Dear Friends,

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM. Here’s our line up:

NATIVE WOMEN RESPOND TO CLIMATE CRISIS, EROSION OF ABORTION RIGHTS. My first guest is Dr. Corrine Sanchez, executive director of Tewa Women United (TWU). TWU was founded in 1989 as a support group for Native women in New Mexico dealing with “the traumatic effects of colonization, religious inquisition, and militarization leading to issues such as alcoholism, suicide, domestic/sexual violence, and environmental violence.”

Dr. Corrine Sanchez

Corrine is from the San Ildefonso Pueblo north of Santa Fe. Her Pueblo is one of eleven Native communities who extended kindness to participants in the Great March for Climate Action in 2014. It’s safe to say that, without their help, the March wouldn’t have made it across New Mexico.

For example, on a day that was viciously cold and windy, the Zuni people put us up for the night in their jail. (You know conditions are rough when you appreciate a night in jail!) On another occasion during horrid weather near Albuquerque, the Laguna Pueblo people housed us in their casino.

Related to my conversation with Corrine, I share with you this powerful video sent to me by Dr. David Drake. It’s called We Shall Remain and was produced by The Stylehorse Collective — a group that “tells stories about tribes, for tribes, as a tribe.”

The Great March for Climate Action crossing northern New Mexico, May, 2014.

HOW THE GREAT RESIGNATION MIGHT HELP RURAL AMERICA THRIVE. Frank and Kim Spillers of Rural Community Solutions out of Atlantic, Iowa, discuss how current shifts in employment and technology could provide a boon to rural communities struggling to stay afloat. As Frank reminds us, in recent years, two-thirds of Iowa’s counties lost population. That’s consistent with trends across much of rural America.

Yet as I’ve said many times on this program, growth for growth’s sake isn’t necessarily a good thing. That’s an element of my dialogue with Kim and Frank, and a theme I’ll continue to come back to as we work to address the structural flaws of the endless growth paradigm.

TRAVELING 81,000 MILES BY BIKE, BOAT, AND BOOT. I first met Hans Frischeisen when he joined us in California during the first week of the Great March for Climate Action. As I ponder the 81,000 miles that Hans has traveled solely on “muscle fuel” through 130 countries, our 3,100-mile climate trek seems like small peanuts.

In his book, Peddling, Paddling, and Pedes, Hans shares some amazing stories, including the time his kayak capsized in an icy Siberian river. Fighting hypothermia, he walked a mile to a village and knocked on 15 doors, only to realize that the entire village was abandoned. He then walked five miles to another village and was rescued by a man who provided dry clothes, hot food, and vodka.

Hans is motivated in his travels by a thirst for adventure and his desire for peace, justice, and understanding. He’s 81 years old and not done with his travels, now preparing for a bike ride along the Danube River in Europe.

THE PROS AND CONS OF “GROWING UP.” Kathy Byrnes and I discuss vertical farming, i.e., the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. Sure, we do a little of that at Birds & Bees Urban Farm — staking tomatoes, training beans to climb on corn, willow arches for various crops. But the burgeoning vertical farming movement takes it to a whole new level.

Even to the level of a skyscraper. Seriously. In 1999, students at Columbia University accepted a challenge to design a vertical farm that could feed 50,000 people! They came up with such a design, though no sky-food-scraper has yet to be built.

How do Kathy and I feel about such farm practices? Mixed. Listen to our conversation, and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action to make our world a better place. — Ed Fallon

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THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM:

(01:08) Native women respond to climate crisis, erosion of abortion rights, with Corrine Sanchez;
(19:52) How the Great Resignation can help rural America thrive, with Frank and Kim Spillers;
(37:59) Traveling 81,000 miles purely on “muscle fuel,” with Hans Frischeisen;
(53:29) The pros and cons of “growing up,” with Kathy Byrnes.

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Ed Fallon