Episode 40: Eco-Anxiety - The Courage to Stare Down the Truth, See the Good and Make it Grow - with Rob Harrison-Plastow

“Everything is completely interconnected - we’re not separate from nature, we are nature.” It’s fair to say that Gemma and I were on a bit of a downer on the day we interviewed Rob Harrison-Plastow - Co-Founder of Time Agency, writer, and author of work in progress and soon to be published, ‘How to Be Happy at the End of the World.’ As you’ll hear, by the end of our conversation with Rob, whilst we discussed some of the pretty harsh realities of climate change, the challenges of the social constructs we’ve been born into, the pain, anxiety, lack of control, sense of being hoodwinked and of course… the fear we face personally and collectively in increasingly difficult times - we came away from the conversation, empowered, uplifted, invigorated, and most definitely hopeful. And our hope is that you will too. We were introduced to Rob when tuning in to a podcast interview he did with Climate Scientist, Professor Tim Lenton ‘The End of Civilisation?’ (linked below). We explore some of Rob’s key takeaways from that interview, - including three different outcomes to the end of civilisation as we know it, and James Lovelock’s ‘Gaia Theory’ (now rebranded as ‘Earth Systems Science’) - effectively seeing the world as one interconnected, self-regulated system that we are all apart of. Of course as marketers we talk about the role we play - the power of storytelling, and how we now need to tell new stories - stories that actually encourage us to reflect, think about what is truly going on and what truly serves us. Without sugar coating the realities we face, Rob calmly, convincingly and eloquently shares advice and many practical antidotes to ‘eco-anxiety’ - reminding us all of the power of self, community and that we do have control, that we’re not mad, or on our own - but living through and are part of a significant paradigm shift. And whilst it can seem painful and difficult, it’s all part of expansion and shifting. Our hope is that this podcast inspires and brightens your soul as much as it did ours. It’s one we’ll revisit time and time again. Enjoy… You can find more information about Rob and the work he’s involved with here. And his Tim Lenton interview ‘The End of Civilisation?’ is here. Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.