In this Earth Day episode, Sonal speaks with Carter O'Brien — the Vice President of the Chicago Recycling Coalition and sustainability officer at the Field Museum. He provides insight on Chicago's recycling system, from its inception to where it stands today.

Chicago is the third largest city in the nation, but it has the worst recycling rate in the country at nine percent. An investigation by the Better Government Association in 2018 found that some of the city's recycling haulers were directing recyclables to their own for profit landfills.

Even if residents dispose of their recyclables properly, there is a chance it will end up in a landfill. It depends on numerous factors including where you live and who you recycling provider is. 

O'Brien shares how individuals can directly contribute to Chicago's sustainability efforts. Residents can get involved in their local environmental organizations including the Edgewater Environmental Coalition, Southeast Environmental Task Force and LVEJO. Find more resources at https://chicagorecyclingcoalition.org

In this episode, Priya and Sonal publish their submission to the NPR college podcast competition. We take a look at some different perspectives on life. We interviewed two children and two senior citizens and asked them the same set of questions: What makes you happy? What advice would you give someone else? And if you had one question you could know the answer to, what would it be?

This format is a bit different than our normal content. Our submission had to be under 8 minutes long. While a shorter episode seems easier than our longer ones, it was a fun challenge to create something within the shorter timeframe.

Thank you to everyone who participated and provided their perspectives on life. It got us thinking about our own answers to these questions and how they may change over time. We hope this episode helps you reflect on your own life and the things to be grateful for.

Credits:

Original music by E.W. Frazier

In this episode of the Radio DePaul Podcast, Priya and Sonal explore tattoos. We talked with a variety of interviewees including some who have tattoos and some that don’t. We also explored the stigma behind tattoos and some of the reasons why people don’t or can’t get them. To get the full experience, we went to Fudo Tattoo -- a tattoo shop in Chicago. Check out what tattoo we picked out to commemorate this week's episode at www.radiodepaul.com.

Thank you to interviewees Henry Flesch, Felicity Cole, and Emily Goldstein for sharing their perspectives on tattoos, as well as Shruti Bakre, a self taught tattoo artist.

In the newest episode of the Radio DePaul Podcast, Sonal and Priya explore news overload: is there a balance between staying informed and staying sane? It is easy to get overwhelmed by coverage of a specific event or issue and start “doom scrolling." At the same time, it is a luxury to not consume news; not everyone is able to easily shield themselves from current events. We got to talk to professor and journalist Alexis Howell as well as journalism student Corey Schmidt and photographer Sanjana Stein about the way they consume news and how we can be more mindful about our own news consumption.

In this episode Priya and Sonal take a look at the skepticisms surrounding the Covid vaccine, what vaccine research looks like and what to expect after people start getting vaccinated. 

Special thanks to Eljay Waldman, a clinical project manager working in research, who just so happens to be Priya’s dad. He gives us an inside scoop on the research side of things and everything you need to know about the vaccine.

Credits and Sources:

ABC News: https://youtu.be/bK4IETp8V3w

NYTimes Q&A: https://nyti.ms/3miYLtY

Pence, Surgeon General and First Lady get vaccine: https://youtu.be/MtcTWD-e3cM

Dr. Fauci explains vaccine development, addresses skepticism on speed of development: https://youtu.be/V8WcEgktlLg

Skepticism amid communities of color: https://youtu.be/RguSOHzCATA

Health care workers at Mt. Sinai get vaccinated: https://youtu.be/_5T-HRLc2Ak

Today Chicago's stay-at-home advisory goes into place and residents should only leave home for work, school, or to meet essential needs, and are advised to cancel Thanksgiving celebrations. In this episode, Priya and Sonal look at what's changed since the first stay at home order in March, and what hasn't.

We talked to visual artist Ilona Altman and actor Ilya Schaeffer about their experiences as art students in the pandemic. Priya and Sonal also reflect on their experiences as music and journalism students respectively. This episode holds space for people to express the difficulties from the pandemic, while still acknowledging the positives that have come during this time. 

Sources:

NBC News

CNBC Television

Podcast Recommendations:

Code Switch

The Red Nation Podcast

Muslim Rumspringa

Priya and Sonal celebrate the 100th Radio DePaul episode with a very spooky special as they discuss the origins of Halloween. Thanks for supporting us and this Podcast! Have a safe Halloween — here's to 100 more.

Sign up for our newsletter for extra content: https://mailchi.mp/e9efa46155f0/radiodepaulpodcastnewsetter

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kxdGLpxIsU

https://www.history.com/news/halloween-was-once-so-dangerous-that-some-cities-considered-banning-it

https://halloween-nyc.com/

https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-the-original-boogeyman-this-is-why-looking-under-your-bed-as-a-kid-was-so-dang-terrifying-12594028

In this episode, we take a closer look at language. Specifically, we wanted to know -- does the language we speak affect the way we think?

Professor Hoot is also the director of a new linguistics minor now available at DePaul. If you're interested in language or linguistics, you can email Professor Hoot at [email protected] or go to go.depaul.edu/linguistics.

For more background info and extras with each episode release, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/e9efa46155f0/radiodepaulpodcastnewsetter