Live. Well. Green.

Sometimes doing the hard thing, the thing that everyone else says can't be done, ends up being the thing that matters most. That's what Dr. Ryan Brook found by taking students out onto the tundra for their university course. He had been taught by some of the best wildlife biologists - the old school ones who believed in this crazy notion that students studying wildlife should do that -- in the wilderness. Even if it means logistical, financial, physical, and, of course, administrative challenges.

What better way to learn about the intersection of people and animals in a place steeped in the history of Indigenous peoples, the fur trade, and early settlements alongside polar bears, caribou, wolves, and the unrelenting arctic wind off Hudson Bay? Find out about this remote and special place called Wapusk and why this university course ends up transforming lives.

You can find the full show notes here: https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/teaching-on-the-tundra-with-dr-ryan-brook

Madhulika Choudhary returned home to India after many years of studying and living in Europe where she earned degrees in the fields of Political Science, Sociology, Gender and Development, and Social Education, and along the way she worked with vulnerable people bringing them employable skills and assisting with resettlement. When she returned to India, she inherited a plot of land in her family's ancestral village.

She immediately knew that she wanted to do something with that land to help create employment and opportunity in the village, especially for women. Learn about the incredible transformations that she is seeing by rethinking a small plot of land, and breaking down social barriers.

For the full show notes head over to: https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/soil-to-silk-with-madhulika-choudhary

Sure, we know that we need to breathe to live, but did you realize that different breathing techniques have proved benefits to help reduce stress and anxiety as well as improve sleep and mental focus? In this episode, I talk about how breath has helped me in certain difficult situations as well as how it can be useful in everyday living.

We get into deep breathing, movement with breath, the use of breath in meditation, and some great energizing breathing exercises, as well as the science to back them up. Head over here for the full show notes, including links to some useful sites and apps.

https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/how-the-breath-helps-the-mind

We are in the midst of a very necessary paradigm shift, and one of the catalysts for this shift is the unlikely heroine, a young Swedish girl with Asperger's Syndrome, named Greta Thunberg. I bet you have heard her name before, but now we need to consider why her message has been so powerful and how we can be a part of this paradigm shift.

Breakthroughs tend not to occur until our old frameworks for seeing the world fall away, either in big chunks or little by little. But it is imperative that they do for progress to occur. Let's talk about why and how we can each contribute to the evolution.

Head over here for the full show notes: https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/greta-and-the-paradigm-shift

It can be so difficult - wanting to live greener, and yet feeling like we are one of the only ones working on this crisis, like our actions won't make a difference, and that our friends and family just think we're weird. That all can feel really overwhelming. So, that's why I break down to best small actions that you can take for the biggest impact. To help you know that you are making a difference, that your actions matter, and that you are not alone!

I show you how to get the biggest wins on fighting climate change, plastic pollution, toxins, biodiversity, and social injustice. There are important things that you can do to have an impact, and I guide you through it in this episode.

For the full show notes, head over to https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/small-acts-big-wins

I had a great chat with Kimberly McFerron, Pre and Post Natal Therapeutic Exercise and Education Specialist. We talk about the challenges of how overwhelming it can be for pregnant women and new parents and how the issues of sustainability and health are a real concern. Unfortunately, many couples end up purchasing so many products that they don't need which just end up in the landfill a short time later.

Kimberly gives concrete advice on what to focus on during the pregnancy as well as her top 4 picks for what new parents should consider when thinking about sustainable living and wellbeing.

Head over here for the full show notes and links mentioned.
https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/pre-and-post-natal-sustainable-wellbeing

This week I get to chat with online Sustainable Influencer and Thrift Stylist AK Bryan, owner of AK Wears Things. She gets into some of the problems of the fast fashion industry, and how she came to realize that she needed to be a part of the solution. So now she runs what I consider to be a "Deep Green" online clothing company that reprints used T-shirts and has other highly sustainable fashion and even jewelry.

AK breaks down what we should be considering when purchasing something new, and how to best care for our clothing to make sure that it lasts, and doesn't shed microplastics into the environment. She also gives us a step-by-step process for going through our closets to make the most of what we already own. It is really useful for anyone wanting to live greener and be a more conscious consumer.

Head over here for the full show notes!
https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/breaking-the-fast-fashion-habit

In this episode, we get into the details of the global crisis of plastic pollution. I talk about the first mentions of the Great Pacific Garbage by Captain Charles Moore, and what it looked like to him as someone familiar with traveling on the ocean. I get into the numbers of how much plastic is being produced and where it is ending up - the numbers are going to surprise you!

I talk about what happens to plastic in sunlight - yes, it breaks down, but into smaller bits of plastic. So, these microplastics are now ubiquitous in the environment. They are in animals, in water, in the air, and even in our bodies now! What will this mean for human health? I talk about the top ways to avoid consuming microplastics.

Well, what about some hope? Yes, The New Plastics Economy initiative brings together stakeholders and innovators from all sectors to find a common vision for plastics, one where we reduce the plastics in use, where we innovate to recycle, reuse or compost the plastics that we do need, and where we circulate the plastics that we do use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment.

Finally, I sort out the plastics terminology that can be confusing including. eco-plastics, biodegradable plastics, bio-plastics, and compostable plastics. Be careful! Some of these sound great but are far from it!

Head over to the full show notes here.
https://www.kristinahunterflourishing.com/blog/the-plastic-problem

Why are children more vulnerable to environmental contaminants? It turns out that children are not just small adults, they have a number of behavioral and physical factors that actually put them at greater risk than adults to environmental contaminants.

This includes the fact that kids are still growing and developing. Their nervous systems, brains, and reproductive systems continue to grow and develop into early adulthood and are more susceptible to damage from man-made chemicals.

They also have behaviors such as the foods and non-foods that they eat that put them at greater risk and other factors. Find out more in this episode!

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In this episode, I have the opportunity to chat with the wonderful and innovative creators behind the Climate Illustrated project. They are collecting stories about climate change and people's connection to nature and then bring the stories to the world through illustrations, shared on social media.