Lost In A Maze - Is Corporate Sustainability Just Pretending To Try, with Cameron Tonkinwise

Hello out there and welcome to or welcome back to the finding nature podcast. My name is Nathan Robertson-Ball and today’s episode is a slightly different format to what is usual here. Today I’m chatting with the show’s most popular guest, and someone I consider a teacher, friend and colleague Cameron Tonkinwise about the eight years I spent in the organisation that will not be named. Sounds a bit like Voldemort from Harry Potter, and perhaps even mentioning their name also risks summoning their followers or drawing dark magic.

This show has been in the works for a little while after Cameron and I chatted about ways to capture and share the misadventures of attempting to do corporate sustainability in one of Australia’s largest organisations for the best part of the last decade. Ever the teacher, Cameron was keen to remind me that the roles I had and unusual spaces I was privileged to exist in is likely valuable for others to appreciate as part of our shared ambition to shift institutional structures and barriers. So this episode is somewhere between Cameron interviewing me, me interviewing him and also two people that spoke on a near daily basis for those eight years surfacing memories and insights and questions for all of us to consider, and hopefully learn from.

To be clear, the eight years of doing social innovation, home electrification and climate risk management were full of valuable insights, progressed me as a professional and allowed me to meet and work with hundreds of terrific and intelligent people. This isn’t my version of a takedown, but a legitimate effort to reflect on my experience, look into a mirror to conduct honest self appraisal and openly question what needs to be different and what I can do differently over the next phase of my career and life. I’m hoping there are stories that resonate and insights that inspire for each of you out there listening. I’m always keen to get feedback and the thoughts of everyone else, so please get in contact through the website or send me something via email (info@findingnature.com.au).

So the question I haven’t been able to stop asking myself the last few months is whether organisations by and large are just pretending to try with their sustainability ambitions. Cameron helped me explore this further. 

Some extra reading relevant to this episode from our friends at Altiorem. 

Can you be the change you’d like to see? Three US philosophers aim to offer hope

We need to talk about net zero bullsh*t.

The business case for “speaking up”: How internal reporting mechanisms strengthen private-sector organisations

Check out Planet Protein and get 10% off when you sign up.

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