In Our Backyard Podcast

Today, we’re joined by Marquita Bradshaw who is an environmental justice organizer, community advocate, and Executive Director of Sowing Justice. Marquita made history as the first African American woman to win a major party nomination for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee, all while using a traditional grassroots organizing model. After that groundbreaking campaign, she founded Sowing Justice,  a nonprofit focused on building power in communities long ignored or harmed by environmental injustice, especially in the Deep South. In this episode, we talk about injustices in Tennessee, the Elon Musk data centers in Memphis, and the growing fight against TVA’s planned methane gas expansion. From leaking pipelines to regulatory loopholes, we dig into how this public utility’s choices are shaping the lives and futures of people across the Tennessee Valley. Contact and connect: https://www.sowingjustice.org/ [https://www.sowingjustice.org/]  https://cleanenergy.org/news/tvas-methane-gas-expansion-is-a-bad-deal-for-memphis/ [https://cleanenergy.org/news/tvas-methane-gas-expansion-is-a-bad-deal-for-memphis/]

Today, we're joined by Michael Brown, Executive Director of Sustaining Way, a nonprofit based in Greenville, South Carolina, that’s redefining sustainability through equity, education, and faith.  Through powerful community programs like Annie’s House, youth leadership initiatives, and resilient home interventions, Sustaining Way brings together environmental justice, interfaith values, and hands-on action. I’m excited to dive into how they’re creating a more sustainable and just future. hello@sustainingway.com [hello@sustainingway.com] https://sustainingway.org/

Today, we’re diving into a crisis that’s hitting close to home for many North Carolinians, one that sits at the intersection of climate change, corporate accountability, and financial survival: the insurance crisis unfolding in the wake of Hurricane Helene. I talk with Charles Slidders, Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, or CIEL. Charles is a legal expert working on the front lines of climate justice and he’s co-author of a powerful new analysis that reveals a troubling pattern: insurance companies are helping finance the very fossil fuel projects that are driving extreme weather… and then turning around to hike rates or drop coverage when those disasters strike. When Hurricane Helene tore through the Carolinas, it didn’t just knock down trees or flood neighborhoods, it tore the lid off something deeper. It showed just how shaky our financial systems really are, especially when it comes to insurance. As the state works to recover, one thing’s clear: it’s not a matter of if another storm will hit, it’s whether we’ll be prepared when it does. Contact and connect with Charles: https://www.ciel.org/

Today we’re talking with Romain Chuffart is with the Arctic Institute.  We’re turning our attention to one of the most fragile and rapidly changing regions on Earth — the Arctic. This vast, icy expanse at the top of the world plays a crucial role in regulating our global climate and is home to unique ecosystems and Indigenous communities whose lives are intertwined with the land and sea. But the Arctic is warming at more than twice the global rate, triggering dramatic changes that ripple far beyond its borders. In this episode, we’ll unpack what defines the Arctic region, explore the profound impacts climate change is having there, and discuss why these changes matter to all of us. We’ll also dive into international cooperation, governance challenges, and the vital role Indigenous knowledge plays in shaping sustainable policies.

Today, we’re talking with Diane Wilson, the Executive Director of the San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper, about a nuclear proposal that’s raising red flags across the Gulf Coast of Texas. A company called Dow/Union Carbide wants to build a Small Modular Reactor, the Xe-100 near Long Mott, Texas, just miles from the Guadalupe River and San Antonio Bay. It’s a region already grappling with historic flooding, that just inundated communities along the Guadalupe months ago. Now, the San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper and other advocates are stepping in, filing the first-ever intervention against a Small Modular Reactor in the U.S. We speak about the significance of this historic moment, what’s at stake for the environment, the community, and the climate, and how the NRC is pushing forward with an unproven design in a flood-prone region. Contact and connect with Diane: wilsonalamobay@aol.com Full press release: https://sanantoniobaywaterkeeper.org/local-group-files-first-ever-legal-challenge-to-smr/ NRC filing: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2518/ML25188A218.pdf