The Sustainable Future

Jade Allison has resided in Orange County, California for the past couple of years. Since childhood, she has been passionate about climate change and sustainability. Over the past year, she has been an active member in several local climate groups. Her primary participation is with Reform and Sustain, a group for young environmentalists in Orange County, and the Climate Collective website where she helps post local climate events. When available, Jade also enjoys attending other climate groups' events as well as outdoor restoration events. In her free time, she loves spending time outdoors hiking, rock climbing, and paddleboarding with her dog. Currently, Jade is pursuing a career as an environmental chemist specializing in water quality testing and analysis.

It was great to speak with Tomas Castro of Climate Action Campaign today. He serves as an OC Climate Equity Advocate and Organizer, and he has also been active in Citizens' Climate Lobby chapters in OC and UC Berkeley, his alma mater. Tune in to learn about his experience working various roles in political campaigns across the nation as well as shaping policy in his current position at CAC.

Such a pleasure to chat with Ayn Craciun, Irvine City Council candidate and OC Policy Director of Climate Action Campaign. She's been a strong advocate of climate action in Irvine and a vocal critic of the fossil fuel industry. Tune in to hear more about her aspirations for the city and ways to become involved in her campaign. Her website is ayn4irvine.com and her kickoff meeting is on Feb. 25, 2024 at 2pm!

How can we unite neighborhoods together in the face of climate change anxiety? Listen in to Patty Oh, manager of the Cool Orange County project, as she navigates her personal career through the corporate world and the environmental movement. Learn more about her work at coolirvine.org.

In my conversation with Elyse Shelger, we chat about the impacts of climate change on disaster relief and emergency, her transition from professional soccer to nursing at Stanford Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital Orange County, and the balance between hard work and self-care.

In my conversation with Dr. Sara Singer, Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and Stanford Graduate School of Business, we chat about using policy and management to address challenges in healthcare, experiences ranging from working in the Clinton administration to studying safety culture in California hospitals, and how businesses can play a larger role in improving planetary health.

On today’s episode, we speak with Liz Carlisle, Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at University of California, Santa Barbara, where her work focuses on fostering a more sustainable food system. We chat about her family’s origins in Montana during the Dust Bowl, how her journey as a singer-songwriter led to conversations about land-based stewardship, and what we can do at a federal policy and economic level to work towards a more sustainable agricultural system. In addition, we learn more about the ethnographic approach behind Dr. Carlisle’s books, her courses in stewardship and agriculture at Stanford and UCSB, and her advice for aspiring young leaders.

Today I talk with Aviva Musicus of Harvard University about the future of nutrition, food policy, and sustainability. She shares her thoughts on how the environment in which we make food choices affects our health, her work which informed a sodium labeling law in Philadelphia, and the use of strategic science to design research questions that are scientifically important and politically relevant. We also discuss incorporating sustainable practices into national school lunch programs and events at Harvard University, her research on determining the health and environmental impacts of various diets, and advice for young students interested in STEM.

Aviva’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Profile: https://www.forbes.com/profile/aviva-musicus/?sh=3bfa726b3f86

Aviva’s Harvard Sustainable Meeting and Event Guide: https://green.harvard.edu/campaign/sustainable-meeting-and-event-guide

Food design is an innovative approach to working towards more sustainable food systems. In this episode, we meet Dr. Soh Kim, a leading food design researcher at Stanford University and founder of FoodInno, a conference that brings together a community of food innovators around the world. We discuss design thinking applied to food innovation, sustainable approaches to food design, and the future of food and technology. She shares her insights working with entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, her experience organizing FoodInno, as well as tips on how we can get involved in food innovation.

In this episode, we have as our guest Stanford University professor and energy policy researcher Dr. Jim Sweeney. We discuss Dr. Sweeney's background and career trajectory, challenges and solutions for sustainability in the U.S., implications of the upcoming 2020 elections on energy policy, and how we can take action at an individual and community level to fight for what's right. 

During our first episode, we discuss the importance of garden education for the younger generation with LA's Garden School Foundation Programs Manager, Rachel Black.