In Our Backyard Podcast
This is Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League's (BREDL) Podcast where we discuss environmental issues that are right in our backyards. Topics include coal plants, fracking, pipelines, and much more. This podcast takes a deep dive into these topics and talks with people who are on the ground fighting for the health and safety of their communities as well as protection the planet.
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28. Critical Minerals, Critical Choices: Trade, Justice, and the Energy Transition
<p>As the world transitions toward a clean energy future, there is more demand for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements. These minerals are essential for clean energy technologies, electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and even our everyday electronics.</p><p>But where do these minerals come from? Who controls their extraction? Who bears the environmental and human costs? How can we ensure that the transition to a low-carbon economy doesn’t repeat the extractive injustices of the past?</p><p>Today, we’re joined by Will Jamil Wiltschko, who is with the California Trad...
27. Why Oysters Matter More Than You Think
<p>I’m joined by Giulio Salerno from the Wild Oyster Project, an organization working to bring native oyster reefs back to San Francisco Bay and other West Coast estuaries. It’s about repairing ecosystems, building climate resilience, and bringing back something that once quietly held entire coastlines together.</p><p>The Wild Oyster Project started with a simple but eye-opening realization: oysters used to be everywhere in San Francisco Bay. Huge native reefs filtered the water, stabilized shorelines, created habitat for fish and birds, and helped protect coastal communities from erosion and storms. Then, in what was actually a pret...
26. From Conflict to Coexistence: Protecting North America’s Carnivores
<p>Today we’re joined by Nadia Steinzor, Carnivore Conservation Director with Project Coyote, a national nonprofit working to promote coexistence between people and North America’s native carnivores. Nadia’s work sits at the intersection of science, policy, and community engagement, addressing a complex conservation challenge of how to live alongside predators in a rapidly changing landscape.</p><p>When we talk about wild carnivores, we’re referring to species like coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, foxes, and other native predators. These animals play a critical role as keystone species as they regulate prey populations, shape ecosystem structure, and even inf...
25. The Cost of Wasted Food: Climate, Justice, and Systemic Change
<p>In this episode, I speak with Yuka Nagashima, the Executive Director of Food Shift, she has spent her career working at the intersection of food, equity, and environmental impact. Food Shift is an organization dedicated to transforming our food system by addressing wasted food, redistributing surplus, and building more just, regenerative local food economies. </p><p>Food touches every part of our lives. It shapes our health, our culture, our economy and our planet. Yet in the United States, we throw away up to 40 percent of the food we grow. At the same time, millions of people experience food i...
24. Under Threat: Sharks, Seas, and the Laws That Protect Them
<p>Today, we’re joined by David McGuire, Executive Director of Shark Stewards, an organization dedicated to protecting endangered marine species and the critical ocean habitats they depend on.</p><p>For more than fifty years, foundational laws such as the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act have served as our nation’s safety net for wildlife and wild places. First enacted under President Nixon, these landmark protections have saved countless species from extinction and safeguarded some of the planet’s most vital ecosystems.</p><p>Today, that hard-won legacy is under seriou...
23. Fish On: Protecting Fisheries, Communities, and Coastlines
<p>My guest is Anupa Asokan, executive director of Fish On, an organization working to ensure that coastal communities and the ecosystems they rely on can thrive for generations to come. Fish On is all about empowering the people who know the water best: the anglers, families, and coastal residents whose lives are tied to healthy oceans. Through community-driven advocacy, science-based policy, and a commitment to fairness and access, they’re helping shape the future of our fisheries from the ground up.</p><p>In this conversation, Anupa breaks down what Fish On is and why its mission matters, especially at...
22. Beyond the Reference Man: Generational Risks of Radiation Exposure
<p>Today on the podcast, we’re joined by Mary Olson, Executive Director of the Generational Radiation Impact Project, or GRIP, an organization dedicated to understanding and addressing how radiation exposure affects people differently across age, sex, and generation.</p><p>Mary has been a longtime advocate for more equitable and science-based radiation protection standards. Her work highlights something too often overlooked in nuclear policy: the fact that our current regulations are based on a so-called “reference man” ,an adult male model that doesn’t reflect the biological realities of women, children, or future generations.</p><p>In our conversation, we explor...
21. Seeds of Change: Empowering the Next Wave of Climate Leaders
<p>Today, we’re joined by Mona Shomali, Director of the New Leaders Initiative at the Earth Island Institute, the organization behind the annual Brower Youth Awards, which recognize some of the most inspiring young environmental leaders in North America.</p><p>Earth Island Institute is a hub for grassroots environmental projects around the world, and the New Leaders Initiative focuses specifically on elevating youth leadership in the fight for climate justice.</p><p>In this episode, Mona walks us through the legacy of Earth Island founder David Brower, why young people between 13 and 22 are at the forefront of transformational cha...
20. Sowing Justice and the Fight for Energy Equity in Memphis
<p>Today, we’re joined by Marquita Bradshaw who is an environmental justice organizer, community advocate, and Executive Director of Sowing Justice.</p><p>Marquita made history as the first African American woman to win a major party nomination for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee, all while using a traditional grassroots organizing model.</p><p>After that groundbreaking campaign, she founded Sowing Justice, a nonprofit focused on building power in communities long ignored or harmed by environmental injustice, especially in the Deep South.</p><p>In this episode, we talk about injustices in Tennessee, the Elon Musk data centers in...
19. Faith, Food, and the Future: Sustainability with Purpose at Sustaining Way
<p>Today, we're joined by Michael Brown, Executive Director of Sustaining Way, a nonprofit based in Greenville, South Carolina, that’s redefining sustainability through equity, education, and faith. </p><p><br /></p><p>Through powerful community programs like Annie’s House, youth leadership initiatives, and resilient home interventions, Sustaining Way brings together environmental justice, interfaith values, and hands-on action. I’m excited to dive into how they’re creating a more sustainable and just future.</p><p><br />hello@sustainingway.com</p><p>https://sustainingway.org/ </p>
