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 Water Watch [https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/] and Andy Shrader, Director of Environmental Affairs for Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz [https://councilmemberpaulkoretz.com/] and first ever Climate Emergency Mobilization Department of a city.

More Info: https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/los-angeles-100-percent-renewable-study.html

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/
Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/
Support the Podcast: https://socal350.org/contribute-to-socal-350-climate-action/

Host and Producer: Jessica Aldridge
Engineer: Blake Lampkin
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 98
Image: Unsplash

Path to 100% Renewable Energy: The Los Angeles Model - Ep. 98

In his book “An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States,” Kyle T. Mays [https://www.kyle-mays.com/], Assistant Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at UCLA, argues that the foundations of the United States are rooted in Anti-Black racism and settler colonialism, and that these parallel oppressions continue today. 

In his discussion with EcoJustice Radio, he explores how Black and Indigenous peoples (sometimes together, sometimes apart) have always sought to disrupt, dismantle, and re-imagine US democracy. He uses examples of the Black Power and Red Power movements of the 60s and 70s, as well as collaborations for the Standing Rock Sioux and Black Lives Matter. Dr. Mays’ work seeks to illuminate how we can imagine and put into practice a more just world.

Kyle T. Mays is an Afro-Indigenous (Saginaw Chippewa) writer and scholar of US history, urban studies, race relations, and contemporary popular culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Mays is an author of 3 books, 'Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America' (SUNY Press, 2018), 'An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States' (Beacon Press, 2021), and 'City of Dispossessions: Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, and the Creation of Modern Detroit' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). 

Order 'An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States': http://www.beacon.org/An-Afro-Indigenous-History-of-the-United-States-P1731.aspx

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/
Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/
Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge
Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Episode 123
Photo credit: Kyle Mays

Intersection of Black and Indigenous Resistance & Justice in the United States - Ep. 123

Sacred Sueños Reforestation Project: Off-Grid and Off-Road in the Andes

A simple life. Many of us dream of this. Especially those living separated from the natural rhythms of nature in favor of endless technological conveniences and gadgetry. We are bombarded by a daily onslaught of unnatural sights, sounds, smells, and superfluous information. The fascination with what Henry David Thoreau wrote about his living experiment in simplicity on Walden Pond continues for those perhaps disheartened by the ways of the modern world. But what does it take to actually live a simple life…as Nature? 

Yves Zehnder tells how he ended up off-grid, off-road and offline in a quest to do just that: live simply — to be a conscious contributor, rather than an extractive consumer, a homesteader with a far smaller than average footprint. He co-founded Sacred Sueños [https://sacredsuenos.wordpress.com/] in 2004, a mountain regeneration project, close to Vilcabamba in the Andes mountains of southern Ecuador. 

He recounts his journey to create a home defined by: regeneration, biodiversity, and an abundant, thriving ecosystem. Through permaculture, analog forestry practices, restoring soil fertility, natural building, appropriate technologies, regenerative design and agriculture systems, animal integration, agro-ecology & intentional community. Becoming one with and adapted to Nature by being as Nature, is a life-transforming journey, you just may wish to undertake yourself. 


Yves Zehnder is Steward of the Sacred Sueños Reserve, and Amateur of all trades at the Sierra y Cielo homestead [https://sierraycielo.org/]. He follows a philosophy integrating regenerative design in all aspects of life. He loves creating edible forests and gardens, and raising animals, using ecological mimicry to increase biodiversity and productivity. He still lives on the mountain, raising a young family, and taking his first steps towards ecology inspired consulting and education.


Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/posts/yves-zehnder-on-78646489 


Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ 
Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ 
Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio 

Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Hosted by Carry Kim 
Intro By: Jessica Aldridge
Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 164
Photo credit: Sierra Y Cielo

Sacred Sueños Project: Restoring the Cloudforests of Ecuador

From the Personal Carbon Footprint to a Green New Deal

Massive climate disruption continues to strike all over the world, one disaster after another, droughts, wildfires, typhoons, mega-floods, with glaciers melting and methane escaping from deep under the permafrost. The UN IPCC said we have 12 more years to stabilize greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere to avoid runaway climate change. We need solutions to this problem to spark a climate revolution. Jessica Aldridge speaks with NASA climate scientist and author Peter Kalmus and Sam Berndt also a scientist and a coordinator of the Sunrise Movement Los Angeles.

Peter Kalmus is author of the book 'Being the Change: Live Well and Spark A Climate Revolution'. He is a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and he is speaking on his own behalf. Peter's main research interests are cloud physics and ecological forecasting. He's the recipient of NASA's Early Career Achievement medal and he makes an effort to avoid burning fossil fuel, in order to shift the culture and pave the way for policy-level change. He lives on about a tenth the fossil fuel of the average American, and he enjoys it!
Peter's website: https://beingthechangebook.com/
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/Being-Change-Spark-Climate-Revolution/dp/0865718539

Sam Berndt is an Engineer and the Coordinator for the Sunrise Los Angeles Hub. Sam recently moved from Michigan to LA in order to pursue his dream job as a software engineer at JPL. He is also speaking on his own behalf. When he heard of a direct action at Nancy Pelosi's DC office demanding a Green New Deal, he was inspired to take his own action and help found and organize the Sunrise Los Angeles hub.
Check out Sunrise: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/

Interview by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.
Host and Engineer: JP Morris
Executive Producer: Mark Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 29

Mobilizing a Climate Revolution with Peter Kalmus - Ep. 29

When we get dressed in the morning, most of us don’t consider the environmental costs and human rights issues that may be attached to the clothing on our bodies. Jessica Aldridge interviews two women who have made it their business to not only consider how to clean up the global fashion industry, advocating for environmentally-supportive and equitable solutions to water pollution, pesticides, microfibers, and waste associated with making, washing, and disposing of our clothing.

Bios:
Andrea Plell - For over a decade San Francisco Bay Area based writer and sustainable fashion consultant, Andrea Plell, has fostered community in the effort of supporting systemic change in the apparel industry. In 2016, she co-founded The Sustainable Fashion Alliance a member-based organization designed to empower small and mid-sized sustainable brands with resources, shared opportunities and creative avenues to market. She is also the West Coast Regional Coordinator for Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit international movement that calls for greater transparency in the global supply chain.

 

Jennifer Gilbert is a respected fashion recycling industry expert and is currently the Chief Marketing Officer of I:CO (short for I:Collect), a leading global solutions provider for the collection, sorting, reuse and recycling of apparel, footwear and other textiles. In her role, she works with some of the largest fashion brands to take on end-of-use product responsibility and help them transition towards a more circular fashion industry.


Resources:
Instagram - @jenniferdgilbert @icospirit  @Fash_revusa  @sustainablefashionalliance @ecologiqfashion  
Website - http://ecologiquefashion.com/ https://www.fashionrevolution.org/ https://www.sustainablefashionalliance.com/ https://www.ico-spirit.com/en/

Books - 
Magnifeco: https://www.amazon.com/Magnifeco-Head-Toe-Ethical-Non-toxic/dp/0865717974 
ECOrenaissance: https://www.amazon.com/ECOrenaissance-Lifestyle-Cocreating-Stylish-Sustainable/dp/1501123564
How to Shop for Shi(f)t: https://www.amazon.com/How-Shop-Shi-Shopping-healthier/dp/0692968709

Interview by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.
Engineer: Blake Lampkin
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 30

The Steep Environmental and Social Costs of the Fashion Industry - Ep. 30

Los Angeles is the nation’s garment production capital and the city’s second largest manufacturing sector, yet workers face injustice, usually associated with the developing world, right here in one of the largest cities in the United States.

Unbeknownst to most, sweatshops are a reality in Los Angeles, California and are directly tied to some of the most notable and loved brands. However, accountability and human rights are not always being addressed by these brands and the manufacturers they use.

How are sweatshops and labor practices intrinsically tied to environmental issues?

Our host, Jessica Aldridge, interviews Mar Martinez from the Garment Worker Center a worker rights organization leading an anti-sweatshop movement to secure social and economic justice for tens of thousands of Los Angeles garment workers.

Bio: With two garment workers as parents, Mar Martinez witnessed first-hand the harm that the garment industry creates due to low wages and unsafe working conditions.  As Organizing Coordinator and Wage Theft Clinic Coordinator, Mar has helped recover over $900K in stolen wages for garment workers and fight for greater brand accountability in the garment industry in Los Angeles.

Garment Worker Center is a worker rights organization leading an anti-sweatshop movement to improve conditions for tens of thousands of Los Angeles garment workers. Through direct organizing, GWC develops leaders who demand enforcement of strong labor laws and accountability from factory owners, manufacturers, and fashion brands. We center immigrant workers, women of color, and their families who are impacted by exploitation in the fashion industry. 

Website: http://garmentworkercenter.org/

Interview by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.
Engineer: Blake Lampkin
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 31

Sweatshops: LA’s Dirty Secret & the Fight for Garment Workers with Mar Martinez - Ep. 31

On this episode, Mark Morris speaks with Madeline Merritt, Core Organizer for Public Bank LA and Member of California Public Banking Alliance. She speaks about the campaign supporting AB 857, The Public Banking Act, in an unprecedented partnership between the grassroots and lawmakers. She is a water protector and community organizer who seeks to transform global systems to put the long term interests of people and planet over the short term interests of the few.

Public Banks and the Green New Deal: https://californiapublicbankingalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Public-Banks-and-GND.pdf

https://californiapublicbankingalliance.org/

https://publicbankla.com/

https://www.divestla.com/

Interview by Mark Morris
Host: Jessica Aldridge
Engineer: Blake Lampkin
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 33

Public Banking and the Transition to a Sustainable Economy – Ep. 33

The Global Climate Strikes that happened from 20-27 September 2019, inspired a record 7.6 million people to head into the streets and strike for climate action. The biggest climate mobilization in history. From Jakarta to New York, Karachi to Amman, Berlin to Kampala, Istanbul to Québec, Guadalajara to Asunción, in big cities and small villages, millions of people joined hands and raised their voices in defense of the climate. The Global Climate Strike shows that we have the people power we need to create a just world and end the era of fossil fuels.

The September 20th Los Angeles Youth Climate Strike was organized by a coalition of groups and led by Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles. EcoJustice Radio's Jessica Aldridge and production team joined the action at Downtown LA's Pershing Square, where anywhere from 10-20,000 people gathered for speeches and music, and then all marched through the streets to City Hall. This caused absolute pandemonium on the crowded city streets, but all happened peacefully and with grace from all involved. 

Following are a sampling of the diverse voices out in the streets to demand climate action and an end to the fossil fueled business as usual that is destabilizing the global climate systems, with heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, destructive hurricanes, melting of glaciers, and methane feedback mechanisms spinning out of control. We have to act NOW!

Jessica Aldridge spoke with:

Ash Rosas - Sunrise Movement Los Angeles
Tina Calderon - Gabrielieno Tongva and Ventureno Chumash
Paula Kahn - SoCal 350 Climate Action
Daniel Lopez - Youth Activist
Claire McCarthy - Greenpeace
Diego Johansen - Greenpeace
Former Sen. Kevin De Leon, President Emeritus of CA State Senate
Jesus Villalba Gastelum - Youth Climate Strike LA - Earth Uprising LA

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste
Engineer: Blake Lampkin
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 42

Photo courtesy of Mike Chickey - More: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10216860498399552&type=3

Youth Climate Strike Takes Over Downtown Los Angeles - Ep. 42

In recent years across the world, a groundswell of youth activism is growing, pressuring governments to stand up for social and environmental rights. It can be argued that a surge of youth activism this size has not been seen since the Vietnam War. 

The reasons for unrest are diverse, from fears of worsening climate, violence in schools, political corruption, racial injustice, deportation. A recent UCLA survey found that 1 in 10 undergraduates nationwide expected to partake in protests while in college, the highest rate since 1967.

The youth are rising up and they demand their voices be heard and their presence taken seriously. The youth are the future. Well that future better be livable, equitable, and safe. 

Today we discuss the power of youth-led activism and how our guest is helping to inspire change and build community. We welcome 19-year-old Youth Environmental Activist and one of the lead organizers for Youth Climate Strike LA, Kevin Patel.

Kevin J Patel is from Los Angeles, CA. As a climate activist for over six years, he is also the Founder and Executive Director for the youth-led climate movement, OneUpAction
 
Facebook: Kevin J Patel 
Instagram: @imkevinjpatel
Twitter: @imkevinjpatel
https://www.facebook.com/YouthClimateStrikeLosAngeles/

Resources
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/18/08/student-activism-20

Hosted by Jessica Aldridge from SoCal 350 and Adventures in Waste.
Engineer: Blake Lampkin
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt
Show Created by Mark and JP Morris
Music: Javier Kadry
Episode 48

Photo courtesy of Ben Goloff

Power of Youth-Led Activism: Inspiring Change and Building Community with Kevin Patel - Ep. 48

This song is dedicated to everyone who believes in the survival of humanity and for those who consider themselves not apart of this fight and struggle. Discussing human rights issues as a source of politic is uncalled for. Human rights should be a given and not debated on. Fuck white structures that oppress all people and lands. We are here to uplift the end of capitalism and destroy white supremacist ideology! We will rise through regenerative models!

Fuck White Supremacy 

imma vote w my dollar

26 minutes of music to celebrate my 26th birthday

https://thethoughthere.bandcamp.com/album/thoughtcrime
Please purchase on Bandcamp, where my 14-project discography is available for a limited time at $26.

Dismantle It ft. SOON & Marcus Lee (prod. Beatjack)

EcoJustice Radio presents environmental and climate stories from a social justice frame, featuring voices not necessarily heard on mainstream media.

Our purpose is to amplify community voices, broaden the reach of grassroots-based movements, and inspire action. We investigate solutions for social, environmental, and climate issues with an eye to advance human health, steward wild landscapes, and solve the climate crisis across the USA and the world.

Featured weekly on KPFK Los Angeles and KPFT Houston, and found on all major podcast apps. We are nationally syndicated through the Pacifica Network and PRX and heard on public radio stations across the US and downloaded in over 25 countries.

Co-hosts Jessica Aldridge and Carry Kim present a broad range of perspectives: land defenders and water protectors; front/fenceline communities; youth organizers; ecosystem and land stewards; spiritual and faith leaders; documentary filmmakers; climate scientists; and political decision makers.

EcoJustice Radio [http://EcoJusticeRadio.org] is produced by SoCal350.org since 2017. 

Tune in live to KPFK Radio Fridays from 4 to 5 PM (PST) at 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 93.7 FM North San Diego, 99.5 FM Ridgecrest-China Lake, or KPFK.org. 

We also are featured on KPFT Houston from 4 to 5 PM (CST) at 90.1 FM or KPFT.org.

Sacred Sueños Project: Restoring the Cloudforests of Ecuador

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