Meet the environmental and social justice changemakers who are taking on the world’s wicked problems head-on with new and inventive solutions.
You will come away inspired and hopeful.
Episode 13 – Nonprofit Activism 101
Guest: Joel Diringer, Diringer & Associates
Sponsor: Biodiversity First!
What type of political activism can nonprofit organizations engage in without running afoul of the IRS? Joel Diringer of Diringer & Associates will lead us through the types of lobbying and promotion nonprofits can safely do.
Episode 12: Transforming Communities with City Repair
Guest: Mark Lakeman
Sponsor: SLO Talk
City Repair is a Portland-based nonprofit that facilitates artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking through projects that honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world. Join us as we talk to Mark Lakeman, founder of City Repair.
Episode 11: Roadmap to 100% Renewables
Guest: Mark Z. Jacobson
Sponsor: SLO Talk
Stanford Professor Mark Z. Jacobson discusses his roadmaps to convert 139 countries to 100% wind, water and sunlight for all energy purposes. Prof. Jacobson has testified before Congress and governmental agencies on this subject, was a guest on the Letterman show and spoke at the 2020 Central Coast Bioneers Conference. Hear how we can achieve energy security and a healthier planet.
Episode 10: Dreaming the Salinas
Guest: Devin Best
Sponsor: Spokes for Nonprofits
Known as the “upside-down river,” the Salinas River has its source in San Luis Obispo County and runs north to empty into Monterey Bay. The river and its two tributaries are dammed by three dams, creating difficulties for native steelhead trout to come upstream to spawn. Polluted with agriculture runoff and choked with invasive species, the Salinas River is one of the most degraded rivers in California. What is being done to improve the situation for the river and its inhabitants? Devin Best, Executive Director of the Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District will talk about efforts to create a watershed management plan to save the river.
Episode 9: Supporting Our Dreamers
Guest: Adrienne Garcia-Specht
Sponsor: Spokes for Nonprofits
Adrienne Garcia-Specht, Steering Committee Member for the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success, will explain the Coalition’s mission of creating social change to ensure educational equality for all students, and how they help undocumented students achieve their goals of graduation and college.
Episode 8: San Luis Obispo is Going Carbon Neutral by 2035
Guest: Mayor Heidi Harmon and Sustainability Manager Chris Read
Sponsor: Creative Design Graphics
In 2018, San Luis Obispo city leaders set an ambitious target date for achieving carbon neutrality: 2035. This is a decade sooner than the same goal set by former Governor Jerry Brown for the State of California. How are they going to do this? Our guests Heidi Harmon and Chris Read will talk about how they were able to get the initiative adopted and how they plan to implement it.
Episode 7: Stories That Change the World: The Work of the Population Media Center
Guest: William Ryerson, President of Population Media Center
Sponsor: Law Office of Michael R. Jencks
Population Media Center created powerful TV and radio shows that catalyze social norm change, helping more than 500 million people in over 50 countries live healthier lives. William Ryerson, President of PMC tells how they do it and shares stories of success.
Episode 6: Toward an Ecological Civilization
Guest: Eileen Crist, author and associate profession in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at Virginia Tech.
Sponsor: Volumes of Pleasure
Eileen discusses her latest book, “Abundant Earth,” in which she calls for a profound shift in the way humanity is addressing the extinction crisis.
Eileen Crist: http://www.eileencrist.com/
Episode 5: Running a Sierra Club Chapter
Guest: Andrew Christie, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Santa Lucia Chapter
Sponsor: Outside Now
Grassroots environmental activism is hard work. Monitoring local media, writing op ed pieces and letters to the editor, attending city council and county supervisors meetings, supervising targeted litigation and promoting green initiatives are all part of the job. Andrew Christie, Executive Director of a small Sierra Club chapter based in San Luis Obispo, describes his typical day.
Episode 4: Meet California’s The Wildlands Conservancy
Guest: Landon Peppel, Northern California Conservation Director
Sponsor: Soil Harmonics
The Wildlands Conservancy is California’s largest nonprofit nature preserve system, offering free admission to nature lovers and families. Biologist Landon Peppel will tell us about the mission and projects of TWC and what it is like to work in the conservation field.
Episode 3: The Life of an Environmental Author
Guest: Mary Ellen Hannibal, Author and Journalist
Sponsor: Volumes of Pleasure Bookshoppe
Environmental and science author Mary Ellen Hannibal describes her life and work and how the sixth extinction brought her to this work. Mary Ellen is the author of Citizen Scientist, The Spine of the Continent and Evidence of Evolution.
Episode 2: Empowering Communities with Cool Block
Guest: David Gershon, CEO of Empowerment Institute
Sponsor: Beth Alexander Web Designs
Cool block is a how-to guide for communities to tackle climate change one neighborhood at a time. It offers a vision of what is possible for our cities and planet and the tools to achieve it. The program puts information into action to increase the quality of life for residents of a block while contributing to the viability of our planet’s life-support system.
Bhutan is a fairly new democracy. Its constitution requires 60% of the country be kept in national forests, and measures Gross National Happiness instead of Gross Domestic Product. Kinga Tshering of Bhutan tells us the story of how the 4th King of Bhutan coined the term and insisted the country put these measures in place to promote the happiness of its citizens.Recorded and produced at SLO Talk Podcasting Studio, Atascadero, CA
Our theme music is Earth Child by Robin Liepman