TYPE 2: Episode 011 - Dan Crockett

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism. This week’s guest is Dan Crockett, a writer, journalist and activist from the UK who is currently Development Director of the Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to resorting the ocean to health. Blue Marine Foundation do so by supporting various different projects, among them the recent virtual Rewilding the Sea conference, which brought together different interested parties in an attempt to further the conversation around the topic of marine rewilding and restoration. Their work is a great way into the subject of rewilding, the concept of restoring large scale ecosystems and reintroducing natural processes and missing species to a landscape in an attempt to allow nature to take care of itself, something we discussed in detail during our conversation. Dan is also heavily involved in the drive to introduce marine national parks to the UK coastline; an attempt, as he explained, to reset our own relationship with the marine environment that is such an important part of our life. And, of course, as regular listeners of Type 2 will know, we also explored Dan’s own story, including how he ended up working on such innovative and passion-driven projects, as well as the thread that links his work - the intimacy of the human relationship with the sea, and our changing attitude to the marine environment. It’s a really lovely, reflective chat this, with a nuanced thinker and a generous conversationalist. I enjoyed it very much - thanks to Dan for sharing his insights with us. New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.