Finding Nature

Nathan Robertson-Ball
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

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. 12h ago

    One Of Australia's Illnesses - Sonia Orchard On What Kids, And All People, Need

    Today I’m particularly honoured and humbled by today’s guest, Sonia Orchard. Now Sonia isn’t a name most people would recognise, but her story likely is, which is exactly why she’s on the show and why I wanted to speak with her. 60% of Australian kids are reported to experience some form of abuse or neglect. 1 in 10 Australian men admitted to committing a sexual offence against a child. NSW police are responding to an incident of domestic violence every three minutes. These are horrifying, harrowing, overwhelming statistics, just three of them too, and yet for the most part everything just carries on. What happened to children being the most important thing in our society? How can there be such a pervasiveness of something so awful? That’s why Sonia is on the show, to discuss these questions and much more. Sonia is the author of two books, her memoir Groomed, which tells the story of her own childhood sexual abuse by a man ten years her senior, as well as the most recent In The National Interest titled Before the Harm: Preventing Abuse, Protecting Children. The latter is an enlightening and shocking read, something I implore everyone out there to go and get a copy of. At the heart of her writing lies one simple question - we know how to prevent harm to children, and yet we don’t, so why not? As difficult as the book sounds, and as daunting as the subject matter is, the book is optimistic, determined by nature and a call to arms to every single one of us - as citizens, parents, colleagues, family members, voters, leaders - action prevents harm to kids. It’s available and it’s available now. There is much Sonia and I chat about here - from the current status of what is going on with how kids are harmed to the drivers of that, the behaviours of perpetrators, the victim victimiser paradigm, the need for moral courage in not waiting at the bottom of the cliff to try and rescue those being abused but go way upstream and examine the health of a society when 60% of its children are reported as abused or neglected. From what we can do everyday practically to the structural reforms and types of leadership needed. This was an incredibly powerful experience for me, and I was compelled to share a little of my own experience in the context of this topic too and how it’s affected me both as a child and now navigating life as a parent. Preventing harms to kids - we all want it. What do we need to change to do that? Everything. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem. A roadmap for private investors: Investing to address gender-based violence Our Watch: Change the story and key frameworks Looking beyond traditional gender lens investing approaches using Access Impact Framework in support of SDG 5: Gender equality Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    One Of Australia's Illnesses - Sonia Orchard On What Kids, And All People, Need

  2. Sep 29

    We Are The Existential Risk - No-one Knows AI Like Toby Walsh

    If there is one topic that has come to dominate this moment, it is artificial intelligence. Is it going to wipe us out? Will I lose my job? Is a data centre going up in my neighbourhood? Why are all these tech bros so incapable of sounding anything like a normal, sane, relatable person? Why do I have to hear so much about AI? Can’t I just have my connection and attention and identity back, please? I’m an avowed cynic of the broad set of technologies AI represents, and I’ve been fortunate to learn from some of the best minds in the world on this show as to how these technologies are warping and distorting our relationship to ourselves, each other, work, identity, even reality itself. People like Emily M Bender and Nina Jankowicz have made clear the hazards and harms of a technology we seemingly have no innate capability to withstand - like the Wizard of Oz, it’s omniscient existence and self-proclaimed extraordinary potential has our society captured. Haven’t we seen this all before though? Weren’t there warnings about climate change in the 1960s we’ve ignored ever since? What’s that saying about power tending to corrupt, and absolute power corrupting absolutely? Aren’t we observing that with a tiny number of companies seemingly holding all the chips against us? Yes, yes, I sound like a luddite. I’m obviously extraordinarily anti-progress, anti jobs and anti growth. Also a hypocrite too as I get to enjoy the quality of life I do today because of the evolution of technology over all of human history. Well, I’d love to believe AI could be helpful and valuable so I was very excited to invite Toby Walsh onto the show. Just about all Australians probably recognise Toby now - he’s become not just a prolific author helping to make sense of this moment after decades working in and leading University of New South Wales’ AI Institute, but he’s featured regularly on traditional and digital media. He addressed the National Press Club earlier this year, was a featured expert in Channel Seven’s AI reporting, and is regularly popping up on the ABC, SBS the BBC, CNN, The Guardian, NPR and The New York Times. If there is anyone in Australia to learn and hear from about not just the current world of AI, but also its history and heritage and where this all may be going, it’s Toby. His most recent book, God AI; Boom or Doom? What to expect when machines outsmart us examines the existential risk of AI. As we’ve heard repeatedly in recent weeks, some techbrogods are foreshadowing the end of all human life by the end of this decade! What does that even mean, how could it even be possible, and what other extinctions have occurred over the course of history that offer precedent to understand if these apocalyptic warnings are even credible. We also get into much else - the history of AI to help understand this moment, the potential of ubiquitous intelligence, use cases where it is proving to be helpful, but also how humans are so ill-prepared to handle something so compelling and convenient and laden with potential - maybe the AI prompted to maximise paperclip production and ends up causing humanity’s extinction is all just a furphy, and we’ll end up degrading, eroding and eventually fracturing our ability to relate and cohere together in drastic and irreparable ways. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Artificial intelligence and the future of finance: A framework for structural change Modeling ghost GDP: Macro-financial risk and diversified portfolios in the age of artificial intelligence, automation, and populism Artificial intelligence and human rights investor toolkit Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    We Are The Existential Risk - No-one Knows AI Like Toby Walsh

  3. Sep 22

    Senator Rosa Galvez On The Need For Government Before Calamity Hits

    Today’s guest is Canadian Senator Rosa Galvez. This was a very special experience to meet and speak with Rosa, whose background, expertise and humanity made this a conversation I both really enjoyed but also took so much from. Rosa, originally from Peru, is one of Canada’s leading experts in pollution control and its effects on human health. She was appointed to Canada’s Senate in late 2016, representing Québéc, and been involved with or led many of the country’s most substantive environmental, human health, finance and planetary wellbeing regulations, initiatives and committees over the last decade, which reflects her mindset and experience in appreciating the reality of complex systems, interconnectedness, the need for holistic approaches to both thinking and acting, and her own grounded experience as and with First Nations peoples and their practices. She’s a member of Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources and Standing Senate Committee on National Finance. She’s has also served on the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications and the Special Committee on the Arctic. She’s published widely - on Canada’s building codes, what a clean and just recovery from Covid-19 would involve and look like, Aligning Canada’s Finance with Climate Commitments, introduced Bill S-243, the Climate Aligned Finance Act and helped to drive the legislation of Canada’s financial sectors approach to transitioning to a net zero economy. Beyond her political and policy work, Rosa has been acknowledged broadly for this work and her career as an engineer. She was included in the Clean50 award in 2021, the 2022 Ecological Society of America Regional Policy Award, and the 2023 Top 25 Women of Influence Award. In this chat we get into many and various topics - a primer on the Canadian political system and her appointment, their nation’s choices currently under pressure from Trump’s tariff and economic warfare tactics, understanding and attempting to make decisions that account for multiple and simultaneous considerations and impacts, the language of human, our disconnection from nature, ceremony and each other, as well as the idea of needing government for before inevitable calamity and crisis hits. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Climate Engagement Canada Directors' liability and climate risk: Comparative paper - Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom The state of sustainable finance (2025-2030) global architecture, jurisdictional approaches and emerging trends Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    Senator Rosa Galvez On The Need For Government Before Calamity Hits

  4. Sep 15

    All We Have Are Our Stories - Damon Gameau On What Really Moves Us

    Damon Gameau is on the show today. This one was many many months in the making so I’m incredibly excited to be sharing it and so glad the diary Gods eventually made possible a chat that will live long in my memory for me. Damon is a renowned, award winning actor, filmmaker, and director who has made some of my favourite documentaries of the last little while. Most recently, Future Council centred children in their pursuit of understanding why adults seem so incapable of dealing with a series of problems that are so obvious to see, be affected by and seemingly addressable too. Before that, 2040 examined and highlighted the technological and governance solutions that already exist to deal with decarbonisation, pollution and circularity. He made That Sugar Film which revealed the captured dietary and health system all of us struggle to free ourselves from on a daily basis. Each of these and much more of his work goes to a simple truth - story is what moves humans. We care when we know others. We care when we understand. We care by knowing the stories of others and having them explain what’s not working and what is working, what’s possible if we change and also what’s likely if we don’t. I was keen to speak with Damon not only because of his body of work and learning from him through conversation, but also because over the last six months I’ve had my own epiphany which he helped me realise - that story is most likely the most disregarded yet necessary component of any change process. Easy to disregard as story can get wrapped up in stereotypes of advertising’s dark arts or the lamentable challenges associated with greenwashing. Story also takes time. It involves being with others, slowing down, listening, openness, a humility to let in what you may not already know, ultimately, to be challenged in what you believe or think is right. Story is inconvenient and may not work - much easier and faster to turn to a powerpoint or petition or to find blame in what and who you don’t like. After 20 years attempting to do change I never realised that every single time I’ve been moved and shifted a belief, it’s because of a story I was told, read or watched. From Inconvenient Truth and The Weather Makers in the mid 2000s, to the experience of watching Future Council to prepare for this chat. What resonates are stories. In this conversation Damon and I speak about all of this, including his own philosophy on story, their cultural significance, as well as how it matters in countering darker visions of a future that seems inevitable in our common consciousness. We also get into his and my own journeys as men and parents who’ve been cracked open by difficult life events, how we both had the stories we told ourselves fissured and needed to go through the proverbial crucible - something our whole society may also need - to come out cleansed, refreshed and buoyed by a new perspective and closer relationship to reality. Check out more of Damon's work at Future Council and The Regenerators. Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem.  Framing and language for effective climate conversations We need a revolution in environmental communications What do sustainability disclosures disclose? Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up. Send me a message Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

    All We Have Are Our Stories - Damon Gameau On What Really Moves Us

  5. Sep 8

    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

  6. Sep 1

    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

  7. Aug 31

    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

  8. Aug 25

    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
See All (138)

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
    138
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Finding Nature
  • Show Website
    Finding Nature

You Might Also Like