Episodes
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There is a large swath of politically aware Americans out there who would like to follow the exhortations of Michelle Obama and “do something,” but the prospect of knocking on people’s doors can be a little daunting. This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Elizabeth Chur, has fully embraced the art of political canvassing, however, and learned to have fun with it. In her new book, The Joy of Talking Politics With Strangers, Chur shares her experiences walking the pavement for policies and candidates she feels passionate about, talks about how to convert non-voters into voters and gives us plenty of valuable tips for canvassing success.
Narrator| 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Elizabeth Chur (EC) | 00:17 - There's something about us as volunteers that we're allowed to go off script a little bit. And to the extent that I can get away from the canned marketing script and make a person-to-person connection, I think really goes a long way to lower people's defenses, engage with them, and build rapport, which is really important.
Narrator | 00:39 - There's a large swath of politically aware Americans out there who would like to follow the exhortations of Michelle Obama and do something, but the prospect of knocking on people's doors can be a little daunting. This week's guest on Sea Change Radio Elizabeth Chur has fully embraced the art of political canvassing, however, and learned to have fun with it. In her new book, The Joy of Talking Politics with Strangers, Cher shares her experiences walking the pavement for policies and candidates she feels passionate about. Talks about how to convert nonvoters into voters and gives us plenty of valuable tips for canvassing success.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:35 I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Elizabeth Chur. She is a swing left San Francisco volunteer, a voter engagement trainer, and author of the new book, the Joy of Talking Politics with Strangers. Elizabeth, welcome to See Change Radio.
Elizabeth Chur (EC) | 01:50 - Thanks so much for having me. I'm delighted to be here.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:55 - The subtitle of your book is How to Save Democracy One Conversation at a Time. It's a really good guide for people who want to be knocking on doors maybe for the first time or haven't had success doing it before.
EC | 02:09 Thank you so much. I wrote this book partly because it's the book that I wish I had when I was starting out. I was not a political activist before 2016. I phone banked maybe every four years for one or two shifts, and I definitely voted in every election, but I figured, you know, I was good and other people that were far more qualified would take care of the heavy lifting, of knocking on doors and making phone calls. And I figured, they're just smarter than I am. They're more capable, they're more informed and they would just handle it. And the 2016 election was a, like a buck vice water in my face. because it really did not work out that way. And I realized that it's up to each of us as citizens to step up and participate. And so, you know, I started with post carding and then I moved on to phone banking and I eventually mustered the courage to go actually knock doors in person. And I learned a lot along the way. And I think one of the biggest surprises was how much I enjoyed it. And I really wanted to share that with other people because I think there is this fear of talking with strangers and particularly talking with them about politics. So there's sort of two things. I mean, I share a lot of logistical tips, like how to navigate maybe potentially challenging conversations with people that say I don't vote, or how to address fears that a lot of my friends have. Oh, well, isn't that scary? You know, and talking to them about that sort of like being a guide. But I also wanted to kind of share some of my own journey as, uh, becoming an activist and kind of what's helped, sustain me in this work. -
Death is a topic that most of us prefer not to think too much about. While we must all acknowledge its inevitability, on a day-to-day basis, it feels better to keep it up on a shelf in a box, out of reach from quotidian life. Then again, there are decisions to be made, and they really do need to be made in advance of those inexorable metamorphic events. This week on Sea Change Radio, we learn about the burgeoning green funeral industry from the CEO and Founder of Recompose, Katrina Spade. We look at the environmental problems associated with conventional burial and cremation, hear about the rather unusual modern history of embalming in the US, and go deep on the subject of human composting.Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.Katrina Spade (KS) | 00:13 - Green Funerals are growing. There's a lot of interest in bringing and looking at new ways of caring for bodies after death that aren't polluting and aren't toxic.Narrator | 00:26 - Death is a topic that most of us prefer not to think too much about. While we must all acknowledge its inevitability on a day-to-day basis, it feels better to keep it up on a shelf in a box out of reach from quotidian life. Then again, there are decisions to be made and they really do need to be made in advance of those inexorable metamorphic events. This week on Sea Change Radio, we learn about the burgeoning green funeral industry from the CEO and founder of Recompose Katrina Spade. We look at the environmental problems associated with conventional burial in cremation, hear about the rather unusual modern history of embalming in the US and go deep on the subject of human composting.Alex Wise (AW) | 01:34 I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Katrina Spade. She is the founder and CEO of Recompose. Katrina, welcome to Sea Change Radio.Katrina Spade (KS) | 01:46 - Thank you very much.Alex Wise (AW) | 01:48 - Before we dive into the services that your company offers, why don't you explain from an environmental perspective, what's been the problem for a few dozen centuries in the way humans bury their dead? Why can we do better from an environmental standpoint?Katrina Spade (KS) | 02:09 - So the way we currently bury our dead, I'll call that conventional burial started around the Civil War, and that's when modern embalming was invented by a couple of entrepreneurial young people, , who said, look at this market of potential clients. They actually went out to the battlefields in the south and pre-sold the service of embalming to soldiers who might die. And that was a way to get those bodies back from the south to the north after death. And they used arsenic, I think at the time. Now it's a formaldehyde-based process or solution. So interestingly, I mean, people have still do and have for millennia had their dead out to say goodbye to them, but they've looked dead as opposed to looked embalmed. So it's perfectly fine and pretty common in other parts of the world to have a dead person who's un embalmed be out for a goodbye and a viewing and a what is relatively new like it since the Civil War, is this idea that we should pump the body full of embalming fluid to preserve it as long as we can. That practice is not religious based. It's not, it's not even really like a deep cultural basis in, in terms of its history. It's, uh, really was this very practical way of getting soldiers back to their homes.AW | 03:30 - It also coincided with the birth of photography as well, I imagine. So people would want to capture a photo with their loved one before they buried them, right? KS | 03:42 - Great point. I mean, I just say again, you don't need to embalm someone to get a picture of them when they've died.AW | 03:47 - But they look a little better this way.KS | 03:49 - I don't know. I think you, you could say âbetter.â I could say âdifferent.âAW | 03:53 - That was the pitch in the 1880s or something,
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This week on Sea Change Radio, we take a break from worrying about the election and look beyond these shores. First, we speak to Ayoola Dominic, the CEO and Co-Founder of Koolboks - an innovative refrigeration solution for the large swaths of sub-Saharan Africa that don’t have reliable access to electricity. We get an in-depth look at the company’s technology, learn about the challenges they’re facing and discuss the relationship between Koolboks and the Clinton Global Initiative. Then, we revisit part of our 2023 conversation with author Tim Killeen who has chronicled efforts to curb deforestation in the Amazon.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Ayoola Dominic (AD) | 00:17 -So what Koolboks has done is we've integrated for the first time in freezers, lithium-ion batteries. So what happens is when you have power, you can connect them to the grid, and when we don't have power you can actually charge with the solar panels.
Narrator | 00:35 - This week on Sea Change Radio, we take a break from worrying about the election and look beyond these shores. First, we speak to Ayoola Dominic, the CEO and Co-founder of Koolboks, an innovative refrigeration solution for the large swaths of Sub-Saharan Africa that don't have reliable access to electricity. We get an in-depth look at the company's technology, learn about the challenges they're facing, and discuss the relationship between Koolboks and the Clinton Global Initiative. Then we revisit part of our 2023 conversation with author Tim Killeen, whose chronicled efforts to curb deforestation in the Amazon.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:37 - I'm joined now on Sea Change. Radio by Ayoola Dominic. He's the CEO and Co-founder of KoolBoks. Ayoola, welcome to Sea Change Radio.
Ayoola Dominic (AD) | 01:47 - Thank you so much, Alex, for having me.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:49 - It's a pleasure to have you. Why don't you explain to us what Koolboks is, and if you can summarize what your product is all about, that would be great.
Ayoola Dominic (AD) | 01:58 - So I'll, I'll start with, uh, a bit of a context. So in, in Sub-Saharan Africa, you have over 600 million people that lacks access to electricity and therefore lacks access to refrigeration. Um, as compared to Europe and America, where you have a hundred percent penetration in refrigeration in Sub-Saharan Africa, you'll be shocked to know that it's only 17%. I repeat only 17% of the people have access to refrigeration.
Alex Wise (AW) | 02:30 - We're talking permanent refrigeration, like you have a refrigerator running 24 7, right?
Ayoola Dominic (AD) | 02:36 - Correct. And you obviously, we know what that means in terms of food wastage. About a third of all food is wasted before it gets to market. And we're talking small restaurants, we're talking small bars, and these are things that normally we would take for granted in the West, but it's a real problem in Africa. So, um, looking to solve this problem, myself and my co-founder, like three years ago, designed to found a company called the Koolboks. And the goal was to make refrigeration affordable and accessible to everyone that needs it. So using the sun and water, which is abundant in Africa, we created a solution that is able to generate refrigeration for up to four days, whether or not you have power, whether or not you have sunlight. And this we did by storing energy in the form of ice as opposed to just storing energy in the form of batteries. But of course, looking at the peculiarity of the customers we serve, then the big question, I mean, what good is the technology if no one can afford it? So what we did was we integrated in our units a pay as you go technology enabling individuals and small businesses to be able to pay as low as 10 to $15 every month to own a refrigerator. And today we've deployed in over 6,000, um, units across 26 countries in only three years, and we're still doing more actually. -
This week on Sea Change Radio, more of our discussion with Democratic strategist and data analyst Tom Bonier. In this part of the conversation, we talk about the importance of a political campaignâs so-called âground game,â look at the predictive value of early voting numbers, and examine whether Donald Trump would actually have steamrolled Joe Biden as so many were assuming. Then, we take a peek back at our 2019 interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin to learn a thing or two about leadership.Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.TB | 00:17 - And so on one side, Americans were saying, no, we don't want either of them. And so one side says, okay, we'll give you someone else. We'll give you someone who is going to wage a historic candidacy and can break the glass ceiling and, and is running a joyful, hopeful campaign. And on the other side, you're going to still have that guy.Narrator | 00:36 - This week on Sea Change Radio, more of our discussion with Democratic strategist and data analyst Tom Bonier. In this part of the conversation, we talk about the importance of a political campaignâs so-called âground game,â look at the predictive value of early voting numbers, and examine whether Donald Trump would actually have steamrolled Joe Biden as so many were assuming. Then, we take a peek back at our 2019 interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin to learn a thing or two about leadership.AW | 01:30 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Tom Bonier. Tom is a Democratic strategist and he's with the Tara Group and TargetSmart. Tom, welcome to Sea Change Radio.TB | 01:38 - It's great to be here.AW | 01:40 - Tom, any podcast you might listen to or any piece you're reading, almost always to the t prefaces it with, this is a very close election. You have to say that it seems like a contractual obligation. I was completely wrong in 2016. I, if I owned my home, me too. I would've bet my mortgage that Hillary Clinton was going to win. So everybody should take my analysis with a huge grain of salt. And I'm not discouraging anybody from going out and knocking on doors like I'm going to do. We should not take anything lightly. We keep talking about Pennsylvania being the crux of this election, but I think there's much more to this election than just Pennsylvania. I don't think this is going to be as razor thin as everybody is assuming.TB | 02:23 - Well, I think there's a good amount of evidence pointing in that direction. You know, again, as I said earlier, I, I understand the tendency for some people to talk about it being incredibly close. And let's not take anything for granted that Donald Trump could win. Don Donald Trump could win. But if we're going to assign probabilities to that, that's a much lower probability outcome. Then there's the probability of Harris winning by a narrow margin, and then there's a probability of Harris winning by a wider margin. And I'm not going to assign percentages to any of those. But I would say in aggregate there's a far higher percentage of Vice President Harris winning because of all that data, uh, that, that you mentioned in terms of the intensity and the gate and engagement. We are looking much more like 2008, you know, where you have a candidate who's inspiring and enthusiasm and energy running against a candidate who is not running a very vigorous campaign and is deeply flawed, which John McCain was, and with Sarah Palin, I'm not saying McCain and Trump are the same, that's a sacrilegious thing to say at this point, given, especially how Donald Trump has attacked John McCainâŠAW | 03:35 - But he was a known quantity. TB | 03:37 - That's right. And in terms of the contours of the, the candidates and, and the candid season campaigns, there are similarities there. And so yeah, from that data perspective in 2016, again, everyone was wrong , uh, but, it didn't lend itself to that type of analysis because we didn'...
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There's a lot riding on the upcoming presidential election: reproductive freedom, climate change, healthcare, Supreme Court appointments, just to name a few. But no matter what issue is at the top of your list, the decision that Americans will be making over the next six weeks will have a lasting effect for decades to come. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Democratic strategist and data analyst Tom Bonier about the presidential election. In the first half of our two-part discussion, we look beyond the polls, as Bonier explains other elements that measure voter intensity, examine the lingering impact of the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and dig into voter registration data in key states like Pennsylvania and Florida.
Narrator| 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Tom Bonier (TB) | 00:17 - In any given moment, most Americans aren't worried about their right to an abortion, but if you ask them what question is a deal breaker for them, that's just not negotiable. It's number one by far.
Narrator | 00:32 - There's a lot riding on the upcoming presidential election: reproductive freedom, climate change, healthcare, Supreme Court appointments, just to name a few. But no matter what issue is at the top of your list, the decision that Americans will be making over the next six weeks will have a lasting effect for decades to come. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Democratic strategist and data analyst Tom Bonier about the presidential election. In the first half of our two-part discussion, we look beyond the polls, as Bonier explains other elements that measure voter intensity, examine the lingering impact of the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and dig into voter registration data in key states like Pennsylvania and Florida.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:33 - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Tom Bonier. Tom is a democratic strategist and data analyst, and he's with the Tara Group and TargetSmart. Tom, welcome to Sea Change. Radio,
Tom Bonier (TB) | 01:46 - It's great to be here.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:47 - I've wanted to talk to you for a long time. I've followed your work for many years. I know that being liberal in 2024 means constantly being afraid, but I find your words to be reassuring in these very murky times. The data that you work with is pointing in encouraging ways for you. Why can that dispel some of the fears that so many liberals are feeling since 2016, really…
Tom Bonier (TB) | 02:15 - Yeah. And, and, and I'll include myself in the we all of that. I think if, if you don't have some amount of fear, uh, given the stakes, you probably aren't paying close enough attention. But as you said, for me, I find solace in data and that goes above and beyond polling. I think most people focus on polling, and as we know, polling, is not always the most reliable indicator of which way the political winds might be blowing. And so what I tend to focus on is more individual level data that focuses on actions people are taking. So that's generally new voter registrations. It's election result, in the lead up to an election that might be primary election results. It could be special elections. And then, you know, the other sort of campaign-related information, how they're raising money. The numbers of activists and volunteers we're just looking for signs of energy and enthusiasm. We know that the one big part of the equation, of determining who's likely to win an election, is turnout to state the obvious. It's turnout and persuasion polls give us a pretty good sense of persuasion and all of that other data gives us a much clearer sense of engagement and turnout.
AW | 03:32 - But as you've said, polls don't tell us who's going to vote, and you call it measures of intensity. Why don't you spell that out for our listeners if you can.
TB | 03:42 - Yeah, and so to even just to drill down on that point, -
If you live in a hilly city (like I do), riding a bike for a quick errand can be an arduous proposition - at least that was true until the advent of electric assist. E-bikes now comprise a healthy 5% share of the bicycle market in the U.S. And as many new owners are discovering, e-bikes can offer a viable transportation alternative, reducing or even eliminating the need for a car. This week on Sea Change Radio we speak with e-bike executive Bill Klehm to get a snapshot of the industry, hear where he believes e-bikes are heading, and learn about his company’s unique distribution model.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Bill Klehm (BK) | 00:20 - I do think that the ride share investment that's now being doubled on is going to drive up the adoption of e-bikes, because more people will be trying them. You know, IBM in 1973 talked about this whole notion of the seven times rule. You don't truly change until you've experienced and can do something seven times. So with that, the more times we can create these experiences, the more opportunities we have to touch a customer and to have them consider our product.
Narrator | 00:52 - If you live in a hilly city (like I do), riding a bike for a quick errand can be an arduous proposition - at least that was true until the advent of electric assist. E-bikes now comprise a healthy 5% share of the bicycle market in the U.S. And as many new owners are discovering, e-bikes can offer a viable transportation alternative, reducing or even eliminating the need for a car. This week on Sea Change Radio we speak with e-bike executive Bill Klehm to get a snapshot of the industry, hear where he believes e-bikes are heading, and learn about his company’s unique distribution model.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:37 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Bill Clem. Bill is the CEO of e Bliss Global Bill. Welcome to Sea Change Radio.
Bill Klehm (BK) | 01:47 - Well, thank you very much for having me. Um, wonderful opportunity to kind of talk about one of my major passions, and that's e mobility and e-bikes. So thank you.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:57 - Pleasure to have you on the show. So maybe you can give us a backdrop on the industry and where eBliss Global's model fits in all of this.
BK | 02:06 - So, in 2016, there was 60,000 e-bikes sold in the US this year, by all stretches of the imagination, it's gonna be about 2.5 million. Keeping in mind that Toyota sells about 1.8 to 1.9 million cars. So e-bike industry in the United States has no, has now crossed over to a mass market product. Um, and it is now what I call a market segment of one. So that means that different channels of distribution, different product segments are starting to emerge. And what we, what we've done is taken a clean sheet approach to the industry. So in 2003, I started a company and made transmissions. So I made transmissions for the bike and e-bike industry, largely in Europe. So I got to sit around the campfire and watch Europe go from basically nothing to four or 5 million e-bikes a year over the period that I was, I was there with selling product. And so we decided to take a different approach to the US as we see the US taking a similar approach now to Europe in that e-bikes are becoming a fundamental piece of transportation, not just a toy. So one of our taglines is we are, we are transforming toys into transportation. So our, our approach is to take a and redesign the entire experience. So products are interesting, but what products do is create an experience for the consumer. And that experience, in our opinion, for a mass market product means one of no compromises. So customers who are buying these products today aren't really interested. They aren't in cyclist enthusiasts, they aren't people who like chains. They aren't people who like derailers. They aren't people who like maintenance. They want to like the experience of riding an e-bike and or a bik... -
As election season kicks into high gear, it can be a challenge to talk about anything else but the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. This week on Sea Change Radio, we succumb to that temptation as we turn to the second half of our discussion with political analyst Jared Yates Sexton. Then, we dig into the archives to hear from Lauren Kim, a born-again Christian environmentalist who volunteers for an organization called Young Evangelicals for Climate Action.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Jared Yates Sexton (JYS) | 00:16 - I don't think anyone should give him any space to discuss anything. And quite frankly, I think by giving him the trappings of interviews and space on networks or whatever, it normalizes something that is inherently abnormal and dangerous.
Narrator | 00:33 - As election season kicks into high gear, it can be a challenge to talk about anything else but the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. This week on Sea Change Radio, we succumb to that temptation as we turn to the second half of our discussion with political analyst Jared Yates Sexton. Then, we dig into the archives to hear from Lauren Kim, a born-again Christian environmentalist who volunteers for an organization called Young Evangelicals for Climate Action.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:20 - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Jared Yates Sexton. Jared is a political analyst and he is the host of the Muck Rake podcast. And his online writings can be read at dispatches from a collapsing state. Jared, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.
Jared Yates Sexton (JYS) | 01:33 - Hey, Alex, it's great to see you.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:35 - So, we were talking about trying to get local elections higher on people's radar. Some of the things I would add to the points that you've made in addition to caring about your school board elections and all these other smaller elections than the President, it's important to think about politics in a less abstract way. If we can think about how it affects not just yourself personally. I, I'm privileged and I will be okay if Donald Trump gets elected. I'm horrified by the prospect of it, not for my own fortune, but for the fortune of the world and, and the people who can't afford to have him be in charge. And we feed into that in, in our media questions like, politician, A, how are you gonna please black voters in Georgia by giving them things that black voters in Georgia care about? What, why, why do we have to slice and dice our issues into demographics that way?
JYS | 02:33 - Well, I, want to make a few points because you've brought up, uh, a lot of good, important issues that I think we need to get into. First things first, I'm a white dude who used to live in Georgia. I don't live in Georgia anymore. My wellbeing and my family's wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of black people in Georgia. And what I have been taught, and this is a larger thing, I want to point out, we're in a political crisis. We're in a democratic crisis. We're also in a spiritual crisis. We're also in a mental health crisis. And here's the reason why, since the 1980s, we have been absolutely bombarded and abused by this idea that the only thing that matters in the world is what you get and whether or not you are able to have wealth and comfort and safety, right? And, and by the way, it's been used against us completely. It's alienated us from each other. Everyone says, oh, it's social media, it's tv, it's whatever. No, it's not. Those things have built off of a larger idea, which is that neoliberalism tells us, you are alone. You are in danger. Take care of yourself. Right?
AW | 03:38 - Tax cuts has been one of the most obvious go-to things for the Republican party for 50 years. It's like you care about taxes being lower, right? And then let's just feed into that beast for decades.
JYS | 03:51 - And look what's happened. -
So far this election season has been pretty dramatic, with candidate switch-ups, surges in fundraising and volunteerism, and a growing list of criminal charges laid against one of the candidates for president. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to political analyst Jared Yates Sexton about the state of the hotly contested race for the White House. We get his takeaways from the recent Democratic National Convention, look at the turnout disparity between older adults and youth voters, and discuss how to get all voters in this country more engaged in down-ballot races.
Narrator| 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Jared Yates Sexton (JYS) | 00:18 - The good news is that small d Democratic power, the actual struggle and organizing for this thing, it can change the world. You can have a better life. Your kids can have a better life. Your neighbors can have better lives. It can be so much better, and we can fight for it. And matter of fact, when we fight for it, we win. The bad news is this, we do have to get involved.
Narrator | 00:40 - So far this election season has been pretty dramatic, with candidate switch-ups, surges in fundraising and volunteerism, and a growing list of criminal charges laid against one of the candidates for president. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to political analyst Jared Yates Sexton about the state of the hotly contested race for the White House. We get his takeaways from the recent Democratic National Convention, look at the turnout disparity between older adults and youth voters, and discuss how to get all voters in this country more engaged in down-ballot races.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:30 - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Jared Yates Sexton. Jared is a political analyst and he is the host of the Muckrake podcast. His online writings can be read at dispatches from a collapsing state. Jared, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.
Jared Yates Sexton (JYS) | 01:46 - Hey, Alex, it's great to see you.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:48 - So you just got back from covering the DNC, the Democratic National Convention, and I wanted to get your take on this, and I've, I've been eager to discuss politics with you for the year. This so much has gone on since we last spoke, but what stood out to you from going to Chicago recently?
Jared Yates Sexton (JYS) | 02:09 - Well, so it was sort of a, a tale of two experiences. Alex, I, I've been observing politics, you know, I've been, I've been working in it now for the past eight years, but I've been observing it my entire life. It's really weird to see the Democratic party nailing their messaging. Like it's a really shocking thing because this is a party that shoots itself in the foot and then decides to go ahead and shoot the other foot. You know, you, you can set your watch by it. But this was a, a really well done spectacle. And, you know, some people get uncomfortable when I call it propaganda, but that's what conventions are. It's a matter of getting people excited and getting them rallied to go into the main, uh, election season, you know, running up to the actual election day. The Democrats have managed, I, I think both by strategic decisions, but also by pure happenstance and by sort of harnessing what's going on in, in our political climate and discourse. They have managed to gain enthusiasm and direction and momentum. But I also spent my time among the protests outside of the Democratic National Convention. I spent a lot of time with the, uh, the Gaza protesters, and I happened to see a lot of brutality and oppression that was, uh, wielded out by the Chicago pd. And one of the things that really struck me about kind of straddling those two worlds and watching at night at this very, very slick political presentation, there were problems, but we don't have to get into all of those and get into the particulars, but watching a slick presentation that basically is riding on the momentum of... -
As kids, many of us read “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury and thought, "man, this book banning and burning stuff is terrible." Apparently, though, not everyone felt the same. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to filmmaker Arthur Bradford about his most recent documentary for MSNBC Films entitled "To Be Destroyed," which takes viewers inside efforts to ban books from a public high school in Rapid City, South Dakota. The film follows author and literacy advocate Dave Eggers, as he travels to the school district where his novel, "The Circle," was pulled from shelves along with four other titles. Bradford tells us about why this topic felt so important to him, gives us a glimpse behind the making of the film, and discusses how the documentary reveals some larger truths about right-wing crusaders in this country.
Narrator| 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Arthur Bradford (AB) | 00:21 - I asked him about this notion that teachers were indoctrinating students, and he said, I, I don't have time to indoctrinate students. And if I had that ability, I would use it to get students to turn their work in on time and to wear deodorant every day.
Narrator | 00:36 - As kids, many of us read “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury and thought, "man, this book banning and burning stuff is terrible." Apparently, though, not everyone felt the same. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to filmmaker Arthur Bradford about his most recent documentary for MSNBC Films entitled "To Be Destroyed," which takes viewers inside efforts to ban books from a public high school in Rapid City, South Dakota. The film follows author and literacy advocate Dave Eggers, as he travels to the school district where his novel, "The Circle," was pulled from shelves along with four other titles. Bradford tells us about why this topic felt so important to him, gives us a glimpse behind the making of the film, and discusses how the documentary reveals some larger truths about right-wing crusaders in this country.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:50 - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Arthur Bradford. He’s a documentary filmmaker and his latest film is “To Be Destroyed.” Arthur, welcome to Sea Change Radio.
Arthur Bradford (AB) | 02:02 - Thanks, Alex. It's good to be here.
Alex Wise (AW) | 02:05 - So I should tell listeners that Arthur and I are friends from high school, and I haven't seen him since his debut film. How's your news? First, tell our listeners what how's Your News was all about. I thought it was terrific.
AB | 02:18 - Yeah, that was like over 20 years ago that that film came out. I had been working at a summer camp for people with disabilities and uh, I was teaching a video class there and we started doing these news programs, and one of the segments that kind of took off was having some of the campers, people with disabilities do man-on-the-street interviews. And so this movie, “How's Your News?” was a feature documentary where we took five of the more outgoing people with disabilities from the camp and we drove across the country, uh, and they would interview people all along the way.
AW | 02:56 - And at the, at the screening that I saw of this, they were all in attendance as well, along with Francis Ford Coppola. It was a really cool event. And the kids, who are now adults, were very engaging and I highly recommend that film to folks. Can people rent it on Amazon still?
AB | 03:14 - It's kind of hard to find, like there's also different versions of it. So after we did that, you can find it on YouTube, honestly, that's probably the best way. But we did a feature length film of it that was on HBO and then, years later, we also did, we started going to political conventions. So in 2008 we went to, um, no, 2004 we went to the political conventions. And then we did a short-lived series for MTV called How’s Your News? which is probably really hard to find, -
As the dog days of summer shorten, and our vacations wind down, we dig into the Sea Change Radio archives to revisit two climate-related conversations. First, we discuss the issue of a warming planet with Andrea Thompson, a science reporter and associate editor at Scientific American. We look at how people and policymakers are trying to cope with the rising temps and examine how different parts of the globe are being affected. Then, we speak to David Messina, the CEO of Rumin8, an Australian-based startup that is hoping to transform the cattle industry. The company’s main product is a lab-grown feed additive that is designed to significantly reduce methane emissions in ruminants like cattle and sheep. We discuss the problem that Rumin8 is trying to solve and talk about the company’s business strategy and hurdles it faces.
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For many of us, the holiday season presents an opportunity to spend some time thinking about people less fortunate than ourselves. This week on Sea Change Radio, we spotlight a story of hope, determination and redemption. Our guest is Christine Yoo the director and producer of the new documentary film 26.2 to Life which takes viewers into the San Quentin Prison Marathon and its 1000 Mile Club. We learn about the inspiration behind the film, discuss the challenges of long distance running behind bars, and look at what the film reveals about our prison system and the effect it has on millions.
Narrator | 00:02 – This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I’m Alex Wise.
Christine Yoo (CY) | 00:23 – There were a lot of people there with brothers or fathers or mothers in prison, or their kids in prison too. It’s a cycle that is self-perpetuating.
Narrator | 00:38 – For many of us, the holiday season presents an opportunity to spend some time thinking about people less fortunate than ourselves. This week on Sea Change Radio, we spotlight a story of hope, determination and redemption. Our guest is Christine Yoo the director and producer of the new documentary film 26.2 to Life which takes viewers into the San Quentin Prison Marathon and 1000 Mile Club. We learn about the inspiration behind the film, discuss the challenges of long distance running behind bars, and look at what the film reveals about our prison system and the effect it has on millions.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:38 – I am joined on Sea Change Radio by my high school classmate, Christine Yu. Chris is the director and producer of the new documentary film 26.2 to Life. Christine, welcome to Sea Change Radio.
Christine Yoo (CY) | 01:51 – Hey Alex, how are you? Glad to be here.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:55 – First, why don’t you give us a brief synopsis of 26.2 to Life, and then I want to dive into how you came about the project because it’s, it’s really a labor of love. It took six years, right?
Christine Yoo (CY) | 02:07 – Yeah, absolutely. Six long, very long years. So 26.2 to Life takes you inside the San Quentin Prison Marathon. And it explores the transformative power of running through the lens of the prisons running club, which is called the Thousand Mile Club. And within this club that is organized by these volunteers who are elite marathon runners that go into the prison throughout the year to coach a group of incarcerated men, they train so that every November they run a 26.2 mile marathon entirely behind the prison walls, 105 laps around this prison yard. But more than running the film really explores, uh, what, what led these men to the starting line at San Quentin and highlights their rehabilitative journeys to, to define themselves, you know, to be more than their crime.
Alex Wise (AW) | 03:12 – So how did you get interested in this project and how did you decide which characters you were going to follow as, as, as the story unfolded in front of you?
CY | 03:24 – So, my relationship with the prison system started more than 20 years ago. Um, I had a friend who was also fellow Korean American who was wrongfully convicted, and he was sentenced to 271 years in California state prison. Um, it really impacted me a lot. Um, I knew his whole family and how devastating it was for them. And he was somebody that I felt basically could have been my brother. You know, we had like the same type of family vacations, you know, grew up very similarly. Our fathers went to the same school in Korea. Um, and so because of his incarceration, I really started to wonder, uh, what does that look like if you know you’re going to die in prison? I mean, what does that act? How do you actually carry out a life? You know, because people still need to find a way to live. So what does that really actually look like for people? Uh, and the, so I guess basically the opportunity to explore that question came to me in 2016. -
Most of us have never been there but according to a quick Google search, some of the things you might see at the bottom of the ocean include sea spiders, tube worms, and something called a blob sculpin. Add to that list: heavy equipment for mining rare earth minerals like cobalt and manganese. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Daniel Kammen, an energy professor at the University of California at Berkeley, about deep-sea mining. We learn about this segment of the extraction industry, consider the environmental hazards, and examine why itâs largely unnecessary. We also take a look at the promise of growing rare minerals like perovskites in laboratories, and discuss the recent Sunnylands Climate Agreement between the U.S. and China.Narrator | 00:02 â This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. Iâm Alex Wise.Daniel Kammen (DK) | 00:25 â Cobalt as mined today, either in the Congo, where most, most of it comes from, or um, from the seabed, is hugely problematic and damaging.Narrator | 00:37 â Most of us have never been there but according to a quick Google search, some of the things you might see at the bottom of the ocean include sea spiders, tube worms, and something called a blob sculpin. Add to that list: heavy equipment for mining rare earth minerals like cobalt and manganese. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Daniel Kammen, an energy professor at the University of California at Berkeley, about deep-sea mining. We learn about this segment of the extraction industry, consider the environmental hazards, and examine why itâs largely unnecessary. We also take a look at the promise of growing rare minerals like perovskites in laboratories, and discuss the recent Sunnylands Climate Agreement between the U.S. and China.Alex Wise (AW) | 01:46 â Iâm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Daniel Kammen. He is a Professor of Energy at UC Berkeley, and a former science envoy for President Obama. Dan, welcome back to Sea Change Radio. Daniel Kammen (DK) | 01:57 â Thanks for having me back on. I really appreciate it. Alex Wise (AW) | 02:00 â Always a pleasure. I wanted you to summarize the white paper that you presented at COP 28 in Dubai. It was entitled, âNext Generation EV Batteries Eliminate the Need for Deep-Sea Mining.â So first, what is deep-sea mining and whatâs the problem that it presents?Daniel Kammen (DK) | 02:19 â So, deep-seabed mining is in my view, kind of one of the scariest crossover issues between the old energy economy and the new energy economy. And by that what I mean is that weâve known about seabed mining for a long time. In fact, Howard Hughes was, one of the many ways he was famous was he constructed a boat, the Glomar Explorer that was ostensibly supposed to be harvesting these nodules of rare earth metals, manganese, cobalt, a variety of things from the sea floor. And theyâre about the size of tennis balls or softballs. They grow very slowly, um, at low temperature and, and, and high pressure and he had this boat that was designed to go do that. But in fact, we now know decades later that the Glomar Explorer was actually a CIA front and it was a front to go and try to pull a sunken Russian submarine off the bottom of the ocean.AW | 03:15 â This was not in the white paper, but this is very interesting .DK | 03:18 â It is very interesting. Thatâs right. So, so this is an example of deep-seabed harvesting being a front for essentially cold war. So weâve known about there are these nodules on the ocean bed floor. They grow a fraction of a millimeter a year in size. They accumulate these, these materials. And the issue that intersects with the new energy economy is that with the rise of the need for materials for solar panels and in particular batteries for electric vehicles, a number of companies have been launched. They have names like the Metals Company, impossible Metals, and others arguing that we should be harvesting these materials...
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For Sci-Fi buffs, a future infused with AI may evoke unsettling images of HAL from Stanley Kubrick's film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." In truth, the evolving technology of artificial intelligence may well be taking over, but not quite how the filmmakers envisioned it. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Andrew Winston, a sustainability strategist and bestselling author, about what AI means for the climate. We look at how AI can help various key sectors of the global economy become more efficient, examine the dilemma of AI's seemingly insatiable energy needs, and discuss its potential to contribute to a carbon-free future.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Andrew Winston | 00:17 - It is just, we don't really have time to work it through and double emissions and then come back down like, we're out of time on climate. So how do we make sure we're adding this without creating another big problem?
Narrator | 00:32 - For Sci-Fi buffs, a future infused with AI may evoke unsettling images of HAL from Stanley Kubrick's film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." In truth, the evolving technology of artificial intelligence may well be taking over, but not quite how the filmmakers envisioned it. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Andrew Winston, a sustainability strategist and bestselling author, about what AI means for the climate. We look at how AI can help various key sectors of the global economy become more efficient, examine the dilemma of AI's seemingly insatiable energy needs, and discuss its potential to contribute to a carbon-free future.
Alex Wise | 01:32 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Andrew Winston. Andrew is a sustainability strategist and a bestselling author. Andrew, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.
Andrew Winston | 01:42 - It's good to be here.
Alex Wise | 01:44 - So you contribute regularly to MIT Sloan's Management Review. Yep. And you have a recent piece on artificial intelligence ai, and it's entitled, will AI Help or Hurt Sustainability? Yes. People either talk about AI as either the end of humanity as we know it, or this wonderful life changing technology, or they just completely tune it out and don't want to know anything about it. What does that mean? So first, why don't you explain what AI is on the most basic level, and then we can dive into the sustainability conundrum.
Andrew Winston | 02:24 - Well, first it's a interesting question. What is AI? So there's a long piece in MIT technology review recently called What is AI? And it's a long article that basically comes to the conclusion of nobody really knows, and people use the phrase in many, many different ways. The way that author described it was, AI is a set of technologies that make computers do things that are thought to require intelligence when done by people. So it just means there's things happening. It seems to be thinking even though at this point it really isn't and seems to do kind of magical things, right? So the, the, the everyday interaction that we have with it, which is growing by the way, if people use, have used chat GPTs, you can, you can make it do fun things like write a poem about, you know, mid medieval times. But I use it to look at my writing and say, Hey, what's a summary of this? Or What would you title this? Or, what are five things I should think about in this topic? And it's just a really good partner, but it's clearly getting embedded into companies of all stripes in every sector, and the hype about it and what it's going to do for companies and potentially for, you know, our biggest challenges and, and the planet, the hype's really big, but it's unclear yet what's living up to the hype. And, and there's some downsides which we, which we can go into. But look, I think it's a really big deal. I think it's, it's one of those technologies, when I first started playing with it, um, I had that same feeling like when I first Google... -
This week on Sea Change Radio we speak to Lisa Song of ProPublica about her recent work spotlighting efforts by the plastics industry to make its fossil fuel-based products seem benign. We examine how plastic recycling falls short in many areas, look at the problems surrounding a relatively new plastic recycling process called pyrolysis, and then discuss her trip to Ottawa, Canada where she attended a UN conference which purported to be plastic-free.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Lisa Song (LS) | 00:28 - The first big lesson is just that pyrolysis is very inefficient. If you start out with a hundred pounds of plastic waste that you feed into the pyrolysis process, by the end, only 15 or 20 pounds of that original trash becomes a new plastic product.
Narrator | 00:50 - This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Lisa Song of ProPublica about her recent work, spotlighting efforts by the plastics industry to make its fossil fuel-based products seem benign. We examine how plastic recycling falls short in many areas, look at the problem surrounding a relatively new plastic recycling process called Pyrolysis, and then discuss her trip to Ottawa, Canada where she attended a UN conference, which purported to be plastic-free.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:37 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Lisa Song. Lisa is a reporter at ProPublica. Lisa, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.
Lisa Song (LS) | 01:45 - Thanks for having me.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:47 - Always a pleasure to have you on the show. You've been doing some important work in the plastic space. Recently covered a quote unquote plastic free conference up in Ottawa, Canada. And then you've written a really well researched piece called Selling a Mirage about the problems with plastic recycling. Why don't we first start with that, this new pyrolysis technology, which ExxonMobil has called the circularity of plastic. I like that. Why is plastic not as circular as ExxonMobil might want it to seem?
Lisa Song (LS) | 02:24 - Yeah, so the story I wrote was about a particular form of chemical recycling and chemical recycling, or what the industry likes to call advanced recycling is this whole collection of ways to recycle hard to recycle plastic. And the most popular form of chemical recycling is called pyrolysis. And so that's what my story was about. Pyrolysis basically means you take a bunch of plastic trash and you heat it up at very high temperatures until you break all of the chemical bonds and you end up with the molecular building blocks of plastic, and then you use those to make new plastic. So the plastics industry has been marketing pyrolysis and chemical recycling for a while now, and they're really touting it as this kind of miracle cure because with pyrolysis, you can recycle things like plastic bags and a lot of food packaging and, and think of the sort of flimsy plastic that we use every day in, in packaging or, um, to, uh, as containers for, um, crackers and chips and cookies that you buy from the grocery store. Those kinds of things. You can't really recycle in your regular blue recycling bin. And pyrolysis is supposed to be the solution to that.
Alex Wise (AW) | 03:47 - And it's kind of the holy grail for plastic recyclers. I can imagine. Where you wouldn't want to be as beholden to dividing up all the plastics is that one of the advantages is that on paper you would be able to take a milk jug or a plastic detergent container and then some plastic wrap, and then throw it all into a big bin and melt it down, and then voila, you've got a whole new substrate to work with. Is that the basic concept?
LS | 04:18 - Yeah. So one of the ways that it's been marketed is that pyrolysis can take a bunch of the messy, dirty mixed plastic waste that you can't recycle normally, and it will turn it all into brand new pristine plastic that's so clean. You could use it as food packaging. Um, -
No matter what your current stance may be on the upcoming presidential election, the past few weeks of debate debacles and failed assassination attempts have definitely demonstrated that unforeseen events can happen. We still have several months between now and November, during which time the plot may continue to twist and turn. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with John Stoehr of The Editorial Board to get his insights into the calls for Democrats to replace President Biden on the ticket. In this free-flowing conversation, we unpack the problem with what Stoehr describes as a "customer service approach" to politics, learn why he believes third parties are a scam, and question polling data that have so many undecided voters in an election between two well-known quantities.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
John Stoehr (JS) | 00:23 - I don't know what to say to people who are like, I need to be enthusiastic. That, that, again is the customer service attitude toward politics. It's like, thrill me, get me excited, then I'll make a decision. It's like, "no."
Narrator | 00:35 - No matter what your current stance may be on the upcoming presidential election, the past few weeks of debate debacle and failed assassination attempts have definitely demonstrated that unforeseen events can happen. We still have several months between now and November, during which time the plot may continue to twist and turn. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with John Stoehr of The Editorial Board to get his insights into the calls for Democrats to replace President Biden on the ticket. In this free-flowing conversation, we unpack the problem with what Stoehr describes as a customer service approach to politics, learn why he believes third parties are a scam and question polling data that have so many undecided voters in an election between two well-known quantities.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:39 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by John Stoehr. He is the founder and editor of The Editorial Board. John, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.
John Stoehr (JS) | 01:47 - Thanks for having me back, Alex.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:49 - Really good to speak to you. I've been kind of putting this discussion off as long as possible so that it would hold up. Why don't you first summarize what your thought process has been since the debate, the evolution of your thoughts, if you can.
JS | 02:05 - Well, I should guess I should start with how I experienced the, the debate pretty much like everybody else did. You know, I was, there was a lot of shock, like, whoa, where, who is this Biden? I haven't seen this Biden before. You know, I don't think that was a consequence of previously having been in denial. I pay attention to the President, um, pretty closely. And, he broke his foot. I knew that, and so that's why he shuffles a bit. He's 81. I chalked up a lot of his behavior to age and so on, and I didn't have any sense of, of, of cognitive decline. And then, you know, I saw the debate and I start, I, myself was like, maybe I'm missing something for sure. But, you know, then as somebody who believes like, well, he does have the best shot of defeating Trump, and Trump is an existential threat to democracy, you know, the stakes are very high, and if anybody's going to do it, it's going to be him. So I, I watched that North Carolina rally very closely. I was looking for reasons to think, you know, was this just a one-off? Are his excuses true? You know, his excuses were, I was sick and, and, and so on. To me, the excuses seemed like pretty valid. I understand that a lot of that's not enough for a lot of people. I think what's going on right now is that the president's priorities are to get his people in line as quickly as possible, because without his base, he's got nothing. And he's going to have to worry about undecided people as we get closer to the election. And because, -
The environmental movement has made something clear: For the health of the planet, humans need to stop using so much fossil fuel. Period. Many efforts to reduce fossil fuel use focus on consumer behavior -- CAFE standards, electric vehicle subsidies, and the like are designed to lessen demand for these polluting fuels. Meanwhile, billions upon billions of dollars are being invested right now in new fossil fuel extraction projects across the globe. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with one of the environmental leaders working to stem the supply side of the equation. Today we are speaking with Tzeporah Berman of Stand.earth, and the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty Initiative, about the work she and her colleagues are doing to keep fossil fuels in the ground. We examine the current state of pipeline projects in North America, discuss how fossil fuel companies are dealing with slimming profit margins, and look at how changing market realities are affecting the business.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Tzeporah Berman (TB) | 00:16 - We are going to need to stop expanding fossil fuels and fossil fuel infrastructure and wind it down if we're gonna keep the earth safe, because we can argue all we want about the solutions to climate change. But the atmosphere doesn't negotiate.
Narrator | 00:35 - The environmental movement has made something clear: For the health of the planet, humans need to stop using so much fossil fuel. Period. Many efforts to reduce fossil fuel use focus on consumer behavior -- CAFE standards, electric vehicle subsidies, and the like are designed to lessen demand for these polluting fuels. Meanwhile, billions upon billions of dollars are being invested right now in new fossil fuel extraction projects across the globe. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with one of the environmental leaders working to stem the supply side of the equation. Today we are speaking with Tzeporah Berman of Stand.earth, and the Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty Initiative, about the work she and her colleagues are doing to keep fossil fuels in the ground. We examine the current state of pipeline projects in North America, discuss how fossil fuel companies are dealing with slimming profit margins, and look at how changing market realities are affecting the business.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:55 - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Tzeporah Berman. She's the chairperson of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. And the International program director for Stand.Earth Tzeporah. Welcome back to Sea Change Radio.
Tzeporah Berman (TB) | 02:06 - Hi. Thanks for having me.
Alex Wise (AW) | 02:07 - So, when we spoke to you last five years ago, you were purely working for Stand.Earth, but you, you've also expanded your role and started this fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty organization. Why don't you explain what it is and also catch us up with some of the work you've been doing at Stand.Earth, if you can.
TB | 02:27 - Sure. The Fossil Fuel Treaty actually grew out of the work that I was doing at Stand.Earth. I think like many people in North America, I spent a bunch of years trying to understand, uh, how to stop, uh, new pipelines and oil drilling and fracking that is expanding in North America. And every time we stopped a pipeline, the oil industry proposed a new one somewhere else. You know, this is one of the most powerful industries on earth. And stopping one pipeline or stopping one oil or coil project, given the extent of the climate impacts of the oil and gas industry, really isn't good enough. And it felt like some terrible game of whack-a-mole. You know, we do all this work, we do all these legal challenges and work in communities to, to support communities and their opposition to these, to these big pieces of infrastructure to try and convince our governments to use the money for cleaner, safer infrastructure. And we'd often win. -
Although indigenous people are responsible for a significant proportion of sustainable land stewardship across the planet, they are often overlooked and seldom invited to the table when policy decisions are made. This week on Sea Change Radio, we are pleased to welcome indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson to discuss her pioneering work in the sustainable development space. We examine the tribal investment model she helped create, look at how increasing transparency in natural resource extraction can better protect indigenous communities, and talk about the impact she has made as a board member for both nonprofits and corporate America.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Rebecca Adamson (RA) | 00:16 - What we have to do is get back to a place where our values are, what is driving the economy. This system can be reformed.
Narrator | 00:27 - Although indigenous people are responsible for a significant proportion of sustainable land stewardship across the planet, they're often overlooked and seldom invited to the table when policy decisions are made. This week on Sea Change Radio, we're pleased to welcome indigenous economist, Rebecca Adamson, to discuss her pioneering work in the sustainable development space. We examine the tribal investment model she helped create, look at how increasing transparency and natural resource extraction can better protect indigenous communities, and talk about the impact she's made as a board member for both nonprofits and corporate America.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:25 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Rebecca Adamson. She is an indigenous economist, an indigenous rights activist, a serial social entrepreneur who focuses on connecting capital markets to community. Rebecca, welcome to Sea Change. Radio.
Rebecca Adamson (RA) | 01:39 - Thank you. Thank you, Alex.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:41 - It's a real pleasure to have you. First, why don't you explain what an indigenous economist is, and at the same time, if you can summarize your work in that space.
Rebecca Adamson (RA) | 01:52 - Sure. And thank you so much for asking me about it. A lot of times the term indigenous economist just kinda shuts people down because it's like, what the heck could that be? Uh, but I think part of it started with my, my very first job and looking at indigenous schools and the rights for parents to be involved in the school. And as I went on and became a development practitioner in indigenous countries, what I was finding was the very way we looked at the world, the paradigm on how we perceived and organized ourselves was fundamentally different. And so when I began looking at both the schools where the purpose of the school was individual rights or individual progress, I was seeing Indian schools as being a social change agent within the community. And so there was a lot of peer tutoring. There was a collective sense in view of the education. As I got into development, it even got bigger. And when I began looking at what we called success in economic development sense, it didn't match our values. So if we saw a forest as successful, a beautiful living, breathing, large track of forest as successful, we weren't gonna be successful in the market unless we could measure board feet and, and come back in with a profit. So looking at the indigenous economy, I began really peeling apart the difference in what success was. And that's really what took me, uh, well, my whole career actually has been in that issue. And so in the sense of practice in the community, we got invol. I got in very involved in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the Lakota Nation, and looking at what would it mean there? And a lot of times economic development creates, have and have nots. And what we needed was a multiple income strategy that could create the most good and benefit for the most people, because that's the fundamental purpose of an indigenous econom... -
Gallup poll data show that for the past forty years, majorities of Americans consistently perceive crime to be worse "this year" than the previous year, irrespective of the tremendous downward plunge in both property and violent crime during that same period. This week on Sea Change Radio, the second part of our discussion with former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. In this episode, we examine why "tough on crime" legislation can have such deleterious outcomes, talk about the problems with recall elections, and look at the work Boudin has embarked on at the UC Berkeley School of Law. Then, we dig into the Sea Change Radio archives to revisit a portion of our previous conversation with Kevin Ortiz, a San Franciscan who learned firsthand how hard it can be to extricate oneself from legal entanglements.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio, covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Chesa Boudin (CB) | 00:22 - What percentage of people would vote for Joe Biden if the question put to voters were, shall Joe Biden continue to be president? Totally different question than who do you want to be the president, Joe Biden or Donald Trump?
Narrator | 00:35 - Gallup poll data show that for the past forty years, majorities of Americans consistently perceive crime to be worse "this year" than the previous year, irrespective of the tremendous downward plunge in both property and violent crime during that same period. This week on Sea Change Radio, the second part of our discussion with former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. In this episode, we examine why "tough on crime" legislation can have such deleterious outcomes, talk about the problems with recall elections, and look at the work Boudin has embarked on at the UC Berkeley School of Law. Then, we dig into the Sea Change Radio archives to revisit a portion of our previous conversation with Kevin Ortiz, a San Franciscan who learned firsthand how hard it can be to extricate oneself from legal entanglements.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:42 - I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Chesa Boudin. He is the executive director of the Criminal Law and Justice Center at the University of California Berkeley Law School. He's also the former district attorney of San Francisco. Chesa, welcome to Sea Change Radio.
Chesa Boudin (CB) | 01:57 - Great to be here with you.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:59 - Now if we can talk about your successor, Brooke Jenkins. In 2022 convictions were up 37% under her administration. Then 2023 convictions were up 43%. This was something that they were touting putting people in jail to fight crime, but we know that that is not the solution. How do we get people to recognize that it's better to invest in solutions that are proven to work, Chesa?
Chesa Boudin (CB) | 02:26 - Yeah, I mean, here's the problem with, with those statistics in a vacuum. The problem with those statistics is that we were not seeking to maximize conviction rates when I was in office. We were seeking to maximize accountability.
Alex Wise (AW) | 02:37 - When I put those stats out there, that can be twisted either way. She might tout that and I might be horrified by that, but…
CB | 02:44 - Yeah, but let me tell you what's problematic. If we were saying what percentage of cases that go to trial result in a conviction, that might be marginally useful to evaluate whether or not a district attorney is doing a good job choosing trial cases and presenting evidence to juries. But if you just look at overall conviction rates, what's missing that's critically important is cases that are dismissed because of successful completion of diversion or treatment programs.
AW | 03:13 - And resources are limited.
CB | 03:15 - Exactly. I got a phone call last night, literally last night out of the blue from a prosecutor who used to work for me, who's still in the office. And this prosecutor said to me, you know, I wasn't a true believer when you were the DA. -
If you look at the data, you'll probably notice that traditional incarceration-focused criminal justice approaches are both extremely expensive and terribly ineffective. But, defying logic, they continue to be fairly popular. And when bold thinkers try to advance more sensible approaches, they sometimes get knocked down. In 2020, just days after Chesa Boudin's narrow election to become San Francisco's District Attorney (running on a platform of progressive reform), deep-pocketed out-of-state interests began the process of recalling him. The recall was successful, and in July of 2022 Boudin was unseated. His replacement, appointed by Mayor London Breed, was a member of his own prosecutorial team, Brooke Jenkins, who happened to have been one of the local leaders of the recall campaign. This week on Sea Change Radio, we welcome Chesa Boudin to the show for the first part of a two-part, far-ranging conversation to discuss his unique childhood with two incarcerated parents, evidenced-based approaches to criminal justice, and the bitter fight that nipped his promising tenure in the bud.
Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.
Chesa Boudin (CB) | 00:19 - You can always, in any jurisdiction across the country, find some category of crime that in some period of time has gone up or has gone down. It's simply not an honest or effective way to think about either public safety or the role of prosecutors.
Narrator | 00:36 - If you look at the data, you'll probably notice that traditional incarceration-focused criminal justice approaches are both extremely expensive and terribly ineffective. But, defying logic, they continue to be fairly popular. And when bold thinkers try to advance more sensible approaches, they sometimes get knocked down. In 2020, just days after Chesa Boudin's narrow election to become San Francisco's District Attorney (running on a platform of progressive reform), deep-pocketed out-of-state interests began the process of recalling him. The recall was successful, and in July of 2022 Boudin was unseated. His replacement, appointed by Mayor London Breed, was a member of his own prosecutorial team, Brooke Jenkins, who happened to have been one of the local leaders of the recall campaign. This week on Sea Change Radio, we welcome Chesa Boudin to the show for the first part of a two-part, far-ranging conversation to discuss his unique childhood with two incarcerated parents, evidenced-based approaches to criminal justice, and the bitter fight that nipped his promising tenure in the bud.
Alex Wise (AW) | 01:45 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Chesa Boudin. He is the executive director of the Criminal Law and Justice Center at the University of California Berkeley Law School. He's also the former district attorney of San Francisco. Chesa, welcome to Sea Change Radio.
Chesa Boudin (CB) | 02:18 - Great to be here with you.
Alex Wise (AW) | 02:20 - Why don't you first tell us about… how did your parents being incarcerated affect your path into criminal law?
Chesa Boudin (CB) | 02:28 - My parents were both arrested when I was 14 months old, and though I don't remember that day, or even when the judge sentenced my mother to 20 years to life, or when the judge sentenced my father to 75 years to life, my earliest memories as a child are waiting in lines to go through steel gates and metal detectors just to be able to see my parents, just to be able to give them hugs. I visited my parents in jails and prisons all across New York state over decades. My mom served 22 years before she was released. My father served 40 years before he was released. And so, you know, that experience was really a defining part of my childhood. Um, it's something that separated me from the other kids in my school, something that gave me a connection to a part of the American experience that I might not otherwise have had any awareness about, which is racism, -
Generally speaking, the exclusive guiding principle for corporate success seems to be making obscene amounts of money. But what if corporations recognized that a truly valuable return goes beyond wealth accumulation to include positive impacts on the environment and society? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Bruce Piasecki, an expert in the social impact investing space whose new book is entitled, Wealth and Climate Competitiveness. We learn about Piasecki's personal journey, find out why he believes one corporation, Trane Technologies, is doing the right things, and examine what he means by climate competitiveness.Narrator | 00:02 - This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise. Bruce Piasecki (BP) | 00:21 - What my work has always been about is the art of competitive frugality. That those who learn how to do more with less waste, less prejudice, less bias, are actually agile enough to see advantage before others capitalize on it.Narrator | 00:42 - Generally speaking, the exclusive guiding principle for corporate success seems to be making obscene amounts of money. But what if corporations recognized that a truly valuable return goes beyond wealth accumulation to include positive impacts on the environment and society? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Bruce Piasecki, an expert in the social impact investing space whose new book is entitled, "Wealth and Climate Competitiveness." We learn about Piasecki's personal journey, find out why he believes one corporation, Trane Technologies, is doing the right things, and examine what he means by climate competitiveness.Alex Wise (AW) | 01:40 - I am joined now on Sea Change Radio by Bruce Piasecki. He is a book writer of the New York Times bestseller, "Doing More With Less," and he also is the co-founder of the Creative Force Foundation. His latest book is "Wealth and Climate Competitiveness." Bruce, welcome to See Change Radio. Bruce Piasecki (BP) | 02:01 - Very glad to be here. Alex Wise (AW) | 02:03 - I want to dive into one of the case studies within your book, "Wealth and Climate Competitiveness." But first, why don't you give us the basic thesis for the book. You're quite prolific, but I want to know the genesis of, or the inspiration behind the book, if you can, just in more of a general terms. Bruce Piasecki (BP) | 02:22 - To be supportive, it represents a sea change in me, . I had always wanted to write about prejudice, Alex, I look like a Caucasian athlete, which is my essence. But I had brothers, two of which were Puerto Rican and a Chinese sister Su-Yin Chang, and not a nuclear family. My mother, I had no father. He died when I was three. And so I witnessed the good trouble of prejudice from the time I was three throughout my first 20, 30 years of being a person in a neighborhood or in society. And so even though I had written, uh, books about famous people like Eileen Fisher or giants of social investing, I wanted to write a book from my heart about the prejudices I watched from poverty to wealth, how people's perspectives of me changed when I became exceedingly wealthy from my work. And I also wanted to write a book about how we can't solve the climate crisis unless we break down those prejudices. Alex Wise (AW) | 03:33 - And how does climate competitiveness play a role in that brainchild as well. BP | 03:39 - When I found myself working in seven person teams in 22 nations in Africa, of all things for Walmart, I started scratching my head. I had already worked for Toyota in helping them bring the hybrid powertrain and invent it here in North America. So I always was interested in doing more with less. I was always, uh, having been lucky enough to have been born poor and having climbed a series of social ladders by the time I was 25, I was shocked that some of the world's biggest, most impactful firms, Walmart and Toyota being two of many hired us for change management.
