Episode 83 - Matt Barr - Uncomfortable Conversations, Nature as Transaction and the Spell of Capitalism.

I’m in conversation with Matthew Barrof  Adventure Sport PodcastLooking Sideways

Matt has released nearly 250 episodes on his podcast with some of the biggest, humblest and most interesting names in Surfing, Snowboarding, Skateboarding and related pursuits.

Many of the conversations Matt hosts explore the big challenges of our time through the lens of these sports, experiences and communities.

Aside from being a fan of his pod I wanted to get Matt on for a few reasons:

  • I’m a life long trail runner and a keen surfer  - both of these pursuits have kept my awe for the living Earth alive and my humility in check - as a little human-being on a vast, powerful, complex, intelligent more than human planet.

  • I’m always curious about adventure sport and the obvious relationship with our living Earth that offers potential not just for connection, but protection, activism, regeneration and stewarding from within these communities, if they could be more widely mobilised.

  • I really appreciate how Matt digs into the multiple tensions and issues we are facing today from climate and ecological breakdown, to structural racism, to gender rights, to the ongoing violence in Gaza and much more - he explores them through the stories of some fascinating humans that he hosts.

  • Matt creates space to explore the complexities, nuance and difficult things we must all learn to face into, the uncomfortable conversations we need to learn to welcome if we’re to find ways through these crazy times into more peaceful, co-operative ways of being, between humans and all life on this Earth.

  • Podcasting can be an extraordinary medium for learning and unlearning which is what keeps me going with this podcast and what I learn in this conversation drives Matt to continue with his.

  • We explore:

    • The need for more spaces for true dialogue to help us move through the stuck, binary, divisiveness of modern culture and media.

    • How so many of the tensions are often  based on poor information and limited understanding, especially when it comes to our relationship with a complex living planet.

    • The elephant in the room when it comes to the meta crisis - ‘the Spell of Capitalism’ - and our collective inability to imagine anything different.

    • The impacts of a deeply commoditised, extractive and often entitled culture on our personal sense of responsibility to look beyond ‘nature as transaction’, and act as stewards, protectors and active participants in change.

    • ‘The Announcement’ - a 3 part audio documentary that Matt is creating with Patagonia based on their recent decision to ‘convert all the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth - the Earth.’

    • This is also a conversation from two ‘Gen-X’ middle-aged white men about the pursuit of the podcasting medium, the role for longer form content, the challenges of pervasive technology and social media platforms on our attention spans, and how to be of service in these unravelling times.

    As Matt put it -

“We were both born in the analogue era and we’ll die in the AI era”.

Marvellous. I hope you Enjoy, please share if you do and let us know how this lands for you.

Dan Burgess