January 6, 2022 • 37 mins
This week, I sit down with Tommy Serafinski, host of Tommy's Outdoors, a show that looks at the relationship between humans and wildlife, and how that affects biodiversity, conservation, rewilding, and more.
Each episode, Tommy interviews guests across all spectrums of the space, often with different viewpoints from each other. It's an approach that Tommy says is super valuable when it comes to learning.
I learn something in every episode.
One of the things that Tommy is adamant in providing is a space for everyone to talk, even when he might vehemently disagree with his guest's point of view. For Tommy, this ensures an honest and open discussion where he, his guest, and listeners may come away with a different viewpoint..
Commonalities Bring Us Together
Approaching a difficult topic with a tunnel vision point of view that only your take is the right one is not the way to go. Tommy likens it to trying to attack a heavily fortified army installation, where the only thing that's going to happen is conflict.
It's important to focus on things we have in common.
Instead, by focusing on commonalities, we can start to build bridges and shared understanding.
The Depletion That Impacts Us All
Tommy talks about the differences between his native Poland and his adopted home Ireland. One of the biggest things he's noticed is how little natural habitat is left in Ireland, and that the industrialization of the West has removed the learnings and growth we can take from human and wildlife interaction.
Industrialization is killing the opportunity for human and wildlife interaction.
Why We Need a Conversation Platform
Tying in to his goal of offering a platform for everyone to share their beliefs, Tommy's goal for the show is to make it known as a conversation platform.
Social media is not the medium for discussion.
While social media sees ideas shot down in vitriolic attacks, Tommy feels podcasts and open-minded hosts are the way forward for actual conversation and learning.
Connect with Tommy:
Contact me: danny@podcasterstories.com
My equipment:
- Electro-Voice RE320
- Motu M2 Audio Interface
- Denon DJ HP-1100 Over Ear Headphones
- Podcast Pro Boom Arm by Accu-Lite and O.C. White
Recommended resources:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tommy (00:00):
My point is always, you know, let's focus on things that we have in
common because in general, this is,this is very unfortunate part of a
discourse these days, that people seemsto be focusing on this little thing that
we disagree and let's fight over the.
But there's like all thesethings that we agree on.
Danny (00:21):
This week, I'm talking to Tommy, Serafinski, host of Tommy's
Outdoors, a show that talks aboutbiodiversity, conservation, hunting
and fishinh, rewilding, and much more.
And they're all interconnectedtopics, which we'll definitely
get into on the episodes.
So Tommy, welcome to the show.
How about you tell the listenersabout yourself and your podcast.
Tommy (00:40):
Hey, Danny.
And Hey everybody.
Thanks for opportunityto be on your podcast.
Yeah.
So like you said Tommy cell doors we arefocusing on human wildlife interactions,
human wildlife, conflict, conservation,hunting, and fishing rewilding.
You know, our relation with nature, Iwill human relationship with nature.
(01:00):
That's.
You know, it was like a long-windedmaybe not long, but there was a you
know, we, we arrived at this of thisformat of the show and that the subject
of a show from, you know, the originalidea, which was dedicated to everything
outdoors, but it was like, you know,a little bit of experimenting involved
into how the show going to look likeand what it's going to evolve into.
(01:23):
You know, like, like, like we spokea little bit earlier in one of the.
Guests on one of the podcasts.
You said that, you know,this, this podcast is like
my complicated hobby, right?
Because I have a, my day job.
So I didn't come up with a, you know,like a business plan or anything,
and this is going to be a show.
And like this, this, this, it was, itwas a kind of organic born out of my,
(01:47):
you know, like a labor of love, really.
I was doing what I, what I liked andI'm sure we can get into more details
of the story, how it came to be.
But yeah, long story short,this is a podcast about the
human wildlife interface.
And I think that the how I see the, the,the, the unique part of the show is that
(02:09):
I talk with sort of two sides of thestory always because you know, something
I didn't know, and something I actuallylearned more about when I was doing a
podcast was that around conservationand, and, you know, environmental.
There is incredible amount of conflictand, you know, opposing views, which
(02:30):
I, as I wasn't aware of that, youknow, I came kind of naive to that.
It's like, oh, conservation,we want to protect nature in
animals who wouldn't want that.
Right there just everybody'son the same page.
Right.
And not necessarily it's and thecomplexity of the subjects and,
and all the, you know, littlepoints and little points of view.
(02:52):
And actually, you know, when youlisten to people, everybody's right.
So I think that the big thingfor me is that I talked both with
hunters and anglers and I talk withenvironmentalist and I talk with people
if you are in, you know, in NGOs.
And I talk with you know, for example,lady who works in seal rescue sanctuary.
And then I talk with a trawler manwho, you know, so one lady focuses her.
(03:18):
Work and time on helping seals andrehabilitating seals and so on.
And then on the next episode, I havea trawler man who goes like, oh shoot.
Right.
And, and, and yeah, you know, I alwayssay that it's just huge advantage for me,
that people will have different pointsof view listening to my podcasts, because
(03:39):
I say like, if even, you know, afterall these, you know, a hundred, however
many episodes right now, even one personsays, wow, I never thought about that.
Right.
That's my job done.
That's that's a success that, thatthe present different points of view.
So I, I think this is definitelythe direction that I, that I'm
taking to the show which is.
(04:00):
Not easy on occasions because youhave people, you know, I sometimes
feel like with every episode, there'slike a half of my audience gets upset
with me, you know, but this is, myidea is like the weekend only make
progress by talking to each other andpresenting each other points of view.
And you know, if you did disagreewith something, that's okay.
(04:22):
I often disagree with my guestson stuff, but it's not my job to
challenge them or convince them.
But sort of give a platform topresent their point of view.
And then I have somebody elsepresent different point of.
And we can have these conversations.
So that's that's, I think likethe big thing for me with my, and
Danny (04:39):
you'd mentioned that you've got a a hundred plus episodes
actually premiered back in 2016 onmy birthday month from October, 2016.
What were your goals for at thattime with cause it's very different
from your day job, obviously.
That's what we're speaking about inthe green room before the episode, but
what were your goals for, and how'sthat evolved since that first step?
Tommy (04:59):
Yeah.
I can maybe back out even, even evenfurther before I had a podcast, right.
It's a podcast they're stories.
So reading my stories, like Istarted with a blog and, you
know, as an, as an outdoorsman Iwas originally an angler, right.
Angling was my thing.
Or like you know, recreationalfishing rather than like.
(05:20):
And that was, you know, these were timesbefore Facebooks and all those things.
And there was a time where people havethese bulit in boards, this messaging
forums, and we have it like an anglingforum in Poland back in the days.
And we were postingphotos and all that stuff.
And it was like a photo manager calledPicasa, which was sadly killed by.
(05:43):
I still think that this, this wasthe best photo manager ever, ever,
like me even Lightroom not comesclose because it was so lightweight.
And because I had this buttonon the bottom says blog list.
I didn't even know what is like,what, what is this, what it is?
I don't know where the blog is.
Right.
So I clicked it and it's like,oh, it's set up on your site.
I was like, oh, cool.
(06:04):
So that's how I started my blog.
And I started blogging, you know, Thealways idea was that I wasn't blogging
like on the regular intervals or anything,but it was like, if something interesting
happened, I was writing a blog, postposting photos and you know, it was cool.
So I was doing that formore than over 10 years.
And in the meantime,I, I moved to Ireland.
(06:25):
You know, I, it was like wholenew fishing opportunities here,
you know, fishing in the ocean.
And then, you know, I get the little.
Disposable income, I guess.
So I know went to Africa and therewas doing some expensive fishing
trips and that was also fun and thatwas putting up posts and all that.
But because I never want to, you know,I'm like, oh, I went fishing and I caught
three baths and then like, oh, I wasfishing and I would call it one bass.
(06:48):
Like I there's always has to be somethingnew, some different angles on it.
So naturally after 10 plusyears, it, it kind of died.
It was, you know, so I stopped posting.
It was like nothing, nothingnew and interesting on it.
But I enjoyed this, this thing.
I, I enjoy interactions with people.
I enjoy sharing myexperiences in the outdoors.
(07:08):
And so, you know, I thought like,well, first of all, it would be cool to
have to do it in the English language.
Just to reach the wider audienceand maybe being, you know,
more, more local and also.
Because, you know, English isobviously not my first language
speaking is easier than writing.
(07:29):
So podcasts was a natural choice.
I got let's do it.
So that's how it started.
And the actually little known factis that they had a podcast in Polish
language, which just started only justto learn stuff, just to figure out
how that this podcasting thing works.
Because I, you know, I knew as muchabout podcasting, as I knew about
blogging back then clicking that button.
(07:50):
So I, I probably recorded like a 20episodes of a podcast in Polish language.
Kind of like in parlor later on,maybe when I was on episode 10 or 15,
I started this podcast, Tommy celldoors, where it was initially you know,
again, irregular episodes and probablysince episode six or seven, I kind of
(08:11):
committed to schedule every two weeks.
And man, it's like four years now.
I haven't missed the one.
So that's a, that's a little achiever.
So, yeah, that's that's, that wasthe start of of that whole endeavor.
Danny (08:27):
And that's something that takes a lot of, well, you know, yourself, it
takes a lot of commitment to keep going.
You know, obviously you moved fromthe blog cause I was getting less
enjoyable if you like to the podcast.
So, you know, I know how long it,how much effort goes into that.
So kudos, not like five years,four or five years on it.
It's amazing.
And you mentioned obviously one of thethings that I enjoyed about your show,
and I'm glad you mentioned it earlier.
(08:49):
Your role isn't to offer a definitive.
Your role as the host and your guests tobring them on is to educate and let people
and let the listeners make their ownminds up based on your guests and what the
bra and an absolute, I, I really enjoyedone of the episodes I really enjoyed was
your most recent one fallen off wherewith mark, I think mark Boyden who was
speaking about, you know conservationand, and going back to your conversation
(09:13):
about, you know, the different viewpointswhere everybody's actually right,
when it comes to conversation, and youmentioned that he changed your with.
Which is kinda cool.
And so, so what's, what would yousay has been the biggest example of
someone changing your mind or makingyou think of that a different way from
how you had been prior to an episode
Tommy (09:31):
being recorded?
Oh, it's a, it's an interesting question.
You know, it's, so I put you this way.
I, I learned something in everyepisode and especially that.
You know I I'm, I'm not the ecologist,I'm not the, you know, I don't
have a formal education in, in youknow, wildlife or conservation or
(09:52):
environment, anything like that.
I'm a computer guy, right?
Like simplistically speaking.
So I learn so much that.
You know, and you notice this, yourecord the episode and you present
while you're recording an episode,but you're not present because you
also a sound engineer and you'relooking at all the different things.
(10:12):
Right.
And then you editing the episodeand you, and you're listening to the
second time and you pick up on the newthings that you haven't heard before.
And then, you know, you're listeningfor the third time or fourth time,
once it's published as like, oh, I T.
You know, quite often, it's not even amatter of changing my mind as if we're
(10:33):
like, whoa, I never knew about that.
You know?
And you know, in, in Kings ofmark, it was interesting because
he kind of changed the way.
How I plan the, the episode,because, you know, like in this
case, you know, fish farms and Samanfarming is like a known bad guy.
(10:53):
So I was expecting him going, digging,you know, like all guns blazing.
And, and he shut it down completely.
It's like, well, we, you know,this is not our business.
We have no official opinion on it.
We'd focusing on something else.
Right.
And it was surprising initially, butthen it was like, yeah, that's actually.
You know, refreshing because like, ifeverybody, you know, has like goals, all
(11:18):
guns blazing, then there is no other way.
And he actually, you know, he saidlike, yeah, I'm well aware of many
things, but we, we purposefully takingthis way and the same wasn't with a
episode with sea rescue on other ones,there's two, one suicide Tewari wants
to see a rescue island where the lady.
(11:41):
Very, this is what we do, and thisis what we're going to talk about.
And not there is in many other subjects,but we are focusing on this and I always
appreciate this, you know, clear mission.
This is what we do, and we not gettingbogged down by, you know, various other.
I probably didn't answeryour question, but anyway,
Danny (12:02):
no, no, no, I it's.
It's interesting because to your pointit's not black and white, you know, I
always, I grew up thinking that, you knowany kind of, not any kind of hunter, not
strong, but and it kind of controls youlike was, was bad, but then you'd realize,
well, if I sell and a past is lit.
(12:23):
Uncontrolled that can causeother ecological damage.
And so you, you start to learn as youget older and you start to educate
yourself more than listen to peoplelike yourself and your guests you'll
learn more, which I see your point.
I think it's, it's importantthat we keep our minds open.
Not just what our third belief is.
Cause that's not, notalways the right one.
Tommy (12:42):
Exactly.
Exactly.
This is so new and so complex.
So, you know, anyone who sayslike, yeah, this is this way.
It's like, whoa.
Danny (12:54):
Yeah.
And I know that that's something thatI want to speak about because obviously
one of the topics you cover is huntingand this can often result in a negative
connotation from animal lovers oranimal rights groups, et cetera.
Is that difficult or do youfind it a difficult topic?
Cause you mentioned that you're back inPoland, you were fishing and hunting.
Do you find that sometimes adifficult topic to try and educate
(13:15):
on or what what's your feeling?
Tommy (13:17):
Look, there was quite a few episodes both already published in, in,
in the pipeline taking on that subject.
And it, again, it's, it's very complex.
My, my, my main thing is like, wecannot try to educate people forcefully.
So if someone has already predeterminedpoint of view and is not open.
(13:43):
To revising their view right there.
They're not going to change their view.
Right?
So this is like an old militarything that you'd not attacking
45 45 positions because that'swhere they are expecting attack.
Right.
So if, if, if you dealing withanimal lover or, you know, ethical V.
(14:03):
You know, there is no point going likehunting is actually very good and hunting
is conservation and go educate yourself.
This is absolutely not the way to go.
So my point is always, you know, let'sfocus on things that we have in common
because in general, this is, this isvery unfortunate part of a discourse
(14:25):
these days, that people seems to befocusing on this little thing that we
disagree and let's fight over that.
But there's like all thesethings that we agree on.
So, you know this is where I'm tryingto focus on what are the common
parts where we can agree on some.
We can, we can agree on something.
(14:45):
And if it, if then happensthat, you know, I had the many
scientists where a hunters, right.
Or who are anglers.
Okay.
Th th the subject wascompletely not about that.
And they say, oh, you know, bythe way, I'm also an angler.
I was like, oh, I didn't know.
Right.
And I can share a review in with the,with the listeners, a story from my, from
(15:06):
my own podcast where it was one of thefirst episodes of the podcast, but that
was recording with it with a lovely lady.
And we were talking about she was in herlate fifties, early sixties, I think.
And we, we talked about.
You know, connection with nature andhow you, you know, growing your own
vegetables and how great it is foryour mental health and all that stuff.
(15:26):
Right.
And I didn't know any better.
And I said like, yeah, exactly.
It's the same with the hunters.
They have this connection with theirfood and they can, and I can see like
she stiffens up and she goes like,Again, hunting and like, and she's
kind of rattles off these, these thingsthat she clearly heard somewhere.
(15:48):
Right.
I go hunting with dogs andlike, clearly she doesn't know
anything about hunting with dogs.
Right.
But she knows that she is againstthat because they write some, okay.
You know, we, we didn't even, wemove on to the next subject that.
Talking about the other things.
And we finished the podcast and I did,when we finished, I actually said,
oh yeah, Tommy, great conversation.
You're in my tribe.
(16:09):
We understand each other, but that's it.
We move on right.
Next time.
Next time, the subject ofhunting comes up, that lady will
have in the back of her head.
Oh, I actually know one guy who wasactually good guy and we have so much
in common and he's a hunter, right.
And this is the way how you change.
(16:30):
People attitude and people, youknow, you're not trying to force
something down their throat.
Is it like, okay, like, whatis that makes you take right.
Connection with nature growing vegetables.
Great.
It's fantastic.
Right.
So this is, this is my, this is,this is how I approach this, this.
And, but that doesn't mean that I,you know, I have an episode that
(16:51):
are straight up hunting, right?
Sweden is hunting is one of them.
I had a hunter on the podcast and we,you know, dive deep and very geeky
about hunting and you know, whatcalibers and what, you know, what you
do and how you do all these things.
Sure.
But then because you know, some partof my audience will not listen to
(17:12):
that episode, but maybe somewhere.
And they, you know, andthey pick up stuffers.
They're like, oh, okay.
So that actually is a big culture.
And actually everybody in Sweden,you know, 90% is okay with hunting
and actually this is how it goes, andthis is how it's managed that way.
So I am not like not findingthat difficult per se because
(17:34):
I'm not trying to force anything.
I'm trying to be natural with,with what I do and who I see.
And that
Danny (17:41):
ties me into a recent episode as well.
I think it was maybe six or eightepisodes ago with Ellucian, Alyssa, Mike,
Robert the communication professional,but who's also using storytelling
and communication to educate and helpeducate and goes back to your point there
about, it's not about force and views.
Dan it's about communicate them use andletting people understand, you know,
(18:01):
from mine, what I liked about the app.
So it's obviously Lucy is awesomeat doing that and get them.
What can be difficult topics across wow.
Because of her approach.
But what I also found interesting aboutthat episode, then it goes back to your
point earlier about us being very minuteon what we choose to attack and what we
(18:22):
choose to go after is social media andits impact on mental health and, and how
social is really, you know, distractingall the good work that can be done and all
the educational stuff that can be done.
And I wonder because of the topicsthat your show is on a boat.
Some of your listeners, won'tlisten to a hunt and stuff, somewhat
lesson about the more ecologicalstuff or whatever, because of that.
(18:43):
Have you ever been attacked or chilledonline or here's your gas shared examples?
Because all they've been tryingto do is educate, but then you've
got the very tunnel vision peoplecoming after you or coming after
Tommy (18:56):
them.
Honestly.
No, and I think that.
A lot of people that, you know,like I think that just listeners or
followers or viewers whoever they are,who have this tunnel vision and not
enjoying these, this type of content,they probably drop off quite quickly.
So, and, and on, on many occasions Ihad I'm trying to think about negative.
(19:19):
Like I can only reallythink about one, right?
So, so let, let me, let me qualify.
For sure.
I had a comments like, oh, I disagreewith your guests on this and that.
Right.
I listened to the podcast and I thinkthat these guests, you know, I agree
with part of it, but here on here,you know, I did disagree or that,
(19:41):
that, that, that obviously happened.
But one that was probably themost like Ron Thompson, the,
the, the he was he's a rain.
Or he was a ranger in the, in, in Africanone of the biggest game reserve in Africa.
And, you know, he, he, he, hegot himself in a, in the BBC
show with Pierce Pierce broth.
(20:04):
And what's the business more guy.
He's Morgan.
Yeah.
They, they, they kick him outfrom one show and then they'll
really follow these things.
You can tell.
So, you know, he, he get on the showwith him and he gets a lot of heat,
a lot of hate and like, oh, you know,he killed like 5,000 elephants and
you know, like, well, yeah, but thatwas like a two year long plan, the
(20:28):
government operation of elephant call.
And he was leading that operation.
Right.
So, so people with complete noclothes, like how it happens, that
Rangers didn't, you know, arresthim like, dude, he was the ranger.
He was leaving.
That operation, there was avatar builtthe process meat of those elephants.
(20:48):
Right.
But people go like, so I had, I hadhim on the podcast and, and, and,
you know, obviously he, he got alot of abuse online and otherwise,
so obviously he, he also that, youknow, leaves the mark on personality.
Right.
If you constantly attack, then youmaybe, you know, have everybody
(21:10):
have their own way of dealing with.
But it was a lovely episode.
He comes across as veryknowledgeable nice guy.
And, and that was one episode whenI got like comments on Facebook,
death threats, you know, howdare you talking to this guy?
You know, it reflects badly on youand on your show and all these,
but that happened only once.
(21:30):
And I think that because he got sucha huge negative publicity, There was
kind of like a fallback of of, of that.
But, you know, I, that's fine.
I'm not particularly bothered, youknow, I, you know, I would never not
talk to someone on their part because Iwould like, I like to talk to, because
(21:52):
you know, someone might not like itor they might, you know, I don't care
if you don't like, then don't listenor unsubscribe, you know, like I said,
it's, it's a very comfortable position.
I admit, because like I said,this is my complicated hobby.
And so I don't care if I havea hundred followers, I do care.
(22:14):
Right.
Don't get me wrong.
Like all my followers are very valuedand folks, thank you for listening
to this podcast and my podcast.
But if someone, you know, doesn't enjoy itor doesn't even like, okay, that's fine.
I'm not, I'm not goingto lose sleep over that.
So I, I absolutely will talk to anyone.
I feel like it's interesting andcan contribute to the conversation
Danny (22:38):
and to make sense.
It's like I'm, and again, it goesback to why I enjoy the short.
So it's very varied topics and I'monly getting really dug into it.
And I have less thanmaybe 10 or 12 episodes.
I've got a huge back catalogto go through, but so far
I'm really enjoying it.
And so you mentioned our load as well.
You're originally from Poland,but now you're in Ireland.
(22:58):
What, what have you found has beendifferent from the culture around.
Between the two countries and maybehow the approach, you know, say hunter
and ecological stuff, et cetera.
What's the differences there.
Tommy (23:09):
First of all, I don't think I can truly answer that question because in
Poland, I was very much city boy, right.
Born and raised in the city.
Finished university in the city first,you know, five, 10 years of my career
was in the , which was at the time,the biggest, second biggest city in
Poland after fall following communism,they, there was, there was, you
(23:32):
know, changes and but then I moved toWarsaw, you know, obviously we're so
big, big city you know, technology.
So I was, I was always, you know, the,the, the biggest contact with nature
in Poland was we had like a summer.
And I call it summer house becauseit wasn't really suitable to spend
winter like a Polish winter in it.
But we always try to spend, you know, likea three, four months of the, of summer
(23:57):
in that house, it was in the rural areas.
And so obviously as a kid, I had holidaysto two months of of, of vacations.
And then I had an option to workremotely, you know, one of the, one of
the benefits of computer industry and.
Oh, it was early two thousands.
I was already working remotely.
So like more time was spending there.
So I enjoyed that and I was doing fishing.
(24:19):
I was going on holidays and therewas like in a pond or something.
We were, we went out fishing, butmostly I was a city guy, city boy,
when I moved to Ireland, I, firstof all, I moved to the rural area.
You know, the county Kerry where I'mbased, it's called like a holiday camp.
You know, tourism and farming and,and, you know, and there was even when
(24:40):
I was looking at, you know, to acceptan offer of, of job in Ireland, you
know, I, I, I look up where it is.
I was like, wow, is itocean and mountains?
You know, and everything in one place,like in Poland, you need to drive
the whole day to, you know, to be inthe mountains or, or go to the sea.
So I go like, yeah, I'm there.
(25:01):
I came here and it was like a, trulythis open, this there's there's doors.
But to answer your question, I thinkthat Ireland is so fantastically
accessible in terms of outdoor activities.
You know, whether it's cycling,whether it's golfing, even whether
it's hunting or fishing, it's so muchmore accessible to try have an impact.
(25:24):
So I enjoyed that and I think thatgives me opportunity to try many
different things and, you know, pickand choose the ones that I like.
You know, I think, again, especiallyin the area where I live there
is not that densely populated.
You know, there's no big cities,there's no big crowds, there's relative
easy access to, you know fishing,hunting, golfing, cycling, you name it.
(25:49):
So that's why.
Other thing is that definitely issomething that I didn't realize at first.
But then as, as I was doing thepodcast and I was talking to members of
environmental NGOs and so on, I realizedhow depleted the nature isn't that.
It's very, very, there's like almostnothing left compared to Poland where
(26:13):
we're in and in general, you know,there's, there's one other episode
where I also discussed that with,with one of the scientists that you
know, that the further east you movein Europe, the nature is richer.
There's more left if you like,because the industrialization and.
Kind of, you know, lagging a little bitand that left more space for wildlife.
(26:36):
So I think that the part of that isthat the Poland is on the, on the
east of Europe, but also is bigger.
It's it's not so farming heavy.
So that's another thing comingfrom the perspective of.
You know human wildlife interactions.
And, and this is like this interestingthing, because, you know, when I, when
I was starting the podcast, like Isaid, it was, you know, the tagline was
dedicated to everything outdoors when Iwas, you know, trying different things.
(27:00):
And I had an episode was aboutrunning and cycling and, you
know, sailing all these stuff.
And then over time, it kind ofmorphed into like, okay, I think that.
Human wildlife interactionsis that this is that area.
This is that niche.
If you like this really interesting.
And there is a lot to talk about hereand there's a lot to educate people.
There's a lot to do anda lot to learn to that.
(27:22):
And then, you know, from thatperspective, I went on and saying,
oh, okay, I see what's going on.
So I think that on the one hand, Irelandhas much, is much more accessible.
It's easier to start, you know,either hunting or fishing or
any other outdoor activity.
On the other hand, if you're a wildlifelover or would like to see biodiversity?
(27:46):
Well, this is really far behind.
Danny (27:50):
We hop over the channel and get a gala photo.
Then we'd mentioned obviouslyearlier, you'd said that the
show is in its fifth year.
And it's, it's evolved, you know,fourth, I think fourth year.
So it's evolved quite a bitfrom its original inception.
What, what's the goals?
What's the plans for thefuture of Tommy's outdoors?
(28:11):
Are you going to continue with aformat as it is now, would you,
would you look to get back intoand Parson, Ricard and what's your.
Tommy (28:19):
Yeah, look, this is what we, I think says earlier in the green
room that, you know, I started witha lot of in-person and recording.
I was traveling and it was, you know,the part of the gig that I was packing
all my gear and going to meet the guestsand all that, you know obviously because
of COVID and all these things you know,is a hundred percent remote right now.
(28:41):
I think like last year Irecorded one episode 99.
Was it in person with a, with anold hunter and white folder who
lives nearby was great, you know,great talk to him and, and you know,
do like a woman person recording.
But to answer your question, I am notunder pressure, so I'm not looking on the
revolution it's evolution and they thinkof the show is evolving all the time.
(29:03):
And a lot of this evolution is driven by.
You know what I observe,what is, what is happening?
And, and, you know, there, there are,there are opportunities that I didn't
envisage when I was starting a show.
Right.
So for example, the researchinstitutions, research projects,
reaching out and saying, Hey, wouldyou like to talk about our project?
(29:24):
Right.
We have a scientist to talk about it.
So that's great.
That, that, that, that, youknow, like a scientific community
have an interest in this.
And this is like, I think there's alsolike a substantial portion of my Audience
are, are, you know, people from academia.
So that's one thing.
The other thing is that also increasinglythe publishers are reaching out and,
(29:46):
and, you know, want to talk aboutyou know, either one when the author
of the book interviewed or, or, or,you know, they, which is also very
interesting because then, you know,I kind of, it goes on my radar.
You know, who does whatand, and interesting people.
And so-and-so, so I enjoy these thingsas well, but I think that the overall
(30:08):
the trajectory I'm on going to stayor so, you know, obviously like every
podcast I would like to grow my audience,I would like to have a bigger reach,
bigger, and like all these things.
But there are not, not particularlyspecific to Tommy Salvador's.
I definitely would liketo develop further the.
Platform as a, as a platform forconversation as a platform for
(30:34):
presenting different points of view.
And, you know, having said that I'mnot hiding my points of view, right?
Like I'm a hunter and angler, right?
That's, that's, that's one thing.
But I also agree with a lot of thingsthat, you know, that hunters wouldn't
be particularly happy me saying.
And I agree with a lot of things thatrewilding, for example, Suggests and,
(30:58):
you know, I, I love the, I love the idea.
I appreciate all the problems.
I appreciate all the difficulties,but in general idea, I liked the idea.
So maybe you know, I could lead byexample and sort of say, Hey, people
come and listen to Tommy cell doors.
Even if you look at the title of theepisode and you see like, you know, like
(31:23):
an African big game hunting, Listening,you know, you're driving somewhere or
you're doing your yard work, put it on.
Listen, you might find somethinginteresting or at least this is going to
open your, your, your minds a little bit.
So this is definitely my goal to continueon that trajectory and position, the
(31:43):
key positioning Tommy's outdoors as aplatform for conversation where, you
know, everybody has an opportunityto present their own point of view.
And I think we need that because.
A lot of conversation on these subjectsthat are happening on social media, on
the Facebooks and Twitters of this world.
And these are just not themediums for discussion.
(32:08):
Is it like, right?
But if you can sit with someone and youcan have, you know, hour or two hours
to, to really trash it up, And digand ask followup questions and like,
di did I understood you correctly?
Right?
And then those people are also notlimited to the 300 heart characters limit.
They can actually, you know, atthe vans, their, their, their
(32:33):
thoughts properly, that changes theway of conversation tremendously.
And, and, and this is what I look forwardto, to do in, you know, And I think
Danny (32:44):
you've definitely sat the shop for that.
Like, like I've mentioned Ellen and Ikeep mentioning that one of the reasons I
do seriously enjoy your show is the factthat anybody can come on and you allow
them to come on and converse with you.
And you converse with them onvery different points of view.
And it allows listenersto really knock away.
Get different viewpoints to reallymake an educated decision on something
(33:10):
that it's not, it's somethingthat we don't have enough off.
I think so, so kudos to you for that.
Yeah.
So Tommy I've really enjoyed chatting withyou and I could have a far longer life.
So remember we have our revisit, likea season five revisit or something for
people that want to connect with youonline and, you know, chat with you.
(33:31):
You mentioned they can connect and you canhave HR with their viewpoints, et cetera.
Where's the best place forthem to find you online.
Tommy (33:38):
Sure the best place is to go to Tommy cell doors.com.
This is my website.
This is my blog, also any, and allpodcasting platforms, people who listen
to podcasts, they know they have their,you know, weapon of choice for podcasting.
So I don't have to tell you that,but Tommy's outdoors.com definitely
going there and explore the page.
There's a search box.
(34:00):
And there are occasional blogs in there.
There are videos on my YouTube channel,which are not necessarily like a podcast
version of video, but like a short videos.
I enjoy, you know, doing likeshort, short form videos as well.
Explore that page.
There's a, there's a download page.
There is a recommendation forChristmas books at the moment.
So definitely Tommy Salvador'sdot com is the best place.
(34:22):
There's also a contact form.
So by all means, if you want to,if you want to get in touch, hit
the about and under about section.
There's a few words aboutme and the contact form.
So Tommy doors.com.
From there, you will find me in anyand all platforms that you may enjoy.
Danny (34:39):
And I can recommend that.
Cause I got lost in a rabbit hole when Ivisited your site and it was an awesome
rabbit hole, finding all of thesedifferent categories, subcategories
videos, book recommendations.
That was awesome.
I spent quite an enjoyable period of time.
And so I will leave the link toTommy's website in the show notes.
So you'll listen on your favoriteapp, make sure to check the show notes
and you can get the link there, but Iwould recommend normal wasn't today.
(35:00):
Just check out the websites vertical.
So tell me again, thank you for the PLN.
And I'm looking forward to thelisteners, you know, learn from your
chat
Tommy (35:07):
today, Danny.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for the opportunityand all the best.
My point is always, you know, let's focus on things that we have in
common because in general, this is,this is very unfortunate part of a
discourse these days, that people seemsto be focusing on this little thing that
we disagree and let's fight over the.
But there's like all thesethings that we agree on.
Danny (00:21):
This week, I'm talking to Tommy, Serafinski, host of Tommy's
Outdoors, a show that talks aboutbiodiversity, conservation, hunting
and fishinh, rewilding, and much more.
And they're all interconnectedtopics, which we'll definitely
get into on the episodes.
So Tommy, welcome to the show.
How about you tell the listenersabout yourself and your podcast.
Tommy (00:40):
Hey, Danny.
And Hey everybody.
Thanks for opportunityto be on your podcast.
Yeah.
So like you said Tommy cell doors we arefocusing on human wildlife interactions,
human wildlife, conflict, conservation,hunting, and fishing rewilding.
You know, our relation with nature, Iwill human relationship with nature.
(01:00):
That's.
You know, it was like a long-windedmaybe not long, but there was a you
know, we, we arrived at this of thisformat of the show and that the subject
of a show from, you know, the originalidea, which was dedicated to everything
outdoors, but it was like, you know,a little bit of experimenting involved
into how the show going to look likeand what it's going to evolve into.
(01:23):
You know, like, like, like we spokea little bit earlier in one of the.
Guests on one of the podcasts.
You said that, you know,this, this podcast is like
my complicated hobby, right?
Because I have a, my day job.
So I didn't come up with a, you know,like a business plan or anything,
and this is going to be a show.
And like this, this, this, it was, itwas a kind of organic born out of my,
(01:47):
you know, like a labor of love, really.
I was doing what I, what I liked andI'm sure we can get into more details
of the story, how it came to be.
But yeah, long story short,this is a podcast about the
human wildlife interface.
And I think that the how I see the, the,the, the unique part of the show is that
(02:09):
I talk with sort of two sides of thestory always because you know, something
I didn't know, and something I actuallylearned more about when I was doing a
podcast was that around conservationand, and, you know, environmental.
There is incredible amount of conflictand, you know, opposing views, which
(02:30):
I, as I wasn't aware of that, youknow, I came kind of naive to that.
It's like, oh, conservation,we want to protect nature in
animals who wouldn't want that.
Right there just everybody'son the same page.
Right.
And not necessarily it's and thecomplexity of the subjects and,
and all the, you know, littlepoints and little points of view.
(02:52):
And actually, you know, when youlisten to people, everybody's right.
So I think that the big thingfor me is that I talked both with
hunters and anglers and I talk withenvironmentalist and I talk with people
if you are in, you know, in NGOs.
And I talk with you know, for example,lady who works in seal rescue sanctuary.
And then I talk with a trawler manwho, you know, so one lady focuses her.
(03:18):
Work and time on helping seals andrehabilitating seals and so on.
And then on the next episode, I havea trawler man who goes like, oh shoot.
Right.
And, and, and yeah, you know, I alwayssay that it's just huge advantage for me,
that people will have different pointsof view listening to my podcasts, because
(03:39):
I say like, if even, you know, afterall these, you know, a hundred, however
many episodes right now, even one personsays, wow, I never thought about that.
Right.
That's my job done.
That's that's a success that, thatthe present different points of view.
So I, I think this is definitelythe direction that I, that I'm
taking to the show which is.
(04:00):
Not easy on occasions because youhave people, you know, I sometimes
feel like with every episode, there'slike a half of my audience gets upset
with me, you know, but this is, myidea is like the weekend only make
progress by talking to each other andpresenting each other points of view.
And you know, if you did disagreewith something, that's okay.
(04:22):
I often disagree with my guestson stuff, but it's not my job to
challenge them or convince them.
But sort of give a platform topresent their point of view.
And then I have somebody elsepresent different point of.
And we can have these conversations.
So that's that's, I think likethe big thing for me with my, and
Danny (04:39):
you'd mentioned that you've got a a hundred plus episodes
actually premiered back in 2016 onmy birthday month from October, 2016.
What were your goals for at thattime with cause it's very different
from your day job, obviously.
That's what we're speaking about inthe green room before the episode, but
what were your goals for, and how'sthat evolved since that first step?
Tommy (04:59):
Yeah.
I can maybe back out even, even evenfurther before I had a podcast, right.
It's a podcast they're stories.
So reading my stories, like Istarted with a blog and, you
know, as an, as an outdoorsman Iwas originally an angler, right.
Angling was my thing.
Or like you know, recreationalfishing rather than like.
(05:20):
And that was, you know, these were timesbefore Facebooks and all those things.
And there was a time where people havethese bulit in boards, this messaging
forums, and we have it like an anglingforum in Poland back in the days.
And we were postingphotos and all that stuff.
And it was like a photo manager calledPicasa, which was sadly killed by.
(05:43):
I still think that this, this wasthe best photo manager ever, ever,
like me even Lightroom not comesclose because it was so lightweight.
And because I had this buttonon the bottom says blog list.
I didn't even know what is like,what, what is this, what it is?
I don't know where the blog is.
Right.
So I clicked it and it's like,oh, it's set up on your site.
I was like, oh, cool.
(06:04):
So that's how I started my blog.
And I started blogging, you know, Thealways idea was that I wasn't blogging
like on the regular intervals or anything,but it was like, if something interesting
happened, I was writing a blog, postposting photos and you know, it was cool.
So I was doing that formore than over 10 years.
And in the meantime,I, I moved to Ireland.
(06:25):
You know, I, it was like wholenew fishing opportunities here,
you know, fishing in the ocean.
And then, you know, I get the little.
Disposable income, I guess.
So I know went to Africa and therewas doing some expensive fishing
trips and that was also fun and thatwas putting up posts and all that.
But because I never want to, you know,I'm like, oh, I went fishing and I caught
three baths and then like, oh, I wasfishing and I would call it one bass.
(06:48):
Like I there's always has to be somethingnew, some different angles on it.
So naturally after 10 plusyears, it, it kind of died.
It was, you know, so I stopped posting.
It was like nothing, nothingnew and interesting on it.
But I enjoyed this, this thing.
I, I enjoy interactions with people.
I enjoy sharing myexperiences in the outdoors.
(07:08):
And so, you know, I thought like,well, first of all, it would be cool to
have to do it in the English language.
Just to reach the wider audienceand maybe being, you know,
more, more local and also.
Because, you know, English isobviously not my first language
speaking is easier than writing.
(07:29):
So podcasts was a natural choice.
I got let's do it.
So that's how it started.
And the actually little known factis that they had a podcast in Polish
language, which just started only justto learn stuff, just to figure out
how that this podcasting thing works.
Because I, you know, I knew as muchabout podcasting, as I knew about
blogging back then clicking that button.
(07:50):
So I, I probably recorded like a 20episodes of a podcast in Polish language.
Kind of like in parlor later on,maybe when I was on episode 10 or 15,
I started this podcast, Tommy celldoors, where it was initially you know,
again, irregular episodes and probablysince episode six or seven, I kind of
(08:11):
committed to schedule every two weeks.
And man, it's like four years now.
I haven't missed the one.
So that's a, that's a little achiever.
So, yeah, that's that's, that wasthe start of of that whole endeavor.
Danny (08:27):
And that's something that takes a lot of, well, you know, yourself, it
takes a lot of commitment to keep going.
You know, obviously you moved fromthe blog cause I was getting less
enjoyable if you like to the podcast.
So, you know, I know how long it,how much effort goes into that.
So kudos, not like five years,four or five years on it.
It's amazing.
And you mentioned obviously one of thethings that I enjoyed about your show,
and I'm glad you mentioned it earlier.
(08:49):
Your role isn't to offer a definitive.
Your role as the host and your guests tobring them on is to educate and let people
and let the listeners make their ownminds up based on your guests and what the
bra and an absolute, I, I really enjoyedone of the episodes I really enjoyed was
your most recent one fallen off wherewith mark, I think mark Boyden who was
speaking about, you know conservationand, and going back to your conversation
(09:13):
about, you know, the different viewpointswhere everybody's actually right,
when it comes to conversation, and youmentioned that he changed your with.
Which is kinda cool.
And so, so what's, what would yousay has been the biggest example of
someone changing your mind or makingyou think of that a different way from
how you had been prior to an episode
Tommy (09:31):
being recorded?
Oh, it's a, it's an interesting question.
You know, it's, so I put you this way.
I, I learned something in everyepisode and especially that.
You know I I'm, I'm not the ecologist,I'm not the, you know, I don't
have a formal education in, in youknow, wildlife or conservation or
(09:52):
environment, anything like that.
I'm a computer guy, right?
Like simplistically speaking.
So I learn so much that.
You know, and you notice this, yourecord the episode and you present
while you're recording an episode,but you're not present because you
also a sound engineer and you'relooking at all the different things.
(10:12):
Right.
And then you editing the episodeand you, and you're listening to the
second time and you pick up on the newthings that you haven't heard before.
And then, you know, you're listeningfor the third time or fourth time,
once it's published as like, oh, I T.
You know, quite often, it's not even amatter of changing my mind as if we're
(10:33):
like, whoa, I never knew about that.
You know?
And you know, in, in Kings ofmark, it was interesting because
he kind of changed the way.
How I plan the, the episode,because, you know, like in this
case, you know, fish farms and Samanfarming is like a known bad guy.
(10:53):
So I was expecting him going, digging,you know, like all guns blazing.
And, and he shut it down completely.
It's like, well, we, you know,this is not our business.
We have no official opinion on it.
We'd focusing on something else.
Right.
And it was surprising initially, butthen it was like, yeah, that's actually.
You know, refreshing because like, ifeverybody, you know, has like goals, all
(11:18):
guns blazing, then there is no other way.
And he actually, you know, he saidlike, yeah, I'm well aware of many
things, but we, we purposefully takingthis way and the same wasn't with a
episode with sea rescue on other ones,there's two, one suicide Tewari wants
to see a rescue island where the lady.
(11:41):
Very, this is what we do, and thisis what we're going to talk about.
And not there is in many other subjects,but we are focusing on this and I always
appreciate this, you know, clear mission.
This is what we do, and we not gettingbogged down by, you know, various other.
I probably didn't answeryour question, but anyway,
Danny (12:02):
no, no, no, I it's.
It's interesting because to your pointit's not black and white, you know, I
always, I grew up thinking that, you knowany kind of, not any kind of hunter, not
strong, but and it kind of controls youlike was, was bad, but then you'd realize,
well, if I sell and a past is lit.
(12:23):
Uncontrolled that can causeother ecological damage.
And so you, you start to learn as youget older and you start to educate
yourself more than listen to peoplelike yourself and your guests you'll
learn more, which I see your point.
I think it's, it's importantthat we keep our minds open.
Not just what our third belief is.
Cause that's not, notalways the right one.
Tommy (12:42):
Exactly.
Exactly.
This is so new and so complex.
So, you know, anyone who sayslike, yeah, this is this way.
It's like, whoa.
Danny (12:54):
Yeah.
And I know that that's something thatI want to speak about because obviously
one of the topics you cover is huntingand this can often result in a negative
connotation from animal lovers oranimal rights groups, et cetera.
Is that difficult or do youfind it a difficult topic?
Cause you mentioned that you're back inPoland, you were fishing and hunting.
Do you find that sometimes adifficult topic to try and educate
(13:15):
on or what what's your feeling?
Tommy (13:17):
Look, there was quite a few episodes both already published in, in,
in the pipeline taking on that subject.
And it, again, it's, it's very complex.
My, my, my main thing is like, wecannot try to educate people forcefully.
So if someone has already predeterminedpoint of view and is not open.
(13:43):
To revising their view right there.
They're not going to change their view.
Right?
So this is like an old militarything that you'd not attacking
45 45 positions because that'swhere they are expecting attack.
Right.
So if, if, if you dealing withanimal lover or, you know, ethical V.
(14:03):
You know, there is no point going likehunting is actually very good and hunting
is conservation and go educate yourself.
This is absolutely not the way to go.
So my point is always, you know, let'sfocus on things that we have in common
because in general, this is, this isvery unfortunate part of a discourse
(14:25):
these days, that people seems to befocusing on this little thing that we
disagree and let's fight over that.
But there's like all thesethings that we agree on.
So, you know this is where I'm tryingto focus on what are the common
parts where we can agree on some.
We can, we can agree on something.
(14:45):
And if it, if then happensthat, you know, I had the many
scientists where a hunters, right.
Or who are anglers.
Okay.
Th th the subject wascompletely not about that.
And they say, oh, you know, bythe way, I'm also an angler.
I was like, oh, I didn't know.
Right.
And I can share a review in with the,with the listeners, a story from my, from
(15:06):
my own podcast where it was one of thefirst episodes of the podcast, but that
was recording with it with a lovely lady.
And we were talking about she was in herlate fifties, early sixties, I think.
And we, we talked about.
You know, connection with nature andhow you, you know, growing your own
vegetables and how great it is foryour mental health and all that stuff.
(15:26):
Right.
And I didn't know any better.
And I said like, yeah, exactly.
It's the same with the hunters.
They have this connection with theirfood and they can, and I can see like
she stiffens up and she goes like,Again, hunting and like, and she's
kind of rattles off these, these thingsthat she clearly heard somewhere.
(15:48):
Right.
I go hunting with dogs andlike, clearly she doesn't know
anything about hunting with dogs.
Right.
But she knows that she is againstthat because they write some, okay.
You know, we, we didn't even, wemove on to the next subject that.
Talking about the other things.
And we finished the podcast and I did,when we finished, I actually said,
oh yeah, Tommy, great conversation.
You're in my tribe.
(16:09):
We understand each other, but that's it.
We move on right.
Next time.
Next time, the subject ofhunting comes up, that lady will
have in the back of her head.
Oh, I actually know one guy who wasactually good guy and we have so much
in common and he's a hunter, right.
And this is the way how you change.
(16:30):
People attitude and people, youknow, you're not trying to force
something down their throat.
Is it like, okay, like, whatis that makes you take right.
Connection with nature growing vegetables.
Great.
It's fantastic.
Right.
So this is, this is my, this is,this is how I approach this, this.
And, but that doesn't mean that I,you know, I have an episode that
(16:51):
are straight up hunting, right?
Sweden is hunting is one of them.
I had a hunter on the podcast and we,you know, dive deep and very geeky
about hunting and you know, whatcalibers and what, you know, what you
do and how you do all these things.
Sure.
But then because you know, some partof my audience will not listen to
(17:12):
that episode, but maybe somewhere.
And they, you know, andthey pick up stuffers.
They're like, oh, okay.
So that actually is a big culture.
And actually everybody in Sweden,you know, 90% is okay with hunting
and actually this is how it goes, andthis is how it's managed that way.
So I am not like not findingthat difficult per se because
(17:34):
I'm not trying to force anything.
I'm trying to be natural with,with what I do and who I see.
And that
Danny (17:41):
ties me into a recent episode as well.
I think it was maybe six or eightepisodes ago with Ellucian, Alyssa, Mike,
Robert the communication professional,but who's also using storytelling
and communication to educate and helpeducate and goes back to your point there
about, it's not about force and views.
Dan it's about communicate them use andletting people understand, you know,
(18:01):
from mine, what I liked about the app.
So it's obviously Lucy is awesomeat doing that and get them.
What can be difficult topics across wow.
Because of her approach.
But what I also found interesting aboutthat episode, then it goes back to your
point earlier about us being very minuteon what we choose to attack and what we
(18:22):
choose to go after is social media andits impact on mental health and, and how
social is really, you know, distractingall the good work that can be done and all
the educational stuff that can be done.
And I wonder because of the topicsthat your show is on a boat.
Some of your listeners, won'tlisten to a hunt and stuff, somewhat
lesson about the more ecologicalstuff or whatever, because of that.
(18:43):
Have you ever been attacked or chilledonline or here's your gas shared examples?
Because all they've been tryingto do is educate, but then you've
got the very tunnel vision peoplecoming after you or coming after
Tommy (18:56):
them.
Honestly.
No, and I think that.
A lot of people that, you know,like I think that just listeners or
followers or viewers whoever they are,who have this tunnel vision and not
enjoying these, this type of content,they probably drop off quite quickly.
So, and, and on, on many occasions Ihad I'm trying to think about negative.
(19:19):
Like I can only reallythink about one, right?
So, so let, let me, let me qualify.
For sure.
I had a comments like, oh, I disagreewith your guests on this and that.
Right.
I listened to the podcast and I thinkthat these guests, you know, I agree
with part of it, but here on here,you know, I did disagree or that,
(19:41):
that, that, that obviously happened.
But one that was probably themost like Ron Thompson, the,
the, the he was he's a rain.
Or he was a ranger in the, in, in Africanone of the biggest game reserve in Africa.
And, you know, he, he, he, hegot himself in a, in the BBC
show with Pierce Pierce broth.
(20:04):
And what's the business more guy.
He's Morgan.
Yeah.
They, they, they kick him outfrom one show and then they'll
really follow these things.
You can tell.
So, you know, he, he get on the showwith him and he gets a lot of heat,
a lot of hate and like, oh, you know,he killed like 5,000 elephants and
you know, like, well, yeah, but thatwas like a two year long plan, the
(20:28):
government operation of elephant call.
And he was leading that operation.
Right.
So, so people with complete noclothes, like how it happens, that
Rangers didn't, you know, arresthim like, dude, he was the ranger.
He was leaving.
That operation, there was avatar builtthe process meat of those elephants.
(20:48):
Right.
But people go like, so I had, I hadhim on the podcast and, and, and,
you know, obviously he, he got alot of abuse online and otherwise,
so obviously he, he also that, youknow, leaves the mark on personality.
Right.
If you constantly attack, then youmaybe, you know, have everybody
(21:10):
have their own way of dealing with.
But it was a lovely episode.
He comes across as veryknowledgeable nice guy.
And, and that was one episode whenI got like comments on Facebook,
death threats, you know, howdare you talking to this guy?
You know, it reflects badly on youand on your show and all these,
but that happened only once.
(21:30):
And I think that because he got sucha huge negative publicity, There was
kind of like a fallback of of, of that.
But, you know, I, that's fine.
I'm not particularly bothered, youknow, I, you know, I would never not
talk to someone on their part because Iwould like, I like to talk to, because
(21:52):
you know, someone might not like itor they might, you know, I don't care
if you don't like, then don't listenor unsubscribe, you know, like I said,
it's, it's a very comfortable position.
I admit, because like I said,this is my complicated hobby.
And so I don't care if I havea hundred followers, I do care.
(22:14):
Right.
Don't get me wrong.
Like all my followers are very valuedand folks, thank you for listening
to this podcast and my podcast.
But if someone, you know, doesn't enjoy itor doesn't even like, okay, that's fine.
I'm not, I'm not goingto lose sleep over that.
So I, I absolutely will talk to anyone.
I feel like it's interesting andcan contribute to the conversation
Danny (22:38):
and to make sense.
It's like I'm, and again, it goesback to why I enjoy the short.
So it's very varied topics and I'monly getting really dug into it.
And I have less thanmaybe 10 or 12 episodes.
I've got a huge back catalogto go through, but so far
I'm really enjoying it.
And so you mentioned our load as well.
You're originally from Poland,but now you're in Ireland.
(22:58):
What, what have you found has beendifferent from the culture around.
Between the two countries and maybehow the approach, you know, say hunter
and ecological stuff, et cetera.
What's the differences there.
Tommy (23:09):
First of all, I don't think I can truly answer that question because in
Poland, I was very much city boy, right.
Born and raised in the city.
Finished university in the city first,you know, five, 10 years of my career
was in the , which was at the time,the biggest, second biggest city in
Poland after fall following communism,they, there was, there was, you
(23:32):
know, changes and but then I moved toWarsaw, you know, obviously we're so
big, big city you know, technology.
So I was, I was always, you know, the,the, the biggest contact with nature
in Poland was we had like a summer.
And I call it summer house becauseit wasn't really suitable to spend
winter like a Polish winter in it.
But we always try to spend, you know, likea three, four months of the, of summer
(23:57):
in that house, it was in the rural areas.
And so obviously as a kid, I had holidaysto two months of of, of vacations.
And then I had an option to workremotely, you know, one of the, one of
the benefits of computer industry and.
Oh, it was early two thousands.
I was already working remotely.
So like more time was spending there.
So I enjoyed that and I was doing fishing.
(24:19):
I was going on holidays and therewas like in a pond or something.
We were, we went out fishing, butmostly I was a city guy, city boy,
when I moved to Ireland, I, firstof all, I moved to the rural area.
You know, the county Kerry where I'mbased, it's called like a holiday camp.
You know, tourism and farming and,and, you know, and there was even when
(24:40):
I was looking at, you know, to acceptan offer of, of job in Ireland, you
know, I, I, I look up where it is.
I was like, wow, is itocean and mountains?
You know, and everything in one place,like in Poland, you need to drive
the whole day to, you know, to be inthe mountains or, or go to the sea.
So I go like, yeah, I'm there.
(25:01):
I came here and it was like a, trulythis open, this there's there's doors.
But to answer your question, I thinkthat Ireland is so fantastically
accessible in terms of outdoor activities.
You know, whether it's cycling,whether it's golfing, even whether
it's hunting or fishing, it's so muchmore accessible to try have an impact.
(25:24):
So I enjoyed that and I think thatgives me opportunity to try many
different things and, you know, pickand choose the ones that I like.
You know, I think, again, especiallyin the area where I live there
is not that densely populated.
You know, there's no big cities,there's no big crowds, there's relative
easy access to, you know fishing,hunting, golfing, cycling, you name it.
(25:49):
So that's why.
Other thing is that definitely issomething that I didn't realize at first.
But then as, as I was doing thepodcast and I was talking to members of
environmental NGOs and so on, I realizedhow depleted the nature isn't that.
It's very, very, there's like almostnothing left compared to Poland where
(26:13):
we're in and in general, you know,there's, there's one other episode
where I also discussed that with,with one of the scientists that you
know, that the further east you movein Europe, the nature is richer.
There's more left if you like,because the industrialization and.
Kind of, you know, lagging a little bitand that left more space for wildlife.
(26:36):
So I think that the part of that isthat the Poland is on the, on the
east of Europe, but also is bigger.
It's it's not so farming heavy.
So that's another thing comingfrom the perspective of.
You know human wildlife interactions.
And, and this is like this interestingthing, because, you know, when I, when
I was starting the podcast, like Isaid, it was, you know, the tagline was
dedicated to everything outdoors when Iwas, you know, trying different things.
(27:00):
And I had an episode was aboutrunning and cycling and, you
know, sailing all these stuff.
And then over time, it kind ofmorphed into like, okay, I think that.
Human wildlife interactionsis that this is that area.
This is that niche.
If you like this really interesting.
And there is a lot to talk about hereand there's a lot to educate people.
There's a lot to do anda lot to learn to that.
(27:22):
And then, you know, from thatperspective, I went on and saying,
oh, okay, I see what's going on.
So I think that on the one hand, Irelandhas much, is much more accessible.
It's easier to start, you know,either hunting or fishing or
any other outdoor activity.
On the other hand, if you're a wildlifelover or would like to see biodiversity?
(27:46):
Well, this is really far behind.
Danny (27:50):
We hop over the channel and get a gala photo.
Then we'd mentioned obviouslyearlier, you'd said that the
show is in its fifth year.
And it's, it's evolved, you know,fourth, I think fourth year.
So it's evolved quite a bitfrom its original inception.
What, what's the goals?
What's the plans for thefuture of Tommy's outdoors?
(28:11):
Are you going to continue with aformat as it is now, would you,
would you look to get back intoand Parson, Ricard and what's your.
Tommy (28:19):
Yeah, look, this is what we, I think says earlier in the green
room that, you know, I started witha lot of in-person and recording.
I was traveling and it was, you know,the part of the gig that I was packing
all my gear and going to meet the guestsand all that, you know obviously because
of COVID and all these things you know,is a hundred percent remote right now.
(28:41):
I think like last year Irecorded one episode 99.
Was it in person with a, with anold hunter and white folder who
lives nearby was great, you know,great talk to him and, and you know,
do like a woman person recording.
But to answer your question, I am notunder pressure, so I'm not looking on the
revolution it's evolution and they thinkof the show is evolving all the time.
(29:03):
And a lot of this evolution is driven by.
You know what I observe,what is, what is happening?
And, and, you know, there, there are,there are opportunities that I didn't
envisage when I was starting a show.
Right.
So for example, the researchinstitutions, research projects,
reaching out and saying, Hey, wouldyou like to talk about our project?
(29:24):
Right.
We have a scientist to talk about it.
So that's great.
That, that, that, that, youknow, like a scientific community
have an interest in this.
And this is like, I think there's alsolike a substantial portion of my Audience
are, are, you know, people from academia.
So that's one thing.
The other thing is that also increasinglythe publishers are reaching out and,
(29:46):
and, you know, want to talk aboutyou know, either one when the author
of the book interviewed or, or, or,you know, they, which is also very
interesting because then, you know,I kind of, it goes on my radar.
You know, who does whatand, and interesting people.
And so-and-so, so I enjoy these thingsas well, but I think that the overall
(30:08):
the trajectory I'm on going to stayor so, you know, obviously like every
podcast I would like to grow my audience,I would like to have a bigger reach,
bigger, and like all these things.
But there are not, not particularlyspecific to Tommy Salvador's.
I definitely would liketo develop further the.
Platform as a, as a platform forconversation as a platform for
(30:34):
presenting different points of view.
And, you know, having said that I'mnot hiding my points of view, right?
Like I'm a hunter and angler, right?
That's, that's, that's one thing.
But I also agree with a lot of thingsthat, you know, that hunters wouldn't
be particularly happy me saying.
And I agree with a lot of things thatrewilding, for example, Suggests and,
(30:58):
you know, I, I love the, I love the idea.
I appreciate all the problems.
I appreciate all the difficulties,but in general idea, I liked the idea.
So maybe you know, I could lead byexample and sort of say, Hey, people
come and listen to Tommy cell doors.
Even if you look at the title of theepisode and you see like, you know, like
(31:23):
an African big game hunting, Listening,you know, you're driving somewhere or
you're doing your yard work, put it on.
Listen, you might find somethinginteresting or at least this is going to
open your, your, your minds a little bit.
So this is definitely my goal to continueon that trajectory and position, the
(31:43):
key positioning Tommy's outdoors as aplatform for conversation where, you
know, everybody has an opportunityto present their own point of view.
And I think we need that because.
A lot of conversation on these subjectsthat are happening on social media, on
the Facebooks and Twitters of this world.
And these are just not themediums for discussion.
(32:08):
Is it like, right?
But if you can sit with someone and youcan have, you know, hour or two hours
to, to really trash it up, And digand ask followup questions and like,
di did I understood you correctly?
Right?
And then those people are also notlimited to the 300 heart characters limit.
They can actually, you know, atthe vans, their, their, their
(32:33):
thoughts properly, that changes theway of conversation tremendously.
And, and, and this is what I look forwardto, to do in, you know, And I think
Danny (32:44):
you've definitely sat the shop for that.
Like, like I've mentioned Ellen and Ikeep mentioning that one of the reasons I
do seriously enjoy your show is the factthat anybody can come on and you allow
them to come on and converse with you.
And you converse with them onvery different points of view.
And it allows listenersto really knock away.
Get different viewpoints to reallymake an educated decision on something
(33:10):
that it's not, it's somethingthat we don't have enough off.
I think so, so kudos to you for that.
Yeah.
So Tommy I've really enjoyed chatting withyou and I could have a far longer life.
So remember we have our revisit, likea season five revisit or something for
people that want to connect with youonline and, you know, chat with you.
(33:31):
You mentioned they can connect and you canhave HR with their viewpoints, et cetera.
Where's the best place forthem to find you online.
Tommy (33:38):
Sure the best place is to go to Tommy cell doors.com.
This is my website.
This is my blog, also any, and allpodcasting platforms, people who listen
to podcasts, they know they have their,you know, weapon of choice for podcasting.
So I don't have to tell you that,but Tommy's outdoors.com definitely
going there and explore the page.
There's a search box.
(34:00):
And there are occasional blogs in there.
There are videos on my YouTube channel,which are not necessarily like a podcast
version of video, but like a short videos.
I enjoy, you know, doing likeshort, short form videos as well.
Explore that page.
There's a, there's a download page.
There is a recommendation forChristmas books at the moment.
So definitely Tommy Salvador'sdot com is the best place.
(34:22):
There's also a contact form.
So by all means, if you want to,if you want to get in touch, hit
the about and under about section.
There's a few words aboutme and the contact form.
So Tommy doors.com.
From there, you will find me in anyand all platforms that you may enjoy.
Danny (34:39):
And I can recommend that.
Cause I got lost in a rabbit hole when Ivisited your site and it was an awesome
rabbit hole, finding all of thesedifferent categories, subcategories
videos, book recommendations.
That was awesome.
I spent quite an enjoyable period of time.
And so I will leave the link toTommy's website in the show notes.
So you'll listen on your favoriteapp, make sure to check the show notes
and you can get the link there, but Iwould recommend normal wasn't today.
(35:00):
Just check out the websites vertical.
So tell me again, thank you for the PLN.
And I'm looking forward to thelisteners, you know, learn from your
chat
Tommy (35:07):
today, Danny.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for the opportunityand all the best.
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