Steve (host):
Welcome to the 28th Wonderspace Journey. It's great to have you on board. My name is Steve Cole and since September 2020 I have been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. The questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station, 250 miles above Earth, where we see everything from a different perspective.

Steve (host):
This week our day night orbit will take us over the strait of Gibraltar and Northern Africa and to experience these views with us in this ultimate window seat we welcome John Pritchard from Brighton UK who is the founder of Pala. Pala is an eyewear brand with a low impact on the planet and a high impact on people. With every pair of sunglasses sold Pala gives back to eye care programs in Africa which has resulted in thousands of sight impaired people now able to earn an income thanks to receiving a pair of glasses. A shorter version of this episode together with footage of this journey across northern Africa can be found at ourwonder.space. I start by asking John from this seat 250 miles above earth which place city or country would you want us to fly over and why?

John:
I think for me it's it's more of a region. About 25 years ago I was traveling in Kenya, Tanzania, around there. And we went through the Serengeti for about 2 or 3 days, camped out there. And I've just got such incredible memories from that experience. It was the fact that you could just look in any direction and you could never get to the horizon.

John:
It was beautiful. It was like some kind of Jurassic Park experience for me. And really for me that was arguably where I just found this affinity for some of the countries I visited in Africa and the culture and the people I met and that obviously played its part in some of my decision making later on in life.

Steve (host):
John, give us a glimpse into your life story so far with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

John:
A glimpse into my life story so far starts with me coming from Paul in Dorset. I ended up doing a degree in general practice surveying. I also ended up never doing a day's work in general practice surveying. I took some time out for traveling which is when I went to the Serengeti and then I came back and ended up going into advertising, more of a traditional time when it was more looking at printed papers etc. This evolved into digital advertising and then marketing, spending maybe the last 10 years or so before Parler working at Microsoft.

John:
Microsoft itself, great company to work for, a lot of fun there. It relied on my ability to daydream. I had a creative role, so I'm very good at daydreaming, so that went down the bundle. But ultimately, it was a case of you get to a point or I got to a point at least where I was feeling that all I was really doing when I broke down my job was I was taking some money from 1 place and popping it in another place and I just felt it lacked some of the purpose that I needed from what I was doing And that's when this sort of seed of an idea came for my business. And it was a case of starting off by looking for a, something that would fill that purpose.

John:
Given I'd traveled to Africa, I felt that I had a real affinity for the country, the cultures that I'd experienced. And I'd also learnt simultaneously around the issue with eye care, a really big issue. 10% of the world's population can't access eye care. And a number of countries I've been to like Ethiopia, Ghana etc. This is as high as 95-96%.

John:
In fact in Sierra Leone I think there's 4 optometrists for the whole country, it gives you a scale of the problem that there is and I just felt well look this is a problem because arguably a pair of spectacles or eye surgery is 1 of the most cost-effective tools you can give someone in terms of poverty alleviation. So I actually started rather unusually maybe with a cause first and then I tried to retrofit a business to leverage that cause. So I ended up launching an eyewear brand because I thought well look if it's about eye care in Africa let's create sunglasses and spectacles that will lead to change. And that would be through grants that we provide to a charity partner called Vision Aid Overseas. I started from a position of having no experience of eyewear.

John:
All my friends would also tell me I have no experience of fashion. And so, started from today, you know, from ground 0 and just had to work up a team of helpful people around me that would help me launch an eyewear brand and then obviously develop it to where we've got to today which 5 years on now since launching. I feel like actually this year feels like the first year I've really hit a lot of the the goals that I set myself back then. So yeah we now have an eyewear brand that has a lot of impacts in Africa. We built a vision centre in Zambia in 2017.

John:
We're supporting a school project at the moment in Ethiopia for the school kids there. But there's Also other touch points to the solution. Our cases are made from recycled plastic waste. We work with 4 female communities in Upper East Ghana to make those cases. And then with the sunglasses, we're now using bio-based acetate, so again, the plant-based material for our frames.

John:
The culmination of all the work we've put in was realised at the end of last year when we became a B Corp and again for me that's been a huge goal for the business. Our direction right from day 1 has always been about being a better business of the planet. So the B Corp certification just feels like a real natural certification for us to go for. I mean it's damn hard to get and it takes a lot of time and effort but it's so worthwhile and even in a short time we've become a B Corp I've noticed there's such a fantastic community out there of people who are willing to support because actually ultimately we're all in this for a greater good ourselves. It's not a it's not a badge for life, it means you know there's a bit of a stick here but it's about improving as a business and we get certified in 3 years time so already I'm beginning to just look over my shoulder thing right where can we make better changes for our business so that when we re-certify in 3 years we can improve our score and really challenge to be you know the best in our industry.

Steve (host):
Where on earth is your place of reset or recharge?

John:
There are 2 places I have a sort of a quick fix place to go and a longer fix. That's more because of geography. But my quick fix is where I live in here in Brighton. I live about 2 minutes from the sea and when it's nice and flat out there, I get on my paddleboard and I go out, paddling a straight line, and then I just lie down in the middle of the ocean. It's just the fact that you can just escape and not feel so sort of squashed in.

John:
And all you've got is the sound of a few passing seagulls and maybe a fish jumping out the water and it's just lovely being out there a bit of solitude it's almost like a meditation of some sort so yeah I love that and that's the easy 1 that's when I can literally in 10 minutes be out there and up and running. So that's great. And then the longer fix I would say would be that anywhere on the West Coast of Scotland, I've been there on a number of occasions in my camper van and I can't get enough of it. It's beautiful, especially Skye and Harris, those islands. I take my bike, take my running shoes and I sort of mix it up, just get out and explore and recharge.

John:
We always have this sort of idea that we have to leave the country to go and find something new and different and we've got some beautiful stuff right on our own doorstep.

Steve (host):
What wonder of the natural world excites you the most?

John:
The wonder that excites me most is, I would say, the Northern Lights. It probably sounds like a very obvious answer, but it's 1 of those I've not had the opportunity to do so. I did take my daughter to Lapland about 4 years ago to see Father Christmas but it was more for me to try and see that Northern Lights. I mean we did lay on a frozen lake till about 1 in the morning but to see if it would turn up but at the age of 8 I felt it was a bit cruel to make us stay out any longer. So look I mean I've seen it in secondhand version and on videos and stuff but I think to be looking up at this sky while it does its magic for me.

John:
I think that's, it feels such an alien concept to experience and yeah I think hopefully 1 day I'll get that chance to do it properly without having to drag my daughter with me.

Steve (host):
John, what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own? About a person, business or non-profit who are doing amazing things for the world?

John:
My story of hopefulness lies with an organisation which is the Barrier Reef Foundation, based obviously in Australia. We had a chance last year to have an interview on our own site with Peter Mumby who's 1 of the chief scientists out there and look you know the reef has lost more than 50% of its coral since 1995. I think we've all seen on the TV the issue of the seas warming up and coral bleaching. And that's been triggered by that. You know, there is a huge problem.

John:
And also it's perhaps 1 of the more visible symbols of climate change that we can physically see. And yeah it's not in a great place. When we spoke with Peter and when I look at the updates from what they're doing you kind of think that you know people are out there fighting a good fight here and trying to make proper sustained change. These solutions aren't easy. You can't come up with a sticking plaster solution.

John:
You've got to work out how to create longer term change. For them, it's looking at creating more resilient... Well, we've got an initiative called the Resilient Reef Initiative where they're looking at ways of creating more heat resistant corals. There's a starfish caught called the Crown of thorns which loves eating coral for its dinner. So again, it's trying to work out how to stop that huge prevalence of those starfish.

John:
They're doing a lot of work restoring marine wildlife. So they're doing a program at the moment which is planting more than 100, 000 corals off Port Douglas and also they're doing a lot of activity on Rain Island which is the largest green turtle nesting site and restoring that fabulously. And I just get their updates and for me it's just a lovely little jolt in my life now and again to see the positive change and it's action. 1 of the things I've kind of learned is you can't just go around talking the talk. You've got to walk the talk.

John:
And they're an organization that are really walking the talk. And I love that. And it's again, it's 1 of those organizations I will love to support, which is why we did a piece on them. It's got nothing to do with sunglasses obviously but I want to champion organisations like that who are trying to do good in the world.

Steve (host):
Finally, as we prepare to re-enter, what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

John:
The wisdom I would like to share is that I think this last period has allowed us to rethink a lot of what we value. I think most of us at least have experienced quite a profound impact on our lives over the last 12 months or so and it's given us an opportunity as well to reflect. I think COVID situation has raised questions about the fragility of not just society but the planet and at times we've seen some of the best of humanity and you know I am hoping that we don't just return back to normal, and I don't think that is going to happen. And I think this is the exciting thing. I think people recognize that we all have an opportunity to make different decisions that perhaps we didn't do even a few years back, that can actually make quite an impact, whether that's a human to human impact or an impact on our immediate or global environment.

John:
And that comes down to how we treat 1 another, look out for each other, understand different perspectives and learn more about each other's issues and from an environmental point of view you know reconsider our behavior particularly our consumption behavior. I think that's going to be a huge thing in the next 2 or 3 years. I think we'll see that really land. But also equally how we deal with our waste as well. What I've done certainly is always try to take this idea of making small habits, small changes, Never trying to do something always changes all at once because that's just overwhelming.

John:
We would never be able to do that in 1 go but if you can make small habits, a small change to the way you shop or the way you reuse or even refuse to do something in terms of your purchase behavior, all these small things will all add up to a far greater bigger impact. That's something that I think that's my little bit of wisdom I guess.

Steve (host):
To read more about Pala and see some of their inspiring films or to check out their sustainable range of sunglasses, their website is palawear.com To join the Wonderspace community and share your own wonders and stories of hopefulness or to listen to the previous 27 interviews the website is ourwonder.space. I want to thank John for joining us on this Wonderspace and I hope you can join us next week for more wonders and stories of hopefulness.