We Need to Act

Sara Rego
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Education
  • Updated Semimonthly

We Need to Act, hosted by Dr. Sara Rego, dives into the biggest questions shaping our planet’s future. From climate change and biodiversity loss to social justice and environmental degradation, each episode unpacks what sustainability really means. Through candid conversations with activists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, we explore the roots of today’s crises—and the bold actions needed to build a just, resilient, and regenerative world.

  1. 6d ago

    Do Not Try to Save the Earth - The Earth Is Here to Save You with Paul Hawken

    What if the climate narrative itself is the problem? Paul Hawken is one of the world's most influential environmentalists, entrepreneurs, and authors. Founder of Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration, and New York Times bestselling author of nine books — including The Ecology of Commerce, Drawdown, Regeneration, and his latest, Carbon: The Book of Life (2025) — he has spent over 50 years working at the intersection of ecology, commerce, and regeneration. In this conversation with Sara, Paul challenges the very language of the climate movement — the word "sustainability," the phrase "climate crisis," the idea that we can "fix" the Earth. He argues that treating nature as something "out there" to be saved or managed — what he calls "othering" — is not just intellectually wrong. It is why, after 50 years of knowing exactly what to do, less than 1% of the world is doing anything about it on a daily basis. He talks about carbon not as a villain but as the source of all life itself — present in 10 billion molecules in every cell of your body. He speaks about indigenous languages as the deepest ecological teaching humanity has ever produced. He introduces the Parliament of Earthlings — the idea that there are 3.9 trillion voices on this planet, most of which we never listen to. And he shares the Alliance for Earth, a new global platform connecting regenerative communities across 105 languages. But beneath all of it runs one conviction: that the largest movement in human history is already arising — quietly, everywhere, in small communities dedicated to restoring life. And it closes with a line that will stay with you long after the episode ends. "Do not try to save the Earth. The Earth is here to save you." In this episode: Why the climate narrative has failed — and what "othering" nature really meansWhy carbon is not a villain but the source of all life — and what we lost by demonising itWhy "sustainability" is a meaningless word — and what to say insteadHow Western noun-based languages keep us separate from the living world — and what indigenous verb-based languages teach usWhy capitalism cannot deliver regeneration — and what natural capital would actually look likeThe Parliament of Earthlings: what it means to listen to 3.9 trillion voicesElephants communicating through concrete walls, and mother bats naming their childrenThe Alliance for Earth: connecting regenerative communities across 105 languagesWhy the largest movement in human history is already happening — and why we can't see it About Paul Hawken: Paul Hawken is a renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author committed to the regeneration of nature and humanity. Founder of Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration, he is the author of nine books — six of them New York Times bestsellers — including The Ecology of Commerce, Blessed Unrest, Drawdown, Regeneration, and his latest, Carbon: The Book of Life (Viking/Penguin, 2025). He has received six honorary doctorates and lives in the Cascade Creek watershed with his wife Jasmine — alongside coyotes, foxes, bobcats, ravens, red-tail hawks, and pileated woodpeckers. We Need to Act is a podcast about the people, ideas, and movements shaping a better now.

    Do Not Try to Save the Earth - The Earth Is Here to Save You with Paul Hawken

  2. Jul 2

    Abejas Meliponas: Ciencia e Identidad en la Amazonía Peruana con Ornella Muñoz, ARI

    Aquí está: ¿Sabías que las abejas meliponas polinizan hasta el 80% de la flora amazónica — y que la mayoría de la gente ni sabe que existen? Ornella Muñoz creció en Dos de Mayo, a orillas del río Ucayali, en la Amazonía peruana. Desde pequeña se preguntaba de dónde venía el aire fresco, cómo los árboles hacían posible la vida y por qué su comunidad dependía tanto de la naturaleza. Esa curiosidad se convirtió en vocación. Hoy es ingeniera forestal e investigadora en Amazon Research International, donde trabaja en la conservación de las abejas nativas sin aguijón y en la investigación forestal en Loreto, Perú. En esta conversación con Sara, Ornella nos lleva al corazón de la Amazonía: a las comunidades remotas, a las colonias de abejas meliponas que sostienen la regeneración del bosque, y a los jóvenes investigadores indígenas que están transformando la relación de sus comunidades con la ciencia. Hablamos de meliponicultura, conocimiento indígena, deforestación, y de dónde encontrar esperanza cuando la Amazonía sigue demostrando una capacidad de resiliencia extraordinaria. "La conservación no es responsabilidad exclusiva de investigadores, gobiernos u organizaciones. Es una tarea colectiva." We Need to Act es un podcast sobre las personas, ideas y movimientos que están construyendo un presente mejor.

    Abejas Meliponas: Ciencia e Identidad en la Amazonía Peruana con Ornella Muñoz, ARI

  3. Jun 24

    Whales Are Our Ancestors - Dr. Mere Takoko on Legal Personhood for Whales

    What if whales are not just animals — but ancestors? Dr. Mere Takoko is a Māori Ocean and Climate conservationist from Aotearoa New Zealand and one of the leading voices behind the movement to grant whales legal personhood across the Pacific. A descendant of Māui and Paikea — the ancestor who arrived in New Zealand on the back of a whale — Mere holds what she describes not as a job, but an inherited sovereign duty: to protect her ancestors and rebuild the relationship between people and nature. In this conversation with Sara, Mere explains why whales are the ocean's greatest climate engineers — each one capable of storing the carbon equivalent of over a thousand trees — and why restoring one million whales to the Pacific is not just an ecological goal, but a cultural and spiritual one. She talks about authoring He Whakaputanga Moana, the declaration that confers legal personhood on whales under customary law, signed by paramount chiefs across Polynesia and championed by the late Māori King. She speaks candidly about the rise of "blue colonialism" — large conservation organisations moving into the Pacific and absorbing resources that rarely reach the Indigenous communities doing the actual work. And she shares her quiet concern about artificial intelligence falling into the wrong hands in the race to "communicate" with whales. But beneath the critique is something rarer: a genuinely different way of seeing. Not nature as resource. Not whales as biomass. Kinship. Ancestry. A 22-generation-old covenant still being honoured today. In this episode: Why whales are the ocean's most powerful climate engineers — and what industrial whaling really cost the planetThe whale fall, the whale pump, and the science behind whale-driven carbon captureHe Whakaputanga Moana: the declaration granting whales legal personhood across the PacificThe Āvei Moana voyage — a two-year, 6,000-mile expedition to protect ancestral sea roads"Blue colonialism": why conservation finance rarely reaches the Indigenous communities doing the workThe concerns Pacific communities have about AI being used to "communicate" with — or control — whalesWhy Mere believes restoring the relationship between people and nature is the real climate solutionAbout Dr. Mere Takoko: Dr. Mere Takoko is a Māori conservationist of Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, and Rongowhakaata descent, and Executive Trustee of the Moananui Sanctuary. She is the author of He Whakaputanga Moana, the declaration granting legal personhood to whales across the Polynesian triangle, and Chief Executive of the Pacific Whale Fund, where she is leading efforts to establish a US$100 million biodiversity blue bond for marine conservation. A descendant of Māui and Paikea, Mere leads a global effort to recover one million whales across the Pacific.

    Whales Are Our Ancestors - Dr. Mere Takoko on Legal Personhood for Whales

  4. Jun 17

    The Golden Age of Sustainability Hasn't Happened Yet with John Elkington

    What does the godfather of the global sustainability movement think is coming next? John Elkington has been working at the intersection of business, environment, and society for over 50 years. He coined the Triple Bottom Line. He wrote the Green Consumer Guide. He conceived the Green Swan. He has advised governments, corporations, and movements across the world. And after all of that — after five decades of watching the system from the inside — he is, unexpectedly, more optimistic than he has been in a very long time. In this conversation with Sara, John doesn't pull his punches. He talks about capitalism not surviving more than a decade or two in its current form. About the UN becoming obsolete. About democracy being under existential threat. About a major financial crash coming. About the very real possibility of nuclear weapons being used. And yet — through all of it — he keeps returning to one conviction: the golden age of sustainability hasn't happened yet. It's still ahead of us. And the people alive today will be part of building it. This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered whether the people who have worked longest in this field still believe change is possible. John's answer, at 76, with a seven-year-old grandson, is a clear and considered yes. In this episode: The origin of the Triple Bottom Line — and why John chose "profit" over "prosperity" deliberatelyWhy the TBL Venn diagram was never John's idea — and how he would have mapped it differentlyWhy capitalism cannot survive more than a decade or two in its current form — and what comes nextChina, the Global South, and the new geopolitical order taking shape around usWhy the UN will likely disappear in the next 10-15 years — and what needs to replace itThe Green Swan: exponential solutions for exponential problemsWhy green consumers alone will never drive systemic change — and what actually willIntergenerational working: why older generations can't just hand this to young peopleWhere John finds hope — and why he envies the younger generationAbout John Elkington: John Elkington is one of the world's most influential voices in sustainability. Often described as the godfather of the global sustainability movement, he coined the Triple Bottom Line in 1994 and has spent over 50 years advising businesses, governments, and civil society organisations. He is the author of more than 20 books, including Green Swans and The Green Consumer Guide. He is co-founder of Volans and SustainAbility, and continues to work at the frontier of systems change, business innovation, and regenerative futures.

    The Golden Age of Sustainability Hasn't Happened Yet with John Elkington

  5. Jun 4

    Coal Kills: How Young Ghanaians Stopped a Power Plant and Built a Movement with Portia Adu-Mensah

    What does it take to stop a coal plant from being built in your community — when you're young, when the government is pushing it, and when the promises of jobs and opportunity are pulling people the other way? For Portia, the answer was relationships, strategy, and an unshakeable belief that there is always an alternative. A grassroots climate advocate, royal native of Asuom in Ghana's Eastern Region, founder of Dreamhunt, and member of 350 Ghana, Portia has spent over a decade working at the intersection of climate justice, renewable energy, and community empowerment. In this conversation with Sara, she shares the story of the Coal Kills campaign — how a group of young people took on the fossil fuel industry, engaged ten chiefs in their local dialects, used the media as their most powerful tool, and won. But this episode goes far beyond one campaign. Portia talks about what it really means to work with communities — not for them. About why climate finance is failing the Global South. About the women in the Savannah region living without electricity in the 21st century. About why, for an African, just energy transition is not just energy — it's food, shelter, and clothing. And about hope. Not the abstract kind, but the kind you build by showing up with solar panels and staying long enough to see the light come on. In this episode: The Coal Kills campaign: how young Ghanaians stopped a coal plant through community organising, media strategy, and nonviolent advocacyWhy greenwashing and broken promises made community engagement the hardest part of the fightWhat the Global South really needs from climate finance — and why loans are not the answerThe Women in Renewable Energy project and what it means to bring real-time solutions to communities without electricityDreamhunt: raising young environmental advocates through tree planting, recycling, school gardens, and climate-smart agricultureWhat indigenous and royal identity means for grassroots advocacy — and why you never enter a community without meeting the chief firstWhy putting people before profits is not a slogan but a survival strategy"Just energy transition to an African is not just energy — it's food, shelter, and clothing"About Portia:Portia is a climate justice advocate, founder of Dreamhunt, and member of 350 Ghana. A royal native of Asuom in Ghana's Eastern Region, she works at the intersection of renewable energy, community empowerment, and climate finance advocacy. With a background in banking and finance, she brings both grassroots experience and policy-level understanding to the fight for a just and sustainable future. Available on: ⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠www.weneedtoact.org ⁠

    Coal Kills: How Young Ghanaians Stopped a Power Plant and Built a Movement with Portia Adu-Mensah

  6. May 27

    There Is No Environment: Māori Philosophy, Interconnection, and the Roots of the Ecological Crisis with Carl Mika

    What if the environmental crisis is really a crisis of worldview? In this episode, Sara sits down with Professor Carl Mika — Professor of Māori and Indigenous Philosophies, and Head of School of Aotahi: School of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Canterbury — for a conversation that goes straight to the roots of how we see ourselves in relation to everything else. Carl challenges some of the most taken-for-granted assumptions in Western thought: that the self is separate from the world, that knowledge is something to be accumulated, that sustainability is "out there" to be managed. Drawing from Māori philosophy and his own work at the intersection of indigenous thought and academia, he invites us to sit with what we can't fully know — and to find that discomfort deeply instructive. Together, Carl and Sara explore how colonization didn't just reshape land and bodies, but also language, academic structures, and the very way we relate to each other and to the Earth. They talk about the Māori concept of te kore and te pō — nothingness and darkness — not as absence or failure, but as vital and ever-present dimensions of existence that our optimism-obsessed culture desperately tries to escape. This is a conversation about what sustainability could mean if we stopped treating nature as "out there" — and started recognizing, as Carl puts it, that "the environment is not the environment. There is no such thing as environment." Expect philosophy, provocation, and a reminder that the most radical act might just be to sit with someone over coffee — no agenda, no formal structure — and simply get to know them. In this episode: Why cultural appropriation of the haka and Māori symbols misses the most important thing: the lived daily experience they come fromHow colonization wounded the colonizer too — and why that question rarely gets askedThe limits of the word "sustainability" and why one indigenous leader said "today it is sustainability, yesterday it was life"Two (or three) forms of interconnection in Māori philosophy — and why the most radical one unsettles the foundations of Western institutionsHow academic writing is itself a colonized form — and what it would mean to write differentlyTe kore and te pō: why Māori cosmology holds nothingness and darkness not as the past, but as permanently presentWhat Māori relational practices can teach us about connecting beyond formal collaboration structuresAbout Carl Mika:Professor Carl Mika is a philosopher and Head of School at the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand. Of Tūhorangi and Ngāti Whānauapiti descent, his work sits at the intersection of Māori philosophy, indigenous studies, and the philosophy of language. He holds a background in law and a PhD in German Studies, and his writing explores how indigenous thought can fundamentally challenge — and enrich — Western intellectual traditions. Available on: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube www.weneedtoact.org

    There Is No Environment: Māori Philosophy, Interconnection, and the Roots of the Ecological Crisis with Carl Mika

  7. May 20

    Nature’s Last Dance: Falling Back in Love with the Natural World with Natalie Kyriacou

    What does it actually take to make someone fall in love with nature? Not lecture them, not overwhelm them with data, but genuinely make them fall in love? That’s the question driving everything Natalie Kyriacou does. Environmentalist, author, storyteller, and founder of My Green World, Natalie has spent over a decade building games, education programs, and now a sweeping new book - Nature’s Last Dance: Tales of Wonder in an Age of Extinction - all in service of one mission: helping people feel the wonder of the natural world before it’s too late. In this conversation with Sara, Natalie brings her trademark blend of warmth, urgency, and radical honesty. She talks about the 12-year-old forest defender who made a promise to an endangered owl. She talks about the economy as the root cause of our ecological crisis - an incentive structure that “make more money off humans and nature being sick.” She talks about the alarming rise of AI as an amplifier of destruction, the need for better models of human behaviour and leadership, and why the degrowth movement just needs a better name. But beneath all of it runs a single thread: the belief that most people are fundamentally good, that they care, and that what’s missing is not willpower but connection - to nature, to community, to each other. This is an episode for anyone who has ever felt the weight of environmental news and wondered whether hope is still a reasonable thing to feel. Natalie’s answer is a clear, grounded, and deeply human yes. In this episode: • How a childhood spent camping, reading, and running around with frogs shaped a lifelong environmentalist • Why Natalie wrote Nature’s Last Dance for people who would never pick up a nature book, and what makes it different • The story of Gracie: the 12-year-old who made a promise to an endangered owl and is now dedicating her life to protecting them • Why our economy is fundamentally incompatible with human and environmental health, and what changing it would look like • Natalie’s frank take on AI: not a tool for good, but an accelerant of destruction, and why she’s deeply alarmed • The rise of toxic masculinity and its ripple effects on people, politics, and the planet • Why degrowth is brilliant economics with a terrible name, and needs a rebrand • Simple first steps to reconnect with nature: go outside, look up, watch a bird About Natalie Kyriacou: Natalie Kyriacou is an environmentalist, author, and the founder of MyGreen World, a wildlife and environmental charity that has reached hundreds of thousands of young people through award-winning apps and education programs. She is Director at the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife and an Ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation. Her debut book, Nature’s Last Dance: Tales of Wonder in an Age of Extinction, is out now in Australia and launching in the UK and Europe.

    Nature’s Last Dance: Falling Back in Love with the Natural World with Natalie Kyriacou

  8. May 7

    Goldman Prize 2026: defender el agua desde el corazón de Colombia con Yuvelis Morales Blanco

    Yuvelis Morales tiene 25 años, creció pescando en el Río Magdalena y hoy es la voz más joven y potente de la lucha antifracking en Colombia. Ganadora del Premio Goldman de Medio Ambiente 2026, el reconocimiento más importante del activismo ambiental en el mundo, Juve nos habla desde el corazón del Valle Medio colombiano. En este episodio descubrirás: → Qué significa ser "gente del río" y por qué el Magdalena no es un recurso sino una madre → Por qué Colombia es el país más peligroso del mundo para los defensores ambientales, y cómo Juve convirtió el miedo en herramienta → El papel de América Latina y del Sur Global en la transición energética justa → Qué está en juego en las próximas elecciones colombianas para el medioambiente → El rol de las mujeres en la defensa de la naturaleza: rebeldes, fieras y con voz propia → Un mensaje de esperanza para las juventudes del mundo Una conversación sobre resistencia, comunidad, territorio y la construcción del nuevo mundo libre de combustibles fósiles. weneedtoact.org @weneedtoactpodcast Apóyanos mostrando tu interés de las siguientes maneras: 🎧 Escucha y suscríbete al podcast We Need to Act en Spotify o Apple Podcasts. ☕ Apoya a nuestro trabajo comprándonos un café. 📲 Únete a nuestra comunidad en Instagram, LinkedIn, y YouTube 📬 Suscríbete a nuestro boletín informativo en nuestra página web.

    Goldman Prize 2026: defender el agua desde el corazón de Colombia con Yuvelis Morales Blanco
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

We Need to Act, hosted by Dr. Sara Rego, dives into the biggest questions shaping our planet’s future. From climate change and biodiversity loss to social justice and environmental degradation, each episode unpacks what sustainability really means. Through candid conversations with activists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, we explore the roots of today’s crises—and the bold actions needed to build a just, resilient, and regenerative world.

Information

  • Creator
    Sara Rego
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    70
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sara Rego
  • Show Website
    We Need to Act

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