Better Circles

We're back for Season 2, and it's a new era for Into!

Welcome back, for Season 2 of Better Circles - now also in video format, so if that's your thing, head over to youtube.com/@BetterCircles [https://www.youtube.com/@BetterCircles] In our first episode of 2026 (though we recorded it in late 2025), Luke and Fi chat about some big changes happening at Into, as well as Fi's new column in Renew magazine, Luke's experiments transforming marathon trash into plogging bags, and we get into what's making us feel hopeful, existential, and connected… sometimes all at once.   If you want to follow up on things we talked about, here are some handy links: * Into wins a Good Design Award in the Social Impact category: https://good-design.org/projects/__trashed-20/ [https://good-design.org/projects/__trashed-20/] * Rutger Bregman's book Moral Ambition: https://rutgerbregman.com/ [https://rutgerbregman.com/] * Fi's Renew magazine column: https://renew.org.au/ [https://renew.org.au/] * Luke's plogging bag experiment: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQvyGXDACw_/ [https://www.instagram.com/p/DQvyGXDACw_/]  And if you're in or near Collingwood, Victoria, on 9 Feb 2026, come to Into to support Luke's fundraising for the Bob Brown Foundation Takayna run: https://takayna.org/screening/into-carry-screening-collingwood/ [https://takayna.org/screening/into-carry-screening-collingwood/]

Kunal Khanna: From compost king to film festival director

Kunal’s the Compost (and Kombucha) King of a permaculture farm in India; co-founder and director of All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT-EFF), the largest decentralised film festival in the world; and a service designer tackling waste systems in Melbourne… and that’s not everything! Much like a screening of ALT-EFF, this chat left Fi and Luke inspired, energised and ready to take action, and we hope you feel the same way. We also promised a fact check for this episode. Kunal mentions an often-quoted statistic that to make a movement into a wide-spread transformation only requires 5% of the population to be on board: that a “critical mass” of people is much smaller than we think it is. We went looking for references, and we couldn’t find any studies that magical 5% backed up by research but here’s what we did find: Research on the impact of non-violent protests by Erica Chenoweth, Ph.D, found that only 3.5% of a population needs to take part in non-violent protest to create social change: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world] And research on social tipping points by Damon Central, Ph.D, found that 25% of of people need to take a stand before large-scale social change occurs: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-behavior-spreads/201905/the-25-percent-tipping-point-social-change [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-behavior-spreads/201905/the-25-percent-tipping-point-social-change] Finally, we also have a source for the idea we discussed, where people underestimate how much other people support climate action, compared to their own values, which makes being visible and vocal about wanting to see change in this area even more important: https://behavioralscientist.org/we-still-underestimate-others-support-for-climate-action/. [https://behavioralscientist.org/we-still-underestimate-others-support-for-climate-action/] Follow along at https://www.instagram.com/bettercircles.co/ [https://www.instagram.com/bettercircles.co/]

Katie Falkiner's tips for how to start a revolution

Katie Falkiner has a note above her desk: "You'll never start a revolution by being dreary." She's woven this approach into her multidisciplinary career that spans writing, systems and city design, and imagining the future of active transport. We had so much fun chatting to Katie about why cycling is both freedom and fun, how sewing is a kind of alchemy, and finding out who she'd name a sandwich after.

Luke & Fi: Pants & Pickles

No guest this episode, just Fi and Luke hanging out in the comfy chairs and having a chat.  We talk about the power of short feedback loops in making positive change – building your own sense of hope, positivity and ability to have an impact. And how we're each trying create those positive experiences through teaching workshops, making pickles from veggie scraps and turning pants into bags [https://intocarry.co/pages/workshopcategories]. We also go down a bit of a rabbit hole about a new startup that's fermenting, rather than farming milk, and how we feel about that. If you're keen to get involved with Luke's sewing and upcycling workshops, you can find them all here: https://intocarry.co/pages/workshopcategories. [https://intocarry.co/pages/workshopcategories] And the cooking classes at the Moving Feast kitchen are all here: https://movingfeast.net/movingfeastcookingclass. [https://movingfeast.net/movingfeastcookingclass]

Nicky Tsekouras on creativity and finding value in discarded materials

We chat to multidisciplinary artist and workshop facilitator, Nicky Tsekouras about their art practice, including the gorgeous collage on the wall of IntoCoffee that features in the background of our podcast photos and video clips.  We go down a few rabbit holes and tangents talking about the most surprising materials Nicky has found to use in their collages, street posters and street art, and how seeing waste materials as resources is one of the most powerful creative things you can do, whether you're making art, making bags or making food. We'd love to hear your 'it's still good!' stories, too! Share a photo of the clothes you're still wearing after lots and lots of years, your repair success stories, or the beloved item you rescued from going to waste and tag @bettercircles.co on Instagram, and we might feature them on a future episode!