You have carved a distinct presence and following online about sustainable living and climate-conscious content. Can you tell us a bit about how you were motivated to do so?  

I actually started the page @feetonthesoil as a running page and was just lucky that the name worked for both things.  The main reason why I switched and started doing climate conscious content was because I was studying horticulture and learning all this amazing stuff about ecology, and about how we can improve our soil health. I was inspired by how we can help with the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis. 

I was thinking how it was so amazing to learn all this stuff but so many people would never get the chance to. So my main motivation for starting the social media platforms and the podcast is to democratise what I’m learning in college. I’m also really into nature and into the natural world so I end up reading a lot of books and listening to a lot of YouTube videos and podcasts. I try to take all of that information and make it a little bit more digestible for people.  

Alongside enthusiasts who have a certain level of climate-literacy, who makes up the rest of your followers?  

Most people who come across my content or interact with me are either  just beginning the journey of learning about the environment or it’s something that just popped up on their ‘For You Page’ that they had no idea about. I get a lot of farmers which is very interesting, and there’s a lot of people out there at the moment who are doing farming in a very different way. Hikers are also a huge one because so many people go out hill-walking or camping and they want to know a little bit more about the environment they’re in. That could be about forestry, mushrooms, wildlife within certain areas or wildflowers. Finally, I get a lot of people who are really involved in folklore, so whether that’s storytellers or guided walkers or anything like that because there’s such a huge connection between our folklore and our environment.  

What are some of the FAQs that you receive when it comes to the topic of sustainability? 

The most common thing (and it’s something that I’m always a bit conflicted on) is that people always ask ‘what can what can I do?’ and the problem is so large now that realistically the actions of the singular aren’t going to be enormous. Of course you shouldn’t take that as “there’s no hope, don’t do anything” but I give people the advice to try and get involved in community groups or get involved with different initiatives in your area.  

Sustainability can often be framed as a ‘niche content area’, how do you think we can engage broader audiences, and encourage participation?  

The main thing is that sustainability can no longer be a topic in and of itself – it has to be a part of every niche. Maybe it’s a bit extreme but in my view I don’t think people should be a ‘fashion influencer’ anymore, they should be a sustainable fashion influencer. I think the future of sustainability is that is should be the standard way of doing things, and that anything else is essentially the wrong way to do it. However, maybe that is a more extreme perspective.  

What do you think some of the barriers are in mobilising people via social media? 

One of the things that I’m always conscious of is that an algorithm has chosen whoever sees my videos.. So the fact that most of this targeting means that the person, more than likely, already has an interest in sustainability or nature it’s really hard to get that message to someone who isn’t already engaged or who might disagree with the topic. Social media doesn’t have the same impact as an in-person interaction and I think that’s always something that’s difficult to overcome. 

The advantage of having the broader scope of audiences like hikers and people who are interested in folklore, storytelling, farming, or even  clothing, is that these niches have a sustainable aspect within them so you can lessen the impact (of algorithms). But I think it’s always going to be an issue. An algorithm is choosing who sees your content, not you. 

What’s your favourite platform/way to reach people on/at?  

It used to be TikTok, I just really liked it. Whatever it is about it, I even find it that it’s a lot easier to interact with someone on TikTok. I’m more likely to comment on someone’s video on TikTok than I am on Instagram or YouTube. But lately, its longform,  via my podcast (Feet on the Soil) and in-person events, because there’s only so much that you can communicate in a one-minute video. Even if I make a video and it’s two minutes, I start getting conscious that someone is going to lose attention which is bad because it’s not a long time. With YouTube, you get to go a lot deeper into the topic so even though you might have less people interacting with you, the interactions are a little bit more meaningful.  

What do you think the biggest cliché is when it comes to talking about sustainability online? 

The worst cliché is that everything is done and we might as well do nothing. A lot of younger people are a bit more hopeful whereas people from my parents’ generation or my grandparents’ generation are more likely to say “well, it’s done now. What can you do? We’ll just live with it.” I don’t think that’s true whatsoever and it has been  proven time and time again that even small actions that we do now will lessen the impact in the future. So I hate when I hear people say otherwise! 

How do you think the conversation has evolved in the last 5+ years?  

The biggest thing is that we stopped using ‘Global Warming’ and Climate Change as a blanket term. We realised that we have a climate crisis, a biodiversity crisis, a soil nutrient crisis. We have realised that this bad thing that’s happening isn’t just because of one action but a tonne of tiny little things that are all feeding into each other. However, now that we have realised this, we can take the steps necessary to fix these smaller issues and in turn, hopefully lessen the larger impacts. It’s really only in the last five years or so that that’s become a very normal thing for people to say that there are these multiple crises feeding into the one issue. 

What are your ambitions for the future? (personal or business) 

I really want to switch into doing more in-person events and experiences in general. Where I work, we educate people about nature in-person and if you have 20 people on a nature experience, it resonates so much more than if you have  2 million people seeing a TikTok video.   

I’ve also recently started a mini rewilding series. There’s a corner of my garden that has some nice trees in it, and I’ve always loved it. This year we’re just leaving it to see what happens. And then we’re going to be adding some little habitats, so wildlife ponds and bat boxes and hedgehog hides. I’d love in the future to bring that to a larger scale because I’m hugely into the rewilding movement and nature restoration. So I think that that is the future for Soilboy. 

Can you nominate who your climate hero(es) is/are? 

I have a few! I’m really into food sustainability, and work on a farm that is kind of regenerative in its nature. So one person who put me on to that hugely was Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall and his work with River Cottage. I watched River Cottage a few years ago and it changed me. I started growing my own vegetables and all just because of that show.  

For the last five or six years, I’ve just been huge into relating folklore and biodiversity so Manchán Mangan would definitely be one in this space.  

Finally, on rewilding and biodiversity, the whole team at Mossy Earth who do some large-scale rewilding projects are incredible. In Ireland, Eoghan Daltún with the Beara Peninsula Atlantic Rainforest is great. I got to see a talk from him last year and d he did a live reading of his book and it was 

Just the coolest thing ever.  

Can you share your #1 tip for making sustainability more accessible to individuals?  

Sustainability and rewilding in nature has never been more accessible than it is at the moment. Anybody that has access to the internet in some way, whether in your pocket or in your library can do so. It’s now up to people to get involved with it, and it’s hard to have an excuse not to make some element of your life more sustainable – whether that’s buying less fast fashion, or just picking a slightly more sustainable cut of meat when you shop! All of the information is out there. There is a lot of it, but there are also plenty of people online who are distilling things down into the basics.