*Editor's note* Akil here! I re-uploaded this episode a few days after posting once I realized I uploaded the wrong file! Hope you enjoy the correct episode :)

Happy start of September and back to school season! On today’s episode, Akil sits down with Willow Volkert. Willow is currently a sophomore at Georgetown University studying Humanistic Ecology through Georgetown’s Interdisciplinary Degree program. As Willow describes, Humanistic Ecology “focus[es] on the sustainable alternatives necessary to fight climate change… and create a more sustainable and just world” as well as “the values that are necessary to create such a world.” She is also the current Co-President of GREEN (Georgetown Renewable Energy and Environmental Network)

Topics in this conversation range from Willow’s pandemic-era personal growth to cultural conditioning regarding environmentalism. We also discuss gap years, sustainability on campus (challenges and progress) , how to use privilege constructively in sustainability, and the importance of “doing the little things where you can”.

Key Terms

• Gap year: "term for when students take time off between high school and college. Though it’s typically called a gap year, some students take more or less time off in between high school and college" (Western Governors University)
• Work trade: "where volunteers offer their time and skills to work in exchange for free accommodation" (Tales of a Backpacker)
• Regenerative agriculture: "agricultural practices that focus on the health of the ecological system as a whole, not solely on high production yields of crops" (Sustainable America)
• Permaculture: "Permaculture integrates land, resources, people and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies – imitating the no waste, closed loop systems seen in diverse natural systems." (Permaculture News)
• ‘Āina: the land; that which provides (this Hawaiian term has various nuanced definitions—this definition is just one of them)
• Aloha ‘Āina: "love for the land of Hawai'i" (Aloha Āina O Hawai'i)
• Municipal solid waste (MSW): "waste collected by the municipality or disposed of at the municipal waste disposal site and includes residential, industrial, institutional, commercial, municipal, and construction and demolition waste" (Hoornweg et al., 2015).

Guest Info (Instagram)

• @willowvolkert: main account
• @willowexistingonearth: "page for musings and thoughts"
• @willows_adventuresyay:...