Heat! Camera! Action!

Jules Pretty
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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. 2d ago

    33 Duncan Clark on rewilding a 1000-acre farm and using Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) to help

    In the walled garden at Braxted Hall Estate, Duncan Clark talks about 30 years of rewilding of the family farm, and how it is beginning to connect up with other efforts across the landscapes of Essex. He describes developing multiple strands of business, including as a wedding venue. Farming has benefitted hugely from public support for the transition to sustainability and nature restoration. Now the new mechanism of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is bringing money from developers to the land: developers must offset nature losses by creating more, either nearby or further away on farms. Braxted Hall is being transformed by Duncan’s vision for a different kind of landscape. Maybe one day, he says, there will be a rewilded landscape from Clacton on the coast to the ancient forest at Epping on the outskirts of London.  He says, the more you build nature, the more you recover. Duncan celebrates the work of the North Essex Farm cluster (40 farmers on 20,000 hectares), a recent example of the creation of social capital to increase trust, reciprocity and collective action by farmers. Facilitated by Emma and Joe Gray at Great Priory Farm, it is spreading ideas about regenerative agriculture too – you can have the food, and you can have the nature and carbon sequestration.  Duncan is proud that when he was told to grub up his 20 years of nature recovery, he didn’t.  His hero is Somali-born writer and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Duncan says about nature and people, “I’m a great lover of harmony.” His recommendation, “treat thy neighbour like thyself.” For more on Braxted Hall, see https://www.braxtedpark.co.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."

    33 Duncan Clark on rewilding a 1000-acre farm and using Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) to help

  2. 2d ago

    32 Susan Owens on the attentiveness and bravery of painter John Constable on his 250th anniversary

    We’re sitting on the banks of the River Stour in “Constable Country.” It’s the home territory of the painter 250 years after his birth. Susan Owens is acclaimed author, art historian and curator: her most recent book is “Constable’s Year.” She was curator of paintings at the V&A Museum, and told on arrival she’d have to take on John Constable. What she found was a painter brave enough to invent a new attentiveness to the patterns of both nature and the working environments of the countryside: in fields, on the river, by the mills. He broke rules, established new norms, resisted family pressure, and stuck to his methods in the face of institutional gatekeepers on how best to paint. Says Susan, “There’s a steely determination at Constable’s heart.” John Constable had said, “I’m going to study nature,” and that “My art is to be found in every and in every hedge.” His approach: always to adjust and change over time, always to create improvements. Always too to face down the pressure to conform.  Susan’s hero is author, Ronald Blythe, who lived upstream of our recording location at Flatford. He too was rooted in nature and place.  She recommends his final book, Next to Nature.  She recommends we all show attentiveness. Notice what is happening. Draw if you have the time, this is the way to approach the nature and climate crises.  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."

    32 Susan Owens on the attentiveness and bravery of painter John Constable on his 250th anniversary

  3. 4d ago

    31 Trailer 2 and Review (Series 1): Heat! Camera! Action!

    So – this is that sort of trailer that comes in part after the vehicle. Looking back as well as forward. Series 1: 40 shows to Dec 23rd this year. In all 20 women guests, 20 men Series 2 will begin around the end of March 2027. About the time that my new book, Bamboo and Butterfly is published. It’s wonderful, isn’t it! Walking in the woods and wilds created by each guest. Transformational. Creating a huge and happy web. Some of the stories will become myth. Myth is relational isn’t it; it creates the web. Big themes have been emerging. Central idea – we’re in a hole, it’s hot and scary. How does our experience of transformation and change (elsewhere in our lives) help these climate and nature recovery challenges? How can it create new agency? What do we know? That the pantry’s full of ingredients.  We’ve talked of transformation – in ourselves and nature. We’re talked of abundance – and deliberately manufactured scarcity. We’ve talked of story. We’ve talked of climate adaptation – we’re not quitting fossil fuels fast enough, so adaptation is now a blazing orb of a priority. We’ve talked of togetherness and community  There’s been talk of system change. Life created earth. We are nature.  We can do this; it’s hard – we only have to quit all fossil fuels, drop the neoliberal economy, start talking about good futures for all. Not too much to ask! In folk and fairy tales, not every bow is tied neatly And here, too, new music for the start, interludes and ends of shows. Composed and performed by Darren Tansley of Moonhare Studios, called “The Broken Shore.” But first, here’s to mending the shore, reviving the land, adapting fast to climate heating. Coming up with models of how we really, really, want to live our lives. How we do this with togetherness. So here we go. Once upon a time… in a country far away, on the other side of tomorrow, there lived a girl and a boy, and they would go on to have many adventures. They were really good at getting out of holes. Even better at making a better good world far beyond the hole.  See you on the other side!

    31 Trailer 2 and Review (Series 1): Heat! Camera! Action!

  4. Oct 28

    30 Rob Hopkins on time travel to the future, and the great achievements of the Transition Movement

    We’re at the home of Rob Hopkins close to Totnes in south Devon, and we’re talking time travel. Rob is the co-founder of the Transition Movement, and we chat about the revelatory moment when he saw a T-shirt saying, “I’ve been to the future. We won.” He says of the climate movement, “We are losing this at the moment really badly.” He observes there sometimes comes a moment in life that just wants to change you: “And you just have to do this thing.” He bought a hazmat suit, an astronaut’s bulb helmet, and built a time machine. To audiences, he describes what he’s seen in that one future where we humans did everything possible. “And it’s beautiful.”  Mostly, futures are terrible; some are good. “We need to give people something they want to run towards, rather than screaming in the other direction.” The impact on audiences: tears, laughter, smiles, inspiration. We talk of the Transition Movement, Rob’s time in a Buddhist monastery, his travels to Hunza and Tibet. The thing about those futures that work? They’re already working now. Just not all in the same place.  Rob’s recommended book is Mariane Kaba’s “We Do This ‘Til We Free Us.” His hero: musician Sun Ra, for embracing the ridiculous, showing us how to be free to jump the rails. His two most recent books are “How to Fall in Love with the Future” (2025) and “From What Is to What If” (2021).  His recommendation: sign up to his newsletter, Time Traveller’s Guide, on his website: www.robhopkins.net.  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."

    30 Rob Hopkins on time travel to the future, and the great achievements of the Transition Movement

  5. Oct 21

    29 Moudhy al-Rashid on the remarkable lives of women written on clay tablets across 3500 years of ancient Mesopotamia

    I’m chatting with historian, translator and author Moudhy al-Rashid in Wolfson College in Oxford, overlooking the gardens and pond. Moudhy works with the extraordinary record of cuneiform languages written on clay tablets with reed styluses. These open and period of deep history of some 3500 years between the two rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates. Most of the tablets records of daily life; some are great hymns and stories. We talk of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving written story, and of the Hymns of Enheduana, the priestess and first named author in human history. We also talk of the Assyrian Palace Sculptures of approx. 600 BCE that depict the lion hunt of King Ashburnipal. Says Moudhy, “What I sense is that the artists seem to have been animal activists”, for they depict suffering. Every animal is clearly personalized.  Moudhy says of the Gilgamesh epic, where he searches for immortality and finds is the survival of the collective: “We’re here to look after each other.” What do these cuneiform tablets advise us? “How to make sense of this bizarre gift we’ve been given, which is being on this planet together.” Moudhy’s 2025 book is “Between Two Rivers”. She is writing a new book on the richness of individual lives in antiquity.  She recommends Sophus Helle’s gorgeous book on the “Hymns of Enheduana”, and Amanda’s Podany’s “Weavers, Scribes and Kings.” In her book, Between Two Rivers, Moudhy translates a lullaby song sung by a mother to her child: “Little one, who dwelled in darkness, Now you’ve come and seen the sun, Wy the crying? Why the worries? What has made your peace undone?” Website: https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/person/moudhy-al-rashid/ 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."

    29 Moudhy al-Rashid on the remarkable lives of women written on clay tablets across 3500 years of ancient Mesopotamia

  6. Oct 14

    28 Jenny Tolhurst on being the first female Lord-Lieutenant of Essex and the joy of painting nature

    I’m chatting with Jenny Tolhurst in her Danbury garden. She is the first female Lord Lieutenant of Essex, and has been in post for nine years. It is a multi-dimensional role across counties of the UK, representing and serving the monarch of the day. The man duties including organising royal visits, giving out King’s Awards for Volunteers and for Enterprise, and celebrating local action. She commends the rich voluntary work in the county on the environment and support for farmers. We talk about the day in 2002 when the seawalls were deliberately breached to create new marshland and reduce flood risk: “a glorious day” in late winter. Jenny is a sailor and painter: she is interested in light and playing with media. “Don’t try to be precise,” she says. “Play more!” Her objects are two bird sculptures by Essex artist Stephen Henderson. She recommends two books: “English Pastoral” by James Rebanks, and “H is for Hawk” by Helen MacDonald.  Her recommendation: Go Sailing, Paint. “If you want to do it, you can.” Website: https://essex-lieutenancy.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."

    28 Jenny Tolhurst on being the first female Lord-Lieutenant of Essex and the joy of painting nature

  7. Oct 7

    27 Roger Morris on having to close rural churches because of climate change

    In the churchyard of Great Henny church, I’m chatting in the breezy sunshine with Roger Morris, the Bishop of Colchester. He’s brought his purple hard hat. We’re at St Mary the Virgin church, one of six churches in the diocese of Chelmsford that has had to be closed because of the effects of climate change. Soils and ground experiencing severe wetting and then summer drying are moving, and 1000-year-old churches without foundations are moving too. At Great Henny both the east and west ends are cracking and sliding away. Two of the five marks of mission, he says, are foundational: challenging unjust structures, and addressing sustainability and the climate crisis. Other closed churches are at Twinstead and Little Wigborough. These profound threats have occurred only in the past five years or so.  The task is so huge, he says, yet Mother Theresa said of actions of individuals: “It might feel like a drop in the ocean, but the ocean is made of drops.” Roger mentions the unseen heroines and heroes already taking action on climate and sustainability.  Roger recommends reading the new theology statement on sustainability due from The Synod in July 2026. He also says, change your energy provider to renewables, and don’t fly. The Church of England has committed to net zero in all its buildings by 2030. Even if they miss the target, it has helped galvanise action. 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."

    27 Roger Morris on having to close rural churches because of climate change

  8. Oct 7

    26 Anthony Nanson on oral storytelling and its fundamental connection to ecology

    In his home in Stroud, oral storyteller and author Anthony Nanson chats about story and the current polycrises. We hear about the three essential ingredients for narrative story: progression of events in time, characters embodied, the imagery of place. Anthony talks of the vulnerability of storytelling, and yet its limitless possibility too. He talks of the Bath Storytelling Circle and storytelling workshops for midwifes under pressure in the NHS. Through enchantment, story creates intent and imagination that counter the problems of deterministic thinking. He says, “Kindness towards other people will be essential to address the crises.” Anthony’s books include Storytelling and Ecology, and his novel Deep Time. He recommends Lindsey Clarke’s Green Man Dreaming, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry of the Future. His hero is Edward Garnett, publisher’s reader in the early 1900s. His action: try meditation.  Anthony’s website: http://www.anthonynanson.co.uk/  His publishing house, Awen: https://www.awenpublications.co.uk/  See also Fire Springs Storytellers at: http://www.firesprings.org.uk/index.html 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."

    26 Anthony Nanson on oral storytelling and its fundamental connection to ecology
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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
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Heat! Camera! Action!
  • Show Website
    Heat! Camera! Action!

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