Hope Springs with Annabel Heseltine

Robin and his son Merlin Hanbury Tenison have dedicated their lives to rainforests and the people living amongst them, whether in South America and Borneo or on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall where they live. Author Robin Hanbury Tennyson OBE is ‘an explorer with a conscience’ who has lead over 30 scientific expeditions and founded Survival International, campaigning for the rights of indigenous people and tropical rainforests. But it was in Cornwall after a severe covid attack forced him into an induced coma for five months that he discovered the true healing power of trees. It was only when Merlin returned home with his wife Lizzie, to heal his PTSD after serving three tours in Afghanistan and an uncomfortable stint in the London corporate world, that they discovered in a full circle of serendipity, that they were living in a rainforest- albeit an Atlantic temperate one. The story of how and why Merlin created the Thousand Year Trust to protect these ancient forests is beautifully told in Our Oaken Bones, published on March 20th 2025. This podcast is bought to you by The Resurgence Trust.  

Ruby Wax is better known as a comedian and broadcaster with a reputation for interviewing celebrities and deviant politicians but her life changed in 2008 when she found herself in a psychiatric hospital. Today she's a mental health campaigner with a master's in “Mindfulness based cognitive therapy” from Oxford University, an OBE for her work campaigning for mental health awareness and an online sharing circle; called Frazzled café for people who are “stressed about being stressed”.   Whether its worrying news about the climate, super-charged social media messages or managing our mental health crisis Ruby advocates meditation practice as a tool for navigating 21st century life and is on a mission to destigmatise one of the last taboo subjects. The author of five books with titles like I am not as well as I thought I was and How to be human both of which she turned into sell-out tours, the former with a monk and a neuroscientist, Ruby knows that by talking about her own experiences she opens the door for others to do the same, bringing the black dog out of the shadows.  But still, she says she isn’t a mental health campaigner.   This podcast is bought to you by The Resurgence Trust.

Andy Cato is one half of the electric music duo Groove Armada, who in 2007 sold his music rights and ploughed the profits into a piece of land in the Pyrenees. His inspiration? A sobering article on the environmental consequences of food production, at the end of which it said. “If you don’t like it, don’t depend upon it.” Taking those words literally, he spent twelve lonely, challenging years experimenting with ways to grow food and regenerate the soil. In 2018, recognised by the French President for his services to farming, he returned to the UK to set up Wildfarmed, supporting other farmers by developing collectives to deliver farm to plate at scale. He has even taught Jeremy Clarkson a thing or two. For Cato there is no debate; its not wilding or farming. It’s a great big AND. This podcast is bought to you by The Resurgence Trust.

Satish Kumar is a global peace activist who in 1962 made an 8,000 mile pilgrimage from Gandhi’s grave in Delhi to Washington without food or money in protest against nuclear weapons. He has been inspiring change ever since as Editor and then Editor Emeritus of Resurgence, the magazine described by the Guardian as the 'spiritual and ecological flagship of the environmental movement'. In 1991, the prolific author and activist founded Schumacher College, an ecological centre teaching regenerative food and farming principles. His autobiography, No Destination has been read by over 50,000 people. Now in his 80s, Satish Kumar has devoted his life to campaigning for ecological regeneration, social justice, and spiritual fulfilment and says he will be an activist until the day he dies. This podcast is bought to you by The Resurgence Trust.

Dr Mya-Rose Craig is a twenty-two-year-old British-Bangladeshi diversity activist and author better known as Bird Girl for the blog she started aged just eleven. In her travel memoir, she reveals the inspiration; how birdwatching kept her family together when her mother was struggling with an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Aged 14, Mya-Rose founded Black2Nature to engage Visible Minority Ethnic communities and white young people from deprived areas with nature; organising nature camps, holding conferences, appearing on stage with names like Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot. Aged 17 she wrote the Manifesto for Diversity in Nature Conservation for naturalist Chris Packham and in 2020 was the youngest British person to be awarded an honorary doctorate from Bristol University for her work campaigning for diversity in the environmental sector. This podcast is bought to you by The Resurgence Trust.

Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres is widely recognized as the driving force behind the 2015 Paris Agreement, where 196 countries pledged to keep climate warming levels below 2°C. What is less known is that during this pivotal moment, she was grappling with deep personal trauma, including the emotional toll of a marriage breakdown. In the midst of this struggle, she found solace and strength in the teachings of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, whose wisdom, she credits, helped her navigate the intense negotiations that led to the landmark climate accord. Figueres, a veteran of every COP, has dedicated her life to driving global change. She co-founded Global Optimism, champions young climate activists, and serves as co-host of the Earthshot Prize as well as the popular podcast Outrage and Optimism. In her book, The Future We Choose: A Stubborn Optimist's Guide to the Climate Crisis, she lays out two possible futures: one in which humanity achieves net-zero emissions by 2050, and another shaped by devastating inaction. This podcast is brought to you by The Resurgence Trust.

Ben Goldsmith is an author and rewilding activist who has poured his passion and resources into the land. Raised in the wilderness, nature has always been in his blood, but after the tragic death of his 15-year-old daughter Iris in a farm accident, his connection to the environment deepened. In his poignant book God is an Octopus, he shares how he found solace in nature, rewilding his Somerset farm and setting up the Conservation Collective, an organisation supporting grassroots conservation efforts worldwide. He also founded the Iris Prize, which empowers young activists working to live in harmony with nature. This podcast is bought to you by The Resurgence Trust. 

Annabel Heseltine talks to people working on the frontline of the environmental crisis and explores how their own personal stories drove them on to achieve extraordinary things in the name of the natural world.