Good People: Soccer in the Wake of Civil War
Seren Fryatt didn’t want to tape ankles the rest of her life. She quit her job to volunteer internationally with Mercy Ships. In Liberia she was recruited to play professional soccer. She saw what the sport meant to the women on her team and its potential to be a force of positive change. Eventually she founded L.A.C.E.S., an NGO that works to create a sustainable, replicable model of community development using sports as a tool to reach at-risk youth and empower their local communities.
Seren joined Jay and I to chat about her path and the struggles of international NGOs during the global pandemic.
Good People: Eric Henry (Entrepreneur, Farmer, Candidate, Local Citizen)
Eric Henry’s T-shirt business and North Carolina community were turned upside down by NAFTA. Ever since, he’s focused on the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. Eric is a champion for his community, cooperatives, chickens, electric cars, local economies, farmers, and now he’s seeking to represent all of these interests in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Show notes and links:
Good People: Muncie not Mercury
In the summer of 2019, a violinist stood up at a city council meeting in Muncie, Indiana, and expressed concern over a factory that was coming to town. A local reporter wrote a story about the meeting. That story was passed around to concerned citizens who started asking questions. A few weeks later more than 1,000 people showed up at the courthouse protesting the Waelz Sustainable Products factory. A factory that would likely be the #1 polluter of airborne Mercury in the nation. Ultimately the billion-dollar corporation left town.
Kelsey talks with Josh Arthur, a local pastor, and Bryan Preston, a county employee, who were both in early on the action.
Good People: A Doughnut Economy
What does an economy of living within the means of our planet look like? Welp, according to economist Kate Raworth it looks like a doghnut. Kelsey and Jay are joined by John Motlotch and Scott Truex of the Sustainable Communities Institute for a discussion on Raworth’s TED Talk.
Topics we discussed and relevant links:
- Kate Raworth’s Ted Talk, site, book
- How Scott’s focus on landscape design impacted his thinking and how John’s focus on systems impacted his
- More in-depth explanation of how the doughnut economy works
- How our economy/culture doesn’t give value to the environment and often people
- Problem of focus on short-term growth and how nothing in nature works like that
- George Monbiot’s Ted Talk: For more wonder, rewild the…
Good People: Kids & the Trauma Pandemic
For kids “The System” doesn’t work in the best of times. And during a time of global pandemic, there are even fewer supports. Psychologist Janay Sander joins Kelsey and Jay to discuss how best to support kids facing traumatic circumstances.
Show Notes:
If you or a child you know in the United States is in a volatile situation or are subjected to domestic violence, please reach out to the following resources:
Good People: Kohl Crecelius on Good Business & Importance of Job
Kohl Crecelius believes that jobs matter almost more than anything. He has helped lead the modern movement integrating social good and business, as he founded Krochet Kids and KNOWN SUPPLY. Kohl joins Kelsey and Jay to discuss Fair Trade, B-Corps, and how his journey started with crocheting.
Show Notes:
Kohl’s B-crop business – KNOWN SUPPLY
Nonprofit Kohl started with high school buddies – Krochet Kids
What we discussed:
His path to social entrepreneurship
Importance of travel
Aid and cycle of dependency
Rana Plaza factory collapse
Cause washing
Decision to create a nonprofit vs. a cause-oriented for profit
B Corps
Benefit Corporations
Fair Trade
Article: Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting…
Good People: Interview with AP reporter Victoria Milko
Victoria Milko has reported from health clinics in rural Bangladesh, protests in the streets of Myanmar, and refugee camps in Thailand. She joins Kelsey & Jay from her apartment in Jakarta to discuss the global impact of COVID-19, the importance of journalism in today’s society, and her path to becoming a Southeast Asia-based science reporter for The Associated Press.
Show notes
Topics we talked about with Victoria:
– COVID-19 impact in developing countries
– Life in Jakarta during the global pandemic
– Reporting on genocide and mass graves
– Impact of reporting on traumatic events
– Family’s refugee history and impact on her career
– Dream of being a foreign correspondent and how she reached that dream
– Living and reporting in Myanmar
– Rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi
– Facebook’s impact…
Is COVID-19 Our Alien Invasion
I love alien invasion movies. I love the cuts to scenes from around the world where we come together as a species regardless of race, religion, ideology, and nationality, to confront a common enemy. The poor Eiffel Tower, pyramids, Golden Gate Bridge, Sydney Opera House are the first to go. If you find yourself in an Alien Apocalypse movie, steer clear of major landmarks. But when they are shown exploding, they aren’t Egypt’s pyramids, or France’s Eiffel Tower, they are ours. Faced with human extinction, suddenly all that divides us fades away and what connects us is all that matters.
I’ve always felt like peace on earth was just one good alien invasion away.
Is COVID-19 our common…
Good People: Indigenous Wisdom & Intentionality
Live from Patagonia! In this episode Jay and I discuss my experiences visiting with the Arhuaco, an indigenous group in Colombia. This is our first attempt from a show on the road while researching my new book about regenerative agriculture.
This was recorded pre-Covid-19 shutdown. I made it back from South American about one week before the global chaos began. Obviously, the future travels I discuss in the episode are delayed. I should be in Hawaii right now, for instance. But alas, I’m in my basement in Indiana. …
“Each Land has the Magic” to Help in These Troubling Times
During this time of self-isolating, curve-flattening, and social-distancing, we find ourselves removed from the comforts and relationships of our normal world. We may feel alone, isolated, distant, afraid, and flattened.
COVID-19 is a reminder that we are part of nature whether we understand that or not. A tiny little life-form previously unknown to us has brought our world to a stop. I have friends in Kenya that are bracing for the impact. My friend in Colombia, Maria, is on lockdown and playing Scrabble with her roommates. And here in Indiana and across the United States we are half-heartedly hunkering while the virus closes in around us.
Nature Therapy
But removed from our day-to-day world, and as disjointed as that…