Heat! Camera! Action!

Jules Pretty

The planet’s losing.  We’re in a hole. Climate, nature and social inequality crises. Story with a swerve gets us out. It’s the shape of all our lives. Up-down, down-up. And this shape of slantwise story, it creates hope and agency. In this podcast, we hear from culture leaders and wanderers, the crossers of boundaries, the story-tellers. They share their ideas on how we get out of holes. Good story is not just a hiding place. It’s a finding place. The podcast vibe is the warm-dark daguerreotype photograph, invented at the start of the industrialised era, before human-induced carbon pollution of the atmosphere.  My guests are writers and poets, artists and scientists, environmental and business leaders, farmers and landowners, local and national activists, festival directors, therapists, religious leaders. All are storytellers too.  The music clips at the start and end of episodes were recorded at public dances in Punakha and Thimphu (Bhutan). My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027. It is called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformative Stories for Climate and Nature Recovery." 

  1. 5d ago

    13 Leanne Hepburn on saving both the seas and us with the Ocean Literacy Project

    We’re sitting at the edge of land and sea on Mersea Island, the tide is out. There are terns and gulls, bees flying, a perfect place to hear from Leanne Hepburn, director of the Ocean Literacy Project. All is dependent on a healthy ocean. It absorbs heat, pollution, plastic; it influences us in return. Leanne talks of her step away from academic security, the sense of freedom and scary vulnerability. Science is vital, yet it is only part of the story of how we change how people care, how they feel. She was the first person in her family to go to university, and has felt the value of education. Now she is creating new language to lead to collective action. it’s also, she says, ok to be changed by the natural world.  Leanne reads a poem by Emelina Corrales Cordero called “Grandmother Ocean Speaks.” “I am the Grandmother. We are one, one planet, one ocean.” “I am the one to remind you.” Her hero: Satish Kumar, the Peace Pilgrim. Her top recommended actions: check where your money or pension is being invested. And find a way to reconnect with the natural world. Just notice things, pay attention.  Leanne’s website: https://www.oceanliteracyproject.com/  A link to Emelina’s poem and book: https://www.grandmotheroceanspeaks.com/ My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    13 Leanne Hepburn on saving both the seas and us with the Ocean Literacy Project

  2. 5d ago

    12 Ben Goldsmith on rewilding in cities and country, and personal journeys of loss and discovery

    We’re talking online about rewilding, Ben Goldsmith at his London home. Ben is activist, rewilding advocate, financier, farm owner and host of the podcast Rewilding the World. Ben talks about rewilding cities, and the work for the Mayor of London’s taskforce, and how access to open spaces brought him close to nature as a child. Less tidiness is needed, he says. He describes the rewilding of his Somerset farm, and how the tragic and traumatic loss of his daughter Iris led to a whole new approach. He and other farmers/landowners have hopes for a rewilded corridor from Stonehenge to Avalon. He most magical moment, a July night two years ago, walking on a path by beaver ponds at the bottom of the farm, and seeing glow worms for the first time. I expect there to be lynx in the UK soon, he says. Maybe wolves too.  Ben recommends “Feral” by George Monbiot, and Jonathan Thomson’s rewilding handbook called “How to Rewild Manual.” He also recommends reading any of the works of Richard Jeffries from the late 1800s to understand what nature abundance used to look like. Ben’s book is called “God is an Octopus: Loss, Love and a Calling to Nature” (2023).  His top recommended action: spend time in nature, and appreciate it. From there, all else flows. Also, apply pressure on your political candidates: make sure they care.  My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    12 Ben Goldsmith on rewilding in cities and country, and personal journeys of loss and discovery

  3. Jul 8

    11 Nicky Saunter on making masks and how people really love beavers

    In her Somerset home in Wiveliscombe, Nicky Saunter chats about her life as author, poet, mask maker and activist. On the table is a large mask of Frog, and in the kitchen are masks of Octopus, Beaver and Ant. She says, “You wear a mask at an outdoor event, and it frees you up. You become a more extreme version of yourself.” People also instantly smile, put on a mask, become a frog. Everyone’s immediately laughing.  What can go wrong? Nothing. They’re bomb proof.  Such street art closes gaps between humans and animals. Masks and tricksters are closely related. They cause agency. She tells of filming new river rituals with masks, becoming animals, and changing the world. “After all, transgressions are now needed.” Nicky talks of beavers, having helped form the Beaver Trust: “People love beavers.” Here hero is Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan pioneer of tree planting. And Peter Gabriel, for championing world music through WOMAD.  She recommends any book by Margaret Attwood. And says, “Become a magpie. Choose things that are already working, and copy them.” Especially, go for the joy! My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    11 Nicky Saunter on making masks and how people really love beavers

  4. Jul 1

    10 Richard Bawden on a long life as a radical agricultural educator, and how it feels to be dying from cancer

    In this online conversation, I’m chatting with an old friend and radical agricultural and development educator, Richard Bawden. He’s on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, I’m in Suffolk. This is a longer pod than usual. Richard is dying from cancer (he’s not living with it). It’s metastasised, it’s now untreatable. The phases are coming fast. And yet. We laugh, tell stories, wander over a life of 87 years. In lieu of something written, it’s a conventional autobiography, squeezed into just over an hour. Before the end of the recording, I say, using clunky language, “Let’s not take up too much of your time.” Richard says, “Why not! I’m enjoying this.” We’ve bumped this episode up the schedule. If you have any comments on the chat, I’ll make sure they get to Richard.  Richard grew up on a mixed farm in Cornwall. At Wye College, the principal, Dunstan Skilbeck calls out one day, as he walked across the square, “Where are you going? Where are you going with your life?” Now, that’s a good question from a mentor. “You like sheep, don’t you?” Richard ends studying sheep parasitology in Australia. He goes on to head Hawkesbury Agricultural College, installing a new curriculum in 1981 focused on agroecology and experiential learning, with students learning to be the people in the systems they are studying. This experiential learning becomes truly radical, and links with educational and development groups all over the world. Then the empire strikes back. The wardens of the old system come out with big sticks, and beat the novel system of learning and being into darkness.  We talk of the emergence of regenerative systems, ask what does good looks like. We also talk of the central importance of worldviews (weltanschauung in German). It’s all about worldviews – these shape what we think is important. They change through experience, through being, in the world. Richard recommends Lester Milbrath’s 1985 book “Envisioning a Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out.” This is how we get out of the climate hole. We learn our way out. He recommends, first by thyself. Be existential. Figure out why you hold the beliefs you have, and whey are different to others. I finish by reading an excerpt from Mary Oliver’s wondrous poem, Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me. “The tree was a tree, with happy leaves… Imagine, imagine, The long and wondrous journeys, still to be ours.”  My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    10 Richard Bawden on a long life as a radical agricultural educator, and how it feels to be dying from cancer

  5. Jul 1

    09 Mandy Haggith on poetry as a kind method for climate and nature action

    In this online chat, author, poet and community activist Mandy Haggith talks from her Assynt croft in the north-west of Scotland. She is using poetry to create a sense of agency when so much seems bleak. We hear of community development in Scotland, how policy has enabled local people to but estates, islands and urban plots. It’s hard, though, to create the income streams for local people. Mandy talks of the use of poetry in local projects on nature recovery and reducing fossil fuel dependence. She says, “At least, verse can’t make it worse.” She says, “Little changes can snowball into vast change. We don’t all need to be heroes.” Mandy’s books include The Lost Elms, five collections of poetry, and five novels, including The Last Bear; Bear Witness, The Walrus Mutterer. See her website: https://www.mandyhaggith.net/  Mandy recommends Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer.  Her action: go and plant a tree (if you have the resource). Do imaginative time travel: go into the past, find things that are wonderful, beautiful, uplifting. However far you went back, now go forward the same amount of time into the future, and take that good thing with you. Imagine how that feels. People feel better. It seems to generate hope about the future.  My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    09 Mandy Haggith on poetry as a kind method for climate and nature action

  6. Jun 24

    08 Rich Yates on leading Essex Wildlife Trust and the social values of nature recovery

    At Abbotts Hall by the Blackwater Estuary, chief executive of Essex Wildlife Trust, Rich Yates, chats about the 67 years of county wildlife action. We sit in sunshine by a pond, and hear about the Trus’s many reserves and visitor centres. And how the focus on nature has shifted from protecting and conserving to improving. This puts people at the heart of it all. The Trust relies on a dense network of 2000 volunteers to manage their 100 reserves and engage with the public.  We talk of the timescales of conservation and nature recovery: 60+ years (so far) for Fingringhoe Wick, 24 years for saltings after coastal realignment, 15 years for Mucking waste tip to reserve, and 1-2 years for the ghost ponds of Essex to come back.  Rich says, “The story of conservation is the story of people.” Rich recommends Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics. Rich’s object is a guitar plectrum.  His heroes are local education leader Gary Horne and EA Festival organiser Joanne Ooi. His recommended action: go on, join a Wildlife Trust local to you.  Website: https://www.essexwt.org.uk/ My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    08 Rich Yates on leading Essex Wildlife Trust and the social values of nature recovery

  7. Jun 18

    07 Genevieve Christie on the cultural and environmental values of a free-festival at the coast

    In her home in central Suffolk, First Light Festival director Genevieve Christie chats about the reinvention of Lowestoft around the free festival held at the summer solstice. Once famed fishing town, then seaside resort, like many coastal places Lowestoft had struggled to invent a third way for contemporary times. It is the place in the UK where first light appears, and the idea of first light led to the establishment of the summer-solstice free festival on the South Beach and promenade. First Light works on the idea of place as an asset, on creating pride, on bringing all people together. Says Genevieve, “It has to be free.” Regeneration is a story with “a long arc.” Genevieve recommends Gardens of the British Working Class by Margeret Willes. And A Tonic to the Nation by Hugh Casson, Director of the 1951 Festival of Britain. Casson says, “The real achievement? It made people want things to be better, and no was taught to hate.” Genevieve’s recommended action: “Be interested in things be curious. Look and listen.” First Light Festival (20-21 June, 2026): https://firstlightlowestoft.com/  My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    07 Genevieve Christie on the cultural and environmental values of a free-festival at the coast

  8. Jun 17

    06 Jacquie McGlade on hope from the Global South and the value of talk in international negotiations

    In our online discussion, Jacquie McGlade chats about her unique perspective on environmental harms and solutions. She’s Professor at UCL in London and Strathmore in Kenya, is former Director of the European Environment Agency, Chief Scientist at UNEP (the UN Environment Programme), and is a resident of Kenya.  She talks of hope in the Global South, and how the young of Africa will be future world leaders to get us out of modern polycrises. The North is brittle and fearful, where hope seems so easily dashed. In the South, “Hope always springs eternal.” She talks of national addictions to fossil fuels, and how with intent countries are changing fast. Jacquie was lead negotiator at the EEA and UNEP in international negotiations for COPs. Fundamental to all agreements and progress, she says, is talk. Talk is good. COPs are like large plays, three Acts, drama, ups and downs. She says, “Living in a mud hut makes you endlessly happy.” Her hero is Sir Crispin Tickell, climate negotiator and diplomat. Her recommended book is Song of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massy. Her top action: “Take one step, it’s how all journeys begin.” And then go outside, and “take a handful of soil, and smell it.” My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

    06 Jacquie McGlade on hope from the Global South and the value of talk in international negotiations
See All (14)

About

The planet’s losing.  We’re in a hole. Climate, nature and social inequality crises. Story with a swerve gets us out. It’s the shape of all our lives. Up-down, down-up. And this shape of slantwise story, it creates hope and agency. In this podcast, we hear from culture leaders and wanderers, the crossers of boundaries, the story-tellers. They share their ideas on how we get out of holes. Good story is not just a hiding place. It’s a finding place. The podcast vibe is the warm-dark daguerreotype photograph, invented at the start of the industrialised era, before human-induced carbon pollution of the atmosphere.  My guests are writers and poets, artists and scientists, environmental and business leaders, farmers and landowners, local and national activists, festival directors, therapists, religious leaders. All are storytellers too.  The music clips at the start and end of episodes were recorded at public dances in Punakha and Thimphu (Bhutan). My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027. It is called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformative Stories for Climate and Nature Recovery." 

Information

  • Creator
    Jules Pretty
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Heat! Camera! Action!
  • Show Website
    Heat! Camera! Action!