Stories Sustain Us #51 – Turning Tiny Sh*ts Into Big Impact: Meet Climate Karen

Summary
In Episode 51 of Stories Sustain Us, host Steven Schauer sits down with Aaron White, the co-founder of Climate Karen—a bold new brand using humor and a dose of irreverence to re-engage people in the climate fight. From a small town in Wisconsin to ten years in East Africa, Aaron’s career has spanned humanitarian work, social innovation, and cutting-edge startups. He shares his powerful story of co-creating solutions with communities—from keeping girls in school in rural Ethiopia to building a carbon-removal brand that makes taking climate action fun and accessible.

Together, Aaron and Steven unpack why Climate Karen is the “Liquid Death” of climate brands, how personal agency combats climate despair, and why community is the cornerstone of lasting change. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the climate crisis and unsure how to help, this episode will leave you laughing, inspired, and ready to give a tiny sh*t.

About the Guest
Aaron White spent 10 years in Ethiopia doing humanitarian work before becoming an entrepreneur.  Passionate about human-centered design for major challenges, Aaron co-founded the world's first digital inhaler for kids with asthma and contributed to rare brain cancer research. Now, climate change. Aaron lives with his wife Zayid, two VERY energetic children, and an orange cat named Willis in the mountains of North Carolina.

Show Notes
Climatekaren.com
Instagram: @climate.karen

Takeaways
•From Midwest to Mountains: Aaron White shares his winding journey from Wisconsin to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, via Ethiopia and East Africa.
•A Decade in East Africa: Aaron worked in humanitarian aid and launched a human-centered design consultancy in Ethiopia, focusing on inclusive, user-led development strategies and helping nearly a million Ethiopian girls stay in school longer.
•Startup Spirit Meets Social Impact: Aaron translated his field experience into startup ventures in medical devices, oncology, and ESG consulting—always tackling big problems with small, agile teams.
•Birth of Climate Karen: Inspired by brands like Liquid Death, Aaron co-founded Climate Karen, a cheeky, counterculture brand designed to re-engage people in climate action with humor, optimism, and agency.
•Membership Model for Change: Climate Karen’s $1 membership funds real carbon removal projects like biochar and tree planting while building a community to pressure big brands toward sustainability.
•Shifting the Blame: Aaron emphasizes the need to shift responsibility away from individuals and toward systemic change and corporate accountability.
•Humor as a Tool Against Climate Despair: The absurdity of the climate crisis is matched with equally bold messaging, comedy, and community to cut through doomscroll fatigue and inspire action.
•Hope Through Action: Aaron’s hopeful vision of a kind, equitable world is grounded in realism and compassion, especially for the most vulnerable.

🎙️ Stories Sustain Us is more than a podcast—it's a powerful platform that shares inspiring stories from people working to make the world a better place. Through honest, heartfelt conversations, host Steven Schauer explores the connections between people, planet, and purpose. From climate change and environmental justice to cultural preservation and human resilience, each episode aims to ignite meaningful action toward a more sustainable future.

🌍 Learn more about the podcast, explore past episodes, and discover how you can support storytelling that drives change at storiessustainus.com.

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💚 Your voice matters. Share the stories that move you—and help sustain us all.

Transcript

Steven
What if solving climate change didn't require changing everything all at once, but instead started with giving just a tiny shit? In a world overwhelmed by climate doom and despair, today's guest offers a bold, funny, and effective way to re-engage people in the climate fight. One small action at a time, multiplied through community and by creativity. Hey everybody, I'm Steven Schauer and welcome to Stories Sustain Us.

The show where we explore inspiring personal stories from people who are making the world a better, more sustainable place. Today's episode, I talk with Aaron White, the co-founder of Climate Karen, a hilarious and effective brand that's disrupting the climate conversation by turning tiny actions into big impact. Aaron and I explore how humor, hope, and community can cut through the noise of climate despair. We talk about why personal agency matters.

how a bold brand identity can spark collective action, and what it takes to create scalable climate solutions that people actually want to be a part of. We also dive into Aaron's fascinating journey, learning how his past experiences helped shape his belief in human-centered design and how it's now fueling his mission to tackle the biggest challenge of our time, climate change. Here's a bit more about today's guest.

Aaron White spent 10 years in Ethiopia doing humanitarian work before becoming an entrepreneur. Passionate about human-centered design for major challenges, Aaron co-founded the world's first digital inhaler for kids with asthma, and he contributed to rare brain cancer research. Now he's turning his focus to the climate crisis with Climate Karen, a cheeky community-driven approach to carbon removal and climate engagement.

Aaron lives these days in the mountains of North Carolina with his wife, Zayid, and two very energetic children and an orange cat named Willis. From girls' education in rural Ethiopia to launching a climate movement with SAS and science, Aaron's story is a reminder that we don't need to be perfect to make progress. We just need to show up, laugh a little along the way, and take that first step together. All that and more coming up right now here on Stories Sustain Us, where we are inspiring action through the power of storytelling.

Steven 
Good morning, Aaron. Welcome to Stories Sustain Us How are you doing today?

Aaron White 
Hey Steven, thanks so much for having me. I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Steven
I'm doing well. Fantastic. Well, I'm over on one side of the country over in ⁓ Seattle and you're on the other side of the country I believe you're you're over in North Carolina. Is that correct?

Aaron White 
Yeah, I'm in western North Carolina, so beautiful part of the state. I'm not here from here originally, but I live in the mountains of North Carolina, ⁓ Blue Ridge Mountains in a place called Boone, so fantastic little spot.

Steven 
Nice. Yeah, parents lived for a while just on the other side and into the Tennessee side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But yeah, it's a beautiful area of the country. So I can appreciate where you live. It's a lovely place. ⁓ jump in. Let's see how we do this. As you know, we talk a little bit about you, get to know you, and then we'll talk about climate care, which I can't wait to talk about. I'm just...

Intrigued by your ads and and I want to know more about everything that you that you're doing But first tell me a little bit about you. Where did you grow up? said you're not from North Carolina. So what's your story? How did you get to North Carolina?

Aaron White 
In the in the longest ⁓ most roundabout way possible I got here so I actually grew up in in Wisconsin so a great family ⁓ in small town in Wisconsin called Oconomowoc I'll spell that for you O-C-O-N-O-M-O-W-O-C and It's a great place in the Midwest lots of lakes. Just had a really great childhood two brothers really loving home

Steven
yeah.

you

Aaron White 
Mom and dad both are still around and yeah, it's just kind of the suburbs of Milwaukee. Spent a lot of time like just playing outside in the woods ⁓ with friends and yeah, just really loved that. And then ⁓ stayed kind of in the Midwest, ⁓ went to school at a place called Northern Michigan University and ⁓ studied biology and environmental science. ⁓

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
From a little kid, I was just always fascinated with plants and animals and how biology worked and wanted to be a rainforest biologist when I was really little. But then I took statistics and realized that, I can't be a true biologist. But I was really interested in science and people. And yeah, from there, I didn't really know what.

I wanted to do after college. I know a lot of kids have that same issue. So I went out west and was a ski bum for a year in Colorado. ⁓ Loved skiing and had an awesome time living out there. And then my ski season was cut short one day. I hucked myself off a cliff and landed, tore my ACL, and then was done for the season.

Steven 
Yeah.

⁓ yikes.

Aaron White 
And yeah, I like, I don't really know what to do with my life now. ⁓ But I'd always wanted to visit Africa. ⁓ Like it was, I thought of Africa as like a singular place. Like you just go and you're, know, everything is a jungle. ⁓ And that was my perception of Africa and ⁓ had knee surgery and wanted to, didn't.

Steven
Yeah.

Aaron White
not get a real job but wanted to travel and ⁓ didn't know how to do it but had some friends living in Ethiopia at the time ⁓ and they're like hey why don't you come out and visit and I was like sure I don't I have no idea where that country is I know it's in Africa I didn't know you know west or east or north or south and it's in the Horn of Africa ⁓ but yeah went went to Africa thought I'd spend

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
three months there, maybe four months, and ended up spending 10 years. ⁓ So I just fell in love with Africa, and particularly East Africa. So most of my time was in East Africa. ⁓ I was just really open to exploring ⁓ different places and finding people that ⁓

Steven 
Wow.

Aaron White 
We're doing all sorts of really interesting things. so, yeah, it's hard to explain like my trajectory, like I, so to start, I went to a country called Tanzania and I was like, wanna go to a village. I wanna go to like a real African village. Cause I was dumb and 24 and didn't know anything. And ⁓ I didn't know what that meant.

So I ended up meeting some people, met this guy, John. He was ⁓ Maasai, the tribe Maasai. And he was like, why don't you come out and spend some time with my family in our village? I was like, cool, how do we get there? And he's like, well, we gotta get on a bus and it's not far. And I was like, ⁓ okay. So I thought, you know, maybe it'd be like, you know, 30 minutes. It ended up being like six hours.

on a bus. I was totally unprepared for that. ⁓ And then we get to where the road ended and he's like, okay, we just got up, we got to walk in ⁓ to our village. It's not far. It's just over here. And I was like, okay, cool. And we walk, we're talking and then it's like 30 minutes, then an hour. And then I'm like, how far is it? He's like, it's just here. Ended up being like another like four hours. ⁓

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
of walking and we finally get to his village. ⁓ And I spent a couple months there ⁓ just living in this village, like trying to fit in whenever I could, realizing I was very different, but also just like fascinated with the culture, the people and the wildlife. We're right on the border of ⁓ Teringire National Park. so,

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
know, elephants would come in close to the village and we'd chase them off with the little kids throwing dirt clods at them and then, you all sorts of wildlife. And so like that was my like first experience of like being in true Africa. was like hot and difficult and fun and boring at times, but then like there'd be these tremendous moments of excitement. So it was just...

an incredible experience. I don't know if I'd want my son to do it the same way I did, but I loved every moment that I was there.

Steven 
But how long ago was this? this I'm imagining early 2000s or am I off date on the dates or just kind of guessing?

Aaron White 
Yeah, yeah, so this is,

yeah, this is 2005. So spent a couple months in Tanzania and ended up meeting someone who had a nonprofit, an NGO that was doing education work. And they're like, hey, do you want to do some work with us? And so I said, yes. then, so I kept like bouncing around doing different things and meeting more people kind of always being willing to say yes and go places.

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
had some really cool experiences working with the Diane Fossey Gorilla Foundation in Rwanda. So ⁓ working to protect mountain gorillas. was only at the time ⁓ only 300 in the wild and that was incredible. So I worked on some of the communications work that they were doing. ⁓ And then from there ended up of all things working with private equity company in Ethiopia.

Steven 
well, yeah.

Aaron White 
for a while. ⁓ This was like 2007 and ⁓ they wanted to figure out how to ⁓ get into this fast growing ⁓ economy and fast growing continent. And so they're looking at investing in all sorts of different things that created jobs but also had a return for their investors. ⁓ They ended up not.

Steven 
Sure, sure.

Aaron White 
really making any investments and pulling out and I took that as an opportunity to get into humanitarian aid. ⁓ So did humanitarian aid for probably five years, ⁓ which was incredible. I got to see some parts of the continent that ⁓ most people don't see. ⁓ So working in refugee camps along the border of Somalia, ⁓ working in ⁓ really far-funged

Steven 
Wow.

Aaron White 
places that you have to fly to, then take a boat to, and then it was incredible. But during that process of working doing humanitarian aid, realized like, all right, so these projects that we're doing, they're, multimillion dollar projects, and they're doing good work, know, health, maternal and child health, water and sanitation for refugees, this is great stuff. But...

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
I realized all these projects are being designed sometimes in America, sometimes in the capital of Ethiopia, and then they're funded by the UN or the US government in these places. And they often just leave out the people that are the end recipients. And I saw that as a missed opportunity just to do better programming, better projects, but also like...

Steven 
Sure, sure.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
you're bringing up a thing or a program or a product to people that maybe don't want it. So like, why don't you start with the people and try to understand them a little bit more? And so that led me into ⁓ this concept of human centered design. So I got really into Stanford's design school and...

Steven 
Yeah, start with the end user, Yeah.

Aaron White 
⁓ design thinking, like really thinking about like the end user in mind, like what are the issues or desires that they have and then working backwards so that you're creating a solution that they actually want to use instead of one that is kind of foisted upon them. ⁓ And so because of that interest and I had some design skills, I thought like maybe I could make this into a business ⁓ and it did. So it started.

Steven 
Right.

Aaron White
taking that approach of human-centered design ⁓ and working with other nonprofits, the UN, to take this idea and doing some consulting on building up ⁓ better programs, better projects that have a more sustained impact with the end user.

Steven
Yeah,

they're still in Ethiopia when this is going on. that, am I following the story correctly? Yeah, yeah.

Aaron White 
Yeah, yeah. like

first half of my tenure there was humanitarian aid and then the second half was building a business and building up. Yeah, so we had ⁓ a couple dozen employees and it was incredible. had so I focused on hiring young, talented Ethiopians right out of out of college and they were amazing.

Steven 
Yeah.

kind of entrepreneurial human centered business, yeah.

Aaron White 
Like they had so much energy and so many skills that we could tap into and I absolutely loved working with them. We had such an amazing time.

Steven 
What were some of the products or what were some of the things that you were creating and who were the end users of those?

Aaron White 
Yeah, it ranged wildly. ⁓ But one example, and probably my favorite thing is, so the problem, I'll start with the problem and then get to the product. So the problem was that girls especially, once they reach 10, 11, 12 years old, they get a lot more pressure to drop out of school in rural Ethiopia. ⁓

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Aaron White
So there is a need to figure out how do we keep them engaged longer in school. The more years of schooling that they can get, ⁓ the better their health outcomes are, the better the economy is. So there are lots of downstream positive effects of keeping girls in school. And so we did a lot of observations ⁓ at schools and realized that

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
The government of Ethiopia had set up this initiative where they had ⁓ clubs after school. they called it a girls club and they had this club where girls were supposed to show up and then do something. So they established the club and girls were showing up, but there was nothing for them to do. was no one, teachers didn't want to hang around after school to be with them. Like they had other pressures. ⁓

Steven
to do.

Aaron White
We saw that there are girls gathering after school. ⁓ These are 10, 11, 12 year old girls and they're having a blast because they're getting to be with their friends. They're there for like ⁓ 30 minutes to an hour and then they have to go home because they've got things they have to do. They have to carry water, they have to help out at the home. So we thought, wow, we don't have any teachers but we've got smart, ambitious, energetic girls.

what if we created a product that we could drop into that group and, they could guide their own learning. And so we came up with this, this toolkit. We call it the girls club toolkit, but which is not a great name, but part of the first process was like, they get to establish their own governance of the group, figure out how, how they lead and what they're going to call it. And so they came up with really creative names and.

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
then they mapped out their learning, like what are they going to do? And then there was individual tools within the tool kit, so was all self-directed learning. ⁓ And that went out to close to a million girls, aged 10, 11, 12, across the country. And it was so cool to see these girls ⁓ who are often an afterthought in these communities.

Steven 
Wow.

Wow, that's amazing.

Aaron White 
And then you see them leading this group themselves. They don't have a teacher there, and they're learning about ⁓ all sorts of things. The environment, ⁓ food security, ⁓ reproductive rights, things that they wouldn't normally get, leadership. So they're learning how to lead themselves and lead others and understand themselves. And ⁓ the outcome was that girls stayed in school longer.

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
⁓ So we were able to, across ⁓ two years of this, those girls that stayed engaged had an additional almost a year of schooling, which doesn't sound like a lot, but like if you're, it actually has pretty big ⁓ outcomes for the entire country. ⁓ So that was a really exciting one to work on ⁓ just because it's unlocked.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah.

That's incredible.

Aaron White 
the power of a group of people that are often overlooked. And I absolutely loved working on that one.

Steven
overlooked.

Yeah, I had a guest on a, I don't know, probably a month or so ago now from Barefoot College International Zanzibar. And, you know, this the similarities of your story in Ethiopia and the work that she was leading in Zanzibar, Tanzania for, you know, educating women from villages and to become solar engineers or beekeepers and, you know, very similar.

stories what you just shared about, know, they're often overlooked or forgotten, pulled out of school, you know, for all the different pressures that are ⁓ put upon them in their communities. And not only does this education that you're providing or that Barefoot International ⁓ change their individual lives, but it changes the lives of their families and their villages and their communities. And yeah, all of those downstream benefits you mentioned, it's really incredible. So that's an amazing.

I had no idea that was part of your story. I knew you were in Ethiopia from your bio, that's, Kudos to you and your team for really tackling such an important issue. Thank you for doing that.

Aaron White 
Yeah. Thanks.

⁓ it was super fun to be a part of. And people always ask me, like, I want to help. Like, I want to do something. Like, should I, like, what should I do if I want to help someone in a place like ⁓ Africa or Southeast Asia? I always say invest in girls' education. Yeah, you can't go wrong. ⁓ And that's the best way to lift people out of poverty. ⁓

Steven 
Girls education, yep.

Aaron White 
And so yeah, invest in girls education.

Steven 
Yeah, absolutely. Fully, 100 % on board with that. That's fantastic. So moving along then, you eventually leave Ethiopia, clearly, here in North Carolina. what's that transition like for you as far as when did that happen, why did it happen, and where did you end up?

Aaron White 
Yeah, it was a bit bumpy. ⁓ You know how people say, like, you shouldn't start a new job and move and have a baby? All those things, like, we decided, yeah, those life changes, we decided to do them all at once. So my wife is Ethiopian, her name is Zaid, we met.

Steven 
Hahaha

Ha ha.

Feel a little life change things happen in all at once.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
While I was in Ethiopia, I met through a friend. We got married there in 2010, which was really fun. But in 2015, we were pregnant with our son Samuel and we thought maybe we should go to the US and have the baby and maybe this is a good time to start a new career.

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
Because I had built a business in Ethiopia, I was really interested in startups, had an opportunity in Nashville, Tennessee to get involved in a startup. And thought, why don't we move to Nashville, where we really don't know anyone. My family's not there. ⁓ Her family's in Ethiopia. ⁓ And it all sounded good, but that was dumb. That made.

Steven 
You

Aaron White 
Life really hard. know, moving to a new country. I had not lived in the States for 10 years. And Nashville was like a total surprise with. Yeah, it was just very different. So many hipsters and and and my wife. You know, there is a small Ethiopian community there. But, you know, when you have a baby in Ethiopia, like people are just around all the time. Yeah.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You

rallying around to help, yeah.

Aaron White 
⁓ If you don't want to hold your baby, someone will hold your baby and there's always someone to hold the baby. It's magical. ⁓ But in the US, you're kind of on your own. ⁓ Maybe you have relatives that live close and people do like a meal train and stop by, but that ends pretty quickly. And we are unfortunately pretty self-sufficient when it comes to raising kids. ⁓ So all that being said, we...

Steven
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
moved to the US 2015, had our son Samuel and it ⁓ was rough, rough transition. So I do not recommend that to anyone. ⁓ Go where your family is or wherever you can get help. ⁓ But in that process, ⁓ reconnected with a friend, ⁓ James, really good friend that I worked with in Ethiopia. He had moved back to North Carolina and got

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
involved in some early stage startups and he took his skills and project management and leadership and put that to use in some medical device startups and I was really interested in... What's that?

Steven 
Yeah, research triangle area, I'm assuming.

I'm assuming that research triangle area of North Carolina. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓

Aaron White 
Yeah, yeah, lot going on in North Carolina. ⁓

And so while I was working at another startup in Nashville that was struggling, ⁓ he invited me to get involved in, basically it was just an idea. It was him, ⁓ a scientist and an entrepreneur ⁓ who were trying to take this technology that they were devising.

and turn it into a medical device, so a digital inhaler. So ⁓ what they needed was kind of my startup hustle and some design skills and understanding user experience. And ⁓ so what we were able to create was ⁓ a ⁓ product, a medical device product that, ⁓ so I'm not sure if you're familiar with inhalers, but like,

They're pretty challenging to use. So if you have asthma or COPD, you have this device and you put it up to your mouth and you take a breath, big inhale, and at the same time you have to click the button so that it injects the aerosol, the medicine, into your breath and it goes into your lungs. So you and I can probably figure that out and we'd do okay. But if you're young, if you're, you know,

Steven
Squeeze the device, yep.

Aaron White 
five years old and have asthma, it's really hard to get that timing right. And if you don't get the timing right, the medicine goes in and it doesn't do what it's supposed to and it can cause a lot of other problems because you're getting it ⁓ other ways and you have to take more medicine to have the effect. ⁓ What this device did was as soon as you breathe in, it understand the trajectory of the airflow and it was able to precisely

drop out the medicine in perfectly formed little spheres ⁓ that went into your breath and then down into your lungs. ⁓ And yeah, so that was really exciting to work on and that was wildly different from all my work in Africa. ⁓ But it's kind of the same theme of like, I love working on big problems with a small group of people who are just agile and fun to work with.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah, that product is in use today. mean, that sounds like a wonderful product. Yeah.

Aaron White 
It is close.

Yeah, it's very close. ⁓ Things in the medical world take a long time and a lot of money. ⁓ So it's very close. So hopefully soon.

Steven 
more testing and approval and yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. Okay, well good luck with that. sounds,

yeah, it sounds like a brilliant idea for children who need that medication. It sounds wonderful. So good luck with the approval process and all those regulatory hurdles and things that I'm sure you're having to deal with. So.

Aaron White 
Yeah.

Yeah, well I'm no longer part of that company as an active employee, but still want them to succeed because it's a great product.

Steven 
Okay.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. Was that a good transition then to the company that you are a part of? ⁓ is there more, is there a little bit more? Yeah, yeah. Well, let me, tell me a little bit more. Yeah.

Aaron White 
Yeah, there's always other companies.

One of the things that happened is I got a job ⁓ doing innovation for ⁓ an organization focused on leadership called Center for Creative Leadership. And they've been around for a long time, ⁓ steeped in research. They're pretty big.

Steven 
Okay.

Aaron White 
They did not want to really innovate though. So I had this role where I was coming up with lots of ideas, they were like, yeah, that's nice, but that's not what we do. yeah, and so I could have got frustrated. I could have been like, no one's listening to my ideas. But I was like, well, they don't really need anything from me. They're happy with my work. I don't really have to do anything.

Steven 
You

Yeah. But we got this way of doing things.

Aaron White 
So I took all that time that I had and I started getting involved in other early stage startups. Because in an early stage startup, there's usually a really good idea, fun team that is trying to tackle a problem but not a lot of money. And I thought, I want to learn more. I want to work on interesting problems. And I can work for equity. The idea of sweat equity. I can put in some work.

and help companies be able to launch. And so that was a game changer because I had a salary from the company that was paying me who didn't actually need any work from me and they were very happy with me. And I could take my time and work on more fun problems with startups and figure out how I can get a little chunk of that company so that if one day it does succeed, there's a little bit of upside.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
So

from there, I worked with the medical device company, the inhaler company, and then ⁓ early stage oncology company. ⁓ So they were looking at ⁓ rare forms of cancer. So brain cancer, ⁓ one called glioblastoma, and then one that is a pediatric one called DIPG, only effects.

Steven 
Mm-hmm.

Aaron White 
about 300 kids ⁓ in the US every year, but it's deadly. ⁓ It's a really unfortunate cancer and there's no treatment. ⁓ But we had a drug that was showing efficacy for that really rare kids' cancer, at least in mice models. ⁓ So it was really fun to work on that and I learned so much about... ⁓

Steven 
Wow.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
the drug development process and ⁓ how difficult it is, but also how to create good relationships with manufacturing and ⁓ regulatory. So that was really fascinating. ⁓ And that company is still going. ⁓ They haven't yet ⁓ been able to get the drug into people yet, but ⁓ if they're able to raise some money, maybe one day they'll be able to do that. ⁓

Steven 
Yeah.

The story I'm telling myself about that, correct me if I'm wrong, but the fact that a startup is tackling this issue as opposed to an existing pharmaceutical giant is because the end user is such a small audience. There's probably, from a giant pharmaceutical company's perspective, I'm imagining not a big profit at the end of this in order to invest.

their ⁓ time in the process of developing this, the research, the development, the testing and all of that. So the fact that this innovative startup companies is filling a gap that the big giant pharmaceutical companies don't have a financial interest in. Am I telling that story right in my head?

Aaron White 
Kind of. So the startup provides the agility and to be able to focus on like kind of one drug and one disease or a couple small diseases. ⁓ But there's actually a financial incentive for the big pharma. The FDA has what's called a voucher program. And what they do is try to incentivize ⁓ drug development for rare

diseases. So let's take this this disease pediatric disease called DIPG. If you are a company that comes up with a drug that's able to treat this disease and it maybe doesn't cure it but it maybe extends the lifetime of the patient and you get approval then the FDA hands you a voucher and this voucher says hey for your next drug approval like

Steven 
Mm-hmm.

Aaron White 
this gets you to the front of the line. And for a big pharma, so imagine like with all the Wigobi and Ozempic right now, if you have one of these vouchers that gets you to the front of the line, like six months, maybe 12 months ahead of your competitor, like that's hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe billions of dollars in value. So the big pharma, they wait until the little drug discovery company can get

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
⁓ further along to show efficacy. And once they get that voucher, then they will pay the small company up to $100 million for one of these vouchers. So it's a really innovative program that the government came up with to incentivize drug development for kind of very niche diseases that don't get a lot of ⁓ funding or research.

Steven 
then they'll buy them. Yeah.

to get to. Yeah, yeah, that makes, it is, yeah.

Yeah, that is that's, know, living in a day and age where government innovation is often looked at like a non-existent. I mean, that's a great example of no, actually, government can do some pretty innovative, efficient, effective ways of incentivizing the private sector to move something forward. So that's great. That's a great story. Appreciate appreciate you going down that road with me because that's fantastic. That's wonderful. So.

Aaron White 
Yeah.

But

I'm still not at Climate Karen. ⁓ from there, ⁓ I think this was like 20, this was the pandemic hit and ⁓ a good friend of mine, David and another Fred Sunny, ⁓ we had been seeing ESG, environment, social and governance ⁓ kind of start getting more press and like

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
figured that with our network and some of our background, maybe we can help companies navigate this. And so we created ⁓ a service, kind of consulting company, to help ⁓ larger corporations navigate ESG issues. Well, it turns out that ESG was kind of short-lived. And it had a trajectory that went up and then like, yeah, you do not want to mention that word anymore.

Steven 
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, kind of, yeah. It has had a backlash in the last couple of years, yes. That, yeah, it's, yeah, it's,

It's a lot of words, unfortunately, are in that do not talk about category right now, yeah.

Aaron White 
you

Yeah,

that was like, ⁓ I've had some failures. That was one of the failures. But one of our clients early on ⁓ turned out to be ⁓ a celebrity ⁓ named Jason Momoa and the Ball Corporation. Ball Corporation makes aluminum cans and Jason Momoa, big actor and ⁓ hates single use plastic. So those two entities came together and

created a company called Mananalu, ⁓ which is a sustainable bottle of water, and then kind of put it out to the world and crickets, like nothing happened. And so through a friend of a friend got connected with Jason and Ball Corporation and they were like, how about you help us launch this to the world and make this a product that people actually want to buy. And so that...

Steven 
Yeah.

Aaron White 
That was kind of my first foray into consumer products and like how to get a real physical product like that fast moving product to market and super, super interesting, quick learning process. And it got me thinking like, wow, brand is incredibly important. We had a big celebrity, but we had a not so good brand. was a name that no one could pronounce.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Whatever it meant. Yeah.

Aaron White
people didn't know what it was on the shelf.

And at the same time, we saw a brand called Liquid Death launch. And if you know Liquid Death, so it's just water, and now they have other things, but at the time it was literally just water in a can that looked like beer. And they chose the dumbest name possible, Liquid Death, and everything they did was counter position to everyone else in the market.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah.

Aaron White 
So if you looked at bottled water, everything was ⁓ blue and ⁓ looked refreshing or tropical. And then here you have a white can or a black can ⁓ that looked way out of place. And people were like, what is this? And at first, like a lot of people hated it and thought it was really dumb, but they really developed a core kind of niche.

audience in the beginning that became like a cult-like following and ⁓ that was the the impetus or the ⁓ Where we got our inspiration for for Climate Karen we saw liquid death counter position to everyone and we thought like For my co-founder and I thought like wow, what if climate change had something similar to liquid death? Can you create a cult-like following and any product for something?

Steven
Yeah.

Aaron White
that is probably our species' biggest challenge. ⁓ And so we launched Climate Cairn.

Steven 
tackle right now, right? Yeah.

Well, I saw one of your ads, this is how we got in touch with each other. I saw one of your ads on Instagram and to your point of kind of being counter and kind of, I don't want say edgy, but just different. It just stood out. It just grabbed my attention on scrolling through Instagram and you're seeing 500 little short videos that you do on Instagram and...

Like I stopped at that one and I watched the entire thing and I'm like, I got to talk to these people. I this is, this is something different. So, so tell us then let's transition into what, what is Climate Karen? ⁓ first and foremost, and then we can kind of talk about, you know, some of the ways that you're, doing your outreach and, and, know, hopefully, ⁓ generating that cult like following. I, you know, I'm, ⁓ now that I know more about what you do and why you're doing it.

I want to tell everybody about it because I need people to get involved and get engaged and participate in all avenues of climate solutions. But you guys are offering a real easy way to get engaged in climate solutions. love your slogan on you go to your website and like big bold right in front of your face. It says give a tiny shit question mark. ⁓ we are turning tiny shits into big impact. So.

What is that? What are you doing? What tiny shits are you turning into big impact?

Aaron White 
Yeah. Well, if I back up a little bit, climate change, huge issue. Essentially, human-induced too much carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases are heating up our planet. It's creating wild weather. And then the second problem is, what do we actually do? If you're an individual, maybe you recycle. Great.

Steven 
Yeah

Aaron White 
Maybe you bought an EV, that's awesome. ⁓ But then what? Like you still have this huge looming problem that is chasing us all and you have zero agency. And that's where we really wanted to lean into because what I started to notice is that ⁓ these headlines about, you know, it's the 12th hottest month.

ever on record, then it was the 13th and then the 14th and now we've hit 1.5 degrees C, we blew past that and the headlines keep coming. But you start to get numb to that. ⁓ the problem with becoming numb, if you're an individual is that you stop paying attention and maybe you give up a little bit and that's not good. So that's really where like that.

Steven
Yeah. Right.

Aaron White 
being that somewhat abrasive brand and being a little edgy, a little in your face, but funny, that's how we're trying to cut through the noise. Because if we can get you as you're doom-scrolling through Instagram to stop for just a second and be like, oh, what is this? Then we've won. Because if we did the opposite, if we just said this is the 15th hottest month,

You probably just keep scrolling until you get to that cat video. So we need to figure out, all right, how do we brand this? Like that's one, because I think brand is incredibly important. Brand can really convey a story. can give someone ⁓ an identity. Like I wear this type of clothing. Like I fit into this ⁓ in group. And could we do that for climate change? Can we?

Steven 
Keep scrolling. Yeah, I know. Yeah.

Aaron White 
can we take something that is a little bit offensive and twist it a little bit so that it's a little more catchy and has a positive indication. So we all saw the Karen memes, which are offensive. And then I saw a video with a, I think it was a woman in Australia yelling at someone for keeping their Tesla.

on and I think the right wing media tried to like co-opt it and came up with the term Climate Karen and it didn't really take off in right wing media but I saw that as like oh maybe maybe this is a brand can this be the liquid death of climate change because maybe it is memorable enough that

Steven 
you

Aaron White 
as people are scrolling past or as they are shopping for something online and they see that, they'll stop and be like, oh, this is odd, this is interesting, let me look a bit further. As opposed to that other company I was working with, we had a big celebrity, but we had a name that no one could remember. Now we have a name and a brand that people remember. So we...

Steven 
Yeah.

Didn't resonate, right?

Yeah.

Aaron White 
When people have no agency, ⁓ it's really hard to keep them engaged. ⁓ Our plan is to give a little bit of agency, a little bit of hope, and through that process, get people more engaged in climate action. ⁓ So we've been offering really low-cost ways that people can start to remove ⁓ carbon dioxide from the air. So we create a little mini portfolio of

planting trees, ⁓ things like mangrove, replanting, ⁓ something called biochar, which is where ⁓ you can suck carbon dioxide and kind of lock it into something that's similar to charcoal. And ⁓ we created a little mini portfolio and people are able to buy that. ⁓ And along with that, they get access to ⁓ community and our newsletter.

and ⁓ offers from other brands that ⁓ have good products that are sustainable. And the goal is to not, ⁓ we don't want people to think that this one dollar erases all of their carbon footprint. Like this doesn't end your pollution, but it...

Steven 
Sure. Doesn't absolve you

of all of your other carbon activity, right?

Aaron White 
Yeah,

yeah, but it does help us scale up solutions that we need now and also in the future. So the goal is more about like, how can we pull together as many people as possible that do believe in this? And once we have that base, use that as a way to push consumer brands in the right direction. Especially as we think about like fashion and apparel brands, if we can show them that

Steven 
Right.

Yeah, big polluters.

Aaron White 
hey, your consumers actually do give a shit, ⁓ and we know because they've been paying us to remove carbon, and they'd like you to do a little bit better, and here's how you can do that. So that's a big goal, is give people a way to contribute in a way that's fun, but then leverage that community to push bigger companies in the right direction.

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, well, it's I think it's a brilliant idea. It's brilliant name, brilliant marketing strategy. ⁓ I just had ⁓ Dr. Katharine Hayhoe on last week on the show, and we talked about different climate solutions and, you know, she went into great detail about some of the different solutions out there. And I appreciate your portfolio of some technical solutions as well as some natural solutions that are, you know, because all

kind of are needed. There's not a one size fits all solution. We kind of need to go all these different directions to find ways to reduce carbon or remove carbon and stop putting more carbon in the air. There's a whole lot of, you know, there's different solutions for that. And one of the calls to actions, action that she made ⁓ last week, I respect her opinion greatly, is to get into community. ⁓ That, you know, individually, yes, there are

things we can do, but no one individual can really solve this. We have to get into community, ⁓ which is one of the things that I find so attractive about what you're doing is you're trying to build a community. So I can take my single voice and match it with, you know, hundreds and hopefully thousands and hopefully tens of thousands and hopefully millions of others who can then do what you're wanting to do is go to other corporations and other.

⁓ entities and say, look, we've got a voice here that's demanding you do better, that you do differently. And so I think it's just brilliant how you guys have put all this together and couldn't be more excited to have you on the show and share your story. ⁓ And I love kind of your three pillars, ⁓ the be optimistic, the build community that we just talked about, and then the be ridiculous part. ⁓ Can you

Aaron White 
Thanks.

Steven
talk a little bit about how you're doing those three things. ⁓ I think they're all incredibly ⁓ important aspects of how we tackle this giant problem of climate crisis that we're in.

Aaron White 
Yeah, so on the the be realistic like this is this does not absolve you of all the issues. ⁓ And at the same time the the point that I've been making with our community is this is not your fault. Like the big oil and ⁓ and many other groups have told us as individuals that this is your fault. Like the term carbon footprint that was developed by

⁓ I think it was a BP, ⁓ one of the big oil companies, with the idea of shifting responsibility from them, who are responsible for our current state, to you. Is all about you? Yeah, or recycling.

Steven 
Yeah, think, yeah, I think they in the

Yeah.

Same with all the recycling, going back to the 70s and 80s, all the

personal responsibility to recycle was funded and created by those that were manufacturing the plastic so that they could put the burden on the consumer as opposed to the production end of doing something smarter and better. So yeah, we are often at the whims of these large corporate entities that have the funds to tell us what to think through advertising.

Aaron White 
Yeah, so that's the first part. Try to change that narrative. We're yelling at the wrong people. We're yelling at ourselves. And within climate and sustainability, there's a lot of jockeying for which solution is the best and the purest. They are all needed. We need all of this. And so I want to shift the focus from that.

and from individual responsibility. Of course we all have a responsibility, like the state of the world is not your fault, Steven. Like you didn't get us here. Is the system, yeah. Is the systems and it's the companies that have focused on short-term gains instead of our long-term health. And so shifting that narrative ⁓ and then.

Steven
I don't have that power apparently.

Aaron White 
Create hope. There are good things out there. There's new technology being developed. ⁓ There is ⁓ good legislation going on, not in our country, but in other countries. So there is hope. There's hope that there are consumer brands that still do give a shit and their customers care. there are some huge challenges, but we also want to offer some hope and some...

agency and then like this should be fun. Like I've always loved working on big problems ⁓ but it's fun because I'm working with like a great group of people and the people that are in our community like they they reach out and they're like I I have been climate spiraling and then I saw you guys and I just you made my day and like that that is awesome like if if I can

Steven 
Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron White 
If you can get people out of that climate spiral, like just stop and be like, okay, hey, it's not your fault. One, two, there's a little bit of hope, but we're gonna have to work our butts off. And three, like let's be a little bit abrasive about this. Like let's try to get in people's faces. I'm not advocating for burning Teslas or throwing cans of soup at ⁓ paintings, but like how do we get in front of people so that...

that it doesn't just become noise. this is, because we have to show that we have a concerted effort, that we have a community that votes, that buys stuff. And once we were able to show that, then we can push policy and companies in the right direction.

Steven 
Yeah, yeah, you're, ⁓ I really appreciate your approach of abrasiveness, because it is humor. is done in a way, ⁓ like you said, not doing a violent act or a destructive act, but it's more like a ⁓ really famous insult comic, right? It's like you're getting in people's faces. ⁓

you know, thinking of the Robert Schmeichel's hand puppet with the cigar, the dog, know, yeah, triumph, yeah, triumph, it's all comic dog, right? I mean, you guys are like in your face saying outrageous things, but with a touch of humor and seriousness all blended in to grab people's attention. And I think it's, again, it's really a brilliant approach and I'm...

Aaron White 
Yes, triumph, the insult comment.

Steven 
hopeful that you continue to grab more and more and more attention with it. it's, have to break through the media clutter, the noise and the doom scrolling like you talked about. And climate anxiety is a real thing. People feel it more and more because all you see is the negative and the horrible, which is there. And we shouldn't turn a blind eye to it. But if you don't know about the hope and the opportunities for, there is.

⁓ real chances here for restoration. There are real chances here for a better future for all, not just for a few. And so you got to grab people with that. And I think you're doing a heck of a job doing that. It's brilliant. So, yeah.

Aaron White 
Thanks, thanks.

Yeah, we think the absurdness of where we are, it's comical, like how absurd it is. So like, can we embrace that a little bit so that we can get people to pay attention?

Steven 
Yeah.

Yeah, wonderful. Well, Aaron, tell us a little bit, what's a call to action? What can people do? How can they get involved in the climate care and community? What do you want people to do after hearing this story about your journey and hearing about the work that climate care is doing? ⁓ What can they do? So what's your call to action?

Aaron White 
That's great.

⁓ Yes, well first, if there's any comedians out there that are listening, I would love to talk to you. I think we can turn good comedy into action. ⁓ So that's one. Two, ⁓ we have just started to work with partners who are now selling our membership. So our Climate Care and Membership, it plants a tree, it removes ⁓ some carbon dioxide and...

provide some like fun activities every month and it's just a dollar. So now we have launched that with a Grove collaborative. So grove.co you can go there and buy Climate Karen and ⁓ that's a great place to start. Cause if we can get more brands, consumer brands selling the idea of sustainability, selling tree planting, carbon removal, like then it can really take off. So that's, that's the force.

multiplier that we're going for. So if you're a listener and you shop at Grove, go look for us and spend a dollar to remove some carbon.

Steven 
Fantastic. Well, I'll definitely put that in the show notes and I'll put all of your ⁓ Climate Kairn’s information so folks can, because they can go directly to climatekaren.com as well and support directly through your site if I'm understanding that correctly as well.

Aaron White 
Yep, go directly to climatekaren.com, sign up for the Dollar Karen Club and start removing CO2 and follow us on Instagram. ⁓ I've been tired of spending money on ads and sending money to Mark Zuckerberg, so ⁓ stop that and now every new follower, we plant a tree through Trees for the Future. So we're just gonna put our ad money to good use. ⁓

Steven 
Sure, I feel ya.

Aaron White 
If you want to follow us, Plant a Tree, we'd love to have you.

Steven 
Perfect. We'll follow and also share then so that other people see it since you're not ⁓ actually pushing out the ads ⁓ with an ad buy. So make sure that you're, if you're listening or watching this episode, go follow Climate Karen on all their social media channels, like, share, follow, and then make sure you're boosting their voice as well, which is something I'll be doing also. Cause yeah, I feel you on that ad buy thing.

Aaron White 
Yes.

Steven
I'm still buying Instagram ads to promote the show, but it always feels a little icky every time I get ⁓ that monthly bill. just like, isn't there a better way doing this? so yeah, I get you. Definitely. ⁓

Aaron White 
Yeah, it's very frustrating.

Steven 
I want to ask you one other quick question and then I'll get to the end about hope, but something else that triggered in my mind as we're talking about social media and I think you all have a fun way of dealing with climate deniers and those who might be trolls in the social media world. ⁓

And that's something I also talked a little bit with Dr. Heyhoe about like, do you deal with climate deniers? And there's different methods, obviously. And she had her recommendations, but I'm curious, what's your approach? ⁓ Because I've seen a little bit of it and it's on brand ⁓ how you're dealing with it. But could you explain to folks how you guys are maybe, because you undoubtedly have it. Somebody sees your ad and your promotion.

I have had my share of it as well, which I feel like it's a little badge of honor. I've made it into the world when somebody has trolled me on something that I'm posting about my shows. But how do you deal with either the climate deniers or the angry trolls that are out there?

Aaron White 
Yeah, there are definitely a lot and especially on Facebook. ⁓ So, like so many on Facebook. A couple things. One, I learned that a lot of these are actually bots and there are some tells that you can find, 163 followers and zero posts from themselves. yeah, I would assume that maybe half of them are bots, but there are a lot of very vocal climate.

Steven 
Yeah.

Yep.

This parts,

Yep.

Aaron White 
deniers and part of the problem is like they they have this playbook like they have like a number of things that they constantly come back to ⁓ you know our planet has always been changing or you know whatever those are and they like yeah co2 is plant food ⁓ go0d ⁓ and and they are quick to rattle those off and ⁓ and there's the problem is there's some truth to that like co2 yes it is plant food

Steven 
Yeah, CO2 is plant food.

here.

Aaron White 
But if we don't have enough plants to get the balance back. Yeah, so like our approach is to hit back a little bit, clap back with something creative, but also scientific. if we can be funny and a little bit in your face, but also have a nugget of science in there, then when other people are reading that who...

Steven 
Yeah, in the amount we're putting it up there, right? Yeah.

Aaron White 
aren't a climate denier, they can see, ⁓ yeah, that's funny. I love that they punch back, but also like, ⁓ I get why that's assumed as a fact. ⁓ So that's our approach. And then I've been playing around. the other problem is like, so the rest of us, we don't have a good way, we don't have all the scientific knowledge of how to like factually

push back on these climate deniers. ⁓ So I've been working on a way using some vibe coding to create a climate care and translator. I'll send you the link. you essentially, the next time you're at the barbecue with your uncle and he says something like CO2 is plant food, you can pop this in there and it will have a very fun ⁓ way to respond, but also some science in there.

Steven 
Okay. please.

Perfect, I look forward to seeing that. That's great. I definitely have gone the route of making sure if it's a bot, I just ignore it and delete it. If it's an actual human being, I've responded to some and I take the ⁓ I'm gonna overwhelm you with kindness as well as facts approach ⁓ and no one so far has responded. They've put their little pithy ⁓

what they think is an insult or whatever and then I respond, know, with ⁓ a, you for your feedback, that's really great, I mean, you know, appreciate your interest in all this and then throw in a little nugget of information that is relevant to whatever the subject matter was so that, similar to you if someone scrolls by and sees it that, you know, I'm not starting a fight with them because that's what they want, they wanna, you know, their aggressiveness, they want to be met with aggression so that they can, ⁓

they can fight. I appreciate your approach of meeting with humor. You know, my approach of meeting with love and you know, kind of shuts them down. So yeah.

Aaron White 
Yeah,

yeah, what you don't want to do is provide them a platform.

Steven 
Right, right. That's great. Well, Aaron, let me transition here into the kind of last few questions. ⁓ I ask all my guests about hope when we get to the end of the show. We talk about some hard things, know, climate crisis, and there's some really, you know, there's some real challenges happening today and some real challenges that we're going to continue to face in the future. So these are hard conversations that we have and similar to you and climate care. And I want to be optimistic and

and end on a hopeful note. So I ask about hope, not in the sense of a fleeting emotion, but hope as in a mental state of mind that can be trained and exercised and grown. ⁓ Hope, similar to what you described, is you have a vision for a better future. You have a plan of action of how to get there. You may not know all the steps, but you know a direction to walk in.

⁓ and you have a sense of agency that there's something you can do about it. that that's, you know, from cognitive researchers, that's kind of how they define what, what hope is. And we can grow that by taking certain actions or we can lose that and become hopeless, particularly if we don't have a feeling, sense of agency. So, so when I ask you about hope, I'm gonna ask you three questions and encourage you to kind of, ⁓ just give the first kind of what you feel is the right answer as opposed to thinking too hard about it. So.

First question for you, Aaron, is what's your vision for a better future? It can be for you personally or professionally or for the world, but what's your vision for a better future?

Aaron White 
Yeah, my vision, and I think about it in the context of my kids. So got a nine-year-old ⁓ boy named Samuel and a little girl, six, named Johanna. And my vision of future, it's a kinder one. People are kind. ⁓ But there's also, somehow we have overcome this problem of climate change ⁓ through...

resilience and then doing the things that we know need to happen.

Steven 
So this whole episode's been about this question, but just to give you a chance to talk a little bit more about why is that important to you? Why is that vision of a kinder, healthier, more sustainable planet important to you? Why is that important?

Aaron White 
Yeah, for me, I've worked with people on the margins. in the places that are going to be hit hardest and that are currently being hit hardest ⁓ have the least amount of resilience. They can't handle the economic and the environmental shocks like I can or my family. And so I know these people and like I want to have a more equitable

future for them too.

Steven 
Perfect. So the last question then is use your imagination in the future you just described, ⁓ more kind and sustainable, equitable future. Imagine that that is actually happening today. It's not somewhere off years in the future. It's the world we're living in right now. How does that make you feel?

Aaron White 
⁓ I mean, so hopeful. And just, yeah, joy. that just made my day.

Steven 
Perfect. Well, Aaron, thank you so much for joining me on Stories Sustain Us and sharing your story and that of climate care. I encourage everybody to get to climate care and a common support ⁓ their efforts to join this community and push for climate ⁓ change solutions, the carbon removal, all the wonderful things you're doing, pushing other businesses and ⁓ organizations to do better.

So just thank you for all you're doing to make the world a better place. And if there's anything else I can do to support you, just let me know, because I'm going to continue to be a fan of your work, because I think it's so important, and it's just really well done. So with that, I'll leave you with the last word.

Aaron White 
Thank you. Yeah, the last word is don't give up. I know climate change is scary, but we have the tools, we have the know-how. Our world can make this happen. Thanks, Steven.

Steven 
I really enjoyed today's conversation with Aaron White. We heard how Aaron's fascinating global journey from working in refugee camps and launching girls education programs in Ethiopia to co-founding a digital inhaler for kids with asthma. How all of this has led him to his boldest venture yet. Climate Karen, a cheeky and deeply impactful response to the climate crisis. We explored how Climate Karen is turning small actions into big impact through carbon removal,

community building, a brilliant use of humor and branding to reengage people with climate solutions, especially those who are feeling overwhelmed by doom and despair. We also learned how Aaron's human-centered design philosophy continues to drive change at the grassroots and systems levels alike. Personally, I want to say how much I appreciate the approach Aaron and his collaborators are taking with climate care.

In a world simply overflowing with content and advertising, finding a way to break through the noise and actually connect with people is no small feat. And the fact that they're doing it with humor and heart, well, to me, that makes it all the more impressive. And let's talk about that name, Climate Karen. For those of you who might not be in on the joke, the term Karen started as a way to describe someone, typically a white woman, acting entitled or unreasonably demanding.

usually wanting to speak to the manager. That term carries some negative connotations, no doubt. But what Aaron and his team have done is flip that narrative on its head. By appropriating Karen for a climate cause, they've taken a meme and turned it into a movement. I think that's both brilliant and hilarious. I also fully support the three pillars of Climate Karen. Be optimistic, build community, be ridiculous. Look, climate anxiety is real.

Even if you don't feel it, there are loads of people out there who do. It's easy to feel hopeless in the face of an overwhelming crisis like climate change. But what Aaron has shown us is that finding lightness, humor, and joy in the process isn't just refreshing. It's absolutely necessary. It keeps us from burning out. It keeps us from feeling overwhelmed. It keeps hope alive, and it brings people together. So if you're feeling inspired like I am,

Let today's conversation be your call to action. You can start by supporting Climate Karen at climatekaren.com and be sure to follow them on social media and help amplify their message. You can also get involved with other organizations in your community that are challenging the status quo and building real solutions to the climate crisis. Join a local sustainability group, attend a town hall meeting, support youth climate movements, use your voice and use your vote.

And if you'd like to support Stories Sustain Us, please visit the support page at storiessustainus.com. There you can learn about ways that you can support the show, including liking, sharing, and subscribing the show, following Stories Sustain Us on social media, and leaving me a comment. Love to hear from y'all, so thank you when you do that. And if you're able and so inclined, you can offer a financial contribution to help offset the costs of producing this weekly program.

Every bit of support helps me continue bringing these stories to you in an ever-growing audience. However you support the show, please know I sincerely appreciate all of it. Coming up next week, I hope you'll be able to join me again on July 22nd when stories sustain us return with a brand new episode featuring Fritz Neumeyer, the co-founder of Oceans 2050. If you've been with me for a while, you may remember Fritz from episodes 44 and 45.

Well, Fritz recently reached back out with some new updates that he's eager to share. So I'm bringing him back on for another deep dive, pun intended, into his visionary global movement to restore our oceans within a single generation. Catch the next episode of Stories Sustain Us on July 22nd at storiessustainus.com, wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube. Thank you so much for being here today. Keep making the world a better place. Your actions matter more than you know.

Until next time, I'm Steven Schauer. Please take care of yourself and each other. Take care.