On this episode, I chat with Steve Fechheimer, CEO of New Belgium Brewing, Makers of Fat Tire, about what role businesses have to play in making the world a better place. We discuss his path to becoming CEO, what climate change has to do with beer, B-Corp certification, 1% for the planet, and how to spot corporate greenwashing from authentic environmental responsibility. 

We also talk about Steve's own activism, from writing an Op-Ed to support the CORE Act and what issues he cares about personally. Lastly, he gives us some advice about how he balances parenthood and corporate leadership.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Fat Tire. Born on a bike, Fat Tire strives to be a role model for other businesses in their impact on the communities they serve and the planet itself. Fat Tire is a certified B-Corp and gives 1% of profits to environmental non-profits. They supported my 2019 Everest #ClimbForEquality and continue to be supporters and champions for a variety of causes including Protect Our Winters and the High Fives Foundation.

What can you do to advocate for environmental justice for all, fight for underrepresented voices and protect our frontline communities? What inspires you to protect public lands? How can we find healing through these turbulent times? On this episode of the Caroline Gleich show, U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva dives deeper into these questions and finds solutions on how we can transition towards a sustainable future. 

Congressman Raul Grijalva is a Democrat serving Arizona’s 3rd District. He began his career in public service four decades ago as a community organizer in Tucson. Throughout his career, he’s always fought for underrepresented voices. In 2018, Rep. Grijalva became the Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and I had a chance to meet him in February 2020 when I was invited to testify in support of his bill, The American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solutions Act (HR 5435). Testifying was strangely intense and scary experience, but whenever I got scared, I felt comforted by his presence. I feel better about our country knowing there are people like him advocating for livable wages for American workers, immigration reform and land protections to safeguard our nation’s natural treasures for the next generation.

On the show today, we discuss the story behind the American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solution Act, how public lands can be a part of the climate solution, and the intersectionality of climate, environment, and racial/social justice. He shares what inspired him to protect public lands and gives us tips on how we can make our environmental activism intersectional and inclusive to build resilience coalitions to advocate for public lands and to unite against climate change.

Thank you to Protect Our Winters Action Fund for supporting this as a part of their Virtual Lobby Camp and Fat Tire.

In this episode, I talk with Leah Evans about activism, skiing, allyship, meditation, and the importance of sport.

Leah Evans started Girls Do Ski in 2008 while also attending university and working to become a professional skier. Since then, her business, her ski career, and her activism have become the cornerstones of a super diverse and fascinating life.

Originally from Rossland, British Columbia, Leah has lived in Revelstoke, home of some of the most epic backcountry lines, for 12 years. In the summer, she’s an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) hiking guide, and in the winters she’s fully hands-on with all-women backcountry and resort skiing clinics she creates with Girls Do Ski.

Leah is a champion of wild places and was deeply involved in the Jumbo Wild project–one of a growing list of successful land protection stories–which helped protect natural grizzly habitat and Ktunaxa Nation land, from the development of a ski resort. Earlier this year, the Ktunaxa Nation, with Federal and Provincial governments, declared the Qat’muk Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, forever protecting Jumbo.

She’s also a native seed keeper, avid reader, and volunteer with Wildsight.

“Make a decision and go for it. Don’t waste time thinking about it.”–Leah Evans

Rent Jumbo Wild

Learn more about Jumbo and the Ktunaxa Nation

Girls Do Ski

Girls Do Ski Instagram Page

Get involved with Wildsight 

Map of Indigenous Land

Natives Outdoors

Follow Leah Evans on Instagram

Snow Drifter Pant on Backcountry.com

The Rosie Project Book

The Dovekeepers Book

Outro music: Resilient by Rising Apalachia

I’m so excited for this episode with Jess Lahey. She was my high school English teacher when I moved to Utah when I was 15 year old. 

She has a BA in comparative literature and a JD with a concentration on juvenile and education law and hosts a successful podcast, #AmWriting. Her second book, The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence, will be released in April 2021.

Resources:

Lindy West: What Happened When I Confronted My Cruellest Troll 

Lindy West on This American Life 

Follow Jess Lahey on Twitter

"We're not here for very long, so we're going to do everything we can to move historical climate legislation forward."

-Molly Kawahata, about her years of working on climate and energy for the White House during the Obama Administration

I am thrilled to share this conversation with Molly Kawahata. I first met Molly when she worked as the Policy Advisor for Energy and Climate Change at the White House during the Obama Administration. I remember being invited to a call about a climate initiative by the White House, and being so excited, only to accidentally mess up the time on the call and miss it while on a trail run! I was so disappointed, but luckily, I was able to join a future call. Molly started the #ActOnClimate social media campaign, which currently has over 130,000 posts, which is what the call I missed was about! 

I got to meet Molly on a trip to Washington DC with Protect Our Winters and we instantly bonded. She’s one of the brightest people I know, with a special talent for climate messaging. In this episode, we chat about climate, voting, what it was like working at the White House, environmental sinners vs. environmental saints and mountaineering adventures with tips for how we can all improve our messaging on climate.

Resources:

When We all Vote

League of Conservation Voters

Asian Pacific Environmental Network 

Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions

Molly's Favorite Book: The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson

Molly's Instagram

Dr. Len Necefer is one of my favorite people and I’m so excited he could join us on the show! Len is a climber, mountaineer, skier and scholar and the founder of Natives Outdoors – a business with the mission of empowering indigenous communities through their products and storytelling for a sustainable world. He has a Ph. D. and is a professor with the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona. He holds a bachelor’s of science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas & a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy. Previously, he worked at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio on supersonic vehicle research and most recently worked for the Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs supporting tribes realizing their energy futures through research and grant making. His research focuses at the intersection of indigenous people and natural resource management policy. He serves on the board of the Honnold Foundation and the American Alpine Club.

In his free time, he’s outside – rock or ice climbing, ski mountaineering and bikepacking to tell stories about environmental activism and Indigenous history. These stories have been documenting through his writing and photography and he’s been featured in Alpinist, Outside, Besides Magazine, Patagonia’s Cleanest Line and various film festivals.

In this episode, we talk about Len's adventures with skiing, mountaineering and climbing and he shares lessons he's learned from adventures in the mountains that can help us during challenging times. We hear about the accomplishments he's most proud of, as well as some failures he's made along the way. He shares Navajo wisdom. We discuss his love of memes! Then we go in to more difficult topics: we talk about cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation and he gives us his take on what authentic allyship looks like. 

Follow Len on Instagram. 

Follow Natives Outdoors on Instagram. 

Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks

Collapse: How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed

Dr. Naomi Oreskes is a Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. A world-renowned geologist, historian and public speaker, she is a leader in communicating climate science to the wider public. She’s a ripping skier and outdoorswoman. I met Naomi on a trip to Washington DC with Protect Our Winters (she serves on the Board of Directors) and we instantly bonded. Like me, Dr. Oreskes is petite in stature, but don’t let her size fool you. She has more courage and bravery than most people I know.

Her book, Merchants of Doubt, which covers the parallels between climate change denial and controversies of tobacco smoking, acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer helped me find my voice on climate change again after years of ad-hominem attacks by climate change trolls and deniers. 

In this episode, she shares with us everything you need to know about climate change right now. We discuss how you can get involved as a climate activist, how to talk to about climate change with people who don't believe it's real, why we need to listen to scientists and how to deal with attacks when you talk about climate. She shares tips on how we can discern between credible and misinformation on social media and where we can go for good climate science. We discuss the parallels between climate change and Coronavirus, both in our government response and what we can take from that to address the problems of climate change. 

Then, she goes into discredited the big lies of climate change denial and she outlines the solutions to fix climate change now. Dr. Oreskes discusses why it's not a population growth problem and speaks to all these issues with clarity and precision.

With Coronavirus dominating the news, it's more important than ever that we continue to talk about climate change. This episode will answer your questions and empower you to find your voice to lead these important discussions.

Resources for Climate Science:

NASA Climate Change

American Geophysical Union

American Meteorological Society

American Association For the Advancement of Science

National Academy of Science

Other papers referenced in the show:

A Trillion Tons

Pope Francis's Encyclical on Climate Change

Naomi's Favorite Book, The Burger's Daughter

Thanks to Rising Appalachia for providing our opening and closing music, for Avery Sandack for his audio editing expertise and to Aaron Blatt for the image of Naomi.

If you learned something from today's episode, share it with one friend. 

I am so excited to share this episode and conversation with Shawnté Salabert. She's hiked over a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail and spent two years on the trail taking photos and recording impressions for her book, Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California. I got to know Shawnté through her work as a journalist when she interviewed me for Adventure Journal. She's had articles published in Alpinist, Backpacker, Outside, Los Angeles Magazine and Modern Hiker, among others. 

In this episode, we chat about how she got her start in the outdoor world, leaving the security of a well-paying job in the music industry to pursue her passion as an outdoor journalist. We talk about her tips for tackling big goals and hiking solo and she shares her favorite trail food. After talking about adventure, we take a deep dive about the role that journalism can play in disrupting implicit bias, and why we need to protect and support a free and independent press now more than ever.

This episode is filled with inspiration as well as practical advice. It was a treat to interview Shawnté. I hope you enjoy this episode and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it.

Resources on disrupting implicit bias:

The Avarna Group: Justice + Equity + Diversity + Inclusion

Here are links to some of Shawnté's work we reference in the show:

Welcome to Black Van Life

What We Can Learn from the Camber Outdoors Fiasco

Trona's Boom Bust and Uncertain Future

Follow Shawnté on Twitter and Instagram or via her website.

Sunny Stroeer is a runner, climber and adventurer with a specialty in the high altitude endurance realm. She holds speed records on Aconcagua and on the Annapurna Circuit and has excelled on high trails in the Colorado Rockies. She's been a big inspiration to me in the way she sets her goals sky high. Following her on social media gives me a lot of motivation and inspiration. On this episode, we talk about her accomplishments and failures and she gives us advice on training, dealing with altitude, nutrition and hydration and staying warm and comfortable in the mountains. We talk about goal-setting and how to find goals that are ambitious enough without over-reaching. We chat about her becoming the first woman to complete the Aconcagua 360 route and summit and about her scholarship program with AWExpeditions, and how she deals with naysayers and doubters.   

Keep up with Sunny on social media.  

Check out her website.  

Support women in mountaineering with by making a donation or applying for a scholarship through AWExpeditions.  

Book a tour with Sunny and Paul through Dreamland Safari Tours.

Thanks to Rising Appalachia for our opening and closing song.

This podcast started from a need to spread information from scientists and experts about Coronavirus. In this next episode, I sit down and ask Dr. Lindsay Keegan, an epidemiologist at the University of Utah and avid outdoorswoman questions we all have about Coronavirus. We started out with a discussion of why it's imperative to listen to scientists, why we need to trust science, and what we can do to support scientists right now. 

Then, we go into a round of questions - when will we see the peak - how long can we expect to socially distance for - can you get Coronavirus twice - how to disinfect groceries and if Coronavirus can be transmitted by water, to name a few.

I'm incredibly grateful for Dr. Keegan to take time out of her busy schedule right now (she says she's been existing on less than four hours of sleep) to answer our questions. 

Putting Gamers to work to fight COVID-19

Count Penguins in remote regions to help us understand their lives and environments

The Virus Can Be Stopped, But Only With Harsh Steps: NY Times Article 

Animals and Coronavirus

Lindsay Keegan on Instagram