EcoJustice Radio

As part of the incessant need for what some people call “growth” we inevitably destroy resources, especially when that “growth” happens to be sprawling land development. Is this type of growth necessary? Will it provide real housing opportunities to those most in need? However, when a development project does not make common sense, when it invades ecological integrity, destroys irreplaceable resources and it puts people in harm’s way, should the project be sent back for review?

Tejon Ranch Centennial Specific Plan (or Centennial) is a massive planned city in a unique, rare, fire-prone wilderness of grasslands and mountains, a residential and commercial development in LA County. Nick Jensen from the California Native Plant Society [https://www.cnps.org/tag/centennial], and Jack Eidt from Wild Heritage Partners [https://www.wilderutopia.com/] and SoCal 350, discuss the dangers to urban sustainability, fiscal health of LA County and the impacts on wild and endangered plants and animals with host Jessica Aldridge.

Located 70 miles NW of DTLA, Centennial would be accessed by Hwy 138 near Interstate 5, close to Gorman a small town with limited amenities. The project sits upon 270,000 acres of private property where they want to build 20K homes and 10 million sf of commercial and retail space (although a hospital does not exist in the current plan).

The planning of Centennial began 20 years ago, but it was approved by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors in 2018. Since then, the California Native Plant Society and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed suit against the approval citing insufficient environmental review.

Sign the Petition: http://biodiv.us/keepcaliforniawild

More information: http://cnps.org/centennial

Check out this op-ed by Jack Eidt: https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/2016-01-01-13-17-00/los-angeles/16717-tejon-ranch-s-centennial-a-fiscal-and-fire-disaster-waiting-to-happen-for-la-county

Interview by Jessica Aldridge from Adventures in Waste

with Jack Eidt from SoCal 350 and WilderUtopia

Host and Engineer: JP Morris

Executive Producer: Mark Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 24

Image of Tejon Ranch from Kyle Hanson, SoCal 360.

Carry Kim from EcoJustice Radio talks with Lydia Ponce, a Mayo-Quechua Indigenous activist, member of AIM (American Indian Movement), and Co-Director of Idle No More SoCal. She also works as SoCal 350 Engagement Director.

Lydia will share updates about two controversial tar sands pipelines originating out of Alberta, Canada: TransCanada's Keystone XL and Enbridge's Line 3. Both projects pose numerous threats for indigenous peoples, their way of life and sacred territories, in addition to the devastating impacts they would have on Mother Earth and climate change. Tar sands crude oil [often called oil sands] remains one of the dirtiest, costliest and most reckless forms of fossil fuel extraction. Lydia will also inform listeners about the perils of indigenous women who go missing or are murdered, as a consequence of "man camps" established during pipeline construction. Hear the call to action, donate to the cause, and make a difference in stopping these pipelines. Hear how you can help preserve life in the north for future generations, and help protect the lives of indigenous women.

https://www.narf.org/keystone-xl/

http://www.honorearth.org/line_3_factsheet

https://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/columnists/winona-laduke/14578-the-bad-decision-the-approval-of-enbridge-line-3

https://www.csvanw.org/mmiw/

Interview by Carry Kim

Engineer: JP Morris

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Show Created by Mark and JP Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 23

Photo: Alberta tar sands development, via Flickr user thekirbster

How California Legislation is Driving New Standards

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge of Adventures in Waste and Co-founder of SoCal 350

Our guest today, Nick Lapis Director of Advocacy of for Californians Against Waste (CAW) is advocating at the state and local levels to create, promote, and implement the standards and policies necessary for waste reduction and recycling. Since joining CAW in 2007, Nick has led several campaigns to enact nation-leading waste reduction legislation and regulatory action in California. In addition to coordinating CAW's overall advocacy strategy, Nick leads the organization's efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change and recover organic wastes. He also engages in policy development and coalition-building, representing CAW on a variety of boards, committees, workgroups, and coalitions.

California leads in setting environmental standards and passing precedent-setting legislation that the rest of the country looks to for inspiration and emulation. Since the 1990s, California has been setting a high bar for waste diversion and recycling in the United States.

This September Governor Brown picked up his pen and signed off on his last set of bills under his reign as Governor. Brown had the opportunity to approve or veto a significant amount of historic waste and recycling legislation.

Gaining national attention, many of us heard about the “first statewide law to require straws upon request,” but this most recent round of legislation approval also brought with it a slew of other waste policies that protect environment and human health, all the while building the necessary groundwork to move forward in a new recycling paradigm.

Given the recent global shift in the recycling market (China and other global markets placing strict contamination limitations on recycling imports), the needs for recycling solutions can’t focus only on consumer behavior, but more importantly we must focus on design changes, manufacture & product responsibility, and overall reduction.

For details on recently passed waste and recycling legislation click here: https://www.cawrecycles.org/legislation/.

Californians Against Waste: http://www.cawrecycles.org/

Adventures in Waste: http://www.adventuresinwaste.org/

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

Host and Engineer: JP Morris

Executive Producer: Mark Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 22

Cover Photo by Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Young people are mobilizing on climate change as the generation that will inherit its various outcomes and crises. They organized a national day of action called “This is Zero Hour” which seeks to amplify young voices who are working on environmental issues in their communities. Episode Hosted by Mark Morris with guests Arielle Cohen, Gavin Pierce, and Ryanne Mena.

The idea for a youth climate march arose after many of the local March For Our Lives organizers in Los Angeles were discussing ways that students could get active on climate. Arielle Cohen got in touch with the national This is Zero Hour organizers and initiated a sister march in Los Angeles. She discusses what the process was like, and what the next steps are, while Gavin - with SoCal 350 Climate Action - discusses how the organization got involved, and the significance of intersectional narratives on environmentalism. Ryanne Mena, a student journalist, covers how media and storytelling plays a role in getting young people active on climate change. Together, the episode focuses on a multi-faceted approach to the climate crisis led by young people.

http://thisiszerohour.org/

Episode 21

Since it closed for safety violations in 2012, the dangers of San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) between Orange County and San Diego have only continued to loom.

Carry Kim from EcoJustice Radio interviews Charles Langley, Executive Director of Public Watchdogs & esteemed Board Member, Nina Babiarz. Public Watchdogs independently monitors energy and infrastructure regulatory agencies in California. It protects the public’s access to clean water and affordable, sustainable energy in order to sustain life, nourish human dignity, and encourage world peace. Public Watchdogs is one of the main organizations advocating for the removal of nuclear waste from San Onofre State Beach.

San Onofre was permanently shuttered in 2013, and is currently undergoing the lengthy process of decommissioning which requires the SAFE "disposal" of onsite nuclear waste and the removal or containment of any radioactive materials, including spent nuclear fuel, irradiated equipment and buildings.

Storing spent nuclear fuel in thin-walled canisters, "guaranteed" to last a mere 25 years by Southern California Edison, is considered by many in the local community and beyond, to be shockingly inadequate and a highly risky and unsafe proposition for the entire region from San Diego to Los Angeles. "Whistleblower" David Fritch and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair, Gregory Jaczko, have also raised personal concerns about the site and the negligence with which SCE is handling the decommissioning process. As a consequence of recent revelations by David Fritch, the NRC is now conducting an investigation of procedures and safety issues at San Onofre.

https://publicwatchdogs.org/

https://www.wilderutopia.com/environment/energy/nuclear-energy/san-onofre-beach-as-permanent-nuclear-waste-dump/

Episode 20

PHOTO CREDIT: Blacklisted News

How do we confront the swirling gyres of plastic pollution dumped into our oceans? In this show, we examine the social and environmental implications of wasted resources, and follow two interrelated approaches to solving the problem from an indigenous woman doing exemplary work in New Zealand and an LA-based plastics pollution fighter.

Our guests include Tina Ngata, a Ngati Porou wāhine and mother of two from The Non-Plastic Māori, and Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute and author of 'Junk Raft: An Ocean Voyage and a Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution.' Interview moderated by Jessica Aldridge, from Adventures in Waste and SoCal 350 co-founder.

Engineered by JP Morris

Produced by Mark Morris

Episode 19

This originally aired August 22, 2018 on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles.

Links:

https://thenonplasticmaori.wordpress.com/author/tinangata/

https://www.5gyres.org/

https://www.marcuseriksen.com/

https://www.junkraft.org/

https://www.amazon.com/Junk-Raft-Activism-Plastic-Pollution/dp/0807056405

https://www.wilderutopia.com/international/oceans/waste-colonization-plastic-pollution-and-the-pacific-gyre/

Why is incineration in direct opposition with Zero Waste and social and environmental justice? Hear from local and international groups working together to fight this beastly issue.

Per the internationally recognized definition of Zero Waste, products should be managed in a way that avoids and eliminates toxicity, conserves resources and does not burn nor bury them. It also states that any and all elements there in should work to eliminate toxic discharges to land, water and air. Burning our waste falls short of this equation while negatively effecting front line communities!

Host Jessica Aldridge, of Adventures in Waste and SoCal 350, joins Ahmina Maxey of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, and Angelo Logan of the Moving Forward Network.

www.movingforwardnetwork.com

www.no-burn.org

www.adventuresinwaste.org

www.socal350.org

Episode 18

One billion people do not have access to clean water or the privilege to purchase a filtration system to feed their reusable water bottles -- this is water equity. Our guests today are fighting for water equity in the Los Angeles County areas of Compton and Willowbrook, where the taps are running brown and bottled water has become a way of life.

Host: Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.

www.socal350.org | www.adventuresinwaste.org

Guests:

Angel Jennings, LA Times Reporter

Darik McGhee, 49-year-resident of Compton and community activist. Congresswoman Nanette Barragán, CA-44

Interview byJessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste

Host and Engineer: JP Morris

Executive Producer: Mark Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 17

In this episode of EcoJustice Radio, host Jack Eidt speaks with Ryan Killackey, filmmaker of the award-winning documentary film set in the Ecuadorian Amazon, "Yasuni Man." Plus, Zoe Cina-Sklar, campaigner for the #EndAmazonCrude effort by Amazon Watch, shares how California communities can play a powerful role in the fight for a just transition off fossil fuels.

More Info: http://www.yasuniman.com/

YASUNI MAN is the award winning documentary feature about a conflict raging deep within the Ecuadorian Amazon. Once under siege by missionaries seeking to civilize them, the Waorani people battle oil industry operatives and their own government in a fight to survive. Join filmmaker Ryan Patrick Killackey and his Waorani friend Otobo as they embark on an expedition into the most biodiverse forest on Earth. Witness what may be lost as oil companies encroach, human rights violations run rampant, and a forest Eden is destroyed - all for the oil that lies beneath Yasuni.

Featured on National Geographic Radio and TV, BBC Radio, PBS and The Guardian, Killackey’s Yasuni Man traveled the world, earning 35 official selections, 23 nominations, and 15 award wins. The film screened in 16 countries worldwide and partnered with the United Nations CINE-ONU program. Translated into 7 languages for it’s streaming release, Yasuni Man continues its effort to raise awareness around the exploitation of indigenous peoples in the Amazon, biodiversity and habitat loss, and the unsustainable exploitation of non-renewable natural resources.

Supported by a diverse coalition of NGOs and a powerful group of celebrities, a portion of the film’s proceeds will go to the Amazon Emergency Fund, a fund created to fight the outbreak of COVID-19 in Amazon indigenous communities - https://www.amazonemergencyfund.org/

STREAM the Film:

GooglePlay

(in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Japanese)

https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Yasuni_Man?id=DzYRWAUEknE.P&hl=en

Amazon

(in English and Closed Caption) 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08CVRTWBF/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/yasuni-man/id1523042123?ls=1

(in English and Spanish) 

Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/yasuniman

(in English)

Interview by Jack Eidt from SoCal 350 and WilderUtopia

Host and Engineer: JP Morris

Executive Producer: Mark Morris

Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 16

Watch "Yasuni Man" in upcoming film festivals near you: www.yasuniman.com

Join Amazon Watch's campaign to #EndAmazonCrude:

http://www.EndAmazonCrude.org

Follow EcoJustice Radio on KPFK 90.7FM, the weekly program brought to you by SoCal 350 Climate Action:

www.SoCal350.org

Learn how our "wasted resources" have direct social, economic and environmental impacts and how local groups are creating local solutions.

This episode's guests are tackling the environmental issues of soil health and wasted organics, all the while building community roots and social equity through local composting and thriving urban farms.

Guests:

- Derek Steele, Health and Equity Programs Director for Social Justice Learning Institute - www.sjli.org

- Michael Martinez Executive Director, LA Compost- www.lacompost.org

- Jessica Aldridge, Zero Waste/Sustainability Dir. and Founder of Adventures In Waste - www.adventuresinwaste.com

EcoJustice Radio on KPFK 90.7 is produced by SoCal 350 -- www.socal350.org -- and happens every Wednesday at 2:30 pm.

Episode 15