The Rich Roll Podcast - Darin Olien is Down to Earth

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

Hot on the heels of Down To Earth -- the #1 hit Netflix series in which he co-stars alongside Zac Efron -- today my superfood hunting, brother-from-another-mother Darin Olien returns for his 4th... appearance on the podcast to blow minds and drop wisdom on all things nutrition, hydration, ecological preservation, longevity, and living a high-vibration life. One of my most popular guests to date, Darin’s biography reads like a Hemingway adventure novel. Devoted to advancing human health, ecological preservation and sustainability, he's spent the better part of the last 20 years embedded in remote farming communities across the Himalayas, South Pacific, Latin America and Asia, scavenging for the most nutritionally potent plants, nuts, and seeds on the planet. His most recent obsession is Barùkas (aka the baru nut) -- an incredibly nutrient-rich superfood known to the indigenous tribes of the Brazilian Cerrado for millennia, yet virtually unheard of anywhere else. This discovery led to Darin to an epiphany: he could help preserve the Cerrado (which is a tropical savanna ecoregion three times the size of Texas) by employing its indigenous communities to harvest the native baru and importing them to North America. A win-win to preserve precious environmental resources, support indigenous communities, and simultaneously introduce North America to the healthiest nut on the planet. Everything Darin has learned over the decades is laid bare on the pages of Superlife, his New York Times bestselling primer on all things health and well-being. His 121Tribe.com app will put you on a 21-day lifestyle-changing diet and exercise program. And his recently launched podcast, The Darin Olien Show, is already killing the game. Down To Earth introduced to a broad, mainstream audience what I've always known about this incredible human: A man who truly walks his talk, Darin is the real deal. Picking up where we left off two years ago in RRP 382, Darin and I discuss all things Down To Earth. The show's origins. What it was like collaborating with a global superstar. May this conversation leave you understanding why Darin is the first person I turn to for advice not just on nutrition and fitness -- but on all manner of subjects related to living my best authentic life. For those new to me and Big D, we’ve logged about 6 hours of extraordinary back catalog conversation over the years. I highly suggest you visit those archived episodes, which you can find here: RRP 382, RRP 268, and RRP 153. The visually inclined can watch our exchange on YouTube. And as always, the podcast streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It is with pride, love and gratitude that I share the wisdom of my friend and mentor with you today. Peace + Plants, Rich

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I think more clear than ever, people need to be healthy. They need to stop distracting themselves and eat more plants and figure out a program that's going to work and get healthy because we need strong, healthy, happy people non-judgmentally kicking ass in their life. And I really believe that's the purpose of health, so that you can kick ass in your life and have the fulfilling life you want so you're not miserable with a chemistry set that isn't working. And it really comes down to two very simple things.
Starting point is 00:00:35 I care about the health of people. person has more choices and can really kick ass in their life and not have to drag around this body and then be a kind of this victim of a body that's failing. So I believe in health of the individual, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and I believe in the intimate connection and the health of the planet. That's superfood hunter Darren O'Lean, and this is episode 542 of the Rich Roll Podcast. The Rich Roll Podcast. Greetings, wanderers, seekers, learners, listeners. This is a podcast, the Rich Roll Podcast. I'm your host. It's time to strap in because today, today, my friends, my superfood hunting brother from another mother, Darren O'Lean, hot on the heels of his number one
Starting point is 00:01:40 hit Netflix show, Down to Earth, in which he co-stars alongside Zac Efron, returns for his fourth appearance on the show. He's going to blow minds. He's going to drop wisdom on all things nutrition, hydration, ecological preservation, longevity, and many other topics, including, of course, superfoods. OG listeners will well remember Darren, but for those of you who are new Big D fans, maybe you came here because of seeing Darren on the show. You're here for the first time. Together, Darren and I have logged about six hours
Starting point is 00:02:19 of extraordinary back catalog conversation over the years, and you can find those conversations in episodes 382, 268, and 153 in my archive at richroll.com. He is by far one of my most popular guests to date. And Darren's biography kind of reads more like an adventure novel than a resume. He kind of reads more like an adventure novel than a resume. This is a guy who spent the better part of the last couple decades scavenging the earth for the most nutritionas, the South Pacific, Latin America, Asia, shepherding exotic, high-quality fair trade superfoods and indigenous herbal commodities to market. His latest infatuation is barucas or the baru nut, which is this incredibly nutrient-rich, delicious, but kind of essentially virtually unheard of superfood harvested
Starting point is 00:03:26 sustainably in partnership with the indigenous tribes of the Brazilian Cerrado. If you watch down to earth, then you know that Big D is jacked. What you might not know is that he is 100% plant-based. He's been so for many years. And today you're going to hear a lot about the benefits of eating plant forward. How to make this switch and more importantly, how to sustain it is a question that I get a lot. So we created a digital platform to get you there and keep you there.
Starting point is 00:03:56 It's called the Plant Power Meal Planner. It's super dope, providing you with unlimited access to thousands of constantly updated, nutritious, delicious and easy to prepare recipesprepare recipes, all tailored to your preference. Selected meals auto-generate grocery lists to make shopping simple, and integrated grocery delivery in most urban areas
Starting point is 00:04:16 makes it even easier. We also have cooking instructional videos, and our team of nutrition coaches are always available to guide you every step of the way. The kicker is affordability. It's just $1.90 a week when you sign up for a year, literally the price of a cup of coffee. So to learn more and to get rolling,
Starting point is 00:04:33 visit meals.richroll.com. That's meals.richroll.com. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately,
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Starting point is 00:06:08 Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful. And recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery.
Starting point is 00:06:35 To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. Okay, Darren. In addition to being one of my closest best friends, Darren is legit the real deal. He's somebody that I turn to basically every single week we talk, and he gives me unbelievable guidance, gives me unbelievable guidance, not on simply things like nutrition, fitness, hydration, and sustainability, but also for just good, solid life advice. This guy is wise, he's grounded, he's incredibly personable and giving,
Starting point is 00:07:19 he's spiritually aware, and just bottom line, one of my favorite people. And I think that's just about all I want to say in preface to today's conversation. To learn more about Darren, and you're going to want to learn more about him after listening to this, check out his book, Super Life, which just hit the New York Times bestseller list for the very first time, despite coming out over three and a half, almost four years ago, due in no small part to the smash success of his show, Down to Earth, which you can dial up on Netflix. Darren also recently launched a podcast himself, The Darren O'Lean Show. He's already killing the game. And he's got a new app called 121 Tribe, 121tribe.com, where he liberally shares all his copious wisdom. Okay, enough.
Starting point is 00:08:08 This is me and the force of nature known as Darren O'Lean. So a lot's happened since the last time that we did this. Dude. Your life has exploded. It's incredible. Yeah, amongst the other craziness, it is incredible. Yeah. First of all, congrats.
Starting point is 00:08:32 It's all very well earned. I'm super proud of you. And it's been such a delight to see America or the world kind of embrace what I've already known for so long and things that you've been talking about and living like your entire life, it's gone massively broad. I would imagine there's a little bit of vertigo
Starting point is 00:08:52 with all of that. I mean, the number one show on Netflix is crazy. Yeah, it's hard to have a relationship with that. I think that it's almost, if I can describe the experience, it's almost like, oh, cool. That's cool. And yet you're seeing the numbers rise, you're seeing the followers rise, and you're like, and then the book, New York Times bestseller, and the podcast, book, New York Times bestseller and the podcast and then the show. And I think that it feels like a responsibility in a good way rather than look at me. Like it really feels like- Well, now you have the platform to speak more broadly and potently about the things that you
Starting point is 00:09:41 care about and have always cared about. And just to recap for people that are perhaps new to you, last time we talked, it was on the eve of Baruchas launching to the world. And since that moment, which was, I don't even know when it was, a couple of years ago, I think at this point, maybe a year and a half ago, you have co-hosted this show down to earth with Zac Efron. It went to number one on Netflix.
Starting point is 00:10:04 Your book, Super Life, just hit the New York Times bestseller list. You launched a podcast. It went to number one in the health and fitness category on iTunes and your Instagram, I think, what did you have like 70,000 or something like that before all of this? Like mid thirties.
Starting point is 00:10:20 Oh, mid thirties. And now you're at like 400 or something. That is the power of Netflix. It's unbelievable. Yeah. You know, the funny thing is our friend Neil Strauss said there was another show that came out similarly and a different show completely, but they were doing really well. But the guy didn't receive a lot of followers. And the only thing that I can attest to this is, and we can unpack a lot of this stuff as
Starting point is 00:10:54 to the culmination of the show and how my idea of the intensity of the information made its way through the production and through the understanding of the audience that I don't have. But what I see is that through the levity, through the lightness of how we delivered the show with some information, clearly, it's somehow reached across the aisle of other people that don't necessarily live this way, don't necessarily have the same amount of awareness about how they are sitting in the world as it relates to their own health and the health of the planet. So it's such a beautiful thing to see regular people that I am, that you are, we're no different, but that they are tagline message, thousands of them this way saying, my life is different. I am never the same.
Starting point is 00:12:10 I'm going to do something better with my life over and over and over and over again from a nine-year-old to a 70-year-old. That rich is worth everything. Yeah. It's a beautiful exercise in humility as well, right? Like we talk every week. So I've been with you from the outset of this whole experience. And I know very well that had you had your druthers, this would have been a much more serious, intense, deep dive and issue-based and policy-based. And you had sort of grumbled along the way, like, I don't know if this is gonna work. Like, I want it to be like this. It looks like it's going in this direction.
Starting point is 00:12:55 And yet to see it so well-received on the broadest level is a lesson, right? In that, A, like, I don't know everything. B, these producers understood something that I didn't because if I'd had my way, maybe it wouldn't have connected in this way, right? A hundred percent. Like you spot on with the struggle because I did, you know,
Starting point is 00:13:19 the beautiful thing is we can get into the origin story of how this even came about. Oh, I love the origin story. Tell the origin story. Well, people, people, talking to you, like this, come on, this is the origin story right here, right now. The podcast that we did, I don't think it was the first one, probably the second. What is the second one. It was probably the second. It was the second one. Probably, yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:47 It came by way of the show. So we did that show. Something about what I said, who I was, I don't know. But Zach heard it. And he was like, what is this guy doing? I want to know about this person. What is he up to? And so he reached out to your buddy, who's now my buddy as well, Connor Dwyer, the Olympian badass swimmer.
Starting point is 00:14:19 That you guys are mutual friends with. So Zach is friends with Connor. You're friends with Connor. So Zach reached out to Connor to get my number to see if it was okay that you give Zach my number because Zach was interested. Who I still haven't met, by the way. I know, that's funny.
Starting point is 00:14:39 And kind of how it crystallized, well, one of the aspects of it, and I told this on the podcast recently, so forgive me if you've already heard it, but I went out riding with Connor and Zach's brother, Dylan, along with Simon Garens, who's like this incredible Tour de France rider who was visiting from overseas at the time. And after our ride, I'm like, come on, let's go over to Darren's house. And I took those guys over to your house pre-burning down and we're gonna get into all of that. And you showed them your whole setup and they were like,
Starting point is 00:15:11 Zach would just kill to be here and all of that. So I think that trickled back to him as well and set in motion what would become this incredible TV show that you guys have done together. Yeah, so when Zach finally, it was months later, I'd forgotten, right? So you said, yeah. Yeah, it didn't happen quickly.
Starting point is 00:15:28 No, so you said, apparently Zach Efron wants to reach out to you. Is it okay that I give Connor the number to give to Zach? And I was like, sure, whatever, that's fine. And so I forgot about it. And then I remember the moment where I got this cold, when I mean cold, I didn't know the number, text. And it was like, hey, Darren, this is Zac Efron. I really enjoyed, I heard the podcast. I really connect with what you're doing, like a very
Starting point is 00:16:00 sweet. And I ran up by my, Eliza, my then wife. And she was like, wow, that sounds really genuine. Cool. So I was like, dude, let's have lunch then. And so we ate at this great vegan restaurant, Golden Mean. And we sat upstairs away from everybody and sat there for a minimum of two hours. And he was largely just asking about what I was up to. And then it was kind of at the very end where we walked out. He said, so what else are you doing? I said, well, for 10 years, people have been asking me to do this superfood hunting show,
Starting point is 00:16:37 but I really wanted to broaden it because superfood hunting has woken me up to environmental issues because I've seen a lot and I've connected to a lot of people. So I want to do the show, longevity principles, health, food systems, agriculture, water. I want to get... And he was like, wait a minute. So you travel, you go to all these places? I'm like, yeah, of course. So he got so fired up. And then we kind of said bye, we'll stay in touch. Then he called me two hours later. He basically said, you know, I have this existing deal with
Starting point is 00:17:14 Netflix in a topic that I just am not that excited about. It was travel. It was with other celebrities eating in countries of origin that these celebrities were connected to. Like feeding Phil or that Phil Rosenthal show. Yeah. So it was like going to those countries, eating that authentic food, and a couple of celebrities hanging out. And they shot the pilot. No one was really, from what I hear, no one was really that jazzed about it, nor was Zach. So he asked his team and the production, could we kind of bring these concepts together and basically do what Darren was suggesting?
Starting point is 00:17:58 And I'll be damned. He walked that in. Everyone kind of, I'm putting words on it reluctantly, but I think they trusted something. And then over time I got into pre-production and we spent a lot of time ironing out the show and the production team was jazzed because they're like, oh wow, meaningful, powerful content. Well, typically in a situation like this, the producers would be shouldering the burden of trying to find the locations and who are the people we're going to meet with and what are the themes we're going to explore. But you brought
Starting point is 00:18:35 this lifetime of experience and relationships to this. I suspect, and I want to hear more about this, that most of the places you went to, you've been to before, these are people you already know who are in your life. As a result of you being this superfood hunter for all these years, you've traveled the world and you already knew like, oh, here are the places where we can explore these themes. And I already have these relationships intact. Yeah, indeed. There was a lot of things. And then some course corrections on the fly too, like Iceland was like almost a last minute thing. And I actually off camera, I did some foraging with some herbalists and stuff.
Starting point is 00:19:11 And so really enjoyed the opportunity. But yeah, it was again like I had lists of colleagues in every episode, like heavy, right? To your point before, like if it was up to me, it would have been- You would have gone down the academic rabbit hole. A little heavier, indeed. And the thing about me when I travel, obviously I'm having fun.
Starting point is 00:19:37 And so a little bit of the candor from the show, they grabbed a little more than I probably am comfortable with, but that's me. So when I'm out and I'm on a mission, I also have the levity and the lightness about it, but I'm absolutely committed. So I had all of these experts on every episode and we're going to interview these people and that people and Dr. Pollack and these water scientists and Blumenthal from American Botanical Council. And we had Andreas, who's a head of biopiracy that got cut out. So there was a lot more rigor of intensity of information. And it was hard, to be honest with you.
Starting point is 00:20:28 The first actual episode we shot was Puerto Rico. And that was kind of flying to Puerto Rico and realizing I have nobody on my side. That's what it felt like because I didn't really – yes, I got to know a lot of the producers beforehand. But then I'm like, this is Zach and he's a famous person. And there's intensity around that. And then realizing that like, oh, this may not be getting all of the information I want out. And it was hard. It was back in the hotel after a couple of days of shooting. And I was like, I don't know if I made the right decision. Well, it looks like, it feels like
Starting point is 00:21:21 you went into this thinking, I'm gonna be the straight man and Zach's the entertainment and I'm the educator here. But the way that it feels when I watch it is almost like Zach's the straight man and you're the one who's spinning a crazy yarn and he's kind of breaking the fourth wall and looking at the camera like, is this for real with this guy?
Starting point is 00:21:45 Like he's the skeptic, he's traveling in the boots of the typical audience member who's never been exposed to these ideas. And I think what makes it work is there is a bit of a vloggy kind of YouTube sensibility. Like there's a comedians in cars aspect to this where a lot of it is just you guys in the car driving around, right?
Starting point is 00:22:05 And then it's laced with these beautiful drone shots and incredible cinematography and these montages. And it picks its moments where it gets serious, but it's always interspersed with these moments of levity to make it, quote unquote, like entertaining. Yeah. And here's the thing all I will also say. Over the years, people have said, well, if you want to do a show, you got to get a celebrity. And I was like, no, I don't want to do it bad enough. I don't want to have to do that to make my topics what I believe relevant, relevant. So when I met Zach and he, and this is very important because this hit me and this changed everything. This was when he said, hey, I have all these people that follow me.
Starting point is 00:22:53 I'm an actor, but I want to do something with my platform. I want to make a difference. I really want to, you don't see me hawking things on my platform. You don't see me selling stuff. That's for a reason. And so I wanna do something that's gonna move the needle on health, on the planet, on moving towards a better,
Starting point is 00:23:15 sustainable, regenerative outcome for our existence here. And when he said it, I believed it, right? And that changed it all for me, meaning that, number one, it came this way. He reached out to me, so it wasn't me trying to find some celebrity to sell my show to. It was this innocent and powerful way
Starting point is 00:23:41 that he wanted to contribute based on where he is in his life. And he does care. He's a very sweet, empathetic person that does care and maybe just didn't know how to do it until he saw a feather or a line or a string in this connection for us to be able to start turning that corner to actually make a difference. And I think it's a great start because for me, it's never, you've known what I'm about. It's never been about a show. It's about a movement. It's about a mission. It's about collaboration. It's about really doing something that will make a lasting impact. And I don't necessarily know how to do that, but I'm learning and I'm learning from people what they're asking
Starting point is 00:24:33 for. So yeah, I'm connected to a lot of how this unfolds because I do not take it lightly that something has sparked this audience, has entertained them, has dropped their defenses of being talked to about another agenda-filled documentary. And listen, there's been a lot of documentaries that have, it's hard, even though the subject matter you and I can agree with, but it's sometimes hard to take because you know we can listen to it, but it's not going gonna reach over the aisle and grab the other people. Yeah, the show is a very deft, gentle hand.
Starting point is 00:25:34 And I think the coolest part is how it's connecting with really young people. Like, are you really gonna save the dude that's our age who's set in his ways and has his worldview at this point. But if you can reach that nine year old or that 12 year old and get them thinking about these things at that age, when they're malleable and they're just forming their opinions about stuff, it's incredibly powerful.
Starting point is 00:25:56 So, I just think it's cool. And I think, to speak to Zach a little bit, it's laudable that he would want to use this massive platform and his, you know, fame and celebrity for a good purpose. And you and I can't fathom what it must be like to be a guy like that, who's been just insanely famous for as long as he can possibly remember. And when you're in that position, A, like how do you even interface with the world in a healthy way? And B, like to the extent that like you want to use it for good, like, you know, it's a really cool thing. Like I just, I can't imagine what his day-to-day life existence is like.
Starting point is 00:26:40 Yeah. I mean, you got a glimpse of it traveling all over the world with him. Yeah, you get a glimpse of it and it is intense. I mean, any country, any city. And he doesn't seem to want any part of that. He's brilliantly gifted at what he does, but it's not about that for him. Yeah, it's an interesting relationship for sure. Because on the one hand, any celebrity will say, of course, there's some great things about being a celebrity. But man, there is something about it on the intensity scale in terms of population and what people want from you and that kind of energy that's you and I can walk around and be okay. But when that's always almost anywhere
Starting point is 00:27:29 on the globe like that. And how do you trust anybody? Yeah. Because everybody who rolls up on you has some kind of weird agenda. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, listen, we had a few moments in the car where – and that's the cool thing about the show. Eventually, for me, I just didn't care that the cameras were on to try to be something. We just – they were always on and then we always just had these great moments. And there was a couple of times when I was driving from New York to the Angry Orchard Apple situation. and from New York to the Angry Orchard Apple situation, it was just this beautiful moment where we just almost were having our own moment and our own little podcast in a sense and talking about his life
Starting point is 00:28:15 and talking about that intensity. And, yeah, it's not easy. But I think through – Zach's not afraid to dig in and to look at where he has his issues and where he struggles. And we all need to do that. Yeah, of course. I'm grateful for him to open himself up in a personal way and not being a character, not being a actor. And largely, he was not that comfortable in the beginning of just like, oh, there's no- There's no script. No, it's just us.
Starting point is 00:29:04 Yeah. Well, when you're an actor you're inhabiting somebody else yeah in this he has to be himself yeah and you know me turn the camera I got shit to say right you know even though they took a lot of the weird moments but uh you know but but I think it's it's it's great to also see the different parts of people because it also makes it real. Because I can get very serious about these subject matters. And I have both sides where I can go in and I have strong opinions and everything else. At the same time, in order for me to keep myself balanced, I have those fun moments that I learned when I traveled. I've seen a lot of things in the middle of nowhere that are horrible. Like when people, you know, when kids are dying, you're looking at these children getting water, for example, in Africa.
Starting point is 00:30:04 And it's feces ridden water. And you're like, that's their life every day. And they're dying of waterborne diseases. And I'm sitting there talking to this village over here about Baobab in Western Africa, about how we can get that to a bunch of people buying these supplements, for example. Up in Point to them. Yeah, it's a struggle, but how I remedy that is I take that very seriously. I've always taken that seriously
Starting point is 00:30:34 and how I remedy that and wrestle with that is, well, how can I benefit these people? How can I, and we've talked about this several times in terms of how to look at kind of trying to create some sort of, you know, whatever terminology you use, circular economy, fair trade, all of this stuff. For me, it's just the moral compass of this. Like, I see something wrong or not correct or not optimal. How can I, in my own way, how can I help this situation? And so within that world of seeing this,
Starting point is 00:31:09 it's easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of intensity we have with what we're not doing great as humans, what we absolutely can improve and what we absolutely can improve in a great way that doesn't have to be detrimental on so many of these other directions from an environment, from a health perspective, there's no separation between our inner ecosystems and our outer ecosystems. And our great friend, Zach Bush, speaks wonderfully about that interaction.
Starting point is 00:31:46 And so, and I think we need to, as global citizens, we just literally have to start thinking that way. And I also challenge companies to start thinking that way. Like, what is the end product of your container? Like, shouldn't you be responsible for what that's doing? That single-use plastic? That's here for a thousand years. Maybe you should be responsible for that. And maybe there's a currency that we need to tack onto or adjust or, you know.
Starting point is 00:32:16 So anyway, I'm going down those rabbit holes. But that's the view of even the impetus of this show was like, listen, there is a massive amount of stuff that we can bring light to. How do you even start? And the only way is like, well, let's start here and my life's not over and I have a lot more to give and maybe we get a second season, maybe we get a third, maybe we just keep going
Starting point is 00:32:42 and maybe it proliferates into bringing attention to a lot of other things that aren't having the right attention. And just one little thing on that too, like global warming, even having that word or words, that becomes now political. That becomes black and white. I don't even like to use those words. I just wanna go back to, okay, well, if you can provide clean power to a group of Aboriginal people in the middle of Australia,
Starting point is 00:33:19 and I'm using that example because we're working on some projects there, and it doesn't cost the government $6.2 billion to provide unsustainable fuel for their generators that are always breaking down. This is year by year by year by year by year. But if we can provide water, food, power cleanly, why wouldn't we do it? Yeah, shouldn't we be doing that? I mean, I think that, again, the show is successful because it doesn't take some kind of partisan perspective, but there is a subtle challenge to American exceptionalism throughout the show, because you go to these other places that we as Americans might think are underdeveloped in comparison to
Starting point is 00:34:03 kind of the technology that we produce for the world. And yet they're so much more advanced than we are in terms of how they're approaching these very important subjects. A perfect example is going to Paris and seeing what they're doing with the water and with the water fountains and how water is available to everybody.
Starting point is 00:34:19 And that episode ends with the statistics on single-use plastics for water bottles and it's staggering, right? And it makes you think like, that's something very basic that we could and should be doing here and we're not. And I think the more of those experiences that you shine a light on,
Starting point is 00:34:36 it makes us reflect on our own flawed perception of exceptionalism as Americans, right? Yeah. And I think that's a very powerful thing that some people who may not have gotten to travel and don't get to see part of the world, they're seeing these amazing people doing some incredible things
Starting point is 00:35:00 that we have gotten this delusion of US as some sort of superior superpower when, yeah, there might be things that we do have without a doubt. But there's also fatal flaws that we are still doing in the face of profit-centered economy. And that will always bite you in the ass. And so, you know, as simple as just pulling the rug out from under this single-use bottle. I mean, of the 300 metric tons of plastic being created every year,
Starting point is 00:35:41 half of it is literally single-use plastic. Yeah, it's just- And mostly water bottles. It's insane. So we can absolutely start, we need to turn off that faucet of that insane idea because not one bit of the plastic that's ever been created on earth is gone. It's still here and that's up to 9.2 billion metric tons. Of all the places that you went for the, what was your favorite episode or location?
Starting point is 00:36:13 I've only watched the first three, so. Oh man. You're going to cry. That last episode, you're going to cry. Is that the one where your house burns down? Yeah. I cried both on the show and off when I watch again. But it's hard to know because they each had this own special place. I think, I mean, Iceland, just from a personal perspective, I wanted to just explore infinitely more. That certainly was. And then you go to Sardinia and you see the true village life, centuries old, this simple way of living, which is flying right in the face of everything that we've grown up with. And yet we're trying to reach back to it
Starting point is 00:37:05 to give us the gems so that we can live long. Yeah, everybody in the village dating back 500 years can be traced to just five families, I think, right? Yeah, yeah. And we both got to, one got cut out, but I interviewed this hundred-year-old lady too, and I literally could sit there all day. The wisdom, just pouring out of these people. Not that they are eloquently giving you the meaning of life, but there's these simple, it's almost like powerful contentment that you just don't feel from
Starting point is 00:37:49 anybody it's just this i haven't left my village i have this one lady that i interviewed that wasn't on the show she's never been married and really? You just, I didn't think about it. What do you mean you didn't think about it? She was like, I just was living my life. And I didn't think about it. I didn't feel like I needed a man. And so it just never happened. And I was like, wow.
Starting point is 00:38:20 Like she didn't buy into anything because her village was also not impressed upon these made up ideologies. It was, this is the simple way of living. I'm content in such a degree. I'm blowing apart things that we think we need to accomplish. Yeah. And what is the half-life on those experiences? Right, like you've had many of these
Starting point is 00:38:48 over the course of your life, but then you come home, how much of that sits with you and changes how you live on a daily basis versus, you know, fading away? Like that's the trick, right? You go and you're like, we got it all wrong. Look at what these people are doing. And then we go back and then we just do what we always do. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great point. I mean, largely I've, I mean, you know, I'm pretty, I'm pretty content
Starting point is 00:39:16 in my, in my now yurt that I had to construct after the fire and on the land and under the trees. So in one respect, all and every trip that I've taken has influenced me into the kind of life that I want. I am pulled and drawn to contribute and leave something behind, whether it's education, inspiration, connecting things and making certain things possible to contribute to things that I think we need to on a bigger scale, whether that's health, whether that's the environment. That's the wrestle. So I have a huge desire to contribute in that way. I wouldn't say I'm content with that because it's driving me, but I'm content in saying yes to it. It fuels me through, you know, going back to like the, the population of people loving the show. I look at it as like, yes, keep coming, keep coming to what I'm doing. Keep coming. There are things that I'm creating that I can't reveal yet, but I am not stopping and I'm not okay with sitting in Swayalo in Sardinia becoming 100 years old. Right.
Starting point is 00:40:50 That's not going to work for you. No. That's not your blueprint anyway. It's not my blueprint of the blue zones. Right. But I think that's also the contentment of finding you, finding me, finding what drives me, not from an ego perspective, but from the heart of everything I want to do. And it really comes down to two very simple things. I care about the health of people. I believe a healthy person has more choices and can really kick ass in their life and not have to drag around this body and then be kind of this victim of a body that's failing. So I believe in health of the individual, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually.
Starting point is 00:41:48 And I believe in the intimate connection and the health of the planet. So if we can contribute in those ways, anything else, you know me, anything else, I just don't care. And those two things are interconnected, of course. 100%. And I think the show does a good job of establishing that
Starting point is 00:42:04 and helping people to understand that connection. And I think the only does a good job of establishing that and helping people to understand that connection. And I think the only other thing that I've gotten from this, such a great question, Rich, is the only, not the only other thing, another thing that I've gotten from the travels is not only learning more about myself from the reflection of countless different people around the world, and that is a boundary to what works for me and being completely cool with saying no. And this flies in the face of being a kid from Minnesota. I don't want to let anyone down. I know you well enough to know that you like to say yes, and you got a lot of stuff. Over the years, you've got a lot of stuff flung in your direction, and perhaps you've said yes a little too often to certain things.
Starting point is 00:42:55 And now the volume is at 11, I would suspect, with what's coming at you. So you got to definitely hone in your no engine. Exactly. Yeah. And stay focused rather than getting distracted, chasing things that seem cool because everything is going to look like an awesome thing to do, right? And you can't do it all. So it just makes it more important that you really keep going back to what your core mission is, what your mission statement is, what your intention is. Exactly. I mean, putting it through those two cylinders helps, meaning the health of people, health of the planet.
Starting point is 00:43:31 But then there's also what I'm just really grateful for. I've learned a lot from people reaching out, a lot of people doing incredible things to make the world, people doing incredible things to make the world, not only on the show itself, to see CO2 sequestering in Iceland where they're injecting the CO2 back in the ground and then it's creating rock and stone and that's a great way to sequester some of it. Yeah, I'd like to also support CO2 sequestering from regenerative agriculture. That makes the most sense and something that we can do right now. And, you know, Zach Bush is doing great stuff with Farmer's Footprint and all of those things. Those are the kinds of things that I want to continue to support. company called Footprint that is about a billion dollar business that no one knows about that is
Starting point is 00:44:26 supplying non-plastic for single-use plastic alternatives to the big boys. ConAgra, Pepsi, McDonald's, they're scheduled to put out billions of single-use items replacing single-use plastic. of single-use items replacing single-use plastic. That to me, those kind of relationships from the show, that fits with my mission to align, support, be ambassador for, and there's another 25 of them that I'm trying to do diligence on and all of that stuff. So yeah, it takes a lot and it's hard to say no with things like that, for sure.
Starting point is 00:45:18 We got to talk about Lourdes. Yeah. That was a trip. Yeah. You go to Lourdes and you're gonna figure out what's going on with the water there and the healing. And that episode opens up with a very tricky exchange with the chief medical doctor.
Starting point is 00:45:35 I don't know what his title is, right? Yeah. That got off to a rocky start. And it looked like he thought you were gonna make fun of him or something like what was happening there and like walk me through that. Cause then ultimately it gets back on track and that was kind of a mind blowing thing
Starting point is 00:45:51 that he communicated. Yeah, so that was a interesting, like there was so many different directions to go down with water from my scientist guys, which would have been a little dry. And so I said, well, let's go to Lourdes because I want to actually study the water. And there was a whole part where I was looking at the water and we cut it out. And then I sent the water to Dr. Gerald Pollack for him to do. And he wrote the book, The Fifth Phase of Water.
Starting point is 00:46:27 He was an incredible, he's an incredible researcher on water. He's got a foundation. They're doing extensive research. He puts a program out every year and the top scientists in the world. So number one, I wanted to learn about what the hell's going on with this water. And so we ended up at Lourdes and I knew the medical doctor existed, but I didn't want to meet him ahead of time. And so the people that I didn't know, I didn't want to meet before the cameras were on because I wanted to be completely authentic. And I don't want to throw anyone under the bus.
Starting point is 00:47:01 So the producers had set the meeting up. Obviously, we had to have an official meeting. And so this is what we're going to do. We're going to film this. And, you know, one person's an actor, the other person is kind of the facilitator here of water expert himself, which they said. And so we met him on camera. And instantly when I met him, I'm like, oh, I know that kind of guy. Like he's a brilliant, wonderful, very articulate and very proud person. And very, like I said, underscore very intelligent. So we met, cameras are rolling, we shook hands and he started, you know, he sat
Starting point is 00:47:48 back in his chair, super excited to tell us a story. You know, he had the platform. And so he started on the story and he was a great orator and it was going to be a story. And one of the producers, as he started, kind of stepped in and said, hey, could you get to the part where blah, blah, blah? And oh my God, he was insulted. Yeah. And I can understand both sides. I can understand. He just started and we set this up. And so he went from – I love the guy, by the way. And I don't hold any of that against him because of a variety of things. And he just went from zero to about a nine and a half being upset.
Starting point is 00:48:48 And so I'm like, we're done. Meaning he thought that you were taking him seriously and this might be some kind of weird hit piece or... Yeah, he was starting in to really tell us a story and he was interrupted. And then it just all triggered like, what am I doing? I am legit. I have a position that's real. I am a medically trained doctor. And he hadn't got to the point of how this actually works, right?
Starting point is 00:49:20 And how this actually works was he, with all of his medical training and a whole research, their job is to figure out if a miracle comes to them or someone thinking that this spontaneously miracle happened, his job was to figure out, did it have the criteria that they could debunk, that they could figure out, well, it wasn't spontaneous and it didn't completely go under remission. It didn't change. And there's all of our medical reasons that didn't add up to this miracle. So the science is heavy and it's long. And so as he was describing, he was trying to get there and he got interrupted and sure enough, he was pissed. And then I realized in a nanosecond that this guy's out. He's out. And Zach was like a deer in headlights. And so he was like, holy shit. And everybody was. And the producers were in the other room. It was just us and the camera guys. And so I just go, whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't care about the camera. I was like,
Starting point is 00:50:31 and it was a little longer than what we actually cut it to be. And I was just like, let me back up. This is who I am. I care about everything that you're saying. And I want to learn, that you're saying and I want to learn. Screw the cameras. Please tell me your story. And so I just reeled it back and I said, this is Zach, this is me. I've spent my lifetime in this space of learning and exploring.
Starting point is 00:50:56 And I want to know what's going on here at Lourdes and I want to know what your position is on all of this stuff. And then he sat back, calmed down, bam. Right. And that changed everything. And the producers were like, we don't know how you did that, but thank you.
Starting point is 00:51:16 Yeah. And it became, and then of course in the episode, they showed the x-rays, the mirror. It's- Right, and just to recap for people that are watching or listening, Lourdes is this place in France where people have been going for hundreds of years
Starting point is 00:51:30 to bathe themselves and imbibe this water that's lauded for its healing properties, dating back to Bernadette having this vision of the Mother Mary and being compelled to dig up this, essentially like underground spring. of the mother Mary and being compelled to dig up this, essentially like underground spring. And for, when was that? What year was that when she did that? Do you remember?
Starting point is 00:51:53 1800s or was it older than that? I think it was 1825 or so maybe. And so over the years, there are all these documented cases of people going there and being healed. So you go there and say, explain to me what's going on here. You meet with this doctor
Starting point is 00:52:08 and he's showing you x-rays and MRIs of cases that he has vetted over the years where there's no legitimate scientific explanation for how these people have healed themselves other than the fact that they have come to Lourdes and participated in this ritual of bathing in this water. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, this spring has been flowing ever since
Starting point is 00:52:32 and people drink it, they bathe in it, they come. Clearly there's an energy there. It feels like a sacred place. I mean, it's just- And that guy had like, had a massive cancer growth in his hip, right? That just ate away his entire hip bone. Yeah. So that was the one that he showed us that was one of the latest miracles. They had decades of research, a stack of research papers trying to figure out how
Starting point is 00:53:01 this happened. The guy himself apparently didn't believe in the miracle or anything, but he bathed in it and started tingling all over. And his hip was mush. There was nothing but ligaments holding his hip together because the cancer just had eaten his right side of the hip completely. And it all regenerated. And there was zero scientific evidence for them to explain it. And so what happens is once they've hit these certain criteria, then they're like, we can't explain it in any way in our modern medicine,
Starting point is 00:53:47 from every angle, from all the researchers, we can't explain it. So then they pass it to the parish, to the church, and they're like, it's now up to you whether you... So it's not the doctor's decision. His job is to try to debunk it. He runs it through this calculus of these criteria. One of which is that it has to stand the test of time, right? Like, so they look, they continue to like study these people for like a decade after they visit Lourdes. And they have to dismiss any other rationale for why this person was healed and all those other things.
Starting point is 00:54:22 Can't ever come back. Right. Yeah. It's so crazy come back. Right. Yeah. It's so crazy, man. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, so Lourdes was this place we could go to to start the conversation that many, many, I've met hundreds of scientists
Starting point is 00:54:41 that have dedicated their lives to understanding this mystery, this mystery of water. And it has so many properties. We talked about water. Yeah, we did like a whole podcast on water. Yeah, and it goes deeper and like pun intended, it goes deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. So Lourdes was this opportunity for us to go, there is a form, a structure, a quantum expression, a chemical expression, a biological expression, an influence that water has and receives and transmits and transports and everything from conduction of voltage,
Starting point is 00:55:26 which we live on, which our cells are needed, a certain voltage we need in order to have healthy cells. And you're thinking about, okay, well, all cells are through an osmotic flow of intertissual water and extratissual water. So there's an osmotic flow of intertissual water and extra tissue water. So there's a osmotic flow. And then when you talk about, I mean, just touching on this again,
Starting point is 00:55:53 because it's so fascinating when you talk about, which is why I love Dr. Gerald Pollack's work, when that water touches a hydrophilic surface, like the cell membrane, it creates energy from coming up against that surface by exchanging protons and electrons, by pushing them out, creating that what's called an exclusion zone,
Starting point is 00:56:18 a little thin layer in between the membrane and the water itself. And you're like, what? It's creating voltage. It's creating energy just by the water coming up against the surface. So that exploration is a continuous, you know this about me, it's a continuous exploration of what the hell is water and how it's structured and how it can be influenced and how it can hold ridiculous amounts of memory, physical memory, like a hard drive, a computer. It can transmit information. It can receive information. So Lourdes, going back to the show, Lourdes was dipping our toe in a little bit of what potentially water can kind of be.
Starting point is 00:57:16 And you took that water and you had it studied. That didn't make it into the show, but what were the results of that? Well, I mean, it's so hard to, so I tested it from total dissolved solids. So it had a great medium mineral content. You don't want too much. So there wasn't anything profound. There wasn't any toxins that I saw. There wasn't heavy metals. There wasn't environmental issues um and exposure from our modern day world there wasn't a lot so it was a spring it was clean it wasn't you know so there wasn't that negative side of it there was a slightly positive ph to it so it wasn't acidic so it was benefiting so when you at pH, you're also looking at voltage.
Starting point is 00:58:06 So when you have a negative voltage, you have electron giving situation. If you have a acidic situation, you have, call it a free radical. You have a scavenger trying to take from in the body. And when you have a negative voltage, you have an antioxidant essentially. So that's a very quick version. So from the pH perspective, it was like, okay, that makes sense. It's balanced. It's got electrolytes. And then I sent it off to Dr. Pollack. Unfortunately, I put it in a stainless steel jug, I sent it through, but it's so hard because it's now being influenced by all the other frequencies, by the airline trip.
Starting point is 00:58:57 And so he looked at it, we didn't get conclusive evidence, whether it had a lot of these hydrophilic properties or so, you know. There wasn't anything that immediately jumped out to you that said, this is different than any other water I've ever seen. And there's some kind of alien entity. Yeah. But that being said, this was a very crude way of looking at it. There was a lot of, there's a lot more science you could look into that from- You think Pollack would go right to the source and test it there? He has over the years been in touch with this doctor. So there's been a lot of the top scientists
Starting point is 00:59:35 and from their perspective, there is something going on with the water. I don't know what that is yet, but there has to be some sort of control of it. It's not gonna work by me putting in a thing and sending it off to Dr. Pollack and having some super molecule that is in there. But it begs the question, there is without a doubt coming from the earth in aquifer that is still flowing naturally from the source,
Starting point is 01:00:08 from the earth itself, it's obviously a better water, period. But the miraculousness, I would love to find out in my lifetime how that actually occurs. Yeah. Well, it's crazy times. You got UFOs being legitimized and all kinds of stuff. So who knows, man? Let's talk about your house burning down. I mean, I think if memory serves me, when we last did the podcast, you had just recently acquired the property and moved in, I think, on the timeline. Yeah. so you bought this incredible little hunting lodge
Starting point is 01:00:48 that had been there, when was it built? 1933. Yeah, on this pristine, beautiful patch of untouched land, deep in the hills outside of Malibu. And this was like a dream, right? To come into this place. And while you were shooting the show, the Woolsey fire happens.
Starting point is 01:01:10 And just, I mean, you were right in the thick of it, like right where the brunt of the fire just rushed right over your property and everything was scorched. Yeah. Yeah. Finishing the last episode, you know, right. So I was in the Amazon finishing this show and I knew that the,
Starting point is 01:01:35 I knew that the fire had started and then we were on the Amazon and we had no cell reception. So I was just like, well, my house has been around for a while. I'm betting on longevity. So you had heard, were you completely out of touch or you had heard that a fire had started? Yeah, so I- That there was a fire in Malibu. Yeah, so I had heard from my neighbors
Starting point is 01:02:00 and from other people in Malibu, hey, there's a fire. And I was like, okay, I'm sending good vibes, man. My house is okay. Just the ultimate lesson in powerlessness. Completely. And a little naive because I'm like, I don't know how big it is. I don't really know much about it, but I'm like know fire in malibu unfortunately is kind of common yeah so i was off uh we were in the amazon we had a lot of exploring to do and largely just when i think about it i just send good vibes and and then we were done in the amazon the funny thing is when you do the timeline, if people are watching the show, the last episode, there's a point where we as like a sage ceremony where it's cleansing your aura and negative energies.
Starting point is 01:03:07 And it was a very powerful moment. And when we looked at the timeline, pretty much exactly the time that that was going on and I was being smoked out is when my house was burning. How crazy is that? I just didn't know it. So on some level, I'm being smoked out, getting to this incredible, beautiful, meditative place while almost exactly my house is literally scorched and burning. So we leave and jump back on the boat, going down the Amazon River. And next thing I know, we get back to Iquitos, the boat ramp. And I literally turned on my phone and I had hundreds of messages. And then within about five minutes I realized, and there was pictures from my neighbor and I mean, it was an incredibly challenging thing. Like we just had been in the middle of the jungle. We just had all of these
Starting point is 01:04:26 things going on. And then not five minutes, I wasn't even off the boat and I'm sitting there stunned. And then I literally, we get in the car and I'm like, my house just burned down. I'm shocked. And I called my neighbor was the first person I said, and they picked up. And I was like, and as soon as they answered, they said, I'm so sorry. And I was like, yeah, but what was there? What? I'm so sorry. What happened? I'm so sorry. What happened? I'm so sorry, everything. What do you mean everything? I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 01:05:11 All of my house, my car, my everything, I'm so sorry. You need to call your insurance company. And then they sent pictures that they had walked down and taken and I saw. And then they sent pictures that they had walked down and taken and I saw. And that moment was just, you can't understand it in that moment. I mean, only your fireplace remained and your truck just literally melted. Yeah. And motorcycles and barns. Right.
Starting point is 01:05:40 Melted. Yeah. And motorcycles and barns. And so I received pictures and then I was in the middle of just devastation. Like I didn't. And then hearing all these messages. My mom left messages. My ex-wife left messages. All these people leaving.
Starting point is 01:06:01 I'm so sorry. And I'm trying to process like what do you mean i just lost everything like and then and then i told the crew and then a few hours later they said listen we totally understand if you want to leave and go deal with this stuff and i just sat there and i was like well what am i going to do what am i going to do? What am I going to do now? And so I just said, well, why do you think I'm here? I'm here on this mission that may look partially like a TV show. But there was a moment in Puerto Rico that didn't make the show there was
Starting point is 01:06:47 a point when the when I said that was the first place we shot when I was looking around at the devastation that happened in Puerto Rico from the hurricanes and I looked and they're putting up you know they're putting up the same infrastructure that's gonna get get wiped out again, without a doubt. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. And I'm like, you guys might have power after a year and a half, but you're as vulnerable. There's no difference. And then I was like, I'm looking around going, that's the same infrastructure we have everywhere. We're all vulnerable.
Starting point is 01:07:22 It could happen to all of us, any of us. And that was literally conscious thought from Puerto Rico. And then it literally happened to me. I lost everything from a disaster like this. And so that resolve of why I'm here became very clear, very quick, even though I'm grieving and I'm sad and I'm upset and I'm shocked. And I was like, I'm not leaving. I'm finishing this fucking show. Because I know at least a glimpse more of why I'm doing this, why I'm even here. And so I didn't leave and we continued with the show. And then I came back and then dealt with just waves and waves and waves of grief.
Starting point is 01:08:15 I reached out to Dylan and asked him, I said, Darren's coming on the podcast. What are some things that happened during the filming of the show? Because Dylan was on the production team that I might not know about that would be interesting to explore. And he said, he gave me a lot of input, but basically one of the things he said was, definitely when his house burned down, when you guys were in Iquitos,
Starting point is 01:08:38 he said that was so tragic, but somehow Darren kept his head on his shoulders and filmed and stayed positive. He was a rock the whole shoot, always a morale booster for the exhausted crew. We definitely looked up to his work ethic, his early morning workouts and constant positivity and knowledge bombs.
Starting point is 01:08:56 And the fact that like you just lost everything that you own, like your relationship to the material world was completely rocked while you're being saged in this place where people have nothing and your ability to maintain your composure, of course, amidst of emotional landmines of that and the very practical material landmines of that. And very quickly you went from, anybody would be horribly upset at this happening, but you were able to reset really quickly
Starting point is 01:09:38 and reframe the entire thing as an opportunity. And you were able to let it go, like not just give it lip service, but to like really like let it all go. So like walk me through that like journey, you know, when you come back and you have to see what has happened to the point of like, this is awesome.
Starting point is 01:10:00 Now I get to like build the house that I want. I think that grief is not something that comes easy for anybody. so intense that I think the practice of challenges helped prepare me for that moment. And the only other thing I could relate to that was more intense than that was the loss of my father. could relate to that was more intense than that was the loss of my father. And when my father passed away, it was so incredibly intense that I just told myself, let it all happen. Let the emotions happen. Don't try to do anything. I don't know where that voice came from. So I did. I let all of that emotion go and process through me. And the same thing with the house. I can't hold this tsunami of emotions back. It physically hurts to try to intellectualize what just happened. So let it happen. Let it all express itself. And it was weird, Rich. It was tricky because the whole community got hammered, friends of mine and friends of yours. And so when
Starting point is 01:11:38 I was grieving through it and realizing that I have friends, I have relationships, I have love, that was the first thing that came rushing through. And the support and the love and the hands reaching out to me was from every direction. That was like, well, this is what it's all about this is life right here and so receiving that was a gift and and then through that grief and allowing it to happen it was just like well it may feel like this happened to me but something shifted and i was like, no, this happened for me. And then once that clicked, I got so elated. It was freaky.
Starting point is 01:12:32 I know. It was weird because you were legitimately like thrilled. I was like, what is going on? I know. You're like, this is incredible. I know. And you guys were looking at me like an alien. But it clicked into, there's gonna be a lot of work ahead.
Starting point is 01:12:51 Yeah. I wasn't, that wasn't. I mean, you're in the yurt now. You've been in the yurt for longer than I thought you would be in the yurt. Like I thought this new house project would be further along than it is. I don't know what the status is, but. It's still in permit hell. But I went, this is happening to me. No, this is happening for me. Yes.
Starting point is 01:13:14 And the thing that it did was the glimpse that I got into my resolve when I thought I was passionate about contributing to the world and contributing to people and contributing to helping the planet, I paled in comparison to what this deepened inside of me. So that gift alone, I could not take that back. I would not want to take that back because it gave me, I don't know what to even call it, this sense of commitment, love, respect, resolve, passion, all of that deepened in a way that there's no way I would want to give that back. So I wouldn't want that experience not to have happened because of the gift that I was starting to receive and waves and waves and waves. And you guys and you seeing some of that stuff, I was like,
Starting point is 01:14:27 stuff, I was like, I'm freaking stoked, man, because I see something now. I see through the grief and I see a world that I want to contribute to. And I know that I can kick some ass and give it a go and use this as an opportunity to raise attention about a different way of decentralizing power, for example. There's people I know that can create clean power in a powerful way, build differently, that can protect against fire and seismic activity of earthquakes, that we can regenerate through permaculture and understanding food and food systems
Starting point is 01:15:03 and growing through our connectedness of this earth are the way we're living and the way we're not living and their health and vitality. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All of that stuff was rushing in in a way that I thought I knew, but was coming in so powerfully that changed my life and I'm grateful for it. So living in the yurt, no problem. Yeah. Still going for it. It's more you anyway than a hunting lodge. You know what I mean? You're living in this yurt, so you have this sort of minimalistic lifestyle. And at the same time, the project of re-imagining and reconstructing a domicile for you is like a project and a symbol
Starting point is 01:15:50 and a means for you to bring your values into greater alignment with your actions, right? Like you can create this structure that reflects everything about who you are, being off the grid and with the water and with the power and all that kind of stuff. But you're also butting up against the status quo in a big way. Like I know you've this battle that you're waging right now, just to try to create something that is off grid is something no one wants to hear about, right? Like you're like, I don't want to use the power from the pole. I'm going to do it this way. And they're like, well, you can't, right? Like the systemic nature of how we live is so powerful that it almost doesn't permit you to do things a better way. Yeah, and quote unquote,
Starting point is 01:16:35 the normal person has no other options. Cause we haven't invested into our world that way. We have been reliant upon these monolithic monopolies that are like, okay, if I build a house, I got to use this company Edison or PG&E or these other big monopolies. And they put up these god awful poles and they string these lines and it clicks to our house. And then we have a smart meter that blasts us with EMF, and blah, blah, blah, it goes on and on and on. And I was like, number one,
Starting point is 01:17:12 these freaking guys didn't give me temporary power. They had me jumping through all these freaking hoops. So I just said, screw you guys. I'm not taking your power. I'm going to build a yurt. I'm going to get it off grid, and I'm going to use solar panel. I'm going to use some battery systems, and I'm going to have everything I need. I'm going to get it off grid. I'm going to use solar panel. I'm going to use some battery systems and I'm going to have everything I need.
Starting point is 01:17:27 I'm not living without air conditioning and beautiful bathroom and kitchen. It's a nice yurt. Yeah. I'm going to live and I'm going to also explore that we don't have to live, not that there's anything wrong with it, like we're living just in a tent
Starting point is 01:17:46 without these beautiful parts of our modern day world where it's comfortable and clean and all of that stuff. I wanna put attention that we can decentralize this power because I'm not taking power from any monopoly ever again. I'm not taking. So when I build the beautiful, sustainable house, the one that's gorgeous and looks like a piece of art and has all of this stuff in it,
Starting point is 01:18:18 I'm not living in a tent. I'm living in a beautiful structure. I'm never taking power again. So there's other ways, and it's way beyond solar. And this is a whole nother conversation that you and I will have when I start really getting into these power systems that will blow people's minds.
Starting point is 01:18:36 Again, that people are doing that we don't know about. A little bit on this show, like you realize there's some great people and countries doing incredible things. If we knew more about that stuff, we could, as a populace, invest and understand and educate ourselves around that and not have these monopolies largely being the result of this fire, right? For example, that changed our community forever. So no, I'm gonna spend time, energy, and resources into decentralizing.
Starting point is 01:19:11 Decentralize our food so it can be food sovereignty. Decentralize our power so we can have power sovereignty. And start to figure out different ways to cultivate water, right? And there's ways, believe me, there's ways that you can cultivate from 2% humidity and you can create drinkable water right now. There's a lot of different things that we can do to create freedoms back again, because I don't know about you, but there's some freedoms for some good reasons for right now and some not good reasons that are going on as we speak that are not promoting our freedom.
Starting point is 01:19:54 So I don't need to be- But it's the subtle ones that we're not even consciously aware of that are the ones that are more problematic that we need to pay more attention to. And I think that the power thing is a great example of that. I mean, I remember I came down to your house to visit you maybe a year ago or something like that. And it was an ongoing frustration because they wouldn't give you temporary power, right?
Starting point is 01:20:16 Like, I don't know what was going on there, but I go to your house, you don't have temporary power, but it was either, I think it was Edison had brought all its trucks down and they're like trimming the trees around the poles where the wires were. And you were like, I was like, what are these guys doing here?
Starting point is 01:20:33 You're like, hey, you went out there and you were livid. You're like, I don't even have power here. I don't want your power. What are you doing here cutting my trees? Like get off my property. You remember that? I remember that. The timing of you, you were like behind. Totally. You remember that? I remember that. The timing of you, you were like behind the truck or something.
Starting point is 01:20:49 I was stuck. Like, cause you have this tiny little winding, I mean, to get to where you live is like a whole ordeal, right? And there isn't room for a car to pass another car on your winding long driveway. That was a funny moment. That, because that was the culmination of them not giving me power when I desperately needed to be back on my property. So everything that LA County and Malibu County basically said they were going to do, they weren't doing.
Starting point is 01:21:20 So I'm fighting with going, wow, they're not going to give me temporary property. I can't inhabit my own property. So I'm jumping through hoop after hoop. They want this now. They want this now. They want this now. They're making me do all these things. I'm like, give me fucking temporary power.
Starting point is 01:21:35 I want to be back on my property. I want my dog back who's displaced and can't be with me right now. Give me my life back. And bureaucratically, they didn't care. So that moment was a funny moment when you showed up and I'm like, they just rolled into my property, didn't tell me, and started cutting down sacred oak trees for wires that weren't even turned on. Right. So I raced back. I called them immediately saying, tell me that these wires don't have power. Okay, hold on. We'll get back to you. They don't have power. Yes, they don't have power. They're not turned on. Okay, great.
Starting point is 01:22:22 Take your power lines down. I've never told you it's okay. Get them off my property. And also these people are cutting my trees down. Get them out of here. So I think we all can relate to that. We all have this beautiful, convenient world, but there's, you know, I use this term all the time, there's fatal conveniences. In this respect, if my power goes out, I have no power sovereignty if I rely on these things. Monopolies and these systems that are failing, they failed Puerto Rico. They failed me. They failed our community.
Starting point is 01:23:08 We have to do something different we have to do everything we can pun intended to get our power back our individual power we need to invest into these other systems that do not have it all intertwined with one or two people making decisions for everybody. Yeah, power being more than just electricity, but a symbol of personal agency in our lives. Yeah, yeah. How has the age of COVID and coronavirus affected your daily routine? Walk me through the Darren O'Lean day in the life of hydration and nutrition and fitness. Well, I mean, obviously the intensity of the moment doesn't escape us, but my daily life is largely not different.
Starting point is 01:24:10 You're as socially distant from other people as anybody I know. Yeah. I mean, just geographically where you live. Yeah, and it's also part of understanding how I work powerfully in the world. I do need nature. I do need nature. I do need to repower myself up. I do need to step away in order for me to then step in and kick some butt. But yeah, so I'm grateful I've cultivated a life where I'm not next to people in buildings and Wi-Fi signals and that intensity.
Starting point is 01:24:45 So my heart goes out to people in this challenging time where you're like stuck. I'm not. And with that, I don't look at that lightly. I'm trying to do, I'm as busy as I've ever been. I'm as structured and as scheduled as I've ever been. And because I want to contribute, I want to continue to help people live a healthy life. So I wake up, I wake up early. You're on the eight to four program still.
Starting point is 01:25:18 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So I get my water action. I start – He's got some show and tell. I got my blue bottle. So this is a great company. This is where glass bottles get away from single-use plastic. I filter my water like crazy.
Starting point is 01:25:40 All the water filters into my house. This is a cool company because of the frequency of the blue. The light passing through the blue does what to the water? Helps structures the water in a way that's a similar frequency as a healthy cell. So healthy cell is between negative 25 and 35 microvolts. Right, so that light passing through helps to structure that water. negative 25 and 35 microvolts, right? So that light passing through helps to structure that water.
Starting point is 01:26:13 It creates a energetic signature that is similar to that, which is a healthy cell, okay? When you get injured, the body uses more energy to ramp up the voltage, literally, so that the healing can happen. When you're acidic and not eating well and not eating enough plants, your voltage literally drops, right? Eighth grade class took two voltage meters in a potato and you turn a light on. That's as simple as it is, right? So boom, drink my water.
Starting point is 01:26:38 I've got some On Demand hydrogen water. What's the name of that bottle? This is a company called Blue Bottle Love. And I happen to have love on the bottle. So this works with Dr. Emoto. Masuriyo Moto, right? Yeah, exactly. So he did a lot of research around the structure of water.
Starting point is 01:26:56 And this was just his way of showing that their water is informed, right? So he wrote the love and hate and all of this stuff and realize that the water is structured by that influence. So, Hey, whether you believe it or not, it feels good to look down and drink water. That's filled, you know, that's, that's bathing in love. And then I also have, uh, you know, so I have a lot of technology around, uh, water, but then, um, what is your particular water filtration system that you use? Yeah. So I filter all around water, but then- What is your particular water filtration system that you use? Yeah, so I filter all the water coming into the house. So every bit of water goes through
Starting point is 01:27:35 three phase filters and then it vortates. So the great work of Schauberger back in the early 1900s, he was an observer and researcher of nature and he realized that water vortates. It's healthy when it structures itself. It doesn't move in a straight line nor is it good when it's stagnant. So, my water is filtered and then it goes through a vortator. So, it structures the water as it's coming into the house. So, then it's just a nice little RO system, so reverse osmosis. So it's taking out pharmaceuticals, taking out fluorides and chlorines and volatile compounds that interact with those things. And then my final filter system,
Starting point is 01:28:21 it goes into an on-demand hydrogen creating machine. So hydrogen is one of the great antioxidants, stabilizers of free radicals in nature. So that's pretty much what this is. And then it's in a glass bottle. So it's literally like a three-stage, four-stage process where you have multiple filtration systems before the water ends up in that blue bottle. Yeah. Plus I have a well too. So what well is pretty. And you get all the water from the well. Yeah. Right. And so yeah, it's pretty. So my whole. For people that are into digging into that more, do you have links for the particular types of filters that you use that we could put in the show notes? We're devising a FAQ because that's a big-
Starting point is 01:29:08 Well, after your water episode on the show, I'm sure a lot of people wanna know more about that. We'll get that to you. And if people are overwhelmed with just hearing that, I mean, you basically just a reverse osmosis, couple hundred bucks. Is that the most important of all of these? Like if somebody wants to just start, like where's the focus? Yeah, because the RO is a particular size of filter
Starting point is 01:29:33 that won't allow those particulates to go through the dangerous ones, the pharmaceuticals and the things that are ending up in our water. So it filters out that. Or you can also distill the water. So distillation through evaporation and then recondensing, clearly that's a good one. But your water sommelier in the show said no bueno to that. Yeah, so that's where him and I conflict a bit.
Starting point is 01:29:59 And we weren't able to have a discussion enough that would make it in the show. But he's not wrong. There's just some nuance to it. Not everyone can buy a bottle water from who knows where. But some of those high. Catalonia. So let's define TDS again, total dissolved solids.
Starting point is 01:30:22 In our modern day world, there's a lot of junk as a total dissolved solids. In our modern day world, there's a lot of junk as a total dissolved solid. There's pharmaceuticals, there's chlorine, there's fluorides, there's volatile nitrates, there's a bunch of stuff. So the TDS number alone is not a valid indicator because it doesn't calibrate the quality of the TDS. Right, exactly. It's just a total.
Starting point is 01:30:46 If in nature, it was just TDS, it would just be mainly minerals, right? Unless some dirt was in there. So TDS is important, but it's important not to have the volatile compounds. If you turn on your tap, you're having many of those volatile compounds. Now, the good thing about the modern day world,
Starting point is 01:31:04 you're putting chlorine in there so it can make it all the way to you and not have bacteria that literally is gonna kill you. So there's nothing wrong with what we've done, but it hasn't got out everything. And by exposing yourself to those chemicals and those interactive volatile compounds, those are what you need to strip out.
Starting point is 01:31:25 So that's the distinction difference between TDS. So super high TDS that he obviously showed on the show, that is not a sustainable way of getting hydration. incredible kind of almost medicinal sides of water that are just there to facilitate something and be exposed to, but not on a long-term way to be hydrated. Definitely not. So for the most part, none of us have free exposure to clean spring water. Number one, if you have clean tested spring water, number one choice, without a doubt. But most of us don't, which is why I then go, well, you have to deconstruct that water.
Starting point is 01:32:13 You gotta get rid of that crap so that you can build it back up again, which is why I say distill your water and reverse osmosis. And then- You can like remineralize it. So then you can remineralize it and a pinch of Himalayan crystal salt does what? It adds the minerals and the electrolytes again, for what?
Starting point is 01:32:36 So voltage can happen because that is how you hydrate and that is how you maintain healthy cells. So again, you go back to voltage, you go back to frequency. If you have distilled water, has no voltage, right? So that's just where that little pinch. So that's the easy thing for people do, RO, distill, add a pinch of Himalayan crystal salt. And then if you wanna start exploring,
Starting point is 01:33:01 stay away from single use plastic, start to get maybe a little into the structuring side of the water, help to influence that water a little bit, shake it up, maybe get a little more oxygenation in there. Water doesn't like to be just sitting around. So yeah, so that's a little bit on what to do. So anyway, it always seems to be the long part of my morning routine is water. Well, hydration is your whole thing. I mean, the point being like we're under hydrated.
Starting point is 01:33:34 If people truly understood the power, the potency, the importance of hydration, it could really revolutionize your health. Yeah, I mean, one of the number one cause of fatigue, retention, brain loss, the dementia and Alzheimer's definitely have a dehydrative component to that. When you look at the stats, I even mentioned this in my book, 7% of 300 million people don't even drink an ounce of water a day, Rich. That's like, how is that possible? I know. Because what's happened, what I believe is happening, when you wake up, your body
Starting point is 01:34:11 has used that water, it's trying to repair the brain and the central nervous system and get out the toxins. You wake up, you're fatigued, you're tired. You reach for what you think you need energy for. So you reach for your coffee, your stimulants and everything else. And then you're in that cycle, but you're not actually reaching for water. And so the brain and the being is so powerful that it will shut off that signal of just intense thirst so that you can actually have enough mental capacity to primally try to find water again, but we're not. We're grabbing for the other stimulants again. So it's a crazy thing that the body's so adaptive that we literally will pass on dehydrated blueprints epidemiologically to your children. Because if you have trained yourself that this is a desert, I'm not drinking any water,
Starting point is 01:35:08 then your body has to shut down certain systems. The skin's definitely gonna start to fail your eyesight. Your brain activity is gonna be less. You're gonna be fatigued. And if you've been doing that, you're gonna pass that on to your children. Like an epigenetic way, you mean? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:35:26 Yeah, I mean, if you take one thing away from this podcast, it's start your day with a liter of water. 100%. Yeah. So then, from there, I just play a lot of elixirs and adaptogens and things like that. And then I have my morning routine and I get very clear on what I want to do and my passions and alignments and meditative places.
Starting point is 01:35:53 I go to breathing routines. It may seem like a lot, but it isn't. It's very efficient. And then it's just getting clear on what I want to do. And then I work out and that's a lot of- By the time you finished the morning workout, you've lived an entire day. You get up at four, this process begins.
Starting point is 01:36:15 And by 10 a.m. you're ready to start your day, but you've already had a whole day. Yeah, so that's when I'll take, like maybe make a ridiculously huge bowl of like fruit and smoothie and throw a ton of barucas on top. And that's when I'll have my first meal after I've done all that. And you live alone with Chaga, your dog. So you have the ability to control your environment in a way that a lot of people don't. How was it when you were doing the show and you had to go to all these crazy places?
Starting point is 01:36:45 Like I gathered from at least in Iceland, trying to eat plant-based there, looked like it might've been a little bit of a challenge. Yeah, I mean, you do realize throughout, all of these traveling around, you realize that certain cultures it's a lot more difficult. But luckily the word was out. So all these people and chefs
Starting point is 01:37:08 and they made sure that it wasn't challenging. But yeah, I mean, I don't make it a big deal when people wanna eat whatever they want, that's on them. I thought it was interesting in the show. The point is made like, oh, you're vegan, but it's not belabored. It's not about that. And you're not like trying to make that at the forefront
Starting point is 01:37:33 of what the show is about specifically. Yeah, I mean, listen, I've talked, I just want to lead by an example and also demystify that you can live a healthy, strong life eating plants. Yeah. I mean, it's ridiculous that that is not perceived even that you can get all the nutrients you want from an infinitely more.
Starting point is 01:38:03 So I don't like to hammer that in people, but I still kick ass and love it. Well, you out sprinted Zach out in the field in France. Yeah. Yeah. And this team's- How did the plant-based diet rub off on him? Listen, he's been in and out of that for a while. I think it's just, you got to commit, man. You got to commit to anything. And being an, this isn't a Zach comment per se, but I've been around a lot of actors and you go in and out of these micro worlds and it can be draining. If you don't prepare and plan in and out of this intensity, then you can flip and flop all the time. I saw it in my wife too, my ex-wife as an actress.
Starting point is 01:38:50 So he believes in plants and medicinal plants for sure. And he largely has been eating a lot of plants and mostly plants. But I think for the show, he felt a little pressure too to like, well, these chefs and they're gonna make us all this stuff. So I should- Yeah, yeah, yeah. What else you got in your show and tell down there? You got some barucas?
Starting point is 01:39:14 Oh my God, dude. So this isn't even the right bag. Notice I put cacao. I'm gonna have you eat this. You wrote it in pen. So this is- So last time you were on the podcast, this company had essentially recently launched.
Starting point is 01:39:27 Barucas, the Baru Nut Company that are these incredibly delicious, nutritious nuts that you've sourced from the Cerrado in Brazil. And these things are unbelievably delicious. Yeah. You can't believe how good they taste. And then when you look at their nutritional profile, it's insane.
Starting point is 01:39:48 It's insane. So this dude. Is that your butter? This is the new butter. So we put a wild cashew with barucas before and I told them, listen, give me some time. Let me make a butter. I want you to try that.
Starting point is 01:40:04 Yeah, slide that over. I want you to try that. Yeah, slide that over. I want you to try that. That is the best. So that's coming out. That is a Baruca butter with a little coconut oil. Coconut oil. Cinnamon? No, it's got the fruit of the Barucas in there.
Starting point is 01:40:22 That's the crunchy stuff. And then a little bit of lo hangau, which is called monk fruit. So it adds a little extra sweet to it. So that's coming out very soon, probably when this launches. Yeah. And then this one. Oh, my God. So you're going to mass produce this.
Starting point is 01:40:38 Yeah. Those are from the factory in Brazil. That's so much better than peanut butter or almond butter. from the factory in brazil i made so much better than peanut butter or almond butter coconut oil burruna and the fruit and the and the fruit of the barucas right it's like wow perfect combo so this dude try some of those so now this is fair trade cacao covered oh my barucas so these are this is the superfood equivalent of chocolate-covered peanuts. Oh, yeah, man. And it tastes infinitely better.
Starting point is 01:41:13 Wow. Those are crazy. So for anyone who doesn't know, the barucas is one of those companies where I found this nut. It was basically offered to me and said, do you know about it? No, I don't. I looked into it. I explored it.
Starting point is 01:41:35 I saw the nutritional profile. I actually didn't believe it because it was so superior than any nut that's ever been tested. So we tested it, got our own nutritional data, blew all the nuts away, complete protein, three times more fiber, 400% more antioxidants than almonds. It's a wild food. It's very rare to be eating wild food these days, right?
Starting point is 01:42:05 So it's naturally collected throughout the Sahara, supporting all these indigenous foragers. Not just supporting them, but basically creating a buffer, like a preventative zone to compete against the encroaching cattle ranchers who want to clear this land. Yeah. the encroaching cattle ranchers who wanna clear this land. Yeah, and also going back to the cattle ranchers that also have it going, hey, we'll give you trees to plant some of these back so that you have shade for your cattle. And so we're starting to those conversations.
Starting point is 01:42:36 So it supports the people, it supports people by eating it because it's so nutrient dense and it's delicious. And we're planting trees and also other biodiverse plants in the Sahara again, because the Sahara people don't realize it's being destroyed faster than any landmass on the planet. So for unsustainable- We don't hear a lot about the Sahara,
Starting point is 01:43:00 we hear about the Amazon. I know. But the Sahara is like a, it's more, it's a dryer kind of is like a, it's more, it's a drier kind of plane-like environment, right? Yeah. So most of the plant- The biomass is underground. The biomass is underground. So you have the Badozeta tree has got a very deep taproot and that's where the beruka comes from and it taps the aquifer below. So it doesn't need this auxiliary water. So this is all, again, it's wild. There's no pesticides, herbicides,
Starting point is 01:43:32 there's no irrigation inputs. It's from the wild. And so we're getting to support that natural biome and then actually help planting the trees. So our basic motto is every five pounds we sell, we plant a tree. And so we're super proud of that and getting this out. And again, this is again a no-brainer. We had to create our business model this way. And this is where we all have to go, in supporting the people, supporting the environment, and supporting the customers that are getting a nutrient-dense food.
Starting point is 01:44:15 The trick with these things is they come encased in a massive shell, like the fruit, right? It's unbelievably hard. And you have to like, essentially, historically, they've done this one by one, right? By hand. And the trick is trying to figure out a way to scale this so that you can like devise some kind of machine to do it or what's going on with that? Yeah. So we're still, I mean, we've made progress, but we're still trying to continue to develop better and better mechanisms to crack that shell. You can't use existing nut cracking because different sizes, different kind
Starting point is 01:44:54 of shell, we're shaving the fruit from the outside and using the fruit. But historically, they used to, thousands of years ago, they'd take the whole fruit. So when I say the whole fruit, it's got the fruit layer, it's got the shell, it's got one seed. Right, one per thing, yeah. Yeah, and you can't- It's unbelievably labor intensive for one seed. And you can't pick it early. It has to fall because it doesn't actually develop the seed until at the very end.
Starting point is 01:45:24 It has to fall because it doesn't actually develop the seed until at the very end. And so they pick it up and typically they put it around a fire. And then on the outside of the fire, it would roast it overnight. And then it was easier to break open. Then they would eat it. But when we showed up, they were like hitting them with rocks and machetes and things like that. So we've started to automate using hydraulics and other things like that. So we're continuing to develop.
Starting point is 01:45:59 But yeah, it's creating an economy that was largely these doors were being lost. I mean, these people are shutting their doors to this even within the country. So we're super proud that we have allowed for this indigenous plant to still be around and then to develop it in the country itself because we're very happy that we're starting to distribute all throughout Brazil too. It's not just bring it here and sell it. We're selling it all throughout. What about the trail mix? Did you bring any of that? Oh, I didn't. The trail mix.
Starting point is 01:46:27 That stuff is so good. Yeah, sorry. So the trail mix- It's also like an amazing breakfast cereal. It's unbelievable. 100%. So the trail mix for everyone listening is the nut with the fruit layer that's dried and we add it together and it's just a ridiculous combination.
Starting point is 01:46:43 This is basically like direct to consumer right now. I mean, it's in some retail outlets, right? Yeah, we're following. You can just go to the website and find it. Yeah, the website's there, barucas.com. And then you've got a promo code and a discount code, I think. I think so. What is it?
Starting point is 01:47:01 I should know that. Yeah. I don't know. It's probably barucas.com slash richroll, I suspect, but I'll put it in the show notes. Yeah. So, and we love your customers because they care. They care about the environment. They care about their nutrition.
Starting point is 01:47:17 And they care about the way we're sustainably working with this important, not only business model, but this sacred nut that we've got to support. It's cool. Yeah. So how's the podcast journey been for you? Oh, man. How many episodes have you done now?
Starting point is 01:47:40 I think by us talking here, I think it's 13 or 14 episodes. Welcome to the club. Thank you. Yeah, it was great timing. I mean, I have a- I mean, for you to launch it, essentially just have like, how many episodes did you have out when the show launched?
Starting point is 01:48:01 I don't know, maybe eight, nine. I mean, I know that it wasn't, that timing wasn't by design, but it was brilliant. Yeah. That you did those things together. Yeah, I was working on the podcast for a while, as you know, and just figuring it out, I had this great company, Amplify, out of Australia,
Starting point is 01:48:22 who's the engineers behind it. So they took off that burden and that labor. And so I just started getting used to just interviewing people and doing that stuff. And so I had a bunch in the can. And again, the TV show was supposed to come out a year ago. Right. And so it was just by divine plan that this all just lined up together. I launched the 121 Tribe app, which is some recipes and functional training and information and water tracking and the podcast.
Starting point is 01:48:56 It all just – and then we got the – I didn't know when Netflix was going to launch it. We all didn't know. And then all of a sudden, the last minute, they give us this date. And I'm like, wow, okay. People think that you have control over those things. No, no. You had no idea. Which is why I was like, well, okay.
Starting point is 01:49:16 So I'm potentially developing another TV show. I'm staying focused on the podcast. I'm going to get that out. I'm going to stay focused on this one-to-one tribe app. I'm just going to keep creating because I am dedicated to what I'm doing. And then I'm working on the sustainable stuff on the side, not really on the side, but on the forefront. But it takes a long time to develop some of these energy tech solutions with these groups. And so I just creating and just happened. Well, it's a great example of luck
Starting point is 01:49:48 and hard work meets opportunity and luck, right? Like you just were plowing ahead, not waiting, sitting around waiting for the Netflix show to come out. Like you created all this other stuff and divine timing kind of coincided to have these things all percolate right around the same time and sort of feed each other.
Starting point is 01:50:07 Yeah, it's amazing. It's cool. Yeah. But the podcast, you seem like you're having fun with it. I love it. You know, listen, dude, I mean, you know, being here with you, like just us talking and getting into stuff about things we care about, I love it.
Starting point is 01:50:24 And there's voices that haven't been heard and there's stories within every person. Using this microphone as a conscious collaborator and ear to our conversation is fantastic. And I love it. And I'm learning, as you know, so much and exploring and my entrepreneurial brain and DNA is just like, oh my God, let's do more stuff with all of these great people. So yeah, I'm enjoying it a lot.
Starting point is 01:51:00 I think what you can bring to this that I haven't seen yet is shining a light on some of these amazing people that you know because of all the travels that you've gone on and people that no one's ever heard of who are like doing incredible things super obscurely. And you can be like, tell everyone about this, right? Yeah. I mean, if people want to check out like a perfect example of that is episode number two with my buddy Chris Patton. You can't even Google search him. Nothing will show up. And this guy's been dedicated to the planet and clean energy tech for 20 years. And his life is centered around the civil unrest in Western Africa in the 90s when it blew up.
Starting point is 01:51:43 And he was stabbed and he was shot and he lost all his friends and he survived it. Is this the Blood Diamond guy? This is the Blood Diamond guy. So he sold his rights of part of that journey into what was now the Blood Diamond movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. And yeah, they took some liberties and made it into a blood diamond situation, but that wasn't what he was doing. But it was that, and then he spent the next 20 years
Starting point is 01:52:13 dedicating his life to figuring out what energy systems from underground Russian scientists to obscure Tesla technology and his own science team and working directly with NASA and developing technology of lunar habitat, power systems. From what we know now,
Starting point is 01:52:35 it's the only power systems that they've signed off on. So this guy, and I've known him for 17 years, and we resonate in this way of commitment, I think. He's utterly committed to not having this planet fall apart in our hands to create better uses of non-nuclear, no emissions, no waste power systems. And he's done it. And I can't wait to scream from the highest mountaintops on what he's doing and what we're involved with. Yeah, more guys like that, right?
Starting point is 01:53:15 Yeah. Cool. Well, I can't let you go without leaving people with a couple of things that they can take with them. The show did such a great job of talking about a lot of the stuff that you care about in a very macro sense. Like we go to Iceland and we see how they're generating sustainable power, but it's like, all right, well, what can I do? How do I translate that into something actionable in my day-to-day life. So I think it would be great through the lens of sustainability and personal health to leave people with a couple simple practices that they could
Starting point is 01:53:52 think about and perhaps integrate into their lives that would help them. Well, I think that's more clear. Thank you. And I think more clear than ever, people need to be healthy. They need to stop distracting themselves and eat more plants and figure out a program that's gonna work and get healthy because we need strong people to do that. Give me a little vegan bicep flex right now. There you go.
Starting point is 01:54:19 Come on, dude. So we need strong, healthy, happy people, non-judgmentally kicking ass in their life. And I really believe that's the purpose of health so that you can kick ass in your life and have the fulfilling life you want so you're not miserable with a chemistry set that isn't working.
Starting point is 01:54:40 So find a different way. If it's your app, if it's my app, the one1 Tribe, if it's finding a group of people, even online or whatever that you can move and explore and just find recipes that work, eat better, hydrate yourself. That's the easiest one. I think environmentally, and it may feel like people have heard this before, but single-use plastic, my God, we need to stop. Quit buying cartons and containers and water bottles that you're literally just use pyrolysis and break down the plastic and turning into fuel for your Tesla, which actually exists. So I'm mentioning it for a reason. Unless you have that technology, stop using the single-use plastic. Do everything you can.
Starting point is 01:55:40 And this goes hand in hand to that is start being aware of the unsustainable business practices of companies and big companies and support and maybe pay a little extra money for your food, for your conveniences, to support companies that are doing things right, supporting companies that are being transparent with what they're doing and what they're offering. And that is absolutely something you can do right now and demand that. Support those small, of course right now, support the small businesses right now. And if anything, I know so many more from all of them reaching out from the show that there's great people doing incredible things
Starting point is 01:56:25 that people don't know about. So look at your dental floss, that glide dental floss that is creating, putting toxins in your liver by this chemicals of PGAs and all of this other, stop using that company because that company doesn't give a shit about you. Use a bamboo string or whatever.
Starting point is 01:56:48 That's literally what I'm saying. Stop the toxic exposure to yourself and your life and support companies that are actually giving a shit about you. to put attention on what needs attention and stop putting your hard-earned money and attention on companies that don't care and have never cared. People are busy. They don't want to, or they don't have the bandwidth to devote the energy and time to trying to figure out
Starting point is 01:57:20 who's doing things right and who isn't. Are there any resources that you rely on to figure that out? Like, where do you go to learn? Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, I'm trying to mobilize and use a sub part of the app as that, kind of a wellness warrior ambassador program.
Starting point is 01:57:38 I don't know the name yet, but we have started an outline to create attention towards brands that are doing things right, create current events and charities and organizations that are doing things right. So I'm just now starting that. I'm starting that with the Generation Z kids so that they can mobilize themselves in that direction. But no, I don't know. And this is something that we all need to know a little bit more about, not being preached to, but replacing those things that we're doing on a daily basis, because we're using single-use plastic way too much and we can stop that. And we're also just not aware of,
Starting point is 01:58:29 that's why I do a segment on the podcast called Fatal Conveniences, where I reveal some of these things that you don't even realize you're doing to then have this chemical that you're being exposed to, but then have a solution for it. So we do need to move in that direction. And all the listeners, please reach out to me and reach out to Rich and give us suggestions because I definitely want to support that movement. Yeah. I watched this movie the other night called An American Pickle with Seth Rogen. It premiered on HBO. And the young Seth Rogen plays two characters, plays his great grandfather and great grandson at the same time. And the great grandson is like
Starting point is 01:59:11 this kid living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He's an app developer and he's working on this app that he came up with that is that very thing where you hold your phone up, the camera on your phone, and you hold it up to a product. and then it runs it through some calculus and database and comes up with a score and gives you its environmental footprint and impact and ingredients and toxins and all of that. And I was like, we should have that. That should be a thing that exists in the world.
Starting point is 01:59:39 Absolutely. You know? Let's do it. Maybe there's some version of that out there. If somebody knows, let me know, because I would like to know. Let's do it. And maybe's some version of that out there. If somebody knows, let me know, because I would like to know. Let's do it. Maybe you should build that, Darren. Maybe we should build it. Maybe you should call Seth Rogen,
Starting point is 01:59:50 see how he did it. Okay, I'll call Seth Rogen. I know, I can get to him. Yeah, okay. Good man. I love you, brother. Thank you so much for doing this. I'm so proud of you.
Starting point is 02:00:02 Your success is so overdue and well-earned. I mean, what year did Superlife come out? Like four or five years ago? Yeah, the end of 15. Have there been, how many other books came out and then made the New York Times bestseller list like five years later? I don't know. I mean, that's the funny thing. It's so cool. And thank you. And, you know, I think you remember, I chose to just take an organic route with the book. Just like, just let it out and let it have its own.
Starting point is 02:00:36 I didn't wanna, you know, there's a weird world. It happened because it was supposed to happen, not because you forced it. Yeah. You know, and there's a beautiful lesson in that, I think. Yeah. Yeah, man. But I thank you and this full circle of the show kind of being birthed by our conversation here because of Zach heard something that you allowed me to share from and the space that you provide,
Starting point is 02:01:07 I see your opening and your ability to constantly have incredible conversations with people. And I'm proud of you because I know also that you've stretched yourself to have the success and had vulnerability in order to expand to this level. I remember those conversations and I'm equally proud of you. Yeah, thanks, brother. It's been a journey. Yeah. Proud to take it and blaze it with you. Yeah, man.
Starting point is 02:01:40 So you're welcome here anytime. Proud to be your friend and keep rocking it, man. I plan on it. So if you wanna connect with Darren, at Darren O'Lean on his Instagram, it's blowing up like crazy. The book is Super Life. Baruchas, baruchas.com, some kind of promo code maybe.
Starting point is 02:01:58 I'll let you guys know. And what else, man? The 121 Tribe app, which is pretty cool. 121tribe.com. Yep, people can go there. There's three free days. You can get some movement, plants, some breathing stuff, and you can check it out.
Starting point is 02:02:14 You can buy it if you want, but it's free. And down to earth on Netflix. Down to earth. And I was gonna ask you, what do you have coming up? But that's like another three hour podcast. Yep. So just an excuse to have you come back. A hundred percent.
Starting point is 02:02:30 All right. Peace, brother. Love you. Peace. Love you too. Glance. Killer human, that Darren O'Lean.
Starting point is 02:02:40 Hope you guys enjoyed that. I just love that guy. Be sure to give him a follow on the socials. He's at underscore Darren O'Lean on Instagram where he's exploding. He's also at Darren O'Lean on Twitter, but Instagram is really his jam. Check out his books, Super Life, his podcast,
Starting point is 02:02:55 The Darren O'Lean Show, 121tribe.com and visit barucas.com slash richroll to receive 15% off one of the tastiest superfoods and also the most nutritious I've ever tried in my life. And as always, visit the show notes on the episode page at richroll.com to dive deeper into Darren's world and all the amazing subjects we discussed today. If you'd like to support the work we do here on the show, subscribe, rate, and comment on the program. You can do that on Apple Podcasts. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hit that little bell, that notification bell on YouTube, so you can be alerted when one of our
Starting point is 02:03:30 many videos every week pops up. And also subscribe on Spotify. You can share the show or your favorite episodes with friends or on social media. I love that. And you can support us on Patreon at richroll.com forward slash donate. I want to thank everybody who helped put on today's show. Jason Camiello for audio engineering, production, show notes, and interstitial music. Blake Curtis for videoing today's show and creating all the video clips we share on social media. Jessica Miranda for graphics. Davey Greenberg for his amazing portraits. And that's the DK for advertiser relationships and theme music by Tyler Trapper and Hari, my boys. Thanks for the love,
Starting point is 02:04:06 you guys. See you back here in how long? A couple of days, I think. Well, we have another roll-on scheduled, but Adam Skolnick's wife is about to go into labor at any minute. So we'll see what happens. If he's having a baby, there might not be a podcast and we'll have to figure out what to do. In any event, hopefully we will be on schedule and on time. If not, we'll figure out something else to do. Until then, treat yourselves right. Get outside, nourish yourselves, love one another. Expand, be empathetic,
Starting point is 02:04:42 share what you've learned along the way. And be grateful. Peace. Plants. Namaste. Thank you.

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