A New Angle

This week’s guests are Nate Bellinger and Grace Gibson Snyder. Nate is an attorney with Our Children’s Trust, which is suing the state of Montana on behalf of 16 youth climate activists, including Grace, a graduate of Hellgate High School in Missoula.

In this episode, Grace talks about the things she noticed changing in Montana, like wildfire smoke and melting glaciers, that inspired her to get involved with the court case. Grace also brings up the mental health impacts of living in a changing climate. Nate explains the case and what the goal is, along with outlining the national implications it could have. The case goes to trial in Helena on June 12.

Learn more about Our Children’s Trust here: https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ScBsxFODxUqrhvUjW0s9x7Ni9SaGu-6cDEpr8yEo0Y/edit

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This week’s guest is Wendy Weaver, executive director of Montana Freshwater Partners, an organization dedicated to restoring, enhancing and preserving Montana’s freshwater ecosystems. This team of five women based in Livingston includes a broad array of skills and capabilities, all focused on protecting Montana’s aquatic resources.

In this episode, Justin asks Wendy what the current state of play is with Montana’s freshwater, and Wendy gives an example of one of Montana Freshwater Partners' success stories. Justin considers the perspective of the river and how it benefits from conservation, and Wendy discusses the impact of tourism on Montana’s natural resources.

Learn more about Montana Freshwater Partners here: https://freshwaterpartners.org/who-we-are/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wzxfggpQDPv5sc5JVEvJsTECH7-LTfjMycZKvctNlr8/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Rowena He, associate professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and currently a fellow at the National Humanities Center. She’s an expert on contemporary Chinese history and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Professor He’s writing and commentary appear regularly in the popular press, and she will be joining the University of Montana community on April 13 as part of the President’s lecture series.

In this episode, Professor He talks about how the Tiananmen Square massacre changed her life, and the lives of many in her generation. Justin asks about the risks Professor He has had to take, and she talks about the trend of radicalization across the world.

Get tickets to the lecture series here: https://www.umt.edu/president/events/lectures/2022-2023/rowena-he.php

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VSRjFztCoDxgN9Ga6cCIRiqf_nMQngsOyNlukKvDfoc/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

It is pledge week here at Montana Public Radio. So, this week’s episode is a special edition of Incentives & Instincts with economist and friend Bryce Ward. Bryce and Justin talk about why our trust in media is so low when the quality and performance of media has arguably been improving.

Justin asks Bryce how our trust in media has declined, and Bryce uses diet as an analogy for abundance of information and what that can do to our tastes. Bryce talks about how people are shopping more for information that engages them, not informs them, and Justin asks what we can do to improve the media environment.

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C19sORPrDxHev9f20J_VaFTxqnGzpOSbfkcYbEa4NBA/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Michelle Uberuaga, executive director of the Park County Environmental Council. PCEC does important work to protect the land, water, wildlife and people throughout the northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park.

In this episode, Justin asks Michelle about the community PCEC represents and what the values of the community are that need to be represented. Michelle talks about the Yellowstone River floods and how PCEC was an organizing force in the community during that event and gives listeners an idea on how they can get involved in some of the issues that PCEC advocates for.

Learn more about PCEC here: https://www.pcecmt.org/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tF8z3Hhej1n9lZRNWBmXvxsje2tn7R4s_RpZdMagmSc/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week we bring you a special cross-over episode with MTPR’s The Write Question, hosted by Lauren Korn. Lauren and Justin interview University of Montana philosophy professor, Christopher Preston, about his wonderful new book, Tenacious Beast: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals.

In this episode, Christopher explains how Europeans are learning to live with wolves — in fact, the European Union requires every country to find a place for wolves on the landscape. He mentions that the purpose of his book is to remind people that when an animal returns to the landscape, people get a second chance to learn about it, and explains his decision to try to use his book to reach a broader audience.

Learn more about Christopher’s book here: https://christopherjpreston.com/hope-in-a-wildlife-apocalypse-book/
Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GQXk7y6qWdvv7H2u96nx8wzBIcJowJUbLugX-Ks1qgI/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week we bring you an encore episode of our conversation with the Dean of Montana political journalism, Chuck Johnson. Johnson passed away unexpectedly on March 4.

During his 45 year career, Johnson covered 22 legislative sessions, eight governors, nine U.S. senators, and 12 U.S. representatives. He will be missed dearly by the state as a whole.

Tributes to Chuck:
1.https://montanafreepress.org/2023/03/06/chuck-johnson-dean-of-montana-political-journalists-dies/
2.https://helenair.com/news/local/montana-has-lost-a-legend-chuck-johnson-longtime-mo[…]rnalist-dies/article_254ba310-e03c-5e9b-9f78-de50624abc53.html
3.https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2023-03-06/chuck-johnson-dean-of-montana-journalism-dies

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MYKJvi5rTSTxIMULmU2o82TFSJbzNMvOyTapmnISFcs/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guests are Alex Few and Jared Beaver, the creators and hosts of Working Wild University, a new podcast about the interaction of science and culture playing out on working lands across the American West.

In this conversation, Justin wonders why starting Working Wild U with wolves in Season One was so compelling and asks both Alex and Jared how they describe the problem surrounding wolves in the West. Alex defines what conflict means in a Working Wild U context, and Alex and Jared talk about what surprised them most working on the podcast. Jared hints that a Season Two may be on the way.

Checking Working Wild U out here: https://workingwild.us/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p4uPfQKcdUD6ADE5wx9Trm5o2u24QBHzqWW_Z_lfZJc/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week is the February edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader issues facing our society. Justin and Bryce talk about changes in Montana’s demographics and culture and the effects on the Montana economy and community cohesion, and to best do that, are joined by executive director of the Missoula Economic Partnership, Grant Kier.

Bryce talks about the decline of volunteerism and Grant talks about his work bringing communities together. Both chat about the different ways we can reach out to new faces in Montana and talk to them about what it’s like living here, and Justin asks for advice from Grant and Bryce on where people should start when wanting to get involved in their communities.

Learn more about the Missoula Economic Partnership here: https://www.missoulapartnership.com/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qgAmE45586xfA1kVjN1hNOajJiRMsvwr6ztuaz-Jqfc/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is Mariah Gladstone. Mariah grew up in northwest Montana and is Blackfeet and Cherokee. In 2016, she launched in IndigiKitchen, an online platform dedicated to re-indigenizing diets and food systems. IndigiKitchen reaches a wide audience with a food based message of education, empowerment and activism.

In this episode, Justin asks Mariah what her relationship with food was growing up. Mariah talks about how in New York City, she couldn’t find bison meat and gives a brief history of Indigenous food systems. Justin asks Mariah how she got her website off the ground, and wonders how she shares her knowledge around the country.

Learn more about IndigiKitchen here: https://www.indigikitchen.com/about/

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12punskp_6xy8n8SQjyMT1czWFprWzlDhRagEoTbRN48/edit

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.anewanglepodcast.com/subscribe