Episode 1: The Plastic Pirate

Ever had that sinking feeling when you think about the ocean? You know, where you've watched every Blue Planet episode, you've read the statistics about the great plastic gyres spiralling through our seas, and yet you still feel completely powerless? That gnawing guilt that scrolls past your feed every single day? Welcome to the real world of environmental action - where the work doesn't happen in think-tanks or policy meetings, but in hidden coves, off beaten coastal paths, and aboard boats laden with salvaged fishing nets and raw determination.Today on Turning the Tide we sit down with Gary Jolliffe, the founder of Till The Coast is Clear and a man who swapped his comfortable career for something far more audacious. A moment - a single jog along a Welsh beach - changed everything. One decision. Thirty tonnes of plastic liberated from the ocean. Hundreds of volunteers galvanised into action. And a radically different way of thinking about what environmental activism can actually be. Forget the guilt-tripping documentaries and corporate greenwashing. This is something wilder, messier, and infinitely more real.We're calling him a plastic pirate, and for good reason. This is the kind of person who doesn't wait for permission, doesn't ask the system to work faster, and doesn't accept that our coastlines are destined to become dumping grounds. He's built a movement from the ground up - one rubbish haul, one community gathering, one impossible dream at a time. The kind of work that makes you feel alive, not paralysed.If you've ever wondered what lies beneath the surface of those picture-perfect Devon beaches, or what one person with a boat, a vision, and an irrepressible spirit can actually accomplish when conventional paths seem closed off - this episode is for you. Come meet the pirate crew. Discover what hope looks like when it gets its hands genuinely, authentically dirty.The tide is turning. The only question is, will you listen in as tomorrow gets written? Turning the Tide is brought to you by Roots Media - a teenage-led environmental media organisation mixing hope, authenticity, and unpolished truth about climate action in the real world. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.Support Gary's work at tillthecoastisclear.co.ukSupport Roots Media's work at rootsclothing.co.uk