Podship Earth

What happens when one person no longer has use for an object, and yet that product still has a lot of life left in it?  The possibilities are endless: from building materials, to amazing furniture, to a used Hello Kitty clock, to second hand vinyl. We go to Urban Ore, a reuse mecca in Berkeley to meet Ida Belisle and Max Wechsle, then travel to Building Resources, a treasure trove of deconstructed home parts, where I meet Ed Dunn and Kevin Drew.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We talk with “Jesús Garcia” who at 19 left his home and family to escape violence in Mexico. He crossed into the U.S. by swimming at night into the Pacific ocean for eight hours - first west, then north - with just a wetsuit and change of clothes.  Jesús is now three years into his life in California, showing both the challenges and the power of making a dream come alive.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Carl Safina explores non-human feelings. Dr. Safina an ecologist and author of many best selling books. Safina’s Book, Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel, has according to the New York Times Review of Books, “the potential to change our relationship with the natural world.” As Carl so eloquently says, only through achieving dignity for all life will we be able to maintain a planet capable of supporting life for all.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I meet up with Amelia Gonzalez to find out where our love of chocolate comes from? After a career in radio, Amelia took her savings and founded Casa de Chocolates in Berkeley.  By infusing her chocolates with love and culture and the flavors and history of the Americas, taking one small bite becomes a transformative experience.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our human relationship to birds is complex. They’re wellbeing is our wellbeing. Since 1970, US bird populations have plummeted by 3 Billion birds - that’s an insane 30% of all birds - gone forever! Luckily, the 60 million birdwatchers in the US alone are ready to help. Dr. Meredith Williams takes me on my maiden birdwatching adventure. Connecting to nature is the most powerful force we have in defense of the planet and birdwatching establishes a link to our past and present with profound immediacy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lisa Jackson grew up in New Orleans, trained and worked as an environmental engineer and was chosen by President Obama to lead EPA from 2009 to 2013. Lisa is now the Vice President for Environmental, policy and social initiatives at Apple. We talk about the influence of Parliament-Funkadelic, the power of faith, the importance of rebuilding EPA after four years of Trump’s vandalism, and how to make sure environmental justice impacted communities are given the resources to reshape their future.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At 18, my Grandfather was drafted into the German Army, and served as an ambulance driver in World War One. He wrote down the entire truly bizarre story with a great deal of irony and dark humor. Erwin attempts to escape from military service (to meet his Dutch sweetheart), serves as an accountant in a military-sanctioned Red Cross brothel, was awarded the Iron Cross (for teaching his Sergeant French), and is witness to a butchery of horrific proportions. Erwin’s trials reinforce the insanity of the human condition and yet, no matter how cold, how hungry and how barbaric the world around him, he just kept going.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thousands of years of tribal ecological practice is the key to reconnecting us to the planet. We talk with Matthew Teutimez, tribal biologist with the Kizh-Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians, the aboriginal tribe of the Los Angeles basin, about plants, health and spirituality.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 2015, 21 young people filed a climate lawsuit called Juliana v. United States, asserting that the government violated their rights to life, liberty, and property. We talk with plaintiffs Aji Piper and Tia Hatton; and journalists: Christi Cooper and Lee Van Der Voo about the ups and downs of this amazing lawsuit and the community it created.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Mark Hyman uncovers the path to personal and planetary health. For Mark, health is about connecting the soil, with the farmer, with the grocer, with our diet. We talk with Mark about his health-focused fixes to the food system.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Five of the six biggest fires in California’s recent history happened this year, resulting in 10,488 structures damaged and at least 31 fatalities. I talk with Justine Gude with the Texas Canyon Hotshot crew about what it takes to be tough, resilient and to plan for everything going to hell.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is a political act because according to Alice Waters, the chef and activist, which farmers you get your food from and how you celebrate this precious life sustaining resource can change our lives and the planet for the better.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Invest - We talk with Tom Steyer about how he went from investing in distressed assets with a hedge fund to investing in the future of the planet with NextGen America. Along the way we talk about climate change, Presidential politics, his tartan ties, where money comes from, as well how to mobilize the #youthvote.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Eleven million people from over 140 countries are climate striking by skipping school to tell us we need to act now!. Jerome Foster II,  who at seven started watching documentaries about our planet, got activated and started climate blogging. Jerome is now 18 and has been climate striking for 81 weeks in front of the white house. Jerome founded www.onemillionof.us to get youth to vote this November and beyond.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s an action that enviros have yet to master. In looking at what led to the 2016 election debacle, it's hard to ignore a disturbing fact: environmentalists turned out to vote at rates significantly less than the nation as a whole. To try and work out how that could be possible, I talk with Nathaniel Stinnett who runs the Environmental Voter Project.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Given the state of the world, we need all the friends we can muster.  Shane Minogue and I met when we were four. Friends we make as children and manage to keep for a lifetime are rare.  We talk about audio equipment, membrane trafficking, religion, Clive Sinclair’s electric car, the secret to a good Guinness, why Shane was always the hippest kid in school and how he turned me into a vegetarian.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In 1852, my grandfather’s grandfather Henry Cohn at the age of 21 left the shtetl of Dobrzyn (Poland), to set sail for America. He wrote a slim journal of his adventures - stories of escaping the military draft by crossing a river on his brother’s back, becoming a peddler, stories about his friend getting murdered, his crossing the Isthmus of Panama on foot while on his way to California, witnessing the lynching of judges in San Francisco, and eventually making it to the gold country in St. Louis and Poker Flat in Sierra County, north of Lake Tahoe.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We talk with Dr Nadine Burke Harris, an award-winning physician, researcher, advocate and California’s first Surgeon General. She is dedicated to changing the way our society responds to childhood trauma. At its worst, stress can elicit a toxic shock to our system that changes who we are at very fundamental level. Dr Burke Harris has set a bold goal to reduce adverse childhood experiences by half in one generation.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The scope of the societal impacts being both inflicted and uncovered by the COVID-19 pandemic are truly without precedent. With every disaster, whether it's an economic collapse or the damage inflicted by a hurricane or wildfire, we are given a choice: rebuild in the same pattern as before or re-imagine a different future. If a peaceful, compassionate, equitable and sustainable future is our goal, then we must ensure that our path forward doesn’t rebuild the systems of violence, inequality, racism and pollution that are corroding our society from the inside out. We talk with Dr Manuel Pastor, the University of Southern California Distinguished Professor of Sociology, American Studies & Ethnicity, about advancing a vision for a post-covid society through bold, big steps.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are now frontline responders in the battle against climate change: fighting raging wildfires, helping urban dwellers overcome extreme heat, and rescuing victims of rising seas.  What is less known is that firefighters are being exposed to a toxic soup of chemicals from melting flat-screen TVs to nylon carpets, each time they respond to a residential fire. I talk with Tom O'Connor, Battalion Chief with the San Francisco Fire Department, about how firefighters are leading the charge to clean up our planet one community at a time.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.