Live To Sustain: Recent Episodes
Live to Sustain
Allajah Wheatley, UC Merced Alumni and the Zero Waste Coordinator, discusses how everyday actions can lead to a zero waste lifestyle and her beliefs on campus waste production.
.Joaquin Fraga Hernandez, a recent alumni of UC Merced and Assistant Data Analyst Specialist at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, shares his expertise in transitioning from researching as an undergrad to researching as a full-time career.
Dr. Naughton, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Merced, discusses the food supply chain and how it affects the environment, and what vulnerabilities have become apparent during the pandemic.
Climate Change Scientist, Jeff Mirocha, talks about his work in climate change and how his team is working to increase the predictions of California wildfires.
UC Merced PhD student, Yocelyn Villa, discusses the issues of environmental justice in the Central Valley and her experience as a first-generation student.
Assistant Professor of Agroecology at UC Merced, Rebecca Ryals, discusses her soil research and the current resiliency of our food system.
Ulises Yepiz Yepez, a UC Merced Alumni and the Energizes College Coordinator-Climate Corps Fellow at UC Merced, shares his work on carbon neutrality and his fellowship with Climate Corps.
Melanie Pandura, a third year applied mathematics major with an emphasis in computational biology, shares a bit of her experience on leadership, student activism and informing the community.
A former high school teacher who is now studying Carcinogenic Water Pollutants as a Graduate student at UC Merced. Listen as Hope Hauptman discusses how these pollutants affect underrepresented communities and her perspective as a woman in STEM.
An undergraduate researcher, Arianna Tariqi, sheds light on how water pollutants affect the health of individuals in the Central Valley and how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be utilized to track effected areas.
In this episode, our host interviews a local farmer, Andrew Gilken from Raw Roots Farm, and discussed sustainable farming practices and how the pandemic has impacted agriculture.
For more information on Raw Roots Farm and their services, visit www.rawrootsfarm.com!
Wearing the wrong sunscreen could be lethal for you and the natural world. Chemical sunscreens leach into your body and have been found in blood, urine and breast milk. In Hawaii they have gone as far as banning certain sunscreens. The ban is for sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. As this ewg.org article states, "these chemicals are found in many popular sunscreens sold in the U.S., and are linked to hormone disruption in people and the bleaching of coral reefs and coral death."
Here are a few brands we recommend:
Badger Balm - SPF 35 Clear Zinc Sport Sunscreen Cream
All Good Sport Sunscreen Lotion - Zinc Oxide
Neutrogena Pure & Baby Mineral Sunscreen
The post Are You Wearing the Right Sunscreen? appeared first on Live To Sustain.
Can you believe that about 11 million pounds of textile (clothing, etc) goes to the landfill each year? On average each year in the U.S., we are throwing away 80 pounds of clothing per person. Fast fashion is killing our environment. It is killing people. In 2013, in Bangladesh, over 1,000 people were killed when a garment factory collapsed. We need to stop buying from brands that have their clothes made in these working conditions.
The post Fast Fashion is Not Sustainable appeared first on Live To Sustain.
According to the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard, in 2014, congestion caused 6.9 billion hours of travel delay and 3.1 billion gallons of wasted fuel, equaling a cost of more than $160 billion.
Put another way, our cities need to build infrastructure that supports alternatives to commuting in cars. We need better public transportation and we need protected bike lanes.
In San Diego, our city has a Master Plan for "making cycling a more practical and convenient transportation option for a wide variety of San Diegans". However, it seems most of the plans are behind schedule and people are pushing back about removing parking to add bike lanes. In downtown, there is a Downtown Mobility Plan underway that will add 9 miles of protected bike lanes to downtown San Diego. For details about that project see this report.
For some interesting statistics about biking, see PeopleForBikes.org. They are a national bike advocacy group that supports projects around the U.S. that bring "safer places to ride for both children and adults."
Listen to our short podcast, above, for a quick discussion on bike lanes.
The post Protected Bike Lanes appeared first on Live To Sustain.
Let's be honest. We have a trash problem. Every year there are more people, and every year we have more trash to throw away. But what exactly are you throwing away?
In our latest episode, we talk trash. Last month we both kept trash diaries to learn how much and what we throw away each month. One observation we made was that most of our trash was related to food. The vast majority of our trash was food and the packaging that our food comes in.
We can't just stop eating. So how do we reduce our trash. Listen to our episode to learn about some potential solutions.
The post How Much Trash Are You Throwing Away? appeared first on Live To Sustain.
This month we talk about cultured meat, meal planning and global food. Have you heard of the Impossible Burger but are not sure what it is? In our latest episode, and first of the year, we talk about lab grown foods. In particular lab grown meats and plant-based burgers. In 2013 the first taste test of a lab grown burger took place, and now six years later there are a handful of start-ups hard at work to make lab grown meat that is cheap enough to bring to market and tasty enough for people to eat. Also on our episode this month we talk about meal planning. Being organized and planning out your meals can be environmentally friendly and make you a healthier happier person. Lastly, we talk about food waste and world hunger. We share a few facts about food waste and offer tips on how to can help waste less food.
Send us your feedback. Please leave a review and tell us what content you would like to hear more.
Check out this video!
The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberry
Food Resources https://www.moveforhunger.org/
https://www.worldhunger.org/
https://icfdn.org/
Cultured Meat Start-ups include, but not limited to... Memphis Meats
SuperMeat
Mosa Meat
Finless Foods
The post How to eat more sustainably in 2019 appeared first on Live To Sustain.
At Live to Sustain we hope you had an amazing 2018! If you have not listened to any episodes yet, our last episode for the year, “Looking back at 2018: The Year in Sustainability”, is a great place to start.
In this episode we wrap up our year at Live to Sustain. We discuss our favorite podcast episodes from 2018, we share our top 3 important sustainability news stories from 2018 and we share what we are excited for in 2019.
If you have not already, please subscribe to our podcast. We will be releasing 12 episodes in 2019.
The post Looking back at 2018: The Year in Sustainability appeared first on Live To Sustain.
At the start of 2018 Laura and I set a goal to meditate everyday in 2018. Listen to our latest episode to see if we hit our goal. Everyone should give meditation a try. It is much easier than you think. At the end of our episode we offer some suggestions on how to get started if you have never tried meditation.
The post The interesting results from a year of meditation appeared first on Live To Sustain.
Have you ever wanted to leave the city to live in the country? Matt and Marissa of Two Ponds Farm did just that when they left New York City for a simpler life on over 60 acres in central Wisconsin. In our interview we learn about why they made the move, how they grow their own food, how much food are they able to produce and other sustainability topics.
During our interview with Matt and Marissa we discovered that "farm life" is really one big venture in sustainability. Firstly, working with animals and the cycles of the seasons while growing food requires constant mindfulness. Getting in touch with nature by tending to animals and plants is one very great way to learn sustainability. Secondly, eating fresh foods produced and harvested on your own farm is sustainable. The food has much less of a carbon footprint because it is not being shipped to stores and customers, and eating whole foods is much healthier than processed foods found at the grocery store.
Listen in to learn a bit about life on a farm in central Wisconsin. Would you do it? Where do you want to build your dream home or ideal lifestyle? What is your ideal lifestyle. Tell us!
Links from the show: Two Ponds Farm: https://www.twopondsfarm.net/
The post Interview with Two Ponds Farm. From NYC to Wisconsin. appeared first on Live To Sustain.
Our latest podcast features Corey McCormick from the band Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. Corey talks with us about how he maintains his personal sustainability as a touring musician. As music fans it’s important we remember that the awesome music our favorite musicians produce requires tons of hard work… or that ole’ blood, sweat and tears, as the saying goes.
Links from the show:
Corey McCormick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreymccormickofficial/
Corey McCormick Website: https://coreymccormickofficial.com/
Lukas Nelson & POTR: https://lukasnelson.com/
Great music –> –> https://lukasnelson.com/album/lukas-nelson-promise-of-the-real/
Carbon Credits COOL Effect: https://www.cooleffect.org/
Carbon Credits Terrapass: https://www.terrapass.com/
Carbon Credits Native Energy: https://www.nativeenergy.com/
The post Interview with Bassist Corey McCormick of Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real appeared first on Live To Sustain.
This week on Live to Sustain we sit down with Co-Founder of Alter Experiences, Rami Abdel. He and his wife Shantel Seoane, who is CEO & Co-Founder of Alter Experiences, started their company in 2016.
Glamping is a growing trend in the US right now. According to Rami, Glamping and similar outdoor hospitality has been popular in many other parts of the world and the US is behind on catching up with this travel trend.
Listen to hear more about this low impact method of travel and hospitality.
Below are the bios for Rami and Shantel taken from alterexperiences.com.
Rami Abdel
Co-Founder
Rami Abdel is a serial entrepreneur and specializes in internet technology, web development & digital media. He owns & manages several businesses in various industries out of his hometown San Diego. He’s the Managing Director of Countywide Wholesale, as well as the Founding Member of Alter Experiences LLC. As Vice-president of the San Diego Backcountry Visitors Bureau, he’s also involved in various volunteer efforts & community led initiatives in his hometown of San Diego, California. Rami is also a board member of the Julian Chamber of Commerce & has helped initiate various sustainable business models in San Diego’s backcountry.
Rami has a deep passion for cyber-culture & its capacity for disruption & geo-political change, having witnessed firsthand the its transformative capabilities during the Arab Spring in 2011.
Many of his years were spent traveling while working in the international tourism & hospitality industry. He’s worked with various NGO’s & world-renowned eco-tourism destinations in various capacities over the past decade. It was during these travels that he was deeply inspired by the application of internet culture towards community empowerment, socio-economic change & grassroots movements.
After visiting & working at some of the most pristine & exotic habitats in the world, he was also influenced by the environmental conservation & concepts of sustainable development.
A product of the dot.com generation, Rami has worked extensively applying internet technology towards raising awareness, activism, community outreach, & business automation.
Rami is currently dedicated to encouraging sustainable business models in San Diego’s backcountry, as well as applying his IT knowledge & experience towards helping entrepreneurs achieve their on-line business goals.
He loves nature more than anything and spending quality time with friends and family.
Shantel Seoane C.E.O. & Founder Shantel Seoane was born & raised in San Diego, California & currently resides in Julian. She’s a driven entrepreneur with a passion for filming & digital media. She uses her creative skills to help empower like-minded individuals to achieve their personal & business dreams. Creative Flow Media was founded as a way for her to help entrepreneurs, businesses, organizations & non-profits alike to enhance their branding & captivate their audiences.
Shantel’s passions are nature & wildlife, sustainable living, conservation & video production. She has nearly 10 years experience in digital media development, specializing in graphic design & video. She has experience with leading graphic design & photography programs such as Adobe In Design, Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, Adobe Premier Pro and After Effects. Her international client portfolio spans the globe including; BBC, Discovery Channel, Green Peace & The Egyptian Tourism Ministry.
Links from the show: Alter Experiences: https://alterexperiences.com/
Tensile: https://www.tentsile.com/
Tentree: https://www.tentree.com/
The post Interview with Rami Abdel from Alter Experiences appeared first on Live To Sustain.