A head of lettuce hits $12, supermarket shelves start looking a little thinner, floods cut communities off for weeks — and suddenly “local food” stops being a lifestyle trend and starts looking like common sense. Tianda Williams joins Voices of the New Economy to explore how uForage is helping people re-localise food systems by turning surplus into shared nourishment. uForage is a community-powered food map that connects backyard growers, small producers, foragers and neighbours — making it easier to find local eggs, honey, herbs, seasonal produce, and even wild food growing in plain sight. The conversation moves from lived experience to practical systems change: why food insecurity is often a distribution problem, how community networks become lifelines during climate disruption, what foraging can teach us about abundance and place, and why the “technology that disconnected us” might also help reconnect us — if it’s built with the right values.

Tianda Williams is a rural Australian advocate for sustainable, community-driven food systems and the co-founder of uForage, a grassroots platform helping people connect with local growers, backyard abundance, and foraged food. A mother and survivor of domestic violence, Tianda’s work is shaped by lived experience and a deep commitment to making sure no one goes hungry — especially as climate disruption and supply shocks make big food chains feel increasingly fragile. Through uForage, she’s helping communities re-localise food, reduce waste, and rebuild the everyday networks that make resilience possible.

Voices of the New Economy is a collaborative storytelling project of NENA. The podcast is produced by the Humanitarian Changemakers Network (HCN), an Anchor Organisation of NENA, as part of its commitment to strengthening economic literacy, amplifying community innovation, and supporting pathways to systemic change. Each episode features researchers, practitioners, organisers, and everyday changemakers working across disciplines and communities to re-imagine how our economies can serve people and planet.

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A full companion article for this episode is available here.

Connect with NENA: Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Connect with Humanitarian Changemakers Network (HCN): Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Get involved: NENA members and friends are warmly invited to participate in the podcast — as interviewees, storytellers, or contributors to the NENA Storytelling Hub. To get involved, visit the Hub page or email: nena@neweconomy.org.au

What does a “new economy” look like when it’s grounded in democracy, agency, and the limits of the living world? Audrey, co-founder of People for Nature, shares how a lifelong connection to insects and the mountains eventually led her from corporate communications and decarbonisation tech into citizen-powered climate and biodiversity work. Together we unpack why information alone doesn’t shift systems, how tools like Climate Fresk and Biodiversity Collage help people see interconnections, and what it takes to turn eco-anxiety into eco-agency. Audrey also reflects on the promises and pitfalls of technocratic solutions, the power of local stewardship (from backyard pesticide choices to koala monitoring), and why meaningful change is built through thousands of “do your part” actions that ripple outward through communities.

Audrey Barucchi is the co-founder of People for Nature and a passionate advocate for climate and biodiversity literacy as the foundation for systems change. With a background spanning economics, corporate communications, and decarbonisation technology, she bridges science and storytelling to help people understand complex environmental challenges — and feel empowered to act on them. Originally from France and shaped by a lifelong love of insects and the natural world, Audrey now works to transform eco-anxiety into eco-agency, equipping communities with the tools, confidence, and connection needed to build a more regenerative, nature-aligned future.

oices of the New Economy is a collaborative storytelling project of NENA. The podcast is produced by the Humanitarian Changemakers Network (HCN), an Anchor Organisation of NENA, as part of its commitment to strengthening economic literacy, amplifying community innovation, and supporting pathways to systemic change. Each episode features researchers, practitioners, organisers, and everyday changemakers working across disciplines and communities to re-imagine how our economies can serve people and planet.

LISTEN & EXPLORE FURTHER

A full companion article for this episode is available here.

Connect with NENA: Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Connect with Humanitarian Changemakers Network (HCN): Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Get involved: NENA members and friends are warmly invited to participate in the podcast — as interviewees, storytellers, or contributors to the NENA Storytelling Hub. To get involved, visit the Hub page or email: nena@neweconomy.org.au

Economics doesn’t need reinventing, Eugene argues — it needs remembering. Fresh from his tenth year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he shares what it looks like when the world’s most powerful rooms split into two camps: those still polishing strategy on paper, and those ready to tear it up and act.

The conversation moves from trillion-dollar talk to street-level reality: why modern systems can “perform exactly as designed” even when they’re failing most of us; how the doctrine of growth collides with the doctrine of significance; and what it means to build an economy that elevates individuals and communities without creating harm elsewhere. Eugene also unpacks the rise of AI and “responsibility diffusion”, offering a grounded challenge for changemakers: stay in critical-thinker mode, keep agency alive, and design for long-term service rather than short-term returns.

Eugene is a strategist, storyteller and former photojournalist whose work sits at the crossroads of business, culture and systems change. After starting his career in New York newsrooms in the wake of 9/11, he moved through advertising and corporate strategy in Australia, building a behind-the-scenes view of how organisations shape behaviour, markets and narratives. For the past decade, he’s been immersed in global convenings like the World Economic Forum in Davos — this year marking his tenth time on the ground — translating “ivory tower” conversations into practical insights for founders, creatives and changemakers. He’s the author of Built to Collapse: A Tale of Unlimited Growth When Growth Costs You Everything, a business-fiction critique of the growth machine that calls us back to first principles: service, sustainability, and significance.

Voices of the New Economy is a collaborative storytelling project of NENA. The podcast is produced by the Humanitarian Changemakers Network (HCN), an Anchor Organisation of NENA, as part of its commitment to strengthening economic literacy, amplifying community innovation, and supporting pathways to systemic change. Each episode features researchers, practitioners, organisers, and everyday changemakers working across disciplines and communities to re-imagine how our economies can serve people and planet.

LISTEN & EXPLORE FURTHER

A full companion article for this episode is available here.

Connect with NENA: Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Connect with Humanitarian Changemakers Network (HCN): Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Get involved: NENA members and friends are warmly invited to participate in the podcast — as interviewees, storytellers, or contributors to the NENA Storytelling Hub. To get involved, visit the Hub page or email: nena@neweconomy.org.au