6. Rewild the planet with the Modern Warrior Damien Mander

Damien Mander is an Iraq war veteran who served as a naval clearance diver and special operations sniper for the Australian Defence Force. After travelling and learning about poaching in Southern Africa and the criminal networks that used military equipment and tactics to poach for profit, Mander was convinced that his specialised military skills, personal finances, and experience could contribute significantly to wildlife protection and conservation. Liquidating his life savings, the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) was established to be the last line of defence for nature. In 2017 Damien founded ‘Akashinga – Nature Protected by Women’, an IAPF program that has already grown to over 170 employees, becoming the only group of nature reserves in the world to be protected by women. In 2021 National Geographic released a film as a celebration of the courage, conservation and unorthodox thinking that’s leading to massive positive change. Damien is the winner of the 2019 Winsome Constance Kindness Gold Medal, a prestigious international recognition for services to animals and humanity. Past recipients include Sir David Attenborough and Dr Jane Goodall. His TEDx talk "The Modern Warrior" at the Sydney Oprah House has been seen over 7 million times through social media and translated into 27 languages. He has spoken at the United Nations and his work has been featured in National Geographic, Africa Geographic, 60 Minutes, The Guardian Newspaper, BBC, France 24, CBS News, Le Figaro, PBS News, Animal Planet, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, Forbes, Sunday Times, etc. Recently he was recognized by the Dutch Government as a Gender Champion. Getting Damien on the show was a dream of mine, since he has had a massive influence on me personally. If a guy like Damien could transform his life in the way that he has, then I believed I could do it too. In this episode we talk about life after Iraq, protecting biodiversity under extreme risk of extinction, why women are such powerful weapons against poaching, how we’re all creatures of habits and how an individual choice has become the single most impactful decision Damien has ever made.