Special Edition Episode: An Interview with Your Host!

In this special episode, I trade my hosting chair for the hot seat: Rebecca Riley of the Free Minds Book Club interviews me about the Changing Planet Justice Foundation, the nonprofit I founded to empower youth to lead community-based climate action.

We kick things off with my origin story, tracing how my passion for national parks and environmental justice blossomed into a global initiative. Changing Planet Justice provides youth with opportunities to share their climate stories and gain hands-on climate leadership experience. Through live workshops, citizen science projects, interactive planning tools, and one-on-one mentorship, youth of all ages and backgrounds turn their ideas into impactful climate action projects.

I share the inspiration behind the organization, the tangible impacts it has achieved, and how I keep the mission grounded by prioritizing youth perspectives and encouraging kids to define and map their environmental priorities. We dig into how I combat climate apathy, even as politicians and fossil-fools prioritize greenbacks over green solutions—handing my generation a steaming pile of earth. I share my thoughts on the outcomes of recent COP conferences and the lingering fallout from President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Finally, I explain why--despite a political climate that's as overheated as the actual climate--I’m genuinely hopeful for the planet’s future and confident in my generation’s climate resilience. 

This interview will appear in Free Minds Connect magazine, published by Free Minds, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that uses books and writing workshops to empower incarcerated youth to rewrite their stories and become agents of change. Rebecca Riley, the Jail Book Club Coordinator, leads this conversation with her insightful and compelling questions.