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Yes, we did a 90 minute Season finale. You will thank me later.

I dedicated this episode to my mom, Lois Whitehead, who sadly passed away earlier this year from leukemia. During her professional career, for a time, she worked for a nonprofit in Trenton, NJ that addressed food insecurity issues and helped people get back on their feet. She taught me a great deal in 41 years, but this issue stands out as it was something we went back to often in the last couple years as I did more EJ work. She loved that I found my path, and I think a lot of the reason for that is I followed some of her work from years ago. I love you Mom.

We were thrilled to be joined by Smita Narula, Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law (Pace University) and Chef Aaron Mccargo Jr (Managing Partner, Flavor Frontier Development Group).

Food insecurity is a pervasive global issue that is only getting worse due to increased climate change impacts. Smita does an outstanding job laying the groundwork for why this is occurring and Aaron does an inspiring job bringing it home for us and providing local solutions.

I am tremendously proud of this discussion and hopeful for where it may lead. Enjoy!

Professor Smita Narula’s faculty page, and scholarship.

The National Right to Food Community of Practice: https://www.righttofoodus.org/

La Via Campesina: a transnational movement to advance food sovereignty

Aaron's Food Innovation Center Project in Camden, NJ!

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No matter what your climate goals look like, where your project is located, or who is in office at the time, your project will not happen if the financing is not in order. Projects have to make money, and have to usually incur levels of risk through development. Whether a clean energy startup or billion dollar offshore wind developer, there is great opportunity right now, but also great risk, and fluctuations in supply chain, interest rates, and other outside forces, can directly impact your project.

For this episode, Chris was joined by Jonathan Kennedy (Chief Development Officer, Clean Energy Terminals), and John May (Managing Director, Hamilton Clark Sustainable Capital, Inc). Both are attempting to be first movers in critical aspects of decarbonization. Perhaps even more shocking than the fact that Chris didn't mess up John vs Jonathan for an hour, is potential benefit to our economy from developing these projects. John May also discusses smart steps like technology insurance, that should help derisk many projects.

Enjoy!

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One of the topics that I have been asked about most over the last few years from community members is how they can get their own community air monitoring. Many are concerned over possible contamination in their air, and want to see improvements. As we often say, their lived experiences are the ultimate screening tool. They know if there's a problem. There is a direct link between air contamination and health impacts, and objective tools like ambient air monitors can help inform policy choices which will ultimately equate to lower emissions.

My guests this episode, Eben Cross (Chief Science Office and Co-Founder, QuantAQ) and Darren Riley (Co-Founder and CEO, JustAir Solutions), are experts on this topic. I pose a role play to them where I am a concerned community member and they walk me through what's involved and why this is so important. My hope is that this sort of information may help communities in need apply for grant support to get these monitors in place. There is great potential for collaboration in this space.

Show Notes/Suggested Resources

• EPA
  • Webinar Series on Community Air Monitoring Fundamentals
• NIEHS
  • Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) Webinar Series on Community Air Monitoring
• Bay Air Center
  Defining an Air Monitoring Objective by Asking the Right Questions – Worksheet
  • Designing a Community Scale Air Monitoring Project
  • Placement of Air Monitoring Devices
• There's also the Thriving Communities Grantmakers Subgrant program which will go live for most regions any day now (supposed to be Fall 2024). This program is designed to be lower-overhead, faster-turn to resources at the $75-350k/project funding level.
  
  Community Change Grant link to that unprecedented $2B program