Raíces Verdes

Today, we are going to hear from a very special mentor, friend and teacher in my life, Simon Sedillo. We are gathered here to discuss the uprising of student encampments, which are only increasing every day and across the world, in support of Palestinian liberation. Because of our context, we will be focusing on the student encampments in the U.S, or as many are calling the “student intifada” move...

Hello all, its been a while since our last episode! A lot has been happening since Raíces Verdes last episode was release Dec, 2021. During the first half of the episode I recap different collaborations and work over the past 10 months that have helped expand Raíces Verdes storytelling from podcasting to other mediums. Towards the second half of the episode I dive more into the topics of represent...

Wanted to end 2021 with a fun and perhaps unusual topic. Today we are talking about mezcal! You can probably tell right away based on how much I talk in this episode compare to others, but I LOVE mezcal. And you might not believe it but there are lot of conversations to be had about environmental justice and decolonization when it comes to this ancestral beverage. So in this episode I interview El...

This episode features Francis Mendoza. Francis goes by he/they/sila pronouns and lives on the ancestral, unceded and contemporary land of the Chocheño people in present-day Oakland, California. They are the Manager of Community Development for the Children & Nature Network and Director of the JEDAI section of the National Association for Interpretation (JEDAI means justice, equity, diversity,...

We are back to having guests on the podcast! It only seem fitting to have Sanjana Sekhar as the first guest for the relaunch of Season 3.2, since we are constantly in conversation about healing, embracing change and holding space for the complicated emotions that arise. Sanjana Sekhar (SUN-juh-nah SHAKE-her) is an Indian-American filmmaker, climate activist, and Ayurvedic (Ayervada) wellness commu...

Hello listeners, it's been a while since I have been behind the mic. This is the revival of Season 3, since I dropped off in the middle of it and I just wanted to give a quick update of what I have been up to and thoughts around creating a mission and vision for Raices Verdes. There have already been so many changes this year and I am just in motion with more to come. I am in motion with vulnerabi...

In this episode we featured Andrea Vega Troncoso a queer, dominican, decolonial feminist and climate justice advocate. Originally from Santo Domingo, DR, Andrea now lives in Lenape lands or Brooklyn, NY. She’s currently working at WEDO (the Women’s Environment and Development Organization), supporting their global advocacy work at the intersections of climate, environmental, gender and development...

This episode features Sussan García, the founder of The CentAm (Central American) Collective, an educational digital space for Central Americans in diaspora in the Global North. Sussan is a recent Arab Crossroads Studies graduate from New York University Abu Dhabi. She was born to two young Guatemalan immigrants and raised in occupied Canarsee land (Queens, NYC). In the episode, Sussan shares with...

In this episode, Alejandro Lozano a Mexican Immigrant Outdoors Filmmaker, Media content creator for Latino Outdoors joins us to talk about toxic masculinity and its connection the outdoors. We discussed Alejandro's first interactions with the environment as a young boy through learning how to spiritually connect with nature with his father. Later in the episode Alejandro shares how he combats the...

NEW EPISODE: Feel like astrology is apolitical? Well think again! In Episode 3 of Season 3, I had the pleasure of interviewing Giselle Castaño, a queer mixed race Mexican Jewish astrologer, currently residing in Duwamish territory. In this episode we discuss the erasure of Black and Indigenous knowledge in astrology, how we all embody all four elements of astrology, and what astrology can teach us...

Season 3 Episode 2: In this episode we have Dr. Jessica Hernandez, an Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She discusses with us the importance of indigenizing environmental science to center Indigenous voices and knowledge. We also discuss the importance of mutual aid for Indigenous communities, and the harm that "helicopter research" in communitie...

Welcome to Season 3 of Raíces Verdes! In this first episode, we have P'urhépecha artist Diana Morales as a guest on the show. Diana is an artist born in Santa Cruz Tanaco, Michoacan, Mexico raised in Santa Ana, California unceded Tongva and Acjachemen territory. She is the creator  of Arte Es Medicina, an Instagram platform dedicated to sharing P'urhépecha oral stories and collective efforts...

Erica & Niria are two Chicanas from the Northwest organizing mutual aid efforts for members of the Talent, Phoenix and Medford community who lost everything due to the recent #Almedafires. Specifically, they are raising funds to support Latinx & immigrant community members who were previously residing in mobile homes and were severely affected by the fires. In this episode we discussed the environ...

Latinidad, or the Latinx identity is messy. But we need to talk about the messiness of it so we can be critical of what we mean when say we want diversity in the "environmental movement", in people leading the work of sustainability. Within the Latinx community, who is most impacted by environmental injustices? Is it our Black-Latinx community members, Indigenous people? What is a White-Latinx and...

Chiyokten of the Saanich tribe shares medicine through the form of storytelling and reminds us that we have a choice in how we are in relationship with land, water and everything else on this earth. To support their work visit https://protectorsofthesalishsea.org/ https://www.facebook.com/ProtectorsOfTheSalishSea/

Gabrielle Felder is a freelance graphic designer, social media artist, and culture critic. Originally from Orange County, California, Gabrielle currently lives in Portland with her fiance. After beginning her master’s degree in Environmental Health at University of Washington, Gabrielle realized that her true passions lie in art & design, writing, marketing, and activism. She is the creator of the...

Ki’Amber Thompson is a queer Blaxicana educator, organizer, artist, and entrepreneur from the West Side of San Antonio. Since graduating from Pomona College in 2018 she’s done environmental justice work in Flint, Michigan through the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at the University of Michigan and spent a year in Washington, D.C. doing policy, research, and storytelling work with the Oce...

A soundtrack featuring the Earth stories of 6 BIPOC and their healing journey with land and water. Slow down, take a moment to rest and reflect on your own Earth story as you listen to the soundtrack. Thank you to Paul, Carol, Hannah, John Wesley and Jasmmine for allowing me to record their stories and be part of this work. Special thank you to @_carina.carina for the cover art, and @paliboyorigin...

Ashley Abena* Arhin (she/her)| *(Uh-bin-uh) Born and raised in unceded Duwamish Territory also known as Seattle Washington, Abena is a Black woman of Ghanaian decent with kinship in the In-land Ashanti and Coastal Fante tribes. She received her Bachelors Degree from Western Washington University in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Education and Social Justice in 2018. Entitled “Understand...

Kadiatou(Ka-djah-tou)Balde is a 22-year-old Black Guinean-American Muslim womxn. She’s a social architect with a passion for BI&POC community-based sustainability and entrepreneurship - rooted in Islam. Upon graduating last May, she worked with 12 different non-profit organizations as a Diversity in Arts Leadership intern, where she learned the importance of BI&POC solutions and leadership that le...

Zainab Koli is an Indian American Muslim woman whose work sits at the intersection of sustainable fashion, community organizing, and Islam. She is the Co-Founder of two Muslim community organizations, Faithfully Sustainable and NY MSA Showdown. She plans to continue bringing together her background in fashion design and product development and community organizing to build just fashion systems fre...

Cassandra Tejada is a promoter of sustainable fashion and sustainable living. She sets out to take up space within the sustainable fashion community as a Muslim, Dominican, Peruvian, Colombian women. Cassandra shares her own modest and sustainable style and Islamic lifestyle on various online platforms, and she is also an aspiring entrepreneur who is working towards launching a sustainable, modest...

Aleyda or Mari for her familia, is from a small town near Guadalajara, Mexico. She graduated from Fairhaven College with an Interdisciplinary major titled “Solidarity Across borders: Understanding Experiences and Imagining New Realities through Storytelling” and a minor in Education and Social Justice. Aleyda is the content curator for Raices Press, a platform to find book recommendations, book re...

From life transitions, COVID-19, ecofascism and all things healing, I wanted to share with you all some chisme. New episodes are coming, because I believe more than ever this is the time to archive and share our stories as Black, Indigenous, People of Color. We are here, we been here, and we will exist in the future. For COVID-19 resources go to https://nuestrasraicesverdes.com/resources/covid-19/

In this episode, I interviewed Dario Castellon for the second time as part of the series featuring the artists of Raíces Verdes. Dario is the visual artist for the podcast, and a colleague from my time at Huxley College of the Environment, where we both received a B.A in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development. For this episode, Dario and I spoke about our experiences in the predominantly white...