EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future!

We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take ALL of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come. You can trust that KKFI will strive to broadcast relevant, accurate, and timely information. You share KKFI’s mission of providing an independent voice to information underserved or ignored by mainstream media.

From the filmmakers of “Kiss the Ground” there is a follow-up “Common Ground”, recipient of 30+ awards.

Learn more at https://commongroundfilm.org/

Sobering yet hopeful, ‘Common Ground’ exposes the toxic interconnections of American farming policy, politics, and health destruction and healing across the United States and beyond, and how regenerative agriculture and soil health plays a vitally important role in changing these systems for the better. At its root, it explores how people from different walks of life, different political backgrounds, and different places share one thing in common – the very soil beneath their feet.

The film is directed by Josh and Rebecca Tickell (Big Picture Ranch), who have created bold and inspiring environmental films (Kiss the Ground, On Sacred Ground, Regenerate Ojai, Fuel, The Big Fix), while winning coveted awards along the way from Sundance, Cannes, Red Nation, and Tribeca.

We can all find our common ground to heal the soil, our food systems, our health, and the planet. No action is too small, and every acre counts. From urban gardens to large ranches, composting to food production, ecological restoration projects to curriculum in the classroom and in the fields, we can do this if we work together.

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take ALL of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come.

You can trust that KKFI will strive to broadcast relevant, accurate, and timely information. You share KKFI’s mission of providing an independent voice to information underserved or ignored by mainstream media.

Host Terri Wilke with speak with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, author of Climate Wayfinding: Healing Ourselves and the Planet We Call Home, published by Amber Lotus Publishing, May 5, 2026.

https://www.kkwilkinson.com/

When maps come up short and the path ahead is uncertain, how do we find our way? Visionary climate leader Katharine K. Wilkinson offers a compassionate and empowering guide to navigating from ache to action, doubt to possibility.

Through transformational programs and books, including the national bestseller All We Can Save, Wilkinson has inspired hundreds of thousands of climate journeys. Whether steeped in climate or newly curious, readers will discover something grounding and generative in these pages. She shares a proven process for looking inward with care, outward with curiosity, and forward with courage. Ultimately, readers chart a course toward playing their unique part in our collective healing. Wilkinson lights the way through stirring personal essays, interwoven with the wisdom of other climate leaders and the beauty of poetry, art, and song. Whether steeped in climate or newly curious, readers will discover something grounding and generative in these pages.

Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson’s publications include the bestselling anthology All We Can Save, the podcast A Matter of Degrees, and the New York Times bestseller Drawdown. Dr. Wilkinson co-founded and leads The All We Can Save Project, where she shaped the much-beloved programs All We Can Save Circles and Climate Wayfinding. She holds a DPhil in geography and environment from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a BA in religion from Sewanee: The University of the South.

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future!

We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take ALL of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come.

You can trust that KKFI will strive to broadcast relevant, accurate, and timely information. You share KKFI’s mission of providing an independent voice to information underserved or ignored by mainstream media.

Host Terri Wilke will speak with Stan Slaughter, Organics Specialist at Missouri Organic Recycling.  Missouri Organic Recycling offers a variety of high-quality, locally produced top soils and blends, compost, and specialty mulches. All are made to the exacting standards required for some of Kansas City's most well-known green spaces and landmarks but are also perfect for home use.

Stan Slaughter is an Eco-Troubadour, and he has traveled to more than 25 states and performed for about 300,000 children and their teachers. He works to develop environmental literacy and help people appreciate the natural world.

KC Farm School was established in 2018. It is a nonprofit organization stewarding a 14.5 acre urban education and organic production farm in southern Wyandotte County.

There is a lot to discuss about the regional food system, key groups coming to the festival, advances in soil fertility research and more. Compost Fest 2026, at KC Farm School, 4223 Gibbs Rd, Kansas City, KS 66106 is open from 9 AM until 2 PM on Saturday, May 9th, 2026. This event will feature all that is beautiful about Kansas City: urban ag, collaboration, fun, plants, compost, interactive play, bicycle safety and bike maze, composting, wildlife, soil, food rescue, mushrooms, and more! This is a great opportunity to visit with so many working within our local food system in one place.

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!  EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future!

We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take ALL of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come.

You can trust that KKFI will strive to broadcast relevant, accurate, and timely information. You share KKFI’s mission of providing an independent voice to information underserved or ignored by mainstream media.

Host Terri Wilke with speak with Missouri Coalition for the Environment representatives, Maxine Gill, Policy Coordinator, and Makenna Nickens, Kansas City Community Outreach Specialist. Maxine holds a BA in Environmental Policy from Washington University, and she is a recent graduate of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. She has a variety of experience across multiple sectors within the environmental field, including policy advocacy, green business consulting, and clean energy research.

Makenna is a Kansas City native with a passion for the city’s people, pride, and history. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Makenna has experience working and volunteering with many agencies that provide services in the mid-Missouri and Kansas City regions. She now works with Missouri Coalition for the Environment in the Kansas City region.

Missouri Coalition for the Environment is Missouri’s independent, citizens’ environmental organization for clean water, clean air, clean energy, and a healthy environment. It is a trusted, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) state-level environmental advocacy organization, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a state-wide partner supporting allied organizations and initiatives around the state. They deliver vital information to thousands of Missourians on issues that affect our water, air, food, health, and environment and work to protect them. Missouri Coalition for the Environment works to educate, organize, and advocate in defense of Missouri's people and their environment.

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!  EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future!

We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take ALL of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come.

You can trust that KKFI will strive to broadcast relevant, accurate, and timely information. You share KKFI’s mission of providing an independent voice to information underserved or ignored by mainstream media.

Host Terri Wilke with speak with a group of students from the University of Kansas environmental studies program, Kenzie Schubert, Aaron Jones, Kensington Comfort, Nyah Noronha, and Gwen Nelson. For their senior year Capstone project, they have developed our show encompassing what they have learned from their studies.  The topic they have selected is fast fashion and generative AI and how those two are connected.

Fast fashion is defined as the rapid production of inexpensive clothing that is designed to quickly move from the store into our closets. Brands are constantly releasing new collections to keep up with trends and encourage consumers to keep buying. The goal isn’t sustainability but rather speed, affordability, and volume.  The students discuss the environmental impacts of this. Generative artificial intelligence is a type of AI that can create new content and ideas, including conversations, stories, images, videos, and music. Today, the students will unpack the environmental footprint of generative AI.  Both the Generative AI and fast fashion industries are similar in the alarming rates of wastes and emissions they produce, in the lack of transparency and regulation they operate under, and in the behaviors of their consumers.  These are both two large systems that many people contribute to daily, without realizing the harm they’re causing by doing so.

Tune in to hear what your cheap clothes cost the planet.  Fast fashion is a global supply chain built for speed that is leaving behind waste, toxins, and a trail of environmental wreckage.

AI brings promise – and peril. The boom in AI and data centers is driving communities to defend their land, resources, and cultural knowledge from new forms of extraction. Tech companies train their generative AI on vast quantities of text, images, videos, and other online data. The information is typically used without shared agreement or approval.

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take all of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come. Thanks for listening to EcoRadio KC!

On February 2nd, 2026, host Terri Wilke will speak with Tracy Twombly about how to grow native plants from seed for your garden. Tracy and her husband, Aaron, are owners of Sow Wild Natives, a native plant nursery located at 6201 Noland Rd, Kansas City, MO, not far from the sports stadiums, 2 miles south of 40 HWY, atop the hill south of 61st ST & north of Little Blue Rd.

https://sowwildnatives.com/

Sow Wild Natives opened in 2017 and they sell mostly Kansas and Missouri ecotypes.  Tracy has generously offered to speak to our listeners about how they collect seeds, how the seeds are cleaned and stored, how to start, or propagate, the seeds and how and when to set the young plants outside in your garden.

Why grow native plants?

From spring, ephemeral plants, whether colorful carpets on the forest floor, to the hardiest prairie grasses and colorful flowers swaying in the summer breeze, to the majestic oak standing tall for centuries and everything in between, natives provide a beauty that defines a place and makes it unique. We are blessed by the beauty of the plants that call Missouri and Kansas home. They are native to our ecological area however; our landscape has been increasingly devoted to non-natives which require more water and lack diversity.

Whether you are interested in starting these plants from seed or just want to learn about which natives are easier to grow and where to plant them, tune in and learn!

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

 

https://kkfi.org/listen/

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

EcoRadio KC is glad to encourage awareness and protection of our world.  Our goal is to ensure our listeners are aware of how we can create a sustainable present for a sustainable future! We experience more extreme temperatures because of global energy increase. As we move to the future, it will take all of us to make the world habitable for millennia to come.

Monday, we will hear about how to use the sun to charge your car then use your car to run your house!  We will replay our show from July 31, 2025 when host Richard Mabion spoke with Kent Rowe and Jennifer Connelly, owners of that house near Wichita.  Kent is an Executive Committee member of the Kansas Chapter of Sierra Club, State Energy Chair, and Conservation Chair of the Wichita Chapter. He is a co-founder of Society of Alternative Resources which was instrumental in garnering an Executive Proclamation establishing City of Wichita's Sustainability Integration Board. Kent is a frequent writer for the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club Waypoints publication and lectures to groups in topics on sustainability, renewable energy, and microgrid electrification.

The use of bidirectional solar collectors is made possible using direct to grid converters, more commonly known as a grid-tie inverters or solar inverters, which convert direct current (DC) electricity from sources like solar panels into alternating current (AC) electricity that matches the voltage and frequency of the electrical grid. This allows the electricity to be used in homes and businesses or sent back to the utility company for credit. For high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission, specialized converter stations are used to step up or step-down voltage for long-distance transport. An inverter is one of the most important pieces of equipment in a solar energy system. It’s a device that converts direct current (DC) electricity, which is what a solar panel generates, to alternating current (AC) electricity, which the electrical grid uses. In direct current, electricity is maintained at constant voltage in one direction. With alternating current electricity, the flow goes in both directions in the circuit as the voltage changes from positive to negative. Inverters are just one example of a class of devices called power electronics that regulate the flow of electrical power.

Fundamentally, an inverter accomplishes the DC-to-AC conversion by switching the direction of a DC input back and forth very rapidly. As a result, a DC input becomes an AC output. In addition, filters and other electronics can be used to produce a voltage that varies as a clean, repeating sine wave that can be injected into the power grid. The sine wave is a shape or pattern the voltage makes over time, and it’s the pattern of power that the grid can use without damaging electrical equipment, which is built to operate at certain frequencies and voltages.

The first inverters were created in the 19th century and were mechanical. A spinning motor, for example, would be used to continually change whether the DC source was connected forward or backward. Today we make electrical switches out of transistors, solid-state devices with no moving parts.

The growth of solar in the United States provides a tremendous opportunity to address some of the greatest challenges faced by lower-income communities: the high cost of housing, unemployment, and pollution.  At this time, we cannot fail to calculate the need for all citizens to have shelter which protects from ravages of record-breaking temperatures.  Solar can provide long-term financial relief to families struggling with high and unpredictable energy costs.  Solar can provide living-wage jobs in an industry where the workforce has increased 168% over the past seven years, and solar can provide a source of clean, local energy sited in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by traditional power generation.

This discussion will educate listeners about how easy this is to do and encourage us all to GET STARTED!

EcoRadio KC supports the work for a future in which humans flourish as members

of a thriving ecosphere. We are all in this together and it will take all of us to make the world safe. This will be a great radio hour!

https://kkfi.org/listen/

“The whole world is one neighborhood.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt