Why we need to rethink and open up how we address climate change
Judith D. Schwartz (@judithdschwartz) is a journalist who focuses on nature-based solutions to global challenges and the author of Cows Save the Planet andWater in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World. After learning about Holistic Management's potential to restore our carbon and water cycles, reverse climate change, and regenerate biodiversity on our lands, she set out to explore all the ways in which we've been unintentionally doing harm through tackling only the symptoms of our environmental issues instead of addressing their root causes.
On this week's podcast episode, Judith shares why fixating on reducing carbon emissions alone is a shortsighted approach to tackling climate change, how 'organic' is losing its standards and meaning (and how The Real Organic Project is solving this), what it means that we've been managing against environmental challenges rather than managing for them, and more.
To start, get a glimpse below into the conversation between Judith and Green Dreamer Podcast's host, Kaméa Chayne.
“The way that we talk about climate change has been interfering with our ability to do anything about it.”
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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer Podcast with Kaméa Chayne, a show exploring environmental regeneration and intersectional sustainability from ideas to life. Subscribe to Green Dreamer on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app and let’s learn what it takes to thrive in every sense of the word!
On addressing the root causes of environmental issues:
"We tend to be so problem-oriented and not enough system-oriented. So we're not asking the questions 'What do we want?' (which would be health, either in terms of the landscape or a person) and 'How can we create the conditions that might promote health?'
Instead, we're looking at problems to attack... and that brings us to where we are."
On reframing climate change conversations:
"The way that we talk about climate change has been interfering with our ability to do anything about it.
And I feel that if we open up the way we talk about climate change, then we present opportunities for people to take part in being part of the solution. So one working definition I have is that I see climate change as manifestations of distorted carbon, water, energy, and nutrient cycles."
Judith's closing words of wisdom:
"Notice things and be open to what nature can teach us. Just love the planet and let that love guide you."
