Many witnessed the unprecedented loss of ancient Giant Sequoia groves in the 2020 Castle Fire in Sierra Nevada, California, the only natural habitat for Sequoias on Earth. Coastal Redwoods were also gravely impacted by lightning-induced fires in August 2020. We must act fast to reforest our wild spaces and protect our imperiled old-growth forests. Our guest today, David Milarch, Co-Founder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive and Champion Tree Project [https://www.ancienttreearchive.org/] expounds ...
Aug 13, 2021•1 hr
California's most distinctive wildland hosts a wide array of plant and animal life found nowhere else on Earth. It stretches from the coastal foothills to the interior mountains. But these rugged woody shrublands are undervalued and underappreciated, and repeated and ongoing attempts have been made to eradicate chaparral from the landscape. Why? Some believe it not aesthetically pleasing, others fear it as fuel for fires, both misnomers that our guest proves wrong. Public underappreciation of ch...
Aug 06, 2021•1 hr 11 min
Green banking, responsible investing in ecosystem protection and planting projects, provides immense environmental benefits. Moreover, it creates livelihoods and gives communities a chance to move toward economic independence, making it a win-win solution for both people and our planet. Listen to the interview with Tom Duncan, CEO & Founder of Earthbanc [https://earthbanc.io/] the world’s first sustainable finance and carbon reduction investment platform, that pays dividends to contributors ...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Modern conveniences have real consequences. In order to accommodate the massive increase in online shopping, Big Retailers like Target, Amazon, Walmart, Ikea, have necessitated a fossil-fueled goods movement industry, shipping manufactured goods from abroad into ports on the coasts (like Los Angeles and Long Beach). Via diesel-spewing trucks and trains, products are then transferred to sprawling warehouse projects far inland where real estate is cheaper. One such project we will talk about today...
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Oceans cover roughly 70% of planet Earth, and they are in rapid decline. Impacted by human-induced climate change, pollution, dredging and overfishing, the world’s oceans are crying out for our attention. On today's show, we consider seaweed and the potential of stewardship-driven, regenerative ocean farming or ocean restoration through marine permaculture. We speak with Leslie Booher, Co-Founder of Sunken Seaweed [https://www.sunkenseaweed.com/], California’s first regenerative ocean farm. Lesl...
Jul 16, 2021•59 min
Spoken-word poetry can be a powerful art form of personal testimony, of protest, of activating on social and environmental concerns. On this show, we look into poetry artivism, the mixing of art and activism, where words can become catalysts intended to change the way people envision their world and act within it. Awa Ndiaye [https://www.humanitei.art/about] is a spoken word poet whose work explores various themes including identity, social justice, and climate change. With an MSc in Environment...
Jul 09, 2021•58 min
Now more than ever, we need ancestral wisdom and ancient skills to balance our technological lifestyles, and stir up a new way of being human. Our guest Chris Morasky, one of the top Stone Age skills experts in the US and co-founder of the Wisdom Keepers School [https://www.wisdomkeepers.us], works to inspire contemporary humans to create regenerative lifestyles and build communities engaging in bushcraft, learning from natural systems, and practicing cultural activism. Chris has lived most of t...
Jul 02, 2021•58 min
Communities of color facing racial prejudice and social injustice are looking to urban farming to solve problems of food insecurity and mass incarceration. Alma Backyard Farms [https://www.almabackyardfarms.com] fosters a connection to the land as a new kind of re-entry restorative justice for formerly incarcerated people, their families, and the communities in which they live. In this episode, Richard D. Garcia and Erika L. Cuellar of ALMA Backyard Farms discuss their work to re-purpose land in...
Jun 18, 2021•58 min
Urban bee farms of Detroit are not only rebuilding honey bee populations, they are also rebuilding the city and uplifting the community. Since 1950, 61% of Detroit’s population has moved away in hopes for better opportunities. Whole neighborhoods in the inner-city have been abandoned, leaving overgrown lots and social issues for those who chose to stay. Urban beekeeping happens to be one of the solutions forging a new path in Detroit. Nicole Lindsey and Timothy Paule Jackson of Detroit Hives [ht...
Jun 11, 2021•59 min
The Lakota people are reclaiming and regenerating Indigenous Ecosystems while exercising their sovereignty as the original stewards of the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The Wolakota Buffalo Range [http://www.rosebudbuffalo.org/], a project of the Rosebud Economic Development Corp. (REDCO) [http://www.sicangucorp.com/], is fulfilling the vision of reconnecting buffalo (bison) to their rightful place on the Great Plains, and people of the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (Rosebud Sioux Nation). Listen t...
Jun 04, 2021•59 min
On our 100th episode, we discuss how adopting queer ecology principles can assist in the healing of relations with people and planet, uniting of movements, and solving the climate emergency facing us today. In order to solve social and ecological problems, environmentalists (et al) must disrupt heterosexist notions and reimagine nature, biology, and sexuality. Queering ecology is the act of broadening our understanding of and re-evaluate our relationships with the larger world – a world that is ...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Listen to our discussion with Danielle Stevenson, applied mycologist and founder of DIY Fungi [https://diyfungi.blog/] - she teaches and consults on growing mushrooms for food, medicine, and Earth Renewal. In this episode, Danielle discusses the innovative potential of mycoremediation to digest, transform or hyperaccumulate the toxicity of heavy metals, radioactive metals, "forever" chemicals, diesel, and even mundane pollutants including cigarette butts, bike lubricants and diapers. Danielle St...
May 21, 2021•1 hr
Can a major metropolitan city offer the blueprint for 100% clean, renewable energy portfolio, all the while ensuring that their climate efforts elevate community demands? Are the solutions affordable to all and ensure worker justice and well-paying jobs? Listen to our discussion on achieving the Los Angeles goal of 100% renewable energy by the year 2045 (or even 2035) and starting the first ever Climate Emergency Mobilization office with our guests Jasmin Vargas, Senior Organizer for Food and Wa...
May 14, 2021•59 min
Listen in to our discussion with Greg Reese, co-founder of Sea + Soil [https://www.seaandsoil.org/] and creator of the 1000 Tiny Farms project [http://www.1000tinyfarms.com/]. A program working to cultivate a regional regenerative network of market gardens, share resources between farmers, and encourage people who have a desire to farm but don’t know how to start their own tiny farm. *Greg Reese is a Southern California agrarian with a passion for growing regenerative, organic food by building h...
Apr 23, 2021•57 min
Have you heard of the Death Cycle of Plastic (vs the life cycle)? Our guests talk solutions and actions from current Congressional legislation and to a new report shining a light on the environmental justice impacts. What about Zero Waste; should it be reclaimed and restructured? And how do we decipher real solutions from false (that just promote more waste and social impacts)? Plastic seems to be everywhere and in everything (including our bodies). Plastic also comes from somewhere and it carri...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 3 min
The 51-mile Los Angeles River, more known for its barren stretches of concrete, is undergoing a long-term Master Planned greening and revitalization. Big questions remain about how to restore biodiversity, provide water resiliency in the face of climate disruption, and protect the local neighborhoods from green gentrification that has already presented problems along sections of the river. On this show, our host Jessica Aldridge is joined by representatives from a coalition of organizations, Fri...
Apr 02, 2021•58 min
LISTEN to our discussion with the lead architectural designer for the firm Biotonomy [https://www.biotonomy.com/] using a holistic and Nature-based approach for buildings and cities to address the climate and biodiversity emergency. Rather than abandon crowded urban areas for sustainable living, great potential remains in re-envisioning buildings and cities in ways that work with, rather than against, Nature. Preferable to continuing the crash course of suburban sprawl that takes more than it gi...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 5 min
We are seeing a burgeoning interest in all things fungi, from consumption to materials-making, mushroom cultivation, fungal ecology and myco-remediation, particularly because fungi bear and represent resiliency, adaptability, and the potential to transform and utilize life as it is. Fungi possess the unique ability to decompose and recompose life itself. This episode reveals interdisciplinary artist and mycologist Sam Shoemaker's venture into urban mushroom cultivation, and how his art has been ...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr
Given the state of the environment, whether discussing soil health, biodiversity, food production, air quality, the impacts of climate change, or sanity and solace, it is critical now for humanity to embrace trees. Trees are essential to restoration of ourselves and the planet. Many of us are acutely aware of forest degradation and widespread deforestation attributed to commercial agriculture (conventional cattle ranching, soybeans and palm oil, in particular) taking place globally. In addition,...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 2 min
What is meant by “Decolonization?” Not only of our institutions, but also of thoughts and behaviors directly influenced by the residuals of colonization. Listen to Marria Evbuoma of [https://racetozerowaste.org/] and Richmond District Rising [https://www.facebook.com/richmonddistrictrising/] as she explores the meaning and importance of decolonizing thoughts, actions, and spaces. How do we recognize and legitimately decolonize in order to ensure equity and build community for all? How do those w...
Feb 18, 2021•58 min
In 2014, The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that global soils were degrading at an alarming rate and predicted that there might only be 60 harvests left before the world's topsoil and soil fertility was basically eradicated. While there is some disagreement around this assessment, most will concur that continuing soil degradation at current rates will further exacerbate climate change and exhaust our global capacity to grow food for the world's burgeoning 7 bill...
Feb 12, 2021•58 min
“Sustainable Palm Oil” is deceiving and does not ensure ethical ingredients. Palm oil is everywhere – in our foods, cosmetics, cleaning products, and fuels. It’s a source of huge profits for multinational corporations, while at the same time destroying the rich biodiversity of tropical rainforests and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and small landholders. Displacement of indigenous Peoples, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity are all consequences of our palm oil consumption. Thus, the ...
Feb 05, 2021•58 min
An agreement announced in November 2020 paves the way for demolition of four hydroelectric dams on the Lower Klamath River, the largest dam demolition in U.S. history. This would reopen hundreds of miles of waterway along the Oregon-California border to Chinook and Coho Salmon restoration, critical and sacred to tribes but have dwindled to almost nothing in recent years. In this episode, Regina Chichizola, Co-Director of Save California’s Salmon [https://www.californiasalmon.org/] and Sammy Gens...
Jan 28, 2021•58 min
In this episode, hear from emboldened and empowered youth activists, Alexis (Lex) Saenz and Yulu Wek of the International Indigenous Youth Council [http://www.indigenousyouth.org]. Listen to their stories of reclaiming and living into their cultural identities, empowering community, preparing for non-violent direct action, engaging in artivism, fulfilling the 7 Demands for 7 Generations, modeling circular leadership, prayerfully serving Mother Earth, and training up youth to potentiate themselve...
Jan 07, 2021•1 hr 3 min
TUNE IN to Part 3 of “The Amazon Defenders.” In this episode, we focus on the Eastern Amazon and the Brazilian Rainforest where the issues of deforestation, road development, forest fires, cattle ranching, land invasion, soy farming, mining, and COVID-19 are integrally impacting the health and viability of the rainforest and its peoples. We hear about the vital stewardship by an Indigenous-led movement for human and environmental rights, and efforts to demand accountability for the six US-based ...
Dec 17, 2020•1 hr 5 min
The urgency of our times is leading a “back to the land” consciousness shift inspired by Indigenous worldviews where urban people once again grow their own food and reconnect to the natural cycles of sun, water and soil. Regenerative agriculture refers to a type of farming that employs a culture of reciprocity, respect, and interrelations with all beings, going beyond organic to actively regenerate the ecosystem while supporting healthy, thriving communities. Listen to Eric Tomassini and Ali Gre...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 3 min
EcoJustice Radio celebrates the land and water protectors of the Amazon Rainforest in a Four-Part series called Amazon Defenders. In Part Two, we investigate the story of New York based attorney Steven Donziger [http://donzigerdefense.com] who represented Ecuadorian communities demanding justice from Chevron-Texaco for one of the largest-ever oil disasters, where they deliberately dumped more than 16 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous...
Dec 03, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Native peoples have used the tool of fire as medicine. Fire was understood to be a spirit, a healer and sacred in its own right. Traditional Native controlled burning, called cultural fire, utilizes ancient agro-forestry practices, technology developed through time by the Karuk tribe and Indigenous Peoples around the world. Tune in to hear Elizabeth Azzuz, Secretary of Cultural Fire Management Council, discuss her work using Traditional Native Karuk methods of prescribed burning to protect fores...
Nov 27, 2020•1 hr 1 min
EcoJustice Radio celebrates the land and water protectors of the Amazon Rainforest in a Four-Part series called Amazon Defenders. We begin Part One in the Western Amazon to understand how activists are confronting the dirty legacy of oil extraction, stopping the expansion of new oil leases, and protecting the rainforest biodiversity. Our guest Paul Paz y Miño, Associate Director of Amazon Watch [https://amazonwatch.org/], provides an overview of the rich significance of the Amazon, expands upon ...
Nov 19, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Today we seek to gain a broader understanding of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Though a Russia- and Turkey-backed ceasefire agreement was signed, the people of Armenia are unhappy as it cedes a significant portion of the southern part of the Republic of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh). On Sept. 27, 2020 Azerbaijan attacked the disputed territory and a proclaimed independent region, the Republic of Artsakh. The historical and unresolved conflict over this mountainous regio...
Nov 06, 2020•1 hr 9 min
