POCACITO conversations

In a world of complex interconnected problems, solutions often require the knowledge and expertise of people from diverse backgrounds and trades. For the Pocacito Network, this is both our challenge and our strength. Earlier this summer, Climathon Baltimore brought together people across disciplines from the United States and Germany, creating an ad-hoc think tank or ideation hub.
We talked with some of the participants:
Adam Ortiz, Deputy Secretary at the Maryland Department of the Environment
Rachel Lamb, Assistant Secretary, Climate Policy & International Affairs, Maryland Department of the Environment
Nora Griefahn, founder and co-CEO at nonprofit Cradle-to-Cradle, C2C.org
Stephanie Phillips, Senior Manager of the City of San Antonio's Deconstruction & Circular Economy Program & Co-Founder of nonprofit Circular San Antonio
Floyd Godsey, circular economy practitioner and general contractor in Baltimore

Editing by Ben Larsen, many thanks!

In this episode, we hear about the efforts of the community of Isla Costa Rica, Ecuador, to protect their mangrove forests. Joining us are Wendy Chávez, a researcher currently completing her PhD in Sociology at the University of Bonn; Dr. Christine Beitl, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maine; Ecuadorian economist Harry Haro; and Bryan Flores, educator, economist, and principal of the local school on Isla Costa Rica. Together, they reflect on the community’s experiences with mangrove conservation and on social and economic changes associated with these efforts.

This is another episode of the #GANBASE German-American Nature-Based Solutions Exchange podcast. Edited by Ben Larsen.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of the POCACITO conversations. Today’s episode takes us to Jamaica Bay in New York City and was recorded on Sunday, February 8, 2026. 

This is part two of two of recordings around Jamaica Bay.

I am Max Gruenig, your host for today and I met with Terri Carta, the Executive Director at Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy, as well as Elizabeth Stoehr, Deputy Director with the  Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy. And yes, it was pretty cold. 

Elizabeth is a member of the German-American Nature-Based Solutions Exchange GANBASE, a program run by POCACITO and supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).

Thank you so much for tuning in today into part two of our recordings around Jamaica Bay. Stay tuned for more episodes around nature, the environment and climate change.

Many thanks to Frankum for the music.
Electronic music track X1 by frankum -- https://freesound.org/s/426470/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Hello and welcome to another edition of the POCACITO conversations. Today’s episode takes us to Jamaica Bay in New York City and was recorded on Sunday, February 8, 2026. 

I am Max Gruenig, your host for today and I met with Elizabeth Stoehr Deputy Director with the  Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy and her colleague Anil Pasram Stewardship Programs Manager with the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy as well as Wetlands Fellows Devin Johnson and Matthew Wojcik. They braved pretty low temperatures to meet on one of the coldest days of the season. 

This is part one of two of recordings around Jamaica Bay.

Elizabeth is a member of the German-American Nature-Based Solutions Exchange GANBASE, a program run by POCACITO and supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).

I first talked to Elizabeth at the Jamaica Bay Parks Conservancy office in Rockaway Park, on Jamaica Bay, before meeting Anil and the Wetlands Fellows at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. We then ventured out into the cold, taking what is normally a quaint stroll.

Thank you so much for tuning in today into part one. Our next episode takes us to Floyd Bennett Field, a former airfield on Jamaica Bay where we will meet with Terri Carta, the Executive Director at Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy, as well as Elizabeth.

Many thanks to Frankum for the music. 
Electronic music track X1 by frankum -- https://freesound.org/s/426470/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Today we have the second in our four-part series of 2024 conversations with community organizers and activists who are doing the work of environmental and climate justice … sometimes in acutely critical conditions, as we heard in our last talk with Kostia Krynytski of the Ukrainian NGO EcoAction. At other times, it’s about building a global mass movement, as we’ll hear in this episode.

We go back to late October. We’re in Charlottesville, Virginia, less than a dozen days before the US elections, and POCACITO, along with the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Washington DC, hosts a town hall meeting at local community radio station WTJU with two guests from Germany. 

It’s Friday afternoon, and we’ve spent the last day and a half with Luisa Neubauer and Helena Marschall, two prominent voices from the global climate justice movement. One highlight of their visit took place the night before, when Helena screened her short documentary “Another World Is Possible,” alongside some environmental films created by youth from around the Charlottesville area.

When we sat down with Luisa and Helena at the radio station, we were joined by local climate activists of all ages.

The idea was to facilitate a conversation between people working at different scales when it comes to climate justice. In Charlottesville, the aspirations are specific and local. The work Luisa and Helena do, going back to their earliest Fridays for Future marches, is attuned to systems and the need for systemic change. 

And either way, it’s about getting out there and making it happen. As Helena is fond of saying, hope comes from doing things.

Brendan moderates a conversation with Luisa Neubauer and Helena Marschall, recorded at WTJU’s studios in Charlottesville, in front of a live audience, on October 25, 2024.

Our first conversation is with Kostiantyn Krynytskyi from the Ukrainian NGO EcoAction. 

In the years preceding Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kostia worked with the country’s eastern coal regions for a just transition of the energy system.

Since the invasion, his work has shifted, with a focus on the resiliency potential of distributed renewable energy.

Max talked with Kostia at the end of June, 858 days after missiles first started striking Kyiv.