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- [00:00]
Sophia
This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human
- [00:04]
Xolair Advertisement Voice
Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic to. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis, a doubly certified obgyn
- [01:17]
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- [02:15]
Podcast Host
When I'm choosing a Mother's Day gift I always ask myself will this still matter a year from now? And that is why I love the Lenox Spice Village. It is a charming set of 24 hand painted spice jars, each one shaped like a little house. It is beautiful, it's actually useful and it brings a little joy into the everyday, which honestly is where the best moments live. Buying a meaningful gift can be a challenge sometimes, but the Spice Village feels practical and and thoughtful and enduring. Plus unique. Just like Mom. Explore the full Lenox Spice village collection@lenox.com SpiceVillage travel smarter, not Harder at America's Best Value Inn by Sinesta. With convenient locations from coast to coast and value packed comfort at every turn, it's a practical choice for road trips, quick getaways, and everyday travel that keeps things simple without sacrificing comfort. And when you're a Sinesta Travel Pass member, staying at America's Best Value Inn means earning points toward free nights, upgrades and more every time you stay. Go to Sonesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sonesta Travel Pass. Here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sonesta.com Terms and conditions apply. Hey everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Foreign. Welcome back to Work in Progress this week, friends, and Happy Earth Day. I know that the world can feel a bit stressful, but also the world, as in our planet, is a pretty magical place. And I don't know about you, but after watching that Artemis mission and listening to our incredible NASA astronauts talk about what it felt like to be in space and just look back at the oasis of this place that we all live, it, it made me weepy, it made me feel so inspired, it made me feel so passionate. And so I wanted to mobilize that feeling and gather us for a special Earth Day episode to honor our planet as a real invitation to reconnect and reimagine and get inspired and really be reminded about what tools we have in our toolkit so we can take meaningful action together for this planet we all share. I know that can feel really tough these days because climate headlines feel relentless and everywhere you turn there's a fire, a flood, a blizzard, some sort of crazy extreme weather. It's really easy to swing between urgency and exhaustion. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like just putting my head in the sand and having a good cry. I care deeply, but I don't always feel like I know where to put that care first. And that's what made me want to speak to our first guest today. She actually does research on constant vigilance and the toll that that takes on our minds and bodies. And if we're in this for the long game, which hello, I hope we all live a long time. So we better be. We need ways to stay grounded and productive and to remain hopeful and to be engaged in this fight and with each other. And so I decided to ask her and a collection of my own super friends, each with a gift, to help us build a meaningful, dare I say, joyful path forward for ourselves and the planet. Because real change isn't going to be born in burnout friends. It's going to come from clarity and community and action that we take as a collective that we can actually sustain. So first up, we are going to talk with a master storyteller who can help us see our role on this planet and what's going on on it right now. Not as a crisis, but as a deeply human, multi generational conversation with a powerful lens on love and family. Curiosity can move us from fear into meaningful action. Let's first dive in with Kelly Corrigan. Kelly Corrigan is here. I'm so thrilled. Your resume is long and impressive. From New York Times bestseller to podcaster to TED Talk giver to mom. Something that I really cherish about your work is the way that you speak to us. You make an audience feel included and thought of and seen. And you really remind us that the world that you've spent your life writing about, from the people you love to the moments that matter and how we show up for each other, is truly what is at stake right now. And that's a big acknowledgment. But you talk about it in ways that feel hopeful instead of doom and gloom. And I'm curious how you've figured that out, how you've driven your communication in that direction.
- [07:35]
Sophia
It's possible that I am saving my most panicked, infuriated reactions for my husband. And so maybe a little bit when I'm kind of off the record with my girls, I feel like at least once a day I'm like, I just can't believe it. I can't believe what's happening. And there's so much to. To create that sense of disbelief. Like, and. And there's specificity in it that's so undoing. Like, yeah, there's visuals now. So, you know, if you're thinking about the climate and you see these visuals of subway stations flooding, like, I remember seeing a quick clip of that. God, I wish I didn't have that visual in my head. Like, the details are where I live and always have. I feel like on the, on the plus side, you know, the best sentences I've ever written are the most specific. You know, it's not that my daughter was singing in the shower, it was that she was singing all the Single Ladies. It's just a different story.
- [08:50]
Podcast Host
Yeah, totally.
- [08:52]
Sophia
So what I have come to believe is that for every minute that we spend despairing or noting the ways that we are in pain, like we have a stuffed up nose or our back hurts or panicking about a future that may or may not unfold, we should devote as many minutes in a very literal sense to noting when we are not in pain and when our back feels great, which my back feels great today and I. In our family, we have a rule that if you're feeling happy, you should definitely like slap the table and say, I feel happy right now. Because we're so quick to acknowledge, like I'm so frustrated, I'm so angry. And then definitely in terms of anxiety about the future and imagining the worst case scenario, I do think that it's probably essential to problem solving and forward motion individually and as a society that we redirect and do some positive imagining as well. Like, so that's what it looks like if it goes wrong. What would it look like if it goes right?
- [10:09]
Podcast Host
Yes.
- [10:09]
Sophia
Could you balance your, you know, your visualizations that way?
- [10:15]
Podcast Host
Yes.
- [10:16]
Sophia
And what would that unleash? Because the fact is that, you know, as soon as hope disappears, we're sunk because you just, people just will not get off the couch. For if you don't believe, say that your vote matters. If you don't have hope that your vote will matter, you just won't show up. Of course. And sometimes you have to show up in the rain or it's around the corner and there's a really long line and I mean that's just asking a lot of people. And the engine for all forward motion is hope. So it's really has to be protected. And so I, if my sort of upstream process is to try to balance the minutes in both places, the place of despair, the place of hope, the place of negativity, the place of positivity, the place of pessimism, the place of optimism.
- [11:06]
Gabby Bernstein
Yeah.
- [11:06]
Sophia
You know, like try to get your levels right because both things are actually possible at all moments. Like this is the astonishing thing about balancing your media diet is that there are, you know, the negativity sells so that that will be what's easiest to find. But with just a tiny bit of digging, you could also find the most astonishing, equally astonishing stories of somebody doing something for a stranger.
- [11:38]
Podcast Host
Yes.
- [11:39]
Sophia
That will sit you straight up. They'll put all the energy back in your body, you'll Be ready again.
- [11:47]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I think that's really important, you know, to, to consider the fact that what we focus on grows, you know, what we water grows. And it's funny that you brought up that. What if it goes wrong? You know, what if it goes right? Later in the the segment today, we'll talk to our friend and scientist Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson. And that's the premise of her new book, what if We Get Right. It's. It's Designing Futures. And, and what I love is that really when you consider art, science, the idea that we might ideate as a community, the whole point is we can come up with solutions, we can invent things, we can change things. And even when you say, you know, that hope is, it's so essential to progress, you know, we saw in our last American presidential election that over a third of Americans just didn't vote. The psyop worked to make them feel hopeless. But then you see, you know, last week in Hungary, 74% of the people come out in the streets and defeat a dictator after 16 years.
- [13:09]
Sophia
Amazing.
- [13:09]
Podcast Host
We can do this. We just can't. We can't forget our power and we can't become apathetic that we don't have enough because we have more if we do it together.
- [13:21]
Sophia
Yes, yes. And that I totally agree about the Orban election. I was fascinated by it. I read all about the guy. I read about what made them break apart. I thought there were so many parallels. There was a corruption story. There was something about pedophilia in there. And there was also something about just not sort of fixing the, the situation for most Hungarians.
- [13:46]
Podcast Host
Yes.
- [13:46]
Sophia
You know, just getting like food, shelter at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy sort of organized in a better way is unforgivable. And I thought that was thrilling, actually.
- [13:56]
Podcast Host
Yes.
- [13:56]
Sophia
That that's what they're demanding. It is a funny thing about voting.
- [14:02]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
You.
- [14:02]
Sophia
It's so I think the lever that most people don't pull is to change their media diet. So I, right now I've been watching, I've been getting most of the story about the Middle east through the BBC and there's something about that that I find kind of helpful. I don't, I don't know if it's that it's once removed that it makes me think like a citizen of the world rather than a citizen of the United States. There also seems to be more of a historical thread in all of their panel discussions. It just feels like the people in the seats are carrying history with them in a way that I don't often hear when I turn to a cable news in the U.S. so anyway, you are what you eat.
- [15:01]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [15:02]
Sophia
So like pick your, like set your table carefully because there's only so much information we can take in in a day. And if you're taking in a bunch of junk or taking in a bunch of biased stuff, left or right, I mean you can fill yourself either way. There's plenty at both buffets. You, you are asking for to be infuriated and that is a paralyzing state. Like fury is not where we want to be.
- [15:30]
Podcast Host
No. Because it, to your point, destroys potential. But something I think is so interesting when, you know, when you talk about changing your media diet, whether we're talking about politics or climate science, you know, our, our planet, the idea that protecting it would be any one country's issue rather than like a whole human populations issue, I think about something I've been so touched by, which is the way you speak about how your D was really the one who pushed you on climate. And when you think about the role of a parent, when you think about a child's diet, the, the routine of their day, it's a no brainer for us to make sure they're eating food as good for them as possible, that their diet is balanced, that we're getting them outside in the sunlight and fresh air and moving their bodies and going to museums and learning things and reading before bed and. And for some reason we don't parent ourselves the way we're willing to parent our children. We get apathetic about the world around us. But when we think about what world our children are going to grow up in, we get fired up again. And I'm curious if you think about that, you know what, what was it about what she said to you about the planet that was different than what you were reading in your own media diet.
- [16:59]
Sophia
I've thought about this a lot about kids as this incredible incentive because sometimes I fantasize if we're going to stay on climate. As an example, I fantasize about say an oil exec who is making it easier to drill baby drill. And if they had three 20 somethings who went out to dinner with them and said, I hate that this is what you do.
- [17:32]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [17:32]
Sophia
This is your job. Like what could have more impact? I mean there's no, there's no more naturally occurring incentive structure than a parent to crave connection with a child.
- [17:48]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [17:49]
Sophia
So it's so powerful. It's like the Niagara Falls of emotions. And so we should maybe be trying to leverage it. Like, I've actually been fantasizing about. I just have two daughters, I don't have any sons. Fantasizing about these mother daughter retreats where they. We're not doing the talking. They're doing the talking.
- [18:14]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [18:15]
Sophia
And, and we're sort of following them because I feel like I'm never more motivated to make a change or do a hard thing than when the incentive is coming from that direction.
- [18:27]
Podcast Host
Yeah. You know, yeah, that's really cool. I guess it's, you know, it's so on my mind because it's Earth Month and we're trying to focus on solutions. And really, you know, I look around all the time and I'm like, isn't everyday Earth Day? Like. And I think about that anxiety and that kind of paralysis that can happen when confronting something so scary and something that maybe feels unfixable. I'm so confused at how this most important conversation that should unify every person on the planet around the planet because we all live here often becomes one that makes people want to ostrich and put their head in the sand and ignore. Like, oh, we're not on track for one and a half CEO. We're not. And people freeze, freak out. And do you think it's. It's that. Do you think it's the. I'm not through the fear and the idea of fix it or don't fix it makes me shut down.
- [19:26]
Sophia
Yeah. This is where I like we, we did a podcast series about the climate and we had teenagers who had done kind of extraordinary things around climate in their own little world. So like one of them was the same kid who lived in New York City and she got her huge like 36 story apartment building where she lived to start composting.
- [19:48]
Gabby Bernstein
Yeah.
- [19:48]
Sophia
And it was super hard and she had to go to a million meetings and she ran into all the bureaucracy and whatever. But at the end of the day, they couldn't resist this kid, you know, she was like 11. And so we put her on the podcast. There's another kid who figured out how to get like a bipartisan agreement about some recycling program in Indianapolis. And he went to the State House and then he figured out how to write the, like mock up the legislation. A 78 page piece of legislation. This is pre AI. So this was, this kid was astonishing because to go all the way back to the beginning, I so believe that good news energizes. So it's not only like creates little models for small actions that are doable, but like a small, doable Action reminds you of your own agency and is so energizing that the whole PBS show we did was just world positive people doing world positive work. And the whole thesis was there's enough people screaming, yelling and arguing. So, like, let's put some people on the couch in front of everybody who are getting it done day by day. Another source I really love for this sort of thing is it's David Byrne who we interviewed for the podcast the Musician and it's called Reasons to be Cheerful.
- [21:08]
Podcast Host
Ooh, reasons to be cheerful. Yes, please.
- [21:10]
Sophia
And he started it. And it's super specific replicable moves that you know from some little town who reduced emissions by blah, blah, blah. And then it tells you how they did it and it gives you the characters. And it has that same effect on me of like, people are doing things. Yeah, people are doing things. People can do things.
- [21:31]
Podcast Host
To know that it is being done and we can do more I think is really the crux of the whole thing. Yep, I really appreciate you and I hope we get to do a, you know, a big full hang.
- [21:42]
Sophia
I would love to.
- [21:43]
Podcast Host
And now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible.
- [21:49]
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- [22:50]
Podcast Host
When I'm choosing a Mother's Day gift, I always ask myself, will this still matter a year from now? And that is why I love the Lenox Spice Village. It is a charming set of 24 hand painted spice jars, each one shaped like a little house. It is beautiful, it's actually useful and it brings a little joy into the everyday, which honestly is where the best moments live. Buying a meaningful gift can be a challenge sometimes, but the Spice Village feels practical and thoughtful and enduring plus unique. Just like Mom. Explore the full Lenox Spice village collection@lenox.com
- [23:28]
Xolair Advertisement Voice
SpiceVillage Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effect effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
- [24:40]
Podcast Host
Sinesta Travel Pass is the most rewarding way to travel, designed to help you get more out of every stay. Sign up@sonesta.com to enjoy instant savings, bonus points and valuable perks like early check in, late checkout, room upgrades and free stays over time. With Sonesta Travel Pass, every stay brings you closer to your next reward. Choose from more than 1100 hotels across 13 distinctive brands and unlock the best available rates when you book direct with Sonesta Travel Pass Here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sonesta.com Terms and conditions apply. Okay, so to Kelly's point, if staying present, especially when it's uncomfortable, is where change begins, what actually moves us to act when it's time to lean in? It starts by acknowledging that we can't change anything on the outside if we are stuck or shut down on the inside. And thinking about that made me call a woman who I have been lucky enough to know for nearly two decades now. Best selling author and renowned Spiritual teacher Gabby Bernstein, whose work is all about shifting from fear to love and tapping into what we care most about as the true engine for meaningful, lasting change. After hearing Kelly's reflections, I wanted to ask Gabby how we can bring it inward, how we can reconnect with ourselves one of one, so that we can sustain ourselves as individuals to go out and be part of our community. Let's see what tips Gabby has for us today. Gabby, we've. Well, first of all, I'm so happy you're here, which I told you before we were officially recording, but I. I'm so grateful. Especially in this moment, especially in this month, you know, where everything seems scary and there's a lot of really overwhelming news. And every April we're supposed to celebrate Earth Day. And I think so many of us are like, shouldn't every day be Earth Day? We all live here and a lot of people, given the circumstances of Earth, have anxiety. Granted, I think we've had a real infusion of hope that we've needed thanks to the Artemis mission, thanks to this moment where we remember, like, look up and remember where you are and remember we're all connected. But that's hard to hold on to, I think without a practice or maybe without a toolkit. And you are a toolkit expert. Your whole body of work helps move people from fear into love. And it's why I'm really grateful you joined us today. I'm sure everyone expected me to be like interviewing Al Gore or something, but I'm like, we already know what he thinks. What I want to know is how. How we can harness our joy, how we can harness, like that space mission magic and start to make more room for love on this planet again so that we can show up for each other while we're on it.
- [27:57]
Gabby Bernstein
Yeah, that's a great place to start. How can we make more love in our own world and start to create more of it so that it can have that ripple effect which I believe is actually the mission of everything I do. And so that that change agent inside of us has to be a priority right now. Because even when we feel justified, even when we feel like we have we're in the right, we still have to ask, you know, how can I listen more? How can I show up better? Why? One, because we need more harmony in our. In our momentary moment relationships. But the more harmony that we create in these individual relationships, the more harmony that person creates when they head home that night. And then the more harmony their child has to dinner, and the more harmony and so that ripple effect is necessary now. It's really necessary right now. Now it always has been. But we don't have the safeties and the comforts that we once had. And so with the just global upheaval of trauma and terror and chaos, we have to recognize our spiritual activism. And that's how we show up in the energy that we bring.
- [29:08]
Podcast Host
Well, you talk a lot about this and it's a phrase I think about a lot that fear paralyzes and love motivates. And when I think about fear and the kind of apathy it will cause or the inaction, how people can't quite motivate to get to the voting booth or go to do the, the fair on Saturday that's in town or whatever it is that would make them feel empowered or make them feel happy. But we're motivated by love. Sometimes getting out, being with other people, or showing up for other people is the thing that is generative. So how do you think we turn the engine over? Like, what's, what's one of the first great steps you offer people in terms of getting their motivation activated again, getting that, that love instead of fear pumping through their body, when so much of what we're surrounded by is the imagery or energy of the fear part?
- [30:13]
Gabby Bernstein
Yeah. I think it has to start with your own perspective and your own language that you use daily. I know that I'm someone who's very connected to what's happening in the world and I can notice when I see and witness and take in where my dialog will go. And so I started thinking about that for myself. It was like, can I address the reality of what's happening and bring a hopeful, more optimistic energy to it? And I want to do that like in micro ways.
- [30:48]
Metabolism Ignite Advertisement Voice
Right.
- [30:49]
Gabby Bernstein
Like in my work relationships, like I was sharing earlier or in, in larger scale ways when I'm, you know, speaking on behalf of or you know, at the dinner table with my in laws and we start going down the road of, of, you know, AI or we start going down the road of war or whatever the next scary topic is. And what is my contribution to that storyline? And frankly, Sophia, it has not been a good one. Like I'm like really, you know, on the fear side of things. But with, I've been in the, in the fear dialogue around it, but I need to, I know that I need to wrangle that more optimistic conversation and it's not sort of overriding the reality. It's about, I believe, checking in with ourselves and seeing how can we lean into what's happening in real time from the perspective of what's possible rather than what's scary.
- [31:37]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I think that's really smart. You know, I. I find myself and. Yeah, I mean, it's April. It's like I'm. I'm in the feedback loop of, like, the Earth and what's happening. And I, I was on my high high, you know, watching NASA, and then I turn on the news and I'm like, what do you mean we're legalizing all the chemicals? What do you mean we're taking away all the environmental protection laws for the air and the water? What, what do you. What do you mean? Like, and it, and it spins me into this. The way you feel with the in laws around the dinner table, like doom and gloom and things are bad and I don't know what to do. And I guess I'm curious, you know, when the human brain or human heart often needs to see evidence that what we do matters, which sometimes the big problem, like artificial intelligence or climate change doesn't feel possible, how do you recommend that you satisfy that very human desire? Like, would you say go outside, take five deep breaths, like ground and ground in the grass, Like, I don't know. Is there something in your realm of the expertise of the human heart that you, you would offer to anyone, whatever their tradition or language around this stuff might be?
- [33:04]
Gabby Bernstein
Yeah, you know, I've been a spiritual teacher for 20 years, and I've been my own student first. And so the, the practices that I have, you can, if you're, if you identify as spiritual, you can call them that. If you just sort of identify somebody who wants to feel better, you can call it whatever you want. And I, I've. I've been in the daily practice of surrendering these moments. Right? So being the witness of something that's completely out of my control and something where I, you know, want to create change, but I don't know how to yet. And spending my disbelief by offering it up, by, by asking for inner wisdom to be revealed, by slowing down enough to listen to my intuition, by giving myself 24 hours of just. Just witnessing, saying, okay, I can't fix this right now, but the next 24 hours I can do nothing and let the universe show me what to do. In 24 hours, we get new inspired ideas. In 24 hours of us being in the absence of resistance, solutions start to orient. When we're in resistance and we're pushing and we're trying, we're actually deflecting the miracle or deflecting the inspired idea or the person who wants to help, or the email that we would otherwise miss because we're trekking through so hard. Instead, if we step back for 24 hours, not for five years, and just say, okay, I need to witness, I need to listen, I need to rewire my nervous system, then we can be in a receptive state to actually listen to our gut, listen to our inner guidance and listen to the guidance that's around us and receive that guidance. When we're in an energy of resistance. We actually deflect opportunities, we deflect the growth, we deflect the, the, the collaboration. We, we, we, we get in the way. I see this all day long. It's a dance between saying, how can I take an action and stay out of the way? And so to really answer your question, in those moments when you're feeling like you're in despair because of what you're seeing and because how powerless. We truly are very powerless. In so many of the things that are happening globally, mentally, we are quite powerless. I mean, no matter how much we do, we still have powers that be that are leading us in the wrong direction. So that's real, right?
- [35:30]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [35:31]
Gabby Bernstein
So how do we reconnect to our power? We have to give ourselves a moment to step back and get back into alignment. Because the only power we do have is when we're in alignment with our highest self. And that high self is calm and it's courageous and compassionate, clear, creative ideas. It's confident. My training is in a therapy called ifs, Internal Family systems Therapy. And, and this is what IFS calls self. And so particularly those of us who identify as leaders and the, in your case, leaders in the environment or leader spiritual activists or, or, or, or politicians or people who change, we can't create change from fear and parts of ourselves that are activated. We can only create change from self.
- [36:22]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I mean, even when you were saying that and you started to list the qualities of self, I literally took a deep breath that felt so calming to me because of course, of course we have to maybe slow down. And when something is stressful, instead of feeling overwhelmed and ignoring it, just sit with it and then let, let the sort of better aspects of our self, our whole self, marinate on it and think about what to do. And you know, when it comes to, as you said, the, the change stuff we want to make, you know, one of the things I did which is not, not a self practice, it's not like one of the things I'm trying to be better about, including like Wake up and do 10 deep breaths instead of immediately look at my phone or whatever. But like I have a, I have an alarm in my calendar set for every Monday at 11am and I make my five calls. I call my representatives. I call about the thing that I'm like, don't think we're going to forget. And it's like, it's one of those things where it's an act of self care and community care for me. And it, it's a good reminder that, that yes, me, myself, one human might be pretty powerless in the face of a lot of what's going on in the world. But then you look at something like what just happened in Hungary and you go, well, look at that. 74% of people motivated and they changed it.
- [37:51]
Sophia
Yes.
- [37:52]
Podcast Host
They did the thing people said they couldn't do and they did it.
- [37:54]
Gabby Bernstein
You're, you're nailing it. It's, it's there, there's power in numbers and there's power in small right actions in numbers of people. Yeah. Right. So think about what would happen if, if, if everyone in California was making that call on a Monday. You know those calls.
- [38:11]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
Yes.
- [38:11]
Podcast Host
And we can. Friends at home, you're listening. We can.
- [38:16]
Gabby Bernstein
Exactly. I think there's power in lots of little right actions. So when we feel overwhelmed or burdened by our powerlessness, we can reactivate our power by taking small right actions. And so it might feel like, oh, I got to be doing so much overnight. But it's actually, there's extraordinary power in that. Wonderful. In those five phone calls that you make on a Monday. Or there's extraordinary power in just changing your attitude when you walk into the office and that recognizing that has a ripple effect or whatever, whatever those attitudinal or actual actionable changes are, they make a difference on a much broader scale, even made in a small way. So we get our power back when we see our, when we get back into the small steps. I think that the other place that we can get our power back is by staying in a centered nervous system. Because what we're experiencing is collective trauma. Right. So right now we have so much access to so much information all at once. And you're right, you can see this gorgeous mission and be so hopeful and just so elevated and then seconds later, see horrible news environment or see missiles going off in Lebanon or whatever we're seeing. And we can be so I think the only word I like to use is really assaulted, right?
- [39:36]
Podcast Host
Yes.
- [39:36]
Gabby Bernstein
Moment by moment and then have this sort of, this sort of friction between Wanting to stay informed but also wanting to stay safe. And so that's why having a ritualistic practice of really regulating our nervous system. And so really. So this is where the tools come in, Sophia. So the same way you'd spend an hour in the gym, spend at least a half hour day doing something that regulates you. And so, so that could be partially. Some of it could be in the gym, which is for me, definitely. But even simple things like if you relax your tongue to the bottom of your mouth, you start to stimulate the vagus nerve and that starts to regulate the nervous system. Just, just everyone listening or watching can just drop their tongue and relax your tongue. You can hum just like humming from a belly breath. Just doing a deep belly breath can calm your nervous system. Putting your hand on your heart and your hand on your stomach, this is a hold that can calm your nervous system. Tapping on this like eft. Tapping, tapping between the pinky finger and the ring finger. Just right in that little meaty point of your skin right there. Just tapping and saying, I'm safe. I'm safe. These little adjustments, if done for 5, 6, 7 minutes, will calm your nervous system. Then in that energetic state, you show up to dinner differently, you meet your spouse at the door differently, you lead your team differently. It's important for us to recognize not just the actions that we take, but the, the, and the ways that we pollute the planet, to use your language. Right. But how we energetically pollute the planet as well. And I'm taking my own advice all day long, you know, like, yeah, trying to take care of my side of the street all day.
- [41:23]
Podcast Host
Yeah. Well, then that's just it, right? You, you have to pay attention to it because it's not. If this stuff came easy, we wouldn't be here.
- [41:32]
Gabby Bernstein
You know, our activism isn't just about what we do in the world out there. It's what we do in here. Because if you're, if you're doing the work inside, then you're creating a sense of inner safety and steadiness that's going to be able to have a much bigger impact.
- [41:44]
Podcast Host
I love that. Thank you. Thank you for this. And now a word from our sponsors.
- [41:52]
Metabolism Ignite Advertisement Voice
A doubly certified OB GYN and endocrinologist doctor, a naturopathic doctor and a certified health coach. Walk into a room, what do they talk about? GLP1, of course. But more specifically, the difference between the synthetic version of your body's own hormone that are prescribed by doctors nationwide versus metabolism ignite product which naturally, naturally increases your body's GLP1 by 61% GLP1 side effects can lead to nausea, fatigue and muscle loss whereas metabolism ignite is powered by plants and there are no side effects. Some long term results of GLP1 links to weight gain after stopping the synthetic drug which has been proven in multiple studies. In comparison to metabolism ignite, there is no weight regain and this product supports Metabolic health. Join the 50,000 customers by skipping the needles and taking two capsules of metabolism ignite a day. For sustained weight loss with plant based therapy visit V E R A C I T Y Health co promo code iheart for up to 65% off your order today.
- [42:53]
Podcast Host
When I'm choosing a Mother's Day gift, I always ask myself will this still matter a year from now? And that is why I love the Lenox Spice Village. It is a charming set of 24 hand painted spice jars, each one shaped like a little house. It is beautiful, it's actually useful and it brings a little joy into the everyday, which honestly is where the best moments live. Buying a meaningful gift can be a challenge sometimes, but the Spice Village feels practical and thoughtful and enduring. Plus unique. Just like Mom. Explore the full Lenox Spice village collection@lenox.com
- [43:31]
Xolair Advertisement Voice
Spice Village Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair. This is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
- [44:43]
Podcast Host
From coast to coast, Unlock Adventure at Red Lion Hotels by Sonesta where restful sleep, friendly service and trusted local knowledge are part of every stay. Red lion makes it easy to feel welcomed, comfortable and connected. Wherever the road takes you. Whether you're traveling for business or pleasure, you can spend less and make more of every trip. When you sign up for Sinesta Travel Pass, you'll get our best rates instantly. Go to sinesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sonesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sinesta.com Terms and conditions apply. I always feel more grounded in my own body after I speak to or listen to Gabby Bernstein talk, and feeling grounded makes me feel motivated. It makes me want to get out there. It makes me want to double down on the things that I believe in, including collective action. And that makes me want to ask some questions to one of my favorite women to go to a march with, organize a petition with, or hit a dance floor in Brooklyn with my friend Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson. She has spent her career at the intersection of science, policy and storytelling, driven by a deep belief that the future of our planet is absolutely still ours to shape. And when she gives me a hopeful version of the future as a literal expert and a marine biologist and I feel like solutions are possible. And Ayan is encouraging us all to remember or perhaps realize for the first time that the most powerful climate solution isn't necessarily something new. It's what we actually choose to do. Her new book, what if We Get It Right? Is asking us questions about how we're going to design a phenomenal future together.
- [46:42]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
Hi.
- [46:43]
Sophia
Hi.
- [46:43]
Podcast Host
I'm so happy you're here.
- [46:45]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
I'm so glad we could like synchronize swatches and be here.
- [46:48]
Podcast Host
I just need to say how fun and cool it is for me to have multiple books that a friend of mine has written be New York Times bestsellers and have them in my home library. I'm just like, wow, I've really nailed it in my life.
- [47:06]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
I mean, if you want to be judged by people you surround yourself with, you're doing a pretty good job.
- [47:11]
Podcast Host
I'm really excited you're here. I'm really excited to be having some time with people that I adore, both personally and in the way they move in the world. Because I feel like obviously we're in a crazy moment for the ways our planet is at risk, but I also feel like so much of the conversation about that stuff is doom and gloom, and you're one of the people who keeps me feeling really hopeful about it. And your hopefulness is rooted in research. So it's real. It's not like a fantasy. And I think people need that. So just thanks for showing up to bring a little planetary joy.
- [47:57]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
I mean, the planet brings the joy. I'm just, like, witnessing it and being like, hey, guys, over here. Like plants, photosynthesis, magic, we appreciate this. Like, rainbows and octopuses and lightning bugs and the aurora borealis. Like, these are things that exist here
- [48:15]
Podcast Host
just to look at. And only here, yeah, that was something. I had some real planetary joy and emotion watching Artemis, I think, as we all did. And one of the things that was so surreal to come out of it, you know, when the astronauts were talking about what it feels like to look back at Earth, to look back at the oasis that it is out there in space, someone brought up something online, which I'm sure you knew, but I had never heard phrased this way, which is, you know, here on Earth, we think of certain things as rare and valuable, like diamonds. And actually there are other planets in the solar system where diamonds literally rain down from the sky constantly. But we are the only planet with trees. And that trees are this magical, I mean, once in a, once in a galaxy thing. And it really, it made me feel so geeked about today.
- [49:14]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
I mean, it makes me feel proud to be a tree hugger, you know?
- [49:18]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [49:18]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
Like, they're. They deserve it. They're worth it.
- [49:22]
Podcast Host
Can you tell me a little bit about how you decided to make joyful science the. The root of the way you talk about climate? You know, your book is called what If We Get It Right? It's literally an antidote to hopelessness. So how did you figure that out? What does getting it right look like?
- [49:43]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
So I love the way that you frame this question. I think it. It's not like it was a choice to me. Like, you approach things through your personality, and you and I basically, like, met on a dance floor. Right? So, like, there's this sense of, like, how. How we live the rest of our lives can also just be, like, how we do our work. I feel like I'm pretty much the same person in all contexts, which is why I'm throwing climate dance parties as my paperback tour. I'm like, we need to boogie. Like, the world is a mess. We need to blow up some scene. We need to meet each other. We need to network with the local organizations who are doing it. We need to figure out, like, who cares about the same climate solutions and have that be the thing that brings us together. So if anyone listening feels like that's the thing that they need. We'll be at like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the La Brea Tar Pits, American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Wolf's Neck center in Maine, San Diego's Birch Aquarium with DJs for climate action, a literal nonprofit organization obsessed. It's just like, how do we sure. Like not just fine, but hold on to and celebrate together the work that we've done anticipatorily. I guess the work we're going to do, but really the celebration for me is that we have the climate solutions we need. Like, that's what makes it so easy to be excited about this work.
- [51:22]
Podcast Host
It's the most exciting thing to hear because I think there's a real concerted effort by people or groups that make lots of money not fixing this to say, like, oh, it's too big a problem. It's. I mean, it's the whole planet. What are you going to do? We can't change this. And when you say we already have all the solutions, we just have to implement them. Can you give us a partial laundry list of what that.
- [51:56]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
I mean, there's obviously plenty of room for more innovation. Air travel is one of those things for sure. We haven't gotten that fully figured out yet. But when it comes to most other forms of transportation, we know how to decarbonize that. Same for greening buildings, the same for improving agriculture, the same for just the transition to clean energy. Like we have solar and wind and geothermal and nuclear and like we have all of these other options.
- [52:27]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [52:27]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
And we know how to protect and restore ecosystems, which is a huge part of the solution. Like it's not as complicated as I think people make it out to be. It really is a challenge of, as you well know, political will. The power of corporate lobbying, especially the fossil fuel lobby is incredibly powerful. They're just dumping so much money into our elections that makes it really hard. But we're seeing all over the place all these examples of people being like, actually there's a better way. Right. Actually, green roofs are, are really a lovely thing to have. You know, electric cars are actually, yeah. Better cars. Induction stoves are great. Right. Protecting and restoring our wetlands is great. Just a wonderful thing to do. We support biodiversity and protect our coastlines from storms and absorb all this carbon. Right. There's all of these incredible win win situations that I think more and more people are learning about. I mean, biking is nicer than being stuck in traffic.
- [53:32]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [53:33]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
There's all of these opportunities that we have to just improve our quality of life while improving the future potential for living on this planet.
- [53:47]
Podcast Host
Yeah, it's interesting to me too when you start thinking about how the sort of moral of the story save the earth meets the math at this point. You know, we have cheaper, cleaner energy already. Solar is literally the cheapest form of electricity in history. It's creating all kinds of jobs. They're great jobs. You know, people don't have to go down into coal mines and die.
- [54:19]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
There are more jobs in solar than coal in America.
- [54:22]
Podcast Host
Yes, yes. And, and like safe jobs, which I think people deserve. I think that's sort of the part of evolving through history. That's what we're supposed to be doing, doing better year over year. And so I think it's important to remind people that all the solutions that cut pollution are also the ones that save people money
- [54:46]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
overall. The clean energy, the economics of it. Now pencil out that it's cheaper. And with batteries it's actually just as reliable because we can just store it when there's extra and use it later.
- [54:59]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [54:59]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
And I think one of the examples around that that always sticks with me is Texas is actually the state with the most solar and wind. Texas and Iowa and California are the top three.
- [55:12]
Podcast Host
Wow.
- [55:13]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
And it's not because there's a bunch of like hippies in Texas. You know, there are some. But like it's because it's profitable.
- [55:22]
Sophia
Right.
- [55:23]
Podcast Host
And it works.
- [55:25]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
And it works.
- [55:26]
Podcast Host
And it works. And now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible.
- [55:34]
Metabolism Ignite Advertisement Voice
A doubly certified obgyn and endocrinologist doctor, a naturopathic doctor and a certified health coach walk into a room. What do they talk about? GLP 1 Of course. But more specifically the difference between the synthetic version of your body's own hormone that I are prescribed by doctors nationwide versus metabolism ignite product which naturally increases your body's GLP1 by 61% GLP1 side effects can lead to nausea, fatigue and muscle loss. Whereas metabolism ignite is powered by plants and there are no side effects. Some long term results of GLP1 links to weight gain after stopping the synthetic drug which has been proven in multiple studies. In comparison to metabolism ignite there is no weight weight regain and this product supports metabolic health. Join the 50,000 customers by skipping the needles and taking two capsules of metabolism ignite a day for sustained weight loss with plant based therapy visit V E R A C I T Y Health co promo code iheart for up to 65% off your order today.
- [56:34]
Podcast Host
Friends, I've learned that the best gifts aren't the ones you grab at the last minute, they're the ones that become part of someone's everyday life. In my home, the kitchen has always been the center of everything. Family gatherings, traditions, and recipes that somehow manage to taste better when they're made together. A new conversation piece in my kitchen. You know it. It's the viral Lenox Spice Village. It is a charming set of 24 hand painted little houses, each one holding a spice that you actually use. It is super cute and very practical and the colors on all of these little things, oh my goodness, they just are so precious and so beautiful. Lenox has been bringing timeless design into homes for generations and the Spice Village feels like one of those pieces that just stays. It's not tucked away, it's not forgotten, it is used and loved. I think I might order a set for a friend's housewarming or it would be a unique Mother's Day gift. Once you'll see it, you'll want one too. Discover the full Lenox Spice village collection@lenox.com
- [57:44]
Xolair Advertisement Voice
SpiceVillage Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to xolair. Xolair may cause a severe, life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair. This is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
- [58:57]
Podcast Host
Travel Smarter, not Harder, at America's Best Value Inn by Sonesta. With convenient locations from coast to coast and value packed comfort at every turn, it's a practical choice for road trips, quick getaways and everyday travel that keeps things simple without sacrificing comfort. And when you're a Sinesta Travel Pass member, staying at America's best value Inn means earning points toward free nights, upgrades and more every time you stay. Go to sinesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sinesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sinesta.com Terms and conditions apply. So something I really like, obviously. You know, I love a data set and I like to be able to look at something and understand the big picture. And you have created for our friends at home a Venn diagram that explains how this all works. Because a lot of people think if we're gonna fix the climate, save the planet, it's gotta be some big crazy, radical change and maybe it's gonna mess up their day to day life. And then you break down for everyone where people can actually fit these changes and how their Venn diagr. So can you, can you kind of walk us through how did you figure it out and what does it look like?
- [60:30]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
So basically if you imagine a Venn diagram with three circles, the first one is what are you good at? What are the skills, the resources, the networks that you can bring to the table? Right? And that's different for everybody. And I think that's really important because so often when we are, when people are talking to us about what we can do to help with the climate crisis, it's the same generic list for everybody. And those are things you should do, right? You should vote for candidates. You get it. You should donate to organizations working on it. You should move all of your investments out of fossil fuels. Right? You should absolutely reduce your waste, eat a plant based diet, think about your travel, all of those things. Protest, spread the word. But if that's all we're doing is the generic list, we're not leveraging our superpowers, right? The special things that each of us can contribute. And so figuring out like this, the specific answer for you of what are you good at? Is important. And then the second circle is what work needs doing. So there are hundreds of climate injustice solutions. And if people need inspiration on these, I suggest going to drawdown.org, this incredible novel nonprofit project Drawdown has all the nerdy data sets your heart can desire, all the scientific foundations, but also has this like very cool explorer for just exploring this great interface for exploring all the solutions we already have and perhaps some warnings about the, the things that the tech bros are telling us are the solutions that are like not really proven. Yeah, but I Find that to be so bolstering, just going there and like, seeing all these things we have at our fingertips already. And then the third circle is what brings you joy. So what are their sources of satisfaction and delight? And so, for example, for me, as a marine biologist who is a policy nerd and a Brooklyn native who's obsessed with design, I was really thinking about, what are the risks for coastal cities? And so the problem that I wanted to work on was, how do we help coastal cities adapt to the impacts of climate change? It's like one in eight Americans live in a coastal city, and we are not prepared. And what brings me joy is changing the rules of the game, changing policy, good design implementation, collaborating with cool people across discipline. And so I ended up co founding Urban Ocean Lab, this policy think tank for the future of coastal cities. Now, obviously, that's different than what you should be doing to help address the climate crisis. That's like my bespoke solution. But if people want some help thinking through their own climate venn diagrams, you know, there's. There's a website, GetItRight Earth, with all that information. I gave a TED talk about this called Finding Joy and Climate Action, so people can get some support thinking through that. Yeah, but of course, we need, you know, teachers and graphic designers and artists and musicians and lawyers and policy wonks and accountants. Like, we need everybody bringing their skills. Yeah. In addition to the more technical things we think of, like the engineers and electricians.
- [63:56]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I love that. I mean, that circles us back as well when you said, you know, the third bubble is what brings you joy. And you said near the top of the conversation, your book tour is also a series of climate dance parties so incredibly sick that there is a whole group of DJs showing up for climate justice. Obviously, these are our people. I'm also just thinking as you're talking that the OG Whip smarties listening are like, we remember this. We. We've signed up for Urban Ocean Lab emails. Like, it makes me really, really happy when I think about season one of this podcast.
- [64:31]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
Yeah, that was 2020, right?
- [64:34]
Podcast Host
Like, right before the world shut down. Can you even believe? But I just think about the joy piece and then I think about how you're implementing it in your way. What. What is the goal from that part?
- [64:47]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
We're bringing in local nonprofits at. In each city that do work people can get involved with, not just be aware of or don actually, like, roll up their sleeves and. And volunteer with. So they'll be spreading the word about what. What they're Working on the name tags will say my favorite climate solution is instead of my name is because the idea is that people will be connecting around like what they're interested in. So if yours says composting, I'll be like, Sophia, talk to me about composting. Like, can we team up? Like, which neighborhood are you in? Like, what have you learned from doing it? That I could maybe take to my neighborhood. Right. So the idea is I don't live in all these places. The idea is to bring people together who really care about the future of life on this planet and figure out how to connect them in a way that's light hearted and solution focused. There's also a costume competition you can dress as your favorite climate solution that really prizes this incredible to further this idea of like, maybe you'll meet your climate bestie on the dance floor just by seeing from across the room that they're somehow dressed as a bike lane. Yeah, who knows, right? Maybe some new romances will spark up or share interests in climate solutions. This is like my actual dream for these, for this paperback tour. But basically I was like, we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously. We can take climate change seriously without being self serious. And I feel like the environmental movement for very good reasons has been like, you guys wake up. Like, this is bad, like, ah, you know, and it's all true. The science backs up that statement, but it's not necessarily the most welcoming or the most durable long term vibe. Right. So I'm really interested in sort of balancing that with the focus on solutions, the what if we get it right. The subtitle of the book is Visions of Climate, Climate Futures. And I just want people to think about what the future could look like if we get it right. I mean, another one of my favorite what if questions is, you know, what if we act as if we love the future look? Like, how would that change our decision making if. If that were the lens through which we saw these opportunities, these options. And what if climate solutions are beautiful because they could be like, we're designing all this stuff. And a stat that I learned while researching the book is that 75% of the infrastructure that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built. So every day we're building the future
- [67:36]
Podcast Host
that we're going to live in.
- [67:37]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
And so there's this really interesting opportunity for architects, landscape designers, beauty, infrastructure people to just like, yeah, build a world that's adapted to the changes that are already here, the ones we know that are coming. And yeah. And figure out what getting it Right. Could look like.
- [67:59]
Podcast Host
Like we just. We don't give up.
- [68:02]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
We don't get to quit. No quitters allowed.
- [68:04]
Podcast Host
Never. We're not quitters over here.
- [68:07]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
No, ma'.
- [68:07]
Podcast Host
Am. We're. Yes, Anders. And we're dance party goers.
- [68:11]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
There you have it. Yeah. I hope to see this podcast crew on the dance floor. People want to know when all that stuff is happening. Get it right. Earth is the website slash tour. There's also excerpts from the book you can read for free. The playlist is there. There's tons of like, just good free to the world info that can point us toward a better future and help us imagine the role that each of us could play in that. I think that's what's been missing. It's not been like, this is for everyone. There's a place for you in this transformation.
- [68:51]
Podcast Host
I love that there's a place for us all. Well, thank you for bringing us some joy today. I'm excited and I'm going to offline you about what of your parties I can come to.
- [69:04]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
I'll see you on the dance floor. Hot.
- [69:05]
Podcast Host
I can't wait.
- [69:06]
Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson
Let's do it.
- [69:07]
Podcast Host
And now a word from our sponsors that I really enjoy, and I think you will too.
- [69:13]
Metabolism Ignite Advertisement Voice (Alternate)
Let's take a minute to unpack the myths behind GLP1 drugs. Myth number one GLP1 is a long term solution for weight loss. True. GLP1 can potentially be a long term solution for weight loss if you want to be on a drug that changes your body's natural instincts. Myth 2 GLP1 can fix your metabolism. False. GLP1s fix hunger and this leads to weight loss. But the GLP1s may actually slow down your metabolic rate as your body adjusts to consuming fewer calories. GLP1 leads to a loss of muscle mass. True. GLP1 can lead to a loss of muscle mass due to losing weight so rapidly that your body is pulling from both fat and muscle to make up for the energy gap from consuming so few calories. If you're looking for a natural GLP1 therapy, you should consider Metabolism Ignite. Metabolism Ignite is powered by plants and can help boost your natural GLP 1. Visit VeracityHealth Co to learn more. That's V E R A C I T Y Health Co and type in promo code iheart for up to 65% off your purchase.
- [70:14]
Podcast Host
When I'm choosing a Mother's Day gift, I always ask myself, will this still matter a year from now? And that is why I love the Lenox Spice Village. It is a charming set of 24 hand painted spice jars, each one shaped like a little house. It is beautiful, it's actually useful and it brings a little joy into the everyday, which honestly is where the best moments live. Buying a meaningful gift can be a challenge sometimes, but the Spice Village feels practical and thoughtful and enduring plus unique. Just like Mom. Explore the full Lenox Spice village collection@lenox.com
- [70:52]
Xolair Advertisement Voice
SpiceVillage Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergies. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
- [72:04]
Podcast Host
Sonesta Travel Pass is the most rewarding way to travel, designed to help you get more out of every step. Sign up@sonesta.com to enjoy instant savings, bonus points and valuable perks like early check in, late checkout, room upgrades and free stays over time with Sonesta Travel Pass. Every stay brings you closer to your next reward. Choose from more than 1100 hotels across 13 distinctive brands and unlock the best available rates when you book direct with Sonesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now@sinesta.com terms and conditions apply. Ayanna makes me feel so amped for what we can do as a great big human team. And I am equally amped to see the images that you all send to us at the podcast of the dance parties for climate that you attend on her book tour. Please send those our way. We can't wait. Wait to hear how it goes and what actions you all get inspired to take in your own communities. Somebody who's an expert on action and how it's actually rooted in hope and in goodness and yes, in love is our friend John Marshall. He is the CEO of the Potential Energy Coalition. They are a nonpartisan, communications driven nonprofit that is shaping the global narrative on climate change. And that might sound a little heady. So let me tell you how I became a fan of John and then made him a friend. I discovered that a leading ad executive, him, was prompted by his son to take on the planet like it was a paying client of an advertising agency. And John realized the planet is really the thing that he leaves to his children and all children. And so he's done just that. He is giving us the research to back up our feelings and he's finding that the path forward is actually filled with hope and love. And it thrills me in a way I cannot explain. So I asked him to join us today to round out this conversation and give us a little bit of the inside baseball. What are the conversations we should be having about climate that actually make a difference whether it's at home, in the office, around the water cooler? I wanted to ask an expert and thankfully John said he'd take the call. Let's dive in with John Marshall. John, thank you so much for joining us today and for being part of our big Earth Day bonanza here on Work in Progress. You know, I so love the work that you do at pec. I so appreciate the fact that you were inspired in the first place to do this because of a conversation you had not at work, but at home. So can you tell us a little bit about how a fire was lit for you?
- [75:05]
John Marshall
Yeah, I'm happy to, I'm happy to.
- [75:07]
Podcast Host
And the, and the potential energy coalition really came out of that.
- [75:11]
John Marshall
That's great. Well, yeah, I had a 30 year career as a marketing and advertising executive and so I was selling soap and shampoo and credit cards to Americans for a long time and I, I had it. I, my, my kid took a course on climate change, learned about it, came home one day and said, dad, I'm locking you on the house and I want you to do something about it. And so he called me a useless idiot for, for focusing on the wrong stuff. So that, yeah, that was actually the conversation that, that caused potential energy to be born. And we sort of think of ourselves as, I would say, for lack of a better term, the marketing firm for Planet Earth. Like we have one client, which is, which is the Earth and we're trying to figure out how to use all those techniques from the Madison Avenue types to get, you know, to get people up and moving on climate change. So that, yeah, that, that all happened for my, my 17 year old son Henry.
- [75:57]
Podcast Host
I love that so much. And you know, it's interesting because you're, what you're doing, as funny and charming as the story is, you're really drilling down on a point that I think is so important for all of us to make and frankly shout from the rooftop, which is no matter what we think, what we believe, what we have faith in, how we vote, what we argue about at home with our families like the planet is the number one thing that we all have in common.
- [76:27]
John Marshall
Yeah, totally. Right.
- [76:29]
Podcast Host
It should be the thing we take care of the most. And yet a lot of people, to your point, have spent an awful lot of money prioritizing clients, you know, big polluters, et cetera. And they've really muddied the waters on messaging.
- [76:48]
John Marshall
Yeah.
- [76:48]
Podcast Host
And we all know that it's really easy to start having a conversation about, I don't know, disaster, flooding or superstorms or climate change, and everyone's eyes glaze over and they're just kind of like, oh God, the problem's too big, it's too intense. Everybody fights about it. It. I think we can flip that script.
- [77:09]
John Marshall
Well, I'll tell you a little story that gives me optimism here on Earth Day.
- [77:12]
Podcast Host
I love it. I love so much.
- [77:13]
John Marshall
You know, this, like the big debate that a lot of people have is, oh, the, the, the, we did the fear versus hope or the problem versus solution. And so we did, we did the, like a massive amount of research to figure out, like, should you be, you know, like, what's the emotion? Right, that you should really be appealing to us. You're having a conversation with your spouse or your kids or your uncle or whatever. And should I tell them the truth about what's happening? But that's pretty scary, or should I sell them on this amazing optimistic future? Turns out that neither seems to be the emotion. So after like terabytes of data and all this analysis and all this, like marketing tools, the thing that the word that matters the most is actually love. And so the, the, the thing that always wins in the message testing is this one little phrase. Protect what you love, whether it's the land you love or the kids you love, or the ski hill you love. And that kind of activates something deeper that we all share. And yes, those things are threatened, but those things are worth it. And so I think the key thing on this is to find whoever you're talking to, like, what do they care about? What do they love? And talk about that and say, this is worth protecting. And that works equally well. Whether you're, Whether you're from the far right or the far left. We all agree we need to protect what we love. And so I like the idea that love's actually the answer on this one. And it's nice to prove it analytically. And so. And that's what got me started. My kid. I love my kid. And so I said I have to totally.
- [78:38]
Podcast Host
Well, you know what you're talking about. And this is something I speak to people about a lot because they'll ask me, you know, why are you so passionate about activism? And why are you so passionate about community organizing? For me, these issues are where the math and the morals meet.
- [78:54]
John Marshall
Yeah.
- [78:55]
Podcast Host
When we protect what we love, our families, our environments, polar bears and their adorable little cubs. Everyone loves those videos. We all know they track well. Like, yeah, yeah, it, it breaks through the noise. You know, even when I think about layering on not just what you love or not just what, you know, to be the right, you know, moral decision, which, you know, like, issues of protecting the environment actually turn out to be great financial decisions as well. They lower costs, they create jobs.
- [79:27]
John Marshall
The world's giving us a lot of good, good reasons to care about climate change. The price, the price of the pump, you know, energy insecurity, the. The insurance costs that are going up because of, you know, extreme weather. Like, a lot of Americans are seeing 20 to 30 increases. So we're just. We have so many kitchen table reasons to care about this issue. And so we don't need to go to the complicated, distant future. Economic concepts, all that kind of stuff right now. So much stuff that, that we should be using that actually people really care about. Like, I like skiing and we had a rough winter, you know, in Colorado. There's a lot to talk about here.
- [80:03]
Podcast Host
And we should be a ski trip for my family this winter. And we couldn't go.
- [80:08]
John Marshall
It was rough. So those are your climate conversation moments. It's. It's on the ski lift.
- [80:12]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [80:12]
John Marshall
You know, about. Why did. Why don't I just, you know, ski over a bunch of rocks? It's actually because of a pollution blanket.
- [80:18]
Podcast Host
You're right. It's our recreation. It's everything. So when we're giving people the toolkit for positive conversation, when we're giving them the hope that their feelings are backed up by the numbers where do they go next? Where would you point a listener right now as we wrap up this big conversation and they're saying, I'm inspired, I want to get involved. Where do you send them first to make sure they take the next right step?
- [80:47]
John Marshall
Yeah, well, we, I mean, I think your, your point about people feeling alone is a really important point. And people don't. We're not talking about it enough would be the first thing. You know, we did a global study, 87% of. Of people in 23 countries say the government should do whatever it takes to address this problem. So people do care. And so I think the first thing is to let people know that people like you care a lot about this issue, whether they're school teachers or moms or farmers or whatever. People really do care about this. Secondly, that it's addressable and it solves a lot of your problems. It solves a lot of problems with air quality, with your insurance bills, with your air conditioning bills, with your gas bills. All of those things get solved by this. And you just need to get active in your community. I do think we kind of blew it. We. With this sort of concept of global warming. No one understood what it was, and it's actually kind of confusing. And people want local. Like, talk about Texas, you know, what are we doing in our town in Texas, you know, which is awesome. Texas had a 42% growth in solar last year. So all of these, There are all these awesome success stories.
- [81:52]
Gabby Bernstein
Yeah.
- [81:52]
John Marshall
California had a whole bunch of days where the, where energy was solely provided by clean energy. And so, so cool. I think talking about those success stories, saying there's ways to get involved, there's things you can do, like solar is growing like, you know, like crazy, especially plug in solar and rooftop solar. And so I think, I think talking about the fact that we're making progress, like in our town, in our community, in our county, in our state, getting out of the global complexity that people like me have, you know, been wrestling with a little bit and getting local, getting real, talking about consequences and, you know, sort of landing it. And it really works. And be confident to talk about it. Like, it's not that polarizing. In our, in our data, conservatives move just as much as, as liberals on it. You do it the right way. You can't get to, you can't. You know, you don't have to get political. You can just say it's a human issue. I love the phrase it's not political, because as soon as you say it, it becomes not political.
- [82:43]
Podcast Host
You're right.
- [82:44]
John Marshall
Even though, you know, there's political dimensions. So it's, it's, it's gonna swing back. I mean, clean energy is on the rise. You know, Texas is the leader in wind. There's just so many great stories that we could start to tell on this stuff. Stuff.
- [82:56]
Podcast Host
Well, and you know what I love about that is it really, it pierces the veil that we don't all need, want, or believe in the same thing. You know, you just compared California and Texas on their green energy. I love that. What that says to me again is that we, we are in fact, not just protecting, but investing in what we love, which is our communities. And we can do it locally and we can do it nationally, and we can do it globally. And I think it's great advice to remind people to get involved where they live first. That's a good first. Next right step.
- [83:32]
John Marshall
Yeah. This is awesome. So glad to be with you. My takeaway for your listeners is don't be shy. This is an important issue. People care about it. Talk about what you love and put yourself out there and be personal, be human, be real. And thank you. This is great to be here.
- [83:47]
Podcast Host
Always good to be with you. John, thanks for joining us on the pod. Thanks for all the organizing that you're doing and for our listeners at home, I have to say, you know what, what John is doing as a, as a public good service, what, what you guys at Potential Energy Coalition are providing the rest of us with the, just the lift and the assistance to bring, you know, some joy and also to have great research in the center of, of this advocacy work really is meaningful. So thank you for what you're doing. Thank you. Thank you to your kid for giving you a kick in the ass so you can give it to all of us.
- [84:22]
John Marshall
I'll make sure he listens. Thanks, Sophia. Good to be with you.
- [84:25]
Podcast Host
Great to see you, John. Happy Earth Day.
- [84:27]
John Marshall
Thank you.
- [84:29]
Podcast Host
Thank you all so much for joining us on our round robin of Earth Day conversations. I love making this podcast for all of you. I love gathering people together in community to learn from each other, listen to each other, be inspired by each other. And after speaking to this gaggle of incredible thought leaders and experts, I feel inspired to take action for you, for me, for the planet too. I feel inspired about the future and I think we all needed a dose of that. So if you want to join us, we have so many resources in the show notes for you this week. You can find books and articles and places to take action and things to sign up for. So please make sure you check them out. We love you, we love our planet and we love doing really, really rad learning and activism with all of you. I hope you all have a beautiful Earth Day. Let's remember, in fact, every day should be Earth Day. We're so lucky to live on this little oasis we call home. See you guys next week.
- [85:51]
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Podcast Host
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- [89:20]
Sophia
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.