PODSHIP EARTH

Prepping for 2022: We've been through a year of climate emergencies. It's been terrifying to witness the Earth's reaction to the destruction we have wrought upon her. We're often ill prepared to cope with the resulting chaos and dislocation. When a storm takes out the power lines, or an earthquake ruptures the water pipes, or a mudslide blocks the road leaving your town, or a wildfire is moving towards your house, what the hell do you do? Alexander Black is an urban prepper living in the heart of Los Angeles.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Art is fundamental to understanding who we are in context to the world. Artists translate and blend physical worlds with emotional landscapes, threading magic into our lives. No one embodies this journey more than Alex Nichols. She works with explosive vision and unparalleled focus to express her artistic voice. Alex's art focuses on translating the world inside her, the world around her, and the world between us all. Great art transcends the everyday, showing us who we are and who we aspire to be. Art is one of the most important tools we have for healing the planet. Alex has stayed true to that pursuit no matter how difficult the journey.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nalleli Cobo grew up in South Central Los Angeles just 30 feet away from a polluting oil well. When Nalleli was nine she and her community started getting nose bleeds, nausea, headaches and asthma. Nalleli began a crusade to shutdown oil drilling in her neighborhood by focusing on the power of storytelling - shining a bright light on what was happening to her community. Nalleli fought a smart, tough campaign that eventually triumphed in getting the oil facility across from her permanently closed. Nalleli is now 20 and has spent more than half her life fighting oil drilling across LA. Nalleli's willingness to share her story no matter how much pain it evokes is the embodiment of talking truth to power. Nalleli takes each day as it comes - bringing everything she has to the struggle. She lost her childhood so that others wouldn't have to. In the process, Nalleli Cobo helped create the global climate youth movement, now the most powerful force for change on the planet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As world leaders descended on Glasgow to agree on a plan to curb climate pollution, most of the obstacles to inking a deal centered on who pays for what. Not being discussed is the underlying financial framework of capitalism which has played an outsized role in getting us into this mess. Because capitalism focuses nearly exclusively on maximizing profits, the exploitation of both human and natural resources has never been part of the balance sheet. Dr Carolina Alves studies and teaches heterodox economics at Cambridge University. Carolina is part of a new wave of economists bringing rigour and curiosity to answering fundamental questions about how markets operate and where reform is needed. In a discipline dominated by white men from the global north, Carolina's fight to make economics more equitable, representative and focused on social good comes not a moment too soon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Talking about the rain, wind, sun, humidity, snow, hail, storms, heat, flooding and everything in between is one of our favorite topics of conversation. That's now being amped up to a whole new level because of climate change. Today's extreme weather is causing droughts, wildfires, mega hurricanes, atmospheric rivers and temperatures both so cold and hot that people are dying. Extreme weather cost U.S. taxpayers $99 billion last year, and it is getting worse. Weather is getting a lot more attention. That puts the spotlight on meteorologists who deliver daily weather forecasts. Monica Woods has been ABC10 Sacramento's Chief Meteorologist since 2011. Monica's broadcasts go into the field with farmers, scientists, water managers and everyday Californians to find the stories that inspire action and even hope. Her message is that ultimately we protect the things we love.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our nation is becoming more diverse thanks to growth among Latinx, Asian and multiracial Americans. Diversity is our nation's single greatest strength. Nowhere is this more true than in California where the Latinx community is now the largest racial or ethnic group in the Golden State - representing 39% of the population. And yet, if you go to a national park or recreation area, the vast majority of visitors are white. Rather than get derailed by ridiculous racist tropes, like people of color don't like the outdoors, José González started Latino Outdoors as a way of meeting communities, families and individuals where they're at.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In England, climate protesters walked onto the M25 - the country's busiest motorway - sat down and glued themselves to the asphalt. Traffic ground to a halt while the police unstuck them. Their demands: insulate all of Britain's public housing to stop more than 8,000 people from dying each year from the cold. The insulation would also help reduce climate pollution and create thousands of jobs. But, in a country known for their stiff upper lip, the public went bonkers over commute times getting longer. I meet up with Cameron Ford - to find out what the hell's going on. Cameron was involved in many of the latest roadway demonstrations and he's a carpenter working to insulate public housing.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We embark on an environmental justice tour of Richmond, CA with two Laotian community organizers. Before Torm Nompraseurt managed to escape Laos, 13 members of his family had been killed, the U.S. had dropped 50 million tons of bombs on his country, defoliated the forests with agent orange, and he had been displaced 6 times. Torm moved to Richmond, CA to pursue the American Dream only to discover more than 350 toxic hotspots. Torm's journey mirrors the creation of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), where Denny Khamphanthong is the next generation of APEN organizer in Richmond. We visit with the Laotian community, see way too many toxic sites, talk about the struggles to afford to live in the community in which you were raised, understand the power of organizing everyday people and finish by seeing a soon to be opened youth climate resilience center called RYSE Commons!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Saumya Roy is a journalist and activist from Mumbai India who spent eight years writing: Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Waste Pickers of Mumbai. The book is so beautifully written, weaving together stories of how we can create something out of nothing with an examination of what it means to be human. The story centers on a family that lives on the slopes of Deonar waste mountain, the largest pile of trash in India. What emerges from talking to Ms Roy are stories of a shared humanity and struggle for dignity that we must harness if we are to avoid the worst of a climate uncertain future.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I grew up in this English village just outside the university town of Cambridge. Grantchester is surrounded by flat farmland. Along the narrow river Camb which connects Cambridge to Grantchester are the Meadows which for 800 years have been home to herds of cows and crowds of revelers. Just like the rest of the world Grantchester has changed. The village has had to withstand the loss of the school, the village shop and the Green Man pub. And yet, the glue that holds the community together still exists. The Parish Magazine, remaining pubs, orchard, barrel races, art classes, church and the networks of neighbors that banded together to help during the pandemic, show the evolution of community.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Earthseed - is a religion created by Octavia Butler in Parable of the Sower, a sci-fi novel about a California ravaged by climate change and social dislocation in 2024.Last year, with the pandemic raging, the pain of George Floyd's murder boiling, Pandora Thomas founded her own Earthseed commuity. With the help of many, Pandora purchased Gabriel farm, a 14-acre, organic, solar-powered orchard, with a 75-year history and turned it into the first Afro-Indigenous, all Black owned education center and permaculture farm in Sonoma County.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the 1900's, there were one million Black farmers in America and former slaves and their descendants had amassed 14 million acres of land. In the last 100 years, 90 percent of that land has been lost. Today only 45,000 of the nation's 3.4 million farmers are Black. Jared Blumenfeld travels to the Central Valley to meet with Will Scott Jr who is the President of the African American Farmers of California, and with Shirley Rowe a lifelong teacher who now farms Alfalfa in Lemoore California. The work that Will and Shirley are doing is critical to help support the next generation of African American farmers and reminds us how deeply the roots of systemic racism are intertwined with agriculture. Reestablishing our connection to farmers of color through the food they produce is one critical way we can all help.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Salty captain and environmental champion Jo Royle grew up sailing, raced boats between continents, skippered the Plastiki - a boat made from 12,500 plastic bottles and then founded the groundbreaking organization Common Seas to rid the oceans of plastic. The race to save the oceans and prevent big oil from investing $2.3 trillion into new plastic production is something we all need to work with Jo to accomplish. In doing so, we will also help battle climate change and reinforce our intimate connection with the ocean.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After a year we've all lived through it's clear we're emotionally spent. Our collective exhaustion is real and the truth is we can only create a healthy planet if we ourselves are healthy. Luckily help is here! Marianna Sousa is a mental health first aid responder who works to heal leaders, activists and artists who are seeking to create lasting social change. Marianna's personal journey went from performing artist to styling hair to journalism to teaching personal development.Privacy Policy and California Privacy Notice.

A long time ago, when very few people had heard the words “climate change,” Steve Curwood, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist began his first broadcast of Living on Earth - a groundbreaking, inspiring and information-packed environmental radio show. That was in 1991. Through more than 1500 episodes, Steve has been our collective environmental chronicler and conscience.

Climate Communications Now! If we are to have a chance of combating climate change it won’t be through publishing more reports or having yet another meeting - what we need is clear actionable mass communications that galvanizes the public and compels bold systemic climate action. If there is one person who can help us create an impactful national climate communications strategy, it’s David Fenton who has been called the Robin Hood of public relations. David explains that the truth doesn't sell itself, just like corporate America we need to be data-driven, we must stick with simple clear repeated messages, and we need to talk about both the opportunities of a clean economy and the real threats and dangers of a climate apocalypse.

Kaua’i is the oldest Hawaiian island, has the most endemic species and is the wettest place in the US. At this island’s northern edge is Hanalei Bay, where Barbara “Maka‘ala” Ka‘aumoana has run the Hanalei River Hui for the past three decades. We talk about indegenous views of nature’s magic, cesspools, how navigating beyond the horizon requires believing in the strength of your inner vision, and how the sound of planks on a bridge helped save a town.

Our definitions of nature help define us. Lisa Wayne has been on the cutting edge of mediating differing views about nature. Lisa supports a network of natural areas within one of the most urban cities in America. These protected areas represent an incredible success story from bringing back species from the brink of extinction, to educating kids, to empowering volunteers. But this program also represents a complex story about the challenges of helping a city remain wild

In Uganda air pollution is a big problem. Luckily, Michael Wanyama isn’t taking this fight sitting down. When Michael’s 6 year old son came down with asthma, he wanted it to go away. Little did Mr Wanyama realize the journey it would bring him on. Michael adopted an innovative approach: work with mechanics to give them the training needed to reduce auto pollution at its source.

Lamar Thorpe was born in prison. Days later he was adopted into a Mexican family and christened Martin Hernandez. It was only when joining the Navy that he acknowledged his black identity. Last November, Lamar became Antioch’s mayor. Soon afterwards Angelo Quinto died while in Antioch police custody. Lamar has been at the center of reforming both the police department and the way we think about equity.

What happens when one person no longer has use for an object, and yet that product still has a lot of life left in it? The possibilities are endless: from building materials, to amazing furniture, to a used Hello Kitty clock, to second hand vinyl. We go to Urban Ore, a reuse mecca in Berkeley to meet Ida Belisle and Max Wechsle, then travel to Building Resources, a treasure trove of deconstructed home parts, where I meet Ed Dunn and Kevin Drew.

We talk with “Jesús Garcia” who at 19 left his home and family to escape violence in Mexico. He crossed into the U.S. by swimming at night into the Pacific ocean for eight hours - first west, then north - with just a wetsuit and change of clothes. Jesús is now three years into his life in California, showing both the challenges and the power of making a dream come alive.

Carl Safina explores non-human feelings. Dr. Safina an ecologist and author of many best selling books. Safina’s Book, Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel, has according to the New York Times Review of Books, “the potential to change our relationship with the natural world.” As Carl so eloquently says, only through achieving dignity for all life will we be able to maintain a planet capable of supporting life for all.

I meet up with Amelia Gonzalez to find out where our love of chocolate comes from? After a career in radio, Amelia took her savings and founded Casa de Chocolates in Berkeley. By infusing her chocolates with love and culture and the flavors and history of the Americas, taking one small bite becomes a transformative experience.

Our human relationship to birds is complex. They’re wellbeing is our wellbeing. Since 1970, US bird populations have plummeted by 3 Billion birds - that’s an insane 30% of all birds - gone forever! Luckily, the 60 million birdwatchers in the US alone are ready to help. Dr. Meredith Williams takes me on my maiden birdwatching adventure. Connecting to nature is the most powerful force we have in defense of the planet and birdwatching establishes a link to our past and present with profound immediacy.

Lisa Jackson grew up in New Orleans, trained and worked as an environmental engineer and was chosen by President Obama to lead EPA from 2009 to 2013. Lisa is now the Vice President for Environmental, policy and social initiatives at Apple. We talk about the influence of Parliament-Funkadelic, the power of faith, the importance of rebuilding EPA after four years of Trump’s vandalism, and how to make sure environmental justice impacted communities are given the resources to reshape their future.

At 18, my Grandfather was drafted into the German Army, and served as an ambulance driver in World War One. He wrote down the entire truly bizarre story with a great deal of irony and dark humor. Erwin attempts to escape from military service (to meet his Dutch sweetheart), serves as an accountant in a military-sanctioned Red Cross brothel, was awarded the Iron Cross (for teaching his Sergeant French), and is witness to a butchery of horrific proportions. Erwin’s trials reinforce the insanity of the human condition and yet, no matter how cold, how hungry and how barbaric the world around him, he just kept going.

TBC

In 2015, 21 young people filed a climate lawsuit called Juliana v. United States, asserting that the government violated their rights to life, liberty, and property. We talk with plaintiffs Aji Piper and Tia Hatton; and journalists: Christi Cooper and Lee Van Der Voo about the ups and downs of this amazing lawsuit and the community it created.

Dr. Mark Hyman uncovers the path to personal and planetary health. For Mark, health is about connecting the soil, with the farmer, with the grocer, with our diet. We talk with Mark about his health-focused fixes to the food system.

Five of the six biggest fires in California’s recent history happened this year, resulting in 10,488 structures damaged and at least 31 fatalities. I talk with Justine Gude with the Texas Canyon Hotshot crew about what it takes to be tough, resilient and to plan for everything going to hell.

Is a political act because according to Alice Waters, the chef and activist, which farmers you get your food from and how you celebrate this precious life sustaining resource can change our lives and the planet for the better.

Invest - We talk with Tom Steyer about how he went from investing in distressed assets with a hedge fund to investing in the future of the planet with NextGen America. Along the way we talk about climate change, Presidential politics, his tartan ties, where money comes from, as well how to mobilize the #youthvote.

Eleven million people from over 140 countries are climate striking by skipping school to tell us we need to act now!. Jerome Foster II, who at seven started watching documentaries about our planet, got activated and started climate blogging. Jerome is now 18 and has been climate striking for 81 weeks in front of the white house. Jerome founded www.onemillionof.us to get youth to vote this November and beyond.

It’s an action that enviros have yet to master. In looking at what led to the 2016 election debacle, it's hard to ignore a disturbing fact: environmentalists turned out to vote at rates significantly less than the nation as a whole. To try and work out how that could be possible, I talk with Nathaniel Stinnett who runs the Environmental Voter Project.

Given the state of the world, we need all the friends we can muster. Shane Minogue and I met when we were four. Friends we make as children and manage to keep for a lifetime are rare. We talk about audio equipment, membrane trafficking, religion, Clive Sinclair’s electric car, the secret to a good Guinness, why Shane was always the hippest kid in school and how he turned me into a vegetarian.

In 1852, my grandfather’s grandfather Henry Cohn at the age of 21 left the shtetl of Dobrzyn (Poland), to set sail for America. He wrote a slim journal of his adventures - stories of escaping the military draft by crossing a river on his brother’s back, becoming a peddler, stories about his friend getting murdered, his crossing the Isthmus of Panama on foot while on his way to California, witnessing the lynching of judges in San Francisco, and eventually making it to the gold country in St. Louis and Poker Flat in Sierra County, north of Lake Tahoe.

We talk with Dr Nadine Burke Harris, an award-winning physician, researcher, advocate and California’s first Surgeon General. She is dedicated to changing the way our society responds to childhood trauma. At its worst, stress can elicit a toxic shock to our system that changes who we are at very fundamental level. Dr Burke Harris has set a bold goal to reduce adverse childhood experiences by half in one generation.

The scope of the societal impacts being both inflicted and uncovered by the COVID-19 pandemic are truly without precedent. With every disaster, whether it's an economic collapse or the damage inflicted by a hurricane or wildfire, we are given a choice: rebuild in the same pattern as before or re-imagine a different future. If a peaceful, compassionate, equitable and sustainable future is our goal, then we must ensure that our path forward doesn’t rebuild the systems of violence, inequality, racism and pollution that are corroding our society from the inside out. We talk with Dr Manuel Pastor, the University of Southern California Distinguished Professor of Sociology, American Studies & Ethnicity, about advancing a vision for a post-covid society through bold, big steps.

Are now frontline responders in the battle against climate change: fighting raging wildfires, helping urban dwellers overcome extreme heat, and rescuing victims of rising seas. What is less known is that firefighters are being exposed to a toxic soup of chemicals from melting flat-screen TVs to nylon carpets, each time they respond to a residential fire. I talk with Tom O'Connor, Battalion Chief with the San Francisco Fire Department, about how firefighters are leading the charge to clean up our planet one community at a time.

Angela Glover Blackwell talks about how we can achieve racial justice through an agenda of inclusion, opportunity for all people of color, police abolition and reparations. Starting during the Black Power movement of the 1970’s, Ms Glover Blackwell has been a powerful, articulate and inspiring voice of change. Angela believes that our future success as democracy, economy and as a nation depends on the very people who have been left behind. Not until real change has been implemented will be able to move forward. The corrosive and toxic foundations of racism must be routed from every aspect of our government, business, communities, police and society at large.

California is officially known as the “Golden State." One hundred and seventy years after the Gold Rush, the environmental legacy of gold mining is still with us and rarely acknowledged. Mercury which is a deadly neurotoxin, was elemental to the process of gold mining. Today large quantities of mercury from the Gold Rush are still polluting California - posing a risk to every kind of living organism, including us. I talk with Izzy Martin, a community organizer and environmental advocate who leads the Sierra Fund and has worked for the last decade to bring attention to gold’s dark shadow.

Dolores Huerta is the one of the most important civil rights leaders in history. Dolores possesses an indomitable spirit, she is a fearless advocate on behalf of farm workers, women's rights and the environment. Huerta has been awarded every honor under the sun, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and yet at 90 she continues to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with farmworkers early in the morning to make sure their needs are taken care of before her own. Dolores is truly selfless. We talk about Earth Day’s 50th anniversary and just when you thought you knew everything about Dolores, she uncovers her love of Burning Man.

At 15 Doniga Markegard, left a note for her mom that she was taking off for the summer and would be back in the fall. Her hitchhiking adventure was the beginning of a quest that led her to tracking wolves in Alaska. Doniga’s wanderlust brought her to indigenous elders who showed her the interconnectedness with all living things. Doniga shares her tracking practices.

I travel on a supply boat 30 miles of the coast of San Francisco to visit the remote Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. This rocky outcrop in the Pacific is home to millions of birds, five species of seals, whales and great white sharks - it is the Galapagos of the Northern Hemisphere! I meet up with Pete Warzybok with Point Blue Conservation Science who has spent much of the past 20 years studying the wildlife of the Farallones and I learn about what happens when we leave nature alone.

Earth Day is turning 50 and I talk with Dr. Arlene Blum, who exemplifies the energy, humanity and spirit of this celebration which began in 1970 and gave birth to the modern environmental movement. Arlene is a biophysical chemist, an author, a mountaineer and Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute. Arlene’s belief that we can all do seemingly impossible things - is the foundation to a life of adventure.

Anna Lappé, and I discuss Diet for a Hot Planet, her book about the challenges and opportunities presented by helping solve the climate crisis by changing the food system. We uncover and debunk myths about the way food can be grown today and in the future. Anna’s mom, Frances Moore Lappé, wrote the 1971 book Diet for a Small Planet which revolutionized the way we think about food and democracy. Together Anna and Frances co-founded the small planet institute, an international network focused on root causes of hunger and poverty and co-wrote Hope's Edge.

We are made up of 70 trillion cells, more than half of which are not part of the human body - they are microbes. Microbes play a critical role in keeping us healthy, protecting us from pathogens, boosting our immune system, and even fighting off stress. It turns out that microbes also play a pivotal role in keeping the earth’s soil healthy. I talk with Dr. Rupa Marya, who is no average doctor. Rupa is a forceful social justice advocate, a world-renowned musician, an urban farmer, a mother to two incredible kids, and Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF, who is investigating how soil health is connected to people’s health.

An ancient English town named after the mysterious eels, which were the currency that paid for one of the world’s most magnificent cathedrals. To unravel Ely’s secrets, dating back to Roman times, I talk with Mike Rouse, the Mayor and historian of this fascinating Fen town.

How a fight to save the Yuba River, turned into a massive film festival where activists go to get inspired. Podship Earth’s intrepid correspondent, Sara Aminzadeh, travels through the snow to meet with first time film-makers, long time water keepers, and local teenagers to get the skinny on how our love of nature is the best motivator for action. Sara talks with Melinda Booth, Mitch Dion, Tom Bartels, Chris Simon, John Weisheit, Susette Weisheit, and Tova Rothert.

Our mothers made us. Our mothers shaped us. I talk with my mother Helaine Blumenfeld about her passion for life and creativity. By the age of 22, Helaine had received her PhD in politics from Columbia. Then, everything changed when she discovered the language of sculpture. Early in her career she decided to divide her time between being a mom when at home and being a sculptor when in Pietrasanta, Italy (where she still works). In 2011, Helaine received the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth. We talk about spirituality, art, nature and her childhood in Queens.