EcoJustice Radio

Many times the needs of non disabled people are prioritized, leaving the disabled community the last to be considered. During times of crisis such as climate change, intensified storms, droughts, and fire or conflict driven migration issues, those with disabilities can lack accessibility and have some of the greatest challenges to evacuation, adaptation, and financial and structural needs.

In environmental and social justice movements, when advocacy and solutions do not consider the needs of the disabled community, or those with disabilities are not invited to be at the table, those are not inclusive or just solutions.

Our guests today are both filmmakers who have helped create the The Slamdance Unstoppable Film Festival [https://slamdance.com/], which promotes disability and diversity inclusion in film. We welcome Juliet Romeo, disability advocate and Founder of Media Jules Production [https://www.mediajules.com/] and Slamdance Unstoppable, and Taylor Miller, Festival Manager of Slamdance Unstoppable and Slamdance Miami.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Host/Producer: Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 113

Image: Slamdance Unstoppable

If you own something, shouldn’t you be able to take it to a technician of your choice or fix it yourself and be given access to the parts, tools, and service information necessary? Seems like a reasonable ask, but this isn’t always the case. Large corporations, like Apple, have enacted a trillion dollar lobbying campaign against the consumers ability to repair their own devices, fueling the fastest growing waste sector in the world, Electronic Waste.

Today we discuss the Right to Repair movement, the social and environmental implications, the opposition’s efforts, and how and why we must move the needle.

Kerry Maeve Sheehan is the U.S. Policy Lead at iFixit [https://www.ifixit.com/] where she advocates for Right to Repair at the state, federal, and international levels. She has also worked for Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge, focusing on public interest issues in intellectual property law and technology policy.

Nathan Proctor is a 15-year veteran on public interest advocacy campaigns, and also is the associate director of U.S PIRG [http://uspirg.org/repair] New Economy Program, seeking to craft an economy that works for people and the planet. He is a member of the 2020 Grist 50 Fixers, emerging leaders championing a sustainable future.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Host/Producer: Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 112

Image: iFixit

The Joshua tree is an icon and ecological keystone of the California deserts. However, climate disruption with hotter, drier summers and more frequent brush fires, threatens that some day soon Joshua Tree National Park will no longer have any Joshua trees.

In fact, many other important desert plants and animals face an uncertain future. There exist so many unique symbiotic relationships, from the ocotillo blossoms and migrating hummingbirds to the spiny teddy bear cholla and the innovative woodrat.

We discuss these systems and investigate what solutions are needed. Are solar farms in the desert an appropriate renewable energy solution, or do they cause more harm than good? What about the consequences of lithium mining in Death Valley for electric vehicles? Did you know it is not a wise idea to grow your own Joshua Tree from imported seeds?

Our guest today, James Cornett [https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B001K84BWE], is an ecologist and principal biologist at JWC Ecological Consultants. He is one of the West's most prolific writers with more than forty-four books published as of 2021. As former Director of Natural Sciences at the Palm Springs Desert Museum, he continues to share his love of natural history through writing, teaching, and lecturing. He is the first professional naturalist to have visited all nine of the world's great deserts and is writing a book on his travels and research in each.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Host/Producer: Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 111

Image: Stephanie Lemus

Many witnessed the unprecedented loss of ancient Giant Sequoia groves in the 2020 Castle Fire in Sierra Nevada, California, the only natural habitat for Sequoias on Earth. Coastal Redwoods were also gravely impacted by lightning-induced fires in August 2020. We must act fast to reforest our wild spaces and protect our imperiled old-growth forests.

Our guest today, David Milarch, Co-Founder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive and Champion Tree Project [https://www.ancienttreearchive.org/] expounds upon why reforestation with ancient species like sequoias and redwoods is an important solution to climate change and ecosystem health, and provides inspiration for future generations.

David Milarch is a fourth generation Nurseryman with over 40 years of experience in growing and supplying landscape trees for resale for the national market in Northern Michigan. David and his sons co-founded Archangel Ancient Tree Archive in 2007. The project is dedicated to leading society towards sustainability by propagating ancient, old growth trees, archiving and preserving their genetics, and reforesting their living legacies worldwide. aiming to restore our arboricultural heritage.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 110

Image: Archangel Ancient Tree Archive

California's most distinctive wildland hosts a wide array of plant and animal life found nowhere else on Earth. It stretches from the coastal foothills to the interior mountains.

But these rugged woody shrublands are undervalued and underappreciated, and repeated and ongoing attempts have been made to eradicate chaparral from the landscape. Why? Some believe it not aesthetically pleasing, others fear it as fuel for fires, both misnomers that our guest proves wrong. Public underappreciation of chaparral is made worse by the unfortunate construction of poorly planned housing developments.

On this episode we consider how people can foster deeper connections with the chaparral and how public education can lead to minimizing wildfire dangers, and protecting and restoring this important native habitat.

Our guest today, Richard Halsey is the Director of the California Chaparral Institute [http://www.californiachaparral.org], a non-profit, research and educational organization dedicated to the preservation of California's native chaparral ecosystem and supporting the creative spirit as inspired by Nature. Check out his book Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Host/Producer: Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 109

Image: California Chaparral Institute

Green banking, responsible investing in ecosystem protection and planting projects, provides immense environmental benefits. Moreover, it creates livelihoods and gives communities a chance to move toward economic independence, making it a win-win solution for both people and our planet.



Listen to the interview with Tom Duncan, CEO & Founder of Earthbanc [https://earthbanc.io/] the world’s first sustainable finance and carbon reduction investment platform, that pays dividends to contributors while funding communities to restore and conserve ecosystems, and sequester carbon.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 108

Image: Pixabay

Modern conveniences have real consequences. In order to accommodate the massive increase in online shopping, Big Retailers like Target, Amazon, Walmart, Ikea, have necessitated a fossil-fueled goods movement industry, shipping manufactured goods from abroad into ports on the coasts (like Los Angeles and Long Beach). Via diesel-spewing trucks and trains, products are then transferred to sprawling warehouse projects far inland where real estate is cheaper. One such project we will talk about today (which was recently approved in Southern California) is the size of 700-football-fields. And with this and other projects come significant impacts to the air, land, and human rights.

Our guests today, Dr. Joe Lyou, President & CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air [https://www.ccair.org/] and Commissioner for the California Transportation Commission, and Adrian Martinez, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice [https://earthjustice.org/], have been working for decades to clean up the air and hold polluters accountable. They speak to how communities have pushed back and demanded solutions from major manufacturers and air quality regulatory agencies and why we must keep moving toward 100% zero emissions transportation.

Dr. Joe Lyou has worked for more than 30 years to improve public health and environmental conditions in California’s most polluted and disadvantaged communities. Dr. Lyou serves as President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air, a state-wide organization dedicated to protecting public health, improving air quality, and preventing climate change. He works with a wide range of stakeholders advocating for effective public policies and clean air technologies.

Adrian Martinez, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice, has been a leader in advancing zero-emissions transportation and clean air policies for nearly two decades. Before Earthjustice, for nine years he worked as a smog and healthy communities attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He sits on the board of Communities for a Better Environment and the Climate Change Law Foundation and serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of California Los Angeles.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 107

Image: Coalition for Clean Air

Oceans cover roughly 70% of planet Earth, and they are in rapid decline. Impacted by human-induced climate change, pollution, dredging and overfishing, the world’s oceans are crying out for our attention.

On today's show, we consider seaweed and the potential of stewardship-driven, regenerative ocean farming or ocean restoration through marine permaculture. We speak with Leslie Booher, Co-Founder of Sunken Seaweed [https://www.sunkenseaweed.com/], California’s first regenerative ocean farm.

Leslie is a marine ecologist who learned about the importance of kelp forests at a time when kelp was facing a catastrophic decline. Leslie dedicates her time to ending exploitation of marine ecosystems, and reinforcing a healthy relationship with our coastline by farming sea greens in the Pacific Ocean.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 106

Image: Sunken Seaweed

Spoken-word poetry can be a powerful art form of personal testimony, of protest, of activating on social and environmental concerns.

On this show, we look into poetry artivism, the mixing of art and activism, where words can become catalysts intended to change the way people envision their world and act within it.

Awa Ndiaye [https://www.humanitei.art/about] is a spoken word poet whose work explores various themes including identity, social justice, and climate change. With an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford, she combines her formal education with her art to explore and amplify perspectives often silenced in the mainstream conversation on climate.

Matt Sedillo [https://www.mattsedillo.com/] has been described as the "best political poet in America" as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle" by academics, poets, and journalists alike. He has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, at numerous conferences and forums such as the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including the University of Cambridge, among many others.

Their spoken word demands a rethinking of popular narratives on environment and climate, mainstream narratives that often minimize or erase the experiences of the very people at the forefront of the climate crisis.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Host and Producer: Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 105

Image: Nickie Black-Awa Ndiaye

Now more than ever, we need ancestral wisdom and ancient skills to balance our technological lifestyles, and stir up a new way of being human. Our guest Chris Morasky, one of the top Stone Age skills experts in the US and co-founder of the Wisdom Keepers School [https://www.wisdomkeepers.us], works to inspire contemporary humans to create regenerative lifestyles and build communities engaging in bushcraft, learning from natural systems, and practicing cultural activism.

Chris has lived most of the past 30+ years in the wilderness and small communities of British Columbia, Idaho and Utah. He has homesteaded along the Snake River in the Pacific Northwest, the most remote mail route in the lower 48 states. He has led Stone Age expeditions and worked in the most dangerous job in the world (single-stem logging). Chris’ workshops focus on awakening instincts, ancient skills and deep nature connection as doorways to understand more fully who we are, why we’re here and where we could be headed.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 104

Image: Wisdom Keepers School