July 29, 2022 • 22 mins
We are deep into July, and hot girl summer is in full swing – but unfortunately, our planet is feeling the heat as well. So today at LoveStruck, we are extending our hearts towards the planet! Our hopeful and hilarious guest hosts, Audrey Steward and Ambika Rajyagor discuss the realities of climate change and the little acts of love that can help us all.
Get your daily happily ever after on LoveStruck Daily, with new love stories every Monday-Friday. In the meantime, follow @LoveStruckDaily on Instagram and Twitter for extra content.
If you have a love story to share, or any questions for the team, email lovestruckdaily@frolic.media.
View episode transcript here: https://otter.ai/u/lbDYD6swWJQ2NSoELIUBbLTbP1g
And for goodness sakes...just kiss already!!!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
We are deep into July, and while some of us
want a hot girls summer, the fact is we're all
gonna be having a hot boy girl person all of
humanity summer now and always because our climate is changing quickly,
and guess what, like it or not, we gotta do
something about it. I'm in love with love. It's I'm
(00:36):
in love with you. Hey, I'm Audrey and I'm in Vika,
and we're guest testing love strick daily today and we're
experimenting a little bit with something different than you're used to. Today.
We're talking all about our planet, which we love dearly,
and what we can all do together to make a change.
So basically me, I'm a stand up comedian based in
(00:57):
Los Angeles. I'm originally from the Midwest. All of my
material I use is I kind of try to, you know,
inspire my audience and try to relate to my audience
and kind of inform them, but also like tell them
about myself. And I have really bad a d h
D and oh good, this will be great. But yeah,
(01:18):
that's me, just a comedian with a d h D
who just loves this world. And I'm I'm super stoked
to be talking about you know, our climate and everything
like that today. So no, you're so cool. I'm so
excited to be like talking about all these current news
with you. A little bit about me. I am Ambica
and I am a first generation Indian American and digital
(01:39):
creative activists and advocate. I'm really passionate about disabled rights,
intersectional feminism, and nature conservation because these are all topics
that are super important to me. So throughout all the
work that I do, I try to weave it in
and out of each of these topics. And I'm really
excited to tex to you guys today. As we deep
dive all these topics about things that we love and
care about, I get really uncomfortable and heavy topics. That's
(02:00):
why I think as a comedian we like make fun
of it and we make jokes about it, but we
should be uncomfortable, you know what I mean. We should
feel because if we were comfortable, then, like like you said,
we'll get into this later. If we were comfortable, you know,
we would just be like Okay, yeah, I'm just gonna
sit back whatever I'm But I'm so uncomfortable by it.
So I'm like there's definitely like there's growth that comes
(02:20):
in this discomfort I feel on the individual level, but
then also on a larger level. But yeah, kind of
to build on that, let's talk about that hope versus headache.
We're going to go through some news articles right now
and current events and topics that are happening all around
the world and also um here in our hometowns in
the US, and we're going to see if their hope
or a headache. If they're a headache, how can we
turn that into a hope? Andrew, it was the hope
(02:43):
or headache article we had for this week. Okay, Well,
I was absolutely blown away and flabberg acid by one
of the articles that I came across with my morning coffee,
morning cup of coffee, a K morning eight cups of coffee. Um,
I was blown away by assays um new images that
they really those were awesome. I was. I mean, they
(03:06):
were so pretty. I literally wanted to go to the
nearest FedEx and print out a poster of it because
I'm like, this is so gorgeous that I think it
was the NASA James web Space Telescope. I'm a big fan.
And you know what else I really loved about it
is just like the news can be so dark and
all this stuff, and I'm like, yikes, but then you
just see that You're like, there's so much more in
(03:29):
this universe and you're just you're It's just there are
some things that are just so gorgeous and so pretty.
And every time I look at space or get to
see something that's beyond our comprehension, I'm like, God, there's
so much beauty in this world, you know. I definitely agree.
I think of space like I get the same feeling
when I think about spaces I do like when I
go to National Parks from just like I'm part of
(03:51):
something way bigger than just me. Yeah, it was great. Also,
did you notice Okay, so I've been seeing like roller
rank just like carpets and how that was very close
to the James Web telescope. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Whoever designed that should be any royalties. So if we're
deciding between if this is a hope or a headache,
I definitely think that I brought you a hope, which
(04:12):
is thank you, thank you for that. So Ambika, I
have that hope. But what did you bring to you?
Have a hope slash heading? Yeah, this is and I've
just run recently. It was like two days ago, I
think it was UK temperatures broke a hundred and four degrees,
Like that's never happened before. It must have some relation
to like what's going on climate wise, because in the UK,
(04:34):
all around Europe actually it's just record breaking heat right
now and they're trying to figure out what do we
do to change this? And it feels like we're too
late on to some degree because it's like it's already here,
we're already melting literally, And in that I saw that
the like an airplane couldn't even take off because the
runway melting. My gosh, it's nuts. It's a little bit
(04:55):
more than like tolerating a hot summer. So yeah, yeah,
it's a little bit more than just like let's take
a dip in the pool and yeah, how do I
like turn that headache into a hope? It's like we
have to think about more than just ourselves. And you
know what, it's true, it's like, you know what we're
saying is super sase. It's like, how do you turn
that into something hopeful? But I think the way that
I would personally be able to spend that is, like
(05:17):
you said, people don't really act sometimes unless it affects them,
unless it gets really really bad, and that is sad.
As we should never let it get to the point
where like we can't control it. But I think right now,
I mean, we have the media, we have our voices,
we have podcasts, we have our platforms. Now we are
actually seeing it, and I think the positive spin is
like we have no choice but to get up and
(05:40):
do something. Exactly. It's always been like for like as
long as I could remember, it's always been like, oh,
that's someone else's problem, or like, oh, that's for the
bigger like adults to decide, and it's like, all right,
they didn't do it, so yeah, yeah, exactly, and now
we're the adults. They were like, y'all didn't even give
us a blueprint to work from. So here we are
building the blueprint ourselves and hoping that like at least
(06:02):
whatever baby steps we make, like we can make sure
that these kids are not growing up in the future
were they're melting themselves. That's why I certainly need to
give and do something. The question is like what can
we do? You know what I mean, Yeah, that's what
we're here to talk about and just kind of talk
to basically like live brainstorm ideas on how to do
that through advocacy, activism and just like boots on the
(06:23):
ground kind of work. So let's take some of that
hopeful energy forward as we deep dive into our topic
of the day, the failure of the Climate Bill. Oh man,
oh god. We are going to first go over all
the facts about what the Climate Bill was, what exactly
happened with it, and then talk a little bit about
why I didn't go through. You know, I'm passionate about
making a difference in things like that, but I'm so
blessed to be talking to you and Biko because I
(06:44):
feel like I'm still and I'm sure you feel the same.
I'm still learning about, you know what, why it's how
we got to this point to like in or why
it might continue even though we all as people and
citizens are trying to do something. But like, I'm just
learning more about the Climate Bill and things like that,
like behind the scenes of it. Yeah, let's talk about
(07:04):
what happened to Senate. Sit tight, everybody, because we'll be
right back after this short break. So big news but
also sad news again, but hopefully we can spend this
one as well. But essentially, Senator Joe Mansion from West Virginia,
(07:29):
we hear his name a lot in the news, never
for a good reason. He refused to support the Democrats
proposals for funding any of the climary energy programs. This
is interesting because he is a like he serves on
the Democratic scene. Yeah, so for the past eighteen months,
dumb party leaders were trying to get his support on this,
and they were compromising, and he was like, strike this out,
maybe I'll sign it. Strike that out, maybe I'll sign it.
(07:49):
But it didn't do any good because he still was
going to get in his his way. The Senate was split
evenly down party lines. I think it was no one's
surprised who was on either side. All the Republicans in
the Senate it we're voting against climate legislation. So Mansion's
vote was super important. It was like a swing vote
of the Senate. Senate kind of situation. And some background
on him is that his family has been in local
(08:11):
coal businesses for generations, so he's got it's like old
coal money, if that makes sense. So he's not going
to support anything that's anti coal because this is like
what he grew up with. He's also taken money from
oil and gas industries more than any other senators that
we have a record of, which is kind of interesting.
It's like that side I emogi and it's just like
m who said that side I emoji. It's that angry
(08:34):
face emoji. It's all the negative emojis I've got in
my phone. Yeah yeah, I'm like, I want so badly
to believe that he's like not a Disney villain or
something like that, but it's just like, bro, do the
right thing for once, please, yeah, yes, yes, but yeah,
And so all that's happening, he's voting now. Um. And
(08:55):
then in larger scheme of it, the US is actually
the largest emitter of planet warm and green house gasses
in the whole world. It's like kind of disappointing, like
we're number one, but in the worst way I mean
that is it is it's sad. That's sad. That sucks.
So when we don't pass legislation like this, we're losing
all of our diplomatic leverage when it comes to working
with other countries like China, because like, if you don't
(09:16):
practice like what you're breaching, then no one's gonna listen
to you, especially when it comes to like economic things
or tax filings and things like that, like how can
we do how can we work with them if we're
not even practicing those principles with our own businesses on
us soil. Yeah, but do they trust us or anything
like that? Yeah, And so all that goes back to,
like the reason why diplomatic leverage is important to US
(09:37):
is because in Paris Accord, every country was supposed to
set its own climate target for five years seven years ago.
So Trump pulled us out of that, but Biden did
re join, which is great news, but also like we
had to catch up for lost time, um, which we
didn't have. We didn't have enough time to catch up.
So we're supposed to reduce our greenhouse gas missions by
(09:58):
half of that by thirty and can't meet any of
these targets without climate legislation. And of course, like the
larger context here is that without this legislation, we're not
catching up. We're not even like close to any of
our pledges. But the whole world is still melting at
the same time, Like we just talked about that heat
wave that's happening across Europe, We've got melting ice caps,
(10:19):
we've got animals dying off, We've got even here, We've
got I had. I'm a hiker, so I talked about
like limping into nature conservation. I'm outdoors like most of
the time. If I'm not inside working, I'm out in
the park all throughout, like May and June when it's
supposed to be like the beginning of somewhere and a
little hot. Right, I'm up in the Pacific Northwest. I
was hiking and it was snowing, like I was caught
(10:42):
in snow storms, and I'm just like, it's June. What's
going on? So it's not just heat, it's like weird
weather all across the board. Yeah, and you know what's
so wild about that is Austin Texas. Um that giant
snow blizzard that happened in Austin, Texas with that power
grid situation. Oh yeah, So my brother lives there too,
(11:02):
and I facetimed him and his girlfriend and they were
like huddled over candles and then they were like, we
have to take the trunk out to get food. And
I was like, what is the Oregon Trail? Like it's
bad because like we have the technology and we have
people who have common sense, but they're not the ones
in charge anyways. Yeah, but yeah, so climate change should
(11:22):
definitely be on everyone's like first radar, Like that should
be at the number one priority. Yeah, And so all
that's going on. And then we also had a like
adding to the bad news, the Supreme Court decision West
Virginia versuy p a Um, and it greatly reduced the
federal government's ability to stop power plant emissions or even
reduce those. I hope it's not becoming a theme with
(11:45):
like West Virginia and the Senator from West Virginia. But
I mean, like saidday Emogia again, I'm just starting to
see a pattern. If I love that you use emojis
to express I feel weird, like what I shouldn't described
the would you like? You know, but I kind of
love that. I know that sounds weird. I love that
you're you. You still you know, millennial millennials were obviously
(12:07):
we're adults, but you know, we have we still have
like fun light and I don't think it's bad any
of the young things we do. I think we can
combine the two. Like I'm not saying make fighting for
climate change a blast and a half, but like make
it fun, make it fun, make it fun. But we
can maybe even there should be climate change emojis. Maybe
there should be like a group text where we're incorporating
(12:30):
our daily like millennial, young hearted habits into what we
need to do. Yeah, like take the news seriously but
also make it cute. I can yeah, yeah, yeah, I
can do that. But yeah, I know, we need to
figure out what our next steps are like as a generation,
hope might not be lost. So we do have other
(12:51):
places to look to other than Congress, which is good.
The A p A Does still have power to make change.
It's just like they don't have as much power as
they would have now it's up to price companies and
the state and local organizations and not federal organizations as
as much as they used like they used to have power.
There is hope. Yeah, the hope is in who we
(13:11):
elect to be a part of those organizations on state level,
So we're in charge of who we want to fill
those seats. So I think that's if anyone's listening to
this and considering a role in environmental policy, please please
take it seriously and go do it, because we mean
someone who knows what they're talking about. In the right right,
just wait for somebody else to do it, and you
(13:35):
know someone's got to do it. Somebody has to do it. Yeah,
but yeah, So the e p A does have a
little bit of power to make change, and Biden can
also work with the Justice Department on how we like
on reviewing the recent Supreme Court ruling. Another thing that
we can look forward to is just the hope that
that Congress updates the Clean Air Act. That would be
really cool because if we start we can start passing that.
(13:57):
At least it's a baby step into like maybe pushing
further and further into climate legislation and taking that more
seriously and just looking at states to create and execute
their own policy. So I know California is working on
their own things. We have like a devastating, like wildfire problem.
Every year it gets worse and worse. I had to
get evacuated in and I was just like, oh my god,
(14:18):
it's happening. California is like passing legislation to help with
our own environmental standards. But it can't just be one state.
It has to be all of us working together. So yes,
on a state level, with the hope that each of
these legislators can join together and push a federal legislation.
So I just wanted to ask you, Audrey, like, how
(14:38):
do you stay hopeful when you read all this news?
So go grab the glass of water, will be right
back after the short break. How do you stay hopeful
(15:00):
when you read all this news? So? I think my
job as a comedian is I think, you know, as
you know the world has just been getting darker and darker,
and it's our job to get on stage every single
night and make people forget their problems for a second
and you know, kind of get on board with what
you're saying and connect to you on like a whole
(15:20):
different level. And I think, you know, there is things
to be said in a lighter way to get people
more on board and connected. And that is what I'm
experienced in and that's what I feel like I need
to push myself to continue to do. And uh, you know,
with what I've even learned today, like take that information
(15:41):
and write some things. And that's how I feel like
I can get up and make a difference. And also
I feel like we have the technology and a lot
of our like our parents or our aunts and uncles,
they don't really get on the technology like we do.
So I think my job would be informing them and
telling them to be informed, and us talking about it
as a family, because we've got a huge family, takes
(16:04):
up half this climate. My family Irish Catholic, and it
so family. We've got like everyone's your uncle and everyone's
your cousin, that kind of situation. Exact. My cousin's cousin
came to my show the other night and my cousin's
cousin's cousins surw on it. So I'll say, so just
I'm at that point where like, yeah, but that that's
I mean, that's my what about yo? I try to
(16:27):
like look at comedy as a way because it helps
me relieve kind of the sadness after doom. Scrolling on
Twitter every morning, I'm just like, let me look at
some memes and maybe that'll make happy. But things that
bring me hope, I think it's just when I hang
out with like I have a bunch of nieces and
the nephew, and whenever I'm on FaceTime and we're hanging out,
I'm just like thinking about them and like with their future,
(16:49):
and I'm just like I want to make sure i'm
doing whatever I can to make sure like you have
good air to breathe when you grow up, or like
you can you can feel safe in the places that
you like are traveling to that the outdoors, especially when
I'm going on hikes and stuff. I want to make
sure these parks are going to be the same for them. Yeah,
and then I kind of apply that to like everything,
like even when it comes to disabled, right, it's like
(17:09):
my little sister, she's physically and cognitively disabled. Um. And
when we go places, it's just like I've we've experienced
like so much, like so much injustice and then just
like rude people, and I'm just like I want to
do whatever I can and make sure you don't have
to ever experience that and anyone like in our situation,
I've experience that either. Because other than that, like what
can I say for myself? Like I always like go
(17:31):
back to them, like I want to be proud of
myself and the way that I feel proud of myself
at this time. A part of this better change. Okay, Well,
I think it's time that we um parachute into our
one percent challenge UM, but which basically is that we
want to recognize that talking about issues like you know
what everything we've been saying climate change, you know, like
(17:54):
hope for future kids. You know, that's overwhelming and these
are huge problems and you know it's hard to know
where to start. We're talking about a bunch, but you know,
like we said, we're right there with you. You know
you're not alone. We're all in this together together. I
think with this, we'll start with a one percent challenge.
So like for the week, I'll have one percent challenge,
like what can I do to be a part of
(18:16):
like a one percent of the change, And then maybe
if like more people do it, then we're all like contributing,
and of course, like that will have a butterfly effect.
So Andrew, what it is one thing you'd like to
pledge to do for a week or challenge yourself to
do for a week and the efforts for climate change? Well,
I think something that I can do is well, I'll
do like a few things under one umbrella. I think
(18:37):
the you know, being in California, the water thing, you know,
I just really I need to invest in a good
reusable water bottle because you know, I tend to get
plastic water bottles from gas stations. Sometimes on the way
to shows or things like that. And sometimes I have
extra water laying around in my permit that I'm not drinking,
that I should use to water my plants, and I
(18:58):
should turn off the sync more. I brushed my teeth.
I have like a bunch of hydro flasks, but I
was collecting. But you know, and like they start to
get like rest to your stuff at the bottom, I'm like,
I probably didn't, so I just collect this. They're just
sitting on the shelf. That is so funny. You wore
to die hard about their hydroflask. Like my friend who
was like a hiker, She's like, I've had this baby
for like three years. I was like, you're probably drinking
(19:21):
mold sweetheart. But you know, yeah, like what's that flavor.
It's not Dorito's cool ranch, it's small. Yeah, exactly, that's
a really good one. Yeah what about you probably do that.
But let me see what's my one percent. I need
to start small with my baby steps. I'm gonna make
(19:41):
my own coffee this week. I'm not gonna go drive
to get coffee. Yeah. I don't do it every day,
but like I like sometimes I'm like, this is my
self care cup of coffee like from the drive through,
but like, no, if I do that, I'll use a
reusible cup. But for this week, I'm gonna try to
just use the coffee pot that I have that I
just don't use. Yes, use that coffee pot. Fill it
(20:02):
to the brim like I do. I won't be wasting guys. Yeah,
by your plants or whatever the heck you have. I said,
by the window, join a cup of coffee. Yeah, that
sounds nice. Do that. That sounds great. Honestly, I'm gonna
do that too. And you know the truth is we
all have to do something. It's we can't make this
huge difference overnight. Realme wasn't built in a day. Yeah, yes, yes,
(20:28):
so we can do it by small steps. So yes,
thank you so much for listening. And if you'd like
to follow along on the show, we are at love
Struck Daily on Instagram and Twitter, or you can also
email us at love struck Daily at probably dot media.
Do you want to follow me? That'd be cool. I'll
probably follow you back. My Instagram is at Ganti scale
g A n GPS like River g A L and
(20:51):
I would highly recommend following a Vega and you'll see
your requests from me, even Santa, and I am mortified
that I wasn't even following you, but yes, this is
I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be friends on Instagram to
make an official Yeah, yeah, we really want to be friends.
Better get that user name man um. But yeah no,
this has been absolutely fabulous. UM, thank you guys so
(21:11):
much for listening. My personal Instagram where you can find me,
UM is Audrey stew Is. Our like Audrey Stewart, but
I'm urt. It's whatever. But yep A U d r
E Y s c W I s A RT. We
need to give some credits to our researcher Jesse Epstein
and our editor Jen Jacobs. And we are produced by
(21:33):
Abigail Steckler with Little Scorpion Studios, and we are executive
produced by Frolic Media. This is an I Heart radio podcast.
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much,
you guys, Thank you. In love with love. I'm in
(22:01):
love with you. I'm in love with you. H
We are deep into July, and while some of us
want a hot girls summer, the fact is we're all
gonna be having a hot boy girl person all of
humanity summer now and always because our climate is changing quickly,
and guess what, like it or not, we gotta do
something about it. I'm in love with love. It's I'm
(00:36):
in love with you. Hey, I'm Audrey and I'm in Vika,
and we're guest testing love strick daily today and we're
experimenting a little bit with something different than you're used to. Today.
We're talking all about our planet, which we love dearly,
and what we can all do together to make a change.
So basically me, I'm a stand up comedian based in
(00:57):
Los Angeles. I'm originally from the Midwest. All of my
material I use is I kind of try to, you know,
inspire my audience and try to relate to my audience
and kind of inform them, but also like tell them
about myself. And I have really bad a d h
D and oh good, this will be great. But yeah,
(01:18):
that's me, just a comedian with a d h D
who just loves this world. And I'm I'm super stoked
to be talking about you know, our climate and everything
like that today. So no, you're so cool. I'm so
excited to be like talking about all these current news
with you. A little bit about me. I am Ambica
and I am a first generation Indian American and digital
(01:39):
creative activists and advocate. I'm really passionate about disabled rights,
intersectional feminism, and nature conservation because these are all topics
that are super important to me. So throughout all the
work that I do, I try to weave it in
and out of each of these topics. And I'm really
excited to tex to you guys today. As we deep
dive all these topics about things that we love and
care about, I get really uncomfortable and heavy topics. That's
(02:00):
why I think as a comedian we like make fun
of it and we make jokes about it, but we
should be uncomfortable, you know what I mean. We should
feel because if we were comfortable, then, like like you said,
we'll get into this later. If we were comfortable, you know,
we would just be like Okay, yeah, I'm just gonna
sit back whatever I'm But I'm so uncomfortable by it.
So I'm like there's definitely like there's growth that comes
(02:20):
in this discomfort I feel on the individual level, but
then also on a larger level. But yeah, kind of
to build on that, let's talk about that hope versus headache.
We're going to go through some news articles right now
and current events and topics that are happening all around
the world and also um here in our hometowns in
the US, and we're going to see if their hope
or a headache. If they're a headache, how can we
turn that into a hope? Andrew, it was the hope
(02:43):
or headache article we had for this week. Okay, Well,
I was absolutely blown away and flabberg acid by one
of the articles that I came across with my morning coffee,
morning cup of coffee, a K morning eight cups of coffee. Um,
I was blown away by assays um new images that
they really those were awesome. I was. I mean, they
(03:06):
were so pretty. I literally wanted to go to the
nearest FedEx and print out a poster of it because
I'm like, this is so gorgeous that I think it
was the NASA James web Space Telescope. I'm a big fan.
And you know what else I really loved about it
is just like the news can be so dark and
all this stuff, and I'm like, yikes, but then you
just see that You're like, there's so much more in
(03:29):
this universe and you're just you're It's just there are
some things that are just so gorgeous and so pretty.
And every time I look at space or get to
see something that's beyond our comprehension, I'm like, God, there's
so much beauty in this world, you know. I definitely agree.
I think of space like I get the same feeling
when I think about spaces I do like when I
go to National Parks from just like I'm part of
(03:51):
something way bigger than just me. Yeah, it was great. Also,
did you notice Okay, so I've been seeing like roller
rank just like carpets and how that was very close
to the James Web telescope. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Whoever designed that should be any royalties. So if we're
deciding between if this is a hope or a headache,
I definitely think that I brought you a hope, which
(04:12):
is thank you, thank you for that. So Ambika, I
have that hope. But what did you bring to you?
Have a hope slash heading? Yeah, this is and I've
just run recently. It was like two days ago, I
think it was UK temperatures broke a hundred and four degrees,
Like that's never happened before. It must have some relation
to like what's going on climate wise, because in the UK,
(04:34):
all around Europe actually it's just record breaking heat right
now and they're trying to figure out what do we
do to change this? And it feels like we're too
late on to some degree because it's like it's already here,
we're already melting literally, And in that I saw that
the like an airplane couldn't even take off because the
runway melting. My gosh, it's nuts. It's a little bit
(04:55):
more than like tolerating a hot summer. So yeah, yeah,
it's a little bit more than just like let's take
a dip in the pool and yeah, how do I
like turn that headache into a hope? It's like we
have to think about more than just ourselves. And you
know what, it's true, it's like, you know what we're
saying is super sase. It's like, how do you turn
that into something hopeful? But I think the way that
I would personally be able to spend that is, like
(05:17):
you said, people don't really act sometimes unless it affects them,
unless it gets really really bad, and that is sad.
As we should never let it get to the point
where like we can't control it. But I think right now,
I mean, we have the media, we have our voices,
we have podcasts, we have our platforms. Now we are
actually seeing it, and I think the positive spin is
like we have no choice but to get up and
(05:40):
do something. Exactly. It's always been like for like as
long as I could remember, it's always been like, oh,
that's someone else's problem, or like, oh, that's for the
bigger like adults to decide, and it's like, all right,
they didn't do it, so yeah, yeah, exactly, and now
we're the adults. They were like, y'all didn't even give
us a blueprint to work from. So here we are
building the blueprint ourselves and hoping that like at least
(06:02):
whatever baby steps we make, like we can make sure
that these kids are not growing up in the future
were they're melting themselves. That's why I certainly need to
give and do something. The question is like what can
we do? You know what I mean, Yeah, that's what
we're here to talk about and just kind of talk
to basically like live brainstorm ideas on how to do
that through advocacy, activism and just like boots on the
(06:23):
ground kind of work. So let's take some of that
hopeful energy forward as we deep dive into our topic
of the day, the failure of the Climate Bill. Oh man,
oh god. We are going to first go over all
the facts about what the Climate Bill was, what exactly
happened with it, and then talk a little bit about
why I didn't go through. You know, I'm passionate about
making a difference in things like that, but I'm so
blessed to be talking to you and Biko because I
(06:44):
feel like I'm still and I'm sure you feel the same.
I'm still learning about, you know what, why it's how
we got to this point to like in or why
it might continue even though we all as people and
citizens are trying to do something. But like, I'm just
learning more about the Climate Bill and things like that,
like behind the scenes of it. Yeah, let's talk about
(07:04):
what happened to Senate. Sit tight, everybody, because we'll be
right back after this short break. So big news but
also sad news again, but hopefully we can spend this
one as well. But essentially, Senator Joe Mansion from West Virginia,
(07:29):
we hear his name a lot in the news, never
for a good reason. He refused to support the Democrats
proposals for funding any of the climary energy programs. This
is interesting because he is a like he serves on
the Democratic scene. Yeah, so for the past eighteen months,
dumb party leaders were trying to get his support on this,
and they were compromising, and he was like, strike this out,
maybe I'll sign it. Strike that out, maybe I'll sign it.
(07:49):
But it didn't do any good because he still was
going to get in his his way. The Senate was split
evenly down party lines. I think it was no one's
surprised who was on either side. All the Republicans in
the Senate it we're voting against climate legislation. So Mansion's
vote was super important. It was like a swing vote
of the Senate. Senate kind of situation. And some background
on him is that his family has been in local
(08:11):
coal businesses for generations, so he's got it's like old
coal money, if that makes sense. So he's not going
to support anything that's anti coal because this is like
what he grew up with. He's also taken money from
oil and gas industries more than any other senators that
we have a record of, which is kind of interesting.
It's like that side I emogi and it's just like
m who said that side I emoji. It's that angry
(08:34):
face emoji. It's all the negative emojis I've got in
my phone. Yeah yeah, I'm like, I want so badly
to believe that he's like not a Disney villain or
something like that, but it's just like, bro, do the
right thing for once, please, yeah, yes, yes, but yeah,
And so all that's happening, he's voting now. Um. And
(08:55):
then in larger scheme of it, the US is actually
the largest emitter of planet warm and green house gasses
in the whole world. It's like kind of disappointing, like
we're number one, but in the worst way I mean
that is it is it's sad. That's sad. That sucks.
So when we don't pass legislation like this, we're losing
all of our diplomatic leverage when it comes to working
with other countries like China, because like, if you don't
(09:16):
practice like what you're breaching, then no one's gonna listen
to you, especially when it comes to like economic things
or tax filings and things like that, like how can
we do how can we work with them if we're
not even practicing those principles with our own businesses on
us soil. Yeah, but do they trust us or anything
like that? Yeah, And so all that goes back to,
like the reason why diplomatic leverage is important to US
(09:37):
is because in Paris Accord, every country was supposed to
set its own climate target for five years seven years ago.
So Trump pulled us out of that, but Biden did
re join, which is great news, but also like we
had to catch up for lost time, um, which we
didn't have. We didn't have enough time to catch up.
So we're supposed to reduce our greenhouse gas missions by
(09:58):
half of that by thirty and can't meet any of
these targets without climate legislation. And of course, like the
larger context here is that without this legislation, we're not
catching up. We're not even like close to any of
our pledges. But the whole world is still melting at
the same time, Like we just talked about that heat
wave that's happening across Europe, We've got melting ice caps,
(10:19):
we've got animals dying off, We've got even here, We've
got I had. I'm a hiker, so I talked about
like limping into nature conservation. I'm outdoors like most of
the time. If I'm not inside working, I'm out in
the park all throughout, like May and June when it's
supposed to be like the beginning of somewhere and a
little hot. Right, I'm up in the Pacific Northwest. I
was hiking and it was snowing, like I was caught
(10:42):
in snow storms, and I'm just like, it's June. What's
going on? So it's not just heat, it's like weird
weather all across the board. Yeah, and you know what's
so wild about that is Austin Texas. Um that giant
snow blizzard that happened in Austin, Texas with that power
grid situation. Oh yeah, So my brother lives there too,
(11:02):
and I facetimed him and his girlfriend and they were
like huddled over candles and then they were like, we
have to take the trunk out to get food. And
I was like, what is the Oregon Trail? Like it's
bad because like we have the technology and we have
people who have common sense, but they're not the ones
in charge anyways. Yeah, but yeah, so climate change should
(11:22):
definitely be on everyone's like first radar, Like that should
be at the number one priority. Yeah, And so all
that's going on. And then we also had a like
adding to the bad news, the Supreme Court decision West
Virginia versuy p a Um, and it greatly reduced the
federal government's ability to stop power plant emissions or even
reduce those. I hope it's not becoming a theme with
(11:45):
like West Virginia and the Senator from West Virginia. But
I mean, like saidday Emogia again, I'm just starting to
see a pattern. If I love that you use emojis
to express I feel weird, like what I shouldn't described
the would you like? You know, but I kind of
love that. I know that sounds weird. I love that
you're you. You still you know, millennial millennials were obviously
(12:07):
we're adults, but you know, we have we still have
like fun light and I don't think it's bad any
of the young things we do. I think we can
combine the two. Like I'm not saying make fighting for
climate change a blast and a half, but like make
it fun, make it fun, make it fun. But we
can maybe even there should be climate change emojis. Maybe
there should be like a group text where we're incorporating
(12:30):
our daily like millennial, young hearted habits into what we
need to do. Yeah, like take the news seriously but
also make it cute. I can yeah, yeah, yeah, I
can do that. But yeah, I know, we need to
figure out what our next steps are like as a generation,
hope might not be lost. So we do have other
(12:51):
places to look to other than Congress, which is good.
The A p A Does still have power to make change.
It's just like they don't have as much power as
they would have now it's up to price companies and
the state and local organizations and not federal organizations as
as much as they used like they used to have power.
There is hope. Yeah, the hope is in who we
(13:11):
elect to be a part of those organizations on state level,
So we're in charge of who we want to fill
those seats. So I think that's if anyone's listening to
this and considering a role in environmental policy, please please
take it seriously and go do it, because we mean
someone who knows what they're talking about. In the right right,
just wait for somebody else to do it, and you
(13:35):
know someone's got to do it. Somebody has to do it. Yeah,
but yeah, So the e p A does have a
little bit of power to make change, and Biden can
also work with the Justice Department on how we like
on reviewing the recent Supreme Court ruling. Another thing that
we can look forward to is just the hope that
that Congress updates the Clean Air Act. That would be
really cool because if we start we can start passing that.
(13:57):
At least it's a baby step into like maybe pushing
further and further into climate legislation and taking that more
seriously and just looking at states to create and execute
their own policy. So I know California is working on
their own things. We have like a devastating, like wildfire problem.
Every year it gets worse and worse. I had to
get evacuated in and I was just like, oh my god,
(14:18):
it's happening. California is like passing legislation to help with
our own environmental standards. But it can't just be one state.
It has to be all of us working together. So yes,
on a state level, with the hope that each of
these legislators can join together and push a federal legislation.
So I just wanted to ask you, Audrey, like, how
(14:38):
do you stay hopeful when you read all this news?
So go grab the glass of water, will be right
back after the short break. How do you stay hopeful
(15:00):
when you read all this news? So? I think my
job as a comedian is I think, you know, as
you know the world has just been getting darker and darker,
and it's our job to get on stage every single
night and make people forget their problems for a second
and you know, kind of get on board with what
you're saying and connect to you on like a whole
(15:20):
different level. And I think, you know, there is things
to be said in a lighter way to get people
more on board and connected. And that is what I'm
experienced in and that's what I feel like I need
to push myself to continue to do. And uh, you know,
with what I've even learned today, like take that information
(15:41):
and write some things. And that's how I feel like
I can get up and make a difference. And also
I feel like we have the technology and a lot
of our like our parents or our aunts and uncles,
they don't really get on the technology like we do.
So I think my job would be informing them and
telling them to be informed, and us talking about it
as a family, because we've got a huge family, takes
(16:04):
up half this climate. My family Irish Catholic, and it
so family. We've got like everyone's your uncle and everyone's
your cousin, that kind of situation. Exact. My cousin's cousin
came to my show the other night and my cousin's
cousin's cousins surw on it. So I'll say, so just
I'm at that point where like, yeah, but that that's
I mean, that's my what about yo? I try to
(16:27):
like look at comedy as a way because it helps
me relieve kind of the sadness after doom. Scrolling on
Twitter every morning, I'm just like, let me look at
some memes and maybe that'll make happy. But things that
bring me hope, I think it's just when I hang
out with like I have a bunch of nieces and
the nephew, and whenever I'm on FaceTime and we're hanging out,
I'm just like thinking about them and like with their future,
(16:49):
and I'm just like I want to make sure i'm
doing whatever I can to make sure like you have
good air to breathe when you grow up, or like
you can you can feel safe in the places that
you like are traveling to that the outdoors, especially when
I'm going on hikes and stuff. I want to make
sure these parks are going to be the same for them. Yeah,
and then I kind of apply that to like everything,
like even when it comes to disabled, right, it's like
(17:09):
my little sister, she's physically and cognitively disabled. Um. And
when we go places, it's just like I've we've experienced
like so much, like so much injustice and then just
like rude people, and I'm just like I want to
do whatever I can and make sure you don't have
to ever experience that and anyone like in our situation,
I've experience that either. Because other than that, like what
can I say for myself? Like I always like go
(17:31):
back to them, like I want to be proud of
myself and the way that I feel proud of myself
at this time. A part of this better change. Okay, Well,
I think it's time that we um parachute into our
one percent challenge UM, but which basically is that we
want to recognize that talking about issues like you know
what everything we've been saying climate change, you know, like
(17:54):
hope for future kids. You know, that's overwhelming and these
are huge problems and you know it's hard to know
where to start. We're talking about a bunch, but you know,
like we said, we're right there with you. You know
you're not alone. We're all in this together together. I
think with this, we'll start with a one percent challenge.
So like for the week, I'll have one percent challenge,
like what can I do to be a part of
(18:16):
like a one percent of the change, And then maybe
if like more people do it, then we're all like contributing,
and of course, like that will have a butterfly effect.
So Andrew, what it is one thing you'd like to
pledge to do for a week or challenge yourself to
do for a week and the efforts for climate change? Well,
I think something that I can do is well, I'll
do like a few things under one umbrella. I think
(18:37):
the you know, being in California, the water thing, you know,
I just really I need to invest in a good
reusable water bottle because you know, I tend to get
plastic water bottles from gas stations. Sometimes on the way
to shows or things like that. And sometimes I have
extra water laying around in my permit that I'm not drinking,
that I should use to water my plants, and I
(18:58):
should turn off the sync more. I brushed my teeth.
I have like a bunch of hydro flasks, but I
was collecting. But you know, and like they start to
get like rest to your stuff at the bottom, I'm like,
I probably didn't, so I just collect this. They're just
sitting on the shelf. That is so funny. You wore
to die hard about their hydroflask. Like my friend who
was like a hiker, She's like, I've had this baby
for like three years. I was like, you're probably drinking
(19:21):
mold sweetheart. But you know, yeah, like what's that flavor.
It's not Dorito's cool ranch, it's small. Yeah, exactly, that's
a really good one. Yeah what about you probably do that.
But let me see what's my one percent. I need
to start small with my baby steps. I'm gonna make
(19:41):
my own coffee this week. I'm not gonna go drive
to get coffee. Yeah. I don't do it every day,
but like I like sometimes I'm like, this is my
self care cup of coffee like from the drive through,
but like, no, if I do that, I'll use a
reusible cup. But for this week, I'm gonna try to
just use the coffee pot that I have that I
just don't use. Yes, use that coffee pot. Fill it
(20:02):
to the brim like I do. I won't be wasting guys. Yeah,
by your plants or whatever the heck you have. I said,
by the window, join a cup of coffee. Yeah, that
sounds nice. Do that. That sounds great. Honestly, I'm gonna
do that too. And you know the truth is we
all have to do something. It's we can't make this
huge difference overnight. Realme wasn't built in a day. Yeah, yes, yes,
(20:28):
so we can do it by small steps. So yes,
thank you so much for listening. And if you'd like
to follow along on the show, we are at love
Struck Daily on Instagram and Twitter, or you can also
email us at love struck Daily at probably dot media.
Do you want to follow me? That'd be cool. I'll
probably follow you back. My Instagram is at Ganti scale
g A n GPS like River g A L and
(20:51):
I would highly recommend following a Vega and you'll see
your requests from me, even Santa, and I am mortified
that I wasn't even following you, but yes, this is
I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be friends on Instagram to
make an official Yeah, yeah, we really want to be friends.
Better get that user name man um. But yeah no,
this has been absolutely fabulous. UM, thank you guys so
(21:11):
much for listening. My personal Instagram where you can find me,
UM is Audrey stew Is. Our like Audrey Stewart, but
I'm urt. It's whatever. But yep A U d r
E Y s c W I s A RT. We
need to give some credits to our researcher Jesse Epstein
and our editor Jen Jacobs. And we are produced by
(21:33):
Abigail Steckler with Little Scorpion Studios, and we are executive
produced by Frolic Media. This is an I Heart radio podcast.
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much,
you guys, Thank you. In love with love. I'm in
(22:01):
love with you. I'm in love with you. H
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.