with him then he could in a panel talk or presentation was a thrill. Hanno is a moral philosopher, and his much acclaimed book ‘The Invention of Good and Evil; A World History of Morality’ is one of those rare reads that has deeply affected me and feels like it’s re-oriented my understanding of and appreciation for where we’ve come from, where we are now and where we might be going. I’ve never read anything like the content Hanno uncovers and shares in this brilliant piece of literature, but as a result I’ve come to appreciate the innate necessity for the fine balance between individual freedom and collective equality. How do we live in as much peace as possible when the diversity of cultures, ideologies, histories, stories, myths and norms vary wildly within and across communities? If there is one issue that I think sits at the heart of the present day maelstrom, it’s the ability - or inability - to be in active, healthy relationships with each other. Or as Hanno points out from the first moral epoch of humanity, the requirement to cooperate. I learnt an absolute tonne from Hanno, and this conversation we chat about his work charting the history of morality over the last five million years to the dysfunction and dysregulation of this moment. From moral absolutism and cancel culture, to the need for punishment to maintain cooperation, climate change as the mothership of all moral dilemmas, the role trust plays in all of this and the state of ideas - from the heinous reality of industrial animal farming to dismissing those that claim the Holocaust didn’t happen. Strap in for this one. Hanno brings a lot of energy, views, intellect and morality.  Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Ethics in the boardroom: A decision-making guide for directors From values to value: The commensuration of sustainability reporting and the crowding out of morality Planetary health check series Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    A Moral Philosopher's Take - Hanno Sauer On Understanding The Present With A Five Million Year View

  5. 18 Aug

    Choosing Our Path Up The Mountain - Sophie Bretag Knows That Kindness Is The Way

    That’s Sophie Bretag, I’m Nathan Robertson-Ball and this is the Finding Nature podcast. The modern professional seems to lead a life of ever-increasing juggling complexity. As the expectations mount and the speed to meet them grow, at the same time trying to manage the circumstances of our individual personal lives and all while supporting friends or colleagues or parents or kids or any combination of relationships, things can seem barely manageable on a day to day basis. Everyone’s busy, everyone wants to do and live well, including me, but what are we losing as we traverse these paths that aren’t for the faint of heart, and what’s it doing to our relationship to work, and how are workplaces and organisational cultures leaving us feeling? Not great is the simple answer. From exhaustion and burnout to ever rising rates of serious mental health conditions, growing proportion of people working in insecure jobs, the spectre of organisations redundacy’ing their workforces in service to the broligarchy and investor demands. That’s been me and it all got to much for in the past, and that’s why Sophie's new book ‘The Kind Way; The Life-Changing Metric for Leadership, Success and the Human Spirit’ stood out and resonated so strongly. Oh god, kindness. Really? That thing we try to instil in children but dismiss as weak or unnecessary or incompatible in modern workplaces - yes, that kindness. Sophie’s book diagnoses the sickness afflicting organisations that disconnect and dehumanise us, that favour productivity over partnership with the people who work in them, and then charts a course where kindness and success are not in tension with the other. The Kind Way spoke to me for other reasons too in how to make good and attempt to reform the places we work through a simple - but not easy to implement - four pillar framework that requires knowing yourself, intention inclusion, nurturing capacity and leading consciously. Sophie Bretag has lived and breathed organisations - their design, their cultures, their operating protocols - and experienced the fear and despair of serious health episodes several times over. She’s on the show today to help us all remember who we are, that we don’t have to sacrifice how we behave and who we are in the pursuit of high performance, and that being kind may just be the secret ingredient required to put the human spirit back into workplaces. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Applying the OODA loop for leadership and company engagement Holding the Line: A Playbook for ESG Leadership in Hostile Terrain Women in business leadership boost ESG performance: Existing body of evidence makes compelling case Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Choosing Our Path Up The Mountain - Sophie Bretag Knows That Kindness Is The Way

  6. 11 Aug

    Benn Coubrough Keeps Moving - What One Of Australia's Greatest Ultra Runners Can Teach Us All About Mindset, Living and Going For It

    Hello wherever you might be, welcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast and my name is Nathan Robertson-Ball. Now what a week I’ve had and having, my cup feels very full after attending conferences and events, moving forward on lots of different Finding Nature ideas and programs - including something very big for 2027 that I’m going to be very excited to share more about over time, as well as an absolutely wonderful time visiting Dungog over the weekend just gone. This episode is part of the result of that weekend, as was hitting the trails again for the first trail race I’ve done since the Takayna Ultra in March 2020. The usual listener might be wondering - what does my interest in and pursuit of running have to do with sustainability, with Finding Nature? Well let me read something I put in my journal back in May, which hopefully answers that question: “New dawns all over the place. Through my dismantling is the dawn of wanting to go long on foot again - to ultra. To be with one of the world's best this week, to go up to Ultra Trail Australia yesterday, to be feeling the love of running that has been coming back into my life over the last month, it feels inevitable. To find my nature - and to stay with it - means being in connection with my body, which is running. To see and explore place and potential, with self and others, is running. Few things in my life have I loved more than long and very long distance running. Now the urge, the desire, the yearning for, has returned. Been about six years since I last did - wow, where has time gone - the time to go again is here.” Heading up to Run Dungog was what I signed up for, but after I’d completed my registration they announced that Benn Coubrough was also going to be there - and Benn is today’s guest. I couldn’t believe it - the race I’d selected to go in after six and a half years was going to host one of Australia’s greatest ever ultra distance runners, and most likely one of the best athletes in Australia in any sport at the moment. So I reached out to Ben about whether he’d like to be on the show, and he said yes. Then I thought maybe this was the opportunity I’d been looking for to do a live podcast recording. So I asked Benn, and he said yes. So I reached out to Dan at Run Dungog about being included in their weekend of activities, and he said yes. Then we spoke to the team at the Tinshed Brewery on the Main Street of Dungog, and they said yes, and like that, the format I’ve been wanting to do for a long time was going to happen. On Saturday we were joined by locals and travellers to listen in to what you’re about to hear. And what a story this is. Ultra distance runners and sustainability professionals have a lot of common characteristics in my mind - determined, seekers, mutants, caring, community oriented, mission focussed, and I think you’ll love this conversation even if the idea of running around the block is something you detest. Benn’s epic adventures in races like Badwater 135, Moab 240 and Coast to Kosci are remarkable, and the insights and lessons he shares on mindset, discipline, joy and going for it are applicable to everyone out there. Check out (and sign up to) Benn's coaching business, Stroke No Limits and follow him on Instagram.  Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  The board playbook: Winning strategies for long-term value creation Policy portfolios: Empowering long-term thinking and tactical flexibility Target-setting protocol fourth edition Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Benn Coubrough Keeps Moving - What One Of Australia's Greatest Ultra Runners Can Teach Us All About Mindset, Living and Going For It

  7. 4 Aug

    Earth Emotions - Glenn Albrecht Has The Words To Fuel A Revolution

    At the end of 2023 when I was starting to get this Finding Nature show on the road I was fixated on two questions after 20 years in and around large organisations where I felt both lost in my career but also demoralised by another leadership decision to avoid the harrowing reality of what climate change means for everyday people, their finances, home security, access to insurance and their right to safety. How could they abdicate their agency to help avoid harm to others and their own business? So I wanted to know two things primarily, firstly, how does change happen, and secondly, what do I do with my anger, grief, disillusionment and fear for what a climate changed planet and existence looks like? My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball, and welcome to or welcome back to the Finding Nature podcast where each week I sit with leaders who’ve pursued change and are actively working to make this planet a healthier, safer and more just place. So to those questions I’ve been privileged to now host 128 of these episodes where I explore and seek to understand the insights and let the wisdom of my guests wash over me, and I know it’s had a significant and positive effect. Today’s guest, Glenn Albrecht, is one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve had, not just on this show, but ever. Glenn is someone I frankly cannot believe I hadn’t come across until about six weeks ago when my John Elkington newsletter made reference to this man in New South Wales who has developed an entire lexicon for how we can better understand our emotions in a changing world - including the word solastalgia that I’ve seen pop up all over the place. Glenn is an environmental philosopher who for decades has worked to understand deeply and put precise language to the emotions people are having when they experience the loss, destruction, degradation, removal or alienation from a place they love. It’s me! These are the words I’ve been looking for for years, and he’s been up the Blue Mountains this whole time! I absolutely loved this conversation, and Glenn’s work, especially his book Earth Emotions, is something anyone listening to this episode and working in sustainability would be well advised to seek out and immerse yourself in. The most common conversation I’ve had this whole time in Finding Nature Land centres on the despair and despondency people are having watching the world literally burn, where genocide and killing and corruption and nepotism and white collar crime are moved on from with the swipe of a finger. How to reconcile the desire and immense effort that goes into being a force for positive change, while so much else is making the underlying conditions worse? In this episode we talk about Glenn’s work in environmental philosophy, the words he has devised and their meaning, the emptiness of language and words like sustainability and ESG that are devoid of a connection to life and relationship, the parasitic nature of the Anthropocene and his hopes, ambitions and motivation to see an era of symbiosis come to life. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Life, Climate Volatility, and What Comes After Our predicament: The fundamental flaws of predominant economic systems - and the cultures scaffolding them Framing and language for effective climate conversations Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Earth Emotions - Glenn Albrecht Has The Words To Fuel A Revolution

  8. 28 July

    Hidden In The Ice - Joy McCann On The Stories And Science Of Earth's Heart

    Joy McCann is an environmental and public historian who has worked to understand and share the stories of how the histories of people, places, ideas and the non human world have and do interact to create the cultures, practices and rhythms of life on this planet. Her work and research has taken her across Australia and over the last decade she has explored the oceans, ice, islands and coastlands of the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in her latest book, ‘Heart of Ice; A Journey Into Antarctica’s Frozen Realm’. I loved reading the book and speaking with Joy as both helped me realise how little I know about the ice continent, as well as its fascinating history. From the commencement of planetary glaciation around 34 million years ago to the fables and myths humans projected onto the great unknown southern land, to her own trip to the ice as well as the human history of exploration and discovery there. Considering its crucial role in creating and maintaining our planet’s homeostasis the threats and perils it faces, and the rapid changes it has already undergone, are alarming to say the least. What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica, and its role in regulating climate and oceanic systems is fundamental for a stable globe. More than the threats and perils though, Joy’s work is about understanding how we got to here, and by revealing the secrets of the past - the stories human’s have and still do tell ourselves about ecosystems, place, other species and the planet in general - uncover deeply held values, bias, misalignments and emotions. In the Heart of Ice Joy shares myths about hidden monsters and something known as hollow earth theory about how humans accounted for what they didn’t know hundreds of years ago, as well as how the economic invectives of the 18th, 19th and 20th century to plunder and massacre millions of whales, seals and penguins are still entirely present today. A history of separating humanity from the natural world holds strong today, and this book tells the stories of how our species perpetuated that on a continent thousands of kilometres away, across the most gruelling and dangerous ocean crossings on the planet, only to end up carving it up for resources and what could be taken from it for profit. Joy’s work reveals the depths of our cultures and the strength of story passed on over generations. I hope she inspires you to consider the stories you tell yourself and others.  Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? What We Know About Deep-Sea Mining — and What We Don’t Turning the tide: How to finance a sustainable ocean recovery Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Hidden In The Ice - Joy McCann On The Stories And Science Of Earth's Heart
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4.7
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About

Find inspiration and guidance for the change you want to create and learn how others have achieved it in their life and work in pursuit of a more just, safe and healthier future. Nourishment for the change making class.

Information

  • Creator
    Nathan Robertson-Ball
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    134
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Finding Nature
  • Show Website
    Finding Nature

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