219 GreenConnect

Host Kathy Sipple talks with Becky Jascoviak of Chautauqua in the Dunes about the current 'Exhibit B' at the Indiana Dunes State Park Nature Center through October 22, 2023. Vote for your favorite photo here >> bit.ly/dunesphotovote. The entry with the most votes will win the 'Peoples' Choice Award.' A donation is not required in order to vote, but please consider supporting this great project if you're able. 

Chautauqua in the Dunes has been around since 2018 and now features ongoing programming rather than a single exhibit so check their Facebook page to find out what's happening currently if you listen to this episode after Exhibit B wraps up. 

Mind, Body, Soul and Spirit are the four pillars of chautauqua. This year's focus is around the letter 'B'. Exhibit B was the second art show (thus, the second letter of the alphabet); images in the exhibit were required to title their entries with the letter 'b' and most includes bugs, butterflies, beaches, birds, etc. 'B' also stands for the broader theme of 'Becoming' -- taking pieces of existing works and reimaging in them into a new whole. 

Kathy shared her previous exposure to the term 'chautauqua' -- it was introduced to her by her previous Earth Charter Indiana mentor, John Gibson. He shared a strategic document with her in 2012 for his project SustainableIndiana 2016, a bicentennial initiative to help Indiana achieve certain sustainability benchmarks in advance of 2016, Indiana's bicentennial year.

Host Kathy Sipple speaks with Carla Kenney, Master Urban Gardener and Nikki D'Adamo-Damery, Conservation Outreach & Equity Director at Sand County Foundation about the organization and her work with the Land Ethic Mentorship Program, supporting historically underserved farmers and ranchers. Nikki will visit Gary, Indiana in July 2023 for a tour and celebration of several innovative urban farmers, details about this and other events here. Learn about conservation at many scales and how smaller producers are pushing the needle on regenerative agriculture -- and why it’s important to support farmers working intensively on smaller plots of land.

About Sand County Foundation

In 1967, Sand County Foundation created a successful partnership among a group of private landowners to protect the land surrounding the famous “Shack” property of Aldo Leopold, America’s foremost conservation thinker. This pioneering cooperative venture led landowners to commit to voluntary conservation while raising awareness of Leopold’s land ethic, which inspires thousands of other owners of working land.

Sand County Foundation's mission is to inspire and empower a growing number of land owners and managers to ethically care for the land to sustain water resources, build healthy soil, enhance wildlife habitat, and support outdoor recreation.

Host Kathy Sipple speaks with Joshua Sutton, Retail Manager at Trailyard in Valparaiso. Trailyard is a community hub for bike and outdoor enthusiasts, conveniently located next to Creekside Trails, a mountain bike and multi-purpose trail destination.

For the second year in a row, Trailyard is excited to host an #OptOutside event to encourage Northwest Indiana families to spend Black Friday together enjoying nature. On Friday, November 25, they're’re hosting a family friendly scavenger hunt and a nature inspired art project children can take home with them.

Rethink Black Friday -- #OptOutside!

If you buy the book using this link. A $15 discount is applied at checkout. So the book will cost $14.95 or use coupon code: NWI. Discount ends 11/25/22, so act soon!

Host Kathy Sipple speaks with Daniel Poynter from Carbon Neutral Indiana about their new book, Carbon Neutral Indiana: A Practical Guide to Climate Optimism. The book contains 60 stories of Hoosier entrepreneurs reducing carbon emissions. It also includes:

● 50 local organizations, how they can help you, contact info

● 20 relevant bills

● 31 group discussion questions

● 16 how-to guides

● 220 index entries

Project Drawdown is the world’s leading resource for climate solutions. It’s a list of ways to reduce carbon emissions -- ranging from solar and wind to methane digesters and alternative cement. We started by narrowing down Drawdown solutions relevant to Indiana. Then we identified local NGOs and subject matter experts working on each solution. Finally, we interviewed Hoosiers who implemented these solutions successfully at the household, organizational, or city level.

The result?

An easy to read guide that will inspire, educate, and activate you.

Interested in joining a book discussion? Use this link to select a date with this link.

Diverting waste from the waste stream

Nationally renowned author, activist, and sought after speaker,  Harriet Shugarman is the 2021 Waterspirit Suzanne Golas Awardee, a 2020 New York City Climate Hero and a 2019 featured speaker at the Global Engagement Summit at United Nations Headquarters. Harriet is the Executive Director and founder of ClimateMama, an on-line community launched in 2009 that reaches individuals in over 110 countries and all 50 states; she is an influencer and connector in the climate movement. As a leader and mentor with The Climate Reality Project, Harriet established the Climate Reality New York City Metro Chapter, and served as its first chair. She was the recipient of the prestigious Climate Reality Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award in 2017 and is also profiled in former US Vice President Al Gore’s book: An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power.  Harriet’s writing and thought pieces on climate solutions appear in international, national, and regional publications and she is a regular on podcasts and radio around the country. Harriet’s 2020 book: How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change, Turning Angst to Action has garnered 3 national book awards. Harriet has worked for more than 25 years with governments, international organizations, and educational institutions on climate and sustainability issues as an economist, policy analyst, and educator, including 13 years with the International Monetary Fund as a representative of the IMF at the United Nations. Harriet is a professor of Climate Change and Society and World Sustainability at Ramapo College of New Jersey and sits on and advises numerous national boards that address climate, public policy, youth, gender, families, and justice. She is a senior advisor with Our Kids Climate, an international coalition of parent organizations. Harriet lives with her family in New York City.

Confront the Climate Crisis (CTCC) is a grassroots, statewide campaign that has been achieving climate action solutions in Indiana since September 2020, by West Lafayette Climate. Today, we engage over 150 students from communities across Indiana, including Greater Lafayette, Evansville, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, Gary, Hammond, Carmel, Alexandria, and Kokomo. By bringing youth to the forefront of state politics, we know that we can create the change that we need to see to protect Indiana’s future.

CTCC educates youth through climate literacy programs, including building little free climate resiliency libraries, creating an information hub of blogs on resilience projects, and planning events to educate our community. We also hold general community events such as climate strikes and intersectional events.

CTCC facilitates relationships between youth, local organizations, and policymakers to accomplish specific environmental goals. In the 2021 state legislation, CTCC drafted and introduced a bill establishing a climate task force and concurrent resolution acknowledging the climate crisis. Partnering with Indiana Senator Ron Alting, we met with key legislators and built a coalition around our legislation. Although our bill did not make it to committee, we continue to push for statewide legislative action against climate change.

​We believe that the climate crisis must be treated as the crisis it is by the state of Indiana. Despite many powerful and passionate student-led events, we have seen little action from our state legislators. We have had enough. We demand that the Indiana General Assembly acknowledge the problem of unprecedented climate change and create a plan to systematically deal with climate change and other environmental injustices.

We have the power to confront the climate crisis and that is what we will do.

Host Kathy Sipple speaks to Highland Neighbors for Sustainability members Cathy Perrin and Connie Wachala about the sustainability commission they are asking Highland to create, why they want one, and what they hope a sustainability commission will accomplish. They will also talk about the Region Neighbors for Sustainability event in Highland on Aug. 27 they are hosting, who should come and why.

219 GreenConnect host Kathy Sipple speaks with Gin DeMaio, Executive Director of Green Team Academy about the International Climate Action Challenge her organization has led since 2020.  

The International Climate Action Challenge is a guided 90-day program that has helped launch community projects around the world. Participating teams receive support, network opportunities, and a proven plan of action to transform their ideas and inspiration into results. 

Seeking team members for TEAM NORTHWEST INDIANA! Please join me by registering today.The challenge kicks off September 1, 2022!

Upcoming events mentioned in this episode:

InVEST (Valparaiso Environmental Stewardship Taskforce) - July 28, 2022 (Valparaiso, IN)Northwest Indiana Green Drinks - August 4, 2022 (Zoom)Climate Follies - August 11, 2022 (Munster, IN)Region Neighbors for Sustainability - August 27, 2022 (Highland, IN)Climate Activist Leadership Development Training - September 2-4, 2022 (Lakeville, IN)Climate Leadership Summit - September 8-9, 2022 (Richmond, IN + some virtual components via Zoom)

Host Kathy Sipple speaks with Walter Mueller from Voters for a Green Indiana, a non-partisan, independent group of citizens who want to make this information available to voters so they can make an informed decision. 

The group has developed a Green Voters Guide for the May primary, highlighting candidates who support reducing carbon emissions and growing solar. Their goal is to identify the “green” candidates in contested races at the federal, state and county level. 

https://www.votersforagreenindiana.org/

Other groups and resources we talked about:

Elder Climate Action - Heartland Chapter

Climate Reality Project

For information about any of the above, please email Walt Mueller at [email protected] and/or follow him on Facebook.

Project Drawdown and ReGeneration

NWI Permaculture Meetup