Earth+30

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Rory Varrato is a co-founder of the NYC chapter of the Extinction Rebellion. He, and his organization, recognize that we are quickly facing a point of no return with regard to humanity, our place on the planet, and Earth's climate. It is a crisis. The current economic and political structures are failing and we have to do whatever is necessary, minus violence, to affect significant change. This requires massive action and altering how we think about our place in the world. Join me, as Rory and I discuss what got us here, where we need to be and the journey we need to make in order to reach our goals.

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Bob Perschel, Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation, runs a non-profit that manages over 140 forests. Until speaking to him, I never really understood the issues with managing our woodlands. And, I totally did not see the huge economic and environmental opportunities for our planet. Did you know there are plans to build a 50 story skyscraper out of wood? Did you know that if we used wood for construction in the North East instead of steel and concrete, we could neutralize the carbon emissions of every car in New England? Bob gave me such an amazing education about the many aspects of the wood world. I hope you enjoy and get as much out of it as I did.

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One Sunday I went out to lunch with my girlfriend. In and of itself, not such an unusual thing to do on the weekend, however during that meal, a friend sitting at a neighboring table introduced me to Sarah Evans. She very well could be one of the most inspirational women I have ever met. Listen to her story and I think you will agree. When a friend in Texas asked her to help raise money to save her family’s farm animals from a drought in Kenya, Sarah realized there was a bigger need and a much larger opportunity to transform the life of a village, and a region. She set up a non-profit, https://wellawareworld.org/ (Well Aware World), and began drilling water wells in small villages in both Kenya and Tanzania. Doing extensive research, she developed an efficient, adaptable, sustainable process to build high functioning, and high quality, wells. With good, clean, convenient water, thousands more children could go to school and many, many women were freed from millions of hours fetching and carrying water each day. They were now able to start businesses, and work to build a better future for themselves and their families.

Recently, Sarah started a second venture, https://www.wellbeyondwater.com/ (Well Beyond Water), a consulting firm to help other water related non-profits be more successful using data analytics and metrics.

Give a listen, be inspired!

Wei-Tai Kwok went out to a movie with his wife. Little did he know that it would change his life. Inspired by the Oscar winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, Wei-Tai left the theater realizing that he had the ability, and the desire, to do more to make a difference in addressing a problem that was becoming increasingly acute to the survival of a large part of our species. It was not enough to think about doing something, he knew that to actually make a difference he would have to make some major changes in his life. Many of us have those thoughts, but few of us manage the step. Very understandably, we are paying for our mortgages, cars, kids expenses, colleges, etc. It is difficult to find a way to follow your passion and still manage to cover the bills. Somehow Wei-Tai figured out how to make it work. He inspires me, I hope he does the same for you.

We live in challenging times. Populism/Nationalism is on the rise all over the world. We confront increased political, cultural, and economic discord. Religious animosity is high. It seems people distrust one another more than ever. Tribalism is on the rise. What do we do? What do you do? How do we reverse the trend? Dr. Karin Tamerius, is the founder of Smart Politics, an organization focused on teaching us how to have more engaging and less confrontational conversations with people who think differently than we do. Considering current divisions, with the anger, and frustrations that permeate much of the western world, I think she has something extremely valuable to teach all of us. Karin attended U. of Michigan Graduate School in Political Science, then received a medical degree from U. of California, San Francisco, and is a member of the Psychiatry Residency program there. As a trained Psychiatrist, Karin realized a huge opportunity to address what a problem in how we approach conversations with people who do not agree with us, no matter the subject. She developed a process to help find common ground, to understand that we all have the same basic concerns, we just have different methods to deal with them.

We must do better if we are going to solve many of the problems facing our planet. One way or another we have to move across some of these divides. Karin helps turn down the rhetoric and really digs into root causes that can assist bridging the deep chasms between us. I learned a great deal from her. I hope you do too.

Roland Bopp, is an international businessman. A German-American, he has lead multiple companies, many based in Europe and Russia. Though living in the US, Roland spends much of his time traveling and working in Europe. After meeting at a friend’s wedding and having a great conversation over dinner, I have gotten to know him much better and have found his insights and knowledge of Europe, Germany, and Russia to be both broad and deep. Though I read about international politics and business extensively, Roland opened my eyes to so much more than I knew. Traveling far beyond the typical talking heads and writers he paints a much more interesting and personal view of what is happening in Europe, Russia and the wider world. I hope you enjoy and learn as much as I did.

In Part 3 of my series related to the Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, better known as FCWC, I interview Peter Schlactus, who co-founded the Coalition to Prevent Westchester Airport Expansion. Peter grew up in Westchester, left for school, graduated from Harvard and returned after a time to help with the family business. However, like many who live near the airport, he was concerned about its potential for growth and its risks to the environment and Westchester communities, so he got involved, first participating in specific community mobiliziation efforts against airport expansion plans. Now he Chairs the Westchester County Airport Advisory Board and his Village Airport Council. Through our conversation, I found that he was very thoughtful and extremely perceptive. He understood that issues like the growth of an airport are complicated, there are more than a few perspectives, and that how we choose a path forward matters- at least if we care about where we want to end up. He provided me new insights that I had never considered. I hope you find him as engaging as interesting as I did.

Sara Goddard is a local activist residing in Rye, NY. She organized and led an effort to eliminate single use bags in her town, being instrumental in forming the Rye Sustainability Committee. Getting rid of plastic bags and drastically reducing paper bags is certainly an admirable accomplishment. What is even more remarkable is that way she went about achieving her goal. She put together a strong coalition of partners and methodically developed an effective, and exceedingly efficient plan to realize her, and her groups goal. She worked closely with myriad people throughout the town to build consensus and a concrete, practical approach. Her message, and strategy, are ones we all can use to be more effective advocates for positive change. Join me in a most wonderful conversation.

Update: Sara recently started a fabulous blog focused on a sustainable lifestyle. I strongly urge you to check it out: https://greenthatlife.com/

Carolyn Cunningham

Former Executive Director of The Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, FCWC, and a long time member, Carolyn has been instrumental in driving and coordinating conservation and environmental efforts throughout Westchester County. Now in her eighties, she is still actively involved and has a rich and deep understanding of challenges, issues, and successes of their programs. She is so charming and knowledgeable, I found her to be a totally compelling and engaging guest. As my first “live” guest, I was completely taken by her spirit, hope and love of life. I hope you find her as charming and magical as I did. She is truly inspiring.

Occasionally you encounter something that acts as a catalyst for making a major change in how you think about problems, situations, issues, whatever. One afternoon I initiated a conversation with a guy, nothing unusual about that. He happened to be the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Department of Education of the State of Wyoming. That was unusual. The conversation touched on issues near to my heart and mind. The more we spoke, the more I thought that he would be a great person to have on one of my podcasts. I don’t want to tell you more, otherwise you might not listen, but trust me, he paints a clear picture of what Wyoming, and many other areas of the U.S., and the wider world face. Dicky is thoughtful, clear, insightful and a captivating activist, open to any and all ideas to solve difficult problems. Join me as we talk about Wyoming and the wider world.