20 episodes

We're striking out across the country in search of hope, talking with people doing big daring things to make the world a little better. From cleaning up boatloads of trash in the Port of Houston, to installing a solar-powered heritage in West Virginia, to planting a tree in Tennessee after every loving burial, these Americans are building a more sustainable future, building community, building resilience, building hope. I’m Kate Tucker, and Hope is My Middle Name.



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Hope Is My Middle Name Kate Tucker

    • Society & Culture

We're striking out across the country in search of hope, talking with people doing big daring things to make the world a little better. From cleaning up boatloads of trash in the Port of Houston, to installing a solar-powered heritage in West Virginia, to planting a tree in Tennessee after every loving burial, these Americans are building a more sustainable future, building community, building resilience, building hope. I’m Kate Tucker, and Hope is My Middle Name.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    What’s in the Water: West Virginia’s WaterKeeper on the Future of Appalachia’s Rivers

    What’s in the Water: West Virginia’s WaterKeeper on the Future of Appalachia’s Rivers

    Almost Heaven, West Virginia isn’t just coal mines and country roads. Called the Birthplace of Rivers, the state sits on the Eastern Continental Divide, where 40 rivers and 56,000 miles of streams provide drinking water for millions of people from the Chesapeake Bay out to the Gulf of Mexico. 
    And yet, while West Virginia serves the country with her pristine headwater streams, there are entire counties in the state that have been on boil water alerts for years, with wells contaminated by coal mining and fracking, with no infrastructure for clean drinking water, with no funding, and no real plan. Compounding that are issues of food insecurity, poverty, and addiction. With limited access to well-paying jobs, education, and broadband, West Virginia’s population continues to dwindle, and it leads the nation in opioid deaths. 
    Where is the hope for a place like West Virginia? It’s in the people, and it's in the water, according to Angie Rosser, West Virginia’s Headwaters WaterKeeper and executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition. As Angie says, “We're well-positioned geographically, resource-wise, to have this paradigm shift around what it means to develop natural resources [...] as something to preserve and hold up, as something we are the keepers of. You can experience this and it will make meaning for your life, your family, your connection to nature and the bigger world around us. So I'm excited about that and that’s why I'm not leaving. I'm staying here.”
    Join us for a delightful conversation on rivers, resilience, and restoration born in the hills of Appalachia on this season finale episode of HOPE.
    Learn more about Angie Rosser and West Virginia Rivers Coalition at https://wvrivers.org/
    If you liked this episode, listen next to Tim and Beth Reese: Building Small Town Resilience in West Virginia on HOPE Is My Middle Name season 2, episode 3. 
    Follow Kate’s adventures through West Virginia on Made In America, now streaming on YouTube.com/ConsensusDigitalMedia
    Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us! 
    Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

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    • 46 min
    Fighting Wildfires with 5,000 Rescue Goats

    Fighting Wildfires with 5,000 Rescue Goats

    Terri Oyarzun can’t imagine life without goats. She grew up with goats, she met her husband out herding goats, and together they rescued 55 “Charlie Brown” goats and trained them to fight wildfires. Today, the 5,000 strong Goats R Us herd works with government agencies, universities, and communities to find innovative solutions for fire control and prevention, while advancing animal husbandry and livestock management in California’s increasingly challenging climate. “Fire season is twelve months out of the year now. The goats are protecting people. They're the four-legged firefighters of California.” Get ready for a fun and insightful conversation on goats–what we can learn from their many wonderful quirks and how they are helping us build a more resilient ecosystem.
    See Terri and her goats at GoatsRUs.com
    If you liked this episode, listen next to Bayou Dave: Cleaning Up Trash to Save the World, Hope Is My Middle Name season 2, episode 7.
    Connect with Kate on instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us! 
    Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 37 min
    Building Climate Resilience in a Coastal Florida Floodplain

    Building Climate Resilience in a Coastal Florida Floodplain

    What do you do when your hometown has been ranked in the top 4 US cities most vulnerable to coastal flooding? If you’re Nancy Metayer Bowen, you run for office. And you become the first Haitian-American to be elected to office in Coral Springs, Florida. Now as a city commissioner, Nancy is hard at work, what storms may come – hurricanes, Imposter Syndrome, sea level rise – building a more sustainable future for her family, her community, and the rich and diverse ecosystem of the South Florida Everglades. 
    Join us for a courageous and enlivening conversation on finding hope to outlast the storm.
    To learn more about Nancy and her work in Coral Springs, visit metayerbowen.com
     
    If you liked this episode, listen next to Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Wildlife Haven with Sally Sears on HOPE Is My Middle Name season 3, episode 3. 
    Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us! 
    Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 34 min
    Landing a Life-Changing Job Out of Prison and Addiction

    Landing a Life-Changing Job Out of Prison and Addiction

    Out of prison and addiction into a full-time job with big-time responsibility, Kyle Wedge transformed his life in no small way, with the help of a whole host of folks who had faced that same hard recovery. Now, as Field Operations Manager at MaineWorks, he is helping people move from incarceration and addiction into aliveness and connection. 
    Founded in 2010 by Margo Walsh, MaineWorks is an employment company offering support, structure, and accountability for people facing real barriers to employment, like felony convictions and substance use disorder, by providing quality, long-term job placement in the fields of construction, carpentry, masonry, roadwork, bridges, demolition, landscaping, and more.
    As Kyle says, “We can't define someone by everything that they've done in the past. The person that needs that second chance could be the most valuable person that you add to your company or team, because that person has hit all the pain in the world and they're willing to go to any lengths to be their best self.”
    Kyle’s voice is heartwarming, his story heart-wrenching, and ultimately– incredibly inspiring. Join us as he shares his perspective on the power of service, sobriety, and good hard work.
    Find out more at MaineWorks.us, and support the work at UnitedRecoveryFund.org 
    Special thanks to Margo Walsh and to Sternman Productions, Tom Hildreth and Ian McCrudden, for clips from the amazing documentary, Hopeful: The Story of MaineWorks. 
    If you liked this episode, listen next to Doug Naselroad: Building Instruments to Recover from Floods and Addiction in Appalachia. 
    Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us! 
    Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.
    If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

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    • 46 min
    Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Wildlife Haven

    Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Wildlife Haven

    Where’s your creek? Atlanta’s own Sally Sears asks, as she spills the tea on how she and her neighbors discovered an urban paradise, hidden in swaths of kudzu, swamped with sewage and asbestos, but there nonetheless, waiting for them to reclaim it. 
    This is the story of Zonolite Park, an industrial wasteland abandoned for decades, declared a brownfield by the EPA, only to be rescued by a handful of locals who believed it could be done. From court battles to coordinated clean up, the people of South Fork Conservancy built a veritable wildlife haven between two major interstates. And it’s only the beginning… With five miles of pathway and three new public parks along Peachtree Creek, they plan to connect and restore 31 miles of thriving watershed. 
    A lifelong journalist and co-founder and CEO of South Fork Conservancy, Sally shares her wealth of experience covering urban growth in the South. “When you can help a little thing like a creek, you start to see some of those intertwining connections that make for a much more rich life for yourself, as well as for the world around you, and you inspire other people to do it too. [...] It's a purpose. It's a unifier. We are not here alone. We are here as part of something bigger.”
    Learn more about the restoration of Zonolite Park at SouthForkConservancy.org 
    And connect with Sally Sears on LinkedIn
    Listen to the podcast episode Sally referenced: Bayou Dave: Cleaning Up Trash to Save the World 
    Connect with Kate on youtube.com/katetucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us! 
    Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 41 min
    A Radical Take on Helping the Homeless

    A Radical Take on Helping the Homeless

    When a young Alan Graham chided a homeless man panhandling next to a taco stand in Austin, he could not have imagined that 36 years later he’d be living in a vibrant neighborhood of formerly homeless people, a neighborhood that he built. 
    In 1998, real estate developer Alan Graham launched Mobile Loaves and Fishes to help communities offer food, housing, and employment for neighbors coming up off the streets. What started out as one food truck and a mission to meet people where they are turned into a multi-million dollar operation with tens of thousands of volunteers who have never missed a night, delivering more than 6 million meals from their food trucks and lifting folks into permanent housing, jobs, and most importantly, community. Today, Community First! Village is a thriving neighborhood still growing to span 178 acres and eventually provide 1,900 permanent homes for people coming out of chronic homelessness, alongside those who support and care for them.
    As you'll hear, Alan didn't plan on dedicating his life to serving the homeless, but a twist of fate and a leap of faith changed everything for him and for so many others.
    For more on Alan Graham and Mobile Loaves and Fishes, visit mlf.org
    Read Alan Graham’s book, Welcome Homeless 
    Connect with Kate on youtube.com/katetucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us! 
    If you liked this episode, listen next to Ron Pringle: An American Dream to End Hunger, from season 2, episode 2. 
    Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.


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    • 47 min

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