Unlike the big-name environmental heroes of the last few decades, the people inspiring Elizabeth May and Tzeporah Berman today are largely unknown and without the backing of big NGOs – much like many of the people we’ve profiled in our Heroes issue.

Like David Suzuki, Elizabeth May’s environmental awakening in 1970 can be traced to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring – and to the pesticides that killed her pet sheep as a child. But May found it hard to narrow down her present-day inspiration: “there are so many people across Canada who are giving up their own lives to protect something that should never be under threat at all.” Listen to find out who she chose!

Likewise, the people who give Tzeporah Berman “the juice to keep going every day” are younger, lesser-known heroes like Eriel Deranger and Celine Trojan. Tzeporah Berman describes the inspiring “egolessness,” political prowess, ability to balance organizing with family, and graceful leadership of these two powerhouses.

Berman also emphasizes the importance of creating political muscle for the environmental movement and what the Dogwood Initiative‘s Celine Trojan is doing to build it.

Listen to youth heroes at COP19 in the previous A\J podcast, and the Suzuki family podcast to hear from David Suzuki and his daughter Severn.

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To go with the “Heroes” theme of our latest issue of A\J, we went to the recent COP19 UN Climate Negotiations in Warsaw Poland to meet young climate heroes. In this podcast we get to listen to the unsung heroes of the UN Climate Negotiations – youth and indigenous peoples whose voices often go unheard in the climate negotiations. 

In the first part of the podcast, A\J’s Andrew Wong interviews three youth from different regions of the world: Carlie Labaria from the Philippines (3:25), Sebastien Duyck from Switzerland (11:28) and Ruth Nyambura from Kenya (17:25). They speak about the recent super typhoon Haiyan, their frustrations with the state of the global climate negotiations and the action they wish to see on climate change.

In the second part of the podcast we’ll listen to three indigenous perspectives on climate change. We interview Elvin Flaco from the jungles of Panama (22:22), Sochea Pheap from Cambodia (31:30) and Lakpa Sherpa from the mountainous region of Nepal (39:30). They express their desire to secure their territories and their rights in the context of resource development, how climate change is risking their livelihoods and the political issues they are facing back home in dealing with environmental issues.

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Music Credits
Mrio Gajarsk – Turn Up My Light
Dexter Britain – The Time To Run
Oskar Schuster – Sneeuwland
Dexter Britain – The Time To Run Finale

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Two Suzukis in one podcast! 

David Suzuki shares stories about his environmental heroes, the best way to teach children a love of nature and how Rachel Carson opened his eyes to the real world outside the science lab (2:51). Read an excerpt from the interview in Heroes of Heroes.

“Before World War Two, we lived in Vancouver, and we’d be going out fishing and camping on weekends. I don’t think there is any greater way to teach you a love of the natural world, and so I am ever grateful to my father for that.”

Severn Cullis-Suzuki talks about what’s changed in the 20 years since Rio, the importance of youthful idealism and fostering community – and issues a generational challenge to baby-boomers (15:35).

“Youth have a power. They have this clarity that they can see what’s going on in the world… And we need to hear that voice.” As an adult, “you come to understand hypocrisy, and that’s a very dangerous thing, because then you can rationalize the destruction of the natural world.”

Read Heroes (39.6). 

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We reviewed Louis Helbig’s Sunken Villages exhibit in the Night issue. Helbig’s aerial photos shine light on important issues that extend beyond the life of his art exhibit. You can learn more about the history of the St. Lawrence Seaway by visiting SunkenVillages.ca, and by listening to this edition of the A\J podcast.

Emily Slofstra interviews Helbig and clips from Helbig’s audio interviews with residents of the villages that were destroyed and relocated are woven throughout the podcast. Slofstra and Helbig also chat about the importance of environmental art to challenge Canada’s reliance on resource extraction. (4:13)

Slofstra also talks to Burton Lim, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Lim contributed to Night with “They Only Come Out at Night,” featuring everyone’s favourite flying mammal, the cute and cuddly bat. Slofstra and Lim discuss the importance of bats, as well as human perceptions of bats, the role of traditional knowledge in Lim’s work, and how you can join a research expedition in Guyana or Borneo. (40:22)

Check out more podcasts, blogs and magazines at AlternativesJournal.ca.

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Thacker grew up having dinnertime conversations with his family about the intricacies of the night sky, and now likes to share his passion for night-time and beyond with the rest of the world. Did you know that only two per cent of Canadian tax revenue is spent on space research? Learn about why that research is so important in this edition of the A\J Podcast.

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Revolution, the number one Canadian documentary so far in 2013, was released on DVD this week.  A\J web editor Emily Slofstra had the chance to speak with filmmaker Rob Stewart. While Revolution had some dark moments, Stewart could probably win the award for Most Hopeful Environmentalist, which became evident very early on in the interview. The documentary is full of stunning underwater wildlife cinematography, including some amazing night shots – listen to the podcast to hear about what it’s like in the ocean at night. 

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Emily Slofstra interviews Taarini Chopra (3:57) about genetically modified alfalfa. If Roundup Ready alfalfa gets on the market, there will be major impacts to the food system, both economically and to the quality of the food. If you are a member of a CSA or buy organic produce or meat, there’s a good chance your farmer will be impacted if their food gets contaminated by GM alfalfa, so check out the National Farmers Union and the Canadian Biodiversity Action Network to find out what you can do to make a difference. Read “Be Warned” on alternativesjournal.ca to learn more.

Daryn Caister talks to Chris Wood (20:00), author of Down the Drain: How We are Failing to Protect our Water Resources. Wood argues that governments shouldn’t have the option of abandoning our natural security. What is natural security and what does it have to do with water? And how might water have an impact on our “genital equipment”? Listen to the podcast, order a copy of A\J and pick up Wood’s book to get answers to all your water-related questions. 

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Franke James realized the hard way that our government does not like dissenting voices.  Daryn Caister speaks with Franke (26:04) about having her tour funding pulled and how that inspired her latest book, Banned on the Hill. Order the magazine online or find it on a newsstand near you to check out an essay from the book, Franke James is your Fault?

Music in this podcast is by Richard Garvey and Janice Lee. Both can be found playing around southern Ontario this summer, and in other parts of the country throughout the year. 

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Have you ever made your own toothpaste? Have you been meaning to start eating more locally? Now’s your chance, as Earth Day Canada is challenging Canadians to Act for the Planet this April. Emily Slofstra interviewed Jed Goldberg, President of Earth Day Canada, to learn more about the challenge, how to take part and win prizes while making a positive impact on the world (4:39). Follow along on Facebook to complete the 30-day checklist and be sure to check out A\J’s blogs throughout the month to see how A\J staff are faring with the challenges.

The second interview in this podcast was a follow-up with Katerina Cizek, director of the interactive documentary series Highrise (18:16). A\J published an interview with Cizek in the Greenbelts issue of the magazine, on the Highrise project and the doc Out My Window. Listen in to hear Cizek explain the latest part of the project, a people’s history of the highrise, and explore the environmental and social footprints of vertical living.

This podcast features songs from Toronto’s The Blackwood Two and Kitchener-Waterloo’s Janice Lee. Janice also performs a spoken word piece “on commitment and community” between the two interviews. (14:45) Catch her on tour from Saskatchewan to British Columbia this April and May 2013.

Listen to the first Greenbelts podcast.

The final chapter of Highrise, entitled Universe Within: Digital Lives in the Global Highrise, launches online on June 2, 2015.

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Photo: Arap \ fotolia.com

Photo: Donauauen

Host Emily Slofstra interviews Ray Tomalty of Smart Cities Research Services about the Montreal Greenbelt. (4:58)

A\J contributor Ellen Jakubowski interviews Liana Geidezis on Europe’s Iron Curtain Greenbelt. (28:47)

If you’ll be in Europe next year, try to catch one of the 25 events being held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Iron Curtain greenbelt, and perhaps you’ll spot a glimpse of the Balkan lynx! Contact BUND, Friends of the Earth Germany, for more information.

Music in this podcast is by Betty Supple, Coeur de Pirate and Richard Garvey.

Listen to the second Greenbelts podcast.

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