PODSHIP EARTH Jared Blumenfeld

Prepping for 2022: We’ve been through a year of climate emergencies. It's been terrifying to witness the Earth’s reaction to the destruction we have wrought upon her. We’re often ill prepared to cope with the resulting chaos and dislocation. When a storm takes out the power lines, or an earthquake ruptures the water pipes, or a mudslide blocks the road leaving your town, or a wildfire is moving towards your house, what the hell do you do?  Alexander Black is an urban prepper living in the heart of Los Angeles.

Art is fundamental to understanding who we are in context to the world. Artists translate and blend physical worlds with emotional landscapes, threading magic into our lives. No one embodies this journey more than Alex Nichols. She works with explosive vision and unparalleled focus to express her artistic voice. Alex's art focuses on translating the world inside her, the world around her, and the world between us all. Great art transcends the everyday, showing us who we are and who we aspire to be. Art is one of the most important tools we have for healing the planet. Alex has stayed true to that pursuit no matter how difficult the journey.

Nalleli Cobo grew up in South Central Los Angeles just 30 feet away from a polluting oil well. When Nalleli was nine she and her community started getting nose bleeds, nausea, headaches and asthma. Nalleli began a crusade to shutdown oil drilling in her neighborhood by focusing on the power of storytelling - shining a bright light on what was happening to her community. Nalleli fought a smart, tough campaign that eventually triumphed in getting the oil facility across from her permanently closed. Nalleli is now 20 and has spent more than half her life fighting oil drilling across LA. Nalleli’s willingness to share her story no matter how much pain it evokes is the embodiment of talking truth to power.  Nalleli takes each day as it comes - bringing everything she has to the struggle. She lost her childhood so that others wouldn’t have to.  In the process, Nalleli Cobo helped create the global climate youth movement, now the most powerful force for change on the planet.

As world leaders descended on Glasgow to agree on a plan to curb climate pollution, most of the obstacles to inking a deal centered on who pays for what. Not being discussed is the underlying financial framework of capitalism which has played an outsized role in getting us into this mess. Because capitalism focuses nearly exclusively on maximizing profits, the exploitation of both human and natural resources has never been part of the balance sheet. Dr Carolina Alves studies and teaches heterodox economics at Cambridge University.  Carolina is part of a new wave of economists bringing rigour and curiosity to answering fundamental questions about how markets operate and where reform is needed. In a discipline dominated by white men from the global north, Carolina's fight to make economics more equitable, representative and focused on social good comes not a moment too soon.

Talking about the rain, wind, sun, humidity, snow, hail, storms, heat, flooding and everything in between is one of our favorite topics of conversation. That’s now being amped up to a whole new level because of climate change. Today’s extreme weather is causing droughts, wildfires, mega hurricanes, atmospheric rivers and temperatures both so cold and hot that people are dying. Extreme weather cost U.S. taxpayers $99 billion last year, and it is getting worse. Weather is getting a lot more attention. That puts the spotlight on meteorologists who deliver daily weather forecasts. Monica Woods has been ABC10 Sacramento’s Chief Meteorologist since 2011. Monica's broadcasts go into the field with farmers, scientists, water managers and everyday Californians to find the stories that inspire action and even hope. Her message is that ultimately we protect the things we love.

Our nation is becoming more diverse thanks to growth among Latinx, Asian and multiracial Americans. Diversity is our nation’s single greatest strength. Nowhere is this more true than in California where the Latinx community is now the largest racial or ethnic group in the Golden State - representing 39% of the population. And yet, if you go to a national park or recreation area, the vast majority of visitors are white. Rather than get derailed by ridiculous racist tropes, like people of color don’t like the outdoors, José González started Latino Outdoors as a way of meeting communities, families and individuals where they’re at.