Here is your shot of Climate Change Hope

If you are concerned about climate change, it can get downright weary on a regular basis. But these days even with so many dire reports and the seeming inattention of most of the world, I am feeling hopeful. There are people doing things–big and small–to address the climate crisis. This goes well beyond simply lowering our carbon footprints. I see people reaching out, being creative, connecting with friends and lawmakers.

Peterson Toscano–Hope Pusher.

And while the world of podcasting seems small, and I wonder how a little podcast can make a difference, I feel compelled to carry on. Episode 31 of Climate Stew will air on Monday and there are short clips you can hear over at SoundCloud. Also, about a month ago I had an excellent talk with Amy, the host of a new podcast called Hello Climate Change. She is talking out of her own experience as a white, middle class woman in New England trying to grapple with the reality of a changing planet. She has great guests on the show. So definitely check her out.

A new podcast of one woman’s journey and climate change. Hear it here.

In the last episode of Climate Stew I thought about all of the unseen work that gets done in building a movement and in changing the world. Much gets unnoticed and uncelebrated. So in a special edition of That Day in Climate History, Timothy Meadows highlights the quiet work that YOU are doing.

Imagining a Better Future

As someone who reads a lot about climate change, it can get downright depressing. If the science wasn’t bad enough, we have dysfunctional leaders. The vast majority of lawmakers can’t even agree to change the name of a post office let along pass legislation to address the climate crisis. Those of us doing climate work need each other to keep from growing weary and overwhelmed. And we need to regularly stir up hope along with visions of a better future.

A regular segment of the Climate Stew Podcast is a broadcast from the future, 150 years into the future. From the year 2165 Timothy Meadows, with an other worldly voice, shares That Day in Climate History. A historian, Meadows looks back to our time, to us–the Climate Generation–to consider the many things, big and small, we did to rise to the occasion and address global warming.

These segments are based on research and current work that people are doing along with imaginings of what various groups of people might well do. I consider faith communities, LGBTQ, mothers, teenagers, and even pet owners. I weave in humor and even add a little ad from the year 2165 so that you can find out what future generations are consuming.

Here are some samples of That Day in Climate History. Perhaps they will help you see that a hopeful future is within our grasp.

Wait even pollution in America racist?!?

Jacqui Patterson from NAACP

I love Marty Moss-Coane, the host of Radio Times on WHYY. Some years ago she had me on the show to talk about gay reparative therapy. Seeing her in action in the studio and how she was both informed about the topic and able to switch gears quickly, impressed me. Since then I have listened regularly to her program and continually learn about food, politics, culture, and race.

Marty just hosted an excellent episode that looks at Minorities, Climate Change, and the Environmental Movement. For the work we do here at Climate Stew this is essential listening. The guests she brought on the show spoke about the intersection of race and pollution and how a recent Supreme Court ruling over EPA regulations directly affects people of color in America. It is an important critique of the environmentalist movement, and the guests offer ideas of how to move forward. I urge you to listen to this episode of Radio Times.

Minorities, Climate Change, and the Environmental Movement

Guests: Aaron Mair, Jacqui Patterson, and Adrianna Quintero

When you think of an environmentalist, what comes to mind? The image of a young, white person? Since the emergence of the environmental movement in the 1970s, green groups have been led almost exclusively by white men and women despite active participation by minority members and efforts to remedy this problem. In this hour of Radio Times, we take a look at racial and ethnic diversity in the environmental movement and the disproportionate impact that climate change has on minorities with AARON MAIR, the new president of the Sierra Club, JACQUI PATTERSON, the director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, and ADRIANNA QUINTERO, senior attorney and director of Latino Outreach for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Aaron Mair

Adrianna Quintero

How Queer! Climate Change as an LGBTQ Issue

When I first began to ask the question What is a Queer Response to Climate Change? I got lots of blank stares and worried looks. Some of my friends may have thought I lost it. But these days people are actually asking me about possible queer responses to climate change. Recently I sat down with Tyler Sit, a leader at A Place to Start, a Twin Cities church that focuses on environmental justice. He asked me to explain myself. And so I did.

Archive: July 24, 2015

Here is your shot of Climate Change Hope

In the last episode of Climate Stew I thought about all of the unseen work that gets done in building a movement and in changing the world. Much gets unnoticed and uncelebrated. So in a special edition of That Day in Climate History, Timothy Meadows highlights the quiet work that YOU are doing.

Imagining a Better Future

Wait even pollution in America racist?!?

Minorities, Climate Change, and the Environmental Movement

How Queer! Climate Change as an LGBTQ Issue