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Caption: A graphic of a tree shaped into a fist is shown behind the words ‘Environmental Justice.’

Written by Janell Ryan, Newsletter Editor

For my recommendation, I wanted to do something I wouldn’t usually focus on; I typically lean towards LGBTQ+ or racial justice, or anything spreading awareness for mental health. Luckily for me, I found a podcast that encapsulates all of those things while also spreading awareness for a larger topic: environmental justice.

The specific podcast I listen to is called Environmental Justice: Hot Takes in a Heating World. It was created by students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison which I saw as a plus, since they include sources for everything said or referenced. Another positive to this podcast is because it’s created by students, any phrases or words that wouldn’t be commonly known are clearly defined by the speaker. Don’t know what ‘settler colonialism’ means? That’s alright – the speaker gives plenty of examples as well as a clear definition on what that term means.

There are a total of fourteen episodes, ranging in length from 12 – 28 minutes long. This is great if you’re taking a short drive or don’t have a lot of time in the day, which is why this podcast was so appealing to me. Each episode has a different problem tackled by the speaker. The two episodes I specifically listened to for this article are Green Gentrification and Environmental Justice for Indigenous North Americans, since they both involve racial issues and how those affect how the environment is treated. Through those episodes, I learned exactly what green gentrification is and how it’s used to displace lower class citizens from their homes, and I also learned on how better to respect Indigenous lands when many still do not.

There are different voices (literally and figuratively) involved with this podcast, with other episodes dealing with pollution, mental health, urban development, ecotourism, community gardens, and health inequity. I had never thought about how encompassing environmental issues were until this podcast, honestly. It seems so obvious now, but it had just never occurred to me before listening.

If you’d like to take a listen, please click here or click on the picture at the top of the article – you’ll definitely learn something new!