THE MERCAST to explore solutions to the CLIMATE EMERGENCY
Launching my podcast THE MERCAST to figure out how the hell we get out of this warming planet mess.
I flew back to the US from Australia because my uncle passed & my friend got married.
I had already cancelled my mermaid retreats because I don’t yet know how to offset 10+ mermaids flying through the air burning nonrenewable fossil fuels, smashing carbon back into the atmosphere, and melting 32 square feet of arctic ice every 7000 mile flight / 10 hours in the air / roundtrip flight New York to London.
Even if my mermaid retreats are plastic-free sailing adventures, I cannot justify the 32 square feet—the size of an apartment bathroom—per person melted for us to dive with whales and do yoga on mountain tops.
As I visualised the volume of arctic ice melted by my one flight, I stopped right where I was in southern California.
32 square foot bathroom
I had recently seen the documentary 2040 which taught me more about the climate emergency and gave me deep hope and understanding of specific solutions to help save our warming planet! (Activate your 2040 plan HERE.)
Inspired, I started researching more ways we can stop putting carbon into the atmosphere and also how we can commoditise the carbon already in our atmosphere and draw it down into our soil, trees, crops, and kelp forests. Whilst I certainly have spent a few weeks in the eco-trauma and compassion fatigue this past year, I finally found myself swimming in the ocean of HOPE as I learned the fascinating innovation that humans are designing us out of this mess.
Because of my 10 years in the plastics movement, I have access to incredibly inspiring scientists, activists, pioneers, and all sorts of environmentally progressive humans. I started my podcast interviewing Prigi Arisandi in the pitch black of night in a jungle in East Java, Indonesia. (photos below from the plastics research trip to East Java, Indonesia)
He is a river biologist turned revolutionary plastics activist, working to stop the unfortunate trend of throwing plastic single-use diapers into the Brantas river that millions of Indonesians depend on. There is superstition that if plastic diapers are burned, like the other plastic trash, the child who wore the diaper will get sick. So they chuck the diapers into the river. Now the Brantas is polluted with plastics and their toxic chemicals.
On this same research trip, I went to the Phillipines to learn about the plastic problems in Manila AND the zero-waste cities program Froi Grates is building to solve the crisis. I interviewed Froi and long time buddy Stiv Wilson—who has been in the plastics movement as long as I can remember—for the podcast in a grass hut by the ocean in the Phillipines. (photos below from the Story of Plastics documentary filming mission to the Phillipines)
A few legends in the #breakfreefromplastic movement interviewed in bizarre places start the podcast off and then I swing hard into the solutions to our climate emergency.
Because I don’t use plastics, I feel pretty good about my environmental impact. However with the climate in an urgent state requiring immediate, drastic, and strategic action, I am compelled to go further with my lifestyle changes. I have grounded myself in California, as I pick the brains of scientists, innovators, and inventors to learn not just how I offset my personal carbon footprint but how we can collectively shift society towards the magical green and blue integrated world that 2040 assures is totally possible.
I have been recording these conversations as I learn more about the complexities of our situation and the incredible solutions to get us there. Super excited to be sharing what I learn and supporting these amazing change-makers in their pursuits of a healthier planet!
