SageTalking

I spoke to Valeriya on the 67th episode of the podcast and wanted to have her come back

so that we could create a Talk about how an economist and researcher views the mental health crisis related

to the climate crisis and the potential and pitfalls of the current economic model.

Valeriya is a postdoctoral researcher at Ifo Institue and LMU Munich.

She has a PhD in applied econometrics and is currently doing a research stay at the University of California where she is researching her topics of passion ->

the effects of climate change on mental health using real world data.

More specifically the mental health expenditures driven by climate change,

how that will develop in the future, possible mitigation and adaptation strategies to help us prepare for possible negative impacts.

Valeriya has very diverse knowledge which is why I wanted to know different things from her like:

- what the biggest advantages and design flaws are in the current economic system - in her opinion.

The answers she gives come from a rather scientific mind and are quite cool-headed, it struck me that she looks at data and analyzes it

in different ways than many other people I have talked to, as we often tend to go with gut feelings and emotions as well as with our heads,

whereas Valeriya for example drew attention to the fact that it is difficult to "measure" happiness , therefore we must recognize that there are indeed people who are "happy" in the current economic system.

It is a very interesting conversation that has introduced a different view and tone to the podcast.

We hope you enjoy listening!

Thank you for listening for this Talk🌍🌊☀

which came alive through the voices of

Valeriya Azarova

and your host Stella Sage🌿

In this episode I am joined by two wonderful and smart women who are working on a project,

called "The Green Mind". 

Valeriya and Anastasia are dealing with the question of the interconnection between the environmental crisis and the mental health crisis.

Two very relevant and prevalent topics that are impossible to separate from each other.

We discuss questions like:

"Does living more sustainably also improve mental health?"

"Does good mental health make people more open and motivated to live sustainably?"

"Can we prevent certain healthcare costs by supporting, informing and preparing people before environmental stressors like heatwaves or air pollution occur?"

Valeriya's and Ana's aim is also to fill the gap between consumers and businesses by collecting data to provide a framework that can be applied in order to make the relationship a more sustainable one.

Their research is interdisciplinary and involves many different entities and considerations which is why they involve institutions, economists, psychologists, environmentalists as well as "regular people", to have an as holistic view as possible.

Their research is particularly interesting at a time where it is becoming increasingly important for people and families to prepare and support themselves in the face of environmental stressors such as heatwaves, droughts, floods etc. in order to be able to react appropriately while also upkeeping their mental health.

I loved how dynamic this conversation became through picking Valeriya's brain from the economist's side and on the other hand hearing more about the side of behavioral change from Ana!

We hope you enjoy this conversation and that everyone finds something to take away from it!🌿🌿

Thank you for listening to this Talk🌍🌊☀

which came alive through the voices of

Valeriya Azarova and 

Anastasia Black

and your host Stella Sage🌿

As a young lawyer he travelled to Ecuador in 1993, the first of about 200 visits, to become part of a case that would change his life.

Steven Donziger, a human rights lawyer and key lawyer on the team that won the historic $9.5 Billion judgment against Chevron (fromerly Texaco)

in the Ecuadorian Amazon has joined me on the podcast to talk about the devastation that Chevron caused in the rainforest by dumping 

over 18 billion gallons of oil and toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon, leaving black lakes of poison, destruction and illness behind.

Steven shares what experiencing the rainforest and the people who hosted him during his time in Ecuador taught him:

"It completely transforms everything you've been taught about our relationship to the natural world. You become part of the natural world. 

You become humbled. You understand your role is to preserve life and all life's ecosystems instead of just using them for your own pleasure or your own commercial benefit."

Steven has been and is still being attacked by Chevron for holding them accountable.

Chevron orchestrated a corporate prosecution - the first of this kind in the history of the United States - and criminalized Steven in order to distract

the world from what they did and continue to do all over the world and to send a message to those who stand up to them for their crimes and disrespectful treatment of humans, non-human animals and land.

As a lawyer and through personally being unlawfully prosecuted, Steven has much experience with the ways in which the law is used and abused

for certain agendas and he shares some thoughts in this Talk,

for example on how "the mechanisms and the tools of government to regulate corporations and to control them have been weakened dramatically over the course of the last 20 30 years."

🌎Follow Steven on 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stevendonziger/ 

Twitter https://twitter.com/SDonziger

If you want to learn more about the case brought by the Amazon communities against Chevron, 

or to  help Steven by contributing to his legal defense fund, please go his website at freedonziger.com.

Thank you for listening to this Talk🌎🌊☀

which came alive through the voices of

Steven Donziger

and your host Stella Sage 🌿

Dr. Brock Bergseth is a writer, conservation psychologist, marine biologist and writer of a yet to be published book on how to turn the tide of doom and gloom about our planet.

Between news of natural disasters unfolding everywhere and political inaction all over the world we could all use a bit of conversation that helps us turn that thinking around and create space to listen to and orientate ourselves on the potential for positive change and the stories of regeneration, conservation and love for nature put into action -  all over the world.

Dr. Bergseth researched many of these hope and inspiration filled stories for the book and is sharing some of those with us today.

From regenerative agriculture initiatives to the story of the fonder of the 5-minute beach clean up, the Spanish chef, famous for cultivating one of the world's most sustainable crops in the sea and the herpetologist who basically saved the Philippines coral reefs - there is something for everyone.

We also Talk about how this climate angst and grief we may feel can actually be a product of the industry's influence that aims to create despondency and inaction amongst the public.

Dr. Bergseth shares the story of how his upbringing on a hobby farm sparked a flame for environmentalism and

he speaks about how a trip to Papua New Guinea in 2017  resulted in a conversation with gold miners who told him about the practice of taking down entire mountains to get to a handful of gold, left him discouraged at best and how he managed to re-discover his sense of purpose in sight of overwhelming problems and environmental destruction, globally.

find him on Instagram and feel free to reach out if

you feel like talking about your climate anxiety!

He has an open ear for you if you would like support🦋

[email protected]

Instagram: docb_rock

Twitter: @brockbergseth

Thank you for listening to this Talk🌍🌊☀

which came alive through the voices of

Dr. Brock Bergseth

and your host Stella Sage 🌿

Rhys James is the founder and content director of EarthlyEducation aka one of my favorite Instagram accounts.

But EarthlyEducation is not just an Instagram account, it is a hub that provides education and a constant push to think outside the box.

Within the EarthlyEducation online resources you can find an IG account  a website  with articles and campaigns,

a podcast, a TIkTok account and just an overall beautiful, knowledgeable community that shares opinions, news from all over the world and discusses topics that matter in a time of climate and ecological breakdown.

We talk about the reason EarthlyEducation was born, how it can be used as a tool in everyday life and help educate people in the face of the climate crisis.

Social media can be a confusing and confronting place with many different opinions floating around.

Especially if these opinions come from trolls and climate crisis deniers which can be incredibly hard to deal with and Rhys gives us a pretty good tip on how to replace this negative, often delusional commentary with the actual data that needs to be pushed out into the world and arrive on peoples screens in order to create a widespread awakening and open up further productive conversations that lead to action.

And of course, we just could not leave out the topic that is BILLIONAIRES.

Who and what is the ELITE and why are climate scientists, activists and the rest of the concerned world talking about them so much?

What is their role in ecological collapse, why are they so rich when they do nothing but harm planet and people and are weirdly enough still admired? 

Tune in and you'll find out where this conversation takes us :)) 🌍

Thank you for listening to this Talk🌍🌊☀

 which came alive through the voices of

Rhys James 

and your host Stella Sage🌿

PS: if you wan to support the work of EarthlyEducation which 

is volunteer based and run by people who work or study full time

you can subscribe to their Patreon

or donate to their gofundme

Natalie Kittner started out as an intern at GLS Bank in Bochum, Germany and although she would have never

imagined herself working at a bank one day she ended up staying for good.

In this episode she tells us about what work at the world's first 'sustainable' bank looks like, what some social and environmental values of this 'alternative' bank are and how 

it works at changing the ways in which money is used.

'Divesting' is a very relevant word these days. 

Wayne Duggan defines 'personal divesting' in an article for U.S. News:

"Personal divestment is the process of moving money out of a particular company, asset or asset class that no longer fits with an individual investor's overall strategy."

Although this is directed towards investors, we as bank's clients can move our money and support away from banks if what the bank does with it

does not fit into our set of values.

All big banks that are household names and even most smaller, traditional ones are funding the climate crisis and nature and community harming projects.

We have the choice to put our money where our values are.

Banks are only as powerful as the inflow of money and support of their clients that they receive.

I interviewed Natalie because GLS bank is my bank of choice but this Talk applies internationally and it gives a good example of

what a more responsible, "green" bank can look like.

Natalie also gave us a tip on how we can find better banks all over the world - visit Global Alliance for Banking on Values to find purpose-driven banks 

internationally and see more criteria that make a difference in banking!

I hope you feel inspired to search for a new bank that deserves your money and time🌱

If you don't find anything on GABV then simply look for "sustainable banks" or "green banks", "social banks" in your city,

state or country on the internet and help change the ways in which money impacts the world 🏙🌱

Thank you for listening to this Talk🌍🌊☀

which came alive through the voices of

Natalie Kittner

and your host Stella Sage🌿

August, 2022, U.S congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act also referred to as a "climate bill" - the biggest in US history, $370 billion -

which is not as big a "wohoo moment" when you think about the fact that there has never actually been any climate bill at all.

And you might be thinking: why are we are pulling this bill apart when it's better than nothing and finally something is happening?

but we wouldn't all have to be so critical of these political somersaults and "green wins" that governments seem to be celebrating left and right if they stopped giving us these lame excuses for radial climate action just to appease the public in order to go along with their business undisturbed in the background.

As the world is reaching breaking points and the most powerful industries are fearing the day they will be replaced by actual, decentralized, long-term and even regenerative solutions that we-the-people operate, control and directly benefit from,

they are using and abusing their positions in governments and economy to keep the status quo going in a: "til' death do us part", type

of fashion.

Noah from Climate Vanguard and I are Talking a bit about what this bill entails and are sharing some thoughts on it.

And as Noah said: "let's all do our own research" , so here is the Link to read what this "climate bill" entails.

And do not despair, there are many ways to stick it to 'the man' ;)

Organize and engage within your community, learn who your regenerative farmers, environmental scientists and renewable energy people are and 

strengthen your community by gaining independence and creating community that thrives irrespective of outside inputs, global supply chain issues or market crashes on the other side of the world.

That'll really show em ;)

prosperity 

regeneration

human-scale economies

localization

community

it's all possible and we don't have to wait for a "climate bill" or the elite to grow a conscience to get there!

PS: If you enjoy learning about these topics you might like to visit the Climate Vanguard podcast☀

Thank you for listening to this Talk 🌍🌊☀

which came alive through the voices of

Noah Herfort 

and your host Stella Sage 🌿

I have been finding myself recording thoughts and ideas on different topics these last few weeks, as an outlet to not get all of them stuck in my head but to "set them free" and get them off my mind to make space for other things.

So here is a first part of sharing impromptu thoughts which in this case centered around our reactions in towns, cities, communities to 

government inaction with the world approaching critical tipping points that warrant radical climate action on all levels to ensure long-term security. 

Next to protesting, pressuring, petitioning, mobilizing - should we detach from governing bodies as well and see how we can gain independence? At this critical point in time should we go off on our own and just bring about the changes on local and regional levels and look for the visionaries, architects and handymen or farmers who can help us change our communities for the better, instead of hoping governments will do a 180 on the final stretch?

 As so often I also could not keep myself from going down the road of: "why do politicians do what they do? why do they often disappoint in office? why are there so many people there who compromise their initial values or make decisions like they don't live on this planet?"

Surely, surely questions with many different answers but one of them, that came to mind is politicians and ministers comfort.

The privileges and comforts the 'higher ups' enjoy may change perspectives and give them such a feeling of security that

they don't really feel as vulnerable as the rest of us.

PS: take all of my future solo Talks with a grain of salt, please :)

these are spur of the moments thoughts and feelings that surely generally apply, but are  spontaneous situations as well so not every fact and figure must be 100 % correct, although I do  normally check afterwards

I also don't think that all politicians are corrupt unfeeling people with warped world views - just for the record ;)

Thank you for listening to this Talk🌍🌊☀

which came alive through the voice of

your host Stella Sage🌿