How did Green Team Academy get its start? What have we done so far? What's next for GTA? Join us for a journey through time and help us create the future of climate action in this episode of our series, "The Future of Climate Action (FCA): Empowering Communities". Join us for our live sessions. Register for free at https://www.greenteamacademy.org Ready to launch your eco-initiative in 90 days? Register for our next International Climate Action Challenge. [00:00:00] Welcome [00:00:13] International Attendees [00:00:37] Agenda [00:01:00] Our Mission [00:01:27] October Fundraiser [00:01:53] The Future of Climate Action Series [00:02:41] You're Our Dream Team [00:03:10] We're told to "Make a Difference" but not taught how [00:03:46] My First Publication: The Brown Cloud poem [00:03:59] Couldn't have predicted that we're not prioritizing caring for the planet [00:04:37] Frustration with engineering not being the solution [00:05:12] Niwot Recycling [00:05:50] Learning skills we don't get in corporations or in school [00:06:06] Founding Sustainable Revolution Longmont [00:06:39] Having fun with kids is surprisingly effective [00:07:19] 1,000 Attendees for the 2015 Youth of the Earth Festival [00:07:38] Longmont Passed a Sustainability Plan [00:08:11] 2018: Started GTA as a project [00:08:25] 2018: Started the Green Team Academy Podcast [00:09:11] 2019: Piloted the Green Team Accelerator Lab [00:09:26] 2019: 1st Annual Earth Week Summit [00:10:25] 2020: 2nd Annual Earth Week Summit during the pandemic [00:10:55] 2020: Wrote and Published "Climate Action Challenge" book [00:11:17] Using Addiction Recovery and Transformation from Wellness Coaching [00:13:47] 2020: Hosted the 1st Annual Climate Action Challenge [00:14:39] 2021: Fiscal sponsorship, Earth Week Summit, Podcast, ICAC21 [00:15:01] Challenger Stories [00:15:31] Environmental Justice / Climate Justice [00:15:49] Amplifying the Voices and Connecting Changemakers [00:16:15] Value of Connecting [00:16:45] Group Coaching / Group Support [00:17:14] That's why Green Team Academy offers ICAC [00:17:29] 2022: New director, Gin DeMaio [00:17:47] 2022: Earth Week Summit [00:18:06] 2022: 3rd Annual International Climate Action Challenge Impact (ICAC22) [00:19:19] Cumulative Impact: ICAC 2020, 2021, 2022 [00:19:49] 2023: Gin's Field Trip to Uganda [00:20:33] Youth TimeBanking: Making Bricks for a School [00:20:59] 2023: Co-Directors Gin DeMaio & Joan Gregerson [00:21:48] Get Out the Vote Teams: 2020 and 2024 [00:23:09] Next Week's Session Featuring Filipino Thought Leaders: Dann Diez & Lanie Francisco
2023 Fall Fundraiser Series The Future of Climate Action: Transforming Our Communities Oct 12 - Dec 7, 2023, 9 am MT Register for free to join us live at https://www.greenteamacademy.org/2023... Join us for a lively online series to explore the future of climate action! How can we transform our communities quickly and effectively to avoid the worst impacts of climate change?Find out in this FREE online series OPEN TO ALL. Join us on Zoom each Thursday.Hosted by Green Team Academy's Co-Directors, Joan Gregerson and Gin DeMaio, will bring you timely insights for today's most important issue: caring for humanity, biodiversity, and our planet in times of worsening climate change. We'll hear insights from challengers in the International Climate Action Challenges who have launched their own initiatives around the world. We'll get input from experts and community members. Ready to #BeTheChange? Register for our upcoming International Climate Action Challenge at https://www.greenteamacademy.org
Each year Americans grow a crop they mow but do not eat. Join Brigitte Mars & BethyLoveLight, Awake & Aware, to discover how to "Get Off Your Grass and Create an Edible Lawn".
Have you ever wondered how to get people to understand the problems with lawns and what to do instead? Herbalist, Brigitte Mars, and eco-conscious hip hop artist, BethyLoveLight, have been working on this very thing. Join us to learn about their videos, songs, books, and courses that demonstrate the absurdity of massive lawns and the healing power of dandelions and other herbs.
Articles:
Brigitte Mars, Huffington Post, Get Off Your Grass and Create an Edible Lawn
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/get-off-your-grass-and-cr_b_533359
Books:
Websites:
Resources:
Upcoming Green Team Academy Event:
2021 International Climate Action Challenge
https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/challenge
Tune in for an interview with Doug Good Feature to hear about his new book, Think Indigenous: Native American Spirituality for a Modern World.
The book is a guide to integrating indigenous thinking into modern life for a more interconnected and spiritual relationship with our fellow beings, Mother Earth, and the natural ways of the universe.
This book's intention is not to teach you to "be Native American," but instead to use the indigenous culture of the Lakota to help you connect with your own indigenous roots and help you remember your ancestral knowing that all beings are divinely connected.
Get the book through Hay House.
About Doug
Doug Good Feather is a full-blooded Native American Lakota, born and raised in the traditional indigenous ways of his elders on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He is a direct descendant of Grandpa Chief Sitting Bull. He is the executive director and spiritual leader of the Lakota Way in Colorado and the co-founder of Spirit Horse Nation. You can visit Spirit Horse Nation online at spirithorsenation.org.
Podcast
Catch us live on the Green Team Academy Facebook page, YouTube channel, or on Twitter. Or watch the recording on the Green Team Academy website or wherever you get your podcasts
https://www.greenteamacademy.com/podcast
Upcoming Green Team Academy events:
2021 International Climate Action Challenge
Kicks off August 18, 2021
Join us and go from passion to action in 90 days! Get live trainings, weekly check-ins, book, workbook, portal and more. Find out more in our free Quick Start Training at https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
Show notes
https://greenteamacademy.com/120-think-indigenous-doug-good-feather/
Discover what's in store for you during the 3rd Annual Earth Week Summit!
Find out how to:
Upcoming Green Team Academy events:
2021 Earth Week Summit
April 17-24, 2021
Live workshops, happy hours, and a month-long pop-up group. Help us meet our goal of funding 1,000 trees with our partners in Kenya. Promote your organization and events by becoming a promoting partner. Free registration
https://www.earthweeksummit.com
2021 International Climate Action Challenge
Kicks off August 18, 2021
Join us and go from passion to action in 90 days! Get live trainings, weekly check-ins, book, workbook, portal and more. Find out more in our free Quick Start Training at https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
Looking for a way to get people together in-person, while social distancing? Organize a cleanup!
In this episode, we'll hear from Jake Rubenstein of EARTHDAY.ORG about the Great Global Cleanup and from Dann Diez, SEED4COM. Find out how to do plogging, individual cleanups, or group cleanups and how to get your cleanup on the map! https://cleanup.earthday.org/
How can you make a cleanup more impactful than just a one-day event? Join us to find out strategies for planning a training, cleanup, and forum to mobilize your community, using a cleanup as the catalyst. https://www.seed4com.org/
Catch us live on the Green Team Academy Facebook page, YouTube channel, or on Twitter. Or watch the recording on the Green Team Academy website or wherever you get your podcasts
https://www.greenteamacademy.com/podcast
Upcoming Green Team Academy events:
2021 Earth Week Summit
April 17-24, 2021
Live workshops, happy hours, and a month-long pop-up group. Help us meet our goal of funding 1,000 trees with our partners in Kenya. Promote your organization and events by becoming a promoting partner. Free registration
https://www.earthweeksummit.com
2021 International Climate Action Challenge
Kicks off August 18, 2021
Join us and go from passion to action in 90 days! Get live trainings, weekly check-ins, book, workbook, portal and more. Find out more in our free Quick Start Training at https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
Looking for some fun and meaningful ways to celebrate Earth Day in the Metro Denver area? We've got you covered! Tune in for my chat with Kastle Waserman, journalist with Westword in Denver.
We'll be sharing ideas for individuals, groups, and families, including online and in-person options. See the complete list of Denver events on the Earth Week Summit schedule page. https://www.EarthWeekSummit.com/schedule
Kastle Waserman is a freelance journalist for Westword in Denver, Colorado. She’s been a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, Yahoo!, Fodor’s Travel Books, Women’s Wear Daily and more, covering music, culture, fashion and environmental events and business.
Upcoming Green Team Academy events:
2021 Earth Week Summit
April 17-24, 2021
Live workshops, happy hours, and a month-long pop-up group. Help us meet our goal of funding 1,000 trees with our partners in Kenya. Promote your organization and events by becoming a promoting partner. Free registration
https://www.earthweeksummit.com
2021 International Climate Action Challenge
Kicks off August 18, 2021
Join us and go from passion to action in 90 days! Get live trainings, weekly check-ins, book, workbook, portal and more. Find out more in our free Quick Start Training at https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
Tune in for a conversation with Chris Woodburn, School Gardens Specialist with Denver Public Schools. Find out about Garden of Youth, an innovative garden program to help plant seeds of opportunities for students with obstacles to employment. We'll also hear about volunteer opportunities in the DPS gardens and the April 2021 DPS Sustainability & Garden Forum.
GARDEN OF YOUTH INTERNSHIP
Garden of Youth provides students with special needs soft job skills through 10-week paid summer internships. Eight sites host interns across Denver where students plant, maintain and harvest produce to share at local farmers markets while practicing merchandising, sale skills, and money math. Each week interns explore one garden or sustainability topic while honing their job skills working in small groups with a job coach. Garden of Youth is in its tenth year and still growing strong.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Looking for an outdoor volunteer opportunity with kids and gardens in the Denver area? Individuals and groups can volunteer with DPS school gardens on a one-time or ongoing basis. To be matched with schools who have requested support, contact Chris Woodburn at Christopher_Woodburn@dpsk12.org.
More Info
- DPS Gardens https://sustainability.dpsk12.org/gardens/
- DPS Garden of Youth Internship https://sustainability.dpsk12.org/garden-of-youth/
- Youth Sustainability Board https://www.youthsustainabilityboard.org/
- Denver Urban Gardens https://dug.org/
DPS Sustainability & Gardens Forum
https://sustainability.dpsk12.org/sustainability-garden-forum-summit/
Upcoming Events from Green Team Academy
Schools use a lot of paper. That's what got two high-school seniors, Sethu Odayappan and Lizzy Elsner, thinking.
They decided to take action to help replace the paper that they and their fellow classmates had used during their senior year at Mansfield, Massachusetts. That was the start of Tree-Plenish, with its first tree-planting event. The team has grown from 2 to 25 and turned a small-town project into a national one.
The Tree-Plenish team is working with 90 schools in the 2020-2021 academic year and is on track to plant over 14,000 trees across the country. The team is working with schools across 20 states from California to New Hampshire.
Tree-Plenish works with high school students to host tree-planting events in their communities that will offset their school’s paper usage during the last academic year. Students, guided by Tree-Plenish mentors, follow a 3-step process.
1) Planning - During this phase of the process, students figure out how much paper their school used during the last academic year. They then take that number and convert it into the number of trees they will need to plant. We estimate planting one tree will offset 10,000 sheets of paper.
2) Marketing - During the next phase, students reach out to the residents of their community to ask them to request a tree to be planted in their yard or to volunteer to help plant trees on the day of the actual event, or both!
3) Hosting - The final phase is for students to host their actual event. On this day, teams of volunteers plant trees in the yards of residents of their town.
Tree-Plenish has developed guidelines for planting during the coronavirus pandemic to keep everyone safe.
Visit the Tree-Plenish website to get involved:
Upcoming Green Team Academy Events:
2021 Challenge Registration now open!
Hey, do you want to start your own initiative? Register for the 2021 International Climate Action Challenge to launch your eco-initiative in 90 days! Get in on the free Quick Start Training to learn more!
Let's celebrate #EarthDay together! Get in on the FREE Earth Week Summit and be part of live workshops, happy hours, and a 1,000 tree challenge to #RestoreOurEarth! Register early to join the Earth Month pop-up group to connect with eco-buddies from around the world! Sign up for the April 17-24, 2021 summit here: https://www.EarthWeekSummit.com
If you've heard of permaculture but you're not sure what it actually is, you're in luck! Join me for a conversation with Lee Recca, President of the Denver Permaculture Guild (DPG).
In this interview, we'll explore what permaculture is and discuss their upcoming Permaculture Design courses.
Denver Permaculture Guild (DPG) is a community-organized, membership-based nonprofit with the aim of building healthy, resilient, regenerative, and inclusive Denver area communities.
DPG is offering a Permaculture Design Course from April through October 2021, with a mix of remote and in-person workshops. The course includes the core 72-hour internationally certified curriculum as well as detailed breakout sessions and regionally appropriate resources.
DPG is also offering a hands-on, intensive outdoor course starting in late July. Additional 2021 course offerings include Social Permaculture, Advanced Landscape Design using Permaculture, Financial Permaculture, Decolonizing, and Indigenous Phenology.
Links:
-- Denver Permaculture Guild https://denverpermacultureguild.org/
Books:
There are many great books on permaculture. Here are a few:
-- The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming for Town and Country by Peter Bane
https://newsociety.com/books/p/the-permaculture-handbook
-- Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/gaias-garden/
-- The Permaculture City: Regenerative Design for Urban, Suburban, and Town Resilience, by Toby Hemenway
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-permaculture-city/
-- Permaculture in Pots: How to Grow Food in Small Urban Spaces by Juliet Kemp
https://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Pots.../dp/185623097X
-- Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison (co-founder of the movement)
https://www.amazon.com/Permaculture.../dp/0908228015
UPCOMING EVENTS
2021 Earth Week Summit
April 17-24, 2021
Live workshops, happy hours, 1000 tree campaign, April pop-up group, and more!
FREE Registration
https://www.earthweeksummit.com
2021 International Climate Action Challenge
Kicks off August 18, 2021
Register by April 10 for 50% discount and introduction in Earth Week Summit
https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
The pandemic and economic implosion have exposed and amplified the pre-existing flaws in our food system. Hunger, access to nutritious food, and the means of food production are more important now than ever. Tune in for my interview with Benu AmunRa, a food justice advocate in Colorado.
Benu is working on her masters degree at Naropa University, centered on Resilient Leadership with an emphasis on Sustainable Systems. She is pursuing a doctorate in Transformative Studies in Fall 2021.
Benu is active with numerous groups across Colorado that are filling the gaps. She will share about organizations that are providing training and resources for BIPOC farmers, food security measures for students, and much more!
Upcoming Events:
Film is a powerful type of environmental education that can reach beyond the classroom and the trail. Join me for a discussion with Shawna Crocker, founder of the Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF). Hear how the festival was started, how you can participate this year and in the future, and how to emulate their success.
We're joined by Shiela DeForest, Mrs ECO-International and the founder of Golden Residents (and Friends) Eco-Action Team, one of the Exo-Expo exhibitors and an Eco-Champion Award Winner from the 2020 International Climate Action Challenge.
This year’s Colorado Environmental Film Festival will be entirely virtual, which means you can now enjoy the best of the fest at home! Watch over 70 films, short and long, featuring environmental issues and solutions from around the world.
JOIN THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL FEBRUARY 12 – 21, 2021 at www.ceff.net.
April 17-24, 2021 Earth Week Summit
August - December 2021 International Climate Action Challenge
www.ClimateActionChallenge.net
Green Team Academy
Desperation is never a good look.
You've probably had this experience many times. When you act needy, the exact thing that you've decided that you need so desperately continues to elude you.
Maybe we're all like those buds just below the surface, just so excited to pop! But unlike the buds who aren't rushing or feeling inadequate, it seems like there's a lot of anxiety right now about not having or not doing enough.
This is something that I work to manage in my own life every day.
In this week's Green Team Academy Podcast Live, I'll share my thoughts on how to:
This episode is a gentle reminder that you are already enough!
Climate Action Challenge
https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
Earth Week Summit
https://www.earthweeksummit.com
What is biochar? How can you use it? Should you make it yourself? How can it build community? Find out in my interview with Charmaster, Tony C. Saladino.
Listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts - Stitcher, Apple, Google, Spotify
Tony C. Saladino is a Charmaster, Biochar Educator, Founder and Guide for ECO-Tours of Wisconsin, Inc. As a participant in the 2020 International Climate Challenge, he met his goal of creating his weight in char and turning that into over half a ton of biochar, enough to enrich a dozen 4X10 foot beds to a depth of six inches, forever! He also taught a dozen more biochar classes so that more people would be able to do the same, cheaply and efficiently.
https://www.climateactionchallenge.net
In 1987, Saladino rode his bicycle around all five Great Lakes, teaching people in person, through TV, radio and print publications how to live lightly on the planet and experience a higher quality of life at the same time. Over ten million residents of the Great Lakes Basin heard him speak or read about his trip.
Tony committed his life to "helping heal the rift between humankind and nature" as a child and has helped plant over 60,000 native trees and hundreds of thousands of native perennial food and medicinal plants across Northeast Wisconsin as an adult. He leads plant-ins, seed collection and dispersal tours, biochar classes, permaculture garden tours, canoe and bicycle trips across the region. He also advocates for the Earth Charter, www.earthcharter.org, which encourages people to utilize information from Environmental Working Group, www.ewg.org especially their Skin-Deep database of personal care products and their zip code specific water quality database.
The focus on the six steps required to make biochar will help people understand how-to double crop production, sequester carbon, protect water quality, reduce the need for irrigation and fertilization by half, all while providing a host of environmental benefits. He will help people decide if they are better served by making their own biochar or purchasing it and for those who decide to buy, how to tell if the char you are buying is worth the investment.
Six steps required to transform dry woody material into biochar:
Saladino and his group, are currently working to secure funding for an 80-acre parcel that will not only serve as a home base for ECO-Tours but allow guests to come and learn the principles of sustainability by doing. In a living laboratory, that builds community through diversity. The property will only be available for Leave No Trace Camping and classes in and about nature which helps guests understand and create more sustainable lifestyles.
Support the new center via the GoFundMe page at https://gofund.me/52fa3b77
Join me for an interview with special guest, Renee Millard Chacon. In this episode, we'll talk about defining environmental justice, and what it means to be an ally to or accomplice with the BIPOC community.
Renee Millard-Chacon is a writer, educator, Danzante Azteca, Xicana activist, and most importantly the mother of two sons. She is an indigenous womxn of Diné/Mexica descent, fighting for future generations and committed to relating climate justice to social justice. Her family is from the Denver community and she now works as a cultural educator and teacher. She works as the Youth Program Coordinator/ Cultural Educator at Spirit of the Sun and Co-founder of Womxn From the Mountain in hosting, organizing, and leading marches, workshops, and educational resources for social justice and environmental justice. She maintains her culture every day as a Sahumadora/Malinzin in Azteca Danza for Grupo ColorAztlan in Denver and Tlahuitzcalli in Boulder. Her goal now is to help in the circles she has the opportunity to engage in to move forward to heal through environmental awareness, transformative education, and support to diverse leaders ready to fight for future generations. She welcomes any respectful correspondence to start doing the tedious but powerful work of creating better relations in spaces that deserve to be healed because of the trauma from historical inequality and environmental racism.
If you have any questions about Spirit of the Sun programming, please email Renée at reneemchacon@spiritofthesun.org
Renee is working in Colorado to define environmental justice for legislation.
Renee worked with 350 Colorado, Conservation Colorado, Western Conservation, and many environmental organizations to address how womxn and children are often trafficked in these same areas affected by exploitative practices, such as fossil fuel development. In a collective effort with the International Indigenous Youth Council, they presented an art installation on 16th Street Mall in Denver to highlight Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn, Black Womxn, and Migrant Womxn by hanging red and black dresses individually dedicated to a womxn missing or deceased. During the strike with Greta Thunberg, they painted handprints over the mouths of hundreds of individuals to continue to bring attention to these silenced individuals.
Renee provides fee-based cultural and allyship trainings for groups and organizations.
Get ready for the 2021 International Climate Action Challenge! Register now for early bird pricing! Each purchase creates a scholarship for another person or team.
Tired of being ineffective while watching the state of planet degrade before our very eyes? If you've tried bunches of others things to no avail, don't worry. It's not your fault.
Anyone can make an impact quickly, once they know how. This episode was recorded on January 6, with 106 days until Earth Day, April 22, 2021. That's plenty of time to make a difference.
Tune in to learn about the Weekly Action Plan Checklist from the Climate Action Challenge book and workbook. Find out about courses for challengers and communities. Get books, coaching, and courses at https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/shop
Join me for a look at 2020! I'll take you on a ride through the ups and downs of life with the Green Team Academy. Find out how the Climate Action Challenge came to be and what our global community achieved, even during a pandemic.
Books, courses, and coaching available in our shop at https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/shop
Tune in to meet the award winners from the 2020 International Climate Action Challenge!
Find out what they did in the 90 days between Sep 1 and Nov 30, 2020.
Get support in making a huge eco-impact fast! Find the Climate Action Challenge book, workbook, courses and coaching at: https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/shop
Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/greenteamacademy
Get a quick overview of the schedule for the 2020 International Climate Action Challenge, with new special guests!
View the entire schedule here:
https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/schedule
