Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of The
Speaker 1: List Be Real Podcasts. As always, my name is Sammy J.
Speaker 1: And this week's episode, we have Adam Met. You probably
Speaker 1: know him from his band A j R. He is
Speaker 1: also the executive director of Sustainable Partners and is currently
Speaker 1: getting his PhD and human rights. With this nonprofit that
Speaker 1: he started, he's been working with the u N and
Speaker 1: he's been educating people on climate change all around you. Guys,
Speaker 1: I love this episode so much. I learned a lot
Speaker 1: and as always, I can't wait for your feedback. Okay, Adam,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited that you're on my podcast because we
Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about. We're in a very
Speaker 1: strange time with a pandemic, and you are a huge
Speaker 1: actus and you're also a huge musician. Um, what has
Speaker 1: it been like working on your music in this pandemic?
Speaker 1: Music has been really weird over the last eight months,
Speaker 1: and you know, we talk a lot about how we
Speaker 1: make all our music in our living room, and funny enough,
Speaker 1: a lot of artists have had to transition and make
Speaker 1: music the way we've made music our entire career, because
Speaker 1: now they have to make music in their bedroom, in
Speaker 1: their living room because they can't really go into big studios,
Speaker 1: and we've never worked in big studios, so I know
Speaker 1: a lot it's the pandemic has been really hard for
Speaker 1: a lot of people. But professionally it's the process. Well
Speaker 1: for us, Yeah, we know what we're doing. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that's what's so great is you know you
Speaker 1: first of all, you get to work in your living room.
Speaker 1: You don't have to work in a stay. Do you
Speaker 1: have that creative freedom? Um, has have you drawn any
Speaker 1: more inspiration or has it been hard to find inspiration
Speaker 1: during this pandemic when creating music, it's been It hasn't
Speaker 1: been that difficult to find inspiration, but it's a very
Speaker 1: different kind of inspiration. So pre pandemic, the way the
Speaker 1: songwriting happens, Ryan and Jack do most of the songwriting,
Speaker 1: but they tend to look at the world around them
Speaker 1: like they are in college or they're going to parties
Speaker 1: where we're on tour, and the kind of look around
Speaker 1: them for for inspiration. But now the music we're writing
Speaker 1: is much more internally focused. We actually have time to
Speaker 1: explore our own minds and figure out, Okay, what's happening
Speaker 1: in these shadows over here is it more you know,
Speaker 1: nostalgic or is it more self reflective? And it's it's
Speaker 1: having us create a different kind of music. And you know,
Speaker 1: our song Bang is about that transition between being a
Speaker 1: kid and being an adult and you know, actually having
Speaker 1: to eat keen wa because that's the adult thing to do,
Speaker 1: and you know, do what your taxes because you're supposed
Speaker 1: to do that as an adult. But post Bang, like
Speaker 1: are the last song we released as one called bummer Land,
Speaker 1: and the songs are much more self reflective. And I
Speaker 1: think that's because we are being forced to be more
Speaker 1: self reflective during quarantine. I mean, how can you not be,
Speaker 1: especially when you're at home, when you can't keep distracting
Speaker 1: yourself with the work, you have to really focus on yourself.
Speaker 1: Do you make any discoveries during quarantine about yourself or
Speaker 1: any passions that you didn't know you had? Oh, that
Speaker 1: is a good question, Um, passions that I didn't know
Speaker 1: that I had. I've always liked to cook, but I
Speaker 1: think I've been cooking two and three times as much,
Speaker 1: uh during quarantine. Um. I really like Asian food, so
Speaker 1: I've been making a lot of you know, noodle soups
Speaker 1: and dumplings and things like that. So I think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take that with me after quarantine is over and
Speaker 1: continue to do that. I mean, that's an awesome skill too.
Speaker 1: I love cooking to have a favorite dessert to make, Oh, dessert.
Speaker 1: I'm really bad at dessert. I tried to make um
Speaker 1: dessert once and it ended up tasting like soap because
Speaker 1: I used like the wrong I used either baking soda
Speaker 1: instead of baking powder, or baking power instead of baking soda.
Speaker 1: Still excuses me. Something that I'm really excited to talk
Speaker 1: to you about is how focused you are on sustainability
Speaker 1: and the environment and how we can become more eco
Speaker 1: friendly UM as a society. So for those who don't know,
Speaker 1: how would you describe what it is to reduce your
Speaker 1: carbon footprint? Yeah, so it's a really interesting concept. The
Speaker 1: term carbon footprint was actually coined by BP, the oil company,
Speaker 1: which is really surprising. That's contradictive, Yeah, exactly. UM. BP
Speaker 1: came up with this term after there was a massive
Speaker 1: oil spill and wanted to put the burden on individual
Speaker 1: people instead of them taking the blame themselves for making
Speaker 1: the environment a better place. So right off the bat,
Speaker 1: we have problems in the environmental space. So something that
Speaker 1: I work on a lot is this idea of individual
Speaker 1: responsibility versus corporate and government government responsibility. And yes, it
Speaker 1: would be amazing if everybody you know, switched to paper straws.
Speaker 1: But even if every single person in the world switched
Speaker 1: to paper straws, that would do almost nothing to help
Speaker 1: protect the environment what we really need to do. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and I know there have been a lot of campaigns
Speaker 1: about straws, and you see, you know, turtle swimming in
Speaker 1: the ocean with straws up their noses and that. Yes,
Speaker 1: of course it's terrible, But even if we got rid
Speaker 1: of all the plastic straws, it would be point o
Speaker 1: o o one per cent of the work we need
Speaker 1: to do. The best thing we could possibly do is
Speaker 1: convince the companies where that we buy things from to
Speaker 1: actually make changes on their side. There are some amazing
Speaker 1: companies out there. There's a shoe company called All Birds
Speaker 1: who is incredible that makes their shoes completely sustainable. And
Speaker 1: Microsoft just made a huge announcement that actually developed plane
Speaker 1: fuel that doesn't put any carbon into the atmosphere. So
Speaker 1: if we can support companies that are making really big
Speaker 1: sweeping changes, and if we can choose somebody like All
Speaker 1: Birds over another shoe company. You know, shoes, if you
Speaker 1: think about it, Actually the shoes that you're wearing on
Speaker 1: your feet are made mostly of plastic which are made
Speaker 1: from petroleum. So essentially people are walking around with big
Speaker 1: buckets of oil on their feet and they don't even
Speaker 1: think about it that way. So if your choices can
Speaker 1: help companies that are doing a really good job with sustainability,
Speaker 1: that's how we're going to make the biggest change. Okay,
Speaker 1: so many questions. First of all, just to break it
Speaker 1: down for people who including myself, who aren't as aware
Speaker 1: of sustainability as I should be, because I think this
Speaker 1: needs to be talked about. More carbon, Yeah, what is it?
Speaker 1: What is it made of? How does it affect the Earth? Yes,
Speaker 1: carbon is a molecule, and if you look at the
Speaker 1: periodic table of elements, if you're in middle or high school,
Speaker 1: you're probably learning about the periodic table um carbon see um.
Speaker 1: One of the greenhouse gases that goes into the atmosphere
Speaker 1: from driving cars, planes, transportation, anything like that, is something
Speaker 1: called CEO too, which is one carbon molecule and two
Speaker 1: oxygen molecules and that goes up into the atmosphere, and
Speaker 1: what it does is we're increasing the number of those
Speaker 1: molecules that are going up into the atmosphere and it's
Speaker 1: warming the planet, which means that the polar ice caps
Speaker 1: are going to start to melt, sea levels are gonna rise.
Speaker 1: It's going to make the areas around the equator harder
Speaker 1: to live in. Plants are not going to be able
Speaker 1: to grow as easily, and we are killing off a
Speaker 1: lot of different species, especially insects. Climate change is very controversial,
Speaker 1: which I don't understand why because science is science. You
Speaker 1: can't scientists facts. It's it's not about opinion in that way. Um,
Speaker 1: what can we do to make it so the world
Speaker 1: doesn't keep getting warmer? One, it's voting for people who
Speaker 1: have really good records on climate change and are saying
Speaker 1: they're committed to it. Um. Number two, it's getting out
Speaker 1: into the street and making your boy has heard. And
Speaker 1: number three it's it's what I call the micro influencer.
Speaker 1: And they don't have massive social media platforms. They have,
Speaker 1: you know, a few hundred or a few thousand followers
Speaker 1: on social media, but the people who are following them
Speaker 1: are their friends and their family. Yeah, you're much more
Speaker 1: likely to listen to advice from your friends and your
Speaker 1: family then you are from a celebrity. So as a
Speaker 1: micro influencer, you have a lot more power over your
Speaker 1: community than somebody who has millions of followers. I was
Speaker 1: doing a lot of just try and do as much
Speaker 1: advocating for this past election, and something I kept telling
Speaker 1: people is that there's always someone that will listen to
Speaker 1: you that won't listen to anyone else. For those who
Speaker 1: don't think, Okay, climate change, it's not going to affect me,
Speaker 1: What do you say to them? Why should I care
Speaker 1: about it? Climate change affects every single person. Um, I
Speaker 1: know you have listeners here in the United States and
Speaker 1: probably around the world. If you think about what's happening
Speaker 1: in Detroit and access to water, climate changes affecting you.
Speaker 1: The indigenous communities around the United States, the Native Americans
Speaker 1: very much affected by climate change. Even the heat waves
Speaker 1: across California that have caused these enormous forest fires are
Speaker 1: climate change related. New Orleans, Texas, and Florida across the South,
Speaker 1: the hurricanes, all of these are climate related effects. So
Speaker 1: you were past the point where we're saying, Oh, it's
Speaker 1: not affecting me, So then why don't people believe it?
Speaker 1: People don't believe it because they don't see the connection
Speaker 1: between the two. You know, you've heard about forest fires
Speaker 1: your entire life. Oh, there was a forest fire and
Speaker 1: we need to put it out. They don't understand that
Speaker 1: the forest fires that are happening now are so much worse.
Speaker 1: What we need to do is really have a strong education.
Speaker 1: And that's something that I care about a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've stayed in school for a long time and I'm
Speaker 1: almost done with my doctorate, But I think this kind
Speaker 1: of information should be being taught at elementary school level,
Speaker 1: middle stoo level, high school level. I find that so interesting,
Speaker 1: and I'm just thinking back. My brother goes to college
Speaker 1: out in the West Coast and his school actually had
Speaker 1: to put out an evacuation notice because the air quality
Speaker 1: got so bad because of the fires, so he had
Speaker 1: to leave for a few days with his roommate. So
Speaker 1: that's because of climate change. Um, when did you find
Speaker 1: this passion? Was it through your through creating music? Was
Speaker 1: it before? Was it just through school? My passion for
Speaker 1: climate and sustainability came through human rights. So we would
Speaker 1: travel the world as musicians, seeing people in all different
Speaker 1: types of communities and the thing that brought them together
Speaker 1: was our show. So we would go to you know, Moscow, Russia,
Speaker 1: and into Ukraine and all across Europe and Australia and US, Canada,
Speaker 1: South America. And the fact that they didn't even speak
Speaker 1: our language but they would still be singing all our
Speaker 1: lyrics back to us made me think of the things
Speaker 1: that make us more that that that that make us
Speaker 1: more in common then make us different. That's not the
Speaker 1: right way of saying but more common we have more
Speaker 1: common ground with people in the division. That is the
Speaker 1: right way of saying it. Thank you for fixing that
Speaker 1: for me. Um So I started thinking about, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: what are these things that divide us and what can
Speaker 1: we be doing aside from music to bring people together.
Speaker 1: And one of my degrees that I'm focusing on is
Speaker 1: human rights law and what can we do from a
Speaker 1: legal perspective to make sure everyone is protected? And climate
Speaker 1: change and sustainability became a key part of that because
Speaker 1: one of the big things around the world that is
Speaker 1: actually violating human rights laws are countries that are not
Speaker 1: protecting their citizens from the effects of climate change. You've
Speaker 1: always talked about, you know, the connection between human rights
Speaker 1: and climate change. Would an example of this be what
Speaker 1: happened in Flint, michion In with the lead in the water. Absolutely, so,
Speaker 1: the US government did not protect people's right to water.
Speaker 1: Period They did not protect people's right to water. And
Speaker 1: it was a local failure and it was a national failure.
Speaker 1: And yes, the fact that the right to water was
Speaker 1: violated makes it a climate problem because we need to
Speaker 1: look at how we can take water from the resources
Speaker 1: around us and bring it into people's homes. Now, I
Speaker 1: think this is so fascinating to me. And I know
Speaker 1: you started the nonprofit of Sustainable Partners, and I know
Speaker 1: you've also uh partnered with the u N, which is huge.
Speaker 1: How did that come about? Did you approach them? And
Speaker 1: also I'm always curious and like the behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: the business side of things. How do you make that
Speaker 1: kind of initiative actually happen. Yeah, it's a really good question.
Speaker 1: I mean I started working with the u N a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago because they were looking for ale
Speaker 1: to help especially translate their really complex scientific ideas around
Speaker 1: sustainability and make them accessible to younger people to understand, Okay,
Speaker 1: what really is happening with climate change? How can we
Speaker 1: fix problems of poverty and education? And that partnership with
Speaker 1: the u N developed into, you know, a much deeper partnership.
Speaker 1: We did something with I Heart Radio where we recorded
Speaker 1: a series of p s a S Public service announcements
Speaker 1: that ended up reaching over eighty million people, educating them
Speaker 1: about sustainability. And it's crazy, but that only happened because
Speaker 1: of partnerships. And that's one of the reasons why I
Speaker 1: named my nonprofit Sustainable Partners, because the only way that
Speaker 1: we're going to amplify this messaging is through developing really
Speaker 1: strong partnerships. That is so incredible, and I think if
Speaker 1: we all joined together and become partners, I really think
Speaker 1: that we can accomplish some really great things. We have
Speaker 1: to take a quick break, but when we come back,
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk more about your nonprofit Sustainable Partners,
Speaker 1: how you and your brothers have figured out a way
Speaker 1: to minimize your carbon footprint on tour, and how your
Speaker 1: passion for sustainability has impacted your music career. We'll be
Speaker 1: right back, and we're back. Something that I also want
Speaker 1: to talk about is I know, you've found a way
Speaker 1: to become very sustainable on tour um and I think
Speaker 1: that's so awesome. But how do you do that? Because
Speaker 1: tour you know, you're on buses, a lot, your on planes,
Speaker 1: you're in hotels, there's a lot of drinks. Like, how
Speaker 1: how did you manage for that to happen? Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a slow and a long process, and at this moment,
Speaker 1: there is no perfect solution. It's more expensive to tour
Speaker 1: sustainably than it is to tour not sustainably, and it's
Speaker 1: just a reality right now, and hopefully within the next
Speaker 1: five years will come up with more and more solutions.
Speaker 1: But one of the main things we do is something
Speaker 1: called carbon offsets, which essentially you can pay to pull
Speaker 1: the carbon out of the atmosphere that you put into
Speaker 1: the atmosphere, and you can pay to do that through
Speaker 1: planting trees, pulling plastic out of the ocean, and a
Speaker 1: bunch of different offsetting mechanisms. Yeah. Yeah, So when we fly,
Speaker 1: we calculate how much carbon we've put into the atmosphere
Speaker 1: on the course of that flight, and we pull that
Speaker 1: amount of carbon out of the atmosphere. It's not a
Speaker 1: perfect solution because We're still putting the carbon into the
Speaker 1: atmosphere to begin with, but it is something that can
Speaker 1: slow down. Yeah, exactly. What It's something that I find
Speaker 1: really refreshing. Is I am so fascinated by the education
Speaker 1: system and the importance of it. What do you love
Speaker 1: so much about learning because you keep going back to school? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I keep going back to school. Um, And I have
Speaker 1: to say, it does get very expensive, and I understand
Speaker 1: that that is a big barrier for people that the
Speaker 1: education system in this country, in the US in particular,
Speaker 1: is too expensive. And I know a lot of the
Speaker 1: people running for office, you know, I want to forgive
Speaker 1: college debt and support that. But to actually answer your question,
Speaker 1: I really love learning new things in ways that are interdisciplinary.
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that is I would never
Speaker 1: try and go get a degree in something like biochemistry,
Speaker 1: and I know a lot of people would, but that's
Speaker 1: just not the way my mind works. I am studying
Speaker 1: the relationship between law and sustainability, and that takes into
Speaker 1: account everything from law, science, humanities, sociology, anthropology, marketing, communications.
Speaker 1: I like looking at things in terms of systems, and
Speaker 1: that means the way things relate to each other and
Speaker 1: the connections between things, and that's how our world functions.
Speaker 1: And of course I don't blame people that are just
Speaker 1: going into study biochemistry, because yes, that is an incredibly
Speaker 1: interesting field. But I care about the connections between things,
Speaker 1: and the academic world has allowed me to explore those
Speaker 1: to my heart's content. I'm applying to colleges. Now, what
Speaker 1: advice do you have about the college experience that you
Speaker 1: can share, or even advice that you wish someone had
Speaker 1: told you before undertaking this entire experience. I would say,
Speaker 1: don't underestimate the value of a year off, either you know,
Speaker 1: right before you go to college or even after you
Speaker 1: do a year or two of college, taking a break
Speaker 1: in the middle. I really advocate for that. I did
Speaker 1: my first year of school and then I took a
Speaker 1: year off to do a little bit of traveling, but
Speaker 1: also to just take some time and breathe. And I
Speaker 1: know some people can't afford that opportunity, and I feel
Speaker 1: very you know, blessed that I was able to do that.
Speaker 1: But taking time that's just for you as an individual
Speaker 1: right now, especially in the middle of COVID. I couldn't
Speaker 1: advocate for them more. I think I think we all
Speaker 1: need to focus on our mental health. I think that
Speaker 1: plays a big part in everything. To go back to
Speaker 1: the music to tie it all in with all this,
Speaker 1: UM has this education that you've continue to pursue and
Speaker 1: your passion for sustainability and law and human rights influence
Speaker 1: are impacted the way you want to create music, UM
Speaker 1: or market your music. Yeah, that is a really good question. UM.
Speaker 1: I struggle every day with how to incorporate the work
Speaker 1: that I'm doing outside of music with the rest of
Speaker 1: my music career. I mean, you you hit the nail
Speaker 1: on the head, but I think there are elements of
Speaker 1: it that we've its way into our music. UM. Our
Speaker 1: song Burned the House Down is a perfect example. We
Speaker 1: wrote it just because we were observing that our generation
Speaker 1: around us and the amazing change that they were able
Speaker 1: to that people were able to create just by marching
Speaker 1: in the streets. And then the March for Our Lives
Speaker 1: campaign picked up the song and started using it as
Speaker 1: their theme song. UM. Yeah, they are. There are such
Speaker 1: amazing and amazing group of people who have created real
Speaker 1: change in the world. And I mean, on on my
Speaker 1: podcast that I have I interviewed one of the founders
Speaker 1: and the organizing director for that, and we've become really
Speaker 1: good friends, and that happened through the music. So anything
Speaker 1: we can do to allow the music to inspire people
Speaker 1: to make a change and a difference in their own world,
Speaker 1: I would say that's one. And then the second thing
Speaker 1: is using our platform. I mean we if you look
Speaker 1: at our website right now, our website doesn't look like
Speaker 1: a normal artist's website. It gives you information about how
Speaker 1: to advocate for those in your community that need the most,
Speaker 1: how to find UM elected officials that are doing the
Speaker 1: most to fight inequality, UM and to fight for climate.
Speaker 1: So we want to use our platform absolutely as much
Speaker 1: as possible to help. I think that's so awesome. Where
Speaker 1: do you see yourself continuing this? Is it to keep
Speaker 1: pursuing education, is it to get into legislation, Is it
Speaker 1: to incorporate it more in your music? Or is it
Speaker 1: all of the above. It is all of the above.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll be done with my PhD. Knock on wood.
Speaker 1: You know, if I pass my dissertation, UM, I should
Speaker 1: be handing it in April or May, and then I'll
Speaker 1: be done with that. UM. But I see myself continuing
Speaker 1: to be in school. I'd love to write more in
Speaker 1: a way that's accessible because you know, when you're in school,
Speaker 1: you write for a very particular audience. But I'd love
Speaker 1: to write more op eds and articles for you know,
Speaker 1: different outlets and magazines to help make sustainability something that
Speaker 1: is more accessible to people, because you're you're right, it's
Speaker 1: very complicated and it's very difficult for people to understand. Okay,
Speaker 1: what can I do about this? I want to be
Speaker 1: the person who can help make clear what we can
Speaker 1: do to make this change. Have your brothers also found
Speaker 1: have the same passion or is this something that you
Speaker 1: just kind of carry on and translate? Um, they do
Speaker 1: a lot of other things outside of music. Um, this
Speaker 1: passion for activism is not as much part of their life,
Speaker 1: but they support it tremendously. But they do a lot
Speaker 1: of other things. They write for a lot of other artists. UM.
Speaker 1: There in the middle of doing a pitching a TV show,
Speaker 1: UM that they wrote the first season four, And they
Speaker 1: are also in the middle of working on a Broadway
Speaker 1: show that a producer approached them to write. That's great.
Speaker 1: I think that's so cool that you can all you're
Speaker 1: not all doing the same things, and you can you know,
Speaker 1: enjoy these different parts of life of bringing all together
Speaker 1: and how is that? How has that been working with
Speaker 1: your family for what has it been like fifteen years?
Speaker 1: How how how is that has it made her relationship stronger?
Speaker 1: Has it been tough at some points because it can
Speaker 1: be hard to work with your family. It is definitely
Speaker 1: made our relationships stronger. We grew up in a tiny
Speaker 1: apartment in New York City. The three of us shared
Speaker 1: the same room until I left for college, which was
Speaker 1: pretty crazy. We had triple bunk beds um but working
Speaker 1: together has been was like a little bit of a
Speaker 1: struggle in the beginning, and then the three of us
Speaker 1: found our lanes, Like Ryan is so good at producing
Speaker 1: the music and Jack is really good at coming up
Speaker 1: with those catching melodies, and I kind of fell into
Speaker 1: this space that's more focused on the business and marketing side,
Speaker 1: and I found that I've excelled there, you know, figuring
Speaker 1: out how to take the music and work that they
Speaker 1: do and presented to the public, whether it's the kind
Speaker 1: of content that we're posting on social media. The strategies
Speaker 1: for rolling out our albums are radio campaigns and working
Speaker 1: with my heart. Um. That is where where I've found
Speaker 1: that I excel in the fact that we each respect
Speaker 1: each other's expertisees has allowed us to grow to the
Speaker 1: size that we are. I think it's so incredible and
Speaker 1: it's really refreshing to still do what you love but
Speaker 1: also have other things on the side and not have
Speaker 1: it rely on one specific thing. Um, if you could
Speaker 1: collaborate with any artists, not for a song or single,
Speaker 1: but with this, with sustainability, who would it be? And why?
Speaker 1: Oh that is such a good question and a question
Speaker 1: that I've never been asked anything like before. See Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. That's for someone You guys get interviewed a lot.
Speaker 1: That's like it, that's like, that's like my goals, has
Speaker 1: questions that you've never gotten. That makes me happy. Awesome. Um,
Speaker 1: let me think. So there are a few people, Now
Speaker 1: these aren't necessarily music artists. These are you know, celebrities
Speaker 1: and other forms. But Leonardo DiCaprio has done an unbelievable
Speaker 1: job in making bio diversity something that's really really important
Speaker 1: and it's not just oh, I'm going to do some
Speaker 1: sort of vanity campaign because I know that the world
Speaker 1: is in danger. He has done his homework, He has
Speaker 1: educated himself. He really understands the problems that are going
Speaker 1: on in the world, and he has a platform and
Speaker 1: if you look at his Instagram, I don't know cent
Speaker 1: about of it at awareness. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: And to be able to use his platform and collaborate
Speaker 1: on something, I would say, Leo DiCaprio, Okay, let's let's
Speaker 1: manifest it. I feel like I could see that you
Speaker 1: Thenard DiCaprio, the U N we have to take one
Speaker 1: more quick break. But when we come back, I want
Speaker 1: to talk about how we can all make an impact
Speaker 1: and get involved to help our world. We'll be right back,
Speaker 1: and we're back for people of all ages, because I
Speaker 1: know for a while I was struggling to not know
Speaker 1: how to become an activist and how to make the change,
Speaker 1: because you know, sometimes it's when you're young, you're not
Speaker 1: taking as seriously. How can anyone get started? How can
Speaker 1: anyone get started? Look at Greta on Burke. She's awesome,
Speaker 1: She's amazing. She went on strike from school for I
Speaker 1: don't know, almost a hundred weeks, just her outside sitting
Speaker 1: with a sign saying that she was striking for the climate,
Speaker 1: and she would do it every single Friday. And first
Speaker 1: it was just her for weeks and weeks and weeks,
Speaker 1: and then there were three students, then there were a hundred,
Speaker 1: then there were ten thousand, and then when we were touring.
Speaker 1: I've spoken at climate strikes all around the world. I
Speaker 1: marched in one in Austria, I spoke in one in Omaha,
Speaker 1: did one in Chicago, in Australia, all these different places.
Speaker 1: She created a movement. And there are two organizations. One
Speaker 1: is called Friday's for Future, which is the one that
Speaker 1: she works with, which is amazing and anybody of any
Speaker 1: age can get involved in very simple ways. The other
Speaker 1: one is a great one that's based in the US.
Speaker 1: It's called Sunrise, the Sunrise Movement. They are amazing and
Speaker 1: they helped to get a lot of people elected, and
Speaker 1: they helped to write Joe Biden's climate policy. And I
Speaker 1: know that sounds really crazy, like yeah, it's people who
Speaker 1: are from ten fourteen years old all the way through
Speaker 1: adults working on this together. That makes me happy. I
Speaker 1: feel like we should all come together more and I
Speaker 1: hope that will happen in that we have more unity
Speaker 1: as a society and we all take climate change more seriously.
Speaker 1: For just to give people a sense if we don't
Speaker 1: address climate change, what will happen to the earth? Oh,
Speaker 1: that is a very sad thought. So there are islands
Speaker 1: around the world that will no longer exist. There will
Speaker 1: there are islands in the southeast that will just completely
Speaker 1: be covered in water. If you think about Florida and Texas,
Speaker 1: which are you know, the southernmost places in the continental
Speaker 1: United States, they will become uninhabitable. It will be too
Speaker 1: hot for people to live in those places. Um the
Speaker 1: smoke that you see in California because of the wildfires
Speaker 1: that will exist across the world. And then finally, there
Speaker 1: are many other things, but finally, access to water is
Speaker 1: going to become incredibly difficult. You you've seen videos, you
Speaker 1: know of people in the middle of Africa who don't
Speaker 1: have running water, who actually have to walk to a
Speaker 1: well to get water. Water is going to start to
Speaker 1: be rationed. It's one of our most valuable resources right now.
Speaker 1: Even the biggest investors in the world are starting to
Speaker 1: invest in water because they know that that's something that
Speaker 1: is going to become really scarce if we don't fix
Speaker 1: climate change. WHOA and I think you know, I've been
Speaker 1: trying to educate myself more in these issues. And I
Speaker 1: believe it was in France that they're really making water clean,
Speaker 1: water more accessible. How do we make those kind of
Speaker 1: initiatives happen in the US, because I feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of other countries are more advanced in that and
Speaker 1: in sustainability. Yeah, it's true, and a lot of it
Speaker 1: is going to come from political will, meaning what politicians
Speaker 1: are doing. And politicians are only going to know what
Speaker 1: to do if we tell them what to do. You know,
Speaker 1: politicians work for us. We get to fire them four years,
Speaker 1: like we just did. You know we we fired somebody
Speaker 1: just now. Um, So we need to make it very
Speaker 1: clear what we're looking for from the people that that
Speaker 1: work for us. It's our tax sellars that literally pay
Speaker 1: their salaries and give them the budgets to do what
Speaker 1: we want to do. So, like we were talking about before,
Speaker 1: this idea of the micro influencer sharing these ideas. I mean,
Speaker 1: you you learned about France and the access to water
Speaker 1: and that they can filter water in the systems that
Speaker 1: they have built throughout the entire city. It's amazing what
Speaker 1: they're doing in Paris. If we can just spread education
Speaker 1: about that and as we're going out and marching with
Speaker 1: these organizations like I mentioned, if we're looking for specific,
Speaker 1: concrete change, that's how we're gonna make it happen. It
Speaker 1: all comes down to education, honestly, it does. It absolutely does.
Speaker 1: And education doesn't just mean going to school. Education means
Speaker 1: taking the time that you're you know, scrolling through social media.
Speaker 1: There are millions of accounts that are amazing and teach
Speaker 1: you about things. And it doesn't just have to be
Speaker 1: you know, Dam's challenges, as great as those are, um,
Speaker 1: there are TikTok accounts that teach us about sustainability. There
Speaker 1: Instagram accounts that teach about it. It's a great way
Speaker 1: to kind of sprinkle in your vegetables along with your dessert.
Speaker 1: It totally does. Honestly, during this past election, I was
Speaker 1: I started following different accounts that fact check the news
Speaker 1: and all that, and it gave me the one minute
Speaker 1: recap of everything I need to know an interesting way. So,
Speaker 1: but make sure make sure it's reliable whatever source you do.
Speaker 1: I think that's something that I realized. You always have
Speaker 1: to fact check absolutely, and fact checking doesn't really take
Speaker 1: that long. People say, oh you have to fact check,
Speaker 1: you have to fact check. Yes, if you find a
Speaker 1: source that you've gone through a few of their different
Speaker 1: articles or videos and you double check the information, you
Speaker 1: can rely on that source. You don't need to fact
Speaker 1: check every single thing that they post. You know, you
Speaker 1: know that they're reliable and you can go to them
Speaker 1: as your go to source. One that I really recommend
Speaker 1: is now This Now This is an amazing account. Follow
Speaker 1: them on YouTube awesome. Yep. They do videos, they're really short,
Speaker 1: easy to understand, and they have a great focus on sustainability.
Speaker 1: So every season, I've been trying to highlight different charities
Speaker 1: and nonprofits to bring awareness to things because I've been
Speaker 1: feeling really helpless this year like so many people. So
Speaker 1: I want to shout out your nonprofit, Sustainable Partners, because
Speaker 1: what you're doing is so important. So please tell people
Speaker 1: how they can donate, get involved because what you're doing
Speaker 1: with this organization is incredible. Definitely, we do so many
Speaker 1: different things. We work with businesses, we work with individuals,
Speaker 1: we work with I Heart, and we work with the
Speaker 1: u n UM. You can go to our website which
Speaker 1: is Sustainable Partners, Inc. Dot org and we have a
Speaker 1: donate page. But one of the really cool things you
Speaker 1: can do if you don't have money to donate is
Speaker 1: listen to our podcast. It's called Planet Reimagined, and for
Speaker 1: every person that subscribes to the podcast, we plant a treat.
Speaker 1: So even just hitting that subscribe button, you are helping
Speaker 1: us to be more sustainable and the world to be
Speaker 1: more sustainable. I love that. That's awesome. Okay, that's incredible,
Speaker 1: And Adam, I just want to thank you for coming
Speaker 1: on my podcast. What you're doing is so inspiring and
Speaker 1: it makes me want to take more action in the world. Again.
Speaker 1: If you haven't already, go check out Sustainable Partners. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. This was awesome. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys like this week's episode of the
Speaker 1: Let's Be Real podcast. If you have not already, don't
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, leave a comment and share this podcast
Speaker 1: with so many love. As always, don't forget to follow
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at It's Sammy J. That's I T
Speaker 1: S S A M M Y J A y E.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys have a great rest of your
Speaker 1: day and I'll see you next time. Bye, guys.