Lauren L. Hill, world famous pro surfer, mom and eco-feminist, talks about how she fell in love with surfing while growing up in Florida and her fight for the environment

The first time Lauren L. Hill protested for an environmental cause, she was 17, and a woman spat at her. But instead of stopping her, it encouraged her to keep speaking out for the natural world. Today's she uses her platform as a famous surfer to bring attention to environmental issues.

Here's an excerpt from Lauren Hill's website:
"Lauren L. Hill is a professional surfer, writer and director who has spent the past decade exploring new waves and documenting surf cultures around the world through an eco-feminist lens. She develops projects that revolve around the power of storytelling to build community and inspire action to protect our planet.

Raised on the small barrier island of Anastasia, Lauren grew up in the Atlantic, freshwater springs and brackish waterways of Florida’s East Coast. She was a U.S. Women’s Longboard Champion (under 18) and has degrees in Environmental and Social Science from Stetson University.

Lauren writes for a variety of publications, ranging from academic to mainstream media in the US, Europe and Australia. She was a senior writer for Surfing World Magazine and has appeared in award-winning documentary films including The Church of the Open Sky, Bella Vita, Beyond the Surface, The Heart & The Sea, and Transparentsea Voyage.

Now based near Byron Bay, Australia, amongst the saltwater country of the Bundjalung nation, Lauren hosts The Waterpeople Podcast and recently authored She Surf: The Rise of Female Surfing, a celebration of the women stretching the boundaries of the sport and art of wave riding. Lauren is currently writing about food systems and permaculture design, directing a film about the physics of surfing and spending ample time in the ocean with her family."

Transcript

00;00;02;10 - 00;00;16;24
Unknown
Welcome to the nature of Florida, the Sunshine State's only podcast dedicated to its wild and natural places and the fight to preserve them. I'm your host, Oscar Corral, a two time Emmy Award winning filmmaker and journalist. I've dedicated much of my career to making films about environmental issues.

00;00;16;25 - 00;00;31;23
Unknown
Tune in each week to hear from a broad range of voices from scientists to surfers, activists to mermaids who are working on the front lines to save what's left of Florida's natural beauty and its wildlife. Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Nature of Florida Podcast.

00;00;32;11 - 00;00;48;26
Unknown
My guest today is Lauren L Hill, a professional surfer, writer, director and eco feminist who was born and raised in Florida and today lives in Australia. Lauren has spent the last decade exploring new waves and documenting surf cultures around the world, focusing on women surfers and environmentalism.

00;00;49;01 - 00;01;07;12
Unknown
She develops stories that revolve around the power of storytelling to build community and inspire action to protect our planet all through surfing. Lauren grew up on the tiny barrier island of Anastasia near St Augustine, Florida, always near the Atlantic Ocean, freshwater springs and brackish waterways of Florida's east coast.

00;01;08;04 - 00;01;26;28
Unknown
She was a U.S. women's longboard champion in the under 18 category and has degrees in environmental and social science from Stetson University in the land. She has written for all kinds of publications, including a stint as a senior writer for Surfing World Magazine and has appeared in award winning documentary films such as The Church of the Open

00;01;26;28 - 00;01;39;20
Unknown
Sky. Bella Vida Beyond the Surface, The Heart and the Sea and my personal favorite pear shaped surf short, which is a hilarious take on body image and female surf culture. I'm so glad to have her with us here today.

00;01;39;21 - 00;01;56;15
Unknown
Welcome, Lauren. Thank you so much for having me, Oscar. So, Lauren, you're in Byron Bay, Australia right now, which is about 500 miles north of Sydney. And it's summer over there. Right. How's the surf? His summer. We are having some beautiful summer storms.

00;01;56;15 - 00;02;12;12
Unknown
We actually just had a spell of incredibly hot days. It reminded me, actually, of being in Florida. This area that I'm in just outside of Byron Bay is usually quite temperate compared to the humidity of northern Florida that I grew up with.

00;02;12;18 - 00;02;28;09
Unknown
But these last few days have really been kind of reminiscent of that intense, stifling heat that we get in the middle of summer, and it's just broken. And we have some beautiful summer storms and and a beautiful surf with my family down at the beach this morning.

00;02;28;09 - 00;02;41;08
Unknown
We've had an incredibly consistent season, summer season as well, which is relatively rare. So now we're all happy in our household. Tell me about your family. Lauren, I read that you have a child. I do have a four year old.

00;02;41;08 - 00;02;58;21
Unknown
Or maybe I should say that he has me. If you have a four year old, you know that they are just the most wonderful and and just all encompassing little beings. And that's true of my son, Manoah. He is a little surfer like we are.

00;02;58;21 - 00;03;16;02
Unknown
And my partner and I, Dave, are just smitten with him as you are when you're a parent. And we just feel so incredibly fortunate to get to have this experience of having a family. So manolas for has he been out in the water now for, for a long time?

00;03;17;01 - 00;03;36;26
Unknown
Oh, yeah. For quite a few years now. I think we first took him. I mean, he was in the water from. Well, actually. So I had a really tumultuous pregnancy that ended in an emergency C-section. And then we were in the hospital for several weeks while he grew because he came quite early, he was premature.

00;03;37;05 - 00;03;59;22
Unknown
And then I remember on his due date, we were home and we walked him down to the beach and he was just a tiny little preemie guy. And we just sort of gave him a bit of a bath and water and yeah, that was that was the day he was supposed to be born, but he had been

00;03;59;22 - 00;04;14;18
Unknown
with us for quite a few weeks at that point. And water has been a central family experience since that day. Sounds like a kind of a personal baptism that you gave him that day. Yeah. Yeah, it felt like that.

00;04;16;01 - 00;04;33;17
Unknown
So let's go back a little bit in time. Where are you from originally? In Florida. Can you describe it? I can. Oh, gosh, I haven't been home in quite a few years now because of the pandemic. And so I'm I'm quite longing for home.

00;04;33;17 - 00;04;51;03
Unknown
So it's sweet to get to chat with you and gosh, a little bit about my home island of Anastasia. I grew up on the south end of Anastasia Island and it was just such a dreamy and quiet place to grow up.

00;04;51;03 - 00;05;04;22
Unknown
I mean, compared to now, we had the Intercoastal Waterway on one side of us and then the Atlantic Ocean on the other, and we could walk to to both body on top of their separate bodies of water, but we could walk to both really, really easily.

00;05;04;22 - 00;05;30;07
Unknown
And not because my parents were wealthy in any way back then. You know, you could still afford to get a house relatively close to the ocean and and, you know, not be super wealthy. So I just feel so grateful that I got to grow up with water as such a powerful guiding force in my life.

00;05;30;07 - 00;05;53;23
Unknown
From my early years, I, I didn't start surfing until I was 14, but before that, I mean, weekends were about splashing in tide pools and, and trips to the freshwater springs and, and yeah, just really being in and around the water all the time because as you know, Florida summers are so long and so hot and the

00;05;53;23 - 00;06;06;17
Unknown
only place to be is at the beach and in the water. And that was definitely true for our family. Definitely. Do you remember which springs you went to when you were in Florida, when you lived here? Was it Fallujah blue or or any of those springs?

00;06;08;02 - 00;06;28;27
Unknown
Yeah. As I was growing up, Silver Springs was a really popular one. I remember going there as a family and and floating down the crystalline water and then just seeing all the beautiful, overhanging cypress trees. And I remember just being blown away by the clarity of the water and.

00;06;28;29 - 00;06;50;02
Unknown
And that's true today. I guess we can talk about that later on. But yeah, then when I was at university in land, Blue Spring is really close to to Stetson. And so we spent a lot of our free time going there and swimming and just washing off the intensity of those university days.

00;06;50;02 - 00;07;06;13
Unknown
In the fresh water. We feature Volusia Blue Spring in our documentary because it's a huge harbor for manatees in the winter, and people flocked there from everywhere to see the manatees in the winter, and they closed down the spring in the winter so that people can swim in there and disturb the manatees.

00;07;06;26 - 00;07;23;00
Unknown
But Beluga Blue is in pretty serious trouble. It's been turning green because of over pollution from the groundwater problems, mostly from septic tanks in that particular spring. There's a lot of talk about trying to improve the water quality there, as in many other springs that one has been suffering.

00;07;23;00 - 00;07;37;01
Unknown
But the Florida summers are definitely something that would drive you to the water. Tell me about that first experience when you took up surfing. How did that happen? I grew up in and actually my parents split up when I was young when I was one.

00;07;37;01 - 00;07;52;17
Unknown
So I had my mom's house, my dad's house, and my mom was a single mom. She was working so much. She did such an incredible job, pretty much raising me single handedly. And then I would go to my dad's on the weekend and he was a surfer growing up.

00;07;52;17 - 00;08;11;15
Unknown
He sort of let surfing go as he got older. But I grew up with boards in the house and a poster of the endless summer on the wall and sort of this lore of his days of surfing in Saint Augustine as a as a teenager, and then later in Hawaii on the North Shore, when he was a

00;08;11;15 - 00;08;31;16
Unknown
bit older than that. And so there was always this curiosity around why riding waves. And one night I think I was 14, I had this incredibly vivid dream about riding waves. I just remember I just remember how alive I felt.

00;08;31;16 - 00;08;42;16
Unknown
It was just yeah, it was just so tangible. So I woke up in the morning and I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to get someone to teach me how to surf or to push me and or at least to let me borrow a board.

00;08;42;16 - 00;08;58;14
Unknown
And so I did that. And I walked across the street to Mary Street, which is a place that I pretty much surfed most days from that point on. And a friend pushed me into a few waves on his longboard.

00;08;58;25 - 00;09;15;08
Unknown
And I really had a clear sense of knowing that that was what I needed to be doing. Tell me about that epiphany when you first got up on a surfboard and and rode on the water. Yeah. It's this incredible wait list.

00;09;15;12 - 00;09;45;11
Unknown
Flying sensation of incredible sensitivity. Really? Right. You have warm sun on your skin and a bit of breeze blowing through your hair. And it's like this timeless time out of mind experience that just felt so right. And, you know, I grew up in suburban Florida, where most of us are in human structures all day.

00;09;45;11 - 00;10;05;27
Unknown
We're in, you know, in human spaces where and very sanitized worlds, really. And so the beach was this connection with the living world, with wildness, with spontaneity. And and it's continued surfing has continued to be that for me throughout my adult life as well.

00;10;06;25 - 00;10;27;08
Unknown
Well, it sounds like you were a natural at it. You won a Longboard U.S. Women's Longboard Championship before you were 18. Tell me about that incredible rise in in your surfing style and abilities. I just loved it so much that there wasn't a lot of thought about trying to be good.

00;10;27;08 - 00;10;43;28
Unknown
It was just really putting in the time. And I had been a competitive gymnast up to that point, and so I had a pretty good sense of using my body through space and I had a good sense of balance, and I had a lot of upper body strength from doing bars and tumbling.

00;10;43;28 - 00;10;58;12
Unknown
So I think that translated really well to surfing and gave me a real advantage. But from there, you know, it didn't feel like a lot of effort. It just felt like I had a clear sense of knowing what I needed to be doing with all my spare time.

00;10;58;12 - 00;11;15;09
Unknown
And so I did it. And I feel so grateful that I had that kind of clarity about something and something that I loved so much from a young age that really was healthy and I think kept me out of a lot of trouble and, you know, in a way that small towns can be quite troublesome for young

00;11;15;09 - 00;11;32;13
Unknown
people. And so, yeah, that that experience of getting to compete in surf contests really came from my mom being so supportive and driving me up and down the East Coast and flying us over to California to compete in the US championships.

00;11;33;07 - 00;11;49;20
Unknown
She really was just my, my biggest supporter and, and never questioned this sort of silly, superfluous riding waves thing. She just believed in me and supported me and that I bet she just loved watching you surf as well.

00;11;49;20 - 00;12;07;16
Unknown
It's such a beautiful sport when you sit there and watch people. It's always been one of my favorite sports to watch because there's really no other there's no other way to describe it other than otherworldly. I mean, there's people on top of waves and and they're kind of like walking on water, it seems.

00;12;08;02 - 00;12;32;08
Unknown
And it's just you have the combination of that water and the sun and the sky. And then there's this incredibly physically demanding but graceful movement on the water. It's the combination is incredible. It really is. It's just it's I guess one of the most wonderful things about surfing is just what a dynamic experience it is.

00;12;32;08 - 00;12;54;05
Unknown
It can be physical exercise, you know, or it can be totally spiritually revelatory. It can be about socializing or it can be about solitude. And some days it's just mindless habit, but other days it completely cracks open a totally mundane day and makes it absolutely magical.

00;12;56;08 - 00;13;14;25
Unknown
How was it like growing up as a female surfer in Florida? Did you encounter any sort of adversity or sexism because you were a woman surfing? Um, I would say yes, but I, I, I don't think I was so aware of it at the time.

00;13;15;17 - 00;13;30;03
Unknown
There weren't a lot of women and girls searching at that point. In fact, there was really only one other young woman. And strangely, she now lives in the same in my same hometown here in Australia. And we grew up surfing together in St Augustine.

00;13;30;21 - 00;13;56;26
Unknown
And, and I really looked up to and admired her, but. The years when I was coming of age as a surfer through the early two, thousands was this incredible period in surf culture where surf brands, which had been completely dominated by a particular approach, which was like a white, masculine, aggressive, sort of heteronormative approach to riding waves

00;13;56;26 - 00;14;17;10
Unknown
to the culture. It was, you know, surf culture has this incredibly sexist lens or has in the past. And that was very much true as I was coming of age. But at that point through the early 2000, there was this real discovery by the surf brands that women bought clothing and that they could make clothing for women

00;14;17;10 - 00;14;34;24
Unknown
. And women would basically support their bottom lines. And and in many ways, women buying surf clothing floated the men's clothing brands because, you know, most of us know that women tend to to buy more clothes. The men do.

00;14;35;15 - 00;14;58;26
Unknown
And so the surf industry discovered that. And and that did translate to more support in terms of sponsorship dollars for young female surfers, of which I was I definitely benefited. There were lots of local, all female surf contests which were so community driven and fostered a sense of camaraderie and sort of put a bit of a damper

00;14;58;26 - 00;15;16;05
Unknown
on the hyper competitive angle of surfing. And I felt like I just got to grow up and be nourished in this really beautiful, inclusive, communal sense of surfing that I probably wouldn't have gotten to grow up through had I started surfing even five years earlier.

00;15;17;12 - 00;15;29;16
Unknown
What would you say to two young women and girls in Florida who have never surfed but are curious about it? Is there some sort of surf culture in Florida now that they can take advantage of? What would your advice to them be?

00;15;31;03 - 00;15;47;26
Unknown
Oh my gosh. There are so many great organizations now. Actually, my very first contest was called The Sisters of the Sea, and they're an organization based in Jacksonville, Florida. And I think they donate most of their proceeds to local NGOs.

00;15;47;26 - 00;16;03;15
Unknown
I know in the past it was, I think, breast cancer research. And I think they've also done work with domestic with supporting survivors of domestic abuse. So they had this contest in the year 2000. It's been going for 20 something years now and they're still going.

00;16;03;15 - 00;16;26;00
Unknown
And so I highly encourage you, if you're a young girl who's curious about surfing, to first borrow a board, frolic in the water, take some time just sitting on the beach watching waves, because one of the most critical aspects to becoming a good surfer is learning how to read the language of the ocean and then connect with

00;16;26;00 - 00;16;48;06
Unknown
the community like Sisters of the Sea. There's another great organization actually also in Jacksonville called Surfer Nigro, who is trying to get more women and girls of color involved in surfing. So, yeah, there are all of these grassroots organizations popping up in Florida and all over the world to support women and girls to get in the water

00;16;48;06 - 00;17;09;15
Unknown
and feel really comfortable, even in lineups that tend to be mostly populated by boys and men. Hmm. How did how did surfing awaken an environmental consciousness in you here in Florida? Well, that's a really good question. Just being given the opportunity to connect with the living world.

00;17;09;16 - 00;17;28;28
Unknown
First and foremost, right. I mean, I grew up in a in a house that had a St Augustine Grass Lawn out front that was sprayed with pesticides and mown and which I think is a really sort of sad use of land.

00;17;28;28 - 00;17;49;19
Unknown
But you don't have to talk about that. I think even before my environmental interest, I was interested in political engagement. As a teenager, I got involved with an organization in Saint Augustine called People for Peace and Justice, where I think my friend and I were the youngest members by probably 30 or 40 years.

00;17;49;19 - 00;18;11;24
Unknown
And we were we were at a peaceful gathering, standing at the base of the bridge of Lions in Saint Augustine. And we were holding signs, just encouraging people to think about cultivating peacefulness. And this woman, this adult woman walked up to me and she spat at me and she told me I was a disgrace to my country

00;18;11;24 - 00;18;36;11
Unknown
and. That made me realize just instantaneously. I mean, first I was a little bit afraid of this woman, but also I was like, wow, how powerful to stand up for what you believe in and how even as a teenager, you could bring adults to behave like absolute toddlers by peacefully standing there and encouraging other ways of thinking

00;18;36;11 - 00;19;05;13
Unknown
about politics or the direction of our governmental agencies. And I, I just love that sense of questioning as a teenager. And I still love that through that time, surfing was cultivating this deep sense of connection to the rhythms of the living world and was creating this parallel reality to being in educational institutions under fluorescent lights all day

00;19;05;13 - 00;19;20;13
Unknown
, which I still find absolutely exhausting. And so, yeah, being in this, the sparkling softness of the Atlantic, which is just so warm, that's one of the things I really miss about home, is how warm that stretch of coast gets.

00;19;20;19 - 00;19;44;00
Unknown
The water just feels like a womb. It feels like the place that we crawled out of, you know, as the first multi celled beings. It just feels like a place of belonging that was formative. And then my environmental activism and sort of environmental consciousness really started to develop when I went to university and started studying environmental science

00;19;44;00 - 00;20;00;11
Unknown
and social science at the same time. And, and, you know, all of these questions and, and seeds were planted about, yeah, questioning dominant paradigms about how we have tended to engage with the living world and in our culture.

00;20;01;02 - 00;20;23;11
Unknown
How did you see Florida's environmental record when you were younger? Did you did you notice any sort of environmental justice or environmental issues here in your state, in your home state, that you that kind of awakened that interest in you when you're, you know, in your in your late teens and early twenties, it's a very self centric

00;20;23;11 - 00;20;42;28
Unknown
time, or it was for me anyway. So I was in my environmental science program. I was thinking about my personal decisions first and foremost. I was thinking about what am I eating? Where's my food coming from, what? What kind of surfboard works in my purchasing?

00;20;42;28 - 00;21;04;07
Unknown
How am I contributing to issues like climate change? Then we call that global warming. How am I contributing to these things and what kind of work can I do to lighten my own footprint? And then, you know, after university, I was asking those questions of like, how can I what kind of work can I do that can

00;21;04;09 - 00;21;21;27
Unknown
can help turn this ship around? And now when I think about Florida, I mean, I've spent the last many years traveling around the world, which is its its own sort of environmental disaster travel, international travel. Totally aware of that.

00;21;21;27 - 00;21;39;16
Unknown
I'm a complete hypocrite and I'm the first one to admit it. I have encountered so many people around the world who really, when they think of Florida, think of Disney, and they think of Miami, and they think about all of these artificial human centric spaces.

00;21;39;25 - 00;21;54;17
Unknown
So kind of taken it upon myself as I've traveled. And and now that's true as well, to just talk about the natural wonders of Florida with the people that I meet, because Florida really is such a special place.

00;21;54;17 - 00;22;13;09
Unknown
I think we have the highest concentration of freshwater springs in the world, and we have all this incredible wildlife that, you know, other states and other countries definitely don't have armadillos and black bears and the Florida Panthers and alligators and snakes.

00;22;13;09 - 00;22;31;11
Unknown
And I've served with manatees and Atlantic, right. Whales and dolphins and turtles. And so there's all of this aliveness that Florida I don't know, I just feel like it's kind of lost or we haven't spent enough time celebrating as Floridians.

00;22;31;11 - 00;22;51;20
Unknown
And so that was kind of at the forefront of my mind just to really appreciate all of the natural beauty and wonder of the place that I was lucky enough to grow up. I imagine that surfing with all those animals and encountering them as you're surfing manatees and and whales and and sharks and and turtles that you

00;22;51;23 - 00;23;08;18
Unknown
do have a it gives you an appreciation for the wild and how and how we're kind of we're all in this in this together. You know, us and the animals are in this sphere, floating in space together. And that kind of experience opens your eyes to how real it is.

00;23;08;18 - 00;23;29;23
Unknown
It's not a storybook. It's not a documentary. It's there with you. And and I think that has a powerful effect on people when they encounter. That's so true. Yeah. There's nothing like experiential knowledge, is there? Like you can go to university and and read about environmental issues, and then you can go to your home beach.

00;23;29;23 - 00;23;45;03
Unknown
And this happened to me. And there. There one day I came home from university, and there had been some sort of oil spill and there were tar balls all over the beach and they were stuck to our feet and they were rubbing all over our skin and the surf.

00;23;45;28 - 00;24;04;12
Unknown
And and that really brings it home quite quickly. What's at stake, what there is to lose, and how our treasured spaces can be absolutely decimated if we don't take active steps to protect them and to take responsibility for them.

00;24;04;14 - 00;24;32;04
Unknown
Yeah, as communities and personally as well. I first came to Australia in 2006 and I was doing a study abroad here as an exchange student and I absolutely fell in love with the surf of course, but also the culture around this particular community that I'm in, the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.

00;24;33;02 - 00;24;50;27
Unknown
It's it was sort of founded with not founded, but there's been a long standing culture of environmental and social awareness of people who really want to question the decisions we're making every day and people who want to protect the living world around us.

00;24;51;13 - 00;25;08;13
Unknown
And so I was attracted to this place in particular, because culturally it was quite different from where I grew up in St Augustine, where, you know, I didn't grow up in a family that thought much at all about environmental issues and and that's not their fault at all.

00;25;08;13 - 00;25;27;18
Unknown
But I think that that was just indicative of the general culture of our town and our community. And so I was interested in cultivating and being part of a community where it was just more normalized to ask the sort of questions about, you know, the House and the Watts of what we were doing in daily life.

00;25;28;13 - 00;25;52;09
Unknown
You've been all over the world surfing and writing about surfing and filming surfing. Do you have a favorite surf spot? You know, my favorite surf spot is probably wherever I am, where the people are stoked, the sun is shining and the water's relatively warm, but sometimes it's still the best spot, even if those aren't the case.

00;25;52;21 - 00;26;15;05
Unknown
But I have to say that there's nothing like getting great waves at home. There's a there's a little spot near where I grew up that sometimes when the sand is just right, peels in a way that's kind of reminiscent of the point breaks here in Australia, but it's warmer and less crowded and there's yeah, there's just nothing

00;26;15;05 - 00;26;32;25
Unknown
like that experience of being close to where you grew up and getting great waves. You still surf in Florida when you come back? Oh, yeah. Oh, that that's that's one of the one of the major decision or one of the major factors in our decision making about travel.

00;26;32;25 - 00;26;50;21
Unknown
We try to come back during hurricane season, so we get waves because my partner is also a professional surfer. And so if you know surfers, you know that we tend to get quite irritated and grumpy. If we haven't been able to get in the water in some time.

00;26;51;02 - 00;27;06;29
Unknown
We're kind of like addicts in a way, but, you know, I think of surfing as a very healthy addiction. So yeah, when we come, we try to come in prime surf season and and get waves. And do you have a surfboard in Florida that you like most?

00;27;07;03 - 00;27;20;24
Unknown
Is it is it near Saint Augustine or is it somewhere else? It is near Saint Augustine. There's another thing about surf culture that maybe you know, but maybe you don't. And that is we're pretty secretive about our surf spots.

00;27;20;24 - 00;27;42;15
Unknown
Or we should be. I've heard I've heard. I'm testing the boundaries with you. Think if you'll break, I will not crack under pressure since you're keeping your surf spot secret. Why don't you talk about in general places where people can get some good surf in Florida, if you're young, if you're a young teenager and you want to

00;27;43;04 - 00;27;59;05
Unknown
test out the waves, where can you go in Florida? I mean, Florida has hundreds of miles of coastline. I've searched in the south of Stockton, east, served in the wet on the west coast. I think the best place to surf is wherever you are.

00;27;59;14 - 00;28;11;03
Unknown
Find a little peek. I mean, one of my one of my absolute favorite things about getting to grow up in Florida is that I can walk across the street. It wasn't any sort of special surf spot. It was just the beach.

00;28;11;10 - 00;28;24;19
Unknown
And there were waves rolling toward the shore. And I could go out and not have lots of people around. Not I mean, and it's hard to appreciate if you haven't been to a crowded lineup like we have here in Australia.

00;28;24;20 - 00;28;44;18
Unknown
The point rates here in Australia are like freeways. It is it's almost more like slalom skiing. And then the experience of surfing in Florida where you have no human obstacles in your way. So, yeah, I just think if you're in Florida, just go to your local beach and give it a go.

00;28;44;25 - 00;29;02;26
Unknown
There are more specialized surf spots like Sebastian Inlet and like Ponce Inlet. And, you know, there are beautiful waves tucked around Anastasia Island. But if you're starting out, you don't need anything special. You just need a bit of space and a bit of bravery.

00;29;03;21 - 00;29;19;26
Unknown
What would you tell the people who are who are concerned or worried about sharks, for example, out in the water? And that's the the main barrier holding them back from surfing? Well, people always ask me about that here in Australia, being a guys are scared of Australian sharks and I say, no way, I'm from Florida.

00;29;19;26 - 00;29;33;28
Unknown
We have the highest rate of shark bites of anywhere in the world. But when you get bitten by the shark in Florida, it's usually just a little nibble, a little accidental exploratory nip on the toe. And it's usually not such a big deal.

00;29;34;03 - 00;29;48;09
Unknown
What I say to people who are thinking about sharks is, yeah, you have a higher chance of, you know, a much higher chance of something happening in the car on the way to the beach. Driving is by far the most dangerous thing we do.

00;29;48;15 - 00;30;00;26
Unknown
And most of us don't think twice about getting in the car and driving all over the place. So it's really quite an irrational fear to have. And so you mentioned that you'd like to come back to Florida every once in a while.

00;30;01;01 - 00;30;11;20
Unknown
You haven't been back because of COVID in a couple of years. Are you planning on returning to Florida anytime soon? Is that something in the cards for you? Oh yeah. We're, we're hoping to get back as soon as we can.

00;30;12;08 - 00;30;29;00
Unknown
Australia, we've had closed borders in Australia, which has been quite a blessing in some ways because it's meant that COVID hasn't really taken on in the community until the last couple of months. So we're looking at traveling later this year and we're so looking forward to seeing family again.

00;30;29;00 - 00;30;42;24
Unknown
My mum's not been very well over the last few years, so we're just excited to get to see her and have some sweet family time and eat lots of delicious food and have all kinds of hot sauce. That's something I really miss about.

00;30;42;24 - 00;30;58;18
Unknown
Being home is good hot sauce because Australians do not do hot sauce well. Oh really? So tell me tell me more about what? You in Florida food or any any other particulars. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Fried pickles, sweet tea.

00;30;58;27 - 00;31;17;05
Unknown
Yeah. Krystal, hot sauce, good burritos. I grew up going to a little cafe on a street in Saint Augustine called Stir It Up. They do great, sort of crunchy burritos with this particular tahini green goddess sauce that just tastes like my childhood.

00;31;17;05 - 00;31;32;21
Unknown
So I love going there when I go home. Heather So many great restaurants in Saint Augustine, Gypsy Cab, the Floridians. Fantastic. Yeah. Besides, family food is definitely the other motivator to get home. What would you tell other young people?

00;31;32;22 - 00;31;44;22
Unknown
I know you mentioned that, you know, surfing is a just surf in your backyard. You know, just kind of find a place near you and give it a shot. I would ask you the same question about environmental awareness and activism.

00;31;45;19 - 00;32;00;08
Unknown
Anything any thoughts on how people, regular, everyday people can get involved in environmental issues and environmental causes here in Florida? And what should they look out for? Yeah, in terms of, you know, an entry point are getting involved.

00;32;00;09 - 00;32;15;04
Unknown
The place I always encourage people to start is ask where your food comes from. More than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by food production, and that means the way we produce process and packaged food.

00;32;15;05 - 00;32;31;20
Unknown
So thinking about the what, the where, the why and the how of our food is probably the easiest entry point to engaging with global issues on really the most personal scale. And we have multiple opportunities every day to really make a difference.

00;32;31;29 - 00;32;50;10
Unknown
And I think the really encouraging things, looking at our food choices is that the choices that tend to be the healthiest for us, for our own bodies, also tend to be the best choices for the planet. So if you want, you know, nutrient dense, healthy food that feels good and makes us feel good, then locally and ideally

00;32;50;10 - 00;33;08;14
Unknown
regenerative grown produce that isn't wrapped or packaged in plastic that ideally you get from someone you can make eye contact and build a relationship with food that hasn't been trucked across the country or even the world. I think that's a really great place to start.

00;33;08;21 - 00;33;24;25
Unknown
And then and then also, I think a really important part of jumping into environmentalism is to have these conversations in the context of a community, because that's what will create accountability, but also motivation and solidarity and asking new questions.

00;33;26;00 - 00;33;44;26
Unknown
In other words, you mean keep it local or focus on local things happening in your backyard? Is that that's that's what I've sort of come to, as, you know, where I focus most of my energy. I used to work with a bunch of environmental sort of surf centric environmental organizations like Surfers for Cetaceans and Women for Whales

00;33;44;26 - 00;34;05;09
Unknown
, and now the Surfrider Foundation. But what ends up feeling most meaningful to me is really thinking about how environmentalism can be pleasurable and enjoyable and personally sustainable in the context of a community. And for me, everyday that comes back to food.

00;34;05;13 - 00;34;23;07
Unknown
So my partner and I have recently taken about a quarter of an acre of our place and turned it into a no dig permaculture style garden. And our goal was to eventually feed about eight families in our local neighborhood.

00;34;23;07 - 00;34;39;04
Unknown
And it's been so incredible to, you know, to make mistakes and to learn along the way and to have lots of plants die, but also some survived. And what has ended up happening is neighbors drive by in the evening on their way home from school, pick up from work.

00;34;39;15 - 00;34;52;24
Unknown
They stop in, maybe pick some veggies for dinner, end up digging in the garden with us. We end up having these meaningful interactions that have built us up as a community in unexpected ways. And we're also you know, we have our hands in the soil.

00;34;53;03 - 00;35;12;11
Unknown
Our microbiomes are being enriched by the soil, the healthy and sprayed soil of our plot. And there are all of these forces at work that are really, you know, maybe unintended. But, you know, we're having good food, we're having good conversations, we're building community.

00;35;12;18 - 00;35;34;18
Unknown
And I think that that is the most powerful platform for shifting cultures in terms of environmentalism. That's interesting. Here in Florida, agriculture is probably the biggest contributor of pollution to the springs in north Florida. And it's never they've never been held accountable in any way for for that pollution.

00;35;35;02 - 00;35;53;14
Unknown
And it's interesting to hear you say that the simplest way that people could get involved in environmental issues is by, you know, by the food they choose, because that really is a factor in the environmental footprint that we have, that just simply by choosing a certain kind of food, you can take an environmental stand.

00;35;53;27 - 00;36;05;24
Unknown
And so I think for for a lot of listeners in this podcast, a big question is how can I get involved environmentally? And I think I think you hit the nail on the head just simply by, you know, bite by the food you choose.

00;36;05;24 - 00;36;16;03
Unknown
Is a big is a big step, correct? I totally agree. I think it's very empowering to think we have three meals a day. Most of us have more than three meals a day. And we can start by asking questions.

00;36;16;03 - 00;36;29;19
Unknown
Did it come? Did it come in a package? That's the thing that's going to make you make me feel the best is that, you know, how can I how can I feel better? How can I make a decision that's more aligned with my.

00;36;29;21 - 00;36;53;11
Unknown
Concern for the living world. And the great thing about Florida is there are there are already these great networks of people doing community supported agriculture. There are great farmer's markets. I love going back to Saint Augustine and going to the farmers market there and supporting local growers and and local people who love to make beautiful, healthily grown

00;36;53;11 - 00;37;12;07
Unknown
food. So that I think that that infrastructure is already there. We just need more people to plug into it. Lauren, any last thoughts on growing up in Florida and how it has shaped you environmentally now that you're, you know, you have this kind of international life and and you're you have you found your own voice as an

00;37;12;07 - 00;37;32;15
Unknown
activist? Hmm. Well, you know, as we were preparing for this conversation, you sent me this question. How do you feel about Florida's environment? And I've been thinking about that over the last few days, and it reminded me of the untimely death of the senator.

00;37;32;18 - 00;37;58;23
Unknown
It's a it was 118 foot 3500 year old bald cypress tree in Longwood, Florida. It started growing shortly after 1500 B.C., the fifth oldest of all this tree in the country. And it was it was actually burned down a few years ago by a meth addict who was taking shelter under that incredibly majestic tree.

00;37;58;24 - 00;38;21;01
Unknown
And that person lit a fire which got out of control and it ended up burning the tree down. But the person fled. They took the time to take photos and video of the tragedy on their phone and that just, you know, hiding in the darkness of substance abuse under one of the planet's most incredible living things, and

00;38;21;01 - 00;38;45;23
Unknown
then only taking the time to acknowledge it as it literally burned to the ground around them. It just felt like kind of an apt metaphor for how I started to feel about maybe specifically, you know. Then sort of narrow or lacking approach to environmental issues that I was experiencing, Florida, which did inspire me in some ways to

00;38;45;23 - 00;39;09;03
Unknown
leave, but also just generally the cross-cultural approach that we have, you know, cultures in Australia and all around the world to the living world that has us, you know, kind of getting high on artifice while we're destroying the real, the natural are inspiring highs in the process, you know, and by that I mean that the air, the

00;39;09;03 - 00;39;27;28
Unknown
water and the regenerative capacity of this incredible planet we get to live on. I just feel like as a species, we've chosen to be the meth lady, but we don't have to be. We actually have the opportunity to be the most reparative and healing influence possible if we choose that collectively.

00;39;27;28 - 00;39;50;00
Unknown
And and really, that's one of the most beautiful things about surfing and riding waves, is that it has this capacity. And don't get me wrong, surf culture is problematic in myriad ways, but surfing really provides these rich opportunities to engage with the spontaneity of the wild living world that most days reminds me, at least, of where I

00;39;50;00 - 00;40;06;24
Unknown
belong. And that's such a gift. It's so humbling to have this this experience, this outlet that gives me a sense of belonging and connection to a community. And ultimately, it doesn't let me forget about the abundant magic of the world around me.

00;40;07;03 - 00;40;29;18
Unknown
And for me, that kind of clarity is really the ultimate high. So what's what's the most valuable lesson that surfing has taught you? There really are so many. Surfing is such a metaphor, rich experience. I guess an easy way to approach that question is really the feeling of gratitude.

00;40;29;21 - 00;40;47;01
Unknown
I mean, what I feel most consistently when I'm in the water is gratitude for the privilege of having leisure time, of being able to play. Although I would argue that we modern humans are some of the most deprived of leisure time.

00;40;47;11 - 00;41;12;00
Unknown
Ancient Polynesians were really adept at making time for play. They took a full three months off each year for arts, sport and culture and in old Hawaii. And that just so happened to align with surf seasons. So. So maybe one of the biggest wisdoms of my surfing life, besides remembering to feel gratitude, is this outlet for meaningful

00;41;12;00 - 00;41;31;00
Unknown
play time out of time, away from human spaces, a place where you can have the peak experience of your life and then have nothing tangible, nothing physical to show for it. You have empty hands, but you feel fulfilled and maybe feel physically tired at the end of it.

00;41;31;00 - 00;41;47;25
Unknown
But paradoxically, you're buzzing and alive with connection to the living world. Lauryn Hill, thank you so much for joining me in this podcast and for taking the time to talk. This has been a great conversation and I'm grateful to you and encourage you to continue your wonderful surfing and activism.

00;41;48;05 - 00;42;03;12
Unknown
It's valuable to everybody here in Florida and across the world. Thank you. Thank you so much, Oscar. Thanks for the opportunity. This episode of The Nature of Florida podcast was brought to you in part by the Feldman Foundation, the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida and Explica Media.

00;42;03;14 - 00;42;18;11
Unknown
If you're enjoying this podcast, remember to subscribe on our website. The Nature of Florida with Oscar Corral, Dot Bus, Broadcom. That's the nature of Florida with Oscar Corral, dot bus, Broadcom. Or find us on your favorite platform and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.