Wavemakers: Recent Episodes
Plastic Free Gold Coast
Welcome to the Wavemakers podcast by Plastic Free Gold Coast.
We’re a community-based organisation that began in 2018 to help educate and empower individuals and businesses to make more sustainable and plastic-free choices.
There are so many inspiring people doing amazing things to protect our planet and we want to shine a light on their stories, both here on the Gold Coast and around the globe.
I’m your host, Ashleigh Stallard, and I’m part of the Plastic Free Gold Coast team and a passionate sustainable living advocate.
In this series I’ll be chatting to inspiring Gold Coast locals, changemakers, pioneers and people making waves in the name of our planet.
Karina Miotto is an activist coach, environmental communicator and deep ecologist who spent five years living in and advocating for the Amazon Rainforest.
With a master's degree in Holistic Science from Schumacher College in England, Karina has spent 15 years as an activist and the last 8 as a specialist in Deep Ecology - a philosophy that addresses ethics in our relationship with ourselves, others and the planet.
We chat about Karina’s time in the Amazon, the very real risks of activist burnout, how to take care of yourself as an activist, and the importance of making activism personally sustainable.
Rob Pekin is the founder of Food Connect, a dynamic community supported agriculture enterprise with an innovative community-based distribution system. So put simply, they supply fresh, local, seasonal and ethical produce to the eaters!
For more than 20 years, Rob has been challenging and transforming the food and agricultural system in Australia. As a former organic dairy farmer and market gardener he has become known as a hands-on social entrepreneur working at the system’s end to help businesses pivot away from the not-so-good parts of our current food system.
We talk about the move to a fairer food system, and how individuals and households can play their part in the hugely important regenerative fair food movement:
- Whether you’re interested in climate change, a new economy, collaborations - there are so many opportunities to be involved in a fairer food system
- Community Supported Agriculture
- The main concerns from consumers today when it comes to their food
- Nutritional density in today’s food, and how to know if you’re eating nutritious food
- Going beyond just organic food
- Drawing on Indigenous knowledge to shape our future regenerative food system.
Ever thought your small actions could never make a difference? This episode will make you think differently as we chat to two grassroots activists as part of the #StopAdani movement on the Gold Coast, Matt Ross and Suzette Markwell.
Matt is a local community organiser and social worker with a background in addictions and mental health. He’s been active in the climate justice movement on the Gold Coast for the last eight years where he helped to build the formidable StopAdani Gold Coast group.
Suzette is one of the most dedicated volunteers of the StopAdani movement and has been a part of the local Gold Coast group since it began. Her activism has been a lifelong journey, from standing up for women's rights in the 60s to connecting with local Aboriginal elders. We discuss:
- What we can all do to help move away from fossil fuels
- What to do if you’re not a hardcore activist
- The ripple effects of a single campaign on the climate movement
In this episode we’re tackling waste and recycling in Australia - yep, this is a big one! We pick the brains of two waste gurus who bring real-world, commercial and government experience - and who are driving real change. We tackle what’s wrong with the current waste and recycling system, what we can do about it and how we can learn from organisations both big and small that are lessening their impact - plus some practical waste-less and recycling tips!
Our guests are Grace Mullins, a ‘Waste Less Consultant’ with Resource Hub and Sustainability Coordinator for Western Health, Carlos Machado.
Jordyn de Boer is the co-founder of Boomerang Bags, a movement that takes post-consumer fabric and turns it into reusable bags, replacing single-use plastic bags and most importantly, starting conversations.
Jordyn’s reverence and curiosity, inspired by a life-long love of nature in all its forms, led her to study the natural environment, and she now implements those experiences to support communities to create change, one reusable bag and conversation at a time. This conversation dives into:
- What it takes to turn a local community group into a global grassroots movement
- Channeling frustration into a passion project
- How you can get involved in your local community, no matter where you are
- The importance of human connection in preserving the planet
- Looking to past ways of doing things to help us slow down and move forward
Dee Guerrero is a plant-based nutritionist, recipe creator and holistic mother of two with a passion for low-tox, low-waste living. Her life’s mission is to save the planet through plant-based cooking and creating her own products, all while inspiring and teaching those around her to do the same.
If you’ve been to a Plastic Free Gold Coast event you’ve probably seen Dee as she hosts DIY workshops, low tox talks, and guides to zero waste parenting. In this episode you’ll learn:
- DIY recipes for cleaning and personal care
- Low-tox and low-waste lifestyle tips
- Plant-based nutrition advice, including for parents and kids
- How to get kids involved in cooking and knowing where their food comes from
- “Wellness washing” and the confusing, expensive superfood craze
Kelli Dean is the founder and owner of Consciously Clean, an eco-friendly and plastic-free retail store for natural cleaning and personal care products on the Gold Coast.
After a career in the corporate and small business world, Kelli quit her corporate job in 2019 to launch Consciously Clean in March 2020, of course just as the global pandemic hit Australia.
Instead of remaining disenfranchised about the consumer retail model, Kelli decided to do something about it, making alternative, sustainable choices easily accessible for everyday people. We talk about:
- Tackling convenience and habits when it comes to making sustainable product choices
- What’s wrong with the global cleaning and personal care industries
- Raising the next generation of conscious consumers
- How to avoid being greenwashed
- Putting community back into consumption
Katie Norman is the Chief Steward of the Sustainable Schools Network. Their mission is to get all Aussie schools on board with “educating for sustainability” - and they’ve already seen this can save schools a lot of money, too.
The Sustainable Schools Network were recently called out in the ABC series Fight for Planet A, where they were identified in the Community Action Plan, which we discuss in this conversation as well as:
- Is sustainability enough anymore
- Do we need to be shifting the focus to regeneration when it comes to educating our next generations
- What role the broader community has to play in education and schools
- Why ‘education as usual’ not an option anymore
- What are the biggest ways the Australian education system needs to change
- The importance of partnerships in grassroots movements
There was no one better to talk to on our first episode than Plastic Free Gold Coast co-founder and all-round sustainable living superstar, Larissa Tedesco.
Larissa shares her love of healthy eating, sustainability, zero waste and climate action through her platform, Eat Yourself Green, and if you’re not already following Larissa you’ll want to after this conversation to snag some of her delicious wholefood recipes, tips to cut your waste - and with a newborn too! - save money and be an everyday climate activist.
We discuss:
- How Plastic Free Gold Coast empowers the community
- How does our lifestyle impact the environment
- Small changes to help the environment
- The concept of intersectional environmentalism and sustainability as an inclusive movement
- Systemic change vs personal responsibility
- Effects of climate change on marginalised communities