Airrows on Air

This is a conversation with Martin Romero, General Manager and Partner of Peruvian-based Explorandes, a multi-year recipient of the World Travel Awards, and the first company to operate the Inca Trail trek. A pioneer in adventure travel, they continue to innovate their experiences with sustainability at the forefront.

Martin is a living example of someone who has adapted to any challenge put in front of him. As a Peruvian-American, he has spent time living in both countries as well as in Australia. Martin’s background includes positions in both tech and ecotourism. From working as a mountain biking tour guide in West Virginia to an integral part of Amazon’s team in Seattle, and now back to Peru at his current position at Explorandes, Martin has applied his extensive background in tech to improve the adventure travel experience for all parties involved.

In this conversation we discuss how travel companies can measure, monitor, and analyze data in order to help reduce the carbon footprint from travel. Technology can be used to reduce costs, emissions, waste, and more. We also discuss the evolving landscape of travel in Peru -  from overcoming the terrorist reign of the Shining Path, to the impact of receding glaciers. Martin also gives us a glimpse of the tours available through Explorandes that will make you want to book a trip to Peru.

“You just learn to adapt to whatever’s in front of you.” - Martin

“That’s the important thing about the climate movement in general; this isn’t just about scientists and economists. It has to really be something that people across the country, whatever walk of life they’re coming from and whatever their background, can relate to and feel motivated to get involved.” - Clarence Edwards. 

Don’t miss this conversation with policy advocate and strategist Clarence Edwards. Clarence leads the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s (FCNL) work on sustainable energy and environmental policy. FCNL lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, opportunity, and environmental stewardship. From his roots in Maryland and Virginia to interning for a Senator, to then working on Australian foreign trade, Clarence reveals what it now means to work with a Quakers advocacy group.

In this episode, we look at policy and legislation, specifically focusing on the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.  While this is the first major climate legislation to ever go into law, it's not without its shortcomings and further highlights how this is just the first step in a long road to progress. We discuss how approaching climate change will not be an overnight change nor just one solution, yet the answer lies in a multi-shareholder approach. An approach that must be more attainable, equitable, and inclusive to garner enthusiasm from people of all walks of life. With climate change coming to everyone’s doorstep, we talk about the need to include the workforce of legacy industries, those seeking a mid-career shift, and even the Burning Man community.

We also look at the spiritual element of climate and nature and how the changes are all around us everywhere, every day. Most importantly, we turn to the sense of hope; imagine the possibilities if we all can dream of a better climate future.

Christina Leala Gale — Perspective from the Pacific: A Local Looks at the Connection Between Climate Change and Tourism. 

This is a very special and unique conversation with Christina Leala-Gale who is a Samoan native and is now based in Fiji. Christina is the Manager for Sustainable Tourism Development with the South Pacific Tourism Organization. She works at the regional level focusing on the inclusion of the global sustainable tourism agenda as well as SPTO’s member countries. Christina is passionate about advocating for sustainable development and hopes the Pacific can become the green tourism destination of the future. Christina and I met through the Adventure Travel Trade Association and she continues to open my eyes to the abundant culture within and apart from the tourism industry in the Pacific. In our conversation she highlights a key part of that culture: Pacific Islanders are centered around community and shared prosperity. She gives us a glimpse into how locals feel about tourism, why sustainable tourism is the key to preserving host villages and countries, and the tangible effects of climate change in those countries that are closest to the equator. We also discuss plastics’ impact on climate change, the tourism industry's contribution to plastic waste and conservation, the double-edged sword of cruises, and much more.

In this conversation with Philippe Beauchamp, a champion freediver, history professor and polyphonic singer, we find a unique perspective on breath and air. Philippe is the former Vice President and Founder of ApneaCity; the only AIDA freediving school in Montreal. He is also a history professor and father. Philippe had a serendipitous introduction to freediving after many years training in martial arts ended with injuries and surgeries.

I learned so much in my conversation with Philippe and was truly inspired.  Rather than accepting defeat after his series of injuries, he used them as a chance to rebuild. We discuss lessons learned from freediving including discipline, focus, and facing your fears.  His connection to breath and history then led him to the ancient art of polyphonic singing; a truly fascinating and beautiful artform.

It’s amazing to see how Philippe’s natural connection to water and love of history have evolved into conservation work. He’s a genuine example of someone tapping  into the full human experience and using it to protect and educate others, a teacher in every sense of the word.

I’m so pleased to welcome Dr. Harry Hilser to the podcast today. Harry is the Program Director for Selamatkan Yaki (SY), a conservation program based in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. SY protects the habitat and remaining populations of the Critically Endangered Sulawesi crested black macaque (Macaca nigra), whilst supporting local initiatives, developing alternatives to hunting and capacity building for local communities. He has a Ph.D. in Human Geography primarily focused on connectedness to nature and pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors.

Harry is also the Co-Founder of Lestari Environmental Education Consultancy. Lestari facilitates the transformation of communities and society, working within the social and environmental sciences to combine education and conservation practice with sustainability, behavior change, and principles of nature connection. They collaborate with NGOs, universities, governments and businesses to deliver high-impact projects and implement innovative strategies for change.

I met Harry through a shared passion for Project Vesta; a non-profit promoting accelerated weathering in order to capture carbon absorbed in the world's oceans.

We talk about Harry’s beginnings in the English countryside to a small island working with primates and everything in between.  His human geography and ethnography studies have allowed him to observe how different cultural drivers impact climate change.  We discuss the link between pro-social and pro-environment, the behavioral motivations that drive humans, and how belief systems impact conservation and environmentalism.

Harry also gives his thoughts on what he sees for both the future of climate communications and the shift he’s seeing in climate and sustainability education. Harry’s optimism for systemic change in policy and regulations as they relate to climate change is inspiring.

I am so thrilled to get the chance to sit down with travel and nature writer Chloe Berge. Chloe is a Vancouver-based journalist and writer specializing in travel, culture, conservation, and the outdoors. Her work appears on BBC, National Geographic, The Globe and Mail, Conde Nast Traveler, ELLE Canada, and more. She also lends her marketing and copywriting expertise to numerous clients, creating engaging campaign copy and branded content.

Chloe’s work in conservation was inspired by her travel, yet she’s conscious and aware of the complexities of travel as it pertains to the environment.  With her writing, she hopes to highlight travel that makes conservation issues accessible to people.

We talk about Indigenous-led movements that continue to move the needle for conservation and how the Magpie River may help progress the legal rights of natural entities. Chloe explains what solutions journalism is and how empowering people is more effective than radical approaches. She also talks about rewilding and how it relates to travel, her upcoming plans to visit Botswana and Uganda, an awe-inspiring turned frightening encounter with a mountain gorilla, and more!

Today I finally interview Tomorrow’s Air co-founder Nim de Swardt on the show. Nim is a social entrepreneur, audio storyteller, founder, board director, strategic advisor, “lifestorian”, and champion of co-generational connections. She was also the world’s first Chief Next Generation Officer when she co-founded NEXT GEN; a global intrapreneurship program in a company operating across 20 countries with 6,500 employees.

Nim’s connection to the natural world began in her childhood in Queensland, Australia where she was raised in a treehouse in a tropical beach community. Later she would leave the nest and become a world traveler and a climate action champion.

Nim and I met in Antarctica while she was in the “valley” chapter of her life and seeking more meaning and purpose. It was there, and together with Robert Swan, that Tomorrow’s Air was born. We discuss Nim’s impressive career that led to where she is now, her focus on intergenerational collaborations, her passion for gathering others’ stories, the one song that she would have to include on her playlist, and much more.

Today I’m chatting with Senior Preparator, Becky Desjardins, from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands.  Among other accolades, this museum earned the prestigious award of the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) in 2021. Becky may have one of the most interesting, and definitely the most unusual, jobs of anyone I've had on the show.

After majoring in Geology, Becky began her 20-year career traveling from Boston to the swamps of North Carolina to the Netherlands. She has an infectious imagination and passion for science that is unmatched. Becky has the unique ability to collect scientific information and data, break it down, and present it as an engaging story with endless possibilities.

We have a fun conversation where we talk a lot about scientific collections, but also roller derby, the difference between life/work balance in the US vs. the Netherlands, why Becky has dead birds in her freezer, eco-restoration camping, what museum collections tell us about climate change, and how Becky thinks they are going to save the world.

I am so pleased to welcome Joyce Bergsma to the podcast today. Joyce is a registered nutritional therapist who has been practicing orthomolecular and functional medicine since 2010. Joyce was born in Canada and soon became a world citizen and traveler who now resides in Amsterdam. While conscious about the impact travel has on climate change, Joyce shares my belief in the many benefits and opportunities it also provides.

My conversation with Joyce highlights the parallels between regenerative farming and travel, as well as the undeniable connection our eating habits as a society have on climate. With the world’s food system responsible for about ¼ of the annual planet-warming greenhouse gases, the work Joyce does to focus on individual nutrition is an important source of climate action we can all readily access.

We chat about hobby farming, the impact generational farming had on her path in nutrition, the far-reaching benefits of regenerative agriculture, principles of permaculture, food sovereignty, victory gardens, what it was like working inside Patagonia with the sustainable foods team, and about a new series of online courses she’s launching.

Today I am joined by a kindred spirit in developing applicable climate solutions. Nicole Cocolas is a scholar of climate change by way of researching tourism and consumer attitudes and behaviors within the industry. She is Australian-born, currently based in San Francisco where we met, and soon to be moving to the UK to work as a lecturer in Transport Management. As a world traveler, she has now dedicated her life to helping others travel responsibly and sustainably.

We discuss how Nicole first came to the US by “winning the lottery”, her continuous and impactful research on consumer behavior in tourism, the relationship between air travel and climate change, how she sees the aviation industry’s role, thoughts on climate calculators, the importance of carbon removal, and more. Nicole’s research has shown that people often have binary extremes to travel attitudes, and she hopes through climate communication we can empower consumers on what they can do as opposed to guilting them into what is going wrong.

Today I’m delighted to speak with a brilliant scientist and personal friend, Dr. Letty B. Brown. Letty is a Fulbright Scholar with a Ph.D. in Forest Science from UC Berkeley. As a scientist, she specializes in restoration, conservation planning, and nature-based solutions to climate change.

If you’ve ever considered carbon offsetting a flight by supporting a forest project, you might be interested to hear how Letty describes what goes on behind the scenes to verify the integrity of that carbon offset purchase. Letty and her crew study forest areas and interview local communities to verify the claims that a project’s benefits are indeed present.

There’s some technical talk in here along with some great stories as Letty shares how she got her start in conservation as a teenager — drawing some early inspiration in a Costa Rican jungle! — and a few of her experiences in the forests of the US, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cambodia, Peru, Indonesia, and Kenya. Stay tuned to the end to hear about Tabitha the bear guard in Alaska before we close out with some samba.

“There’s so much information online, it’s hard to be surprised by a place, but Saudi was a place that really surprised me.”

A lifelong expat, Natasha Martin has lived in 15 different countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Carribean. Speaking from Cambodia she shares her personal escapades and insights on sustainability, tourism development and why it’s more fun to have a guide as we join her in Greenland, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia and India.

You’ll learn why grandmas are never to be underestimated and how that food tour you loved actually came to be. Learn about Saudi Arabia’s sustainable tourism development plans and how Greendlanders are adapting to their changing climate.

Highlights:

5:00  How the first Indian to work for British Airways in East Africa in the 1950s handled racist passengers

6:10 From coffee houses to tourism: Natasha’s career path to founding Good Tourism

8:15 Reflections on tourism development in the northeastern state of Assam in India

9:40 Tourism development intersects the Haflong insurgency in Haflong, India and whisky with the National Police

10:56 Sustainability thinking shifts from 2008 to now

13:56 From Newfoundland to Cambodia, deconstructing the tourism experience and behind the scenes on a food tour

18:20 In love with local guides and the pros and cons of devices in travel

20:17 Busting stereotypes in Saudi Arabia and sustainable tourism development in the region

24:45 Hip to climate change yet struggling still to respond to immediate concerns

29:45 Crushing it on capital cities of the world quiz

31:40 Minus 35 and hard won realizations sleeping on the Greenland Ice Cap

35:30 Climate change in everyday life and the Greenlandic approach climate change

38:29 Natasha’s booklist leaves us feeling fishy