The Global Grit Experience

Kelly Blackledge knows her birds! She's so much fun to talk with, especially this time of year during spring migration as the woods, wetlands, lakes and bird feeders start getting busy baby. And, beautifully noisy! It's SO much fun hearing the first sandhill crane of the year, or the loon, or so many other birds we all love.

Kelly has over 30 years' experience as an Interpretive Park Ranger and a degree in Animal Ecology. She helps coordinate her local Detroit Lakes Festival of Birds, is a volunteer for the Minnesota loon watcher survey, and you’ll be able to tell… LOVES birds.

Listen in, hear some bird calls, and impress your friends with a few fun facts.

Resources:

https://birdcast.org/

https://journeynorth.org/

A scuba debacle with my little brother.

If you have an adventure story, message me on FB or IG! It would be fun to share it.

Thanks for being a part of the Global Grit Experience!

Today’s guest is another kick ass and inspiring person I wanted to share with you. I recorded this episode before I even had a podcast. I love her grit and wanted to share her perspective as a teenager on climate action.

Myiesha Antoni is an 18 year-old dual enrollment senior in high school and getting her associates degree. Dang girl. She’s from Henning Minnesota and lobbied for climate action in Washington, DC with Citizens Climate Lobby.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy climate change organization with nationwide and international chapters.

Let’s meet this awesome girl who has A LOT of grit.

My guest today is Jim Etzel from Hackensack, Minnesota. He’s the owner of Earth is Our Home Environmental Solutions. He’s all about having healthy soils to have healthy food and a healthy world. I met Jim at a recent community event through West Central Initiative and learned about his passion for composting….but not your typical composting. Yep, today, we’re having what he calls, the poop talk.

"It's like baking cookies. You gotta get the recipe right. You gotta get the ingredients right. It breaks this material down from the ‘ew’ to topsoil." Jim Etzel

If you want to get a hold of Jim, you can go to earthisourhome.net or call 218.252.3258. He'd love to talk with you.

We're asked to make calls, write letters, sign petitions, protest…to make our voices heard to the higher ups in congress. But does it matter? Do our efforts actually ever make it up the food chain to make a difference?

I invited Ben Anderson to give us a little insight into this.

Ben has worked for three members of congress from Minnesota, the US House Committee on Agriculture, and at the US Department of Agriculture.

He shares what he thinks works, matters, and is most effective.

There's no better time than NOW to freshen up our skills on being grounded, centered and living our authentic lives, especially when everything is cray-cray and some of us are about to go off the rails (if we haven't already). I feel 'ya.

I’m big into mental health and I’m super excited about my guest, Tessa Wolden, whose going to give us some good tips on how to manage today's roller coaster(s) and tap into nature and the outdoors to help.

Tessa is a Board Certified Art Therapist and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with over 13 years of experience. She’s recently launched her own private practice, Wind Wave Counseling, based in Edina, Minnesota.

Resources:

https://www.climatementalhealth.net/

https://workthatreconnects.org/

www.windwavecounseling.com

The rise of populism is wreaking havoc on the environment. Developing critical thinking is...well...critical, as well as challenging our world views.

This was kind of a deep dive that I absolutely loved. I learned so much from Dennis in this episode. Dennis Jacobs is a retired physics professor, pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He’s the author of multiple books including The Search for Science and From McEnergy to EcoEnergy, America’s Transition to Sustainable Energy, cowritten with Sociology Professor and wife, Dr. Karen Branden (also a prior podcast guest). He and Karen built and live in an environmentally friendly house in Northern Minnesota.

I could talk with Dennis about a kazillion awesome topics but I asked him what he’s most passionate about sharing and sees as a major concern when it comes to the environment. His answer….the rise of populism.

Sometimes it's fun to just hear some outdoor adventure stories. This short story was an adventures with my dad.

Van and his wife Sue built a net-zero energy home 12 miles out of Alexandria, MN. As much as I wanted to know how they did it, it was why they did it that intrigued me.

Dr. Van Gooch is a retired professor of Biology from the University of Minnesota at Morris, where he taught for 35 years. After retirement, he and Sue set themselves to this challenge.

And, even if building a net-zero home isn’t in your cards, Van has good tips on what we can each do to save energy and money in where we live.... and how we live.

If you have questions or would like to talk with Van about building a net-zero or energy efficient home, you can reach him at:

[email protected]

320-283-5222

I find it interesting why we do the things we do. And, why we feel compelled to play nicey-nice when it comes to talking about the environment and climate action. I get it. No one, including myself, wants to be beaten over the head with anything, especially 'shoulds', 'coulds' or major ass guilt trips. But yet, we want to take action and action can sometimes be SO damn overwhelming and frustrating. Especially when we don't see the results we want fast enough or even sometimes, at all.

Today’s guest, Dr. Karen Branden, is going to give us a bit of an inside look from a sociologist’s perspective on how we work, especially when it comes to creating change and when, yep, sometimes, it's okay to be our fierce selves.

Dr. Karen Branden has a PhD in Sociology, and has been a professor of Sociology for over 20 years. She’s taught at schools around the world and is currently a professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Minnesota State University Moorhead. One of the classes she teaches, that really piqued my interest, is Society and the Environment. Karen’s joining us from her home in Rochert, MN.