Wild with Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson chats wild ideas for a fired up life.The multi-New York Times bestselling author, activist, minimalist and former news journalist who founded the global phenomenon ‘I Quit Sugar’ travelled the world for 10 years (living out of one bag) to explore the freshest ways to live fully…and to save this one wild and precious life we have together.She riffs with philosophers, creatives, poets, scientists (and at least one nun!) on the Big Questions that haunt us. What goes through the mind of a prisoner on death row? How does Sia invent her art? Will we die from climat...
VANESSA ANDREOTTI: And now we have hospice modernity…(and a goodbye from Wild)
Dr Vanessa Andreotti (Indigenous Knowledge advocate; author) is a Brazilian academic who has developed a radical thesis for how to move through the multi-crises we face. In her book Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism she draws on Indigenous wisdoms and entanglement theory to steer humanity through the destruction, grief and uncertainty as democracy, the growth model, “the West” crumbles around us. Dr Andreotti
MARTHA BECK: Only the most nourishing chat I’ve had about anxiety ever
Dr. Martha Beck (author; “best-known life coach in America”) is about to release a book on anxiety. The international best-selling author – who holds three Harvard degrees in social science and was described by Oprah as “one of the smartest women I know” – specialises in helping people find meaning and integrity in their lives. In this episode, Sarah and Martha reconnect after 15 years to discuss their takes on the role of anxiety in our lives, and how it can be used to create purpose and direct
INDY JOHAR: The starkest collapse prognosis I’ve heard
Indy Johar (founder of Dark Matter Labs, systems designer) re-imagines and redesigns systems for a changed world. The architect and Professor of Planetary Civics at Melbourne’s RMIT and the University of Sheffield has worked with and advised organisations worldwide. Including the Scottish Government, the Mayor of London and WikiHouse, solving complex, entangled problems. Using complexity, emergence and entanglement theories he is a rare expert in this space to provide the (only) path to fixing t
LYNDSEY STONEBRIDGE: How would Hannah Arendt explain Trump?
Lyndsey Stonebridge (Humans rights academic, Hannah Arendt biographer) was worried about the banality of evil she was observing in the world and so dug down into the work of controversial philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt for insights. Her new book, We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience is a guide on how to live--and think--through a moment like the one we’re in now in the wake of the US election. It draws on Arendt’s idea
LUKE KEMP: Will our global civilisation go the way of the Roman Empire?
Luke Kemp (historical collapse expert; associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk) has studied past civilisations and mapped out a picture of how long they tend to last before they collapse, what tends to tip them and what (if anything) can be done to stall their demise. Luke works alongside Lord Martin Rees and Yuval Noah Harari, is an honorary lecturer in environmental policy at the Australian National University and his collapse insights have been covered by the BBC, the New Yo
AMA: A post on how I write a book about collapse on Substack
Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of “Ask Me Anything” questions about the minutiae of writing about - and having to live through - collapse. I try to cover most of these kinds of questions as we work through the book Serialisation process, but a few get left behind. And so this week’s Wild episode covers these off.You are welcome to join the 55,000 subscribers who are following the book, chapter by chapter, week by week, here. You’ll be invited to upgrade (sorry to have to use such commercial l
JOEL PEARSON: Do we have free will? Is anything our fault?
Prof. Joel Pearson (Neuroscientist; AI and cognition scientist) returns to Wild, this time to discuss whether free will is an illusion. In our last chat (about intuition) the subject was raised and Joel promised to come back to discuss it further, particularly in the context of AI, algorithms, the rise of totalitarianism and our agency in systems collapse. Joel is the founder and Director of Future Minds Lab which applies neuroscience findings to art, AI, media, advertising and various philosoph
CHRISTIANA FIGUERES: On “stubborn optimism”
Christiana Figueres (the woman behind the Paris Agreement) is possibly the best-known official in the global climate change movement. The former Costa Rican diplomat and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2010-2016), managed to bring together 195 nations to sign the historical 2015 agreement that set the “1.5C” target/warning. She wrote The Future We Choose, cohosts the Outrage + Optimism podcast, has a moth, a wasp and an orchid named after her, an
ELIZABETH OLDFIELD X ME: How to be Fully Alive in a collapsing world
In this SPECIAL EPISODE British coach, author and broadcaster Elizabeth Oldfield and I sit down in her London intentional community home and interview EACH OTHER on…what is sacred (and how we access it), acedia ( the moral loneliness we feel in turbulent times), how we sit in the grief and despair of things, losing friends to the cause, how to be of service, how to be Fully Alive (the title of her book) and honour This One Wild and Precious Life (mine!).Elizabeth’s book has been endorsed by
BONUS EP: Nika Kovač the activist from the Slovenian gondola
I do these bonus episodes occasionally whereby I interview someone I serendipitously met on my adventures and who I wrote about in my books AND who struck a chord with readers. I track them down to see where they are now, and there is ALWAYS the most amazing follow-up story.This time, Nika Kovač, a controversial Slovenian activist and Obama scholar who once invited me on a gondola ride with a communist philosopher when I was stranded without a bed for the night and pregnant (read This
IAIN MCGILCHRIST: Our “wretchedness” is a left-brain issue
Dr Iain McGilchrist (neuroscientist, psychiatrist, polymath, author of The Master and His Emissary) devised a thesis that sets out how the two sides of our brains can affect the way we both interact and create the world. The left hemisphere is a narrow, extractive, problem-solving “machine” that divides and conquers things, fails to see our part in the world and to fathom beauty, awe and responsibility. Our civilisation, Iain says, has become ruled by a left-brain mentality, which is killin
COREY BRADSHAW: Are humans going extinct? (And how soon?)
Professor Corey Bradshaw (global ecologist; author) has spent a career studying species populations and biodiversity loss and has the starkest of messages for humanity: we are in our own mass extinction event. Debate rages as to whether humans have an overpopulation problem or are in a fertility collapse, and which is more likely to take us down.The director of the Global Ecology Lab at Flinders University talks us through the devasting finer points of this divide. We also cover why Australia ha
AMA: How do I explain collapse to someone?*
*(and that the wars, climate disasters, democratic upheavals etc today are VERY different to crises in the past)?This episode’s question has been asked by too many of you to mention. Many of us have been in situations where we try to talk about the domino’ing of crisis - AI, nuclear, climate, food insecurity, democratic decline, political polarisation, fertility collapse - and get told we’re just being a big old Henny Penny, and that crises happen all the time and humanity survives. The belief i
NICK BRYANT: What has happened to America?
Dr Nick Bryant (BBC Washington correspondent, author) has spent most of his career covering the events that many of us see as spelling the decline of the US, a once-great nation – the school shootings, Trump presidency, Roe v Wade, storming of the Capitol, George Floyd, conspiracy theories and…all the rest. But in his new book The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself Nick argues that the hate, divisiveness, racism and murmurings of civil war are part of the fabric of the country
CLIVE HAMILTON: CONTENTIOUS CLIMATE COLLAPSE TRUTH - how the “Electrify Everything” message + private schools could be our downfall if we don’t change course
Professor Clive Hamilton (public ethicist; climate activist; founder of the Australia Institute) has led the emissions reduction conversation for decades. But he - controversially - has recently switched tack, arguing that climate mitigation is now impossible. And irresponsible. And that we must instead put our efforts (and last resources) into trying to survive as best we can. In this chat the professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, recently named a 'living legend' a
COLLAPSE SERIES: Jonathon Rowson - Welcome to the “metacrisis”. Now what?
Hello, dear wild friends! I'm taking a short break, but I wanted to share some of my previous interviews with guests who delve into themes of collapse, the meta-crisis, and the decline of the systems we've always known to grow—like GDP, technology, population, and prosperity.Many of you have joined my book serialization project on Substack, where we're navigating the collapse awareness journey together. These interviews provide valuable context for our journey. You can join us here if you're not
COLLAPSE SERIES: Olivia Lazard - The big fat renewable energy blindspot NO ONE wants to talk about
Hello, dear wild friends! I'm taking a short break, but I wanted to share some of my previous interviews with guests who delve into themes of collapse, the meta-crisis, and the decline of the systems we've always known to grow—like GDP, technology, population, and prosperity.Many of you have joined my book serialization project on Substack, where we're navigating the collapse awareness journey together. These interviews provide valuable context for our journey. You can join us here if you're not
COLLAPSE SERIES: Nate Hagens - On the “Great Simplification”
Hello, dear wild friends! I'm taking a short break, but I wanted to share some of my previous interviews with guests who delve into themes of collapse, the meta-crisis, and the decline of the systems we've always known to grow—like GDP, technology, population, and prosperity.Many of you have joined my book serialization project on Substack, where we're navigating the collapse awareness journey together. These interviews provide valuable context for our journey. You can join us here if you're not
COLLAPSE SERIES: Margaret Wheatley - An episode on civilization collapse (warning: truly confronting)
Hello, dear wild friends! I'm taking a short break, but I wanted to share some of my previous interviews with guests who delve into themes of collapse, the meta-crisis, and the decline of the systems we've always known to grow—like GDP, technology, population, and prosperity.Many of you have joined my book serialization project on Substack, where we're navigating the collapse awareness journey together. These interviews provide valuable context for our journey. You can join us here if you're not
COLLAPSE SERIES: Gaya Herrington - Complete global collapse by 2040? The prediction is “right on track”
Hello, dear wild friends! I'm taking a short break, but I wanted to share some of my previous interviews with guests who delve into themes of collapse, the meta-crisis, and the decline of the systems we've always known to grow—like GDP, technology, population, and prosperity.Many of you have joined my book serialization project on Substack, where we're navigating the collapse awareness journey together. These interviews provide valuable context for our journey. You can join us here if you're not
JEM BENDELL: Oh gosh! Finding beauty in a collapsing world.
Jem Bendell (collapse “poster kid”, academic) wrote the paper that launched the “Deep Adaptation” movement and spawned Extinction Rebellion. That was in 2018. The paper argued that societal collapse was unavoidable and would happen in our lifetimes, probably before the end of the 2030s, and it went very, very viral. The University of Cumbria Emeritus Professor and co-founder of the International Scholars’ Warning on Societal Disruption and Collapse has now released a new book
JEAN TWENGE: Do millennials and Gen Z have it harder?
Jean Twenge (psychologist; professor at San Diego State University) is regarded as the world expert on “generations”. She famously described millennials as “Generation Me” (also the name of her 2006 book) and first made the (controversial) connection back in 2017 between smartphones and the sharp uptick in anxiety and depression among Gen Z teens, which has since become one of our culture’s top talking points. In her recent book, Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials,
AMA: How do I parent in the face of so much existential crisis?
This week I asked fellow substacker Anya Kamenetz to help me answer the above question. Anya is a parent and climate activist, a former NPR journalist and she has written five books loosely related to the mental health of young people in the face of difficulty. She is also the producer of Joanna Macy’s incredible podcast with Jess Serrante, We Are The Great Turning. This question - How to parent in the face of collapse and crisis? - comes up often on my Substack and there was
GREG LUKIANOFF: Cancel culture – the *non-hysterical* reason why we should be very worried
Greg Lukianoff (New York Times best-selling author, attorney) co-wrote the blockbuster The Coddling of the American Mind, which argued we were failing young people by rendering them fragile victims. Then, 10 days after October 7, he came out with the first book to comprehensively track the rise of cancel culture -The Canceling of the American Mind. Greg, who’s also CEO of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions) and I talk through the confused aetiology of cancel cu
JENNY ODELL: How to *not* save time (and *creatively* reject the productive, growth imperative!)
Jenny Odell (NYT bestseller, artist) wrote a bestselling book five years ago that Barack Obama declared one of his “books of the year”. “How to Do Nothing” stuck two fingers up to the productivity industry. Jenny followed it up with the recently published, “Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond The Clock” that argues the original problem is our framing of time as a bunch of units we own, spend, must be efficient with etc. In this chat, Jenny explains that how we relate to time is our choice and
AMA: Sarah, what's your take on dating apps?
OK, this week is a kind of personal and also sociological muse-fest (from someone who's been on ALL the apps since shortly after the last ice age). I cover how I first went on the apps in 2010 (and share what I wrote about it at the time), about my experiences on Raya and, yes, on the latest app people are talking about, Feeld. I had to drop my shame for this one. However, I include a bunch of sociological perspectives and reflections some of you might find useful (and very familiar).Note,
FRANK OSTASESKI: How to live fully when it feels like so much is dying
Frank Ostaseski (Buddhist; end-of-life teacher; elder) helps people die best. He has accompanied over 1,000 people through the dying process and trained thousands of healthcare clinicians and family caregivers around the world. He was also a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and has taught at Google and Apple Inc., has been honoured by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and appeared on Oprah and Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast. I asked Frank to join me to talk through his book, The Five Invitations:
AMA: BONUS menopause questions answered, plus my BIG announcement
I need to give everyone here a bunch of updates…Plus, the BONUS video episode I promised with Dr Louise Newson is now live. Louise answers your questions about libido, whether to take HRT, how to manage menopause when you have Hashimotos etc, you can find it here.SHOW NOTESHere’s the Wild chat about perimenopause and menopause with Dr Louise Newson from earlier this week.Here’s more information about my news…(hint: a new book which you can be part of, STARTING NEXT WEEK).--If you need to know a
DR LOUISE NEWSON: A wild chat about menopause
Dr Louise Newson (British GP; hormone specialist) is regarded as the “medic who kickstarted the menopause revolution”. For two decades women have been denied treatment for a debilitating condition that affects more than half the population, thanks to one (faulty) study that linked hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to cancer. Louise has been on a mission to undo the damage and educate women on their real choices.In this chat, I try to cover off what every woman I know is asking right no
AMA: What is the best gear to pack for a minimalist camping trip?
Today’s question is one I always love answering…what do I stuff into my backpack, and what backpack do I actually use (ditto hiking shoes, tent, gear etc)? I do a show and tell for this one, so the video version over at Substack probably makes sense. I throw in some minimalist hacks, too.SHOW NOTESJoin the conversation over on Substack and post your own Ask Me Anything hereBook your one-on-one with me here---If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversati
PARAG KHANNA: Where should we move to as climate collapses?
Parag Khanna (climate migration expert; AI founder) is a global strategist who forecasts human movement around the world and has a company, Climate Alpha, that predicts real estate values based on exposure to climate risk. He’s also recently published a book - MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us - that details how billions of us will be migrating, and living nomadically, within this century.Parag has been named one of Esquire's "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century" and featured i
AMA: What is hypergamy? And explain why older women are dating younger men
In today’s AMA, I cover an intriguing phenomenon in male-female dynamics playing out in the dark, twisted underworld that is dating culture - hypergamy. The phenomenon that has existed for eons whereby women date/marry “up” in educational status, income, age, height etc and men tend to partner “down”. Where does this sit today with a generation dating online? Plus, does it explain (or not) why some older women partner with younger men? I explain how I’ve been tracking this phenomenon for exactly
OLIVIA LAZARD: The big fat renewable energy blindspot NO ONE wants to talk about
Olivia Lazard (peace mediator; rare minerals expert) exposes missing chunks in the “green” energy transition that many of us assume to be the “fix” to the climate crisis. Via her work as a fellow at Carnegie Europe and advisor on global security, she explains how the mining and extraction of rare earth metals like lithium, graphite and cobalt - to make the batteries etc for the new green “economy” - are both rare (there’s literally not enough of them to make the transition), come with massive ec
AMA: Is it doomist to talk about civilisational collapse?
A cracking Ask Me Anything question this week that gives us a chance to talk about crazy-making tech bros and their antics. My answer sees me dive into p(doom) numbers, Freud, techno-optimistic manifestos and fertility collapse. Fun! Join the conversation over on Substack and post your own Ask Me Anything here.If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it’s where I interact the most!Get your copy of my boo
KATE RAWORTH: Doughnut economics as the antidote to “death by growth”
Kate Raworth (“renegade” economist; inventor of the “doughnut” systems model) has one of the most dynamic and controversial theories for “fixing” or adjusting to the planetary mess we’re in. Back in 2017 she released her book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist and it became a cult read – the Pope, Extinction Rebellion and the UN General Assembly praise it. It designs an economy that allows humans to flourish while ALSO not destroying the pla
AMA: How do you manage information overload PLUS should white women activists get out of the arena?
On today's AMA, I share my hacks and my “mindset” for sifting through, retaining and managing all the data inflow (amino supplements, tilting, biting off more than I can chew as a tactic and advice gleaned from systems thinkers). And I wade into when to speak out and when not to wade into a rally and take the mic (and the responsibility that comes with being a privileged white woman who looks as tame as a mum from an OMO commercial).SHOW NOTESJoin the conversation over on SubstackSubscribe and p
JOHANN HARI: Is Ozempic a miracle drug or something darker?
Johann Hari (bestselling author Stolen Focus and Lost Connections) has written another system-rattling book, this time about the new weight loss drugs that everyone is both talking about AND not talking about. I’ve been wanting a wild mind to come chat about the phenomenon for over a year. Johann happened to reach out and tell me he’d been experimenting with Ozempic, had travelled the world interviewing 100-plus experts on the matter and was up for a chat. In this conversation, we talk through w
AMA: How do you plan your life financially in a collapsing world? Do you bother?
As we become aware of climate collapse and its ripple effect on the financial and energy systems, and as houses become uninsurable and fossil fuel markets get wobbly, do things like investing, mortgages, and retirement savings become moot?A Substack reader asks me how I’m personally prioritising these things, and I answer candidly. The chat moves into prepping and homesteading considerations. Background posts and pods about collapse are provided over at Substack, where you can WATCH these bonus
ANNABEL ABBS: The subversive, creative upside of insomnia (oh joy!)
Annabel Abbs (English novelist; author of Sleepless) was crippled with insomnia. Rather than fight it she looked for its productive plus side and discovered that many incredible creatives have needed to stay awake to access their best selves – their Night Selves. Particularly women, as it turns out. Annabel chats to me about how famous writers, painters and Hollywood stars have used their sleeplessness to create their best work, and the science that explains why this happens - th
The “Uncles” climate case that could change EVERYTHING
Isabelle Reinecke (founder Grata Fund) is leading a super exciting landmark legal case that could force the Australian Government to actually stick to its climate commitments and stop approving fossil fuel projects immediately. By as early as the end of this year. Seriously! It’s called the Uncles Australian Climate Case (it’s being brought by two Torres Strait Islander elders) and it’s being referred to as “Bigger than Mabo” (if it wins). There is a lot of international attention on
ANNA FUNDER: On Wifedom (and calling out Orwellian “doublethink”)
Anna Funder (international bestselling author of Wifedom) pens books about power. She is the author of the international bestsellers Stasiland, about the Stasi, which is being made into a TV series starring Elizabeth Debicki, and All That I Am, about the Nazis, which won the Miles Franklin Award. Her latest book, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, sees Anna take on the patriarchy. She exposes how literary giant George Orwell wrote his wife Eileen O’Shaughnes
A FUN BACKSTORY: Because I promised it…
In last week’s interview with a Palestinian and an Israeli Father, I promised to share how we met, a story that involves a famous actor, an Irish author and a bizarre email chain that starts in the Australian outback. Here it is. For some fun. And to remind us all of the power of story and of reaching out to humanity.SHOW NOTESCatch the original interview hereRead Apeirogon by Colom McannLearn about Parent’s Circle and donate here.Join the conversation and watch the video over on Substack--If yo
HELEN LEWIS: A heterodox update from TERF island
Helen Lewis (The Atlantic columnist, BBC podcaster, pop culture decoder) has become a darling of the heterodox podcasting community (and this podcast; catch my previous Wild chat with her about THAT GQ interview with Jordan Peterson here), and, relatedly, a pet target of the extreme Right and Left’s ongoing cancelling zeal. In this interview, I invite Helen to talk through several very online eruptions that are crucial for fathoming what the hell is going on in the world today. We cover the femi
A PALESTINIAN AND AN ISRAELI FATHER: “We must all stop being victims; victimhood causes the violence!”
Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan (peace activists with Parent’s Circle) are the two protagonists from Colum McCann’s Booker-Prize-longlisted book Apeirogon. Both lost their daughters to the conflict, ten years apart. Yet in spite of – or because of - this horror they became dedicated friends, or “brothers”, committed to opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestine and working with “the enemy” via Parent’s Circle, a peace group set up for parents from “both sides” who’ve lost a child
LIV BOEREE: Explaining Moloch, the mysterious game theory force breaking the world (plus a fix!)
Liv Boeree (world poker champion; astrophysicist; game theorist) is on a mission to explain why we are all trapped in a zero-sum, race to the bottom…with climate, AI, social media and politics. Why do we keep digging up resources, consuming carbon, getting stuck in nasty online spats and building robots that could kill us? Why don’t we just STOP?? Why CAN’T we just STOP?!It’s because of "moloch" – a game theory "force" that sees us do something we know is bad for us - because everyone else is do
AMA: How do you, Sarah, deal with a broken heart?
Substack subscribers have posed some beautiful thought-provoking questions this week. Do I suffer from a broken heart and how do I cope with it at a spiritual level? Do I stand by my I Quit Sugar message all these years later, particularly given an awareness of the triggering effect of restrictive messages? And where do we draw the line when someone we love uses the “mental illness card” to justify piss-poor behaviour. I recorded this with my long-suffering assistant Liana who I got to hang with
PROF JOEL PEARSON: Gut feeling is (scientifically) real; this is how to use it
Prof. Joel Pearson (Neuroscientist; AI and intuition expert) developed the first scientific test to measure intuition, dragging it out of the woo-woo realm and into a cognitive framework. He’s now written The Intuition Toolkit: The New Science of Knowing What without Knowing Why to show us how and when to use this mysterious superpower in our lives (not while rock-climbing on a date, not at a casino!).Joel is the founder and Director of Future Minds Lab which applies neuroscience findings to art
PETER FRANKOPAN: How climate collapsed civilisations (and will it ours?)
Peter Frankopan (Silk Roads author, Oxford historian) has just written a mega-history book called The Earth Transformed that reframes human history not via various major battles and legendary leaders but through a climate lens. Floods, droughts and, invariably, a volcano or two, dictated the fall of the Roman Empire, the fate of Cleopatra, the rise of gossip and beer halls, slavery and the different flavours of religion that exist around the world. I was keen to talk to Peter to find out wh
AMA with a Palestinian peace broker: What should we be doing to help, not hinder, the crisis? Does posting on social media do ANYTHING?
Today’s question has come in from many of you over recent weeks. It’s an important one to ask as we grapple with the horror in the Middle East and our sense of powerlessness, as leaders around the world seem immobilised by geopolitical interests. I’ve invited Palestinian peace broker Aziz Abu Sarah to help answer it. Aziz is one of the world's most powerful and connected peacebuilders. He’s a National Geographic Explorer and Ted Fellow. He has founded and led countless global conflict resol
KELLY WEINERSMITH: Why settling Mars is a really dumb idea
Dr Kelly Weinersmith (behavioural ecologist and space expert) and her husband Zach have just spent four years researching a subject that perplexes many of us – why all the fuss about moving to Mars? Which begs, can we actually build a human settlement on Mars? And, would we want to?They share their findings in their new book A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? which became an instant New York Times bestseller and&nb
DEVIN MOSS: An atheist death row chaplain on how to die without God
Devin Moss (atheist chaplain and humanist) late last year ministered a convicted murderer to his death by execution in the state of Oklahoma. Significantly he provided the prisoner, Phillip Hancock, spiritual counsel for more than a year, and “prayed” with him in the execution room…all without drawing on notions of an afterlife or a forgiving God entity. Which begs, what does spiritual counsel look like without “God” and the promise of hope that comes with It? What can be turned to? What are the
AMA: Do we create art in the apocalypse?
I’ve been doing a bunch of Substack meetups around Australia over the past few weeks (the Sydney and Northern NSW ones are happening in March and you can register in the Substack post here). And several people in the community have posed some related questions to do with balancing where the world is at with your need for creative freedom, our own mental health, our tendency to run from hard topics and emotions. Yes, we MUST create and make art in these difficult, “liminal” times. I reference Tej
MAGGIE JACKSON: Why “not knowing” is 2024’s survival superpower
Maggie Jackson (award-winning author and journalist) has just written a book - Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure – that argues that while humans crave certainty, we actually experience a less anxious, more productive, happier life when we embrace not knowing.Maggie is known for her writing on social trends, particularly technology’s impact on humanity. She’s written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and New Philosopher. Bu
AMA: Why does hiking “work”?
More than 43,000 studies have been done to show how and why walking in nature (hiking) has so many mental and physical benefits. In this episode, prompted by listener Stefan’s question that came through on Substack, I talk through my favourite explainers and how it plays out for me. Conservatively, I would say I have done more than 500 hikes in my lifetime…and can vouch for the fact… it just works. Start walking and the movement, the phytoncides, and the fractals do their work on you.SHOW NOTESY
MAGGIE DENT: What to do about boys (‘cos you asked)
Maggie Dent (the “queen of common sense”; parenting expert) raised four sons, largely solo, and went on to write about her experiences and lessons learned. She soon became highly sought after for her candid and loving take on raising young men (she’s also known as the “boy champion”). Maggie is host of The Good Enough Dad and Parental As Anything podcasts, and the author of nine books, including her bestselling boys’ books From Boys to Men and Mothering Our Boys.I’
AMA: Why are girls flocking Left and boys are flopping Right?
Did you see the results of the survey published in the Financial Times that showed there is a growing political gap between millennial men and women? I was asked this week what my thoughts were, what’s causing the drift in both directions and other gaps, between young people, should we be worried and what to do?I reference lots of different articles and data and put all the links over at Substack where you have the option to WATCH these bonus episodes and you can also join a conversation afterwa
CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN: Exposing the Ultra-Processed Food Trap
Chris van Tulleken (doctor, TV host) is a London infectious diseases specialist known for his popular BBC health TV programs that he hosts with his identical twin brother (including the kids series Operation Ouch; they’ve won two BAFTAs). In his recent book Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?, which has been a #1 Sunday Times bestseller for 9 weeks, he exposes how ultra-processed food (AKA junk food) is making us fat and sick, destroying
AMA: Do you regret not having kids?
A quick, breezy episode that talks about how to navigate decision-making regret, honing in on landing in one's post-repro years and not having had kids. Thank you Megan from my Substack community who sent in the question: Do you regret not having had kids?You have the option to WATCH these bonus episodes over on Substack where you can also join a conversation afterwards in the thread (and post a question for future AMAs. I also post extra content, extracts from my book etc here. When you become
ALAIN DE BOTTON: A philosophical fix for anxiety
Alain de Botton (School of Life founder; author) has written 15 books about the philosophy of living – such as The Art of Travel; Status Anxiety; Art as Therapy; and The Course of Love – but he has recently turned his focus to mental health and how philosophy can be used as a therapeutic aid. Alain argues that a mental breakdown can provide the opening a despairing soul seeks. Indeed, anxiety so often is its own fix.We sat down in WeAre8’s London office for this two-way conversation about the ph
BEST OF: BEAU MILES: How to be a backyard adventurer
Over the Australian summer, I’ve been picking out some cracker eps that you might have missed or would benefit from revisiting. This chat with Beau Miles, a Patagonia and Outward Bound ambassador, author and YouTube star, is perfectly calibrated to keep the holiday spirit alive just a little longer.Beau used to be a mad explorer – he’s indeed conquered Everest base camp, became the first person to run 650kms across the Australian Alps, kayaked Bass Strait and the rest. But a few years back he ma
BEST OF: TIM BROWN: Sarah’s interview with her meditation teacher
Wild is having a bit of a break as the New Year gets started and we’ll be running a bunch of important or really poignant episodes that you might have missed along the way. Last year I lost my dear friend Tim Brown, my meditation teacher and confidente. He was an incredibly wise man and impacted a lot of people …some of you listening might have read my books - his wisdom and reality checks feature throughout…I don’t know how many times I’ve started with the sentence..as my meditation t
BEST OF: JULIA CAMERON: How to live the artist's way
Wild is having a break for a few weeks as the New Year gets started and we’ll be running a bunch of my favourite episodes that you might have missed along the way. I’ve chosen this chat with Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way because her advice is the kind we all need for starting off something new, like a year, a year that’s likely going to require that we have solid footings and an expansive outlook. Happy 2024, everyone!SHOW NOTESJulia’s book Seeking Wisdom is a
BEST OF: AZIZ ABU SARAH: A radical Palestinian peace broker on how to solve wicked conflicts
Wild will be taking a pause for a few weeks over the summer period and we’ll be running a bunch of my favourite episodes that you might have missed along the way.I feel given everything going on in the world it's appropriate to share my interview with Aziz Abu Sarah, a palestinian arab peace broker who knows and and has lived, or lives, the conflict in Israel and Palestine. So much noise, so much horror and so hard to comprehend the pain and the complexity…But Aziz provides the mo
BEST OF: BAYO AKOMOLAFE: The times are urgent, let’s slow down and become a fugitive
Wild will be taking a pause for a few weeks over the summer period and we’ll be running a bunch of my favourite episodes that you might have missed along the way.I’ve chosen this chat with poet Bayo Akomalafe because it is DENSE with advice for complex times, times in which humanity struggles to encapsulate things with tidy answers. Bayo riffs in this ep with the most uplifting advice for “relaxing into our entanglement with the world” and joining the chaos. Forever timely. Happy
BEST OF: DAN BUETTNER: Sarah chats with her friend about all things Blue Zones
Wild will be taking a pause for a few weeks over the summer period and we’ll be running a bunch of my favourite episodes that you might have missed along the way. I know a bunch of you have watched the Netflix series Blue Zones and some of you know that I worked on the project briefly and became friends with the National Geographic explorer - Dan Buettner who coined the term, wrote the book and started in the series. We actually caught up for dinner in Paris recentl
DAVID BROOKS: How to be humanist in cruel times
David Brooks (New York Times columnist; best-selling author) is both one of America’s best-known conservative commentators and one of its most committed to pushing the case for deep moral discussion. David’s also a regular contributor to The Atlantic and NBC’s “Meet the Press”, has 30 honorary doctorates, is a teacher at Yale and is something of a regular guest on Oprah, the Sam Harris podcast and so on. He wrote the books The Road to Character, The Second Mountain and the recently published How
BONUS EPISODE: A Life More Wild
Recently I was interviewed on the popular British podcast A Life More Wild which interviews prominent (mostly British) folk about what matters in life WHILE they hike in a favourite locale in the UK. It’s run by the outdoor holiday company Canopy & Stars, which is part of the Alastair Sawday Group (they publish a massive range of hiking guides).For this episode, we do a circuit track in the Chiltern Hills (“Area of Outstanding Beauty”) in Buckinghamshire, about an hour out of London. I chose
HANNAH BARNES: We need to think through the transgender kids debate
Hannah Barnes (BBC journalist; exposed the “Tavistock Clinic” scandal) has become the somewhat reluctant global voice on the raging child transgender debate. In her award-winning BBC investigation, and in her new book, Time To Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children, she investigates how the UK Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at Tavistock Clinic in London referred more than 1200 kids, some as young 9 years old for treatment
AMA: How should I (ethically) do a massive clean-out (to "Kondo" or to "Wilson”)?
In this episode of Ask Me Anything I answer three questions: How should I do the massive cleanout of my life - to Kondo or to Wilson? What does your life in Paris look like? How do you find accommodation (in Paris and beyond) when travelling (or just living nomadically)?I cover a bunch of links that you can get over at my Substack page. You can watch the video version there, too, where I show how I reworked a dress I’ve worn every summer since I was 21 and take the opportunity to
CONNOR BEATON: The confronting reason why men watch porn
Connor Beaton (men’s coach, porn addict mentor) helps men face their shadows. The US author and podcaster has coached thousands of men on “how to be good at being men”. The masculinity crisis is a persistent theme here on Wild (and in the world) and so I am having these chats to better understand it and how it impacts all of us. I asked Connor to join us to chat about porn – what it’s doing to men, what is not being satisfied and how it’s affecting relationships. We also cover why boys flock to
AMA: My climate activist son needs your help!
This week’s question comes from concerned mum Emma, but it’s one that is cropping up a lot - What to do about the burden young people are shouldering in the face of a crumbling world? Emma is worried her 16-year-old activist son is taking on too much and she’s worried about his climate anxiety.Research shows one-third of young people have sought counselling or medical help for eco-anxiety. However, my answer to Emma and her son takes a different direction. What if kids are pissed off and we, the
PAUL HAWKEN: We’re ending the climate crisis in one generation
Paul Hawken (Project Drawdown founder) is the climate activist who, for decades, has shown us how we can *actually* make a difference. He’s been an activist since the 1960s (he was once seized by the KKK), is the most influential voice on corporate sustainability and created the legendary Project Drawdown, which calculated the top 100 actions that bring down CO2 (tl;dr: educating girls and tackling food waste top the list). Paul's latest project Regeneration (a book and website) takes things eve
BONUS EP: Sarah + Oliver Burkeman chatting on Intelligence Squared
Figured many of you here would like to hear the conversation I had recently with Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals over at the British intellectual podcast Intelligence Squared. It’s one of my favourite podcasts, and so I was supremely thrilled when they invited me to lead an "in conversation” about self-help scepticism. Here’s the blurb they ran: Oliver Burkeman is the anti-self-help author that everyone interested in self-help should read. He enco
MARGARET WHEATLEY: An episode on civilization collapse (warning: truly confronting)
Margaret (Meg) Wheatley (collapse theorist, global leadership consultant) is something of a legend in her field. She has worked for 50 years helping humans adapt to their world using systems analysis, chaos theory and deep spiritualism (she’s good friends with one of my heroes the Buddhist monk Pema Chödrön). Poets, scientists and philosophers quote her writing, she has worked in countless disaster situations around the world and was commissioned to transform the leadership o
AMA: How do you make your podcast?
This week’s question comes from long-time reader, frequent and generous commenter Kei Ikeda, but it’s one I’ve been asked a few times - What goes into producing Wild? My short answer would be: a lot of swirling self-doubt, over-analysis, faking-till-making and ad hoc recording set-ups. Here, I chat (on a cold Paris afternoon) about my recording equipment, how I contact guests, how the costs stack up, how the brand advertising and sponsorship works and more.I flagged a few previous epis
ANAND GIRIDHARADAS: How to persuade people in a polarised world
Like many of us, Anand Giridharadas (American political commentator, bestselling author) despaired how the world had become stuck in a fractured suckhole and he could no longer convince people to change their hearts and minds to be kinder and better. So he went on a mission to find out how to persuade more effectively, resulting in his recent book The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy.In this chat, the former foreign correspondent and New
BONUS EP: Sarah + Berry Liberman talk Sensemaking in the Metacrisis
For something a bit different this week, I’m posting an important conversation I had a few days ago via the Small Giants Academy with its co-founder Berry Liberman. Berry is also an impact investor, filmmaker and philanthropist who founded Dumbo Feather magazine on top of all this. The conversation was titled Sensemaking in the Metacrisis: How to be of service in troubled times and it’s a big, wild, looping and uplifting chat about everything going on.As with the weekly AMAs, the video version o
TRACEY SPICER: AI is the new frontier of feminism!
There are many ways to challenge the AI juggernaut that has been unleashed on the world, but Tracey Spicer (multi-Walkley winning journalist, feminist) tackles it through a gender lens. In her latest book, Man-Made, she shows how the unresolved biases that exist in the world today are being fed into the emerging AI. The implications of this bigotry being embedded into our future are profound and could render any progressive work being done to address consent, pay gaps and so on moot. Tracey has
AMA: Sarah, What do you think of marriage?
Continuing with this new weekly format, each week I’m answering a hoary question from my Substack community (you can join here and post YOUR hoary - or otherwise - question in the thread). This week I answer Dan: What do you think of marriage?I take the opportunity to pull apart those studies that surface every few years that try to tell us that marriage makes you happier. Turns out it makes MEN happier than it does women, and not for very long (about two years). By implication, I also answer wh
ANNIE MURPHY PAUL: We don’t think with our brains, we think with the world!
Annie Murphy Paul (US science writer and author of The Extended Mind) recently came out with a bold theory about how we think – we don’t think with our brains, instead, we think with our bodies, feelings, physical spaces and other minds. Her work on the topic won awards, was presented as a TED talk viewed by more than 2.6 million people and has been described by New York Times’ Ezra Klein as having “radical implications”. In this conversation we discuss how our bodies can read other pe
AMA: Sarah, why did you move away from Australia?
News! Sarah is now answering your questions.No fanfare here…I’m just launching into this by announcing I’ll publish an extra 10-15 minute episode here each week where You Ask Me Anything and I Answer it. Questions are posted via my Substack newsletter which you can subscribe to here. To kick off: SARAH, WHY DID YOU MOVE AWAY FROM AUSTRALIA?I’ll keep things raw, frank, and short in these episodes. I won’t apologise for the background noises and stumbles. Nor for being contentious. I’m doing these
MISSY SIMS: The TikTok star suing Big Oil
Missy Sims (TikToker, Republican, lawyer taking down Fossil Fuel companies) could be described as the modern-day Erin Brockovich. Late last year she filed a world-first lawsuit on behalf of Puerto Rican municipalities against Exxon, Chevron and Shell. Claiming the atmosphere-destroying emissions they produced were directly responsible for the deaths and horrific damage caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017. And - wait for it - she’s doing it via the laws she uses to take down mobsters.I started
NATE HAGENS: On the “Great Simplification”
Nate Hagens (mindblowing energy futurist) was working on Wall Street when he realised…we don’t have enough energy to fund the world’s economy! Massive pivot ensued and he is now the global leader in energy systems, director of the Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future, on the board of the Post Carbon Institute, teaches an honours course, aptly titled Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota, oh and he also advises governments and institutes around the world on the future of energ
ADAM MASTROIANNI: Do we need to make the world great (and kinder) again?
Adam Mastroianni (experimental psychologist, Substacker) recently published a study in Nature that hit headlines. The paper, co-published with happiness expert Daniel Gilbert, demonstrated that everyone (literally) thinks the world is in moral decline, that we are less honest, and less kind, and that we need to return to the golden days of yore. The controversial bit? Everyone has ALWAYS thought this. And ALL of us are wrong.Adam and I talk through the mad cognitive biases that st
EMILY M. BENDER: AI won’t kill us any time soon (don’t believe the bro’ hype!)
Emily M. Bender (ChatGPT expert) is a linguist, a scholar of the societal impact of language AI and a professor at the University of Washington where she’s director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory. She recently became internet-famous for her no-nonsense, almost comical, papers that criticise the hype around large language models (LLMs) and ChatGPT. Her message is: Don’t believe the tech bro’ hype; it’s spin!In this chat we cover whether AI can take over the world; the
IAN LESLIE: Why your future depends on getting curious
Ian Leslie (British journalist, curiosity expert) is worried the world has become too fixated on absolutes and predictability just as our life circumstances are swinging the other way. The fix, he says, is to cultivate curiosity. He got curious about curiosity and wrote a book called, yep, Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It and we met in London at the WeAre8 offices to talk about why some people are incurious, what’s stopping us from being more curious, the role of cit
DR GLADYS MCGAREY: “I’m 102, here’s how to spend your energy wildly”
Dr Gladys McGarey (102 years old, founder of the “holistic” medicine movement) has lived a big, wild life and joins me to chat through her secrets for doing it (life) like you really only have one of them. Recognised as *the* pioneer of alternative medicine, Dr Gladys is a founding diplomat of the American Board of Holistic Medicine and cofounder of the American Holistic Medical Association.In her long life, Gladys practiced as a general practitioner for s
JONATHAN ROWSON: Welcome to the “metacrisis”. Now what?
Jonathan Rowson (chess Grandmaster, metamodernist philosopher) is one of Britain’s biggest minds and I have invited him onto Wild to talk, well, what’s been dubbed the “meta-crisis” – the fundamental “meaning” crisis at the heart of “all the things” going on in the world today.Jonathan is a theoretical psychologist with degrees from Oxford and Harvard and a Ph.D on what it means to become wiser. He has worked on “complex collective action” problem solving, was Director of the Social Brain Centre
GAYA HERRINGTON: Complete global collapse by 2040? The prediction is “right on track”...
Gaya Herrington (Club of Rome adviser, “global collapse” expert) hit headlines when she showed that a world-stopping 1972 MIT study and bestselling book predicting the collapse of civilisation by 2040 was…right on track. She was a KPMG economist and financial advisor to the Dutch government when she released the report in 2021. I read it and was left speechless.Gaya’s now just published a book, Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse, which sets out a bunch of surprising ways we might be able
LUKE BURGIS: How humans “want”: Mimetic desire explained
Luke Burgis (ethical entrepreneur, mimetic desire expert) reckons none of us knows what we want. We like to think we are incredibly original creators of our artfully curated lives. But, in fact, we only ever mimic others’ desires. Luke’s thesis draws on the work of philosopher Rene Girard who coined the term “mimetic desire” and who has become an obsession among Silicon Valley bros. I was keen to find out why Girard’s idea has become so hot and asked Luke to join me to put things straight.Luke i
CLANCY MARTIN: How not to kill yourself
Clancy Martin (professor of philosophy, multiple suicide survivor) has tried – unsuccessfully, obviously – to depart this mortal coil a dozen-plus times and has just published a book, How Not to Kill Yourself, that explores the complexity of one the most fundamental question we can ever ask – why live? Clancy teaches philosophy at the University of Missouri, is a Guggenheim Fellow, bestselling novelist, a father and… “suicide addict”. In the wake of having lost one of my closest f
SUSAN NEIMAN: Left is not woke!
Susan Neiman (world-leading moral philosopher, socialist, Einstein Forum director) joins me to clear up a wholly frustrating and destructive dialogue stopper – wokeism. Susan is the Director of the Einstein Forum, in Potsdam, Germany. She has a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard and has written big, influential tomes on German guilt, the value of evil and how we all need to grow up, all through a philosophical lens. Her latest book is titled Left is Not Woke and in this episode, she explains w
FRANCES HAUGEN: In which I speak to the Facebook whistleblower
Frances Haugen (globally renowned whistleblower, author of The Power of One) singlehandedly created social media’s Big Tobacco moment. In 2021, the algorithms specialist exposed 20,000 internal documents to media and lawmakers that showed Facebook consistently and knowingly prioritised profits over public safety. A few months later, and at great personal risk, she “outed” herself on 60 Minutes and has worked tirelessly since to change laws on social media transparency around the world. What
PICO IYER: The spiritual case for travel
Pico Iyer (bestselling travel writer; author of The Art of Stillness; Leonard Cohen’s close mate) studies the paradox of our desire to go out and explore foreign lands…and our need for stillness, the delicate dance between our outer and inner lives. Pico has spent 50 years writing about travel for more than 250 publications, but he also spent three decades living in monasteries and 48 years as a friend and travel companion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And he concludes a bunch of things we cov
TYSON YUNKAPORTA: Indigenous knowledge can save the world!
Tyson Yunkaporta (Indigenous knowledge expert and renegade) is an Aboriginal scholar and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Melbourne’s Deakin University. His prize-winning book Sand Talk explains how Indigenous methods are best calibrated for resolving the complex global crises we face today and it’s attracted fawning attention in sensemaking, complexity and integral circles globally. Tyson’s wild approach tips a stack of Western thinking on its head. He challenges…not just with
WILL STORR: How to play the status game (a fresh way to fix the world!)
Will Storr (award-winning UK journalist and author) writes about humans in fun ways, and goes to lengths to do this, including joining holocaust denier David Irving (undercover) on holiday. His books The Heretics, and Selfie, are about how self-obsession changed the culture.Will's latest book is The Status Game and it argues that “Everyone alive is playing a game whose hidden rules are built into us and that silently directs our thoughts, beliefs and actions. This game is inside us. It is us.” W
TIM WINTON: On wild colonial boys + Big Daddy Gas
Tim Winton (author + climate activist) is a four-time winner of Australia’s most prominent literary award, the Miles Franklin, several of his books (Cloudstreet, Breath, Blueback) have been turned into movies, he has an Australian fish named after him(!), and he has been declared a “living treasure” by the National Trust. Notoriously private,Tim now only emerges to do press to speak out on big issues – toxic masculinity, fossil fuel sponsorship of the arts (and the “nippers”) and saving Western
INGRID NEWKIRK: The PETA founder challenges my meat eating
Ingrid Newkirk (founder of PETA, radical stuntwoman) is one of the most controversial – and wild - humans on the planet. After founding People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 1980 she campaigned to change animal cruelty laws, halted cosmetic and crash testing on animals and has largely rid the world of fur fashion.She didn’t take the mild, collaborative route, though. Ingrid has hung naked among pigs’ carcasses in London’s Smithfield market, famously raided Vogue HQ to protest the
GENEVIEVE BELL: Will AI wipe out humanity?
Genevieve Bell (“superstar” Silicon Valley futurist, cybernetician) is possibly the world’s best-placed human to tell us what the future of AI holds for us. She is a Stanford cultural anthropologist, the Vice President of Intel, has been dubbed “technology’s foremost fortune teller” and has been inducted into the Women in Technology Hall of Fame. Oh, and she has been South Australia’s thinker in residence. And holds a lazy 13 patents!Genevieve is now based at Australia’s ANU where she’s the
ROY BAUMEISTER: How the female orgasm shapes the world
Roy Baumeister (infamous willpower psychologist + NYT bestseller) is one of the world’s most prolific and influential psychologists. He has published 700-plus scientific works, including more than 40 books, and has received the highest award given by the Association for Psychological Science for his lifetime achievements. He is the guy who coined the term “negativity bias” and “decision fatigue”, and writes about why we do stupid things, the psychology of heartbreak and S&M. Roy 
THOMAS MAYO: The beautifully wild Voice to Parliament, explained
Thomas Mayo (maritime union worker, author, official advocate for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament) joins me to answer your questions regarding the upcoming referendum to amend the constitution to recognise a Voice. It’s a big, historic and profoundly important moment for every Australian voter. We talk through the basics and drill down into the counterarguments – is there a need for more detail (short answer = no, it’s constitutionally inappropriate to provide more), does it veto laws (no, it
ANGELA SAINI: How men came to rule the world
Angela Saini (One of the “World’s Top 50 Thinkers”, a leading UK Science Journalist + Author) is a misinformation expert whose intellectual range is truly wild.Angela has a masters from The Department of War Studies at Kings College London; she’s made documentaries on the climate crisis, birdsong (!) and eugenics; her previous books have tackled race science and gender inequality; she founded “Challenging Pseudoscience” as part of London’s Royal Institution and sits on a bunch of other esteemed
ETHAN KROSS: How to tame your head chatter
Ethan Kross (University of Michigan neuroscientist, author of bestseller Chatter) is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the mind. I came across his work while researching anxiety and found his perspectives on when and how to tame our relentless head chatter (or monkey mind) refreshing. And wild. Ethan is all about appreciating the “beast” that is the fretty voice in our head, while modulating it artfully. We chat through some seriously effective tools such as talking to ourselves
BO SEO: How to fix polarization? By disagreeing…more!
Bo Seo (world champion debater, author of Good Arguments) knows how to argue really very well. The Australian immigrant, now based out of Harvard, is the two-time world debating champion and his new book applies his secret debating sauce to the meatloaf that is this polarised, bifurcated, relentlessly bickering world we now live in. Bo’s wild point is that the problem of polarization isn’t that we disagree, it’s that we need to disagree more. But I need to learn how to do it way better and kinde
MARCUS BUCKINGHAM: What do the “happiest women in the world” get right? They tilt!
Marcus Buckingham (British pop trend researcher, New York Times bestselling author of Standout Strengths) has researched the paradox of female unhappiness - which sees women get more miserable the more freedoms and choices they have - for several decades now (and used to contribute to Cosmopolitan magazine back when I was editor). Specifically – and inversely - Marcus has worked to determine the thing that the happiest women are doing right. The results are jolting. Far from trying to
STEPHEN JENKINSON: How to die well
Stephen Jenkinson (Harvard-trained theologian, activist and elder) is an expert in dying. During his 20 years working in “the death trade” he counselled more than 1500 people to their death. He is also the founder of The Orphan Wisdom School, a teaching house for the skills of deep living, he's the subject of the documentary Griefwalker and author of Die Wise: A Manifesto For Sanity and Soul.Stephen's wild idea is that we must learn to die well…so that we can live well. This is a challenging and
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF: Navigating the sad “Mindset” of the billionaire tech bros
Douglas Rushkoff (author, cyberpunk OG (!) and documentarian) is named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, and studies humans struggling to live in an increasingly unhuman world. Which is to say most of us in 2023. I tracked down this big, excitable mind to continue an earlier WILD chat about billionaire apocalypse preppers (August 2022, with Mark O’Connell). Rushkoff has a wild theory – which he spells out in his latest book, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies
DR MICHAEL E MANN: There is a new climate war and you need to get armed
Dr Michael E. Mann (super notorious climate scientist; El Niño expert) is a Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media and a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (and more such academic titles). But he is best known for bringing the world the “hockey-stick graph” back in 1999, which showed a sharp “uptick” in global temperatures since the industrial age
MARGARET ATWOOD: The Doyenne of Dystopia turns to creating climate utopias
Margaret Atwood is best known for her mega-bestselling dystopian fiction, including the Booker Prize-winning novels “The Blind Assassin” and “The Testaments”, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and, most recently, the essay collection “Burning Questions”. The Canadian firebrand imagines future societies, specifically the worst scenarios in these future societies, worlds of genetic modification, pharmaceutical and corporate control, human-made disasters and theocracies where women’s bodies are controlled by
HELEN LEWIS: On slaying Jordan Peterson + declining Andrew Tate
Helen Lewis (internet famous for her GQ interview with Jordan Peterson, pop culture expert) is a British journalist, BBC broadcaster and currently a staff writer for Atlantic magazine. Her work covers the rise of TikTok tics in teenagers, Harry-and-Meghan, Andrew Tate, the absurdities of US and UK politics…you know, all the chunky bits of life in 2023. She also wrote the best bestseller Difficult Women, A History of Feminism in 11 Fights and just released the BBC podcast series The New Gurus. Ho
REBECCA GIBLIN: Chokepoint capitalism is screwing creatives…and you!
Rebecca Giblin (author Chokepoint Capitalism, media academic) joins me to explain how the Big Tech squillionaires are choking creatives – musicians, authors, screenwriters etc – and their customers. And in so doing, killing culture. Hmmm….Rebecca is a Melbourne Law School professor specialising in creators’ rights and the director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia. Her new book Chokepoint Capitalism (co-written with LA-based bestselling science fiction writer and Boing
NICK RIGGLE: A philosophical case for being awesome
Nick Riggle (Ex-pro skater, philosophy professor at the University of California, YOLO expert) has become known for dissecting contemporary phenomena in a distinctly Socratic manner.In this chat, we delve into the philosophical significance of awesomeness (and its antonym, suckiness), the existential imperative of YOLO (!) and the aetiology of the high five. Nick’s theses on these cliched expressions ultimately lead to a wonderfully wild answer to the quandary of what makes life worth living in
DR SIMON LONGSTAFF: The world needs ethical heroes (here’s how to be one)
Dr Simon Longstaff (Philosopher, Festival of Dangerous Ideas, The Ethics Centre) is one of Australia’s most ethical thinkers. He mindfully stokes the national debate on cancel culture, corporate conduct, mask-wearing and psychedelic drugs (via his role as chair of Mind Medicine Australia). Simon guides contemporary moral thinking as the ethics commissioner for Cricket Australia, the executive director of The Ethics Centre, which advises corporates on how to make better decisions, and as a fellow
YAEL STONE: On loving the messiness of wokism and being wrong
Yael Stone (Star of Orange is the New Black, Founder of Hi Neighbour, Climate Activist) and I have been IG friends, supporting each other’s climate work, for some years. In 2021 Yael Stone gave up her Green Card to combat climate change and committed to offsetting future overseas gigs by donating 50% of earnings to climate charities. Now she runs Hi Neighbour, a community platform that assists in the “just transition” for fossil fuel workers into low-carbon jobs.I have admired Yael's wildne
YAEL STONE: On loving the messiness of wokism and being wrong
The Orange Is the New Black star and I have been IG friends, supporting each other’s climate work, for some years. In 2021 Yael Stone gave up her Green Card to combat climate change and committed to offsetting future overseas gigs by donating 50% of earnings to climate charities. Now she runs Hi Neighbour, a community platform that assists in the “just transition” for fossil fuel workers into low-carbon jobs. I have admired Yael's wildness from afar but decided it was time to meet IRL. For this
BEST OF: TIM BROWN. This chat with my meditation teacher is one of the most
It’s the time of year when we all need some inspiring, expansive perspectives and I reckon this chat with Tim, which I recorded a little while back, might be a great listen as you go about your summer road trips and making 2023 commitments.Tim trained with the Vedic tradition and has taught meditation to elite athletes, jail inmates, billionaires and kids for more than 20 years. The guy’s been part of my spiritual journey for 12 years and has guided me with my career, love life and various calam
BEST OF: OLIVER BURKEMAN. Because his 4000 weeks theory became very hot.
This interview got a lot of (shocked!) feedback, so I figured I’d run it again as we start thinking about heading back to work. Again. And contemplating “what it’s all about”.British writer Oliver Burkeman has investigated pretty much every productivity hack, mindfulness trick, list-making system and happiness boost we've ever been fed. He concludes, almost none work. Ha!I followed Oliver's column in The Guardian, which he wrote from his home in Brooklyn, New York, for about 10 years and he is d
BEST OF: DR JILL BOLTE TAYLOR. Learning to live in the right brain – possibly the best New Year hack ever.
I discovered Jill's story in her viral TED Talk from 2008 (it became the most-watched TED talk ever!) in which the brain scientist describes watching the left side of her brain deteriorate over the course of four hours on the morning of her stroke and how she used her right brain to stay present and get help. I was transfixed. Ever since I've wondered, whatever happened to Jill Bolte Taylor? Did she go back to normal? Is she still living in her right brain and able to experience the “onenes
BEST OF: DAVID POCOCK. Want to know more about the Australian Senator making waves in Canberra?
He was the captain of the Wallabies, the only Australian player to be included in World Rugby's team of the decade, but - wildly – retired at the height of his career to devote his life to climate activist projects here in Australia and in Africa. I recorded this interview shortly after David quit rugby and several months before he decided to run as an independent Senator in the Australian Parliament. He won the ticket and has gone on to become an extremely powerful and highly regarded poli
BEST OF: SIA.The chat where I make the artist cry.
Sia is one of the most gifted and wild creatives on the planet, best known for the hundreds of hit pop songs she's written for herself, Beyonce, Rihanna and Kanye West, and for being notoriously private, rarely doing interviews. This is why I remain so damn chuffed that she agreed to be my FIRST guest here on Wild. I recall being soooo nervous and out of my depth. But also thoroughly enjoying this incredible human’s quirky company.In this chat, Sia gets intimate with me about fostering, why she
I FOUND MAMMOTH DUDE: Special episode
I share a glorious, wild, life-affirming story in this special episode. Some of you might have read my book This One Wild and Precious Life and remember the bit where I wind up in Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada and rant at a young guy sitting in a vegan smoothie café about his single-use plastic cups (he was drinking several vegan beverages). He takes it well and asks to read a few pages of the book (I was working on the draft of the climate chapter as we spoke). "Wow! Can you put that mind-blasti
AZIZ ABU SARAH: A radical Palestinian peace broker on how to solve wicked conflicts
How to find peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in one podcast episode? Ha! You 210% can’t. But if there is someone who can provide a vision for it, it’s Palestinian peace broker Aziz Abu Sarah. Aziz grew up in East Jerusalem and lost a brother to the conflict when he was nine when the Israeli military stormed his home in the middle of the night. At 18, however, he turned his hatred around and today Aziz is one of the world's most powerful and connected peacebuilders and cultural educ
SETH GODIN: Ratcheting up the climate fight...with capitalism!
Seth Godin never does anything the normal way. The prolific marketing guru and disrupter joins us here on Wild for a second time to chat about what he describes as the most important project of his life, a crowd-created Climate Almanac, created by a 300-person army of scientists, artists and teachers from 41 countries who turned around the 97000-word book in 120 days. The wild idea we wrestle with in this episode is the very act of not doing climate activism the normal way. We talk about di
BAYO AKOMOLAFE: The times are urgent, let’s slow down and become a fugitive
This week’s guest will “shock you into noticing the world differently.” The glorious Bayo Akomolafe is a Nigerian-born Yoruba poet, author and teacher at universities and institutions across the UK, the US, Canada and India. He has also won the 2021 New Thought Walden Award which honours empowering spiritual ideas and philosophies that change lives and make our planet a better place. Bayo uses “trickster philosophy” and intense metaphors to present truly wild – but intuitively sound - ways
HOLDEN KARNOFSKY: The most important century is now. Blimey
This episode continues the fascinating-slash-frightening journey I’ve been on with you, to understand what we should prioritise as we face potential existential end times. Today’s guest, Harvard researcher and philanthropist Holden Karnofsky, brings the AI, effective altruism, longtermism and anti-growth debates together with the clarion call: “This is our moment, this century is make-or-break, pay attention people!” It’s not an idle or hysterical call, it’s one that Holden has researched extens
CLARE PRESS: There is no such thing as sustainable fashion. Now what?
The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater and more carbon emissions than ALL international flights and ALL maritime shipping COMBINED. If nothing changes, by 2050 the fashion industry will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget. Ex-Vogue journalist and founder of The Wardrobe Crisis (the book, podcast and academy) Clare Press joins me to wrestle the quandaries: Is vegan leather ethical? Are recycled plastic leggings green? What labels are legit carbon neutral? Does the stuff
JENNIFER ROBINSON: Public educated kids speak out!
There’s a young Australian human rights lawyer and barrister who has been at the centre of the most era-defining legal cases in the world. She has represented Julian Assange since 2010. She led the Amber Heard case. She worked on the case against the CIA’s drone strikes in Pakistan and a case against the Catholic Church over child sex abuse. She was also a legal adviser to The New York Times in the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal and regularly fronts up to the International Court of Justice and va
BEAU MILES: become a backyard adventurer.
We crave adventure to break up the ho-hum of our everyday lives. But busting ruts doesn’t have to be all about conquering Everest or ticking off bucket list challenges. We can get the same result as a “backyard adventurer”.Beau Miles, a Patagonia and Outward Bound ambassador, author and YouTube star, used to be a mad explorer – he’s indeed conquered Everest base camp, became the first person to run 650kms across the Australian Alps, kayaked Bass Strait and the rest. But a few years back he made
KIERAN SETIYA: How to love living a hard life
Life is hard. And yet so much of contemporary life compels us to fight this fundamental reality. We are meant to be happy! We are meant to live our best, most #blissful, potential-stacked life! But I talk with Kieran Setiya, a professor of philosophy at MIT, who argues we should #NotLiveOurBestLife. It’s better to aspire to a life that is, well, good enough. Kieran has appeared on Sam Harris’ podcast, written for the New York Times, the London Review of Books etc bringing a philosophical argumen
KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: The greatest living sci-fi author goes hiking
He is regarded as the greatest science fiction writer alive and his most recent book, set in the climate catastrophe-wracked near future, The Ministry for the Future, is recommended widely by Barack Obama and Ezra Klein and such is the accuracy of his futuristic depictions Kim Stanley Robinson is now called upon to consult on climate solutions by the Pentagon and at COP26. But Kim is also a mad hiker and his latest book The High Sierra: A Love Story is a hiking guidebook-slash-meditation-sl
MATT BROWNE: The rise of the bro-caster guru (it’s a thing!)
Do you listen to Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, Joe Rogan, Russell Brand or maybe a bit of Lex Freidman? They are the biggest names in podcasting (and beyond) and they started out as progressive voices, robustly questioning the status quo and challenging dominant interests and often bringing alternative spiritual or psychological perspectives to the big debates. But a trend has emerged among this crew of “bro-casters”. My guest in this episode, Australian psychology academic Matt Browne, argu
MARY ANN SIEGHART: Smash the authority gap!
There is a massive “authority gap” that exists in the world today, where women are taken way less seriously than men and still treated as less competent. They are interrupted four times as often as men and are overlooked for not being as confident as a bloke (while studies show that men’s perceived additional confidence is mostly “bullshitting”). And, yet, as my guest London-based journalist and broadcaster Mary Ann Sieghart explains, there are only wins to be had by closing this authority gap.M
ELISE BOHAN: Ah shit, transhumanism….
What if we could bioengineer our bodies to live forever, would we and should we? What if we could avoid all the awkward bits of sex and just neatly copulate with a robot? And what if we never had to go through the bother and pain of pregnancy and could instead use artificial external wombs? Would we? And should we? Transhumanists say these are moot questions because the superhuman or post-human train has well and truly left the station. We’re only decades from these altered, souped up realities.
JOELLE GERGIS: How an IPCC lead author does climate grief
You know the latest IPCC* Assessment Report? The one that came out at the end of 2021 that the UN secretary general dubbed “Code Red for humanity”? Australian climate scientist Joëlle Gergis was one of its lead authors responsible for its 3 million words of truly stark wake-up-call content.This episode I catch up with her at the Byron Writer’s Festival (where she was launching her new book on climate grief) and volley her with questions compiled by my Substack membership community.What does the
JOSH SZEPS: In which the Joe Rogan regular interviews ME!
Right, we’re doing something different this episode. Uber-talented radio/TV/podcast host and contrarian Josh Szeps has me on his Uncomfortable Conversations podcast to chat sugar, cannonau wine, class wars, woke-speak, ethics, the decline of innovation in wealthy countries, how men around the world behave on dating apps and the perils of looking like could be on an insurance ad. For some context: Josh is currently the host of afternoons on ABC Radio Sydney and you might also have heard him
A.C. GRAYLING: How to have your own life philosophy
If only we all learned to think more we might solve the problems of the world. This is a thesis British philosopher A.C. Grayling has devoted much of his life to via his 40-odd books, the philosophy college he founded in London and his engagement in global debates on euthanasia, the existence God, Brexit and beyond. In his latest book, For the Good of the World, he applies it to the challenge of achieving global agreement to solve the various global catastrophes we have created. In this fun
ANDREW QUILTY: “I chose to live in a war zone” (possibly the most intimate pod chat so far)
This episode is an intense one. It’s with multi-Walkley Award-winning Australian photographer Andrew Quilty who has spent the past eight years living and working in the Afghanistan capital Kabul, documenting the conflict for publications around the world. We talk about the details of the decades-long occupation and go into the story of that day - one year ago - when the Taliban arrived at the gates of Kabul as the allied forces and tens of thousands of Afghans tried to flee in scenes of chaos an
MARK O’CONNELL: Meet the apocalypse preppers
In exclusive pockets around the world rich, white (mostly) men are prepping for end times. They are hoarding resources and building bunkers, putting billions into funding their place on Mars. They could be funding renewable energy projects, or putting their efforts into restoring political stability, you know, finding ways for humanity to survive on our beloved Earth. But no. Irish author and journalist Mark O’Connell conducted something of a perverse pilgrimage of these pockets for his boo
WILLIAM MACASKILL: On “longtermism” and moral responsibility
Our existential risk – the probability that we could wipe ourselves out due to AI, bio-engineering, nuclear war, climate change, etc. in the next 100 years – currently sits at 1 in 6. Let that sink in! Would you get on a plane if there was a 17% chance it would crash? Would you do everything you could to prevent a calamity if you were presented with those odds? My chat today covers a wild idea that could – and should - better our chances of existing as a species…and lead to a huma
ROB HENDERSON: Woke “luxury beliefs” are the new Birkins and Bentleys
The wealthy elite once signalled their status with expensive handbags and super yachts. Now they do it with what Rob Henderson calls “luxury beliefs” - so-called politically correct pronouncements that, in reality, only the rich can afford to live by and thusly differentiate them from the rest of us. We’re talking about such wokenesses as “defund the police” and calls for drug legalisation, death to marriage and putting “polyamorous” on your dating profile. Of course, defunding the police i
Ask Me Anything: In which British National Treasure Melissa Hemsley fires your questions at me
Breaking things up a bit this episode with an AMA from London where I'm staying with my good friend Melissa Hemsley, cookbook author, sustainable food advocate and humanitarian. Mel kindly reads out a bunch of juicy questions: Do you have botox? How do we stay hopeful in the climate crisis when giving up and just enjoying the few remaining "normal years" is easier? Should 16 year-olds be allowed to vote? What about trying mushrooms for anxiety? How do you make friends as an adult? Much of t
KATHERINE MAY: The power of “Wintering”
Wintering is the process of resting and withdrawing in dark, or fallow, periods, respecting the rhythm of the cycles of nature and the role of winter. A lost art in a summer-based culture. British author Katherine May writes: “There are gaps in the mesh of the everyday world, and sometimes they open up and you fall through them to somewhere else..into a sad and lonely and isolated place." These gaps may open from the loss of a loved one, difficult childbirth, illness, the loss of a job
DAVID FULLER: Sensemaking 101
We can’t make sense of the world anymore, right? How can we when our leaders lie, the media publishes non-truths, conspiracies spread faster than facts and the algorithms favour bullshit? Recently, I’ve started following a “Sensemaking movement” of philosophers, renegades, sociologists and psychologists who are trying to return the world to truthfulness. And it excites me no end! Sensemaking is a very fun and dynamic set of theories and techniques for sorting truth from lies and also for ensurin
DAVID WALLACE-WELLS: “The climate crisis might not be as bad as we thought” (a slight retraction)
He famously wrote the New York magazine essay that told us “it is worse, much worse than you think” and painted an apocalyptic picture of an “Uninhabitable Earth” by 2100.The essay, which became the #1 New York Times bestseller 'The Uninhabitable Earth', singlehandedly shook the world into “OK, we’re officially freaked out” mode.But five years on, is the climate emergency as bad as David Wallace-Wells initially portrayed? Will Manhattan be underwater? Will there be half as much food, twice as mu
KYLIE MOORE-GILBERT: How to survive 804 days captured and tortured by Iranian militants
She spent two years and three months in a brutal Iranian prison. In solitary confinement for half of it. For a crime that was entirely made up. The Melbourne University lecturer was attending a conference in Iran when she was randomly captured at the airport and charged with “espionage” based on zero evidence.How do you survive such horror? How do you cope with living in a cell with nothing but a scrap of carpet for a year? Not knowing if anyone knows your whereabouts, waiting to be hanged? What
JOSEPH HENRICH: You are weird! Here’s the scientist who can explain why
I really love the wild theory we explore in this episode. About 1500 years ago some obscure Catholic pope declared we probably shouldn’t marry our cousin. And from here the “West” was born. A psychologically peculiar subset of humanity then rose to dominate the planet, namely western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic folk. You know, WEIRD people. You and I. Joseph Henrich is a Harvard professor in evolutionary biology who took 10 years to research this truly Zeitgeist-shifting
LECH BLAINE: The death of "blokes" (strap in for this one!)
I have been wanting to talk blokedom for a very long time: How and why it defines so much about Australia; how it excludes and masks the existence of class inequalities; and how it holds us back as a nation. The myth of the larrikin bloke is something writer Lech Blaine has been studying for some time. Hailing from a very working class background in Toowoomba, Queensland, he went on to be the first person in his extended family to go to university. He wrote a Quarterly Essay in September last ye
JULIA CAMERON: How to live the artist's way
In 1992 Julia Cameron published a book that saw the whole world (it seemed) suddenly writing "morning pages", these free-from diary entries that unblocked creativity. The Artist's Way was the title and it became a global bestseller in 40 languages. Alicia Keys, John Cleese and Tim Ferris are fans; Elizabeth Gilbert wrote, “Without The Artist’s Way there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love.” Julia has had a wild life – she wrote for Rolling Stone magazine at the height of New Journalism. She
PROF GEORGE PAXINOS: Are our brains "good" enough to save the planet?
In this brain-bending ep we explore this wild idea: are there good brains and can we find a way to use them to save the planet. My guest is Professor George Paxinos AO, the world’s leading brain expert. The 78-year-old Greek-Australian is the most famous scientist you’ve never heard of – he’s identified and named more parts of the brain than anyone in history. He’s also a climate activist (and cycling activist!) and spent 21 years writing his latest book, River Divided, a novel about (ready for
SHEENA IYENGAR: How to choose the best option
Sheena Iyengar’s The Art of Choosing – the book and the wildly popular TED talk – posits a profoundly paradoxical idea. Despite what we might think, we don’t like choice, or at least not too much of it. Which is why arranged marriages lead to more lasting love than “romantic” marriages and ALDI stocks one version of everything. To make the best decisions in our lives, there is a “magic number” of options we should aim for…and it’s less than you think. The Columbia University pscho-economist is f
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 12, Last thoughts…with Betoota Advocate
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 12, Last thoughts…with Betoota AdvocateIt's been a wild ride but here ends our journey together. Wendell Hussey from the awesome satirical news site and I answer last questions about the election, who to vote for if you care about climate, what to do if there are no indies in your electorate, what if one of the parties directs my preferences (hint: they can't) and what do we think will be the ideal outcome for Australia (I don't hold back). We return to the normal format n
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 11, Why we must vote for a First Nations Voice, with Prof Megan Davis
For 15 years, successive governments have kicked the Indigenous Voice to Parliament can down the road. A referendum to enshrine a Voice into the constitution has been shown time and time again to be the most important first step to closing the yawning - and growing - gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Three quarters of Australians say they want it…and yet here we are again! Today Prof Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble Aboriginal woman, human rights lawyer and co-architect of the U
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 10, How will a hung Parliament work? Will it be chaos? Tony Windsor sets us straight
It’s looking very possible that this election will result in a hung parliament, where one of the parties must form a minority government with a bunch of independents. The implications of this are huge (and exciting!) and it’s worth knowing how it would work (and how it could be the right kind of shake-up we need). Former independent Tony Windsor was one of the crossbenchers who famously had to form government last time this happened in 2010. He talks us through the behind the scenes stuff and th
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 9, Who has the best policies for women with Jane Caro and CheekMedia's Kristen Perissinotto
Australia has become a country with one of the worst records for gender equality in the world. A picture worsened by the misogyny we've witnessed from within Parliament in the past 18 months. And so women are rallying this election according to many polls. This ep we cover the policies and commitments to look out for that will change the system for all women and finish by answering your questions regarding the public v private school funding fiasco. I also provide a few widgets and hacks for nav
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 8, How to #voteclimate, with Richie Merzian
Climate is the #1 issue this election for Australian voters. And yet politicians are making a meal of it and hiding their lacking climate policies in misinformation. This ep I outline each party’s climate policy (or lackthereof in the case of the Liberal National Party) and I invite The Australia Institute’s climate director Richie to sift through the classic climate lines/lies that are bandied about so that we can all navigate things more clearly, you know the ones, that we’re meeting our commi
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 7, A dead simple guide to voting (tag and share!)
Here, all your granular questions about voting answered in one spot. A great 101 for first timers or a primer for everyone who would like to be on top of things this year.What’s voting above vs below the line? How do I make my preferences work best? How do I know if my #1 vote won’t be passed onto another party? Are How To Vote cards dodgy? What if no one wins a majority of seats?Evan Ekin-Smyth from the Australian Electoral Commission joins me to nut it all out and I share all the best hacks an
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 6, What if Anthony Albanese becomes PM? with Karen Middleton
Who is “Albo"? The Labor leader has been in politics for 26 years and yet many Australians struggle to name the guy or pick him in a line-up. His opponents capitalise on this and paint him as meek and not upfront, even “not on the ball”. In this chat with Karen Middleton, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper who also wrote Albanese’s biography, we get a very different picture of a sensitve but gritty and strategic operator who “operates 10-
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 5, Who *actually* is Scott Morrison? Sean Kelly explains
There’s a lot we don’t know about our current Prime Minister. And what we do know - daggy dad, makes curry on the barbecue, Sharkies fan - is crafted by the ex-marketing man himself, the bloke who gave himself the moniker “ScoMo”.His biographer the Nine newspapers’ Sean Kelly joins me to talk through our PM'S past; the Hungry Jacks ad; how he left all previous jobs “under a cloud”; where his slogans and tactics came from; as well as his love of the Pentecostal church, whose followers b
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 4, Things have got dodgy, we need an ICAC with teeth, with Mike Seccombe
On today’s ep we pull apart the corruption, lies, the removal and defunding of crucial bodies that hold governments to account, the stacking of boards with fossil fuel executives and the dead crook behaviour that has defined the current Government.Mike Seccombe is the national correspondent for The Saturday Paper and has covered this descent into what some political commentators have described as the worst era in Australian politics. It all explains why 81% of Australians want a federal anti-cor
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP3, So what are these independents about, with Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood
This is where things get a bit fun! And, actually, this episode explains WHY i decided to do this election series.So. The policy and ideas gridlock is real. And there’s a reason for it. But there’s also a solution and policy think tank The Grattan Institute has mapped it out with research. It’s to vote in a number of climate-focused MPs who do not belong to either of the major parties. As it happens, there are about 30 running across Australia this election, and if three of them (give or take) g
THIS WILD ELECTION: EP 2, You’re not imagining it, things have got pretty bad... with Jan Fran and Zara Seidler
In this episode, we lay out where things are at as we head into the election campaign proper. Consider it a primer (if you’re just starting to get engaged in all this election guff). I’m joined by cofounder of @TheDailyAus Zara Seidler and Walkley Award-winning journalist, comedian and activist Jan Fran to chat through the frustration and fatigue (why we’re feeling it), as well as what is actually mattering to us…particular policies and issues to look out for (they’re not what you expect). We al
THIS WILD ELECTION: Ep 1, I’m doing an election mini-series for everyone who gives a sh*t about where Australia is heading!
Yep, a one-stop pod that shows how we can make our vote count toward a more caring, humane, vibrant Australia on May 21. To kick off, I explain why I think this election is the most important in recent history, why things feel so fractured and dismal (you’re not imagining it; the country has swerved well off track!), but most importantly how we can strategically shake things up election day and land a hopeful result. I’ll be posting twice a week over the next month or so, speaking to my old frie
SARA NESS: How to “win" difficult conversations
Frankly, if the world needs anything right now it's better, more authentic, and discerning communication. In so many ways we seem to have lost track of how and WHY we get into such polarised positions. Sara Nass is a world expert (and the unofficial organiser of) the global authentic relating movement. I invite her to share tips on how we can be more artful at relating. How do we RELATE to people who've gone down conspiracy rabbit-holes? How do we navigate teenagers who've be
PETE DAVIS: A scientific (and spiritual) case to quit flaking... and commit already!
It's time to give a shit. To fire up. To say yes — and mean it. Whether you're endlessly scrolling Netflix for the perfect movie or looking for a date online or wanting to make a “difference", it's time to commit. Global democracy expert Pete Davis says we've been hoodwinked into thinking we need to keep our options open. But our creative urges, our sense of humanity, our political system needs decisiveness, and all that flaking is eroding society (not just the dating scene!). We talk how t
JASON HICKEL: Degrowth economics! It’s wild, it could save us…
Economic anthropologist Jason Hickel is possibly the leading voice in the degrowth movement that's bubbling about the place. Heard of it? Degrowth pivots around the wild idea that constant growth - and GDP - is the wrong goal. Instead, human, and planetary wellbeing should be our marker of progress. You know, if we want to survive. I drill Jason on the implications: the necessary end of capitalism, four-day work weeks, accepting renewable growth can't save us (eek!), the uncomfortable truth that
PETER SINGER: How much should you be giving to charity to be a 'good person'?
The 'world's most influential philosopher' loves to whack us around the head with our own morality. Aussie-born Peter Singer, the guy who brought us vegetarianism (and is also dubbed the most “dangerous” man on the planet) has spoken out on euthanasia, abortion, bestiality, cancel culture and mandatory vaccinations. But this episode he gets us wrestling with the ‘effective altruism' movement he helped bring about. We go in hard. Can you be good if you don't give a chunk of yo
JOHANN HARI: THIS is why you're finding the world too much
Author, Johann Hari reckons our ability to focus didn't just disappear — it was stolen! This is a crisis and it's not your fault. Johann explains why you touch your phone 2167 times a day, why the average office worker can only focus on a task for three minutes, and why our kids' attention is shot. But it's one thing to lose the joy of reading a long book, it's another to distract an entire society away from democracy, peace and, well, survival. This is what distresses me most - we've become a s
AMY REMEIKIS: Decodes the sexual violence clusterf*** in Parliament House
Political reporter for The Guardian and sexual assault survivor Amy Remeikis joins me for International Women's Day to give an insider's view on the vile situation for women in politics - and beyond - in this country. The national conversation has erupted over the past 12 months and accusations from inside Parliament House itself continue to unfold. Amy reveals why the usual political deflection tactics didn't work, why it's perfect we're all angry and the shocking statistics that put
BRIAN KLASS: Why so many leaders in 2022 are dodgy, awful humans
Leading international political scientist Brian Klass answers the Big Questions we're all asking: Why does it seem everyone in charge is a narcissistic psychopath? Does power corrupt or is it just that dodgy people are really really good at weaselling their way into power? And how does our PM get away with brazenly lying? It's a great time in history to get Brian in; he interviewed 500 leaders around the world — presidents, cultists, war criminals, and even drank wine with the daughter of a cann
SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: The radical (!) nun who wrote ‘Dead Man Walking’
Meet the 82-year-old radical Catholic nun who's the most prominent campaigner against the death penalty in the US. Sister Helen Prejean wrote ‘Dead Man Walking', which became the movie (Susan Sarandon played Helen). In this episode you'll hear about the horrifying close calls, when prisoners have been spared moments before their execution and other statistics that have us confront our humanity. But first, why did Sister Helen become a nun and… how do you handle a life without sex!? Sister H
BONUS EPISODE 3: Tips and guided meditation for anxiety
This is the third in a series of bonus episodes of Wild for the holiday period, as inspired by my New York Times bestselling book ‘first, we make the beast beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety'.I explore how I turn my anxiety into a superpower, something I practice daily.In this episode I'm joined by Brooke McAlary from Slowyourhome.com and we explore ways I listen to my anxiety and use it to change direction to a better life. I use these techniques daily.This episode reminded me of the intervie
BONUS EPISODE 2: How to do a morning routine plus a guided meditation
Ahead of season 3 of Wild, here's another bonus episode for the holiday period, a time we tend to reserve for getting our lives in order for the year ahead. These bonus eps are inspired by my New York Times bestselling book ‘first, we make the beast beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety'.In this episode I'm joined by Brooke McAlary from Slowyourhome.com and we explore some simple techniques to add to your morning routine for a less anxious life, along with a meditation to start your day.For
BONUS EPISODE 1: Tips and guided meditation for travel
Before we launch season 3 of Wild, here's a few bonus episodes for over the holiday period.They're inspired by my New York Times bestselling book ‘first, we make the beast beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety' and the first one is a rundown of the best techniques and tricks to reduce anxiety while travelling, with a quick meditation, perfect to do on planes or on the bus or in a hotel room.I'm joined by Brooke McAlary from slowyourhome.comIf you're new to meditation or think you're bad at medita
Wild with Sarah Wilson, season 3 announcement
Wild is returning for season 3 February 2022, until then:Follow Wild with Sarah Wilson: https://podfollow.com/1548626341 Find out more about Sarah Wilson: www.sarahwilson.comGet your copy of Sarah Wilson's book This One Wild and Precious Life: A hopeful path forward in a fractured world here https://amzn.to/3vs3tf2 Connect on Instagram: www.instagram.com/_sarahwilson_Sign up to my Substack Newsletter for more thoughts and more on Wild: https://sarahwilson.substack.com/ See omnystudio.com/li
EMILY ATKIN: The best case ever for climate rage!
Emily Atkin is America's foremost climate journalist and founder of the Heated newsletter, awarded Best Environmental Journalism of 2020.. I remember first coming across Emily on Twitter when she posted about fossil fuel media campaigns. Her Tweet targeted Twitter. The then Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren subsequently retweeted Emily's tweet, tagging Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey …who then changed Twitter's policy around fossil fuel advertising. It was all just a bit meta. And supe
DAN BUETTNER: The Blue Zones guy shows us the trick to adding 10 years to our lives
Dan Buettner is a National Geographic Fellow and New York Times-bestselling author. He holds three Guinness records for various ludicrous long bike treks across the planet and he's also a bone fide explorer who has discovered things about ancient civilizations and, most notably, about cultures where people live the longest, called the Blue Zones.Dan and I met when I wrote a blog post about his Blue Zones back shortly after the last ice age (2009) and he chimed in on the comments. We became long-
ABBIE CHATFIELD: Millennial feminism, a mind blowing introduction.
Have you heard Abbie Chatfield let rip? You must. The 26-year-old is a reality TV star and vibrator saleswoman with an irreverent podcast (400,000 downloads a month) who will put her boobs, STI treatment plans and beliefs on the public line to make an often controversial and important point, invariably in support of female sexual rights and voice. Oh, and getting vaccinated.As a Gen X feminist, I find it a thing to behold. And I've been wonderfully challenged by the Peak 2021 Sensation that she
FEARNE COTTON: A chat with the British ‘It’ girl’ about the struggle for happiness
Today we travel to the UK to chat with one of my favourite representatives of humanity. Fearne Cotton is British radio and TV royalty. She began her career age 15 as host of The Disney Club after winning some local competition…and then spent the next 25 years broadcasting to the nation, everything from Top of the Pops, BBC radio1 and 2, the Golden Globes, BAFTAS and a bunch of Royal family things. She's published 10 chart-topping books, including kids mental health books, i
THE LADY IN RED: special episode
Ok this is a little bonus we've thrown into the series. Going forward I'll do some random episodes where I go hunt down someone I mention in my books or travels broadly, someone you've got super curious about, to see where things wound up for them. A Where Are They Now with my nomadic encounters as dictated by your intrigue! Many of you who have read This One Wild and Precious Life will recall The Lady in Red and some of you became pretty obsessed with her. ‘Tho, if you've not read my
DAVID WHYTE: The insta-calm of poetry and asking beautiful questions
David Whyte is the guy who got me into poetry; Steven Spielberg has said the same of the Irish poet and philosopher who leads hiking/poetry tours around the world and works with Sam Harris on his meditation app.David trained as a marine biologist and was a naturalist guide in the Galapagos, the Amazon and Himalayas, before becoming a professional poet because, as I heard him explain once, the language of science wasn't largest enough to convey existence.Not long after I first read David's writin
SAUL GRIFFITH: Biden’s renegade climate advisor from Wollongong drops the best ever climate bomb!
Saul Griffith is a mad inventor, an official “genius” (as per the prestigious Macarthur Fellowship, um, wait for it, for his prodigy of service in the world community) and he has a fix for the climate crisis! Electrify everything! US President Joe Biden vibed with it so much he made the Australian his climate advisor. I first came across Saul on one of my eternal searches for legit climate solutions that bring true excitement and hope to humans. For years I've wanted
OLIVER BURKEMAN: 4000 weeks…it’s all we got in this lifetime, folks!
British writer Oliver Burkeman has investigated pretty much every productivity hack, mindfulness trick, list-making system and happiness boost we've ever been fed. He concludes, almost none work. Ha!I followed Oliver's column in The Guardian, which he wrote from his home in Brooklyn, New York, for about 10 years and he is definitely my favourite anti-self-help self-help writer!It's been a few years since his last book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, and jus
Ask Me Anything...about climate change
Ahead of COP26, the most important climate conference of our times, I called out to listeners to ask me whatever is on their mind, or in the hearts, about the climate crisis we are living through.My new producer Cassie (lives in Melbourne, interests include rock trivia, the beach and tea) chose some of your questions and played them to me cold. Me (interests include climate trivia!), well, I did my best to answer them based on my slightly obsessed layperson's knowledge and opinions. What is COP?
CLARE DUBOIS: How victim consciousness is destroying the planet (fire up, people!)
Six months ago my friend linked me to an interview with British entrepreneur and troublemaking activist Clare Dubois because he reckoned “she talks your language, Sarah”. I was moved to my viscera from the moment she launched her gloriously, inspired riff.Clare talks a profoundly wild idea that resonates for me: We are about to send ourselves, as a species, extinct. No one is going to come and save us, but trees might just. Clare is a business coach and founder of the
TIMOTHY MORTON: My favourite hobby is making sure people don’t feel like dying
British philosopher and environmentalist Timothy Morton is regarded as the most powerful figure in the contemporary art world. Tim - who goes by the pronoun “they" - has worked with Bjork, Jeff Bridges, Pharrell Williams, NASA and on Steve Coogan's series The Trip. They've also written more than 250 essays on ecology, Mary Shelley, gastronomy, Talking Heads, Heidegger and… concrete. They've also published 17 books; the latest is Hyposubjects: on becoming human. Me, I read
TARA JUNE WINCH: Being Aussie is a mental health crisis
Tara June Winch is the Miles Franklin winning author of The Yield and a proud Wiradjuri woman.I reached out to her after seeing her speak on an emotional, all-female panel at the Sydney Writer's Festival earlier this year where she brought the room to tears with her confronting and - to my mind - true comments about Australian identity; "being Aussie is a mental health crisis”.In this conversation we explore accessing mania as part of the creative process, not having to be broken to
DR JUD BREWER: On curiosity as the fix for anxiety
Dr Jud Brewer is a New York-based surfer (yep!) and psychiatrist and neuroscientist specialising in habit change and he's helped thousands of people quit smoking and overcome binge eating. But his latest research treats anxiety like it's any other habit.I reached out to him because I'd tried out his technique and it worked…substituting fretting for curiosity as a meta approach to life!In this chat we unpack one of my own gnarly, ugly anxious thoughts (bit exposing!) using Jud's three-step
DR JILL BOLTE TAYLOR: The neuroscientist shows Sarah how to live blissfully in the right brain
I discovered Jill's story in her viral TED Talk from 2008 (it became the most watched TED talk ever!) in which the brain scientist describes watching the left side of her brain deteriorate over the course of four hours on the morning of her stroke and how she used her right brain to stay present and get help.I was transfixed. Ever since I've wondered, what ever happened to Jill Bolte Taylor? Did she go back to normal? Is she still living in her right brain and able to experience the “onene
Ask Me Anything - Part 2
Producer Lindsey volleys me with VMs from listeners. I answer off the cuff.What's good about having anxiety? Who do I vote for the climate in elections? How do you live with bipolar?For part two of this special Ask Me Anything episode Sarah answers your questions about her own wild ways of living. In this episode Sarah shares her experience living with anxiety and bipolar disorder, voting for the climate and being excited about the future in spite of uncertainty and fear.To hear more questions a
Ask Me Anything - Part 1
Producer Lindsey volleys me with VMs from listeners. I answer off the cuff.How do I raise my kids as conscious consumers? What do you think happens when we die?For this special Ask Me Anything episode Sarah turned the tables on herself and asked for your questions about her own wild ideas and ways of living differently. In this episode Sarah opens up about her meditation practice, solo hiking and remaining confident in herself and her beliefs.To hear more of Sarah's wild ideas, you can join her
TIM BROWN: Sarah’s meditation teacher joins the show
Tim trained with the Vedic tradition and has taught meditation to elite athletes, jail inmates, billionaires and kids for more than 20 years. And me.Tim has been part of my spiritual journey for 12 years and has guided me on my career, love life and various calamities. We meet for coffee and peanut butter toast most weeks…this episode we bring a recorder and discuss: trusting in the logic of the universe (the wild idea for the week) and how (and why) we should render ourselves choic
JAMES HOLLIS: The Jungian take on 2021
James Hollis is one of the most respected Jungian psychoanalysts and teachers in the world and the author of 16 books about what matters most in life. He famously writes – and this is the wildly a-ha-ish idea this episode - that our souls are calling us to an appointment with life. Together we break down how this can be applied to our lives right now. TBH, it's the mantra that has guided my the most the past two years.I catch up with James for the first time since we spoke for&nb
RUTGER BREGMAN: Author of Humankind on how to trust each other
Rutger Bregman reckons we're kinder than we think we are. He's a Dutch journalist and international best-selling author of Humankind: A Hopeful History, a book that lights a fire under the idea that humans are inherently selfish and doomed to self-destruct. Rutger and I chat about hope, calling out billionaires for not paying enough tax and what our society could look like if we simply - and wildly - chose to trust each other more.Listen to Wild with Sarah Wilson on the LiSTNR app
MARGARET KLEIN SALAMON: I know I’ll die from climate change
Margaret Klein Salamon is a climate psychologist and Founder & Board President of The Climate Mobilization, a US organisation that has seen almost 2,000 governments worldwide declare a climate emergency.Margaret and I spoke a few times when I was researching my book This One Wild and Precious Life. I followed her up for this episode to get her brutal-and-yet-hopeful take on the wild-but-true reality – we are the Sixth Extinction and kids born today, by some estimations, may not live a
Introducing A Life Of Greatness with Sarah Grynberg
We all yearn to live a great life, but what does that actually look like and how can we all lead one? In A Life Of Greatness, host Sarah Grynberg speaks with thought-leaders, sports legends, entertainers, best selling authors and inspiring spiritual minds as they explain how they have overcome challenges, conquered self limiting beliefs and connected with a deeper sense of self to achieve greatness in their lives, and provide practical tips and advice for how you can too.
See omnystudio.com/l
SETH GODIN: “Climate activists, you need to do this!”
Seth Godin is a one of the world's most famous marketing gurus, a serial entrepreneur, the author of 19 bestselling books and believes in the ‘magical responsibility' – as he tells me - of being a creative who gives.Seth and I chatted the first time 12 years ago and the advice he gave me shaped how I grew my business I Quit Sugar…and then sold it (and gave everything to charity). When I'm asked, “Of the hundreds of leaders and experts you've interviewed, who's the m
DAVID POCOCK: World rugby legend quits; becomes climate activist. True story.
He was the captain of the Wallabies, the only Australian player to be included in World Rugby's team of the decade, but - wildly – retired at the height of his career to devoted his life to climate activist projects here in Australia and in Africa.Dave and I became friends talking activism, Jungian psychology and the meaning of life over Instagram some time back. In this chat, he talks with me about grief, why Australian men aren't waking up, the sadness of facing the climate reality, and
SIA: In which Sarah makes the artist cry
Sia is one of the most gifted and wild creatives on the planet, best known for the hundreds of hit pop songs she's written for herself, Beyonce, Rihanna and Kanye West, and for being notoriously private, rarely doing interviews. But in this chat, Sia gets intimate with me around fostering, why she uses medication to support her art (and keep her alive), and her wild idea - how she, as an artist, “runs with an idea” without apology. Oh, and I make her cry.You can find the details
Wild with Sarah Wilson Trailer
Sarah Wilson speaks with the world's Big Minds about living a more beautiful and fired-up life. Through deep conversations with philosophers, celebrities who live at the edge and leading gurus she's met on her 10-year nomadic journey, Sarah will explore the issues keeping us all awake at night, including climate change, loneliness, disconnection and capitalism. She and her guest will uncover new ways to radically love and save our “one wild and precious life” on this planet