EcoJustice Radio

On today’s show we are discussing Urban Forestry’s Impacts On Climate Change and Social Equity. Jessica Aldridge speaks with Mark Kenyon, Executive Director of the nonprofit, North East Trees.

The horrific fires ravaging the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia have sparked massive interest about how these dense rain forests influence the global weather systems by creating microclimates that have macro effects. Ultimately, large-scale deforestation has an overall effect on global climate.

However, what of our trees here at home? Do they impact our local weather? Does their existence play a role in mitigating climate change?

Today we will speak to the powerful effect urban forests have on the health and well-being of our communities and the climate in general. We will also look into programs that are working within those communities to provide equitable solutions, green jobs, and open spaces.

Mark Kenyon has been associated with North East Trees (NET - http://www.northeasttrees.org/) from its very first tree planting over 26 years ago and volunteered on many tree planting projects as well as working with the Founder, Scott Wilson, and NET's Board management oversight and strategic planning. Mark brings to NET a keen interest in native plants, habitat restoration, watershed management, and the use of natural spaces to connect with at-risk youth disadvantaged communities.

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 43

The Global Climate Strikes that happened from 20-27 September 2019, inspired a record 7.6 million people to head into the streets and strike for climate action. The biggest climate mobilization in history. From Jakarta to New York, Karachi to Amman, Berlin to Kampala, Istanbul to Québec, Guadalajara to Asunción, in big cities and small villages, millions of people joined hands and raised their voices in defense of the climate. The Global Climate Strike shows that we have the people power we need to create a just world and end the era of fossil fuels.

The September 20th Los Angeles Youth Climate Strike was organized by a coalition of groups and led by Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles. EcoJustice Radio's Jessica Aldridge and production team joined the action at Downtown LA's Pershing Square, where anywhere from 10-20,000 people gathered for speeches and music, and then all marched through the streets to City Hall. This caused absolute pandemonium on the crowded city streets, but all happened peacefully and with grace from all involved.

Following are a sampling of the diverse voices out in the streets to demand climate action and an end to the fossil fueled business as usual that is destabilizing the global climate systems, with heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, destructive hurricanes, melting of glaciers, and methane feedback mechanisms spinning out of control. We have to act NOW!

Jessica Aldridge spoke with:

Ash Rosas - Sunrise Movement Los Angeles

Tina Calderon - Gabrielieno Tongva and Ventureno Chumash

Paula Kahn - SoCal 350 Climate Action

Daniel Lopez - Youth Activist

Claire McCarthy - Greenpeace

Diego Johansen - Greenpeace

Former Sen. Kevin De Leon, President Emeritus of CA State Senate

Jesus Villalba Gastelum - Youth Climate Strike LA - Earth Uprising LA

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 42

Photo courtesy of Mike Chickey - More: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10216860498399552&type=3

Susan V. Collins, President of Container Recycling Institute, speaks with host Jessica Aldridge about how California underwent a recent wave of redemption center closures (those places where consumers can drop off their recyclable beverage containers for cash). So what needs to happen to fix the California bottle bill?

Container Recycling Institute: http://www.container-recycling.org/

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge, Adventures in Waste

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 41

Image from Waste 360

Water is life. Clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and the future security of water is nonnegotiable. Los Angeles, California currently imports a whopping 70% of their water. And getting that water to LA is the largest use of electricity in the state of CA. When water is not captured and utilized within the system, it traverses through the city and out to the ocean. In order to shape a strong water future, we must manage the flow in way that ensures high quality, social equity, and solutions based in nature. Jessica Aldridge, interviews Annelisa Moe, Water Quality Scientist with Heal the Bay and Miguel Ramos External Affairs Outreach Coordinator with the Nature Conservancy.

This show aired on KPFK on Sept 12, 2019

Photo Credit: Los Angeles Aqueduct Terminus Cascades in Sylmar. Meghan McCarty - KPCC

Interview Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 40

Hear the wise words of Tongva Elder, Grandmother Gloria Arellanes, as she shares the heritage of the Tongva people, who inhabited and stewarded the area referred to as the "Los Angeles basin" as well as the Southern Channel Islands. Grandmother Gloria offers her insights about the state of our world, youth, elderhood and the intergenerational cycle of learning, as well as how we might honor proper protocols, First Nations and all that is Sacred, amidst the backdrop of increasing urbanity, and the numerous perils now facing our environment.

In December 2018, a 6-3 decision by the California Coastal Commission allowed a massive expansion of oil operations in the Los Cerritos Wetlands, near Long Beach. This includes the drilling of 120 new oil/water wells and the construction of a 2,200-foot pipeline to extend across the Newport-Inglewood fault. Water injection drilling methods could increase output from 300 to 23,000 barrels daily and emit 70,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually. The oil will be sent to local refineries poisoning working class communities, mainly people of color, in West Long Beach/Wilmington. In a worst-case scenario, this project could spill 2.8 million gallons of oil, destroying wetlands, bay, and ocean waters along the coast. This unfortunate project, promoted as "wetlands restoration," was approved using "overrides" even though it violates the Coastal Act. The Tongva and Acjachemen consider these wetlands to be a tribal cultural landscape and wildlife sanctuary. Many sacred and burial sites have been destroyed here already, very little is left.

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

Engineers: JP Morris and Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 39

Hear from David Lamfrom, Director of California Desert and National Wildlife programs at the National Parks Conservation Association, who will discuss the particular challenges of protecting and preserving our national parks in the Anthropocene era, including this current stage of global industrialization. David recounts the impact of the government shutdown on wildlife in national parks, including the financial cost for the remediation of destruction from unmonitored and unregulated human activity. He discusses the gaps in federal funding that impact conservation efforts. Listen to how we can best support biogeography, diversity and migration patterns of animals and whole ecosystems as we accelerate industrial production of renewable energy infrastructure to scale. David asserts that "empty space" is a myth, and elucidates how we can become more effective and connected stewards of the Earth while we seek alternatives for fossil fuels.

David Lamfrom from serves as the Director of the California Desert and National Wildlife programs for the National Parks Conservation Association, using his passion and knowledge of our natural, cultural and historical resources to inspire others to learn about and protect our national parks. David has extensive experience working with diverse wildlife and agriculture in the fields of: aquaculture, agricultural biology and herpetology. He volunteered time and expertise as a naturalist for the Wildlife Research Team, a non-profit organization who has had tremendous success utilizing non-mechanized mangrove restoration in Biscayne Bay, Florida. As a graduate of New College of Florida, David has had the opportunity to conduct significant study in the fields of ecology, herpetology, foreign languages, Native American studies, and art. Published both as an author and wildlife photographer in several issues of Wild South magazine, David is an avid naturalist, hiker, and photographer who spends his free time exploring wildlife and wilderness.

For more info. and to support visit: https://www.npca.org/

Interview by Carry Kim

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

Engineers: JP Morris and Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 38

Jessica Aldridge speaks with Ayla Suhail, Climate Change and Livelihood Project Coordinator at PODA, Potohar Organisation of development and advocacy in Pakistan. She is a graduate of mathematics from Comsats University in Islamabad and is finishing her up masters in Geographical Information System. Her thesis is based on "Analyzing the impact of Plastic Waste on the Urban Climate." She is also a teacher and a coach.

The effects of natural disasters and Climate change have disproportionate impacts to those most vulnerable, especially rural based women and marginalized groups. Empowerment of women is critical to personal well-being and self-sufficiency; that empowerment is also directly tied to how the community will handle crisis and build resiliency. In order to mitigate climate change, there must exist a fuller understanding of the social and economic issues that those on the front line bear, and what approaches need to be in place in order to create empowerment and solutions from within. With an increase in development including industrialization, urbanization, and motorization, the World Bank identified Pakistan’s top environmental issues as air pollution, inadequate supply of uncontaminated drinking water, and health deterioration of urban and rural populations.

That same report says Karachi’s urban air pollution is among the most severe in the world. That being said it is important to note that the majority of Pakistan’s population lives in rural areas and experiences high poverty rates. Those in urban areas suffer from significant damages to human health.

Ayla Suhail has been working for a Pakastani organization that tackles the issues of climate change by supporting solutions that are based in gender equity, economic justice, and human rights. They also have a stunning program that encourages entrepreneurism through art while protecting traditional cultural expressions.

More Info: https://poda.org.pk/

Interview by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

Engineer: JP Morris and Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 37

Carry Kim talks with Rev. Adelia Sandoval, the Spiritual Leader for the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians/Acjachemen Nation. The Acjachemen people are the indigenous people of Orange County in Southern California and have stewarded and inhabited this region for roughly 12,000 years. Adelia is also a Ceremonial Leader, Bear Dancer, Re-Burial Rites Ceremonialist, and Keeper of Songs she has been taught by Tribal Spiritual Leader, Ka'chi. She is the director of the Tribal women's singing group the Tushmalum Heleqatum (Hummingbirds that Sing).

Listen to Adelia offer wisdom from her lineage and lived experience as a spiritual leader for the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians/Acjachemen Nation. She contemplates and wonders aloud about the efforts many are now making on behalf of future generations to preserve Earth-honoring traditions of indigenous peoples, flora, fauna, sacred places and life itself. She also discusses the imminent need to protect Qu'eespamay (aka. San Onofre) from the threat of unsafe nuclear waste storage upon sacred, ancestral Acjachemen lands. Be reminded of the importance of unity, sacred "activism" even in the apparent face of "failure," and our common human heritage as we navigate our times and learn to regard all living things in sacred reciprocity once again.

Interview by Carry Kim

Intro by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 36

Carry Kim speaks with Doug Lindamood, from SonRise Ranch in San Diego County, California. He and his family own and operate this pasture based livestock operation dedicated to changing industrial, factory farming into a local, sustainable, integrity, food movement through education and outreach one family at a time.

According to SonRise Ranch, Management Intensive Grazing, regenerative agriculture, and the highest standards of animal husbandry are the best way to heal the planet.

SonRise Ranch: http://son-riseranch.com/

https://www.son-riseranchstore.com/Default.asp

Interview by Carry Kim

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 35

Photo courtesy of American Dairymen

In the spring of 2019, the Sunrise Movement, building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across the US, put on the Road To A Green New Deal Tour, visiting eight cities across the US to share what a Green New Deal would look like in different communities as well as spotlighting local politicians and organizers throughout the country.

A Green New Deal would address the interwoven crises of climate catastrophe, economic inequality, and racism at the scale that science and justice demand. It could combine quick action to get to net- zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy by 2030 along with an “Economic Bill of Rights” – the right to single-payer healthcare, a guaranteed job at a living wage, affordable housing and free college education.

EcoJustice Radio joined KPFK-FM to interview the voices in and around the Green New Deal Tour in Los Angeles, and this is what our interviewer Jessica Aldridge with the sound team Kiyana Williams and Blake Lampkin found out.

Guests

Josh Willis, oceanographer with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hotpocalypse Podcast

Aura Vasquez, former LA DWP Commissioner, environmental activist

Loraine Lundquist, environmental scientist at Cal State Northridge

D Garcia with Sunrise Movement LA

Varshini Prakash, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sunrise Movement with Gabbi Pierce also with Sunrise

At the end, Jack Eidt from SoCal 350 interviewed Bill McKibben, author, educator, environmentalist, and co-founder of 350.org, and a global leader in the movement to solve the climate crisis along with several important books on global warming, along with Lydia Ponce from SoCal 350 and a member of American Indian Movement.

Photo Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Interviews by Jessica Aldridge

Engineer: Blake Lampkin

Video Kiyana Williams

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 34