>> Elise Silvestri: Welcome, um, to Citizens Climate Radio, your climate change podcast. We highlight people's stories, celebrate your successes and share strategies for effective climate conversations. I am your host, Eli Silvestri and this is episode 103. This episode is airing on Friday, April 18th, 2025. All right y'all, I have a great show lined, um, up for you today. First, we're going to hear from an
environmental artist. Carrie Ziegler created a successful community led project and through this art project, Carrie and her community helped pass important legislation. Then Peterson will present a good news story about this very podcast. Let's jump right in. What role does creativity play in your climate advocacy? How can we be effective climate
advocates while having fun? Today you'll be hearing from Kerry Ziegler, an amazing collaborative artist who helps create scores of murals, sculptures and multimedia installations. Kerry works with students and in residencies to make art educating people on important social justice topics, including the climate crisis. Before I started working on this podcast, I learned about Kerry on one of CCR's episodes. If you haven't heard it yet, episode 95 is
a must listen. Episode 95 features Rob Hopkins and Carrie Ziegler discussing the importance of imagination and climate. Sol actor Rob Hopkins helps us envision an exciting climate conscious future. >> Rob Hopkins: And if we don't allow the future to enter into people, if we don't cultivate and nurture, uh, in people the most profound longing for a low carbon future, then why is anyone going to want to do that?
>> Elise Silvestri: Kerry talks about the Plastic Whale Project. In the Plastic Whale Project, she co created a 32 foot long gray whale made of plastic bags alongside 900 youth and adults. After listening to the episode, I got on her mailing list and followed her work. I even ended up becoming a beta reader for her book. Needless to say, I'm invested in her artwork and mission. Now I'm honored to present Kerri's thoughts on a more recent project of hers, the Chrysalis
Transforming Together. Born out of the early days of the Pandemic, the Chrysalis Project was an influential, zoom friendly collaborative project that inspired local climate action. Now you'll learn more from Kerry and Brisa Sable, a student who participated in the Chrysalis Project. You'll be shocked by the impact an online art project had on a lawmaker. >> Carrie Ziegler: I started working with the Thurston Climate Action Team, which is a local organization here in town. But then the pandemic
happened. As we were scrambling to how to turn all of our in person work into an online format, I got to co create the Chrysalis Project transforming together. We decided to do a online series of talks and events. It just started growing and growing in my brain. It became something much more than a single piece. It was really important to me that I not design it in a vacuum all on my own. I had ideas, but I wanted it to really
serve the community. I got a number of educators together and I talked to them about my idea and I got feedback. I invited a number of youth climate activists that we were working with to come and talk to me, you know, all online. BRISA was involved in one of those climate action clubs. >> Brisa Sable: I was in my senior year of high school. At first I was super relieved when the pandemic happened because then I didn't have to take
exams. I was also very bummed to lose the opportunity to gather with other students. So when Kerry's idea for the Chrysalis Project came up, I thought it was a great way to stay involved with climate activism. During the pandemic. >> Carrie Ziegler: We examined that critical moment that we were in with the triple crises of the pandemic, a racial
reckoning and the climate crisis. We used the metaphor of what happens inside of a chrysalis as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly to help us understand what we were going through individually and a society. Together, we created these visions of what we wanted to be when we emerged from our individual and our societal crisality. Participants painted pictures, they wrote poetry, they did collage art of futures where we would not only survive, but thrive.
So during this time, Thurston county was undergoing a process of trying to write a Thurston Climate Mitigation plan. This was really ambitious. And so for a lot of politicians in our area, it was almost like political suicide to think that they would vote for this. So as we're in the workshops and everybody had painted or wrote their visions of the future, I then asked them to turn their paintings over and to write a letter to their local
elected officials. Now, in these letters, they shared their own commitments to climate action action. They talked about how they were feeling in this time of, uh, such uncertainty. And then they asked and in some cases demanded that local elected officials would take strong climate action, that they would pass and implement the Thurston Climate Mitigation plan. >> Brisa Sable: I mainly compared how, being a senior in high school, I took a lot
of traditions for granted. It was very startling to have that all taken away. I compared that to our environment and having a stable ecosystems and weather patterns. Those are things we take for granted and encouraged the representative to not take it for Granted to take action. >> Carrie Ziegler: These were powerful calls to action, and they impacted the local elected officials
greatly. I could tell you several stories about this, but, uh, one that I just love so much happened during the county commissioner meeting where they were planning to vote on whether or not to pass and implement this climate mitigation plan. One of the commissioners, he stood up and he pulled a letter out of his pocket. He said that he had been carrying this letter around for months as his guiding light.
He then read that letter as his testimony for why they should pass and implement the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan. That letter was written by high school climate activists. And that night, they not only passed the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan, but they also declared a climate emergency for Thurston County. And in part due to this project, all four of our local jurisdictions adopted the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan, and three of the four declared a climate emergency.
>> Brisa Sable: That was very wild to hear that, uh, my letter had that type of reaction. Don't even quite fully believe that I did that. >> Peterson Toscano: Uh. >> Carrie Ziegler: When I think about the world we live in, the climate, the. We are asking so much of people, we are asking them in many instances, to completely change how they relate to the earth. And we haven't given them a vision of, uh, a future that is
better than the one they currently have. And so it is the job of artists to help people create those visions because we need something to be fighting for. >> Elise Silvestri: That was Carrie Ziegler, a collaborative artist co creating work for social justice. Carrie's art provides bold visions of the world that we are fighting for. And I'm so excited to
see what she does next. You can learn more about the Chrysalis Project and Carrie's other artwork at Carrie's website, kerryziegler.com I have these links for you in our show notes@, uh, cclusa.org radio. Our good news story today comes from Peterson Toscano. How are you doing, Peterson? >> Peterson Toscano: Hey, great job hosting. Uh, how you feeling? >> Elise Silvestri: Oh, my gosh, I'm feeling great. So excited to be on the podcast with everyone today.
>> Peterson Toscano: I feel like my work is finished here. I could just hand this over to you or somebody else. And actually, that's partly what my good news is about. We who do climate work know a lot about adaptation. When there's a big storm, we try to prepare ahead of time. And for me, in my own life, I've actually gotten involved with a lot of disaster relief work. I am now a volunteer with the American Red Cross, and I have been Trained to respond to local,
regional and national disasters. I have training to help run a shelter and provide feeding and even provide spiritual care for folks who have been displaced because of an extreme weather event or another disaster. Locally, we mostly respond to fires, and recently I was, uh, on a team of people who responded to a multifamily complex fire that displaced people in 30 units. Half of them needed emergency housing. So in a church, we set up a shelter with the
cots and we had food brought in. And it was kind of amazing to be part of that community. Folks were obviously suffering and going through a lot, but to provide some comfort, food, a clean, warm place to stay, that was really important. I'm loving that work so much. With podcasting, we also adapt, and we've adapted this podcast through the years to add all kinds of things and change
things. And the political landscape has changed considerably this year compared to last year with the election of Donald Trump and a, ah, Congress that is majority Republican. And as a result, Citizens Climate Lobby has been adapting to the new political landscape by providing volunteers with a laser focus on our policy initiatives. And in keeping in line with that, this podcast is going to shift to more specific information about US Climate policy.
In a way, we're trying to equip our volunteers with as much clear information that they need to be effective in reaching out to their lawmakers. And I have to confess that that part of the work is not my strength. I, uh, love policy. I find it really interesting, but I'm such a big picture person. So I've been talking to the folks at ccl and we've decided to switch things up
a little bit. There might be just a pause of a month or two, and then the show will be back with a new sound and a new host and a regular guest, Dana Nuccitelli, who does the Nerd Corner. And some folks, they love the Nerd Corner. M There's a whole huge discussion that goes on over at CCL Community where people just go deep into the weeds of climate policy. And it makes my head spin. I'm like, can you just tell me a story? No, no. We need to talk
about the facts. So Dana's gonna come and break it down for people like me who don't get it and for NER who get it, Elise, and want more. I am going to carry on producing, which is actually one of my growing loves. I love sort of the behind the scenes. It's been so great working with you and providing training and helping you do that work. So I'll be doing that with the new host who is to be announced. And I will make sure that the quality of the production is good, the
recordings are good. You may hear my voice every now and then, but mostly I'm going to be in the background, which, you know, I'm an introvert. I kind of like that space. Well, I say that I'm also involved with lots of other podcasts, so if you actually do still want to hear my voice, I host Quakers Today podcast, which is a monthly program, a, uh, companion podcast to Friends Publishing Corporation. And I also have my own
podcast, which is called Bubble and Squeak. You can find these along with all kinds of other links over at my website, petersontoscano.com if you want to not just hear me, but actually see me, as long as it still lasts. I have a very active TikTok account with over 100,000 followers, which is a bit unreal to think that potentially that many people are listening to me. It does not make me any more responsible in what I say. I have to say. It's very silly. Um,
so if you want that, that's there. But the good news is this podcast has got some legs on it. We've been going since 2016. We kind of started this project and it just keeps going. We're at episode 103 and I can just sit back and let folks like Elise take the wheel. So I'm going to pass it back to you, Elise. Thank you so much for having me on the show. First time guest, uh, longtime host, uh, and I pass it back to you. Thanks. And you're doing a fabulous job.
>> Elise Silvestri: Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much, Peterson. It has been such a joy learning from you and having the opportunity to hang out on the podcast. Without further ado, thank you for joining Me for episode 103 of CitizensClimate Radio. If you like what you hear and you want to support the work we do, visit citizensclimateducation.org to learn how you can make a tax deductible contribution. Citizens Climate Radio is written and produced by me, Elise Silvestri and
Peterson Toscano. The music on today's show comes from me, Elise Silvestri and epidemicsound.com visit cclusa.orgradio to see our show notes and find links to our guests here at, uh, Citizens Climate Education. We want you to be effective in the climate work you do. So we provide training, local group meetings and many resources. They're all designed to help you build the confidence and skills to pursue
climate solutions. Find out how you can learn, grow and connect with others who are engaged in meaningful work. Visit cclusa.org we want to hear your feedback about this episode. After you listen, feel free to fill out a short survey. You will find a link to the survey in our show notes or just email me radioitizensclimate uh.org please share citizens Climate Radio with your friends and colleagues.
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