Climate Action Figures
A safe place for youth to share steps they are taking to mitigate climate change.
Climate Action Figures
Season 3, Episode 10: Fan Favourites
John and creative consultant Kayla talk about audience favourite episodes. Featuring a discussion on pee cloths, COP 29 insights, and community feedback. Ends with a call for suggestions for a potential Season Four.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:54 Kayla's QuickFix: The Pee Cloth
03:07 Audience QuickFix Contributions
03:39 Favorite Episodes and Reflections
08:17 Listener Feedback and Highlights
14:26 Kayla and John's Favorite Episodes
16:26 Hope and Future of the Podcast
21:48 Conclusion and Call to Action
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Hello, and welcome to a completely unique edition of Climate Action Figures. My name is John Whidden, and this week on the show you get to meet a whole bunch of people. But first, this week's QuickFix, which comes to us live from our very special guest today, and creative consultant. Drum roll, please. Kayla. Welcome, Kayla.
Kayla:Hello. Hello. It's good to be back. Always good to be back.
John:It is wonderful to have you back. You give us such great advice for this program. So, uh, great to have your voice included in this. You'll be with us the whole episode, and let's start with your QuickFix. What have you got for us today?
Kayla:Yeah. So. This is tough because I feel like I've given a, a few QuickFixes, so I was trying to think of another one. And the one I thought of today is actually one that I haven't done yet, but I am planning on,
John:Oh, a future QuickFix.
Kayla:Yeah, well, hopefully I asked for this for my Christmas list, so hopefully I'll get it and maybe I'll update everybody on how, how it's going. But, okay. I don't know if it's controversial or not, but have you ever heard of a pee cloth?
John:Yes, I have actually
Kayla:Yeah.
John:on. Tell us, tell us about it. I have several friends who have such a thing.
Kayla:Oh my gosh. I had never heard of it until like a couple months ago, and I saw it on Instagram. Someone who like posts videos and is a travel influencer. She talked about having a pee cloth as helpful when traveling, but when I looked into it, it was originally created mostly for leave, no trace, and people who are going on like back country camping and hiking. And it's an antimicrobial pee cloth and it's just reusable so you don't have to use toilet paper. It's good practice to not leave toilet paper out in the wilderness, but then some people think it's gross if you're just putting your used toilet paper back in a plastic bag and carrying it out with you. So the antimicrobial pee cloth and the one that I found it's like quick drying, antimicrobial, and like one side will always stay dry, so when you're wiping, you're not gonna get your hands wet. Um, so I'm really excited to try it out. So that is
John:Wow.
Kayla:maybe my QuickFix for the new year after Christmas.
John:Well, there you go. Our first future, controversial QuickFix. Controversial... I don't know if it's controversial because you know, if we're gonna change things in this world, we've gotta do things in a different way than what we're used to. So we've gotta try some different approaches. I think.
Kayla:some people might think it's gross, but I feel like the people who listen to this podcast are not those people that will think it's gross,
John:There you go. Compliments to our audience. Now, speaking of the audience, we still have a few QuickFixes in the bag waiting to be used, but we need more, and now that we're into season three, many regular listeners and viewers have already sent in their QuickFixes and figure they can just sit back in their easy chair and listen to other people's. Nope, not anymore. You need to send more of your QuickFixes in, so we always have lots to share on the program. So please do that via social media or email. Now with holidays coming, since Kayla brought it in, we figured this would be a good time to catch up on past episodes. We're gonna take a little break until January after this episode, so this will be your big chance to catch up on missed episodes, and we thought it would be a great thing to offer audience thoughts about what their favourite episodes were, so you could have a, a jumpstart at which one you might wanna get into. So if you've missed that particular episode, then you can go back and check it out. So let's get to those audience thoughts and we will start with Janice who emailed us to say: the episode from your podcast that stands out is the one where you spoke to a young man, one of the COP 29 participants who said,"Hope is everywhere." And then he went on to talk about hope being in the moment, I often think of his words. You're gonna actually hear that quote toward the end of the episode here, but we really went international last season when we interviewed young people from 10 different countries who had attended COP 29, and it was fascinating to get their inside stories. I don't know if you agree with that, Kayla, but I sure was interested in hearing about what they thought about COP 29.
Kayla:Absolutely. I loved that, uh, a series of hearing from all those people who attended COP 29. It was really interesting to hear the different global perspectives.
John:Yeah. And even little things like, uh, I asked someone about food and they said food was incredibly expensive, couldn't even afford to buy food at the venue, uh, or. People talking about how young voices just didn't seem to be really heard. Uh, that was a big theme. So, uh, so listen in to any of those episodes, but, uh, the one Janice was talking about particularly is Shaurya in episode 10. So we can check that out: last season, season two episode 10.
Kayla:Yeah. Really interesting how they talked about the role of like politics and how that plays into climate action and how we further climate action on the global scale. but Linda, a regular viewer down in California, has shared many QuickFixes with us over the years, and she sent in a video of her favourite episodes from each of the seasons. And she was the one who opened the show for us today. So thank you Linda. And her choice from season one is this:
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on your Climate Action episodes. I have chosen one from each season. From season one. I chose Aryan, a junior high student who actually invented a bot that cleaned small particles of plastic from ponds without disturbing the organic matter in the pond. I thought that was a brilliant invention for a young person.
John:Well, that's great. Now David often leaves us a positive note on our YouTube channel, so thanks for doing that, uh, so regularly, David, he sent in this message to us: I must say it is really difficult to identify my favourite episode because this season has been so amazing. Each episode is my new favourite. Emma was incredibly inspiring by connecting human and non-human relationships. But I guess for me, Gracie moved me with her ability to tie in her Indigenous heritage and how she wants to continue spreading that knowledge. If I had to choose one, it would be that. But I must say all of this season has been very, very good. Congratulations. That's wonderful. David. Uh, we kicked off this season with a series of five episodes focusing on First Nations points of view about the environment. And Gracie in episode three certainly was very touching and her desire to become a healer of her people. Definitely one to watch. But I'd say watch all five of them because they fit together like a puzzle. And I really believe that we need to listen to our Indigenous brothers and sisters if we're going to figure out how to take care of this Earth better. And speaking of which, a First Nations elder from Gracie's Blackfoot Nation sent in a t-shirt identical to the one I wore, uh, was it last season, Kayla? Or this season I wore the purple. It was this season. Okay, so I wore a purple T-shirt like this here. Let's put a picture of it up on the screen because he sent in another one of those,'cause I raved about it as a prize to give away to the first viewer or listener who gets in touch with us via social media or our email address. climateactionfigures@gmail.com. Thank you very much, Api'soomaahka for sending that in. He's an expert on seeds and also an artist who created that design, so, oh, by the way, it's a small, so don't call in and request it if you are a large, unless you have a small person in your life for whom you would like to have that gift.
Kayla:Colleen says, Emmanuella from season two, episode 19 was her favourite. It made me think about big finance and climate action working together. Before I listened to Emmanuella, I thought of those two things being mutually exclusive or at odds with each other, not working together. So thank you, Colleen, for that insight.
John:I have to agree with her that, you know, I, I kind of think of those things as being in total separate worlds and we need one and maybe much, much less of the other. But maybe they need to work together to, for the solution, to the climate issue to come to light. But we'll, we'll see where that goes. On to Mike, who messaged us on Instagram and said, Hey John, I really appreciate the episode with MJ. Very interesting to hear of their connection with the land and family. Thanks Mike for that. And that was another episode from our five series of five that opened the season. Uh, MJ was a, a junior high student and amazing young person, so very cool stuff there.
Kayla:Definitely, and back to Linda for her season two pick. Take it away, Linda
Season two, I really wanted to choose episode 21 because Ashton and Hailey are my great-grandchildren. I must say. They love the environment. They are outside all the time, and they do care for it just by nature. But to be unbiased, I chose episode 24 with Sam, who discovered dead fish in his favorite fishing hole in Florida and also discovered it was caused by runoff from nitrogen fertilizers. He then, with a friend, invented a different fertilizer that didn't have negative effects on the environment, and then they subsequently started a business with this fertilizer. Such creative things that these young people do. I'm very impressed.
John:So Linda mentioned her grandkids, Hailey and Ashton to us, and we decided we should interview them. And in this episode that she mentioned, Sam talked about his friend Derek, who had developed a polymer that has all kinds of uses and is based in a material found in algae blooms in the ocean. So basically free material cleaning up algae blooms in the process. And this guy found an expert in Finland who helped him develop it. Fascinating story, check that one out too. It's in, uh, season two, episode 27, but all of this to say, you may know the perfect next guest for a Climate Action Figures episode, so please let us know and we will get in touch with that person and they may be our next guest. Glenda also had trouble choosing, she said: I have really enjoyed listening to all the episodes and have been impressed with how well everyone spoke about their passion, about the environment. As I skimmed through the seasons, I remembered these ones the most: here we go, season one, episode 11, Aryan. I have been interested in learning about the microplastics, plastics in the ocean ever since I saw an Oprah show about the island of plastic and how huge it is. When Aryan spoke about his desire in cleaning out the plastic in the ponds in his area. I was wondering what he would come up with. I would be interested in knowing if it ever got off the ground and into the water. Well, we might just find out more about that in a sec. In the meantime, Glenda goes on to season one, episode 20. Nate and Jackson: I love their enthusiasm for their garden projects they're very proud of at their school. They are very keen to help with the garden composting and lettuce and salads. Impressive for grade seven boys. And finally, Glenda says: season three, episode three. Gracie Eagle Bear Gracie was so passionate and driven. She brought tears to my eyes. I was so happy for her that she had the opportunity to travel to Europe and be a very important part of a ceremony there. Great that she is an important part of that sweet grass and garden program at her school. I wish her the very best in her desire to become a medicine woman.
Kayla:Yeah, I loved that episode with Gracie
John:Hmm.
Kayla:especially her drive and passion to become a medicine woman and how much her aunt inspired her was so lovely to hear about. So I very much agree with you, Glenda! Now moving on to Pat, who emailed us to say: I'm way behind on season three, but a couple from your first season really stuck with me. Again, Aryan from episode 11. He's getting so many shout outs, so that is wonderful. Was really impressed with his underwater robot that detected and filtered microplastics, and she actually gave us an updated link, which mentions that his project won gold at the 2024 Canada Wide Science Fair, which is incredible! So we've made sure to include that link in the show notes, so you can check that out. But very thoughtful of you, Pat. Thank you so much for sending that to us and giving us an update on that.
John:Hilarious that one of our, uh, listeners mentioned, uh, you know, I wonder what happened, and another one of the listeners answered the question for her. Perfect!
Kayla:That's perfect. And also she mentioned the Lacombe Secondary Ecovision Club from episode 10, saying it was so interesting to hear of this school, which over the past 18 years has built an onsite two-acre food forest, a tropical greenhouse, apiary, goat barn with Indigenous plants going on its roof and many other initiatives. That episode was also really up there for me, which was incredible. Thanks Pat and Jock also gave his vote on the Ecovision episode.
John:And let's hand it over to Linda to wrap up the audience feedback.
Oh my gosh. Season three episode seven: Day. What gives you hope? Cockroaches. Why? Because they've been around for millennia and they have it figured out. So that gave Day hope. I think that's amazing.
John:Well, thank you so much for sending in all of those recommendations and I hope the audience enjoys catching up over the holidays and watching some of those episodes. We really appreciate you taking the time to share those with us. And now Kayla, I'm gonna put you in the hot seat. What is your favourite episode?
Kayla:Okay, so now that I've had a bit of time to think about it, I think that I have to go back to this most recent season, season three, episode five, Brett, and he was the one who finished off that series about the Indigenous lens on climate action, specifically from the Piikani Nation lens. And he was the one who started that sweet grass and garden program at the school. But he's a settler, so I loved his episode for a couple reasons: I thought it was so fascinating to hear his journey in the Amazon trying to learn about the plants and the Indigenous knowledge in the Amazon, and then turning it back to him saying, why aren't you doing this in Canada where you're from? So I loved hearing that. And then. he had so many really great, wise words about how to be a good ally and being an ally in a really genuine and honest way. And I think that respecting the teachings and worldview that our Indigenous neighbors give us is so important to moving forward. They have so much knowledge and wisdom to share on how to support and live well with the earth and with nature. So I think that has to be my favourite episode so far.
John:Yeah, that episode was just packed with wisdom as were many of those in those first, uh, series of five, as are many of our other episodes. Uh, there's so many great, uh, guests. I really encourage you to go back and look at some of the ones that you haven't seen because, uh, amazing what young people are doing.
Kayla:And Yeah, it is hard to choose, but, uh, you made me choose, so I'm gonna make you choose now. John, what's your favourite episode?
John:Well, I guessed that you were going to throw this back at me, Kayla, so I have something in mind. Someone was asking me about this podcast and I said, I just love talking with these young people because they are so full of hope and they fill me with hope. so I am going to answer all the guests. How's that for a cop out?
Kayla:Oh
John:But I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a cop out because they really do fill me with hope, so much so, actually we're going back to Linda one more time because when she sent a message in, she said: it would make a really compelling social media post if you just put a bunch of the hope comments from the end of episodes spliced together. In fact, I put a bunch of them together so we could kind of look at them right now, and then you'll get an idea what I am talking about. So let's just watch that for a second.
One thing that is giving me hope is seeing all of the climate actions that are happening around the world and seeing people of all ages, not just young people, but also older people from different backgrounds, different subgroups. All taking action towards this collective goal. We are radically positive and we know that we can bring the change and we know that we can take care of the world. So yeah, that gives me hope. Hope is like, gravitate, exist everywhere. It's just how do we tapping into it, the youth not waiting for the adults of the room to give them permiss. Young people are connecting across borders. They're using our technology and storytelling to inspire action in ways that didn't exist a decade ago. That our culture isn't dying down and people still know what they're doing. So what gives me hope is what you are doing. It gives me hope that young people of today are now coming to understand what we need to do so that we can save our future. Communities are starting to realize that climate solutions are also just really simply affordability solutions. I really like the tree saplings that I've been growing, like bringing new life is and trees into the world as we, we continue to, to learn and to engage in the Truth and Reconciliation commissions calls to action, and learn how to live more and a balance in a harmonious way. Together my little dose of hope for everyone listening. In today is that there's no better time to be more hopeful than now because trust me, there are a million and a billion of people out there who share in your faith, who share in your belief, who want to see the world change. And if you continue, you'll meet and connect with some of these people and there'll be a source of hope as you go on. One thing that gives me hope is community. I think people like you also give me hope, but I don't think we should be living on validation from other people. So, very true and no, I did not pay Harshita to say that. What gives me hope is cockroaches, because supposedly they've been around for a really long time. They've survived, I don't know, probably an ice age, maybe like meteor strikes. And so it makes me think that even if we totally wreck everything, life kind of finds a way people in the worst living conditions, having the toughest time when they still have that like optimism to show up and do their thing regardless, I gives me hope is that I've seen so many different people compost so much. It's just a whole lot better than throwing everything out and letting their landfill. What gives me hope today is the number of dreamers there are out there, and I think hope is one of the most powerful tools we have. It motivates people to sacrifice things, to achieve the impossible, to change our minds. The biggest thing that brings me hope is just the idea. Human beings are brilliant and have always found ways to survive in the most complex, complicated, and stressful situations. So many Climate Action Figures out in our world, and a lot of them are kids spaces like this podcast or the Biosphere Institute that encourage youth to get together and collaborate well. My hope is that in the future, there will be better generations with other new ideas. That might be better than the last.
John:Aren't those amazing?
Kayla:Yeah. Yeah. Those are so heartwarming to listen to.
John:I've had many conversations with guests on the program or friends who are, you know, really engaged in environmental issues, and we have to be very careful that we don't just rely on hope. Oh, we'll just be hopeful, then the climate issue will be solved. So I realize that, but if we lose hope, we're toast. So it's important that we keep our hope through. You know, the difficult things that we see happening in the environment. So keep doing the thing, taking action, whether that's joining a local environment club or cleaning things up in your neighborhood even, or attending COP 29 or going into a March, uh, to show how important your voice is on this issue. But at the same time, don't let your hope fade and let these young people's hope filter into your life and inspire you. I Just should mention also, Kayla, that we're getting to the point where we need to decide whether or not we're gonna take this into a fourth season, and we haven't actually decided that yet. So feel free to get in touch with us if you have an idea. Someone who would make a great guest or you just wanna tell us whether or not we should continue. But most importantly, if you find this podcast hopeful or helpful or useful in any way, please share it far and wide because, you know, if we see our audience growing and getting larger and larger, then we'll realize that this is an important thing and we need to continue it. So that will definitely encourage us. Please share it with anyone you think who would, uh, enjoy watching an episode or 48.
Kayla:make sure to like, and subscribe and maybe review us if you have the time. It's really helpful.
John:Good point. Well, it was great to have you back, Kayla.
Kayla:It's great to be back, as I said, I'll always, I'll always come back.
John:And we will definitely invite you back as has become the tradition, for the season three finale episode, so we can expect to hear from you again. Thank you, listener or viewer for including us in your daily routine, whether that's in your living room, your car, or wherever you tune in. We will be back in January, same time, same place to hear from another young inspiring climate action figure. Until then.
Kayla:Go figures!