EcoJustice Radio

Tune in as we welcome Caroline Ward Holland, a Tribal citizen of the Fernandeño Band of Mission Indians or Tataviam Nation, as she speaks on the ongoing movement to topple controversial Mission monuments and mythologies. She recounts with host Carry Kim her Walk for the Ancestors [http://walkfortheancestors.org/] in 2015, a pilgrimage she embarked upon with her son, Kagen Holland, to honor the Ancestors at all 21 missions in California.

In 2015. When Pope Francis announced he would move forward with the canonization of Junipero Serra, Caroline set out on a 780 mile journey to honor the Indigenous Ancestors who suffered and perished throughout the Mission System. Walking from the last mission built in Sonoma CA to the first mission built in San Diego. This experience put her in a completely forward direction advocating for historical truth and promoting healing in truth. Caroline sits on the University of California's Critical Mission Studies advisory board, comprised of numerous Mission Indian Scholars as well as Tribal Leaders.

Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians: https://www.tataviam-nsn.us/

Unmonumenting the Architects of Genocide, Enslavement and Mass Incarceration: https://bit.ly/unmonumenting

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 73

Photo by Erick Iñiguez / https://www.instagram.com/erickphotolenz/

Guest Kwazi Nkrumah from the MLK Coalition for Greater Los Angeles [http://mlkcoalitionforjobsjusticeandpeace.org/] discusses with host Jessica Aldridge how unity and mass mobilization across all movements is necessary for social change and an equitable future. He speaks to how we effectively do this in an inclusive manner across interests and issues that considers priorities, roadblocks, and better relationship building. We address concerns of derailment and demobilization, and look to how we can shield and grow from those movements.

~ Kwazi Nkrumah is the Co-Chair of MLK Coalition of Greater Los Angeles for Jobs, Justice, and Peace. Kwazi is a nationally respected community and labor organizer, and a human and environmental rights activist and advocate. Over the years he has been a successful leader for economic justice efforts on behalf of tenants, homeowners, and working people.

Further reading on anti-racist organizing:

Robert L. Allen: "Reluctant Reformers: Racism and Social Reform Movements in the United States" - https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Reformers-Racism-Social-Movements/dp/0882580264

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 72

Martha Arguello of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles [https://www.psr-la.org/] discusses with host Jessica Aldridge neighborhood oil drilling, the call for a 2,500 ft. health and safety buffer, and how community mobilization is addressing the climate emergency and ensuring public health and environmental protection. Martha leads the coalition Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling in Los Angeles [https://www.stand.la/]. They work in a statewide coalition dedicated to buffers as well called Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods [https://www.vision-ca.org/].

With California being one of the largest oil-producing states in the USA, community based solutions and industry accountability is vital to protecting the most vulnerable and building resilience. In Los Angeles, there are 759 active oil wells less than 1,500 feet from homes, schools, churches, and hospitals; these being predominantly in low-income and communities of color who face disproportionate health and safety impacts from their frontline exposure.

Martha Arguello is the Executive Director with Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles. For the past 32 years, she has served in the non-profit sector as an advocate, community organizer, and coalition builder. She joined PSR-LA in 1998 to launch the environmental health programs, and became Executive Director in November 2007. She is committed to making the credible voice of physicians a powerful instrument for transforming California and our planet into a more peaceful and healthy place.

Sign this petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/vote-yes-on-ab-345?source=direct_link&referrer=group-socal-350

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 71

Photo courtesy of STAND-LA

Hear Kumu Mikilani Young from United Pillars of Aloha [http://www.unitedpoa.com/] & her student, Kayla Session, discuss the momentum and ultimate purpose behind the current generation of youth rising up to protect Sacred Places, mountains, waters and indigenous lifeways.

A native Hawaiian, born and raised in Hawai'i, Kumu Mikilani has taught Hula and chanting classes for twenty years and is the founder of United Pillars of Aloha, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people worldwide about Mauna Kea — the need to protect it and all Sacred Places for future generations. She educates and empowers youth to become prayerful Kiai'i (kee-Ah-ee) or protectors, who dignify the practice of Kapu Aloha, hula and oli (traditional chanting). Through these practices youth are encouraged to engage the world as prayerful warriors and indomitable pillars upon which the future will stand.

Kayla Session is 10 years old and lives on Luiseño Territory of Southern California. Currently being trained in Hawaiian Traditions, Kayla is learning to appropriately honor and protect that which the creator, gods, ancient ones, and ancestors have left her.

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 70

Coral Vita’s Sam Teicher discusses the urgent status of the world's coral reefs and how we can restore them by rapidly and effectively growing climate-change resilient coral. The world's first land-based coral farm, Coral Vita [https://coralvita.co/], aims to help scale up reef restoration globally using breakthrough technologies and nature-based solutions, including micro-fragmentation and assisted evolution. Learn about the critical role coral plays in marine ecosystems and how restoring it is essential to our collective future. Current and recent, unprecedented mass bleaching events affecting the Great Barrier Reef, highlights the importance of taking urgent action on behalf of our oceans and reefs worldwide. Act now while there is still time to turn the tide!

Sam Teicher is the Co-Founder and Chief Reef Officer of Coral Vita, a company that's working to scale reef restoration globally by growing resilient coral up to 50x faster, and transplanting them into sites degraded by warming and acidifying ocean currents. Previously, Sam worked to implement climate resiliency initiatives at the Obama White House. He has been in love with the ocean since becoming a scuba diver as a child.

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 69

Reverend Eddie Anderson discusses the People’s Budget Los Angeles [https://peoplesbudgetla.com/] with our host Jessica Aldridge. He defines what it means to re-imagine policing and public safety, and how to ensure reinvestment back into Black communities. The institutions that run the USA continue to benefit from the repercussions of long-standing, systemic oppression and racism. How do we reinvent and re-imagine the power structures? How do we change the economic system and fund a budget that is community-centered? Tune in to find out more!

Reverend Edward L. Anderson is a social activist and ordained minister serving McCarty Memorial Christian Church [http://www.mccartychurch.org/] in West Adams, Los Angeles. Anderson is an active advocate for Black Lives Matter, a convener and Co-Chair of the New Poor People's Campaign in California and is a Bethany and Preston Taylor Fellow.

Black Los Angeles Demands: https://www.blmla.org/newsfeed/2020/4/16/black-los-angeles-demands-in-light-of-covid-19-and-rates-of-black-death

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 68

Listen to Rene Mims and Jaijae Kabasa, respected elders, community leaders and musicians coming to us from The World Stage [http://theworldstage.org/] in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park. They share with our host Carry Kim deep ruminations on the past 21 generations of African American enslavement, the seeds of racism, and how it continues unabated today. Rather than perpetuating and reciprocating with hate against "white oppressors" and white supremacy, they view love and unity of the human family as the ultimate way forward.

Rene Mims is a community leader, activist, and the founder of S.H.I.N.E. Muwasi Women's African Drum Circle. She founded this group to spread the knowledge and wisdom embodied by West African drum culture combined with healing, empowerment and inspiration.

Jaijae Kabasa is an accomplished musician, educator, activist, and griot or historian who "keeps record" of and for the African people who reside in Los Angeles.

Hear their insights and reflections on the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that have erupted in response to the unconscionable killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. They share their views on the ongoing oppression and prejudice against black people and the significant role US Europeans can play in healing the racial divide by honestly confronting the historic and current realities of racism in the U.S. and worldwide.

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 67

Plastic Plague Series: PART 7 (of 7) THE FUTURE: how Solutions, Policy, & Resistance around plastic can elevate, inspire, and drive change at a systems-level approach.

Our guests, Matt Prindiville of Upstream Solutions, Sam Pearse of Story of Stuff, and Emily Parker of Heal the Bay, speak with our host, Jessica Aldridge of Adventures in Waste.

There is no one silver-bullet solution or intervention point. The story of plastic we knew from the 1970s and 80s is a different story than what we know today. The finger of responsibility no longer points only at the consumer, but we all have the opportunity to play our role when it comes to creating and demanding the future we want to see. We are up against a take and make economy where packaging is not the only disposable, but so is energy, water, resources, and PEOPLE! How do we create the change and connect the dots for everyone who uses, disposes of, or is in some way affected by plastic.

Matt Prindiville, Imagineer & CEO of Upstream [https://www.upstreamsolutions.org/], is a recognized thought leader within the plastic pollution community and advises the United Nations Environment Program on their plastic pollution strategies. He is one of the founders of the global Break Free from Plastic Movement and the founder of the Cradle2 Coalition and Take It Make It Campaign.

Sam Pearse, Lead Campaigner of The Story of Stuff Project [https://www.storyofplastic.org/], is working at the intersection of storytelling, plastics policy, and corporate campaigning. He comes from a background of campaigning on environmental, human rights, and security issues.

Emily Parker, Coastal and Marine Scientist for Heal the Bay [https://healthebay.org/], works to protect our coastal and marine resources. Her work focuses on plastic pollution, marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries management, and climate change.

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste [adventuresinwaste.com/]

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Producer: Georgia Tunioli

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 66

Photo Credit:

Ecosystem Restoration Camps, part of John D. Liu's "Great Work of Our Time," are a methodology to regenerate degraded lands on a planetary scale. Carry Kim speaks with John, Ecosystem Ambassador and Founder and Advisory Council Chair of the Ecosystem Restoration Camps Foundation.

The camps movement serves as a model for restoring ecological function while addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time including: poverty, hunger, refugee crises, climate change and the need to create resilient communities. There are now 23 camps spanning six continents, and the movement continues to grow exponentially.

John D. Liu is a filmmaker, environmental educator [https://knaw.academia.edu/JohnDLiu], and Founder and Advisory Council Chair of the Ecosystem Restoration Camps Foundation [https://ecosystemrestorationcamps.org/join-a-camp/]. He also serves as Ecosystem Ambassador of the Commonland Foundation [https://commonland.com/en]. As a filmmaker in 1995, the World Bank asked John to document the ecological restoration of the Loess Plateau in China. Since learning that it is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, John has devoted his life to understanding and communicating about the potential and responsibility to restore degraded landscapes on a planetary scale.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.d.liu

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1206960359323785/

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 65

Plastic Plague Series: PART 6 (of 7) THE PARADIGM SHIFT - we explore how reduction, recycling, and technology can create a paradigm shift that is solution oriented, equitable, and achievable.

Our guests include Claire Arkin, from GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), Marcus Eriksen of 5 Gyres Institute, and Keng Baloco, of Athens Services.

There is too much plastic production for recycling to be the end-all-be-all solution to our problems, not to mention the inequity from its creation to disposal. However, waste-to-energy, chemical recycling, and plastic-to-fuel also have their concerns and might not be the winning silver bullet. Solutions best laid are community oriented and do not compromise the needs of future generations. So who is responsible for shifting the norm? Is it consumers, business, or manufacturers? How do we create community-based solutions? And how do these solutions around reuse and recycling weather issues and concerns related to virus spread and pandemics like COVID-19. Tune in to hear from the experts.

Claire Arkin is the Communications Coordinator at GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) [http://www.no-burn.org]. Her work has been featured in such outlets as The Guardian, Resource-Recycling and the San Francisco Chronicle. She recently coordinated a global investigative project called “Discarded” that documented impacts of the global plastic waste trade on communities in Southeast Asia.

Marcus Eriksen, 5 Gyres Institute [https://www.5gyres.org] – Research Director and Co-Founder. As an environmental scientists publishing the first global estimate of plastics in the world’s oceans, and co-discovering microbeads in the Great Lakes, Marcus and his team use research to inform campaigns aimed at changing the systems that pollute the planet and communities.

Keng Baloco, Commodity Sales and Logistics Manager, Athens Services [https://athensservices.com/] has 13 years of experience in the waste and recycling industry. She currently markets commodities to domestic and international markets, finding homes for post-consumer plastic, fiber, metal, glass and other commodities.

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste [adventuresinwaste.com/]

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Producer: Georgia Tunioli

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 64

Photo Credit: Adam Dean/GAIA