Plastic Pollution Tiny Chat with Eliseo Nevarez From 5 Gyres

In this tiny chat, we discuss sustainability in regards to the creation of soap as well as the entrepreneurial spirit with Monique Kofsky, entrepreneur, biochemist, and founder of Butter + Lye. Butter + Lye is an eco-friendly company based in Brooklyn, New York "that delivers high quality-natural soap by making sustainable improvements to the company such as compostable packaging, carbon neutral shipping, and natural products made with organic ingredients" (www.butterandlye.com).

Your favorite educational environmental social justice podcast is back for season 2! Join us every Thursday for Tiny Chat Thursdays at 12 PM EST for new episodes every week!

In this episode we chat with Christine about her cookie company and how sustainable packaging is just as important as finding local ingredients for her baked goods. 

Insert more informatoin. "The Baltimore Orchard Project strengthens communities through  planting and cultivating orchards, teaching citizens to be long-term stewards, and sharing the harvest among neighbors." (https://www.baltimoreorchardproject.org/about).

In this tiny chat, we discuss the many things that Surfriders as an organization does to help protect our environment. "The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves, and beaches." (https://dc.surfrider.org/about/).

Do you have any old T-shirts or materials lying around that you're thinking of throwing? Or find yourself needing craft supplies but don't want to buy it in bulk?  Learn more about creative reuse with Scrap B-MORE, a place that specializes in sustainability through craft making and community building. Scrap B-MORE is part of a larger organization, SCRAP, which "became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1999. SCRAP Creative Reuse is a network of grassroots creative reuse centers around the country" (https://baltimore.scrapcreativereuse.org/SCRAP-History). Join us as we talk to Nancy Hotchkiss about what creative reuse is, the importance of sustainability, and what a day-to-day life looks like for a volunteer at Scrap B-MORE. 

Blue Water Baltimore's mission statement is "to restore the quality of Baltimore’s rivers, streams and Harbor to foster a healthy environment, a strong economy and thriving communities" (https://bluewaterbaltimore.org/about/).  Blue Water Baltimore is part of the International Waterkeeper Alliance, which is a group of over 350 water watchdogs all over the world. Blue Water Baltimore takes a holistic view to all of the issues surrounding water quality. In this tiny chat, we are joined by Alice Volpitta, the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper for Blue Water Baltimore. Alice protects and restores the local waterways that flow within the Patapsco and back rivers. We discuss a variety of topics including what is sewage backups, legislation and advocacy efforts done by Blue Water Baltimore, as well as the greater social impact these issues have on communities. 

"There's always a way to make a more conscious choice in your life to consume what you need and what you're going to use, so you minimize the new material things put into the waste system" says environmental activist, Laís Santoro. Laís is a student at Johns Hopkins University. In this episode, she covers the broad spectrum of Intersectional Environmentalism and several social issues associated with it, including: air quality, food deserts, colorism within environmental social justice, eco-fascism, the Baltimore incinerator, and other topics. Although this may seem like a lot, it only scratches the surface! Note From Laís: I want to reiterate that I am NOT an expert in this and come into this work with lots of privilege as a JHU student, immigrating from Brazil, etc.. This movement has been around for decades, still is, and has been led by many great organizations and people, especially Black, Indigenous, people and communities of color that have historically also been silenced while doing this work and need to be amplified. I don’t want to do that! Plus, there are so many ways to engage in this and remember that taking the first step to a more just and sustainable world means everything. You can donate, volunteer, spread awareness, educate your family and friends, and always work to pair individual action with the collective action to address the systemic roots of environmental injustice as well! There’s something for everyone to engage in.

5 Gyres is trying to fight the plastic pollution crisis we find not only in the States, but all around the world, and "is a leader in the global movement against plastic pollution with more than 10 years of expertise in scientific research and engagement on plastic pollution issues" (https://www.5gyres.org/about-us). In this tiny chat, we are joined by Eliseo Nevarez, Education Coordinator for 5 Gyres. We discuss a variety of topics related to plastics, including what they are, their origins, and the dangers and impacts they pose to our health and communities. 

This week's tiny chat addresses the importance of a sustainable diet and what that really means with guest star, Ms. Daphene Altema-Johnson. She is a Sustainable Dietician and works with the Public Health Program at the Johns Hopkins University Center of a Livable Future. This chat focuses on the direct impacts of our diets in our own lives and the larger impacts and our communities and the environment.