Earth Talks

Jerome Partington, a Regenerative Development Practitioner, and Associate Principal and Sustainability Manager at Jasmax, empowers us to evolve how we think about climate change and our relationship with the environment around us. What if we looked beyond problem solving and aimed higher than settling for just sustainable solutions or outcomes?  Jerome introduces a regenerative approach where he encourages us to be pulled towards the inherent potential within any situation. If we see our businesses, communities, and ourselves as whole living systems within a larger living system we can focus on growing the potential within them. We can honour the participants in each system, their roles and their interactions.

Are you a “possibilitairian” or a “miniscularian”?  That’s the question that high performance leadership coach James McLaughlin posed to a room full of business leaders at the Te Ao Earth Week Summit, acknowledging the necessity of creative and innovative leadership in order to find solutions in a world of climate change. Have a watch or listen to this short video, in which James will guide you to have a possiblitiarian perspective, rather than a dooms-day perspective, around living in this era of climate change.

Ever think about how much insurance will cost in the future in the wake of climate change? Will it be affordable for all? For any? This is but one aspect that Economist Shamubeel Eaqub thinks about while considering the wider landscape of social change, political change, and regime change as we walk further into an era of climate change. Watch this video, linked here, to get a glimpse into what Shamubeel foresees into our future economic and societal reality. Learn why he asks us to really think about how we are positioned within our current policies and systems framework, if we are to effectively address the challenges of climate change and climate change caused situations.

In this talk, Dr. Anake Goodall bravely voices his discomfort, tension, and the destabilising feelings that we all sense, and perhaps don’t talk enough about, when it comes to living a time of climate change.  A long-time investor in the green economy of New Zealand who has held various executive roles and advisory to government and iwi, Anake’s wisdom around the barriers and opportunities to change runs deep.  He speaks here to the current level of cynicism and backward thinking in politics that hinders us from real progress and pits people against one another. And he asks us to lean into the fact that the future will require us to face difficulty and have difficult conversations.  Listen into how Anake guides us to have these conversations and lean into difficult situations as part of the new frontier of finding our way towards solutions.

Has carbon emissions become a fatigued topic? Is it losing its emphasis with constant chatter about offsetting instead of how to reduce our warming in the first place? We see it like this... like other times when the world has had to come together to fight for what is right, we all have contribute to this battle. Every person who is consuming and emitting carbon, methane or other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere needs to do their bit for the world. Wield our swords and cut #ghg emitting consumption.How do we know how much damage we're doing and how much we have to wield our sword?  Some ways are incredibly labour intensive, counting up every gram and kilojoule of energy and waste, which in itself can be overwhelming. There are now many who are way more efficient. We have teamed up with cogo - taking the lead on measuring and reducing carbon emissions for over a decade. It provides a carbon footprint management tool for private businesses and public organisations to measure, understand and reduce their impact on the planet. It enables efficient and powerful insight and partners up with some of the world's largest banks to integrate leading carbon tracking functionality into their banking apps. Check out Josh Dry, Director of Business Development at Cogo, speak about Cogo’s efforts to empower decarbonisation and get a preview into what Cogo looks like and can do in the hands of consumers.Another Aotearoa New Zealand born business making impact for the survival and thriving of our earth.

Why is how you report on ESG, sustainability and your positive impact on Mother Earth important? When an organisation commits and contributes to a community and/or the environment it is important that we can tell whether it is just all smoke and mirrors or the real thing. Unfortunately, too often those doing amazing work don't communicate it well with long reports and the more jazzed up greenwashing superficiality takes over. There are now great tools out there that enable engagement and depth of reporting - it is important we use them so that our contribution, our impact, is seen and inspiring for others. Our Earth needs everyone to make an impactful contribution! How can an organisation take something that’s hard to understand and make it something more people actually want to engage with? We connected with OrbViz, an Ōtautahi Christchurch business with global reach, that tackles this problem. They are helping governments, companies, and non-profits bring reporting to life in a dynamic way that enables more people to be engaged in reporting and decision making. Check out this entertaining video in which Karim CoFounder of Orbviz shares a dirty little secret about his not-so-eco-friendly past, enlightens us to the attention span of humans vs goldfish, and gives a walkthrough of how Orbviz works and ensures that impactful work has impactful reporting! Innovative digital tools helping to make a difference in the world from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Feeling like everything ahead is doom and gloom? It can easily spiral that way without a different lens. We are very fortunate to work with the eminent leader Cheryl Doig. As a professional futurist and advocate of social and environmental change, she provides a lens that helps puts leaders in an optimal state of mind in preparation for an uncertain future. In this talk, she challenges us to consider how we keep all time - past, present and future - in mind as we evaluate and assess for decision making. She asks questions that prompt us to think about our level of hope about the future and to develop a behaviour mindset that enables transformational thinking. Watch this insightful video to walk away with a new viewpoint on the future.

Do you know about Overshoot Day? It’s not a celebration day but rather a reminder that we are living well out of our means. In this podcast Rose Challies, Founder, Trustee, and CEO of Terra Nova Foundation, a global think tank and change activator, shares the implications of Overshoot Day* and why it’s an important date in the calendar. This year in the homebase of Terra Nova, Aotearoa New Zealand, the Overshoot Day is today, 11th April. Last year it was 19th April, which means that as a country we are overshooting more than ever. Listen to the full podcast here, in which Rose speaks to the uncomfortable reality of New Zealand’s consumption as a nation. And hear Rose’s powerful message around why and how we must renegotiate the way we think and act, as earth first businesses and individuals to go forward in a way that is good for our world. *Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.

Martin Cudd, GM for Innovation and Business for Christchurch NZ is one of the leaders helping to steward a long term vision for Ōtautahi Christchurch and its region towards a regenerative economy. Watch or listen to this video in which Martin further defines what a regenerative economy means for the Canterbury region and speaks to the 10 year objectives and priorities being deployed to guide investment in the city’s economy over the next decade. The promising goal of this work is to grow and strengthen our regional economy while building a robust foundation for a regenerative future. We look forward to working together and seeing it a reality! Thanks Martin. 

If you listen to one thing about climate change, listen to Dr Rod Carr share what we consider “Life on a Changing Planet 101”. Dr Rod Carr Chairperson of Climate Change Commission, (Aotearoa NZ’s eminent leader on climate), brings the statistics and numbers we hear about with climate change into perspective. Whether the earth heats to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius doesn’t seem real until it impacts our backyard.  In this podcast Dr Carr imparts a dose of earth insight and wisdom we really ought to hear. He speaks to the reasons that we need to make rapid change and provides an overview of the realities and opportunities in areas such as electricity, transportation and agriculture. 

In this episode we explore the application of digital tools to help restore our earth with Fred Fournier, CEO of Open Forest Protocol, the global activator and network for verifying and issuing data-backed carbon credits, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He speaks to the challenges and big successes for earth and people (the restorers and investors) through innovation driven by insight, urgency and collective capability.

In this episode we talk to Dr Cheryl Doig, a futures thought leader, speaker and author on the way we view the future of our earth. Exploring whether our future is bleak or bright and what action we can take to be resilient and embrace our future no matter what it turns out to be.

In this episode we explore the relationship between the economy and the environment with the renown economist, advisor and author Shamubeel Eaqub. Shamubeel weighs in on current mindsets, the challenges ahead and the critical steps for thriving economies going forward. Not to be missed insight into economics, our current crises and what we can achieve.

This episode explores the world of chocolate with Lucy Bennetto, founder and CEO of Bennetto Chocolate, the organic, fair trade, Net Climate Positive, BCorp certified company from Aotearoa New Zealand. She talks to the impact of making a luxury food that doesn't harm the Earth and nurtures it's producers, both environmental and people.

In this episode with Ben Scales we consider is 'natural' good and 'synthetic' bad and investigate the role of natural fibre from the Harakeke plant in Aotearoa New Zealand with start-up entrepreneur Ben Scales, KiwiFibre.

In this episode we dive into carbon counting, discussing whether it is worthwhile to do, who ought to do it and the relationship with changing human behaviors - does it really make an impact?

Our second interview with the amazing Tim Jarvis, global explorer, international environmentalist, author, film-maker and thought-leader. He speaks to his expeditions facing extraordinary change, the types of leadership we need and what type of action will make the difference for our future.

In this episode we speak with Galeno Chua about what is sustainability, how we can see through green-washing and what are some of the actions we can take as role-models in business and at home including eliminating waste and getting out in nature.

This episode dives into AI, ethics and how this intersects with our earth - with the author, speaker and international expert on the matter, Matthew James Bailey.

Interview with Hannah Duder, social entrepreneur, business + environment engagement in Ōtautahi Christchurch - talking about how small and medium sized businesses can engage in environmental projects and take climate action.

On this podcast we interview Jannat Maqbool, industry leader and global digital expert. We ask her to crack open the digital jargon, to give insight into the relationship between digital, equity and the environment, and we ask her what action is critical to take by individuals and businesses.

Interview with Tim Jarvis, the extraordinary British-Australian explorer, international environmentalist, author and documentary filmmaker, on global changes and what action we can take.

Interview with Amy Carter, CEO of Christchurch Foundation, who is driving environmental change through philanthropy and place in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Rose Challies discusses how Terra Nova Earth Talks came about with Laura Gartner.