TYPE 2: Episode 004 - Jack Harries

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism. My guest for this episode of Type 2 is Jack Harries. Jack is a film-maker and environmental activist from London. He initially came to prominence thanks to his wildly popular YouTube channel Jack’s Gap, which he started with his brother Finn and which quickly amassed four million subscribers. Such an audience gave him quite a platform and, as you might imagine, quite a few opportunities - such as the chance to head to Greenland and take part in a documentary about glacial retreat. It would prove to be a life-changing moment for Jack, who decided from that point to dedicate his life to raising awareness on climate change and attendant issues such as forced migration. He’s done so by making documentaries in environmentally compromised places like Bhutan and Kiribati, through his work as an ambassador for organisations such as the WWF and, latterly, by his very visible involvement with the Extinction Rebellion group. If anybody fulfils the premise of using their platform to create change, it’s Jack, and having been one of his 1.5 millions Instagram followers for a while, I’ve long been intrigued by his story. So with a fortnight of London-based Extinction Rebellion action in full swing, I headed up to meet him at his place in West London and find out more. I found him to be charming, impassioned, articulate and persuasive. Here's how it went down. New episodes of Type 2 will be released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify, Podbean, OvercastFM or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.