The Wild Minds Podcast

In this final episode of Season 11, Marina reflects on ceremony at a seasonal threshold, where science, spirituality and everyday life meet. As the light shifts toward spring in the North and autumn in the South, this episode explores what keeps us well - personally and collectively - and asks whether we are living as passengers or participants in our time.Topics include:Living at a threshold - Spring Equinox in the North, autumn descent in the South - renewal and death side by side.For most of human history, ceremony aligned us with cycles - watching the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) rise, noticing light, temperature, migration - remembering our place in the unfolding.Science is not naïve materialism - it studies what we cannot see - fields, probabilities, dark matter - but it asks different questions from spirituality.Science reduces suffering through medicine and understanding; ritual, myth, art and community help us face death, grief, forgiveness and meaning.The real tension is not science versus spirituality, but what happens when any system claims exclusive truth.Health requires biology, psychology, belonging and existential depth - mechanism alone is not enough, meaning alone is not enough.The language of “energy” and “spirit” carries different meanings - measurable in physics, experiential in lived reality - clarity matters.Ceremony as intention, beauty and invitation - not personal power, but participationRitual as ordinary acts infused with meaning - gratitude before eating, how we begin the day, how we hold a room, how we tend a conversationMoving from I to We - rites of passage, maturation, community witnessing changeAt seasonal thresholds something must die - a habit, a story, a way of leading, a way of consumingIn a time of climate emergency and confused leadership, we are invited not to be passengers but participants - small daily choices as a form of ceremonyLeadership without domination - strength without humiliation - integrating science without losing reverenceShow Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-88-ceremony-science-and-the-sacred/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

Sitting by the fire with Annie Spencer, we explore ceremony as lived relationship - with spirit, story, blood, grief, and the long arc from initiation to eldership - and what it means to keep dreaming a life-affirming world in times that feel increasingly divided.Topics include:Sitting by the fire together becomes a doorway into relationship - gratitude not as a nicety, but as a way of remembering life is alive, and not guaranteed.Ceremony, for Annie, starts with intention and beauty - not “performing a ritual,” but making a space that might genuinely invite presence from beyond the purely human.Fire is treated as a being with its own kind of aliveness - honoured, spoken to, and offered things, as a practice of not taking life for granted.A simple daily practice can be enough: choose a time, choose a place, return again and again until something responds - an “altar” as an anchor for attention.This way of knowing doesn’t sit easily inside modern culture - it can feel like being pulled between realities, and that tension can be exhausting.Annie names both the fascination and the danger: exploring other realities without a well-trodden path can unground people - tradition can be a rope that helps you return.Stories shape what we believe is possible - we live inside the story we tell about our lives, and the same event becomes different “truths” depending on who is telling it.Dreaming isn’t escapism: in times of political fear and widening authoritarianism, Annie suggests we can either feed a reality by fighting it constantly, or step back and hold a different dream with strength.Birth and menstruation are framed as everyday ceremonies - women making “a rich nest for life” each month, and the radical possibility of honouring life-giving blood rather than normalising bloodshed.Rites of passage matter because adolescence is a “loose” time - when identity isn’t fixed yet - and a strong experience of belonging, mystery, and beauty can orient a young person for life.Eldership isn’t a label you earn at menopause - it can take decades of turning toward death, letting go of dominance, and learning humility, until you can truly hold community.The elder’s offering is presence, acceptance, and perspective - holding what others can’t bear alone, sharing stories with teachings (without “you should”), and making space for ceremony and healing.The conversation keeps circling back to one core truth: life is relationship and reciprocity - giving and being given to — and even death is framed as the final gift back into the living system.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-87-ceremony-and-eldershipMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.

In this episode, I step into what I’m calling the season of the amateur - asking big questions without claiming expertise. I explore how medicine is shaped by culture and worldview, what “evidence” really means, and how different systems - from biomedicine to Ayurveda - understand causation, illness and health.This isn’t a rejection of modern medicine - it’s an attempt to widen the lens. To ask what keeps us well, not only what makes us ill. And to consider whether we can hold scientific rigour and relational depth in the same conversation - without collapsing into superstition, and without dismissing mystery.Topics include:Gratitude for what keeps us well: walking, breathing, rest, friendship, safety, purpose and for the years of disciplined study that form a psychiatrist: medical school, clinical rotations, exams, and over six years of specialist training.What counts as knowledge in medicine - and who decides? Holding expertise and personal sovereignty in the same frame.Medicine across civilisations - Babylon, Egypt, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Greece - each emerging from a worldview, none “primitive,” all culturally shaped.The rise of the biomedical model - anatomy, cells, pathogens, biochemistry and its extraordinary success in acute care and life-saving intervention.Evidence-based medicine and the power of Randomised Controlled Trials - what they measure brilliantly and what they struggle to capture.Psychiatry’s measurement dilemma - symptom clusters, self-reported scales, and the question of whether symptom reduction equals flourishing.The placebo effect, expectation, relationship and meaning - what actually creates change?Ayurveda as the “science of life” - balance, prevention, daily rhythms, and cultivating health rather than only treating disease.Green prescriptions and nature-based practice - bridging biomedical legitimacy with relational, ecological models of wellbeing.Safeguarding, discernment and humility - widening causation without abandoning rigour, and asking what it truly means to be well.Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-86-saving-lives-and-cultivating-health/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Kanchan, an Ayurvedic doctor trained in India, to explore a radically different way of understanding health, not only as something we fix when it breaks, but as a lifelong relationship between body, mind, senses, environment, and meaning.This is a conversation about prevention rather than crisis, and about what becomes possible when health is understood as a living, relational process rather than a purely medical one.Topics include:Ayurveda is described as a “science of life,” concerned with the whole arc of living - from conception to death - not just the treatment of diseaseHealth is understood as balance within the body, the mind, and the environment, while illness is a sign that something has fallen out of syncWestern allopathic medicine and Ayurveda are not in conflict; they serve different purposes, with acute medicine vital in emergencies and Ayurveda focused on prevention and long-term wellbeingThe body is seen as intelligent, with healing emerging when the right conditions are restored rather than imposed from outsideAyurveda treats people as individuals, not categories, taking into account constitution, diet, climate, place, habits, and family patternsThe five elements and three doshas are not rigid “types,” but ways of understanding movement, digestion, transformation, and stability within a personAyurveda is framed as a life science rather than only a medical science, with protecting the health of the healthy as its first priorityHumans are not placed above nature but understood as part of it, with personal health inseparable from the health of the living worldThe senses are described as powerful gateways shaping the mind, with overuse, underuse, or misuse contributing to imbalance and anxietyDaily and seasonal rhythms — how we eat, rest, move, and attend — are presented as foundations for mental steadiness and resiliencePurpose and inner alignment matter, with illness sometimes arising when actions drift away from a person’s deeper values or moral compassThe invitation is not to adopt another system wholesale, but to widen our understanding of health, hold multiple ways of knowing, and remember that care, balance, and relationship sit at the heart of wellbeingShownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-85-what-ayurveda-can-teach-us/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this episode, Marina explores why climate education is a health issue by looking at what actually keeps us well, and what happens when the systems we depend on begin to destabilise.This is a reflection on the living world, on physical reality, and on why informed climate education matters at a time of change.Key points:She begins in gratitude for the living world, and how amazing this biosphere really is!Health is not something we create alone; it arises from stable temperatures, clean water, fertile soils and a functioning atmosphere.Climate conversations often focus on ecology or policy, but beneath them sit physical laws that govern energy, heat and motion - Physics and Chemistry.Climate change is driven by an energy imbalance, not by opinion or belief.Chemistry explains what substances are, but physics explains what energy does in a system.Climate change is already a health issue, showing up in bodies, hospitals and food systems.Human health has always been intertwined with ecological health.What’s most at risk and the stability of ecosystems, food systems and social systemsDenial persists not because the science is unclear, but we don’t assimilate it and come together - I would love to see Cross Party politics.Language matters with Net Zero and Real Zero, especially the difference between delaying harm and stopping it.Education is not an extra burden here; it’s one of the few tools we have for prevention.Staying human means staying in relationship - with each other and with the living world.Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-84-why-climate-education-is-a-health-issue/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this conversation, Professor Hugh Montgomery names climate change for what it is:A survival crisis driven by “radiation gain” and accelerating feedback loops. He cuts through denial, delay and mixed messaging with five simple moves anyone can make now - switch your power, move your money, change your food, shift your travel, and talk about it - then shows how asking seven others can cascade into mass action.We touch on real zero vs net zero, why money we can do now, and how unity across politics beats division.Here are the essentials:Hugh reframes climate change as “radiation gain,” explaining that greenhouse gases trap longwave heat and create positive feedback loops driving escalating warming.Humanity is emitting over 54 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually, and a fifth of what’s emitted today will still be heating the planet in 33,000 years.Natural systems like oceans and forests can no longer absorb enough carbon; atmospheric CO₂ now rises about four parts per million per year, reaching around 430.5 ppm.Feedback loops include methane release from permafrost (83 times more potent than CO₂), forests becoming net emitters, and loss of reflective ice - 9 trillion tonnes gone - accelerating heating.Hugh warns that the real threat is not only to health but to human survival within the next one or two decades, not centuries.He compares Earth’s situation to a patient long ignoring symptoms - what could have been minor surgery now needs radical, painful treatment to survive.Inaction stems from circular blame between individuals, business, and politicians - each claiming it’s someone else’s responsibility.Many in government and business remain ignorant of climate science or see it as a political issue; some even believe warming will benefit economies through resource access or growth from destruction.Human psychology also plays a role: people avoid short-term loss or pleasure deprivation even when long-term risk is high - similar to health behaviors like smoking or drinking.Fear-based climate messaging fails when it offers no agency; effective communication must link truth with action, empowering people to act immediately.Hugh outlines five tangible actions anyone can take:Switch to 100% renewable electricityMove personal banking away from fossil-fuel fundersShift to a largely plant-based diet (less meat, smaller portions)Reduce air and car travel where possibleTalk about climate concerns openly to normalise actionShownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-83-climate-change-health-and-survival-with-professor-hugh-montgomery/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

Episode 82 invites listeners to arrive into 2026 with honesty, care and a sense of shared responsibility - not as individuals carrying the world alone, but as part of a wider web of life.Drawing on reflections from Jane Goodall’s work, seasonal change and lived experience, this episode explores how we stay present without panic. It asks what it really means to act with courage, dignity and relationship in uncertain times.Here are some of her reflections: Opening the year with Jane Goodall’s reminder that what we do makes a difference - and that change begins with choosing the kind of difference we want to make, rather than acting from fear or urgency.Reflecting on the seasonal crossing between hemispheres, and how growth, decay and renewal are always happening somewhere, all the time - whether we notice or not.Sitting with Alder as a teacher: a tree that carries water and fire, masculine and feminine, strength and softness and how this mirrors our inner lives, our fragility, and our need for both boundaries and surrender.Honouring Jane Goodall’s long life of peaceful activism and her understanding that people can only carry what they can - that survival, dignity and stability matter before wider responsibility.Realising that while I never thought of my work as “democratic,” the erosion of democracy makes it clear how relational, sociocratic and consent-based outdoor learning really is.Sharing the moment from the interview that stayed with me most: Jane Goodall’s mother responding to her disappearance not with punishment, but with curiosity and listening - and how her spirit was not broken.Returning to regulation through breath, movement, sensory connection and time outdoors - remembering that responsibility was never meant to be an individual burden, but a collective one shared with the more-than-human world.Realising that healthy outdoor learning mirrors healthy systems: listening matters, power works best when shared, and sociocratic, relational ways of being together are deeply needed now.Closing with a reframing of “together we can” - not as fixing everything, but as listening more deeply, carrying only what is ours, acting where we are, staying in relationship, and choosing our difference with care.Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-82-together-we-can/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show!This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

Today, I’m joined by Rosemary Reed, trustee of the Jane Goodall Institute UK, and Jasmina Georgovska, Director of Outreach for Roots & Shoots UK — the global youth programme Jane founded to support young people to take action for people, animals, and the planet.In this episode, we talk about what it means to raise changemakers without breaking spirits. About listening, really listening, to children, and to each other. About how environmental responsibility can only grow where people feel stable, respected, and supported.Hope is described as an active choice - a way of meeting difficult realities with belief, responsibility, and small, purposeful actions.True mentorship helps people remember what they’re capable of, shifting mindsets from limitation to possibility through education, trust, and belief.Jane Goodall’s power came not from force or argument, but from listening deeply, holding conviction with humility, and responding through story rather than confrontation.Information alone doesn’t move people - connection does. When an issue is felt, not just understood, action becomes possible.Jane’s early experiences with her mother model an ethic of learning that protects curiosity, encourages exploration, and listens before correcting.Care, kindness, hope, enthusiasm, determination, teamwork, and personal responsibility sit at the heart of this work - alongside the belief that every individual matters.Rather than being managed or directed, young people are invited into leadership, supported to identify what matters locally and respond meaningfully.Seeing a problem isn’t the same as registering responsibility. Change begins when awareness turns into even the smallest act.Roots & Shoots (www.rootsnshoots.org.uk): Hands-on projects and immersive experiences - including thoughtful use of technology - help young people feel their relationship with the living world and offer small, tangible acts that build confidence rather than overwhelm.TACARE (Take Care) is the Jane Goodall Institute's (JGI) community-led conservation program, started in Tanzania in 1994 shows that conservation only works when human dignity, stability, and community wellbeing are addressed first, because everything is connected.The invitation is to listen more deeply, act more kindly, and take responsibility in small, grounded ways - carrying hope without collapsing under its weight.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-81-jane-goodall-legacy-roots-and-shoots-uk/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

As winter gathers and the days shorten, in this final episode of the season, Marina reflects on the Rowan tree, the act of wintering, and the hidden life beneath stillness.  Here are some of her reflections: The Rowan as a winter guardian, its bright berries offering sustenance and protection in the dark months.The solstice as a time of descent, when we enter the heart’s cave and tend the inner fire that keeps us alive through uncertainty.How stillness and retreat restore our capacity to listen, dream, and notice what truly matters.The importance of reworking our stories — how memory, identity, and imagination can evolve with the seasons.The denials that shape our modern crisis: of planetary limits, of our entanglement with the living world, and of our own vulnerability.How fear and defensiveness rise in turbulent times, and the invitation to find gentler, more connected ways forward.Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-80-tending-the-embers Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

Today I’m speaking with Nick Stoop, founder of Pangea Impact Investments - a company that’s trying to change something most of us rarely think about.Where our pensions are invested, and what that money is actually doing in the world.In this episode we get practical and brave about money — banks, pensions, and the difference between light green labels and deep green impact — so our savings can serve the living world as well as our future selves.What happens to our money inside banks and pensions.Why pensions can outweigh everyday “green” habits in impact.Agency in an opaque system and how to start using it.Light green screening versus deep green positive impact.Ethics, risk, return and the futures we’re funding.The problem with labels and why “ethical” often isn’t.Transparency as reconnection to place and consequence.The role of workplace pensions and scope 3 emissions.Third-party verification, B Corps and better metrics.Moving money without sacrificing performance over time.Imagining local, regenerative investments we can visit.Small first steps that build a values-aligned portfolio.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/money-with-a-conscience-with-nick-stoop/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this solo episode, Marina explores what Linda Buzzell calls “level two ecotherapy” - a shift from using nature as a tool for human wellbeing to recognising our reciprocal relationship with the living world. Moving from “me” to “we,” she reflects on how our practices, systems, and mindsets can evolve toward a more ethical, embodied, and relational way of belonging.Key Ideas ExploredThe move from extraction to relationship — recognising nature as a living partner, not a service.From “me” to “we” — human development as a journey toward community and interconnection.The many meanings of ecotherapy and why values and worldview matter more than labels.The power of shared outdoor activity — fire, craft, and stillness as natural therapy.Reclaiming the roots of eco and therapy — caring for our shared home and one another.Nature-centric models that place humans within the circle of life, not above it.The need to move beyond individual healing to include the health of the Earth.Western culture’s mindset of extraction and the call for reciprocity and re-education.Bringing nature-based practice into health and education systems despite structural barriers.Seeing bullying and domination as symptoms of fear and disconnection from relationship.The importance of moral courage, ethical conduct, and grounded self-worth in our work.Community ecotherapy and deep ecology as ways to restore belonging and collective care.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-78-level-2-ecotherapy-from-me-to-we/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

This week, I am in conversation with Linda Buzzell who is a psychotherapist, ecotherapist, author, and pioneer in the field of ecopsychology, working at the intersection of psychology, ecology, and culture since the late 1990s. Linda co-edited 'Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind' with Craig Chalquist and has written widely on the ecological crisis as both a psychological and spiritual challenge.In this episode, we explore what ecotherapy truly means - not as a treatment or technique, but as a way of healing our relationship with the living Earth. We talk about nature as therapist, community as medicine, and what it means to move from a culture of domination to one of partnership and reciprocity.Topics include:Ecotherapy as healing our relationship with our home world.Level one vs level two ecotherapy from personal benefit to reciprocal, culture-shifting practice.Nature as the ultimate therapist practitioner as catalyst, guide, witness.Eco-psychotherapy within clinical practice and the wider, community-facing field of ecotherapy.Zookosis in animals as a mirror for human nature-deficit and why habitats matter for sanity.Evidence beyond exercise research showing green and blue contact improves mood and health.Caution on “nature prescriptions” moving beyond individual fixes to place, community, and systems.Rooting in place bioregionalism, terra psychology, and rebuilding bonds with land.Decolonising therapy learning from Indigenous wisdom without appropriation and with repair.From dominator culture to partnership Riane Eisler’s lens and McGilchrist’s hemispheres.Eco-spirituality reclaiming the sacred through seasons, ceremony, bodies, and relational awe.The path of hope small groups, community ecotherapy, and standing together for the living world.Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-77-the-deeper-work-of-ecotherapy-with-linda-buzzell/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. 

In this episode, Marina reflects on power, responsibility, and duty of care. As November marks a season of endings and beginnings, she looks beneath the surface of our systems — from education to environment, and asks what happens when we stop paying attention, and what it costs us when we do.This conversation traces the threads between integrity and innocence, corruption and accountability, and how our personal and professional ethics shape the wider ecology we live within.Key ideas exploredThe uneasy link between wealth, power, and moral compromiseNovember as a time for renewalHow concentrated power in health, education, and business leads us to protect ourselves instead of our purposeTeachers and leaders navigating the “topside world” while tending what lies beneath — our own psychology and hidden systemsMoving beyond naïveté without losing hope or careReclaiming duty of care — asking whether our systems live up to the ethics we teachPracticing stewardship: leaving no trace, enhancing biodiversity, and restoring the flow of responsibilityShownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-76-the-cost-of-looking-away/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this episode, I’m speaking with Ash Smith, the founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution. A retired Detective Superintendent, former angler and scuba diver, Ash has spent the last eight years investigating the truth about what’s happening in our rivers. His love for the natural world, combined with a deep sense of justice, led him to gather a team of committed people from different disciplines to form one of the most effective groups holding water companies and regulators to account.In our conversation, Ash shares what’s really going on with our rivers, the scale of sewage pollution, and the failures of government and regulatory bodies to protect our waterways. This is a passionate, evidence-based discussion, grounded in data that you can find on the WASP website. The Windrush itself flows for 65 kilometers from Gloucestershire into the Thames - but this story reaches far beyond one river. It speaks to the health of our ecosystems, and to our own health as well.Topics include:A vivid picture of what a living, healthy river once was — and how the “new normal” hides a quiet collapse.How WASP (Windrush Against Sewage Pollution) turns citizen science and data analysis into undeniable proof of illegal pollution.The shocking reality of regulators who no longer investigate — and water companies marking their own homework.What happens when public services are sold off and profit replaces purpose.The money trail — how customers fund dividends while private shareholders drain the system.Why some water companies are now in “special measures” and what real accountability could look likeAsh’s journey from detective superintendent to river defender — following the evidence wherever it leads.The quiet power of ordinary people who refuse to look away.How anger can become fuel for change rather than despair.Practical ways to take action — join with others, use local data, and make enough noise to tip the balanceShownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-75-the-river-of-truth-with-ash-smith/ Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this reflective solo episode, Marina explores how the changing seasons, our ancestral roots, and the social history of education help us question what learning really means today. We journey from postwar Britain to the present classroom, asking how we can reimagine education as something alive, relational, and grounded in nature.Topics include:Gratitude for autumn, the changing light, and small comforts that sustain us.Reflection on the natural cycle of endings and beginnings and what it teaches us about renewal.The symbolism of the elder and birch trees as reminders of wisdom, letting go, and new growth.Honouring ancestors and recognising what we’ve inherited through culture and family.The importance of doing inner work that leads to outer change in our communities and classrooms.Revisiting postwar Britain to understand how education emerged as a social contract for fairness and democracy.The 1944 Butler Act and its vision for universal education and rebuilding society after the war.Remembering that education is a system, while learning is an organic, lifelong process that transforms who we are.The tension between authority and shared power in schools and what that means for children’s voices.A call to reimagine education as something rooted in wellbeing, curiosity, and connection to the living world.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-74-what-is-education-for-nowMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

My guest today is Suzanne Welch, Education Partnership Manager at the RSPB, the UK’s largest nature conservation charity with over a million members, and in this episode she explores what it would mean to make nature a right in education and why it’s time to rethink the purpose.Suzanne has spent decades in outdoor learning - from taking inner-city children to the Thames foreshore, where subjects like science, history and geography came alive, to now convening national partnerships and influencing education policy. Her work is driven by a vision that every child should have access to high-quality learning in, with and for nature.In this episode Suzanne Welch...Challenges the outdated knowledge-based model and invites a shift toward enquiry and relational learning. Reflects on her early work taking inner-city children to the River Thames and witnessing their transformation outdoors. Emphasises joy, curiosity and presence as the foundations of meaningful learning.Highlights how outdoor experiences naturally connect subjects like science, history, art and geography.Argues that learning shouldn’t be siloed because our minds don’t operate in compartments.Points to the early years sector as an example of where outdoor and child-led learning already works well.Questions about why these principles fade as children move through the education system.Explains how assessment and measurement culture have narrowed what counts as learning.Calls for systemic rather than incremental change and a national conversation about the true purpose of education.Advocates for a statutory right for every child to learn in with and for nature.Notes that equitable access currently depends on postcode school leadership and teacher enthusiasm.Ends with a simple invitation start with one outdoor lesson listen to young people and let hope lead change.Shownotes: https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/making-nature-a-right-in-education-suzanne-welch/Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this closing episode of Season 9, I’m exploring something that feels urgent in our times: the difference between education and learning. Education is often about systems, metrics, and tests — but learning is about life itself. It happens in forests, green spaces, kitchens, and communities. It’s experiential, embodied, relational, and remembered because we live it.With the rise of AI, increasing mental health challenges, and the fast pace of our lives, we need to ask: what skills truly matter now, and how can we reimagine learning so every young person leaves not just with knowledge, but with self-worth, connection, and a sense of agency?Topics include:The urgent difference between education and learning, and why it matters now more than ever.Why formal schooling often leaves young people without confidence, agency, or self-worth.The danger of convergent thinking and the value of divergent, creative, and adaptive skills.Experiential learning: Why we remember fire-lighting, foraging, and play more than worksheets.The principles of autism-informed, trauma-informed, and consent-based practice as foundations for real learning.The Outdoor Teacher Approach: Play-based, body-led, and relational rather than hierarchical.The opportunity (and risk) of the UK’s new climate curriculum, and why connection, not just knowledge, is key.The Children’s Fire principle and what it means to educate with future generations — all children, human and more-than-human, at the heart.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-72-learning-for-lifeMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this episode of the Wild Minds Podcast, I’m in conversation with Mac Macartney, a storyteller, leader, and founder of Embercombe, exploring what it means to live and lead in service to life.In this far-reaching conversation, we explore The Children’s Fire — an ancient principle that no law, decision, or action should harm the young of any species, and how it might transform leadership, education, and our relationship with the natural world.We talk about education rooted in the simple yet radical commitment that no child should leave school without feeling good about who they are, and the power of play as an antidote to a culture that leaves so many children, and adults, masking their pain and feeling worthless beneath the surface.Topics include:Exploring The Children’s Fire — the ancient principle that no decision should harm the young of any species.Reimagining education so no child leaves school without feeling good about themselves.Unpacking the hubris of superiority — how our systems consistently enforce it.The power of play and nature connection as antidotes to hopelessness and masking how we truly feel.Insights from Mac’s leadership company on redefining the purpose of business — beyond profit and growth — and valuing well-rounded human beings.Reflections on indigenous wisdom, community ownership, and leadership rooted in service rather than self-interest.A call to rethink wealth, power, and responsibility so that resources and decisions serve the many, not the few.An invitation to imagine a more joyful, courageous, and humane society.Shownotes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-71-mac-macartney-interviewMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this episode of Wild Minds, I'm exploring what it’s like to have big questions that don’t always fit into your job title. Whether you’re a teacher, therapist, or just someone who feels things deeply, this conversation is about the risk, and importance, of staying open, curious, and honest in times of change.Topics include:What it feels like to hide parts of yourself in professional spacesThe fear of sounding “too out there” or being seen as unprofessionalWhy curiosity and wonder matter more than ever, especially in helping rolesHow feelings and intuition often get pushed aside—even though they guide so much of our real understandingA look at where our sense of mind and consciousness might actually come fromHow Indigenous wisdom and quantum science both challenge the idea that we’re separate from natureWhat happens in our body when we feel awe or connectionWhy being open-minded isn’t soft or silly—it’s essential for making sense of the worldShow Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-70-scientific-enough-to-wonderMusic by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Mentioned in this episode:How to Teach Climate Changehttps://theoutdoorteacher.com/climate

In this powerful and expansive conversation, Pam Montgomery (teacher, author, and plant spirit ally) invites us into a deeper relationship with the natural world. We explore what it means to communicate with plants, how to trust our intuition, and how ancient ways of knowing are being remembered at this time of global rebirth. In this episode....Through personal story, scientific insights, and spiritual practice, Pam helps us reimagine our role in the web of life.Pam’s grandmother introduced her to the idea of talking with plants – a formative influence that shaped her lifelong path.Communication with plants isn’t imaginary; it’s relational, vibrational, and increasingly supported by emerging science.Devices like those from Damanhur allow us to hear plants "sing," revealing their responsiveness to intention and environment.True communication happens through resonance, light, and sound – not just words – with the heart as the central sensing organ.We are vibrational beings too; like plants, we can tune into our environment and one another on subtle energetic levels.Pam describes “first voice” – the intuitive message that arrives before the rational mind interrupts – and how she trains herself to listen to it.Slowing down and entering the present moment opens a “portal” to meaningful encounters with nature.Nettle is explored as a plant ally that wakes us up and demands presence, while yarrow helps with energetic boundaries and healing.Nature responds when we become coherent – as our nervous systems settle, the world around us comes closer.Bonding with nature releases oxytocin, the “love hormone,” which initiates the body’s restorative response.We are already in relationship with plants through our breath – consciously acknowledging this can be a gateway to deeper connection.Pam speaks of a global rebirth and the possibility of a “new earth” rooted in interbeing, where all life can thrive together.Show Notes:https://theoutdoorteacher.com/podcasts/episode-69-plant-communication-with-pam-montgomery/ Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com Please Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple PodcastsIf you have enjoyed today's episode, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This really helps me to spread the word to more people like you, and to empower more people to take their practice outdoors!Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then let me know what you loved most about the episode!Also, if you haven’t done so already, "follow" the podcast, as if you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out.