Show Notes
Mikaela Loach remembers the moment her grandmother told her that their local beach had disappeared. Years later, she would place that emotional conversation in the context of the wider problem - rising seas caused by climate change, in turn caused by global capitalism - and decide to dedicate herself to the fight for climate justice. We join her in Stanmer Park, the site of a protest against the mining company Glencore, as well as an inspiring community project.
Follow Mikaela on Instagram or buy her book, It’s not that Radical to hear more about her life and work, or find behind-the-scenes footage and great places to stay on our own feed.
A Life More Wild is an 18Sixty production, brought to you by Canopy & Stars. Production by Clarissa Maycock. Our theme music is by Billie Marten.
More from A Life More Wild
Lucy Campbell has eight national surfing titles to her name and years of competing on the international circuit. Not bad for someone who once thought running might be her future.
Charlie Cooper shot to fame when he and his sister Daisy wrote and starred in the hit TV series This Country. While some might see the show as poking fun at rural life in the south west, Charlie’s affection for the countryside in which he grew up, and still lives, is clear. Now an obsessive metal detectorist, having taken up the hobby a few years ago, he loves nothing more than walking the fields and unearthing the history beneath his feet. On a day of mixed weather, we went detecting with him in Gloucestershire, as he talked about collecting junk, discovering treasure and how the character Big Mandy nearly got him in serious trouble. He also turned up something pretty special!
This year, as well as walks with interesting guests, we’re doing something a little different on A Life More Wild. Working with our charity partner Campaign for National Parks, we’re creating bonus episodes with seasonal soundscapes from some of the UK’s most precious green spaces.
We walk among the headstones of a cemetery with journalist and author of Matrescence, Lucy Jones, as she talks about the struggle to reconcile the societal ideal of a mother with her own experience, how her search for insight led to her book Matrescence and what she learnt by observing slime moulds and lichen.
Emily Chappell went from being a bike messenger in London to winning the Transcontinental, a 4000km race across Europe, in 2016. But cycling is far more than a physical test for her. Her relationship with the sport has changed many times over the years and it has become a community, a way to travel, a way to live and a cause to further. On a ride from her home in Kendall, to which she’s recently moved, she talks about relearning her love of riding for its own sake, and how an early love of the Tour de France came full circle in a wonderful moment on the streets of Paris.