EcoJustice Radio

Native peoples have used the tool of fire as medicine. Fire was understood to be a spirit, a healer and sacred in its own right. Traditional Native controlled burning, called cultural fire, utilizes ancient agro-forestry practices, technology developed through time by the Karuk tribe and Indigenous Peoples around the world.

Tune in to hear Elizabeth Azzuz, Secretary of Cultural Fire Management Council, discuss her work using Traditional Native Karuk methods of prescribed burning to protect forests, heal degraded ecosystems, and reestablish forest-grown food, medicine, and products.

With global climate heating turning the West Coast of the US into an arid tinderbox, 2020 has been another year of the megafire. Thus, the cultural fire practice of Elizabeth Azzuz on the North Coast of California sets an important example on how to protect and regenerate forests for the people and wildlife who call them home using traditional ecological knowledge.

Elizabeth Azzuz is a cultural fire practitioner. She gathers and propagates traditional food and medicinal plants. Of Yurok and Karuk descent, she comes from and lives in her traditional territory where the Trinity River flows into the Klamath on the North Coast of California. Elizabeth is a mother and grandmother; at the age of 4 she learned about burning from her grandfather.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CulturalFire

Website: http://culturalfire.org/

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/

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 83

Photo courtesy Kiliii Yuyan

EcoJustice Radio celebrates the land and water protectors of the Amazon Rainforest in a Four-Part series called Amazon Defenders.

We begin Part One in the Western Amazon to understand how activists are confronting the dirty legacy of oil extraction, stopping the expansion of new oil leases, and protecting the rainforest biodiversity.

Our guest Paul Paz y Miño, Associate Director of Amazon Watch [https://amazonwatch.org/], provides an overview of the rich significance of the Amazon, expands upon what is happening in the Western Region and the connection to California and the United States, and speaks to the growing resistance protecting the rainforest and the rights of Indigenous peoples.

The Amazon Basin is home to half of the world's tropical forests, with 33% of all plant and animal biodiversity thriving in impenetrable wildernesses.

Unfortunately, some of the world's most promising oil and gas deposits lie deep in these rainforests, especially in the Western Amazon. Moreover, governments and oil companies have opted for expediency and profit over environmental protection. Did you know that much of the Amazon crude is shipped to California to be processed? We will talk about that today.

The exploitation and destruction for a product responsible for breaking the global climate system continues today at a fevered pace. Oil corporations and their governmental enablers are pushing to drill deeper into the rainforest by building roads and railroad lines, cutting old growth trees, and invading indigenous sovereign territories and protected biospheres.

Yet the international resistance is building and communities are fighting back. Can this incredible ecosystem be protected, allowing Indigenous societies and wildlife to thrive?

Paul Paz y Miño has been at Amazon Watch since 2007. He has been a professional human rights, corporate accountability and environmental justice advocate since 1993. He has worked with various human rights NGOs including Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch/Americas. Paul has lived in Chiapas, Mexico and Quito, Ecuador, promoting human rights and community development and working directly with indigenous communities.

Links:

Amazon Watch: https://amazonwatch.org/

Chevron Toxico: https://chevrontoxico.com/

Make Chevron Clean Up Their Ecuador Mess: https://www.makechevroncleanup.com/

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

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

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Producer: Emilia Barrosse

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 82

Photo courtesy Amazon Watch

Today we seek to gain a broader understanding of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Though a Russia- and Turkey-backed ceasefire agreement was signed, the people of Armenia are unhappy as it cedes a significant portion of the southern part of the Republic of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh).

On Sept. 27, 2020 Azerbaijan attacked the disputed territory and a proclaimed independent region, the Republic of Artsakh. The historical and unresolved conflict over this mountainous region is long-standing. To fully understand the issues and what is needed for resolution, we dive into the history of these countries and the land occupation, how Turkey and Russia have influenced and benefit from an ongoing conflict, and why there exists an intergenerational, emotional connection for Armenians around the world. We will also explore the rich cultural significance of the region and Armenia, the role of the international community, and the connection to Climate change and oil politics.

In this episode we speak with Vaché Thomassian, Glendale Board Member of Armenian National Committee of America [http://www.ANCA.org] and Dr. Djene Rhys Bajalan, Assistant Professor at Missouri State University.

Djene Rhys Bajalan is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Missouri State University [https://history.missouristate.edu/drbajalan.aspx]. His research focuses on Middle Eastern affairs and he has previously taught and studied in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Vaché Thomassian is a practicing attorney and international relations professional who has been an activist in the Armenian community for many years.

Articles by Dr. Djene Bajalan: https://www.jacobinmag.com/author/djene-bajalan

More info from ANCA: https://anca.org/nagorno-karabakh-overview/

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

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

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Producer: Emilia Barrosse

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 81

Photo courtesy Vaché Thomassian

Recently, the City of Los Angeles public utility admitted that its Valley Generating Station had been leaking methane gas into the community for three years. Pacoima Beautiful [https://pacoimabeautiful.org/], a grassroots organization that had been working for decades for environmental justice for the San Fernando Valley, stepped up to organize protests. Gas plant neighbors include Sun Valley and Pacoima which are predominantly people of color. The environmental contamination and health impacts from the leaking methane are compounded by area landfills, trains, airplanes, industry pollution, and freeways. The residents live in an area that ranks in the 98 percentile of CalEnviroscreen’s most polluted communities in Los Angeles. Meaning they breathe some of California’s worst air and suffer from asthma-related hospitalizations at rates far higher than most of the state.

These environmental justice stories are not out of the ordinary and continue to happen throughout Southern California and across the US. The LA public utility pledged a full fix to the leak, increased methane monitoring, and quicker and more transparent communication with the public about such issues--but only after their secret leak was revealed to the public. Pacoima Beautiful’s push to secure a clean energy future for the Northeast San Fernando Valley has resulted in LA Council President, Nury Martinez, submitting a motion calling for a sunset date for gas operation at the Valley Gas Plant.

Our guest, Veronica Padilla-Campos is the Executive Director for Pacoima Beautiful, who attended UCLA where she received her urban planning degree knowing that she would return to her community of the Northeast San Fernando Valley to help allocate the right resources they deserve, demanding environmental justice and accountability.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

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

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 80

Image: Pacoima Beautiful

This week we speak with Peter McCoy, Founder of Mycologos [https://mycologos.world/pages/founder], the world's first mycology school, and Founder and Creative Director of Radical Mycology, a mushroom and fungi advocacy foundation. He and host Carry Kim discuss the grassroots movement and social philosophy behind using regenerative natural mushroom farming to promote ecological restoration and create food and medicines.

Fungi are everywhere—in soil and air, flowing waters, on and within plants and animals, in food and clothing, and in the human body. Humans have partnered with fungi since the first loaf of leavened bread was baked and the first tub of grape must was turned into wine. Ancient peoples put the ravages of fungi to work in agriculture.

Radical Mycology seeks to forge transformative relationships between humans and fungi, seeing lichens as indicators of environmental health, and understanding the profound influences that fungi have held on the evolution of all life and human cultures. By symbiotically relating with fungi, we can engage in ecological restoration, myco-permaculture, mycoremediation after fire and oil spills, fermenting fungi for food, and promoting fungi medicines for the benefit of generations to come.

Peter McCoy is a mycology educator and farmer, author, and artist from Portland, Oregon. He is the visioneer behind the first annual Fungi Film Festival. In 2016, Peter published the book ‘Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing and Working With Fungi’ [https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Mycology-Treatise-Seeing-Working/dp/0986399604] detailing his nearly two decades of experience in promoting fungi for the health of people and the planet.

Radical Mycology Website: https://www.radicalmycology.com/

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

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

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 79

Image detail from 'Radical Mycology' 'zine.

Listen to applied mycologist, educator, and ecosystem restoration practitioner Taylor Bright [https://www.instagram.com/symbiiotica/], speak in detail about post-fire remediation and regeneration, particularly mycoremediation, where fungi-based technology is used to decontaminate the environment and heal the water and soil.

Since August 2020, hundreds of fires have burned and are still burning in Oregon, Washington, and California. To date, over 4.5 million acres have burned.

Taylor Bright is currently an officer and researcher for Bay Area Applied Mycology [http://bayareaappliedmycology.com], as well as a project facilitator and educator for CoRenewal [https://www.amazonmycorenewal.org/lessons-learned-in-post-fire-bioremediation.html]. Both are applied mycology non-profit organizations that focus on community education and research, implementation of post-wildfire soil regeneration, and mycoremediation efforts in both California and Ecuador.

Taylor lives on occupied Southern Pomo/Coast Miwok territory (present day Sebastopol, CA), and holds classes on fungal ecology, cultivation and medicine making. She educates on topics that live at the intersection of plants, fungi, deep ecology, bioremediation, herbal/fungal medicine, ecopsychology, and environmental justice.

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 78

Hear Permaculture Designer/Educator & consultant Matthew Trumm of Treetop Permaculture [http://www.facebook.com/ttpermaculture] discuss lessons learned during the Camp Fire which burned through the town of Paradise, California, in November 2018. At the time, it was the most devastating wildfire in California history, burning 240 square miles in its wake.

Given current wildfires burning now in Washington, Oregon and throughout California, particularly in the north, and the accelerating impacts of climate change, it is critically important to reestablish our connection to the forest as an essential ecosystem, and to restore its ecological function using regenerative principles.

Matthew discusses permaculture-based restoration efforts he and the local community engaged in Paradise, indigenous perspectives on the effectiveness of cool burns, remediating toxicity post-fires, and establishing the Camp Fire Restoration Project [http://www.campfirerestorationproject.org] as the premier "mobile" ecosystem restoration camp in the world modeled upon disaster recovery. Inspired by ecologist & filmmaker John Liu who we interviewed earlier this year on EcoJustice Radio, Matthew shows us how they overcame the massive wildfire disaster and are working to restore ‘Paradise’.

Matthew Trumm Owner and Founder of Treetop Industries is a Permaculture educator, designer, and consultant from Oroville, California, in Butte County. Since Matthew commenced his land-based studies in 2011, he has pioneered countless Permaculture projects including the nonprofit Camp Fire Restoration Project and nurturing a local food movement, all under the umbrella, Treetop Permaculture.

Related websites

https://www.coopabox.com/

http://www.hearthstoneschool.net/

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 77

Photo courtesy of Andreas Haslinger https://unsplash.com/@andreas_haslinger

The events of 2020, from the pandemic to the uprising, have made the upcoming election a pivotal moment in time. In particular, the Black and Brown communities of South Los Angeles, facing generations of systemic racism and growing inequality, demand a new way forward with political leaders having the opportunity to bring forward solutions to police violence, environmental injustice, and social and economic mismanagement and exploitation. But can political leaders overcome the corporate money that prioritizes industry over people, profits over community?

In this episode we get to know one of the candidates running for California Assembly for South Los Angeles, Fatima Iqbal-Zubair. The incumbent Assemblymember Mike Gipson was asked to be on the show but did return our requests.

Fatima’s campaign platform is founded on ending systemic racism by prioritizing clean air, water, and food; supporting affordable housing and ending homelessness; pushing for health care for all; and reforming our education system, criminal justice, and immigration. She says she is running to uplift the voices in her community, not the special interests that run the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the multiple oil refineries and drilling sites in the area, that have dominated business as usual in the district. Her goal is economic justice and a just transition to a green economy with full employment.

Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, candidate for California Assembly District 64 [https://fatimaforassembly.com/], is a public school teacher in Watts, an immigrant, and a community advocate.

Essay by Fatima: https://knock-la.com/we-are-at-a-tipping-point-liberation-and-nothing-less-f7f4e4de30de

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from Adventures in Waste [http://adventuresinwaste.com/]

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 76

Our guests discuss the history of water upon Tongvalands aka Los Angeles: from free-flowing rivers to concrete-engineered flood control and back again.

Hear about the historical impacts of channelization, the formation of dams and the current movement toward dam removal across Turtle Island (aka. the Americas). Once an unbridled, seasonal river wending from the mountains to the ocean, by the 1960s, the entire length of the 51-mile long Paayme Paheight (aka. Los Angeles River) was concretized, destined to become infrastructure and a functional sewer. However, this is no longer the river's destiny as advocacy for freeing the river and its tributaries, restoring native habitat and wildlife grows.

Hahamongna is the rare spot in the Arroyo Seco at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California where the mountainous watershed meets the urban plain. Periodically floods roar into this basin. Hahamongna contains five unique habitat zones that only exist in alluvial canyons near the mountains. Most sites like this in Southern California have been destroyed. The word means "Flowing Waters, Fruitful Valley" in the native Tongva language. The Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery in Pasadena was so named by revered Chief Yanna (also known as Vera Rocha), a Gabrieliño Shoshone who taught the nursery's community indigenous life ways and how to "see" and care for Hahamongna.

More info on Saving Hahamongna: http://www.savehahamongna.org

Tim Brick is Managing Director of the Arroyo Seco Foundation [http://www.arroyoseco.org], and has been involved in promoting environmental awareness and sustainability for many years. He served on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for 28 years including two terms as chair.

Parker Davis is Director of Marketing and Communications at the Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery [http://www.hahamongna.org]. A Pasadena native with a background in fine arts, he has an aesthetic obsession with California native plants. He works with volunteers, propagating plants for restoring natural areas & beautifying the local community’s neighborhoods and public spaces.

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 75

Photo by One Arroyo Foundation

TUNE IN! Guests Andrea Leon-Grossmann from AZUL [http://azul.org/en/] and Conner Everts from Southern California Watershed Alliance discuss the proposal by Poseidon Water Company to build a $1 billion desalination plant in Huntington Beach, California. When the price tag is more than 2x the cost of our current water system, is desal necessary? Can existing and future conservation opportunities provide the solutions necessary to ensure local water resilience in California and elsewhere?

Paid for by taxpayers and ratepayers to privatize water, this industrial project would erode the #HumanRightToWater, kill marine life and it will run on dirty energy for decades to come. They already received $585 million from Trump's EPA and applied for $1.1 billion in CDLAC funds from California that usually go to build affordable housing.

More Info: https://www.smarterwaterla.org/

Andrea Leon-Grossmann, Director of Climate Action at AZUL, is a Mexican-born immigrant who works with the Latinx community to protect and conserve our coasts and oceans. She has always been passionate about fighting for environmental and social justice, and has been involved with immigrant rights, juvenile justice, animal rights, and of course, environmental groups, for nearly two decades.

Conner Everts, Executive Director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance [http://ewccalifornia.org/staff/] and Co-Chair of the Desal Response Group [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Desal-Response-Group/514608058614252], has spent a lifetime in pursuit of clean water, first as a Southern California steelhead fisherman and then in the quest of the Human Right to Water. He is currently co-chair of the Southern California Water Dialogue, the Green LA Water Committee and as an elder advisor to the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water and Amigos de los Rios.

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from Adventures in Waste [http://adventuresinwaste.com/]

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 74