Where We Live Connecticut Public

The holiday season is a time we all want to enjoy. Maybe that means indulging in more food than usual, buying those special gifts and treats for loved ones, and going all out with decorations in your home.

But with all that indulgence, comes a lot of waste. At the end of the holiday season, an additional 1 million tons of trash enter landfills. According to Stanford University's Waste Reduction, Recycling, Composting and Solid Waste Program, household waste increases by more than 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. This comes from various sources including wrapping paper, Christmas trees and even food waste.

But experts say there are easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint and have a greener holiday season. Today, we talk about ways to reduce holiday waste.

GUESTS:


Miriah Kelly: Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Southern Connecticut State University
Brittney Cavalliere: Senior Director of Strategy Connecticut Food Share, a food bank based in Bloomfield and Bridgeport
Yasmine Ugurlu: the Founder and Owner of Reboot Eco, a zero waste shop in Middletown Connecticut

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.
Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the Mayflower's landing, to the meal shared by English setters and Wampanoag people, much is still widely misunderstood about the Thanksgiving holiday and its history.

Connecticut-based educator Chris Newell recently wrote a book for children that helps to untangle some of the myths and misnomers commonly associated with Thanksgiving. For example, the book clarifies that "the holiday we celebrate today does not have any real connection to the Mayflower’s landing. In fact, the story that links them was not created until two hundred years later."

As Newell notes in his introduction, "The story of the Mayflower landing is different depending on whether the storyteller viewed the events from the boat or from the shore." This hour, Chris Newell joins us.

Plus, how is this topic being reframed in Connecticut classrooms? The Connecticut State Department of Education recently published resources for "Teaching Native American Studies." The materials were developed in a collaboration between the five state-recognized Eastern Woodland tribes: Golden Hill Paugussett, Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, Paucatuck Eastern Pequot and Schaghticoke.

Becky Gomez, the director of education for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and Sam Tondreau, a member of the Mohegan Tribe as well as their director of curriculum and instruction, discuss.

GUESTS:


Chris Newell: Member of the Passamaquaddy Tribe; Co-Founder and Director of Education, Akowmawt Educational Initiative; Museum Educator; Children's Book Author, If You Lived During
Rebecca Gomez: Director of Education and Recreation, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
Samantha Tondreau: Member of the Mohegan Tribe; Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Mohegan Tribe

Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.
Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every winter in Connecticut, the snowy owls will pass through our state and can sometimes be spotted at the Connecticut shoreline. But they are just one of many owl species to look out for where we live.

Some cultures see owls as deeply spiritual creatures and as symbols of wisdom. Others see them as bad omens and as signs of impending doom.And that’s definitely impacting their populations.

Today, Author Jennifer Ackerman joins us to talk about her new book What the Owl Knows: The new science of the world’s most enigmatic birds and we explore the world of these incredible birds.

GUEST:


Jennifer Ackerman: author of What the Owl Knows: The new science of the world’s most enigmatic birds
Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For decades, there were cities and towns that were all-white on purpose. These communities are known as "sundown towns." Because this practice was both formal and informal, researchers put together a database of these laws, customs and firsthand accounts, under the leadership of the late sociologist and civil rights champion James Loewen.

At the peak of the exclusionary practice in 1970, an estimated 10,000 communities across the U.S. kept out African-Americans through "force, law, or custom." Many sundown suburbs also excluded Jewish and Chinese Americans, and other minority groups.

There are 40 towns listed as possible past sundown towns in Connecticut. This hour, we hear about this history and what it can tell us. You can add to this research too.

GUESTS:


Dr. Stephen Berrey: Assistant Professor of American Culture and History, University of Michigan
Logan Jaffe: Reporter, ProPublica
Paul Saubestre: Volunteer Researcher, Hamden Historical Society
Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a Connecticut family of four, it costs over $126,000 just to meet their basic needs, according to a recent United Way report. That’s more than four times the federal poverty level.

Food insecurity is a big part of the problem, affecting more than 1 in 10 Connecticut residents, according to Connecticut Foodshare. A new report from the United States Department of Agriculture found the national rate of food insecurity jumped by more than 2% from 2021 to 2022, now 12.8% of U.S. households.

This hour, UConn's Dr. Caitlin Caspi joins us to address some of the misconceptions around food insecurity.

"Food insecurity isn't happening in a vacuum," she says. "It's really intersecting with a lot of other challenges that people face," including stable housing, health insurance, job security, disability, and other factors. "Food insecurity isn't primarily a story about food," says Dr. Caspi. "It's about many facets of economic instability."

Plus, we'll discuss some of Connecticut Foodshare’s efforts to address food insecurity where we live, including an income-based grocery store coming soon to Hartford, where food insecurity rates are highest in the state.

Hartford High School just launched the Grub Pub, an in-school pantry. Principal Flora Padro joins us later in the hour, describing the "new normal" she envisions.

GUESTS:



Dr. Caitlin Caspi: Associate Professor, University of Connecticut's Department of Allied Health Sciences; Director of Food Security Initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health



Jason Jakubowski: President & CEO, Connecticut Foodshare



Ben Dubow: Executive Director, Forge City Works



Flora Padro: Principal, Hartford High School



Cat Pastor contributed to this episode which originally aired October 26, 2023.
Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Approximately half of U.S. adults reported experiencing loneliness, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue recently moved U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to issue an advisory around the "loneliness epidemic" in America.

Soon after, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy introduced a bill that would launch an Office of Social Connection Policy, and fund CDC research to "better understand the epidemic of social isolation and loneliness."

While on The Colin McEnroe Show in July, Murphy said the move was "part of a broader exploration for me of what is eating in America... I have come to the conclusion that there's a lot of new and unique things that are hurting Americans and making them feel unhappy today," chief among them loneliness or "aloneness."

This hour, we explore how loneliness, isolation and social disconnection are being addressed where we live. Deb Bibbins and Gary Sekorski founded For All Ages, and more recently, the Connecticut Collaborative to End Loneliness, to help bolster and centralize resources.

How does loneliness or isolation affect you?

GUESTS:



Deb Bibbins: Co-Founder and Chair, For All Ages; Co-Founder, Connecticut Collaborative to End Loneliness



Gary Sekorski: Co-Founder and Chair, For All Ages; Co-Founder, Connecticut Collaborative to End Loneliness



Connie Malone: Canton Resident



Siri Palreddy: Senior at Amherst College



Dr. Sowmya Kurtakoti: Chief of Geriatric Medicine, Hartford Hospital



Cat Pastor contributed to this episode which originally aired September 18, 2023.
Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.