Slo Mo: A Podcast with Mo Gawdat

Craig Foster - My Octopus Teacher, Winning an Academy Award, and Why We Need Nature

August 22, 2021 Mo Gawdat and Craig Foster Episode 153
Slo Mo: A Podcast with Mo Gawdat
Craig Foster - My Octopus Teacher, Winning an Academy Award, and Why We Need Nature
Show Notes
Today’s guest is Craig Foster, who I've been waiting a while to have on the show. Besides the fact that he's one of my personal heroes, he has the unique designation of being the first Slo Mo guest to have to reschedule his interview date because he unexpectedly won an Academy Award.

Craig Foster is the co-founder of the Sea Change Trust and one of the world’s leading natural history filmmakers. He has dedicated himself to learning the secrets of the Great African Seaforest, the inshore kelp habitat at the South West tip of Africa, his underwater home.

His film, the 2021 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, My Octopus Teacher, follows the unbelievable story of his year bonding with a wild octopus while honoring his pact to dive 365 times a year. It was a Netflix sensation and is one of the most amazing films you can watch. If you haven't seen it yet, please do yourself a favor and turn it on tonight.

Through his regular, intensive immersion in wild waters, he has uncovered countless new animal behaviors and species. One of the species is a shrimp which has been named after him: Heteromysis Fosteri. He has founded the Sea Change Project to share his love of nature with others.

His new book, written with ​​Ross Frylinck, is Underwater Wild, available globally on November 16, 2021.

Warning: This episode contains spoilers of the documentary, My Octopus Teacher.

Listen as we discuss:

  • Going back to nature when we're burned out.
  • Advice for how to deal with nature without yearning for creature comforts.
  • Why did Craig not interfere during the Octopus' death?
  • Avoiding the temptation to expect and apply human feelings to wildlife.
  • Octopus death is programmed into their makeup.
  • The breakthrough of the film from nature documentary to Oscar winner.
  • Finding the balance between our lives and the necessary relationship with nature.
  • How the attention after winning the Academy Award took him away from nature.
  • The industrial world is a shock to the human psyche, yet we block nature.
  • "The biggest threat is the cooling of the human heart to nature."

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Connect with Craig Foster on Instagram @seachangeproject, Facebook @theseachangeproject, Twitter , and his organization's website, seachangeproject.com

Some big news. I'm hosting my first sweepstakes. My new book,

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