intro:
Orbiting 250 miles above, the space station provides us with the ultimate view of planet Earth. From this perspective, we ask our guests to engage with six questions that orbit around wonder and stories of hopefulness. For the next few minutes, this is our wonder space.

Steve:
Welcome to the ninety fifth episode of the Wonder Space podcast and the first one of 02/2023. So happy New Year to you all. Wonder Space is an expression of a family trust called Panapur. And for more than two years, I have asked the same six questions to people from around the world. People like Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy from the Good Chance Theater Company, who in the first Wonderspace episode of 2021, talked about plans for a walk with a four meter puppet called Amal from Syria to Manchester.

Steve:
Nine months after the interview, the walk with Amal was capturing the hearts and minds of millions through extensive media coverage and events and festivals of welcome across Europe. Each week, we are thrilled to feature a one minute wonder from Ask Nature, who are a project of the Biomimicry Institute. Their work looks to nature for inspiration to solve design problems in a regenerative way. Here is another moment to help us re wonder.

Ask Nature:
Most fish are side to side swimmers. Whales and dolphins are up and down swimmers. Jellyfish well, jellyfish are jellyfish. They pulse their bells and create jets or vortex rings that move them through the water. To human eyes, those clear bells seem like simple gelatinous disks, but their translucence hides intricate inner structures.

Ask Nature:
In the case of the human sized lion's mane jellyfish, some of that structure becomes more apparent. The eight pedal like undulations around the edge of the bell are each connected by two rays of muscle fibers to a ring of muscle around the inner center of the disc. When these muscles move in coordination, the bell opens and closes like a squishy umbrella. Intriguingly, the motion doesn't just push against the water behind. It creates a vortex of low pressure in front of the bell, pulling the jellyfish forward and inspiring human designers with a whole new realm of possibilities for efficient underwater movement.

Steve:
Our first orbit of the year is with Sam Squire from Inspire to Ignite. They engage with and inspire thousands of young people through entrepreneurship and work with a 100 young people on a tailored Ignite program to help them start their own business for free. I met Sam at the Anthropy Summit at the Eden Project last year and was blown away by his story and vision. With this expansive overview of Earth, I start by asking Sam if we could do a fly past on any part of the world that is significant to you, which place, city, or country would it be, and why?

Sam:
If I was gonna fly by any place in the world, my place would be a village called Little Paxton, which is 20 miles, outside of Cambridge in, The UK. And that's my place because I spent so many years of my life from the age of five after moving from the outskirts of London there, immersed in nature, out with my friends, playing down the park. Like, I've moved away a few miles away from there since. But whenever I go back, all these memories just flood in from such so so many happy moments.

Steve:
Sam, give us a glimpse into your life story so far with an emphasis on what you're doing currently.

Sam:
So my background is in the sphere of, professional football. So I played for Cambridge United from the age of eight to 19. I then found myself in a position where I was released by the club at the end of my first year as a professional. And I was in this space where I didn't know what to do with my life, and I built a relationship up with the charitable arm of the football club for a few years after, getting involved in some mental health workshops in schools, as a result of my mum actually attempting to commit her own life and that was my motivation to help young people in that space. And because of that relationship I then was offered a job as a youth development officer getting young people off the streets through football.

Sam:
I went deeper into anti knife crime county lines tackling county lines And then I scaled that from working with no one to about 1,500 young people in the space of a year. And then also at the same time was offered a bursary from the University of Cambridge doing an undergraduate certificate in life and executive coaching. So the two aligned, then my approach with young people was asking them questions rather than telling them what to do. And then on the back end of that, set up my own coaching practice working with men aged 18 to 25 called Aspire with Squire, because my surname is Squire. And, then was just headhunted for my current role working for a community interest company called Inspire to Ignite, and we help young people set up their own business, for free.

Sam:
So my role within that is I head the human development aspect of things. So I I I facilitate the space in which young people can become more self aware and self sufficient humans. So my my commitment to young people, through the work at Inspire to Ignite CIC is that in 2023, we are looking to inspire 10,000 young people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough where where we're based. And within that, work with a 100, young people on our tailored Ignite program to help them start their own business for free. So we only work with young people in that space that don't have any formal qualifications and aren't in employment.

Sam:
So this whole point of it is igniting them and giving them the space to kind of break those generational chains and and fly. So that's my commitment, and I hope you can share this with any young people that you might know that would benefit. And then on the side of that, I've I've learned how to DJ. So now don't play football anymore, because I've fallen in love with music and how that can, it's a universal language. So I've got my own events company called Vibrancy.

Sam:
So yeah.

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

Sam:
My place of recharge is in Little Paxton where I spoke about, and there's a nature reserve within the village called Little Paxton Pit. And originally it was a quarry site. And actually, since they stopped the work, then created this whole nature reserve to kind of bring the local community together to literally reset, recharge. And ever since ever since I can remember, if anything in my life was ever building pressure or I was really feeling agitated, just naturally I just always come to that space and the nature has definitely healed me through difficult challenges in my life. And whenever I experience kind of negative things in my life or having a bad spell of mental health, I always find myself there.

Sam:
And I do believe that there's something magical in that space that kind of helps me get back to center.

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

Sam:
I would say the ocean excites me the most because I've I've been, like, so fascinated by how we actually that's the part of world where we don't know a lot about, and I'm always interested in the unknown, not only in myself, but also externally. So my question that I ask myself, even when I'm watching programs like, Our Planet and stuff like that, is like, right. What what haven't we discovered yet? Because there are I think there are statistics in that area where actually we we know more above the water than we do down below. And, like, even just, like, stories where we've now made vehicles that can go to the bottom of the ocean and stay there for, like, a few weeks is crazy.

Sam:
So, yeah, for me, the ocean for sure. And and also, like, the ocean heals as well. Like there's been scientific studies where like when you're in the natural waters, how your stress levels can drop and you're like, it's so so good for you being in the ocean, stuff like that.

Steve:
Sam, what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own about a person, business, or nonprofit who are doing amazing things for the world?

Sam:
So my story for hope is about a young person that I currently work with. And even just speaking about it kinda nearly gets me emotional. So they suffer from agoraphobia. So if you don't know what agoraphobia is, it's the fear of of leaving a a a space or it could be a home because you fear going outside of that space, something might happen. So they've they've experienced this for three and a half years, and the pandemic definitely had a massive influence on that as well.

Sam:
So I began working with them about five months ago, and they wouldn't they wouldn't even allow other people to come into their house, and they were so anxious, and they were in a really dark space. And since then, I've been able to enter the house. They've we've gone on walks together. They've started interacting with their local clubs and their friends for the first time in three and a half years. And to see the change in their confidence and their self development in the last five months has been incredible.

Sam:
But the real what gives me hope so much is basically this person is so fascinated by nature and the environment and plants, since they've had agoraphobia, so they've been able to learn so much about these things. And, I don't know whether you remember, Steve, where you used to be able to throw when you were younger these little pellets on the ground that used to pop. Basically, with unpacking what they wanna do in business, their business is actually the it's a round circular seed bomb with a biodegradable outer that actually pops, but then when it pops, the seed pops out and then it actually has the potential to grow wildflowers. And their business is called Give Seeds a Chance. And the whole point of this is actually to increase the amount of wildflowers in our communities, to bring people to those spaces, to come together and communicate, but also it gives him the motivation to actually, when people are out and about, capturing these areas that have had these wild sea bombs thrown, it gives him the motivation to go outside.

Sam:
So Give Seeds a Chance will be officially launching next year, and they're the the young person I work with is in the process of building out their kind of testing seed bombs and stuff like that ready for Christmas locally. But I truly believe that this could be a game changer for people interacting with their local nature and also improving their communities as well. So you can find them at GiveCityChance on Instagram for the time being, and I'm sure that the young person will be more than grateful for you interacting and engaging with their content.

Steve:
Finally, as we prepare to reenter the Earth's atmosphere, what insight, wisdom, or question would you like to leave with us?

Sam:
In regards to wisdom, I I live by this saying, and, like, it's it's a mantra, like, I I tell myself quite regularly at and it's let go of the past, live in the present, and let the future unfold. As I believe that there's so many people in in our world that hold on to things that don't serve them. And if just the space of of accepting something and sitting with that in the present moment to move forward is such an important thing in life. Because actually, all we have is the present. Because the part the part is actually the present because we're thinking about it in the now.

Sam:
And that that's something I took from that, the power of now by I can't tell. So yeah. If if I was gonna kind of leave a piece of wisdom for the listeners to to kind of think about in their life, it'd be let go of the past, live in the present, let the future unfold. And then my question to you would just be what is your commitment to young people going forwards? Because they are the future, and just like nature, we need to give young people the right environment, to thrive for the future because otherwise there might not be a future.

Steve:
This interview with Sam was recorded before Christmas. If you'd like to find out more about the organization, go to inspire two, that's the number two, ignite.co.uk. What is your story of hopefulness that's not your own, about a person, business, or nonprofit who are doing amazing things for the world? We would love you to consider recording yourself in under thirty seconds, sharing your story on your phone through your video or your voice memo or recorder app. You can then simply upload the recording to the link on our website, ourwonder.space, and we will look to include them in future episodes.

Steve:
I want to thank Sam for joining us on Wonder Space for our first episode of 2,023. I hope that amongst all the challenges of this year, that you will continue to re wonder and feel part of multiple stories of hopefulness and reimagination. Thanks for listening.