As climate advocates, we need to articulate what it is we are fighting for. What is the world we want to create? Engaging our imagination is essential to stirring up the kind of hope and excitement that inspires others to action. 

In this episode of Citizens’ Climate Radio, three guests join us to help unleash our imagination potential: Hannah Pickard from the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation; Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, a leader in environmental health research and board member of Citizens’ Climate Education and Physicians for Social Responsibility; and Sean Dague, a software engineer by day, a CCL group leader, and an En-ROADS Climate Simulation tool ambassador. 

These three guests conduct a thought experiment: Can you imagine a world without fossil fuels? What will it look, smell, sound, and feel like? 
You will also hear three new voices who have joined the Citizens Climate Radio team. Ruth Abraham, Lila Powell, and Zach Torpie are each recent college graduates. They share their reactions and responses to what Sean and Hannah have to say about engaging our imaginations in our climate change work. 

You can imagine this, too! Share your answers with host Peterson Toscano. Leave a voicemail at 518.595.9414. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.) You can email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org

Once we are able to notice, accept and get help where we need it, we are more able to take action in ways that support our well-being.  Which brings us to our focus today on the next step: Practice.

Tamara Staton is the Education and Resilience Coordinator for Citizens Climate Education, and in this installment of the Resilience Corner she helps us to ask for the help we need.  
Get more tips and resources by visiting The Resiliency Hub.
https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics/resilience-hub

Unleashing Our Imaginations for Climate Change Solutions

In this episode we look at climate stories that reveal the impacts of climate solutions.  

There are three different types of Climate Solution Impact stories you can tell.
1. The Current Solution Success Story
2. The Future Solution Success Story
3. The Solution Motivation Story

Read a full transcript of this episode: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/t6sa8w/How_to_Tell_a_Climate_Change_Solution_Storybc56q.pdf

For examples of Current Climate Change Solution Success Stories, we hear from Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz and Yale Climate Connections. 
A new solar-powered car designed to travel up to 40 miles on sunshine alone: That’s enough to cover many people’s daily commutes.

Eight states, 30 cities team up to reduce flooding threat along the Mississippi: They’ve partnered with Ducks Unlimited to restore more than 60 wetlands that will hold floodwaters during storms.

To hear and read more of these stories visit Yale Climate Connections. 
https://yaleclimateconnections.org

The Future Climate Change Solution Success Story
 For examples of these, head over to the Clifi Imaginarium. Allison Whitaker tells us about the ways they take seemingly dry information about solutions, and turn them into compelling stories. Check out www.WithManyRoots.com to read these Cli-fi solution stories and to learn about the free monthly Introduction to Climate Fiction on-line workshops. 

The Climate Change Solution Motivation Story
This story reveals why I am motivated to do the climate work I am doing. The story itself may not seem to have anything to do with climate change. Still this story goes right to the heart of my work. I will tell you one of my climate solution motivation stories. 

Citizens Climate Radio host, Peterson Toscano, shares one of his motivation stories, and shows us how to then pivot to climate change solutions and specific meaningful action. 

Check out our full show notes: 
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/blog/category/podcast/
Tha Art House
Alan Gratz has written nearly 20 books for young adults including PRISONER B-3087, about  World War Two holocaust survivor and Refugee, which weaves togethers stories of three children from three countries escaping their countries in search of a new home.  In his latest book, Two Degrees, Alan takes on climate change.
He tells us about the challenges he had to overcome in writing about climate change, and how this book was much harder to write than his previous ones. He also gives us a reading from the book. 
13-year-old Juno gives a review of Two Degrees. Learn more: https://www.alangratz.com/

Resilience Corner
Tamara Staton is the Education and Resilience Coordinator for Citizens Climate Education, and in this installment of the Resilience Corner she helps us to ask for the help we need.  
Get more tips and resources by visiting The Resiliency Hub.

How to Tell a Climate Change Solution Story

In this episode of Citizens Climate Radio we will consider stories that focus on the impacts of climate change. These include incidents of extreme weather, and stories of changes you have witnessed over time and the ways these changes affect you and everything and everyone you love. Plus you will hear one climate solution story from the future. 

Most importantly, you will hear an example of “the climate story pivot.” The pivot happens when you jump off of your story into the climate solution you are proposing.

For full notes visit: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/blog/category/podcast/

What you will learn in this episode

---We can tell effective climate stories. 
---The most common story is  the climate change impact story--A story that reveals the dangers of climate change induced extreme weather and other impacts on our lives and the world. 
---Make your story compelling with specific details and emotions.
---Once you tell your story, switch to the climate change pivot. This is when you connect your story to the climate work you are doing or a particular solution you are pursuing.
---Finally, give them something to do. Suggest a meaningful and achievable next step. 

An extreme weather story by Dr. Natasha DeJarnett
Dr. DeJarnett is an assistant professor in the Christina Lee Brown Environment Institute at the University of Louisville Division of Environmental Medicine. She researches the health impacts of extreme heat exposure and environmental health disparities. If you ever heard one of Dr. DeJarnett’s presentations, you know she is excellent at sharing data and highlighting the many ways we can protect our loved ones and communities. She is also a powerful storyteller. For this episode she tells us a dramatic story from when she was 12 years old.  

Poems about parenting and climate change by Lilace Mellin Guinard. 
As a parent, Lilace Mellin Guinard weaves in emotions that may be familiar to some listeners.  For The BTS Center in Portland, Maine, Lilace led a poetry workshop for climate change leaders. She recorded readings of her poetry, and Citizens Climate Radio host Peterson Toscano  added music and sound effects. You will hear Lilace read two poems, “After the Magi Depart'' and “Evergreen.” For people in North America who enjoy winter weather and feel a pang about the warming of warming winters, Lilace expresses both grief and determination. 

A story from the future by Allison Whitaker
Peterson collaborated with Allison Whitaker, one of the facilitators of the Intro to Climate Fiction Workshop offered by With Many Roots. She wrote a story immersed in a solution. Together they created a radio drama version of her story Forest at the End of the Lane. 

Next month we will do a deep dive into another type of climate change story--a story that reveals the impacts of climate change solutions. 
Do you want to learn more about climate storytelling and get some experience in a group? 

Resilience Corner
Tamara Staton is the E

What is an Effective Climate Change Story?

Julio Victor Cochoy Alva grew up in Guatemala and speaks about his mountain village with great affection. It is a place of beauty. It also continues to be a site of deep trauma. In fact, you will hear details about the war Julio witnessed as a boy. These mountainous communities were often hidden away. Many times you could only reach them through narrow mountain trails on horseback. As a result, Julio was shielded from a major conflict happening in Guatemala. A Civil war broke out in 1960 five years before he was born.

This content may not be suitable for all audiences.

Julio talks about the impacts the Guatemalan Civil had on indigenous people, the land, and communities. Today he is a witness to the impacts of climate change. He talks about the ways these impacts are similar and how they are different. He raises important questions. When it comes to Climate Change, who is the enemy? Who do we resist? How do we make peace and pursue justice?

10 years ago, Julio and his partner Doris Kizinna began World Pilgrim Global Education. Though the Covid-19 Pandemic interrupted tours to Guatemala, they will resume in February 2023.  Learn how individuals, families and groups can visit Julio’s village. https://worldpilgrim.ca/

Originally from Sweden Anne Therese Gennari came to New York City to speak up about the issues that moved her. First step, become a model. She quickly learned the model agencies wanted her to keep her mouth shut. She was there to represent the brand, not speak her truth. 

From a young age Anne Therese Gennari felt connected to the natural world. She carried this passion for sustainability and caring for the planet into her adulthood. She realized if she wanted to speak out as a model, she needed to create a new kind of model agency, one that makes room for models with a message..  

Anne Therese talks about challenges facing social media influencers and gives practical tips on being authentic and true to yourself. She also produces the Climate Optimist newsletter. She agreed to read an excerpt from her upcoming book, The Climate Optimist--How to shift the narrative on climate change and find the courage to choose change.
https://rolemodelsagency.com/
https://theclimateoptimist.substack.com/
https://www.theclimateoptimist.com/book

NEW Resilience Corner
Tamara Staton  is the Education and Resilience Coordinator for Citizens Climate Education, and in this installment of the Resilience Corner she has us consider what we need. 

What you need and want is exactly that - at least for right now.  While there’s nothing wrong with wanting or even trying to change those needs and wants, you’re likely not going to get very far in this moment when what you actually need is acceptance.

Next month Tamara will take a closer look at asking for help.  Get more tips and resources by visiting The Resiliency Hub.https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics/resilience-hub

Our good news story is about a billionaire who is giving his billions to

Bearing Witness and Speaking Up with Julio Cochoy & Anne Therese Gennari

In today’s show we will talk about resiliency for you and me as individuals doing climate work. You will learn about ways you can prepare yourself for a variety of emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and even physical impacts you may experience as a climate worker. 

Laureline Simon is the founder and executive director of One Resilient Earth, an international non-profit organization that designs transdisciplinary educational projects for communities impacted by climate change, youth and sustainability professionals, to respond to the climate and biodiversity crises through resilience, regeneration and transformation.To help meet the emotional needs of fellow climate workers, Laureline now hosts a weekly on-line gathering. The hour-long Climate Workers Circle takes place every Tuesday at 2:00 pm Eastern Time.

The Art House
In the Art House American photographer and poet, Susan Currie tells us about a new book she wrote for fellow artists, especially when we feel stuck. In Super Flow she provides insights, practices, and practical advice on how to maintain a fresh, creative, sustainable artistic flow. 

Susan Currie is a West Palm Beach-based poet with a camera. Her words and images have been widely exhibited and published. She met her muse some time ago when she discovered the ancient eight-limbed practice of yoga. Its way of life continues to inform and imprint the art she makes.Her new works of visual art are on exhibit in a number of private collections, and at Chase Edwards Contemporary in Bridgehampton, NY.

NEW Resilience Corner
Tamara Staton premieres the first in series designed to help us stay strong and focused in our climate work. Tamara is the Education and Resilience Coordinator for Citizens Climate Education, and in this first installment of the Resilience Corner, she outlines for us the Five Steps to Resilience Building. 

-Notice what you're needing, feeling or experiencing right now. 
-Accept that what you need is what you need.  Allow yourself to be free from judgment about what that means about you or your upbringing or your surroundings.
-Seek Help with those needs that you struggle to meet yourself. 
-Practice meeting your needs. It will naturally look different for everyone. And, It may take some trial and error to see what will meet your needs and how. 
-Repeat these five steps regularly.

Good News Report
Flannery Winchester, communications director at Climates Climate explains that while the Inflation Reduction Act will not solve all of our climate change problems, it is a significant step with benefits for all American citizens on the Right, Left, and Center. 
 
If you have Good News to share, email radio @ citizensclimate.org

Building Personal Resilience in Your Climate Work

When it came to US climate policy, as a high school student, Adrian Rafizadeh strongly opposed one of the first major attempts by the Democrats. The Green New Deal was introduced in 2019 spearheaded by the progressive US member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC.  The Green New Deal on the table got a lot of Conservatives thinking, talking, and writing about climate change, including Adrian. 

While writing a paper for a class, Adrian sought to debunk the Green New Deal. In doing so, Adrian suddenly saw the issue of climate change differently. He recognized the seriousness of the problem the USA and the world face, and he decided he needed to do something about it. That set Adrian on a quest to find a way to address climate change that also fits into his world view and politics. Adrian politically leans right, and he is a member of the Republican party. 

Adrian, a child of Iranian immigrants, shares his climate journey with us. He reveals how he found his way into a climate organization, and he tells what Progressives who want to engage Conservatives in climate conversations can do to open up a dialogue. He talks about one of his favorite climate solutions, carbon fee and dividend. 

If you want to hear more conservatives talking about climate, check out RepublicEN’s EcoRight Speaks Podcast.

The Art House

Randi Hacker is the author of the children’s book,  Life on a Different Planet, A Climate Crisis Handbook. The book opens with words in large bold letters that spell out, Welcome to the End of the World. Turn the page to see someone edited the sign to say, Welcome to Beginning of the New World. 

Since the early 1990s, Randi has published books and magazines designed to help young people learn about environmental issues and climate change. In the Art House she explains how with all her work she seeks to be honest with young people about the problems we face while also giving them ideas for concrete actions they can take. 

Life on a Different Planet, A Climate Crisis Handbook is full of original art work by Ron Barrett, the artist who illustrated the award winning book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The illustrations bring a sense of whimsy and playfulness to book while also helping readers come close to hard realities.  https://www.homeplanetbooks.com/life-on-a-different-planet

Other Resources for Children and Parents
Citizens’ Climate Education Presents Climate Classroom! This is a flexible, multi-disciplinary middle school curriculum. http://cclusa.org/curriculum

What Do We Tell the Children? Episode four of Climate Changed featuring Pacific Islander poet Craig Santos Perez. Ben Yosua Davis chats with P Craig about parenting in a climate changed world. https://thebtscenter.org/climate-changed/podcast-season-one-episode-3/

Transcript of show: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/fdimb3/CCR_75_Adrian_Rafizadeh--Young_Conservative_Pursuing_Climate_Solutionsa6m8a.pdf

Good News Report
We have two Good News Reports. Nate Aber

Adrian Rafizadeh--Young Conservative Pursuing Climate Solutions

EJ Baker (they/them)  and Rae Binstock (she/her) tell us about Good Energy Stories, a story consultancy for the age of climate change. Their mission is to inspire, support, and accelerate stories in scripted TV and film that reflect the world we live in now —and help us envision a better tomorrow. 

Learn more at www.goodenergystories.com

They talk about the kind of stories and approaches to storytelling that move audiences to feel empathy for those suffering and an enthusiasm for solutions that make the world a better place.  

Rae Binstock is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include That Heaven’s Vault Should Crack (The New Group, Lark Development Center, T. Schreiber’s Studios), Land of No Mercy (Landing Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, Princess Grace finalist), and WALKERS (The Shelter, O’Neill Conference semifinalist, Jerome Fellowship finalist). Her work has appeared in Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Jewish Plays Project, and the Fresh Fruit Festival, among others. Rae’s pilot Homecoming was selected for the 2020 WriteHer List, and she is a two-time semifinalist for the Sundance Episodic Lab.

Rae is a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Rita Goldberg Playwrights Workshop Fellow at the Lark, and a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow. She has attended numerous residencies, including the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, PLAYA Summer Lake, and the Ragdale Foundation. Rae served as the Writers’ Assistant on both FX Networks’ FOSSE/VERDON and Apple+’s shows Schmigadoon and IF/THEN. She is also one of the two authors of the Climate Storytelling Playbook, a writing guide for climate change stories published by Good Energy. She lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Black Cat.

As creative director, EJ Baker talks about the unique color palette they chose for the Good Energy website. They explain why you will not find a spot of green anywhere! They are a co-founder of Maybe Ventures, an art and strategy collective focused on envisioning more just, sustainable, and beautiful new worlds. EJ’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Variety, Typewolf, and Fonts in Use. Hailing from the forests of upstate New York, they now live amongst the urban cottontails and sidewalk dandelions of Somerville, MA.

Using Stories and Visual Design to Tell Compelling Climate Stories with Good Energy Stories

Speaking with five different guests, host, Peterson Toscano, takes a deep dive to explore how climate change and extreme weather affect lesiban, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-binary, and queer (LGBTQ+) people. 

Leo Goldsmith (he/him) is one of the co-authors of Queer and Present Danger: Understanding the Disparate Impacts of Disasters on LGBTQ+ Communities. Together with Dr. Michael Mendez, Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning and Policy at the University of California, Irvine Vanessa Raditz from Out in Sustainability who is a PhD student at the University of Georgia, they researched the unique vulnerabilities of this community in disaster relief; the myth of gay affluence; how faith-based groups have a history of discriminatory practices in disaster relief; how cohesive is the LGBTQ community and how race is a problem even in LGBTQ groups. Leo also provides practical ways community members and leaders can build stronger, more resilient LGBTQ+ communities that can bounce back from extreme weather events. 

Nokwanda Maseko (she/her/they) is a South African economist who identifies as a Queer Black person. As senior economist at Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies, she has written position papers about what a just transition can look like, especially for women and the large sector of the Black South African population who because of unemployment and informal employment are not often part of the conversations around just transition. 

Isaias Herandez (he/him) aka Queer Brown Vegan was born in Los Angeles, California, also known as Tongva Land. As someone who grew up in a community that faced environmental injustices, Isaias developed an interest to learn about his environment. Living in Section 8 affordable housing, using food stamps growing up, and witnessing pollution affect his body. Isaias turned his anger and sadness to becoming an environmental educator. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He works on a variety of diversity inclusion work in environmental spaces, academic research, and creative work. Isaias’ work is centered on environmental justice with a lens of localization. Isaias works as a full-time content creator and public speaker on QueerBrownVegan.
The Art House

EJ Baker (they/them)  and Rae Binstock (she/her) tell us about Good Energy Stories, a story consultancy for the age of climate change. Their mission is to inspire, support, and accelerate stories in scripted TV and film that reflect the world we live in now–and help us envision a better tomorrow. 

They talk about the kind of stories and approaches to storytelling that move audiences to feel empathy for those suffering an enthusiasm for solutions that make the world a better place.

Good News Report
Leo Goldsmith tells us about QReady, a new resource created by Out for Sustainability (Out4S.) Qready began as a disaster-preparedness packing list specific for the LGBTQ+ community, which you can access

LGBTQ+ Responses to Climate Change

We are celebrating the sixth anniversary of Citizens Climate Radio, and a big theme you will hear in this episode is about break-throughs and transformations. From the very beginning, Citizens Climate Lobby’s mission has been to create the political will for a livable world by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power. That was definitely the theme in the very first interviews Citizens Climate Radio’s host, Peterson Toscano, conducted with Marshall Saunders, founder of CCL, and Mark Reynolds, the organization’s first executive director. 

Peterson decided to revisit these interviews, remaster them, and share them with you. Marshall and Mark’s personal stories of transformation are inspiring and at times hilarious, especially when they talk about the first tentative and even ridiculous steps they took to start the organization. Their belief in the power of everyday people doing extraordinary things will move you. In fact, you may want to have some tissues nearby as you listen to Marshall and Mark share their stories, and the story of Citizens Climate Lobby’s beginnings. 

From the recent past we bring the story forward to today. You will meet one of the newest Citizen’s Climate staff members. Steffanie Munguía is a PhD student researching Coastal Wetlands Management in the Caribbean, her first home. She gives us an update of the many ways the organization has changed over the years all while staying faithful to CCL’s core values of Optimism, Integrity, Relationships, Personal Power, Diversity, and a constant commitment to bipartisanism.

The Art House
Singer/Songwriter Jodi Heights was moved to write a song about our world, which is being rocked by the impacts of climate change. In The Iceberg she imagines an alien classroom in the future looking back to the history of earthlings and the lessons they can draw from human error. Jodi tells us about The Iceberg and then performs it for us. https://jodiheights.com/

Good News Report
You will hear about a brand new climate curriculum for schools. It will provide engaging, informed, and action-driven lessons for middle-school teachers and students. Sharon Bagatell, Citizens Climate’s National Youth Action Team Coordinator first announced the completion of the new curriculum at this month’s Citizens Climate International Conference. She tells us about the project and just how special the curriculum will be for teachers and learners.

Beginnings & Transformations with Marshall Saunders, Mark Reynolds, and  Steffanie Munguía

In today’s show we hear from Conservatives who are concerned about climate change. Not only are they concerned, they are engaged in meaningful action. Hannah Rogers, Trevor Jones, and Kaleb Christensen are three young people with ties to the State of Utah who are part of a growing movement in that State. They are each members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Fusing faith, hope, love for humanity and all nature, these young Conservative Christians are finding their places in the climate movement.

To some they may seem like outliers, Conservatives concerned about climate change. According to a recent Gallup poll of Republican and right-leaning people ages 18-29 reveal that almost two thirds of them acknowledge climate change is caused by humans. Many of these young Conservatives are concerned about this. Older Conservatives though are not on the same page. And Progressives can be dismissive of Conservatives in the climate movement. Hannah, Trevor, and Kaleb believe the LDS Church has a unique role to play in the Republican party and the Conservative movement.

The Art House
You will learn about The Cli-Fi Imaginarium. A group of climate advocates in the UK were tired of so much talk about dreadful climate impacts, and not enough conversations and resources that address actual solutions. They decided that they are over dystopia. Using some of the solutions outlined in Project Drawdown, they organize free monthly on-line workshops for anyone to come and they imagine, What if? https://www.withmanyroots.com/cli-fi-imaginarium/

Our Good News Story today comes from Nate Abercrombie, Conservative Outreach Coordinator for Citizens Climate. He has good news to share with us about a recent event that brought Conservatives from all over the country to Washington, DC to talk about climate solutions.

In other Good News, Eric Fine, the  group leader of the CCL chapter in Greater New Haven, CT told us about a new limited series podcast all about carbon pricing. We hear from Casey Pickett and Naomi Shimberg, hosts of Pricing Nature. https://pricingnature.substack.com/

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Climate Change

In this episode you will hear a lively conversation between our host, Peterson Toscano, and four South African veterinarians. Like many climate advocates, Peterson couldn’t help himself, and asked Kristine and Roy Page along with their friends and fellow veterinarians Adrian and Ashleigh Tordiffe about climate change in South Africa and how it is affecting household pets and wild animals. 

The conversation is rich, informed, and at times hilarious. You will learn about pets in South Africa, and about the many ways animal lovers everywhere can protect their pets from extreme heat, extreme cold, and vector-born illness spread by fleas and ticks. You will hear about the North American ticks that strikes fear in the hearts of all meat-loving South Africans.  

Adrian is an academic and researches wildlife populations, and tells us about the adorable and very loud bush baby (also known as galago.) It is one of the very few nocturnal primate, and has two completely diets. In the rainy season it eats fruits and insects, and in the dry month it consumes plant gums produced by certain trees. Twice a year it has to completely transform its digestion system to accommodate its diet. 

The Art House
Krista Hiser is back with another installment of The Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club. Every few months Krista Hiser shares with us her thoughts about climate-themed literature. This episode Krista looks at the 2010 satirical novel Solar by Ian McEwan. 

Krista is also responding to a hard-hitting research paper Through the Eye of a Needle: An Eco-Heterodox Perspective on the Renewable Energy Transition by Megan K. Seibert and William E. Rees. https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4508

This research reveals just how tricky it is to take on climate change. It is a wicked problem with many moving parts we often do not want to see or acknowledge, but Krista encourages us to see the problems in their fullness so we respond with significant and effective solutions. 

Dr. Krista Hiser is Sustainability Curriculum Coordinator for the University of Hawaii Office of Sustainability, where she facilitates change management, interdisciplinary dialogue, and professional development opportunities for faculty to design, update and transform courses to integrate sustainability across the curriculum. She serves on the advisory board for the Sustainability Curriculum Consortium (SCC) and on the Steering Committee for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

You can read a written version of Krista’s essay at The Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club for Sustainability in Higher Education. medium.com/the-ultimate-cli-fi…-for-sustainability

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change. 

Good News Report

Our good news report comes from State College, PA, the home of Penn State University.  
CCL volunteer Dick Jones and the State College CCL chapter is pleased to report that State College Bureau Council unanimously

Ep 71 Pets, African Wildlife, and Climate Change

Even when he is being serious, comedian, storyteller, and podcast host, Esteban Gast is hilarious. And for climate advocates looking for some hope, perhaps the sweetest spot in the climate change podcast scene right now is Esteban’s new show, Comedians Conquering Climate Change. 

Only 15 minutes each episode, he features fellow comedians who learn along with the listener. The show is made in collaboration with Generation180. 

Comedians Conquering Climate Change is the funniest, friendliest, and shortest podcast addressing today’s critical climate and clean energy topics. Join comedian, writer, and teacher Esteban Gast as he enlists the help of fellow comedians to single-handedly save the planet.

Esteban joins Citizens Climate Radio host, Peterson Toscano, for a lively conversation about the podcast, Esteban’s personal journey into climate communication, and creative ways to engage people who are aware of climate change but do not know where to start. You will also hear excerpts from Esteban’s podcast.

You will laugh, learn, and feel more connected to others taking on climate change.

The Art House

Inspired by Esteban’s comic storytelling, Peterson Toscano shares his own comic story as he grapples with The Weight of Carbon Dioxide and Chihuahuas. He even tries to figure it all out by using his limited math skills, which may be a mistake. How many chihuahua does it take to make a gallon of gasoline? And how can we help people see what is invisible? His math might be a little off, but when it comes to putting a price on carbon, Peterson makes total sense!

Good News Report

Lori Byron a co-chair of the Citizens Climate Health Team,The team has hundreds of CCL health care professionals, along with Robert Byron and Lisa Delbuono. Lori serves the point person between the American Academy of Pediatrics and the AAP Chapter Climate Advocates.

If you have good news you want to share on the show, or if you have an idea for the art house, email Peterson. Radio @ CitizensClimate.org.

Ep 70 Comedy, Climate, and Chihuahuas with Esteban Gast

in episode Episode 9, Quaker activist Eileen Flannagan told us about four roles change agents can play. Advocate, Rebel, Organizer, and Helper. Most of you who listen to Citizens Climate Radio are advocates volunteering your time trying to convince the public and members of congress that we need a price on carbon. You approach congressional members and staff with respect and cordiality as you educate and persuade them to support climate solutions. 

And the rebel? The rebel exists to put pressure on those lawmakers to get them to act. 
This doesn’t mean we all need to use these rebel tactics. 

As Bayard Rustin, the Black Gay Civile Rights leader said,
“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”

In this episode you will hear about UK-based climate change rebel, Caroline Harmon and the non-violent and very disruptive direct actions she and Christian Climate Action use. From kneeling for prayer and halting traffic in front of the Prime Ministers’s residence at 10 Downing Street to holding a worship service outside a coal. They even helped shut down bridges all over London.

ART HOUSE
Today we feature Sophie and Josies Davis, sisters who grew up on the Coast of Maine who after studying classical violin at conservatory, they are back in Maine.  They seek to fuse their love of music and the natural world along with their growing concern for climate change. 

Founding members of Halcyon String Quartet based in Maine, USA, they choose to be good citizens as they remain faithful to their art. In speaking with them, we identified six principles for artists addressing climate change might find helpful. 

1. Know your Stuff 
2. Think Locally
3. Pursue Collaboration 
4. Pivot to Solutions (Focus less on the many horrible impacts of climate change and instead help your audience experience the future with the beneficial impacts of climate solutions in place.)
5. Promote Action (As Katie Patricks, the author of the book and podcast How to Save the World stressed for us on Citizens Climate Radio episode 61—Artists and event organizers have to find ways to offer people the next meaningful step for themselves and their communities. 
6. Remain Faithful to the Art 

LINKS
Christian Climate Action https://christianclimateaction.org
Halcyon String Quartet https://www.halcyonstringquartet.com/

Ep 69 Angelic Trouble Makers—Climate Rebels and Musicians

Deciding what one wants to do and be in life has often been hard for young people in high school and college. Now with a global pandemic in a time of climate change, it is more difficult than ever to answer the questions, What do you want to be when you grow up?

Many graduation speeches exhort us to Pursue our Passions, and many a parent worry that such a pursuit will lead their child into a jobless future.
 
Flannery Winchester was not put off by the concerns of others. She wanted to study English literature. She had no idea her skills and passion would lead her to taking on a national role in communicating to people about climate change. 

As Citizens Climate Lobby’s Communications Director, Flannery Winchester trains and supports volunteers to publish written pieces in local media, appear on TV and radio. She also pitches national media, manages and edits the CCL blog, and keeps our volunteers informed and inspired through social media and regular newsletters.

Flannery came to CCL after content and marketing roles at an email marketing agency, an international software company, and a local women’s magazine in Atlanta. She began volunteering with CCL in 2015 and joined the communications department in 2017. When she’s not working, she’s probably gardening, reading, or spending time outside with her dogs. 
The Art House

Krista Hiser is back with another instalment of the Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club. This time she looks at a book that hits very close to home. She dives into the Pandemic and climate change in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Stations Eleven.

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change

Good News Report

Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz, and this is Climate Connections shares good news. Electric trucks could save lives: Pollution from diesel trucks is associated with health problems, and it disproportionately harms low-income people and communities of color.

Ep 68 An English Major’s Unexpected Journey into Creative Climate Advocacy

Originally from the UK, Caroline moved to Houston, Texas, 18 years ago. She explains that a story about drowned forest thousands of years ago in the UK, along with recent flooding in her city, inspires and informs her artistic work. 

“The installation consists of 60 11-feet high panels, each one representing a year of Houston weather data and encircling the Back BOX like a grove of trees. Each varies in width based on the rainfall intensity, as measured by the number of days on which the total rainfall was greater than three inches: the point at which street flooding occurs. The panel color, from ice-blue to blue-black, represents the average nighttime temperature for that year. At first glance the immersive nature of this cyanotype installation provides a cool environment as Houston temperatures fall into autumn. However, a closer look gives the bigger picture: more shocking than any graph, this forest-like environment shows the story of rising temperatures and intensifying rain events.”

While Caroline started her career as a chemical engineer with the faith that science would save the environment, she soon realized that many fields and talents could contribute to environmental advocacy. 

Caroline has always relied on science, and after crunching the numbers about the future of the country’s coastline due to climate-related flooding, she found herself in a state of horror and shock for weeks.

Caroline wanted people’s jaws to drop when they saw her art, which visualizes the overwhelming information she has seen predicted for the near future. As environmental conditions over time have grown worse, her installation’s fabric coincides, growing heavy and darker and colder as the fabric winds through history and to the present.

Caroline says that viewers were “gobsmacked” by her forest of fabric, and hopes that all who see her piece will contemplate the view of their own life under trees.

For more information on the data behind this installation please continue to the story and data page.

The Art House
For this month’s segment, you will hear a dramatic reading of Kamil Haque’s play, “Confessions of the Little Match Girl to the Star.” Kamil explains that in creating this piece, he chose to fracture a fairy tale, a nursery rhyme and the calling out to one’s “mama.” These common symbols of innocence form the spine of the play. 

To create the heart and soul of this piece, Kamil examined and extracted pieces from the transcripts of Greta Thunberg’s 2019 U.N.'s Climate Action Summit and George Floyd’s final moments in 2020. Through these channels he explores how two people on opposite ends of the age and racial spectrum express grief and anguish at their circumstances. How might their spirit and the spirit of their message live on literally and metaphorically?

“Confessions of the Little Match Girl to the Star” was performed at The BTS Center’s Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 event. It is read by Dr. Natasha

Ep 67 Experiencing climate data through art

Citizens’ Climate Radio host Peterson Toscano speaks with public theologian Jayme R. Reaves and public health expert Dr. Natasha DeJarnett. 

Jayme R. Reaves is the director of academic development at Sarum College in Salisbury, England. She teaches in areas such as biblical studies, and feminist and liberation theology. 

Jayme discusses the roles that scarcity and abundance play in making sure that those most impacted by the environment in the community around us are cared for. She calls on churches to work in their own communities to make congregations aware of sharing with those who don’t have as much.  She's the author of Safeguarding the Stranger: An Abrahamic Theology & Ethic of Protective Hospitality (Wipf & Stock, 2016) and co-editor of When Did We See You Naked?: Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse (SCM, 2021). 

Dr. Natasha DeJarnett is an assistant professor in the Christina Lee Brown Environment Institute at the University of Louisville Division of Environmental Medicine, researching the health impacts of extreme heat exposure and environmental health disparities. Additionally, she is a professorial lecturer in Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Previously, Dr. DeJarnett was the interim associate director of Program and Partnership Development at the National Environmental Health Association, leading research, climate and health, and children’s environmental health. 

Dr. DeJarnett emphasizes that more than ever before, people are being displaced as a result of severe weather phenomena caused by climate change. In 2018, 16 million people were displaced due to climate, 1.2 million of which were American. She points out that in 2020, more hurricanes and tropical storms made landfall than ever before, to the point where letters in the Greek alphabet were being used to name them, as the list of hurricane names had been used up. Dr. DeJarnett says that church communities are presented with the opportunity to provide hospitality more than ever by turning churches into cooling centers, and by educating the community about staying safe through weather phenomena.
 
The Art House
Joining us in the Art House is Dr. Krista Hiser with The Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club. The purpose of the book club is to look at climate-themed literature and consider how it can help us engage differently with interdisciplinary topics and existential threats related to the planetary predicament of climate change. 

In this month’s episode, Krista tells us that the protagonist of “A Rain of Night Birds” is a scientist that also relies on feeling to gauge the environmental phenomena around her. With themes of spiritualism and indigenous culture, this “literature of restoration” focuses on the concept of doing no harm, based on the importance of the world around us.

Good News Report
Our good news comes from Anthony Leiserowitz at Yale Climate Connections. In tune with t

Ep 66 Hospitality in a Time of Climate Change

Kathy Baughman McLeod, SVP, Atlantic Council & Director, Adrienne Arsht - Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center reveals the many risks that come with extreme heat. She also provides multiple solutions, including innovative ways to use insurance to change the way we build and respond to extreme weather.

Kathy Baughman McLeod leads the Center’s work to reach one billion people worldwide with climate resilience solutions by 2030. She also chairs the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance which partners with climate-forward Mayors around the world to appoint Chief Heat Officers. Additionally, Kathy is spearheading the global push to name and categorize heat waves. She was formerly Global Executive for Environmental and Social Risk at Bank of America, Managing Director for Climate Risk & Resilience at The Nature Conservancy, and a Florida Climate Commissioner. She is the recipient of the Duke University Fuqua School of Business 2021 “Leader of Consequence” award.

www.atlanticcouncil.org/

The Art House
Joining us in the Art House is Marissa Slaven. In 2019 we featured her in Episode 33 to talk about her young adult climate themed novel, Code Blue. Now Marissa is back with the squeal, Code Red. She was inspired by her daughter to write this series of eco-fiction thriller, where a teenage girl and her friends battle climate change. I sat down with her to talk about the new book and to hear her read an excerpt. To learn more about Marissa and her books, visit Stormbird Press. https://stormbirdpress.com

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change

Good News Report

Our good news story this month comes from Flannery Winchester, communications director at Citizens Climate Lobby. Because of the many efforts by CCL volunteers, the needle is moving towards carbon fee and dividend as one of the ways to address climate change. She talks about the budget reconciliation process and volunteer lobbying and how politicians and the press are responding.

We always welcome your thoughts, questions, suggestions, good news, and recommendations for the show. Leave a voice mail at 518.595.9414. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.) You can email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org  

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

Ep 65 Extreme Heat and Insurance Solutions with Kathy Baughman McLeod

How does an American Hindu approach the climate crisis? What ancient values and teachings apply to modern life in America today? And how does this relate to LGBTQ issues and public health? Hari Venkatachalam connects his faith, work, heritage, and even his sexual orientation to living in a climate-changed world.

In the episode Hari reveals how extreme weather, which affects everyone, disproportionally impacts LGBTQ homeless youth. Citizens Climate Radio host, Peterson Toscano, explains, 

Up to 40% of youth living on the streets in the United States and Canada are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary. Many of them avoid going to shelters because they assume they will received the same discrimination and hostility they escaped. This is especially true for transgender and gender non-binary young people. This puts them at extra risk during extreme weather events.

Hari Venkatachalam also talks about his faith and the principles handed down to him from his father. Hari is an active member of Sadhana: A Coalition of Progressive Hindus, and his activism focuses on environmental justice, LGBTQ+ issues, and public health. He currently works in Tampa, Florida as a public health researcher for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Kathy Baughman McLeod, SVP, Atlantic Council & Director, Adrienne Arsht - Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, also weighs in to talk about the dangers of extreme heat. 

Joining us in the Art House is Dr. Krista Hiser, with the first in a series of an occasional feature called The Ultimate Cli-Fi Book cCub. The purpose of the book club is to look at climate-themed literature and consider how it can help us engage differently with interdisciplinary topics and existential threats related to the planetary predicament of climate change. 

In this episode Krista reflects on the cli-fi novel, Blaze Island by Catherine Bush, and lets her imagination run wild, as she pulls together some of the greatest minds in climate fiction. 

Dr. Krista Hiser is Professor at Kapiʻolani Community College. Her PhD is in Educational Administration from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She has published on community engagement, service-learning, organizational change, post-apocalyptic and cli-fi literature. 

You can read a written version of Krista’s essay at The Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club for Sustainability in Higher Education on Medium. 

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change

Good News Report

Our good news comes from Anthony Leiserowitz at Yale Climate Connections. You will hear about a new fund which aims to bring more people into the climate conversation.

Ep 64 Hinduism and LGBTQ climate work with Hari Venkatachalam

Chantal Bilodeau tells us about Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) 2021. Founded in 2015, CCTA is a worldwide series of readings and performances of short climate change plays presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings. 

CCTA was originally founded by Elaine Ávila, Chantal Bilodeau, Roberta Levitow, and Caridad Svich following a model pioneered by NoPassport Theatre Alliance. It has since evolved into a U.S.-Canada collaboration between The Arctic Cycle and the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts.

Chantal is a playwright and translator originally from Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal, but now based in New York City, the traditional land of the Lenape People. In her capacity as artistic director of The Arctic Cycle, she has been instrumental in getting the theatre and academic communities, as well as audiences in the U.S. and abroad, to engage in climate action through programming that includes live events, talks, publications, workshops, national and international convenings, and a worldwide distributed theatre festival.

To tell us about one of the plays is Dr Zoë Svendsen, Lecturer in Drama and Performance in the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge. Dr. Svendson’s play comes out of a larger project called Love Letter to a Livable Planet. Through collaboration with members of METIS Arts, Zoe created a short play called Love Out of Ruins, where we get to decide many of the details. 

Think of it as a much more sophisticated version of Mad-Libs with the aim to create a vision of the future worth pursuing. The play begins in the present time and moves forward. You get to decide the details that shape the character’s world.

You can read Love Out of Ruins by Zoë Svendsen at one of your CCL events. In fact, having a group of friends, students, or climate advocates sit and each fill in the lines can be a mind and heart expanding activity.  Then you can share the results at a Climate Change Theatre Action event you host and read some of the plays by the 49 other playwrights from around the world. 

Learn more about how you can get your hands on these plays and host your own event. Visit climatechangetheatreaction.com.

As a podcaster and radio producer, our host, Peterson Toscano listens to many climate change podcasts. Every now and then though he hears a well designed podcast that hits him in the heart and the gut. It becomes a transformative audio experience. This is exactly what happened when he first listened to Claude Schryer’s Conscient podcast. As a sound designer, he is able to reach deep into a listener’s mind and even our bodies. Sound has that power. Peterson chatted with Claude about his podcast and his own journey as an artist addressing climate change. From that recorded conversation, Claude wove in sound effects and personal reflection.  We encourage you to listen with headphones on. 

The conscient podcast / balado conscient is a bilingual series of conversations about arts, conscience

Ep 63 Climate Change Theatre Action 2021

Geraldo Cadava is the author of The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of An American Political Identity, from Nixon to Trump published by Ecco. He chatted with Citizens Climate Radio about the long history of Hispanics and the Republican party. He reveals what is often misunderstood about the political diversity of Latinos in America. The most asked question he gets is why any Latino voted for Donald Trump. He talks about this and a lot more. He also considers the question about Hispanic Republicans and climate change.

Geraldo Cadava is a professor of History and Latina and Latino Studies at Northwestern University. He received a Ph.D. in History from Yale University in 2008, and he received a B.A., also in History, from Dartmouth College in 2000. His areas of expertise are Latino History, the United States-Mexico Borderlands, Latin American immigration to the United States, and American politics. 


Listen Now!
(embed podbean)

The Art House

Over 10 years ago Elli Sparks was struggling to make sense of climate change. She said “…that summer in Virginia  was insanely hot. I remember being in the community pool and when I popped my head out of the water, the water evaporated so quickly I felt downright cold!  I also remember walking with coworkers to the cafeteria and thinking, ‘Why in the world are none of these people alarmed about climate change??!!’”

She was really struggling, so she wrote a story for herself. Tell Me A Story is a conversation between a parent and a child, a story within a story. Elli, who is now Citizens Climate Lobby’s Director of Field Development, has shared the story with friends, fellow climate advocates, and at public gatherings. She gave Citizens Climate Radio permission to turn the story into a short radio play. Tell Me a Story is performed by Zeke and Anna Loomis-Weber. 

Anna Weber-Loomis (she/her) just finished her first year at Sterling College in Vermont. She is studying outdoor education and sustainable agriculture. Zeke Weber-Loomis (she/her) just finished her first year of high school. She spends her free time drawing, playing ukulele, and running cross-country and track.

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change

Good News Report
Hunter Thomas, a Latino and a Conservative Outreach Fellow for Citizens Climate Radio shares good news about productive meetings he is having with CCL’s Latino Action Team. He is excited about reaching out to Latino Conservatives, especially in promoting carbon fee and divided as a bold and effective solution that appeals to the Right and Left.

If you have good news to share, email us radio @ citizensclimate.org

Citizens Climate Radio a Climate Change Podcast

Citizens Climate Radio a Climate Change Podcast

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