Nature Works

In this episode, Kate Larsen schools Mike on ethical business, supply chains, workers rights, the environmental impact of buying new clothes too often, and she takes us on a comprehensive deep dive into how and where our everyday clothing items come from and at what cost.

Oliver became a full-time professional photographer in February 2014. Since then his work has taken him around the world (Northern Sweden, Switzerland, Ecuador, etc) and included many exciting jobs from photographing the king of Sweden in the wilderness of Abisko to talking for Canon at ‘The Photography Show’ on Canon’s main stage in 2019.

He has developed his own style of photography by using focus stacking in many genres and specialises in handheld stacking creating a unique style and set of images.

Oliver’s time is currently spent between Yorkshire and Northern Sweden where he’s a senior guide for Lights Over Lapland, giving him access to Europe’s last great wilderness for part of the year. Many of the images, videos, and blogs from this region are included on the website.

Malaika Vaz is a wildlife filmmaker, television presenter and National Geographic Explorer. An adventurer at heart, she has travelled across some of the most hostile terrain on all seven continents, including hiking in the Antarctic, riding across the Mongolian steppe into Russia, or even diving with tiger sharks in remote areas of the ocean. As part of her work, she collaborates with organisations like WildAid and the Wildlife Trust of India on wildlife trafficking investigations and conservation initiatives. She talks to us about her recent work investigating the impact of extractive business on communities and wild ecosystems.

Malaika is the Founder and Creative Director of Untamed Planet – an award-winning production company focused on producing natural history, conservation and investigative TV series and feature documentaries for global broadcast. Malaika directs, produces and hosts films on subjects like wildlife trafficking, endangered species conservation and environmental equity for major networks including National Geographic, the BBC, Discovery Channel and Al Jazeera. She has served on the Expert Advisory Council for the Royal Foundation’s Earthshot Prize, is Brand Ambassador for the Global Peace Dividend Initiative, consultant on the Wildlife Trust of India's Manta conservation initiative and frequently works on conservation and anti-trafficking initiatives with international and national conservation organisations.

Malaika is passionate about lesser-known endangered species. In 2018, she worked on a TV series called “On the Brink” where she travelled across India exploring endangered animals, together with researchers and explorers trying to find ways of protecting them. Also, as a National Geographic Explorer Malaika produced and presented a 3-part series on human-wildlife coexistence titled “Living With Predators” that focuses on how local communities live alongside India's big cats. Other documentaries include a film on elephant trafficking for young audiences with the BBC NHU’s series ‘Planet Defenders’ and a report on how habitat protection can reduce zoonotic disease spread for Al Jazeera’s global networks. Her documentary on the illegal trafficking of manta rays across SE Asia was nominated for the Green Oscars and won an award at the prestigious Jackson Wild Media awards. She is currently working producing a film series that explores the relationship between environmental pollution and equity in Mongolia, Bangladesh, and China.

Hosted by Blue Earth Summit Podcast, Mike discusses the principle of Environmental Social Governance, including how he believes it’s been hijacked by big companies to make themselves look good - and explains what consumers can do to cut through the potential fake use of the need for ESG activities and governance. He also tells host Laura Nesbitt about some of the amazing projects he’s working on in Bali, including restoring polluted rice paddies, cleaning river systems and developing a centre of excellence for regenerative agriculture.

Mike Weeks is the lead for global business development at Laconic Infrastructure Partners, an American ESG company that is developing the world’s largest organic regenerative eco-culture projects alongside the company’s proprietary environmental sensing platform, SADAR.

Mike’s love of nature and wild places was developed over a decade of travelling the world as a professional rock climber, often climbing rope free before it became so popular and famously leading Jack Osbourne up El Capitan in Yosemite for the TV series, Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie.

For 15 years Mike has worked as a coach, trainer, and advisor, specialising in personal and organisational resilience to major corporations, governments, emergency and defence agencies and NGO’s.

He is the author of two books, Un-train Your Brain (Vermillion) and Resilience By Design (Wiley).

Mike lives in Bali, Indonesia, where he runs Laconic’s offices and local projects, restoring polluted rice paddies, cleaning river systems and developing a center of excellence for regenerative agriculture. When he’s not rescuing far too many stray dogs (five and counting) he surfs with his wife and two young sons.

Shrina Kurani lives at the nexus of climate, policy, and technology. With a background in engineering and entrepreneurship culminating in a financial platform that has now invested over $1B into technology, Shrina channeled innovation and a positive vision for a sustainable future into her campaign for United States Congress.

Having studied a masters in sustainability, Shrina is an engineer, entrepreneur, and fact-based problem solver. The daughter of Indian immigrants who sought the American Dream, she has focused her career on building businesses that reduce waste and create quality jobs. Shrina worked to start companies aimed at reducing waste and creating sustainable solutions for food and water, and she has worked as an advisor to startup businesses, both large and small, that are developing ways to make healthcare and education more affordable, accessible, equitable, and effective.

Most recently, Shrina has been building a company to increase opportunities by focusing on addressing disparities in the funding of startup businesses founded by women and people of color.
On top of her many hats, Shrina has also decided to contest against a Republican representative in his constituency in her attempt to become a member of the House of Representatives and work for the welfare of the masses. She will be fighting against incumbent Ken Calvert on a Democratic ticket in the mid-term elections to be held in November 2022.

Now, Shrina is helping candidates like her run for office and innovators get the support they need to build a more sustainable future.