04 March 2022 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Polly Nash
In this interview, correspondent Polly Nash talks to fire fighter Cami Schafer about one of the many frightening effects of climate change; the ever-growing threat of wildfires around the world. Last year California was hit by the Dixie Fire, the largest single forest fire in the state’s history. Burning for four months, the Dixie Fire destroyed over a thousand buildings and devastated entire towns. Cami Schafer, who was fighting this fire alongside her colleagues, gives insights into her daily work, her struggles and most importantly, what kept her sane and motivated during the demanding operation.
“You try not to be emotionally attached but you can’t really help it. Those are people’s houses, people’s livelihood, that’s all they have. But then we have to hustle and keep going the next day.”
23 November 2021 – conducted by Earth Refuge Correspondent Ella Kiyomi Dobson
In this interview, Jordan Hartzell provides an overview of the work The Farmlink Project does to redirect food waste and serve food insecure communities. Jordan speaks to how working with this organisation has changed how she thinks about food systems and networks. The extensive contributions of food waste to the climate crisis have helped Jordan and her team urge the importance of changing consumption and buying processes in the US. Jordan provides insights into the recent transformations within the organisation in order to adapt and better serve communities affected by intensifying weather events, such as in Texas and Louisiana.
“Thinking about the supply chain and the food system, and all of the different things that gointo figuring out how food gets to the grocery store and how it’s priced has really changed my perspective. Another thing that was really enthralling, along with seeing the direct impact on the communities receiving food, was seeing the impact Farm Link had on the people getting involved.”
Jordan Hartzell is from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and is currently a senior at Brown University studying Applied Mathematics – Computer Science. As a member of the founding team of The Farmlink Project, she has occupied several roles during a gap year from college. She started as the lead of the logistics team, where she wrote protocols for Farmlink’s food-moving operations and built relationships throughout the agricultural supply chain. In the fall of 2020, Jordan created the Product Team in order to design a sustainable model for rescuing surplus produce at scale; in co-leading this team with Jack Rehnborg, Jordan and her teammates built a software tool to decrease the time, energy, and logistical headache involved in coordinating Farmlink’s delivery operations. Now that her gap year is complete, Jordan is playing a supporting role to new Farmlink fellows as the team grows. When she’s not working with Farmlink, Jordan loves to rock climb and read.
In this interview, Dr. Donald Kingsbury dives into his research on energy transitions and carbon capitalism with Earth Refuge Correspondent Samantha Quadros. Dr. Kingsbury saw how his community, located in the rust belt of the United States, was being affected by economic restructuring and NAFTA, which inspired him to look more closely into the social, cultural and political structures that facilitate resource extraction in Latin America. During his time in Venezuela working with social movements, he came to realise how deep the extraction of resources, ie. oil, underwrites political economy and social identity. Adopting lithium and water extraction as an example, Dr. Kingsbury explores the nuanced intersections between climate change, displacement and inequalities in the extraction sphere.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this interview on our Earth Refuge Spotify:
A public interest lawyer and entrepreneur who has worked in DC and throughout Asia, Rebecca Ballard founded @MavenWomen to meet an unmet market need for additional socially conscious options for professional women’s attire, and went on to found the recently launched @The.Fashion.Connection (FTS) to “move the needle” in the global garment industry through product creation and partnership, consumer education, and advocacy. This year, FTS is highlighting the links between the impacts of fast fashion and human trafficking. During this interview, she discusses the vulnerability of the – largely female – fast fashion workforce, the modern day slavery landscape, and the overlaps between fast fashion, human trafficking, and climate justice.
16 April 2021 – conducted by Earth Refuge Correspondent James Sedlak
In this episode, Rachel Jacobson discusses the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP)’s role in supporting and connecting climate adaptation professionals to advance innovation in the field, including the issue of climate migration for both migrating- and receiving-communities. She highlights some of ASAP’s ongoing work which includes a Climate Migration and Managed Retreat Group and applied research projects in the Great Lakes (USA) region to create methodologies for projecting human migration that integrate future climate projections and stakeholder perspectives in the region. For more information about ASAP’s projects, including how to become a member, please visit https://adaptationprofessionals.org/.
26 March 2021 – conducted by Earth Refuge Correspondent Aubrey Calaway
Native climate justice organizer Ruth Miller discusses her work towards an indigenized just transition amidst urgent threats to her people and land. She frames this struggle within the historical context of colonial violence and forced settlement of native Alaskan communities, pointing to the need to center indigenous knowledge in national and international policy.
Ruth is a Dena’ina Athabaskan and Ashkenazi Russian Jewish woman, raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She is a member of the Curyung Tribe, and also has roots in Bristol Bay. Ruth is the Climate Justice Director for Native Movement, a matriarchal grassroots Indigenous organization that fights for the rights of Indigenous peoples, our lands and waters, and justice for our ancestors and descendants. She has worked many years towards climate justice and a regenerative economy for all on her lands and beyond, including international advocacy with the United Nations Association and SustainUS. She is a daughter, a granddaughter, and aunty, a language learner, a traditional beadworker, and a subsistence fisherwomxn.
19 March 2021 – conducted by Earth Refuge Correspondent James Sedlak
In this interview, Jon and Martha, a family living in Sonoma County, California, share their experience with wildfire and a drying climate. From running a natural wine label to raising a newborn son, they have faced unique climate challenges. They speak about stories of evacuation, a changing community, and their personal question of migration.
Priscilla shares her valuable insights into climate change from a tech perspective. As a resident of California, she has also been “woken up year after year with ash on her sinks and smoke in the air”. The number of dry, warm and windy autumn days – which are ideal conditions for wildfires – in California has more than doubled since the 1980s. More than half of the acres burned each year in the western US can be attributed to climate change.
Researcher Jake Meyers discusses the importance of narratives in addressing the local impacts of climate change. From rural-urban migration in Kenya to floating villages of Cambodia, Jake has seen first hand how a well-constructed narrative can change environmental policy for the better.
In the following interview, Earth Refuge Correspondent James from Lake Tahoe, California discusses his experience fighting California wildfires in a warming climate and the threat of migration.
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