Reminder: We are donating a small amount to the Environmental Voter Project (EVP) for every listener who subscribes to this podcast. EVP is not a sponsor of this podcast. I just love their mission.

I chatted with my friend and climate champion Hilary Ego. Hilary is one of the most multidimensional climate people I know. She manages the environmental programs in the City of La Mesa, wrote and drew a children’s book and loves making food for people. We dive deep into her role of helping the City of La Mesa implement its climate action plan and the community outreach and relationship building it (and everything in climate, basically) requires to succeed. Hilary also shared why she decided to publish a children’s book and how to start doing something for our community, for our planet and for ourselves.

Things we mentioned in the episode: 

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@OurClimateStories⁠.

This podcast was created by the youth group of Climate Reality DFW in 2021, and is currently a joint project by the DFW & Portland Chapters produced by Li-Ya Mar. Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical and audio support.

Art Design by ⁠Marni Keenan⁠. 

Music by ⁠RomanSenykMusic &  ⁠QubeSounds⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

Eco-anxiety and climate emotions impact everyone who is paying attention to our world. I often turn to poetry, not as a way to escape, but a way to sit with the emotion and let it lead me where I need to be. Art and creative work can help translate and transform our feelings and emotions in the climate crisis. That’s what Nancy’s poems do. 

We chatted about the role of poetry in solving the climate crisis and the importance of human relation in healing our world. Our conversation made my heart so full, reminding me I'm not alone in trying to figure out my place and role in the climate. I hope it empowers and comforts you as much as it did for me. 

Things we mentioned in the episode: 

Reminder: We are donating a small amount to the Environmental Voter Project (EVP) for every listener who subscribes to this podcast. EVP is not a sponsor of this podcast. I just love their mission. 

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@OurClimateStories⁠ and on .

This podcast was created by the youth group of Climate Reality DFW in 2021, and is currently a joint project by the DFW & Portland Chapters produced by Li-Ya Mar. Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical and audio support.

Art Design by ⁠Marni Keenan⁠. 

Music by ⁠RomanSenykMusic &  ⁠QubeSounds⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

In this episode, we’re so excited to share a conversation with Karen Magruder, a faculty member in the school of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Karen was trained in trauma informed therapy, but Hurricane Harvey in 2017 brought the “a-ha” moment to her. She witnessed how the climate crisis made vulnerable people more vulnerable, especially with the poor infrastructures in our society. We chatted about the Environmental Justice & Green Social Work course she created at UTA, what eco-anxiety is, and how to harness its power for change! 

Things we mentioned in the episode: 

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@OurClimateStories⁠.

Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

This podcast was created by the youth group of Climate Reality DFW in 2021, and is currently a joint project by the DFW & Portland Chapters produced by Li-Ya Mar.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical and audio support.

Art Design by ⁠Marni Keenan⁠. 

Music by ⁠RomanSenykMusic &  ⁠QubeSounds⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

In this episode, Li-Ya chats with Cassie Snow, the Sustainability Manager at MGM Resorts International, who oversees its sustainability efforts globally. Her passion to make a positive impact is rooted in her lived experience and the kindness she got through growing up. Cassie has tons of experience supporting programs surrounding food waste reduction and food recovery to reduce hunger in her community in Las Vegas. 

As the chair of theClimate Reality Las Vegas Chapter, Cassie is also a strong advocate for accessible and affordable public transportation and solutions that not only mitigate the climate crisis but also help to uplift and empower our underserved community. She organized the TED x Fremont East District event in 2022, where local environmental champions shared ideas and stories about climate solutions in Nevada. 

Things we mentioned in the episode: 

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@OurClimateStories⁠.

Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

This podcast was created by the youth group of Climate Reality DFW in 2021, and is currently a joint project by the DFW & Portland Chapters, produced by Li-Ya Mar.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical and audio support.

Art Design by ⁠Marni Keenan⁠. 

Music by ⁠RomanSenykMusic &  ⁠QubeSounds⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

In this episode, we talked to Patty Silva, the executive producer of the show “El Futuro del Planeta”, an original TV series produced by EarthX TV. Patty and Li-Ya chatted about their bi-cultural background, mostly Patty’s as an immigrant from Mexico, and how that bi-cultural and bi-lingual identity shaped her focus on bridging the information gap of the environment between the U.S. and Latin America. 

Our conversion touches on the crucial role of collaboration with partner organizations and teams in bringing awareness to what’s happening outside of the mainstream US-focus content and making it truly a global conversation. 

Fun Fact about Patty: She has been in the film and media industry for more than a decade. She has appeared in the TV show “Prison Break”, which was one of Li-Ya favorites growing up. 

You can watch “El Futuro del Planeta” and find EarthX TV on FuboTV, DIRECTV channel 267, U-Verse channel 1267 or log-in to your Spectrum account to find your local channel number. (In Dallas, EarthX TV at Channel 139 on Spectrum.) 

Things we mentioned in the episode: 

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@OurClimateStories⁠.

Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

This podcast was created by the youth group of Climate Reality DFW in 2021, and is currently a joint project by the DFW & Portland Chapters produced by Li-Ya Mar.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical and audio support.

Art Design by ⁠Marni Keenan⁠. 

Music by ⁠RomanSenykMusic &  ⁠QubeSounds⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

This episode is one of my favorite conversations about community and climate organizing throughout my 6 years as a climate organizer. I talked to Bhargavi Jeyarajah, who was the sustainability coordinator at the University of Texas at Arlington, where I taught as a faculty from 2019 to 2022. We chatted about Bhargavi’s experience studying community-based organizing at Duke University, and how her identity as an immigrant and a wife helped her reconcile with her own biases and eventually led her to the climate movement. She shared some brilliant examples of how to connect community values to sustainability goals and creating space for students (and community members) so they can lead! (Btw, you'll also hear about how much we enjoyed working with the predominantly immigrant student body at UTA, a minority-serving institution. We missed you, UT-Arlington!)

Things we mentioned in the episode: 

UT-Arlington’s Vote YES Green Funds Campaign

The Joy Report from the Intersectional Environmentalists

The Joy Issue from Grist

Follow us on Instagram ⁠@OurClimateStories⁠.

Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

This podcast was created by the youth group of Climate Reality DFW in 2021, and is currently a joint project by the DFW & Portland Chapters produced by Li-Ya Mar.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical support.

Art Design by ⁠Marni Keenan⁠.

Music by ⁠RomanSenykMusic &  ⁠QubeSounds⁠ from ⁠Pixabay⁠

In our first episode of the new season, I talked to Jill Maclntyre Witt, who has been a climate activist with the Climate Reality Project and 350.org for more than a decade. Jill was named one of UN International Human Rights Commission's Top 100 Human Rights Defenders in 2019 along with Michelle Obama and Greta Thunberg. 

Our conversation focuses on learning how to be an activist by doing. We also talked about how her retail job in the 2000s guided her to start her advocacy journey and how her projects as a volunteer led her to teaching sustainability and the environment in higher education. She founded the Climate Activism Lab and a new course will be launching later this year to transform climate anxiety to ACTION, because action is the best antidote to despair. 

Check out Jill’s TedTalk: Climate Justice Now How?

And the Climate Justice Field Manual Jill wrote. 

Also check out Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s Climate Action Venn Diagrams⁠.

Follow us on Instagram @OurClimateStories.

Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at [email protected].

This podcast was created by the Youth & Young Professional group of Climate Reality Dallas Fort-Worth Chapter, and is currently a joint project by the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter & Portland Chapter, produced by Li-Ya Mar.

Special shoutout to Nick Keenan and Pradeep Vundela for their technical support.

Art Design by Marni Keenan.

Music by RomanSenykMusic & QubeSounds from Pixabay

In celebration of Earth Month, aka our favorite time of the year, The Green Path Podcast is coming back! We made some changes in the format and the content, yet the goal is the same, to share our climate story and find our voice and our place in the climate movement. 

The podcast is now produced and hosted by the former chair of the Climate Reality Dallas-Ft Worth Chapter Li-Ya Mar. 

Special shoutout to Vanessa Wu, Ishrita Pol, Ashley Monismith, and Krishna Madhav for their work in 2021 on this podcast. We carry the torch and keep it going! 

Follow us on Instagram @OurClimateStories.

Comments, feedback or share your stories with us, email us at [email protected].

Art Design by Marni Keenan.

Music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. 

Do you have a distaste for food waste? In today's episode, we chat with Mimi Chong, a user experience designer who dedicated a little over a year to reducing food waste at the Dallas chapter of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine. Although UX designers are not the primary workforce in sustainability, the green path is never a straight one; Mimi found a way to apply her design acumen with her conviction to reduce food waste and has devoted her efforts to transforming food management ever since. By her own admission, she is not a fearless woman. But it is her fears — of tackling a global problem, of overturning Asian and female bias  —  that assure her she is challenging herself and making a difference in the world. Tune in to hear about Mimi's experiences, and take another step along your Green Path!

For listeners who are interested in getting involved with the food waste movement, check out Mimi's recommendations on what you can do after tuning into this week's episode:

Get Involved in Your Community:

- Goodr (https://www.goodr.co/)

- Foodsource DFW (https://www.foodsourcedfw.org/)

- Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (https://www.rescuingleftovercuisine.org/)

Take a Consumer Action:

- Imperfect Foods (https://www.imperfectfoods.com/)

Help an Organization Fundraise:

- The Farmlink Project (https://www.farmlinkproject.org/)

Watch a Movie to Learn More:

- Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (https://foodwastemovie.com/)

Have comments, questions or want to be a guest? Reach out to us at [email protected]!

In today’s episode we chat with Priscilla Y, a young social, political, and environmental activist whose fiery spirit allowed her to change the lives of people all over Texas. Priscilla began as a student at the University of North Texas curious about the ins and outs of progressive politics, but her passion to create tangible, everlasting change led her to start the Dallas chapter of Sunrise Movement and speak on Senator Sanders presidential campaign.

Tune in to hear Priscilla speak about her immigrant background, the steps she took to start organizations and join campaigns, social media networking, and mental health in politics.