Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Here are this week's ten things I thought were worth sharing.
1. The latest episode of Type 2, the podcast I make with my friends at Patagonia, and through I explore the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.
This week's guest is Soraya Abdel-Hadi, founder of All The Elements, "a community working to increase diversity in the outdoors", as Soraya describes it. Soraya is also part of the first intake of the Opening Up The Outdoors incubator programme I've had a small part in bringing to life.
We talked about the importance of sharing ideas to benefit the community as a whole, why forward-movement as a means of navigating life is so important, and why paying people fairly and equitably for their time and expertise needs to be a cornerstone of any honest attempt to increase diversity.
I'm a big fan of Soraya's important work, and I very much enjoyed our conversation. Listen below:
2. This newsletter usually goes out on a Sunday but I’m sneaking it out on a Friday to big up tomorrow’s Nelson’s Tour de Test Valley in honour of our much missed friend Nelson Pratt, who took his own life ten years ago, and to raise funds for CALM.
I’m also hosting a live panel with my pals Billy Morgan, Juliet Elliot and more after the main event on the Saturday. If you’re around come say hello!
Ride on Nelly. We miss you brother X
3. I just sat in on Patagonia’s Global Town Hall, where Yvon Chouniard made the announcement that he has given up his shares and made the company a charitable trust. What does this mean? That Patagonia is now Patagonia Purpose Trust and Holdfast Collective, that all profits and dividends will now be used to fund projects through the Patagonia Foundation, and that ‘the earth is our main shareholder’. A pretty massive moment - click this link to find out more.
4. My pal and colleague Duncan Yeldham has been working on a documentary called The Sky is Blue and the Fields are Yellow since war broke out in Ukraine. It’s ‘an on the ground perspective from those who are living through it’, and you can support the project by signing up for the GoFundMe here.
5. I’m privileged to have been invited back onto the jury for the London Surf Film Festival once again this year, and the entries to the LS/FF Shorties 2022 presented by Surfdome are now open!
As festival organiser Demi says, ‘homegrown filmmakers have until 10th October to enter their 5 minute masterpiece exploring any aspect or angle of surfing and surf culture, through any filmmaking genre. The best will be screened as part of this year’s London Surf / Film Festival. As part of our ongoing support for UK & Irish filmmaking talent, there will again be a £1000 cash prize for The Shorties x Surfdome winning film, plus a £500 prize to accompany the Emerging Talent Award.
It’s not about all about big cameras or big waves, it’s about big ideas. There’s more than one way to tell a surf story!’
6. Speaking of the London Surf Film Festival, I hear my pal Lauren Hill will be showing her new film The Physics of Noseriding at the event. Watch the trailer above.
7. If you want to listen to some actual informed adults discussing the Queen’s death, her relationship to the Empire, why the reaction to her death has been different all over the world, and why it’s important to consider Empire when discussing her legacy, I highly recommend the above episode of the excellent Empire podcast.
8. Find the concept of the metaverse confusing and confronting? Wait until you read about the ‘nature verse’ in this Planet Tracker article. Click here to read it.
9. My pal John Rodosky is one of the creative forces behind the scenes who makes Natural Selection what it is. He’s just released a really interesting new project in collaboration with Mountain Hardware, about photographer and alpinist Ted Hesser and his struggles with mental health. Watch it above.
10. I think photographer and film-maker James Bowdown is a true original, and I really liked Soil and Sand, his new book and film collab with Yallah Coffee and Foam Bundoran. Watch the edit above.
Enjoyed this newsletter? Got anything to say about any of the points raised?