Who's your youngest friend?

We just met one of ours: 11-year-old surfer, shaper and filmmaker Hunter Williams.

This year, Hunter won the grom shorts category at the Noosa International Surf Film Festival with his movie Heirloom.

Informing an impressive depth of knowledge about surfboard building and design, is Hunter’s spectral surfing skill – he talks us through peak moments of tube time and critical hang tens.

We meander with Hunter through the way he gathers inspiration from the living world, his startling phone call with George Greenough, and what it meant to meet Jack Mccoy at the last film screening of Jack's life.

When was the last time you had your mind blown by a young person's refreshing take on life?

Hunter’s infectious wonder and curiosity are a potent reminder of the importance of intergenerational relationships in all of our lives, for all of our lives.

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This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.

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Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen.

Head to Alkaway.com and use the code waterpeople for $50 off your first purchase.

Send us a text

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

Rites of passage, once central to marking life’s transitions, have faded in modernity. As we navigate rising anxiety, social fragmentation, and a world where technology permeates nearly all aspects of our shared human experience, what role could a revival of rites of passage play in reclaiming our resilience and our capacity for social cohesion?

Dr Arne Rubinstein is the CEO and Founder of the Rites of Passage Institute. His goal is to make Rites of Passage mainstream once again. He has over 30 years experience as a medical doctor, counsellor, mentor, speaker and workshop facilitator.

He has developed programs, seminars and camps attended by more than 350,000 people globally and has effectively implemented rites of passage frameworks into some of the largest schools in Australia.

His work emphasises the importance of recognising and reflecting on key moments in our lives and pausing to understand them deeply before moving forward.

...

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

What moves you through the world? In the most literal sense, it's the same answer for all of us: muscle.

In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are - but what they mean to us.

Bonnie attended Harvard University, where she rowed crew, snowboarded, and studied American literature. She came to surfing in her late 20s after relocating to California.

Today, Bonnie lives, swims, and surfs in the Bay Area and contributes regularly to the New York Times.

She is the author of four books: American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods, Why We Swim, Sarah and the Big Wave, and her latest, On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

Bonnie talks us through the purpose of the brain (!), learning to surf as an adult, the gendered cultural narratives around strength, the name of a whale's powerful butt muscle, and the inevitability of age related muscle loss (and what we can do about it).

More about Bonnie here & here

...

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.