Rising Tides

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome for a powerful reflection on her journey into environmental justice and the experiences that shaped her work at the highest levels of federal policy. She walks us through the four cornerstone initiatives she helped lead at the White House: Justice40, the Environmental Justice Scorecard, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, and the Environmental Justice Executive Order, and how her diverse background lets her see environmen...

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Sacoby Wilson, a nationally recognized environmental health scientist and scholar whose work centers on environmental justice, health equity, and community-engaged science. We explore the many ways in which environmental injustice affects people’s health and discuss the reality of sacrifice zones, where residents face disproportionate environmental burdens and limited political power, leaving them to shoulder higher health risks. He shares the vision behind ...

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Javiera Barandiarán about how dominant approaches to climate change often ignore justice, deepen existing inequalities, and rely on solutions that shift environmental harm rather than eliminate it. We discuss electric vehicles and lithium extraction, where Dr. Barandiarán challenges the idea that EVs are inherently sustainable. Drawing from her upcoming book Living Minerals, she argues that the global push for decarbonization is fueling endless extraction, dri...

In this episode, I sit down with educator and environmental justice leader Lindi von Mutius to discuss why access to green space is a matter of justice. Professor von Mutius explains how the denial of environmental goods has long shaped who gets to experience nature’s benefits and who does not, and how the physical and mental benefits of green space remain unevenly distributed across communities. We talk about the long history of exclusion, from early prohibitions on Indigenous gathering prac...

In this episode, I sit down with Isa Gaillard and Valeria Menendez from Equitable Cities, an organization with planners, researchers, and advocates transforming the way people move through their communities. Rooted in justice and lived experience, Equitable Cities addresses the inequities that have shaped America’s transportation systems, from highways that divide neighborhoods to underfunded public transit. We explore why transportation is a justice issue, how historic policies and funding ...