January 10, 2025 • 48 mins
Uncover the inspiring stories of young trailblazers like Matt DeSantos, Ava Lighthizer, and Pahonu Coleman as they share their fight for climate justice. Learn how these youth activists are using the power of litigation to hold governments accountable and secure a sustainable future. Their passionate involvement in groundbreaking cases such as Held v. Montana showcases the critical role of the courts in protecting our planet and the unique challenges faced by children in the climate crisis.
Explore the pressing issues surrounding global climate action, from the limitations of international agreements to the struggles of vulnerable nations like Tuvalu in accessing climate funding. Discover how Our Children's Trust, led by Julia Olson, is pioneering systemic legal changes to safeguard environmental rights for future generations. With a focus on youth-powered litigation and science-driven solutions, this episode highlights the organization's commitment to protecting the rights of children against the devastating impacts of climate change.
Join us as we celebrate the triumphs of youth activism and the importance of community in fostering change. From the heartening stories of animal welfare in our "Pause for Progress" segment to the intriguing game of "Two Scams and a Slap," there's no shortage of inspiration and engagement. Together, we'll explore the pathways for meaningful climate action and the enduring influence of young voices in advocating for a livable world.
AMAZON
Compassion Kind
PATREON
SLAP the Power is written and produced by Rick Barrio Dill (@rickbarriodill) and Aja Nikiya (@compassioncurator). Associate Producer Bri Coorey (@bri_beats). Audio and Video engineering and studio facilities provided by SLAP Studios LA (@SLAPStudiosLA) with distribution through our collective home for progress in art and media, SLAP the Network (@SLAPtheNetwork).
If you have ideas for a show you want to hear or see, or you would like to be a featured guest artist on our show, please email us at info@slapthepower.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm one of 16 youth plaintiffs in Heldby Montana.
Seeing the wildfires, theflooding, the drought, countless
other inconsistencies, hasalways been something that's
kind of on my mind, even from avery young age.
So when the opportunity tobecome a part of the Heldby
Montana case presented itself tome, I was incredibly
invigorated and excited to joinsomething and use my voice in a
(00:22):
meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yes, yes, yes.
The world may not need anotherpodcast, but it can definitely
use a slap.
That's right.
Welcome to Slap the Power, theshow that lifts artists who use
their powers for positiveprogress.
I am Rick Barrio-Dill and I'mAsia Nakia On the show today.
2025 is here, and if syntheticlife created in a lab wasn't on
your bingo card, you are notalone.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And some exciting news in the Windy City as of
January 1st, chicago'smunicipality buildings are fully
renewable.
Until our incoming presidentdeclares war on the sun.
But you know.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Or Chicago, which I actually probably expect.
That one first.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Also on the show today.
Can semi-glutide weight lossprograms actually save you money
?
Our interview today is with theincredible organization Our
Children's Trust and ourfavorite child-led podcast,
earth Talk with the myth, thelegend, dr Keith Wolf.
Keith Wolf, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And a little later we catch up with Paws for Progress
.
Asia has some awesome updates.
I can't wait for you all tohear about it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
And then we do a quick game of two scams and a
slap where today you, thelistener, find out in real time
with me which of these threeinsanely crazy news stories is
actually true.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That's right.
All right, but first a littlehousekeeping.
Are you dipping your toes intothe world of online gambling by
chance?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Do you like poker?
Or how about sports?
Or just about sports, or justsilliness.
No better color man in the gamethan Mr Norman Chad.
Make sure to check out GamblingMad with Norman Chad everywhere
and anywhere you get yourpodcasts.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And speaking of podcasts, have you heard about
the Women in the Nude podcastC'est quoi, yes, where they bear
all except for their bodies?
I see you guys.
A runaway hit from Slap theNetwork and 360 Pod.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Studios.
That's right, it's a hit showcoming out the gate.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Season two Join actress and entrepreneur Sasha
Pierca as she brings a host ofincredible guests to the couch
to bear it all except for theirbodies.
They leave that up to yourimagination.
Go subscribe to the Women inthe Nude podcast anywhere.
You get your podcasts, allright.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We are back after a killer break.
Asia, it is so good to see youand get the updates from you.
How are you?
How was your break?
Tell me, tell me, how are you?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You know, honestly, I was like pretty sick over the
break, so I was mostly inbetween my bed and the bathroom
and making hot tea in my kitchen.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Oh my God, yeah, that's the wasn't, it wasn't
great.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It was not the holiday break that I was, that I
was rooting for.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Do you find, when you get like really sick like that,
when you come out of it I knowI do it's like after you go
through something like that,when you come out of it you just
feel like a new person.
I just feel like.
I feel like being normal has anew level of like appreciation,
like I just appreciate normal.
I'm like, oh my God, it feelsso good just to be normal.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, which you kind of like.
It's kind of nice to appreciatethat your body just functions
normally every other day.
And you get to it like high fivebody.
Thank you for making me healthymost days.
But yeah, it was kind of like Ifeel almost like an end of year
, like purge too.
There's something about the newyear Like I'm not big on making
New Year's resolutions, like onday one, yeah, but I do feel
(03:55):
like your body just can't likeit can't get away from the fact
that mentally you're in thislike state of like renew.
I was sick and like it broughtme into this fresh new start
into the new year.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
What I like about that is we can slide into
fascism with really fresh immunoyeah you got to be ready, you
got to be ready.
You got to be prepared.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Exactly you got to have a head on a swivel, but how
about your break?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean.
So my break.
I worked pretty much the wholeentire break, but I worked
basically in a really quietplace.
Luckily I didn't get sick.
Bree and I were doingvoiceovers all over the break
and sending stuff back and forth.
It's just been really fun.
Also great about this gig is sowe prerecorded our interview
(04:44):
that you guys are going to hearwith the incredible, incredible
organization, our Children'sTrust, as well as the kids, our
favorite little young podcasters, the Earth Talk kids and, as we
mentioned, dr Keith Wolf.
It was literally the day afterwe did the interview.
It was they had news.
Our Children's Trust had newsand we're so super stoked to
(05:06):
tell it to you.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
No, it was crazy because we, you know, on the
interview we were talking aboutthis case and they were waiting
to hear back and they just theywere sort of in limbo, they
weren't sure how it was going togo.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And then they actually won.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
They won the next day yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I mean that was insane news and you know, just
to give some you know intel onthis.
It was the high court ofMontana and they agreed that
children have a fundamentalright to a safe and livable
climate.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
That is huge.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
I mean this is like insane.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So it was 16 plaintiffs that were, you know,
basically fighting for thehealth and safety of the climate
that they're living in.
These are our next generationof teens growing up, and the
court agreed, the Supreme Courtagreed.
This was a resounding six toone victory, and this decision
(05:58):
is now embedded into the Montanaconstitutional law.
I mean, it is there.
That's amazing, that childrendeserve to have a clean climate.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yes, so you guys are going to hear the interview from
the day before this?
Yeah, but a lot of incrediblestuff in the interview and I
look forward to the court case.
You know, donald J Trump versusthese children, because you're
going up against a force, thesekids will push back at you.
Don't get it twisted.
So how about this?
For a segue, there's a newproject that aims to build
synthetic life from scratch forthe first time.
(06:29):
I was just blown away by thisstory, but there's a $13 million
project funded by the EuropeanResearch Council.
It's working to create simpleliving systems capable of quote
Darwinian evolution end quoteWithin the next six years.
Instead of using nucleotides,dna and RNA bits that are
considered the building blocksof life, the many life
researchers plan to coax complexgrowth reactions out of simple
(06:52):
chemicals that, to at least twodifferent types of environments,
will grow and flourish.
Scientists hope that cooking uplab controlled life could shed
some light on how natural lifebegan on earth nearly four
billion years ago.
But what could go wrong?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I can see like 10 different movie like plots, yeah
, that's right, we got claimedto the movie rights here, that's
right, that's right, ace it wejust claimed the movie, right?
I'm gonna type out my ideasright now and put a date and I'm
gonna mail it to myself.
What could go wrong, you know?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
you could make you know I yeah, it's kind of date
and I'm going to mail it tomyself?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No, no, what could go wrong?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
You know you could make you know.
Yeah, it's kind of.
I mean, you know about cloningand you know about stuff with.
You know stem cells and thingslike that.
But I'm interested to you knowto see how this goes.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Well, on that note, moving back to some climate news
, so this Chicago, allmunicipality buildings in
Chicago are completely renewableenergy.
Chi-town, yeah, I mean over 400buildings.
That is absolutely insane,that's incredible and what a
monstrosity of an accomplishmentfor that city.
Yeah, so, since January 1st,400 plus of the buildings in the
(07:58):
Windy City, includingfirehouses, airports, two of the
world's biggest water treatmentplants, are all on renewable.
So, 70% of their needs will comefrom the double black diamond
solar projects in Illinois,which is one of the largest
solar fields in the US.
I mean, this is such big news.
I mean props to Chicago.
(08:19):
Yeah, it says that they'reliterally going to take out
62,000 cars worth of pollution.
Wow, that's insane.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
That's insane, until the president declares war on
Chicago.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Until that, yeah sure , all right, and as we teased in
the beginning.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
How's this?
For another segue, can Ozempicreally save you money?
I saw this story and I was just, you know, around here.
It's the start of uh awardseason, which you know I love, I
love, I love the pad, I lovethe pageantry, I love the kind
of um, I don't know, there'sjust a celebration of
achievement.
It's the reason for people toget together, it's a reason and
(08:59):
people make fun of it and stufflike that.
But I really really dig it andso you know a lot of weight loss
drugs like the semi-glutidestuff has been really popular,
the groundbreaking drugs likeWigovi and ZipBound.
They might be coming for thelunch of the food companies
because people using these drugsfor weight loss, they start
(09:21):
spending a lot less on food, andthe industry is figuring this
out, and a new working paper byCornell University researchers
found that households in whichat least one person begins
taking appetite suppressantdrugs, like the semi-glutides,
like Ozempic and things, spend6% less on grocery bills on
average in the first six months,and for higher income families
(09:43):
the spending pullback wasgreater at 9%, which is which is
.
Is that a bad thing?
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I don't know.
Yeah, I mean it kind of goesboth ways right.
Like some.
You know, some industries aregoing to gain a lot from this
and some are going to lose.
Like I was reading, it wassaying you know, some businesses
like you know airlines mightreduce their fuel costs,
clothing companies using less,like I mean it's things that you
(10:11):
wouldn't even like.
I wasn't even really thinkingabout it but I was reading
through the article and I waslike, wow, okay, airlines, food
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah.
But, the big pharma companiesare, you know, obviously the
ones to gain, I think, the mosthere, yeah, and food companies,
snack companies.
I would imagine would be thebottom tier.
But yeah, it's very interestingand it's funny because I
actually did try to sign myselfup for Ozempic, just for shits
and giggles.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
You don't need it.
And they told me no, no, but Ireally was like darn.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I wanted to try it and see if it worked, but they
didn't allow me in the partytrain, so I won't be saving
money on my groceries.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Oh.
I am not part of the 6%, notpart of the 6% or the 9%.
But you know there's the blackmarket at Ozempic.
But you know you got to becareful.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You got to be careful with that.
Yeah, you got to be carefulwith that stuff.
Throw in another arm orsomething crazy, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
All right.
Well, I'm super excited.
Coming up after the breakyou're going to hear our
interview with the kids from ourchildren's trust and on the
precipice of what we now know tobe a winning court case in
their whole battle and the bigclimate change stuff.
So stick around.
Speaker 8 (11:21):
Gambling is part of the culture of America Since
even before we were America.
I'm Norman Chad.
I know gambling.
I've played blackjack and poker.
I've bet sports and horse races.
I've even hit the slot machinesat a Pahrump, nevada 7-Eleven.
You say gambling, I sayGambling Mad.
So join me on Gambling Mad withNorman Chad wherever you find
(11:44):
your podcasts.
Follow us on socials atGambling Mad Show or at Gambling
Mad Norman Chad at YouTube.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
All right, Hello Earth Talkers, Thank you so much
for raising your powerful andgenerational voices.
Aj, Dora, Eli and Zaya, thankyou so much for hosting this
podcast and for all the work youdo.
And, on behalf of us and to ourChildren's Trust's guests, Matt
, Ava and Pahono, we know thatclimate change has neither been
(12:14):
nor is being solved by thecurrent and past generations,
and we know that we must all doa better job, and that job is
going to take time and energy.
Thank you for what you aredoing and we cannot wait to hear
your stories.
Speaker 10 (12:29):
Thanks, asia, keith and Rick, and welcome to Earth
Talk.
Generational voices changingclimate change.
We're a youth-led podcastraising our voices for all
generations, because climatechange is the paramount
challenge of our time and willbe for much longer.
That means it demands nothingless than our immediate and
resolved best actions now andfor many future generations to
come.
Our mission is for our voicesto be heard, for our generation
(12:52):
to be seen as a constituencythat deserves better action and
protection from our leaders.
Dora.
Speaker 7 (12:57):
So we're going to break all this down with our
friends at SLAP and with ourawesome guests, to give all our
voices the power they deserve.
We're going to talk about thefuture of climate change, and
today we'd like to shed aspotlight on the importance of
youth representation in thecourts and consequences of the
recent US election on youth-ledlitigation here and on a global
scale.
To help us do this, we'rehonored to be bringing you a
(13:19):
compelling conversation with ourChildren's Trust, who are
building youth power, tellingtheir climate stories and
asserting their climate rightsin courts around the world.
Joining all of us today is MattDeSantos, with us here in
studio.
Matt is the co-executivedirector at our Children's Trust
in Eugene, oregon.
Next is Ava, who is a plaintiffin the Held v the State of
(13:41):
Montana case and joins us fromLivingston, montana.
And finally, pahonu, who is aplaintiff in the Navajin versus
the Hawaii Department ofTransportation case.
Welcome Matt, ava and Pahonu,we're so excited to have you
with us today.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
So, Matt, let's start with a bit of background on Our
Children's Trust.
Please tell us about themission of your organization and
the cases you handle.
Speaker 9 (14:03):
Sure Well, thanks everybody, everybody for having
us here today.
It's a real honor to be here atthe school and to be working on
this podcast with you all.
So our Children's Trust wasfounded in 2010, so almost 15
years ago on a couple of basicconcepts.
One is that children are themost impacted people by climate
(14:25):
change.
So they're most impacted in acouple of ways.
Right, our bodies and ourbrains are forming from ages
zero, when we're in the womb,all the way up through age 26,
when our brain stops forming,and the consequences of climate
change and climate pollution onforming brains can last well
into adulthood, when our brainstops forming and the
consequences of climate changeand climate pollution on forming
(14:45):
brains can last well intoadulthood.
So the experiences of climatepollution today can be carried
on for the rest of lives, andthat's why not only do children
born today live with climateconsequences longer than, say,
someone who you know I'm 45 willlive with them, but because
(15:05):
they also have these lastingconsequences, depending on the
kind of climate pollution thatthey're exposed to.
So that's one reason.
The other reason is that courtshave played a central role in
the preservation of ourdemocracy here in the United
States.
What do I mean by that?
So you know, we have theexecutive branch, which is the
(15:27):
president, we have thelegislature, which is, you know,
the way that we make rules andlaws and then we have the courts
who enforce our constitutionand our constitutional
principles.
And so when the executivebranch and the legislature are
out of balance with likeminority rights, right, the
courts step in to try balancewith like minority rights right.
The courts step in to try andprotect those minority rights,
(15:48):
or at least that's what they doin concept, and so we were
trying to activate the courts byempowering youth-powered
litigation and youth voices, andthey're all based in the best
available climate science.
So that's a little bit aboutsort of where our children's
trust started and kind of thebasic principles behind us.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
We'd love to hear from Eva and Pahona.
Can you introduce yourselvesand tell us what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Hello, my name is Eva Lighthizer.
I'm one of 16 youth plaintiffsin Heldby, Montana, and I have
grown up for most of my life inrural Montana and there's not a
lot of things to do other thango outside, so I spent a lot of
my childhood outdoors, gained alot of foundational experiences
outside.
I've always been fascinatedwith the ecosystems and the
(16:40):
wildlife, the landscapes, therivers, the lakes, and seeing
those under threat of climatechange has always been a great
worry of mine.
Seeing the wildfires, theflooding, the drought, countless
other inconsistencies, hasalways been something that's
kind of on my mind, even from avery young age.
So when the opportunity tobecome a part of the Helvey
Montana case presented itself tome, I was incredibly
(17:01):
invigorated and excited to joinsomething and use my voice in a
meaningful way.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
Aloha mai kakou.
My name is Pahonu Coleman.
I'm one of the 13 plaintiffs inNavahe University Department of
Transportation, hawaii'sclimate lawsuit and you know
kind of my work is withinconservation and sustainability
efforts here in Hawaii and now,more recently, with climate
(17:27):
justice, with Navahine,celebrating a really historic
settlement and a win really forHawaii.
I'm excited to be here andshare this space and mahalo nui.
Speaker 7 (17:41):
So can you help us understand what is being
challenged in the courts?
Speaker 9 (17:45):
At its core, the cases that we bring are about
the injuries that children areexperiencing because of climate
change.
So, in Pohonu's case, forexample, there are plaintiffs
who are losing access totraditional ways of accessing
food right, like fishing ponds,and there are also things like
(18:10):
that are happening to people'shomes.
Right, people have lost theirhomes in flooding or in
wildfires.
People are also experiencingthe consequences of climate
pollution through increasedrates of asthma or allergies
things that are physical harmsas well as other harms to
people's mental health, tofurther invest in fossil fuel
(18:40):
energy structures, which we knowlead to increased greenhouse
gas emissions, and that thosegreenhouse gas emissions lead to
those harms.
And so, at its core, all of ourcases are similar in that sense
, but where they're different isthat they're in different
states often.
(19:00):
So Ava's case is in Montana,pahona's case is in Hawaii, and
they each have laws andconstitutions that are different
.
Right, many of us think aboutthe Constitution here in the
United States as sort of beingthe Constitution, but in each of
our states, like here in Oregon, we have a state constitution
that protects our rights at thestate level, and so these cases
in states are challenging stateactions by the state of Hawaii
(19:24):
and the state of Montana andunder their state constitutions,
with the hope to have the courtfind that their actions were
unconstitutional and harmingchildren's bodies and mental
health, and to then have thoseactions stopped right.
(19:44):
Because that's really whatwe're trying to do is to stop
the state from creatingadditional climate pollution and
to create pathways todecarbonize right, to move
towards, you know, maybe anelectric vehicle or other ways
of transportation, as opposed tofurther investing in fossil
fuel infrastructure.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
What about the Paris Agreement and the COP meetings
From your perspective?
Do they have a significantenough impact on global scale,
and do the policies and actionscoming out of the agreement
protect children now and in theforeseeable future?
Speaker 9 (20:23):
children, now and in the foreseeable future.
So the Paris Agreement and COPit may not surprise anybody who
is on this podcast with me thatI have little faith in the Paris
Agreement or COP's ability tofix this problem for us.
And let me say a little bitmore for folks who are in the
room.
You know the Paris Agreement isan important agreement.
It was a multinationalagreement where most of the
(20:45):
countries in the world gottogether and agreed on certain
targets for reducing greenhousegas emissions.
This happened a while ago.
It's happened in 2015.
It's sort of a gathering ofnations to talk about climate
(21:08):
change and to try and createtargets for the reduction of
emissions.
Ok, so what's the problem withthat?
There's no problem with the ideaof getting them together is in
the global visibility thatclimate change garnered, because
all of the countries in theworld or almost all of the
countries in the world gottogether and said this is a
problem and this is how we'regoing to address it.
(21:29):
But frankly, I think that'sreally where their success ends,
because what we have seen isthis big gap in implementation.
So the country said we're goingto get together and we created
these targets, but now thecountries aren't actually on
track to meet their targets, sothey're not reducing their
carbon emissions consistent withthe Paris Agreement.
(21:51):
And we've also seen otherthings relating to COP right
where I think someone recentlysaid that COP has basically
turned it into a gathering forfossil fuel lobbyists.
And you know they had it in acountry recently where there was
a.
You know they were sort made itso that folks like us in the
climate space have lost a littlebit of faith in that particular
(22:26):
process.
And I want to say that I dothink it's important that
countries still try to cometogether to talk about this in a
unified way.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Do you think it's because there's just not
sufficient penalties for this,and because this is a global
problem, fighting it on a localscale almost seems as ridiculous
as it was to try and fightCOVID state by state.
My question is in yourexperience, there's not really
any sort of penalties and sothere's no way to hold people
(22:56):
accountable, or what do youthink is the weak link here?
Or what do you think is theweak?
Speaker 9 (22:59):
link here.
That is part of the problem,right?
I think, really, look, for aninternational agreement to be
effective in law, it has to bebinding.
And when you have somebody likethe United States who refuses
(23:23):
to allow international treatiesto be binding on them as like a
mechanism in law and I don'twant to get too wonky, right,
but you need to have, like, notonly we can go and agree to an
international treaty, right, butthen unless the Senate goes
through and says, and now weagree to be bound by this,
there's no binding mechanism inthe United States to hold us
accountable for that, and thatto me seems like a big problem,
at least domestically, for us.
But even in countries like let'sget real, in countries where it
(23:47):
is binding, they're not meetingtargets.
And that's where some of thoselawsuits that you're seeing
generated out of Europe havebeen focused, which you know,
the Clemus and Yorin case, orlike I sort of affectionately
refer to it as the Swissgrannies case, which is like a
bunch of you know grandmothersin Switzerland came together and
(24:07):
said like look, this is a bigproblem, you aren't on target
and this is a basic human rightthat you have agreed to.
You're still seeing countriesnot abiding by that, and so,
even with enforcement mechanisms, we're not seeing the kind of
results that we would expect tosee.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
And Matt, what about the funding that is given to the
smaller countries?
So from World Bank, you know,through the COP agreements?
Do you feel that that fundingis sufficient for these small
countries?
Speaker 9 (24:37):
So no, I don't think it's sufficient.
And I think you know countries.
So no, I don't think it'ssufficient.
And I think you know we can seeour brothers and sisters and
I'm sure Pono has thoughts aboutthis like from the countries
like Tuvalu, who have basicallysaid, like look a lot of the
agreements, just leave us outaltogether, because all of the
targets that you're aiming forare targets that would see our
(24:58):
island nations go underwater.
And like I think there's like abigger question there, which is
, if you disappear somebody'scountry, how much money would
you have to pay them toreimburse them for that right?
Like, how much are those lives,how much is that culture worth?
And I don't think that we as,if I'm being completely frank, I
(25:21):
don't think that we asWesterners, right, like sort of
Western nations, have any rolein determining what the value is
on, you know, the lives andculture of the nation of Tuvalu.
But beyond that, just to getinto kind of like the nitty
gritties about the World Bank,other than sort of like the
problems that they have, there'slike a real fundamental issue
(25:46):
of both whether there'ssufficient funding and then
whether there is access to thosefunds.
So even if we suddenly had amiracle and someone said we're
going to put $100 trillion intosupporting mitigation and
adaptation efforts into the bank.
Then it's like, well, who hasthe right to that money and how
(26:09):
do they get that money and whatis that money used for and what
we've seen?
I think, while there is a lotof good sort of effort to try to
get to some of those problemsso far, the reason why you're
seeing smaller countries and themost vulnerable countries
really advocating for betterrules around this is because
(26:31):
there still isn't equity andaccess, let alone the type of
money that you would need toreally kind of right the wrongs
that have happened because of,you know, climate emissions
since the industrial age.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Matt, how is our Children's Trust founded, and
what would you like to say aboutthe kinds of support needed to
meet your objectives and mission?
Speaker 9 (26:54):
Sure.
So our Children's Trust wasfounded by Julia Olson, who is
from Eugene Oregon.
By Julia Olson, who is fromEugene Oregon, and she was a
really incredible pioneeringlawyer who wanted to see
systemic change in an area wherepeople were attacking the
problem through really limitedlaws.
(27:14):
So there was kind of an ideathat in order for us to see the
kind of systemic change that wewant, we have to change the
legal system and the assumptionsunder which we're operating.
So I'll just take a step backand try to make this as simple
as possible, which is ourcountry and the constitutional
(27:38):
principle that guarantees acouple of things.
Right, like things that peoplewill always say.
They'll say oh well, Iunderstand that the Constitution
protects my right to life,liberty, the pursuit of
happiness, these kind of phrasesthat you've heard all
throughout school and in yourgovernment classes.
My next question would be and Ithink Julia's question in
(28:15):
founding our children's trust iswhat does the right to life
mean, or liberty or property, ifyou don't have clean air or if
that land is constantly on fireor if you can't leave your home
because of flooding?
So I think the intuitive answeris not much.
Right, like those rights don'tmean much if we don't have a
safe, stable climate.
So in states like Montana andHawaii there are explicit
protections in the constitution.
But even in like at the federallevel, in states like Oregon
where there isn't an explicitprotection of the constitution,
we think that that right has tobe read into the constitution
(28:38):
here for the constitution tomake any sense.
So that's how it was founded andin terms of supporting our
Children's Trust.
Our Children's Trust iscompletely funded by individuals
.
I was going to say like you, butit's actually probably like
your parents, but I think thatit's all individual donations,
(29:04):
with very little exception.
Our entire budget comes frompeople making contributions.
Like 95% of our budget are fromgifts of $500 or less, and all
of our work is supported by that.
We don't get any legal fees.
We don't charge any of thechildren that we're working with
fees for representation, andthat's because we believe that
(29:28):
no child and no family shouldhave to shoulder the burden of
defending their children fromclimate change.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Matt, on your website you say the future of 2 billion
children is threatened byclimate change.
Wow, that is shocking,especially since we are those
children.
Where does this number comefrom and do you think it is
going to increase or decreaseover the next 10 years?
Speaker 9 (29:55):
So it is shocking, and part of the reason why we
put that number up there is toreally quantify the impact of
climate change on children'slives worldwide, that number, I
think.
For me what is really importantabout that number is the way in
which the consequences aregetting worse the longer we wait
(30:20):
to take immediate action.
So it is.
It's not necessarily that therewill be, obviously like the
population of children isgrowing slowly over time, or at
least it is right now.
But what is definite is thatthe impacts of climate change on
those two billion or sochildren are getting worse year
(30:42):
over year and we're seeing thatextend well into adulthoods for
children who were born 20 yearsago.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Also, you point to three areas of emphasis on your
website.
Number one is science-poweredsolutions, number two,
youth-powered litigation andnumber three, a
democracy-powered future.
How did you come up with thoseas the three main areas of focus
for your organization, I mean?
Speaker 9 (31:07):
basically the three areas of youth-powered
litigation, science-basedsolutions and democracy are core
principles, I think, toachieving the kinds of results
that we want to achieve in ourlifetimes and to really make
sure that the earth is a morelivable place for future
(31:30):
generations once we havetransitioned off of this earth.
But I think that really, wedecided that it was important to
focus in on youth, because webelieve that children are most
impacted and they also have someof the most important stories
to tell in solving this crisis.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
Could you tell us about the 350 parts per million
pathway report?
What is it?
Speaker 9 (31:55):
So when we emit greenhouse gases, we create a
blanket around the earth.
It's like an atmospheric blanketand sun comes in and it gets
trapped in this warming blanket,because the more greenhouse
gases that are in the atmosphere, the thicker the blanket gets
and the more heat that's trapped.
And that's what's causing, youknow, glaciers to melt or sea
(32:16):
level to rise.
And so by getting that down,you're like changing your
blanket out for the season.
Right, you're like getting alighter blanket and you're
letting more heat out so thatyou're more comfortable.
And the 350 Pathways report wasreally to prove, by working
(32:36):
with these energy experts, thatit is technologically feasible
today to transition off offossil fuels onto clean,
renewable energy and that thattransition would have a very,
very small impact on oureconomies and in fact, could
create economic growth.
(32:57):
Because a lot of times you'llhear like, oh, it's too
expensive, et cetera.
And while it's true that someupfront costs are high in
transitioning our energy system,the overall consequences are,
you know, tremendous savings onhealth bills and actually energy
becomes a lot more efficientwhen you have clean, renewable
(33:20):
energy.
Like, for example I don't knowif a lot of people know this but
like your car, if it's acombustion car, like the truck I
own, my partner and I own,those are only about 30%
efficient.
So of the gas that you put infor every gallon, you're really
only getting 30% of that gallonin energy to move your car
around Electric vehicles are way, way, way more efficient than
(33:42):
gasoline vehicles, so theyactually use less energy per
sort of mile traveled.
Speaker 10 (33:48):
Another thing that we have heard about is the
pathway to climate recovery.
Can you tell me more about themission of that?
Speaker 9 (33:55):
Sure, so the pathway to climate recovery is this
basic idea that we all have theright to a stable, livable
climate, so all of us in thisroom have this right, and that
we can't effectively demand thatright from our institutions
unless we know that.
So what does that mean?
So that means that we developthis, this curriculum, right to,
(34:21):
to roll out to teachers andstudents and health
professionals, to teach themthat that, you know, everybody
has a right to a livable climate.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Oh, that's great.
That's great.
This question is for Ava andLuna.
Given the global nature ofclimate change, how do your
cases in the US resonate acrossthe states?
We're specifically interestedin this because you guys are the
ones that are doing the work inthe courts.
You're putting the casestogether and you're fighting it
(34:54):
where it probably does the mosthelp.
So have you seen an impact onyour cases beyond the American
borders?
Speaker 6 (35:02):
Just this past month, I was fortunate to be able to
travel to Bermuda, which isanother island nation located in
the Atlantic Ocean, coming fromthe Pacific Ocean.
There was really a lot ofplaces where we could find
commonality between the twocommunities, and one of those is
that a lot of young people areexperiencing sea level rise
(35:24):
because we are constantly inthose places, in those spaces,
spaces, and in Hawaii, we reallybelieve that our aloha, our
love for our land, our communityand place can really teach
something to the world whenwe're thinking about how our
future looks like and how we'regoing to interact with nature in
(35:47):
the future.
Of course, gained a lot ofinternational and national
coverage through the press, andit's sometimes through the
simplest.
I refer them as pebbles.
Speaker 10 (35:57):
Ivan Pohonu.
Let's talk more about thefuture.
What are some of the next stepsin your cases and communities?
Do you think the courts arehearing you and are the results
what you expected?
Speaker 1 (36:06):
As for Held v Montana , we went to trial last June and
we did win, and we received adecision from the judge two
months following the trial andthen, following that, we were
appealed to the Montana SupremeCourt, where we had an oral
argument this past July.
So now we are awaiting adecision from the Montana
Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
This is for Matt and Ava and Pahono.
It's incredibly awesome to hearabout all these initiatives.
What can our listeners do tosupport the efforts of the cases
in Hawaii and in Montana andbeyond you?
Speaker 9 (36:40):
can go to our website , ourchildrenstrustorg, sign up
to be a supporter on ournewsletter.
On our newsletter, you can goto our social media, which is
youthvgov, across all of ourplatforms, like TikTok,
instagram, facebook, et cetera,and you can reach out to
(37:02):
volunteer or donate money.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
What I think is so amazing about our Children's
Trust as well is the fact thatthey've provided us with a space
and a platform to use ourvoices and take action for the
climate, and I think that's likeso invaluable in a time where
we're not exactly guaranteed asafe and healthy future.
So, yeah, any support that ourchildren's trust can get is
really special because that sothey can continue providing a
space and a platform for us touse our voices.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Here in Hawaii, oct has now helped us form a lot of
more conversations around whatmore sustainable tourism looks
like.
So, for Hawaii, I alwaysencourage people to be cautious
about when you're visiting ourplace, especially during a
crisis, and that's the climatecrisis.
So try to get involved with thecommunities when you come here,
(37:50):
volunteer and really be thatchange.
It's very simple If you pick upyour trash, you know, educate
people and have conversations inyour families and share with
people about the work that OCTis doing.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
Of course, Before we wrap up, is there any message
you'd like to share with theyounger generation of kids like
us listening to this podcast?
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Never forget the power of your voice.
I think the biggest thing thatI've learned throughout this
experience as a youth plaintiffwho was able to testify in court
is that my voice does havepower and an effect, and they
really are kind of our greatesttools.
And I think that your voicedoesn't necessarily have to be
in the most literal sense Maybeit's from the art you create or
(38:32):
the way you show up for yourcommunity or the activities you
do but I think that just usingyour voice and seeing the power
and the effect of your voice isreally important, and I know how
stressful and hopeless theclimate crisis can make me feel
sometimes, so I think it'salways important to remember
that when we feel hopeless anduninspired by the worrisome
(38:55):
state of our planet, I thinkit's especially important that
you do the things you love to doand that you try and spend time
around the people who are goingto lift you up and support you.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
Yeah, I would say it very similarly that it's very
important for young people tounderstand, of course, their
right to being here on thisearth and continue to learn.
I think that's one of thebiggest things, as young people,
we can do during this climatecrisis learn from people like
(39:29):
Matt and Dr Keith, also formingour own ideas and how we're
going to really make thatpositive change that is needed.
And we have to connect withpeople, we need to relate with
people and we need to find ourbelonging to this earth.
Speaker 7 (39:46):
Thank you so much for joining us today Rick, asia,
keith, matt, ava and Pony.
It was such an interestingconversation and I think we all
learned so much.
And to our listeners, thank youfor tuning into Earth Talk
Generational Voices, changingClimate Change.
Be sure to explore the work ofOur Children's Trust at
ourchildrenstrustorg andconsider supporting their
(40:06):
critical efforts.
They work tirelessly on behalfof all of us to amplify our
voices and ensure that ourcollective impact is strong and
meaningful.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Until next time, stay engaged, stay informed and keep
pushing for the change.
We must demand your support andaction makes it happen.
Speaker 11 (40:25):
Join me, sasha Peters, on Women in the New
Season 2, where we bear it allexcept for our bodies, leave
that to your imagination.
In the new season two, where webear it all except for our
bodies, leave that to yourimagination.
My wish for women is that westrip away the fear of judgment
and really embrace the fullspectrum of who we are.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
I don't know if you were coming to terms with being
pregnant on the show.
Speaker 11 (40:40):
Yeah, I think she was a little depressed.
Let's live boldly and openlyand change the narratives that
define us.
I called my doctor.
I'm like I want to drive my carthrough a brick wall.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
We deserve it and there's no better time than now.
Let's get out of our comfortzone and get down to the bottom
of who we are.
I mean, you heard it here, manthese kids, they are legit,
they're the future, and I'm soproud of them that you know they
won.
It was a resounding win.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
So I mean it's just huge.
It really shows that kids dohave a voice and you can make
change, and I think that whatour Children's Trust is doing
and amplifying and giving thesekids a platform in the court
system to be able to speak upfor their whole generation, to
have a climate that they canlive in I mean, what can be
(41:28):
better?
I?
Mean what can be better?
So I mean the interview wasamazing, hearing the kids'
perspectives and what they werefighting for, and then to come
back next day with that win.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
I couldn't be happier .
Come on.
The only thing better than thatis puppies.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
That which takes us to the renowned segment of Pause
for Progress.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Pause for.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
Progress baby Woof, Woof.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Do we need to add like we need a little?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
sound effect on there but anyways, we had, um, two
interesting cases that were bothcaught on ring cameras.
Now these cases are very sad.
I won't go into completedetails on them.
The good news is that we havethe dogs all right.
But the first case was, youknow, with a family member was
walking our beautiful baby girl,athena, and kicked her off of a
(42:18):
sidewalk and it was caught oncamera and you could tell that
her demeanor was like she wasvery scared of this man, like
this abuse had been, you know,happening.
So with the power of socialmedia, we were able to identify
the family.
We were able to, you know,approach them.
They did surrender the dog andI mean it just.
It just shows what we canaccomplish when we all work
(42:39):
together.
I mean people were sharing thisstory all over the place.
I mean Long Beach police,animal, you know, animal
services, everybody got involved.
So that was, that was a greatwin.
And then we had another onesame thing caught on ring.
So you know what Animal abusersdo not fare well with anybody
on my team and all of thecapabilities with ring cameras,
(43:04):
like people check your ringcameras because you have no idea
what your neighbors are up to.
So I mean, like seriously thankgoodness for these ring cams
because we would have nevercaught these abusers.
So really I mean like seriously, thank goodness for these ring
cams, Cause we would have nevercaught these abusers.
So really, really good stuff.
Um, and again, FBI, I am here.
If you need a new recruit, justsaying.
Um and then I just wanted togive a quick shout out to
(43:26):
Jennifer Aniston.
I was put on this group chatwith one of the shelter
volunteers that I work with andshe is posting all of the dogs
that are in need of pull youknow that need rescue, that are
on euthanasia lists from all thecounty shelters, which I was
like.
What a great way to use yourplatform for good.
Thank you, jennifer.
We need a couple more gensdoing that.
(43:49):
But the group does well, youknow people are on it and a lot
of these animals get saved.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
So it was yeah, props .
Yes, and so you can find outthrough the links, through our
site, as well as Compassion Kind.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yes, lots of new babies that are in need of
fostering.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
That's right.
That's right.
Get some four-legged furgoodness up in your life.
Yes, yeah, all right.
Well, before we get out of here, this segment is always fun
because the headlines havegotten so crazy that we don't
know what's true or not trueanymore.
Mark Zuckerberg just saidthey're pulling truth checking
from Facebook, which you know.
It's just so gross.
(44:28):
But anyway, where do we go?
What?
What is what is real?
And so you, the listener,you're going to find out in real
time today, with anotherepisode of two scams and a slap.
Uh, today, are you ready?
You're going to hear Asia forthe first time, she has not
heard these.
Uh, we've gotten some threeheadlines together and she's
(44:49):
going to try to pick with you,the listener which one is
actually legit.
The other two are just regularold batshit.
Crazy, okay, I'm ready Allright here we go.
All right.
Number one local artist paintsa mural of a cat riding a
unicorn.
The city considers it forhistoric preservation.
(45:12):
Number two woman claims to havediscovered a new color.
Turns out it's just a very boldshade of beige.
And number three 104-year-oldwoman dies before Guinness can
confirm her record as the oldestskydiver on record.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Oh man, these are all like a little I know right,
like, like, really um, I thinkI'm gonna go with the last one,
the guinness, you are correctonce again.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
I think asia might even be undefeated in this game,
whereas I don't think I've everwon yet, but either way, yeah
you?
yeah, you are absolutely correct.
A 104-year-old woman has died,a little more than a week after
she potentially broke the worldrecord for the oldest skydiver.
Dorothy Hoffner jumped 13,500feet from a plane with Skydive
Chicago.
Not in Chicago, though InOttawa.
(46:09):
Not in Chicago, though InOttawa On Monday at Brookdale
Senior Living.
The associates of BrookdaleLakeview are deeply saddened, of
course, by the passing of theirresident, but they were
thrilled to see her continue tolive with passion and purpose,
skydiving earlier this month at104, ultimately proving that age
is just a number.
Whether you got the record ornot, slap the power that props
(46:32):
to you.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
I mean, what a life though.
What a life 104 and skydiving,Hell yeah, she doesn't need that
record.
We all know it now and I'm gladshe got some props and got a
new story out of it.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
Going out with a bang .
Speaker 3 (46:43):
I like it For real.
Yeah, for real.
That's amazing.
I love that one.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
All right, that'll do it for us this week.
Before we head out, make sureto like, comment, share,
subscribe, hit us up in thecomments, ask us any question.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
Who knows, we might even chop it up on the episode
next week and if you want tofoster or adopt one of our
amazing animals we talk about onthe show, you can always visit
Compassion Kind and we alwayshave our links in the show notes
to help find our pups.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Yes, find them some forever homes yes.
And before we get out of here,as we are taping this, it is the
evening of January 7th and ourhearts go out to everybody in
the Pacific Palisades and thefires, and it's a crazy time.
I've been getting texts whilewe've been on air from friends
(47:34):
that have had to evacuate, andwe also know our partners have
already had to evacuate, and so,yeah, our hearts are definitely
out to you guys.
Take care of each other andstay safe.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
Yeah, definitely Lean on your neighbors, and I'm
rooting for all the animals andhumans to get out of there.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Yeah, alright, till next week.
Sonics, love, action, progress.
That's right.
See you guys next week.
Bye, slap the Power is a SlapNetwork production.
It's written and produced byRick Barriodil and Asia Nakia.
Our senior producer is BreeCorey, audio and video editing
by Asher Freidberg and BrieCorey and studio facilities
provided by Slap Studios LA and360 Pod Studios.
(48:16):
If you're into online powerscrolling, like we are, don't
forget to follow Slap the Poweron Instagram, twitter, tiktok,
youtube and probably Pinterestsoon For access to full episodes
, bonus content and more.
And if you're as full of hottakes and crazy ideas as we are,
please think about dropping usa review to help boost this
episode.
And you can help blow up thegroup chat by sharing with
(48:36):
friends, family or random shitposters on the internet.
You want in on the conversation.
And if you're interested inbeing a guest on the show,
please email info atslapthepowercom.
I'm one of 16 youth plaintiffs in Heldby Montana.
Seeing the wildfires, theflooding, the drought, countless
other inconsistencies, hasalways been something that's
kind of on my mind, even from avery young age.
So when the opportunity tobecome a part of the Heldby
Montana case presented itself tome, I was incredibly
invigorated and excited to joinsomething and use my voice in a
(00:22):
meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yes, yes, yes.
The world may not need anotherpodcast, but it can definitely
use a slap.
That's right.
Welcome to Slap the Power, theshow that lifts artists who use
their powers for positiveprogress.
I am Rick Barrio-Dill and I'mAsia Nakia On the show today.
2025 is here, and if syntheticlife created in a lab wasn't on
your bingo card, you are notalone.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And some exciting news in the Windy City as of
January 1st, chicago'smunicipality buildings are fully
renewable.
Until our incoming presidentdeclares war on the sun.
But you know.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Or Chicago, which I actually probably expect.
That one first.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Also on the show today.
Can semi-glutide weight lossprograms actually save you money
?
Our interview today is with theincredible organization Our
Children's Trust and ourfavorite child-led podcast,
earth Talk with the myth, thelegend, dr Keith Wolf.
Keith Wolf, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And a little later we catch up with Paws for Progress
.
Asia has some awesome updates.
I can't wait for you all tohear about it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
And then we do a quick game of two scams and a
slap where today you, thelistener, find out in real time
with me which of these threeinsanely crazy news stories is
actually true.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That's right.
All right, but first a littlehousekeeping.
Are you dipping your toes intothe world of online gambling by
chance?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Do you like poker?
Or how about sports?
Or just about sports, or justsilliness.
No better color man in the gamethan Mr Norman Chad.
Make sure to check out GamblingMad with Norman Chad everywhere
and anywhere you get yourpodcasts.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And speaking of podcasts, have you heard about
the Women in the Nude podcastC'est quoi, yes, where they bear
all except for their bodies?
I see you guys.
A runaway hit from Slap theNetwork and 360 Pod.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Studios.
That's right, it's a hit showcoming out the gate.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Season two Join actress and entrepreneur Sasha
Pierca as she brings a host ofincredible guests to the couch
to bear it all except for theirbodies.
They leave that up to yourimagination.
Go subscribe to the Women inthe Nude podcast anywhere.
You get your podcasts, allright.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We are back after a killer break.
Asia, it is so good to see youand get the updates from you.
How are you?
How was your break?
Tell me, tell me, how are you?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You know, honestly, I was like pretty sick over the
break, so I was mostly inbetween my bed and the bathroom
and making hot tea in my kitchen.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Oh my God, yeah, that's the wasn't, it wasn't
great.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
It was not the holiday break that I was, that I
was rooting for.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Do you find, when you get like really sick like that,
when you come out of it I knowI do it's like after you go
through something like that,when you come out of it you just
feel like a new person.
I just feel like.
I feel like being normal has anew level of like appreciation,
like I just appreciate normal.
I'm like, oh my God, it feelsso good just to be normal.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, which you kind of like.
It's kind of nice to appreciatethat your body just functions
normally every other day.
And you get to it like high fivebody.
Thank you for making me healthymost days.
But yeah, it was kind of like Ifeel almost like an end of year
, like purge too.
There's something about the newyear Like I'm not big on making
New Year's resolutions, like onday one, yeah, but I do feel
(03:55):
like your body just can't likeit can't get away from the fact
that mentally you're in thislike state of like renew.
I was sick and like it broughtme into this fresh new start
into the new year.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
What I like about that is we can slide into
fascism with really fresh immunoyeah you got to be ready, you
got to be ready.
You got to be prepared.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Exactly you got to have a head on a swivel, but how
about your break?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean.
So my break.
I worked pretty much the wholeentire break, but I worked
basically in a really quietplace.
Luckily I didn't get sick.
Bree and I were doingvoiceovers all over the break
and sending stuff back and forth.
It's just been really fun.
Also great about this gig is sowe prerecorded our interview
(04:44):
that you guys are going to hearwith the incredible, incredible
organization, our Children'sTrust, as well as the kids, our
favorite little young podcasters, the Earth Talk kids and, as we
mentioned, dr Keith Wolf.
It was literally the day afterwe did the interview.
It was they had news.
Our Children's Trust had newsand we're so super stoked to
(05:06):
tell it to you.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
No, it was crazy because we, you know, on the
interview we were talking aboutthis case and they were waiting
to hear back and they just theywere sort of in limbo, they
weren't sure how it was going togo.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And then they actually won.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
They won the next day yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I mean that was insane news and you know, just
to give some you know intel onthis.
It was the high court ofMontana and they agreed that
children have a fundamentalright to a safe and livable
climate.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
That is huge.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
I mean this is like insane.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So it was 16 plaintiffs that were, you know,
basically fighting for thehealth and safety of the climate
that they're living in.
These are our next generationof teens growing up, and the
court agreed, the Supreme Courtagreed.
This was a resounding six toone victory, and this decision
(05:58):
is now embedded into the Montanaconstitutional law.
I mean, it is there.
That's amazing, that childrendeserve to have a clean climate.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yes, so you guys are going to hear the interview from
the day before this?
Yeah, but a lot of incrediblestuff in the interview and I
look forward to the court case.
You know, donald J Trump versusthese children, because you're
going up against a force, thesekids will push back at you.
Don't get it twisted.
So how about this?
For a segue, there's a newproject that aims to build
synthetic life from scratch forthe first time.
(06:29):
I was just blown away by thisstory, but there's a $13 million
project funded by the EuropeanResearch Council.
It's working to create simpleliving systems capable of quote
Darwinian evolution end quoteWithin the next six years.
Instead of using nucleotides,dna and RNA bits that are
considered the building blocksof life, the many life
researchers plan to coax complexgrowth reactions out of simple
(06:52):
chemicals that, to at least twodifferent types of environments,
will grow and flourish.
Scientists hope that cooking uplab controlled life could shed
some light on how natural lifebegan on earth nearly four
billion years ago.
But what could go wrong?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I can see like 10 different movie like plots, yeah
, that's right, we got claimedto the movie rights here, that's
right, that's right, ace it wejust claimed the movie, right?
I'm gonna type out my ideasright now and put a date and I'm
gonna mail it to myself.
What could go wrong, you know?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
you could make you know I yeah, it's kind of date
and I'm going to mail it tomyself?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No, no, what could go wrong?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
You know you could make you know.
Yeah, it's kind of.
I mean, you know about cloningand you know about stuff with.
You know stem cells and thingslike that.
But I'm interested to you knowto see how this goes.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Well, on that note, moving back to some climate news
, so this Chicago, allmunicipality buildings in
Chicago are completely renewableenergy.
Chi-town, yeah, I mean over 400buildings.
That is absolutely insane,that's incredible and what a
monstrosity of an accomplishmentfor that city.
Yeah, so, since January 1st,400 plus of the buildings in the
(07:58):
Windy City, includingfirehouses, airports, two of the
world's biggest water treatmentplants, are all on renewable.
So, 70% of their needs will comefrom the double black diamond
solar projects in Illinois,which is one of the largest
solar fields in the US.
I mean, this is such big news.
I mean props to Chicago.
(08:19):
Yeah, it says that they'reliterally going to take out
62,000 cars worth of pollution.
Wow, that's insane.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
That's insane, until the president declares war on
Chicago.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Until that, yeah sure , all right, and as we teased in
the beginning.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
How's this?
For another segue, can Ozempicreally save you money?
I saw this story and I was just, you know, around here.
It's the start of uh awardseason, which you know I love, I
love, I love the pad, I lovethe pageantry, I love the kind
of um, I don't know, there'sjust a celebration of
achievement.
It's the reason for people toget together, it's a reason and
(08:59):
people make fun of it and stufflike that.
But I really really dig it andso you know a lot of weight loss
drugs like the semi-glutidestuff has been really popular,
the groundbreaking drugs likeWigovi and ZipBound.
They might be coming for thelunch of the food companies
because people using these drugsfor weight loss, they start
(09:21):
spending a lot less on food, andthe industry is figuring this
out, and a new working paper byCornell University researchers
found that households in whichat least one person begins
taking appetite suppressantdrugs, like the semi-glutides,
like Ozempic and things, spend6% less on grocery bills on
average in the first six months,and for higher income families
(09:43):
the spending pullback wasgreater at 9%, which is which is
.
Is that a bad thing?
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I don't know.
Yeah, I mean it kind of goesboth ways right.
Like some.
You know, some industries aregoing to gain a lot from this
and some are going to lose.
Like I was reading, it wassaying you know, some businesses
like you know airlines mightreduce their fuel costs,
clothing companies using less,like I mean it's things that you
(10:11):
wouldn't even like.
I wasn't even really thinkingabout it but I was reading
through the article and I waslike, wow, okay, airlines, food
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah.
But, the big pharma companiesare, you know, obviously the
ones to gain, I think, the mosthere, yeah, and food companies,
snack companies.
I would imagine would be thebottom tier.
But yeah, it's very interestingand it's funny because I
actually did try to sign myselfup for Ozempic, just for shits
and giggles.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
You don't need it.
And they told me no, no, but Ireally was like darn.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I wanted to try it and see if it worked, but they
didn't allow me in the partytrain, so I won't be saving
money on my groceries.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Oh.
I am not part of the 6%, notpart of the 6% or the 9%.
But you know there's the blackmarket at Ozempic.
But you know you got to becareful.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You got to be careful with that.
Yeah, you got to be carefulwith that stuff.
Throw in another arm orsomething crazy, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
All right.
Well, I'm super excited.
Coming up after the breakyou're going to hear our
interview with the kids from ourchildren's trust and on the
precipice of what we now know tobe a winning court case in
their whole battle and the bigclimate change stuff.
So stick around.
Speaker 8 (11:21):
Gambling is part of the culture of America Since
even before we were America.
I'm Norman Chad.
I know gambling.
I've played blackjack and poker.
I've bet sports and horse races.
I've even hit the slot machinesat a Pahrump, nevada 7-Eleven.
You say gambling, I sayGambling Mad.
So join me on Gambling Mad withNorman Chad wherever you find
(11:44):
your podcasts.
Follow us on socials atGambling Mad Show or at Gambling
Mad Norman Chad at YouTube.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
All right, Hello Earth Talkers, Thank you so much
for raising your powerful andgenerational voices.
Aj, Dora, Eli and Zaya, thankyou so much for hosting this
podcast and for all the work youdo.
And, on behalf of us and to ourChildren's Trust's guests, Matt
, Ava and Pahono, we know thatclimate change has neither been
(12:14):
nor is being solved by thecurrent and past generations,
and we know that we must all doa better job, and that job is
going to take time and energy.
Thank you for what you aredoing and we cannot wait to hear
your stories.
Speaker 10 (12:29):
Thanks, asia, keith and Rick, and welcome to Earth
Talk.
Generational voices changingclimate change.
We're a youth-led podcastraising our voices for all
generations, because climatechange is the paramount
challenge of our time and willbe for much longer.
That means it demands nothingless than our immediate and
resolved best actions now andfor many future generations to
come.
Our mission is for our voicesto be heard, for our generation
(12:52):
to be seen as a constituencythat deserves better action and
protection from our leaders.
Dora.
Speaker 7 (12:57):
So we're going to break all this down with our
friends at SLAP and with ourawesome guests, to give all our
voices the power they deserve.
We're going to talk about thefuture of climate change, and
today we'd like to shed aspotlight on the importance of
youth representation in thecourts and consequences of the
recent US election on youth-ledlitigation here and on a global
scale.
To help us do this, we'rehonored to be bringing you a
(13:19):
compelling conversation with ourChildren's Trust, who are
building youth power, tellingtheir climate stories and
asserting their climate rightsin courts around the world.
Joining all of us today is MattDeSantos, with us here in
studio.
Matt is the co-executivedirector at our Children's Trust
in Eugene, oregon.
Next is Ava, who is a plaintiffin the Held v the State of
(13:41):
Montana case and joins us fromLivingston, montana.
And finally, pahonu, who is aplaintiff in the Navajin versus
the Hawaii Department ofTransportation case.
Welcome Matt, ava and Pahonu,we're so excited to have you
with us today.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
So, Matt, let's start with a bit of background on Our
Children's Trust.
Please tell us about themission of your organization and
the cases you handle.
Speaker 9 (14:03):
Sure Well, thanks everybody, everybody for having
us here today.
It's a real honor to be here atthe school and to be working on
this podcast with you all.
So our Children's Trust wasfounded in 2010, so almost 15
years ago on a couple of basicconcepts.
One is that children are themost impacted people by climate
(14:25):
change.
So they're most impacted in acouple of ways.
Right, our bodies and ourbrains are forming from ages
zero, when we're in the womb,all the way up through age 26,
when our brain stops forming,and the consequences of climate
change and climate pollution onforming brains can last well
into adulthood, when our brainstops forming and the
consequences of climate changeand climate pollution on forming
(14:45):
brains can last well intoadulthood.
So the experiences of climatepollution today can be carried
on for the rest of lives, andthat's why not only do children
born today live with climateconsequences longer than, say,
someone who you know I'm 45 willlive with them, but because
(15:05):
they also have these lastingconsequences, depending on the
kind of climate pollution thatthey're exposed to.
So that's one reason.
The other reason is that courtshave played a central role in
the preservation of ourdemocracy here in the United
States.
What do I mean by that?
So you know, we have theexecutive branch, which is the
(15:27):
president, we have thelegislature, which is, you know,
the way that we make rules andlaws and then we have the courts
who enforce our constitutionand our constitutional
principles.
And so when the executivebranch and the legislature are
out of balance with likeminority rights, right, the
courts step in to try balancewith like minority rights right.
The courts step in to try andprotect those minority rights,
(15:48):
or at least that's what they doin concept, and so we were
trying to activate the courts byempowering youth-powered
litigation and youth voices, andthey're all based in the best
available climate science.
So that's a little bit aboutsort of where our children's
trust started and kind of thebasic principles behind us.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
We'd love to hear from Eva and Pahona.
Can you introduce yourselvesand tell us what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Hello, my name is Eva Lighthizer.
I'm one of 16 youth plaintiffsin Heldby, Montana, and I have
grown up for most of my life inrural Montana and there's not a
lot of things to do other thango outside, so I spent a lot of
my childhood outdoors, gained alot of foundational experiences
outside.
I've always been fascinatedwith the ecosystems and the
(16:40):
wildlife, the landscapes, therivers, the lakes, and seeing
those under threat of climatechange has always been a great
worry of mine.
Seeing the wildfires, theflooding, the drought, countless
other inconsistencies, hasalways been something that's
kind of on my mind, even from avery young age.
So when the opportunity tobecome a part of the Helvey
Montana case presented itself tome, I was incredibly
(17:01):
invigorated and excited to joinsomething and use my voice in a
meaningful way.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
Aloha mai kakou.
My name is Pahonu Coleman.
I'm one of the 13 plaintiffs inNavahe University Department of
Transportation, hawaii'sclimate lawsuit and you know
kind of my work is withinconservation and sustainability
efforts here in Hawaii and now,more recently, with climate
(17:27):
justice, with Navahine,celebrating a really historic
settlement and a win really forHawaii.
I'm excited to be here andshare this space and mahalo nui.
Speaker 7 (17:41):
So can you help us understand what is being
challenged in the courts?
Speaker 9 (17:45):
At its core, the cases that we bring are about
the injuries that children areexperiencing because of climate
change.
So, in Pohonu's case, forexample, there are plaintiffs
who are losing access totraditional ways of accessing
food right, like fishing ponds,and there are also things like
(18:10):
that are happening to people'shomes.
Right, people have lost theirhomes in flooding or in
wildfires.
People are also experiencingthe consequences of climate
pollution through increasedrates of asthma or allergies
things that are physical harmsas well as other harms to
people's mental health, tofurther invest in fossil fuel
(18:40):
energy structures, which we knowlead to increased greenhouse
gas emissions, and that thosegreenhouse gas emissions lead to
those harms.
And so, at its core, all of ourcases are similar in that sense
, but where they're different isthat they're in different
states often.
(19:00):
So Ava's case is in Montana,pahona's case is in Hawaii, and
they each have laws andconstitutions that are different
.
Right, many of us think aboutthe Constitution here in the
United States as sort of beingthe Constitution, but in each of
our states, like here in Oregon, we have a state constitution
that protects our rights at thestate level, and so these cases
in states are challenging stateactions by the state of Hawaii
(19:24):
and the state of Montana andunder their state constitutions,
with the hope to have the courtfind that their actions were
unconstitutional and harmingchildren's bodies and mental
health, and to then have thoseactions stopped right.
(19:44):
Because that's really whatwe're trying to do is to stop
the state from creatingadditional climate pollution and
to create pathways todecarbonize right, to move
towards, you know, maybe anelectric vehicle or other ways
of transportation, as opposed tofurther investing in fossil
fuel infrastructure.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
What about the Paris Agreement and the COP meetings
From your perspective?
Do they have a significantenough impact on global scale,
and do the policies and actionscoming out of the agreement
protect children now and in theforeseeable future?
Speaker 9 (20:23):
children, now and in the foreseeable future.
So the Paris Agreement and COPit may not surprise anybody who
is on this podcast with me thatI have little faith in the Paris
Agreement or COP's ability tofix this problem for us.
And let me say a little bitmore for folks who are in the
room.
You know the Paris Agreement isan important agreement.
It was a multinationalagreement where most of the
(20:45):
countries in the world gottogether and agreed on certain
targets for reducing greenhousegas emissions.
This happened a while ago.
It's happened in 2015.
It's sort of a gathering ofnations to talk about climate
(21:08):
change and to try and createtargets for the reduction of
emissions.
Ok, so what's the problem withthat?
There's no problem with the ideaof getting them together is in
the global visibility thatclimate change garnered, because
all of the countries in theworld or almost all of the
countries in the world gottogether and said this is a
problem and this is how we'regoing to address it.
(21:29):
But frankly, I think that'sreally where their success ends,
because what we have seen isthis big gap in implementation.
So the country said we're goingto get together and we created
these targets, but now thecountries aren't actually on
track to meet their targets, sothey're not reducing their
carbon emissions consistent withthe Paris Agreement.
(21:51):
And we've also seen otherthings relating to COP right
where I think someone recentlysaid that COP has basically
turned it into a gathering forfossil fuel lobbyists.
And you know they had it in acountry recently where there was
a.
You know they were sort made itso that folks like us in the
climate space have lost a littlebit of faith in that particular
(22:26):
process.
And I want to say that I dothink it's important that
countries still try to cometogether to talk about this in a
unified way.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Do you think it's because there's just not
sufficient penalties for this,and because this is a global
problem, fighting it on a localscale almost seems as ridiculous
as it was to try and fightCOVID state by state.
My question is in yourexperience, there's not really
any sort of penalties and sothere's no way to hold people
(22:56):
accountable, or what do youthink is the weak link here?
Or what do you think is theweak?
Speaker 9 (22:59):
link here.
That is part of the problem,right?
I think, really, look, for aninternational agreement to be
effective in law, it has to bebinding.
And when you have somebody likethe United States who refuses
(23:23):
to allow international treatiesto be binding on them as like a
mechanism in law and I don'twant to get too wonky, right,
but you need to have, like, notonly we can go and agree to an
international treaty, right, butthen unless the Senate goes
through and says, and now weagree to be bound by this,
there's no binding mechanism inthe United States to hold us
accountable for that, and thatto me seems like a big problem,
at least domestically, for us.
But even in countries like let'sget real, in countries where it
(23:47):
is binding, they're not meetingtargets.
And that's where some of thoselawsuits that you're seeing
generated out of Europe havebeen focused, which you know,
the Clemus and Yorin case, orlike I sort of affectionately
refer to it as the Swissgrannies case, which is like a
bunch of you know grandmothersin Switzerland came together and
(24:07):
said like look, this is a bigproblem, you aren't on target
and this is a basic human rightthat you have agreed to.
You're still seeing countriesnot abiding by that, and so,
even with enforcement mechanisms, we're not seeing the kind of
results that we would expect tosee.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
And Matt, what about the funding that is given to the
smaller countries?
So from World Bank, you know,through the COP agreements?
Do you feel that that fundingis sufficient for these small
countries?
Speaker 9 (24:37):
So no, I don't think it's sufficient.
And I think you know countries.
So no, I don't think it'ssufficient.
And I think you know we can seeour brothers and sisters and
I'm sure Pono has thoughts aboutthis like from the countries
like Tuvalu, who have basicallysaid, like look a lot of the
agreements, just leave us outaltogether, because all of the
targets that you're aiming forare targets that would see our
(24:58):
island nations go underwater.
And like I think there's like abigger question there, which is
, if you disappear somebody'scountry, how much money would
you have to pay them toreimburse them for that right?
Like, how much are those lives,how much is that culture worth?
And I don't think that we as,if I'm being completely frank, I
(25:21):
don't think that we asWesterners, right, like sort of
Western nations, have any rolein determining what the value is
on, you know, the lives andculture of the nation of Tuvalu.
But beyond that, just to getinto kind of like the nitty
gritties about the World Bank,other than sort of like the
problems that they have, there'slike a real fundamental issue
(25:46):
of both whether there'ssufficient funding and then
whether there is access to thosefunds.
So even if we suddenly had amiracle and someone said we're
going to put $100 trillion intosupporting mitigation and
adaptation efforts into the bank.
Then it's like, well, who hasthe right to that money and how
(26:09):
do they get that money and whatis that money used for and what
we've seen?
I think, while there is a lotof good sort of effort to try to
get to some of those problemsso far, the reason why you're
seeing smaller countries and themost vulnerable countries
really advocating for betterrules around this is because
(26:31):
there still isn't equity andaccess, let alone the type of
money that you would need toreally kind of right the wrongs
that have happened because of,you know, climate emissions
since the industrial age.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Matt, how is our Children's Trust founded, and
what would you like to say aboutthe kinds of support needed to
meet your objectives and mission?
Speaker 9 (26:54):
Sure.
So our Children's Trust wasfounded by Julia Olson, who is
from Eugene Oregon.
By Julia Olson, who is fromEugene Oregon, and she was a
really incredible pioneeringlawyer who wanted to see
systemic change in an area wherepeople were attacking the
problem through really limitedlaws.
(27:14):
So there was kind of an ideathat in order for us to see the
kind of systemic change that wewant, we have to change the
legal system and the assumptionsunder which we're operating.
So I'll just take a step backand try to make this as simple
as possible, which is ourcountry and the constitutional
(27:38):
principle that guarantees acouple of things.
Right, like things that peoplewill always say.
They'll say oh well, Iunderstand that the Constitution
protects my right to life,liberty, the pursuit of
happiness, these kind of phrasesthat you've heard all
throughout school and in yourgovernment classes.
My next question would be and Ithink Julia's question in
(28:15):
founding our children's trust iswhat does the right to life
mean, or liberty or property, ifyou don't have clean air or if
that land is constantly on fireor if you can't leave your home
because of flooding?
So I think the intuitive answeris not much.
Right, like those rights don'tmean much if we don't have a
safe, stable climate.
So in states like Montana andHawaii there are explicit
protections in the constitution.
But even in like at the federallevel, in states like Oregon
where there isn't an explicitprotection of the constitution,
we think that that right has tobe read into the constitution
(28:38):
here for the constitution tomake any sense.
So that's how it was founded andin terms of supporting our
Children's Trust.
Our Children's Trust iscompletely funded by individuals
.
I was going to say like you, butit's actually probably like
your parents, but I think thatit's all individual donations,
(29:04):
with very little exception.
Our entire budget comes frompeople making contributions.
Like 95% of our budget are fromgifts of $500 or less, and all
of our work is supported by that.
We don't get any legal fees.
We don't charge any of thechildren that we're working with
fees for representation, andthat's because we believe that
(29:28):
no child and no family shouldhave to shoulder the burden of
defending their children fromclimate change.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Matt, on your website you say the future of 2 billion
children is threatened byclimate change.
Wow, that is shocking,especially since we are those
children.
Where does this number comefrom and do you think it is
going to increase or decreaseover the next 10 years?
Speaker 9 (29:55):
So it is shocking, and part of the reason why we
put that number up there is toreally quantify the impact of
climate change on children'slives worldwide, that number, I
think.
For me what is really importantabout that number is the way in
which the consequences aregetting worse the longer we wait
(30:20):
to take immediate action.
So it is.
It's not necessarily that therewill be, obviously like the
population of children isgrowing slowly over time, or at
least it is right now.
But what is definite is thatthe impacts of climate change on
those two billion or sochildren are getting worse year
(30:42):
over year and we're seeing thatextend well into adulthoods for
children who were born 20 yearsago.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Also, you point to three areas of emphasis on your
website.
Number one is science-poweredsolutions, number two,
youth-powered litigation andnumber three, a
democracy-powered future.
How did you come up with thoseas the three main areas of focus
for your organization, I mean?
Speaker 9 (31:07):
basically the three areas of youth-powered
litigation, science-basedsolutions and democracy are core
principles, I think, toachieving the kinds of results
that we want to achieve in ourlifetimes and to really make
sure that the earth is a morelivable place for future
(31:30):
generations once we havetransitioned off of this earth.
But I think that really, wedecided that it was important to
focus in on youth, because webelieve that children are most
impacted and they also have someof the most important stories
to tell in solving this crisis.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
Could you tell us about the 350 parts per million
pathway report?
What is it?
Speaker 9 (31:55):
So when we emit greenhouse gases, we create a
blanket around the earth.
It's like an atmospheric blanketand sun comes in and it gets
trapped in this warming blanket,because the more greenhouse
gases that are in the atmosphere, the thicker the blanket gets
and the more heat that's trapped.
And that's what's causing, youknow, glaciers to melt or sea
(32:16):
level to rise.
And so by getting that down,you're like changing your
blanket out for the season.
Right, you're like getting alighter blanket and you're
letting more heat out so thatyou're more comfortable.
And the 350 Pathways report wasreally to prove, by working
(32:36):
with these energy experts, thatit is technologically feasible
today to transition off offossil fuels onto clean,
renewable energy and that thattransition would have a very,
very small impact on oureconomies and in fact, could
create economic growth.
(32:57):
Because a lot of times you'llhear like, oh, it's too
expensive, et cetera.
And while it's true that someupfront costs are high in
transitioning our energy system,the overall consequences are,
you know, tremendous savings onhealth bills and actually energy
becomes a lot more efficientwhen you have clean, renewable
(33:20):
energy.
Like, for example I don't knowif a lot of people know this but
like your car, if it's acombustion car, like the truck I
own, my partner and I own,those are only about 30%
efficient.
So of the gas that you put infor every gallon, you're really
only getting 30% of that gallonin energy to move your car
around Electric vehicles are way, way, way more efficient than
(33:42):
gasoline vehicles, so theyactually use less energy per
sort of mile traveled.
Speaker 10 (33:48):
Another thing that we have heard about is the
pathway to climate recovery.
Can you tell me more about themission of that?
Speaker 9 (33:55):
Sure, so the pathway to climate recovery is this
basic idea that we all have theright to a stable, livable
climate, so all of us in thisroom have this right, and that
we can't effectively demand thatright from our institutions
unless we know that.
So what does that mean?
So that means that we developthis, this curriculum, right to,
(34:21):
to roll out to teachers andstudents and health
professionals, to teach themthat that, you know, everybody
has a right to a livable climate.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Oh, that's great.
That's great.
This question is for Ava andLuna.
Given the global nature ofclimate change, how do your
cases in the US resonate acrossthe states?
We're specifically interestedin this because you guys are the
ones that are doing the work inthe courts.
You're putting the casestogether and you're fighting it
(34:54):
where it probably does the mosthelp.
So have you seen an impact onyour cases beyond the American
borders?
Speaker 6 (35:02):
Just this past month, I was fortunate to be able to
travel to Bermuda, which isanother island nation located in
the Atlantic Ocean, coming fromthe Pacific Ocean.
There was really a lot ofplaces where we could find
commonality between the twocommunities, and one of those is
that a lot of young people areexperiencing sea level rise
(35:24):
because we are constantly inthose places, in those spaces,
spaces, and in Hawaii, we reallybelieve that our aloha, our
love for our land, our communityand place can really teach
something to the world whenwe're thinking about how our
future looks like and how we'regoing to interact with nature in
(35:47):
the future.
Of course, gained a lot ofinternational and national
coverage through the press, andit's sometimes through the
simplest.
I refer them as pebbles.
Speaker 10 (35:57):
Ivan Pohonu.
Let's talk more about thefuture.
What are some of the next stepsin your cases and communities?
Do you think the courts arehearing you and are the results
what you expected?
Speaker 1 (36:06):
As for Held v Montana , we went to trial last June and
we did win, and we received adecision from the judge two
months following the trial andthen, following that, we were
appealed to the Montana SupremeCourt, where we had an oral
argument this past July.
So now we are awaiting adecision from the Montana
Supreme Court.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
This is for Matt and Ava and Pahono.
It's incredibly awesome to hearabout all these initiatives.
What can our listeners do tosupport the efforts of the cases
in Hawaii and in Montana andbeyond you?
Speaker 9 (36:40):
can go to our website , ourchildrenstrustorg, sign up
to be a supporter on ournewsletter.
On our newsletter, you can goto our social media, which is
youthvgov, across all of ourplatforms, like TikTok,
instagram, facebook, et cetera,and you can reach out to
(37:02):
volunteer or donate money.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
What I think is so amazing about our Children's
Trust as well is the fact thatthey've provided us with a space
and a platform to use ourvoices and take action for the
climate, and I think that's likeso invaluable in a time where
we're not exactly guaranteed asafe and healthy future.
So, yeah, any support that ourchildren's trust can get is
really special because that sothey can continue providing a
space and a platform for us touse our voices.
Speaker 6 (37:29):
Here in Hawaii, oct has now helped us form a lot of
more conversations around whatmore sustainable tourism looks
like.
So, for Hawaii, I alwaysencourage people to be cautious
about when you're visiting ourplace, especially during a
crisis, and that's the climatecrisis.
So try to get involved with thecommunities when you come here,
(37:50):
volunteer and really be thatchange.
It's very simple If you pick upyour trash, you know, educate
people and have conversations inyour families and share with
people about the work that OCTis doing.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
Of course, Before we wrap up, is there any message
you'd like to share with theyounger generation of kids like
us listening to this podcast?
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Never forget the power of your voice.
I think the biggest thing thatI've learned throughout this
experience as a youth plaintiffwho was able to testify in court
is that my voice does havepower and an effect, and they
really are kind of our greatesttools.
And I think that your voicedoesn't necessarily have to be
in the most literal sense Maybeit's from the art you create or
(38:32):
the way you show up for yourcommunity or the activities you
do but I think that just usingyour voice and seeing the power
and the effect of your voice isreally important, and I know how
stressful and hopeless theclimate crisis can make me feel
sometimes, so I think it'salways important to remember
that when we feel hopeless anduninspired by the worrisome
(38:55):
state of our planet, I thinkit's especially important that
you do the things you love to doand that you try and spend time
around the people who are goingto lift you up and support you.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
Yeah, I would say it very similarly that it's very
important for young people tounderstand, of course, their
right to being here on thisearth and continue to learn.
I think that's one of thebiggest things, as young people,
we can do during this climatecrisis learn from people like
(39:29):
Matt and Dr Keith, also formingour own ideas and how we're
going to really make thatpositive change that is needed.
And we have to connect withpeople, we need to relate with
people and we need to find ourbelonging to this earth.
Speaker 7 (39:46):
Thank you so much for joining us today Rick, asia,
keith, matt, ava and Pony.
It was such an interestingconversation and I think we all
learned so much.
And to our listeners, thank youfor tuning into Earth Talk
Generational Voices, changingClimate Change.
Be sure to explore the work ofOur Children's Trust at
ourchildrenstrustorg andconsider supporting their
(40:06):
critical efforts.
They work tirelessly on behalfof all of us to amplify our
voices and ensure that ourcollective impact is strong and
meaningful.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Until next time, stay engaged, stay informed and keep
pushing for the change.
We must demand your support andaction makes it happen.
Speaker 11 (40:25):
Join me, sasha Peters, on Women in the New
Season 2, where we bear it allexcept for our bodies, leave
that to your imagination.
In the new season two, where webear it all except for our
bodies, leave that to yourimagination.
My wish for women is that westrip away the fear of judgment
and really embrace the fullspectrum of who we are.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
I don't know if you were coming to terms with being
pregnant on the show.
Speaker 11 (40:40):
Yeah, I think she was a little depressed.
Let's live boldly and openlyand change the narratives that
define us.
I called my doctor.
I'm like I want to drive my carthrough a brick wall.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
We deserve it and there's no better time than now.
Let's get out of our comfortzone and get down to the bottom
of who we are.
I mean, you heard it here, manthese kids, they are legit,
they're the future, and I'm soproud of them that you know they
won.
It was a resounding win.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
So I mean it's just huge.
It really shows that kids dohave a voice and you can make
change, and I think that whatour Children's Trust is doing
and amplifying and giving thesekids a platform in the court
system to be able to speak upfor their whole generation, to
have a climate that they canlive in I mean, what can be
(41:28):
better?
I?
Mean what can be better?
So I mean the interview wasamazing, hearing the kids'
perspectives and what they werefighting for, and then to come
back next day with that win.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
I couldn't be happier .
Come on.
The only thing better than thatis puppies.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
That which takes us to the renowned segment of Pause
for Progress.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Pause for.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
Progress baby Woof, Woof.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Do we need to add like we need a little?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
sound effect on there but anyways, we had, um, two
interesting cases that were bothcaught on ring cameras.
Now these cases are very sad.
I won't go into completedetails on them.
The good news is that we havethe dogs all right.
But the first case was, youknow, with a family member was
walking our beautiful baby girl,athena, and kicked her off of a
(42:18):
sidewalk and it was caught oncamera and you could tell that
her demeanor was like she wasvery scared of this man, like
this abuse had been, you know,happening.
So with the power of socialmedia, we were able to identify
the family.
We were able to, you know,approach them.
They did surrender the dog andI mean it just.
It just shows what we canaccomplish when we all work
(42:39):
together.
I mean people were sharing thisstory all over the place.
I mean Long Beach police,animal, you know, animal
services, everybody got involved.
So that was, that was a greatwin.
And then we had another onesame thing caught on ring.
So you know what Animal abusersdo not fare well with anybody
on my team and all of thecapabilities with ring cameras,
(43:04):
like people check your ringcameras because you have no idea
what your neighbors are up to.
So I mean, like seriously thankgoodness for these ring cams
because we would have nevercaught these abusers.
So really I mean like seriously, thank goodness for these ring
cams, Cause we would have nevercaught these abusers.
So really, really good stuff.
Um, and again, FBI, I am here.
If you need a new recruit, justsaying.
Um and then I just wanted togive a quick shout out to
(43:26):
Jennifer Aniston.
I was put on this group chatwith one of the shelter
volunteers that I work with andshe is posting all of the dogs
that are in need of pull youknow that need rescue, that are
on euthanasia lists from all thecounty shelters, which I was
like.
What a great way to use yourplatform for good.
Thank you, jennifer.
We need a couple more gensdoing that.
(43:49):
But the group does well, youknow people are on it and a lot
of these animals get saved.
Speaker 2 (43:54):
So it was yeah, props .
Yes, and so you can find outthrough the links, through our
site, as well as Compassion Kind.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yes, lots of new babies that are in need of
fostering.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
That's right.
That's right.
Get some four-legged furgoodness up in your life.
Yes, yeah, all right.
Well, before we get out of here, this segment is always fun
because the headlines havegotten so crazy that we don't
know what's true or not trueanymore.
Mark Zuckerberg just saidthey're pulling truth checking
from Facebook, which you know.
It's just so gross.
(44:28):
But anyway, where do we go?
What?
What is what is real?
And so you, the listener,you're going to find out in real
time today, with anotherepisode of two scams and a slap.
Uh, today, are you ready?
You're going to hear Asia forthe first time, she has not
heard these.
Uh, we've gotten some threeheadlines together and she's
(44:49):
going to try to pick with you,the listener which one is
actually legit.
The other two are just regularold batshit.
Crazy, okay, I'm ready Allright here we go.
All right.
Number one local artist paintsa mural of a cat riding a
unicorn.
The city considers it forhistoric preservation.
(45:12):
Number two woman claims to havediscovered a new color.
Turns out it's just a very boldshade of beige.
And number three 104-year-oldwoman dies before Guinness can
confirm her record as the oldestskydiver on record.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
Oh man, these are all like a little I know right,
like, like, really um, I thinkI'm gonna go with the last one,
the guinness, you are correctonce again.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
I think asia might even be undefeated in this game,
whereas I don't think I've everwon yet, but either way, yeah
you?
yeah, you are absolutely correct.
A 104-year-old woman has died,a little more than a week after
she potentially broke the worldrecord for the oldest skydiver.
Dorothy Hoffner jumped 13,500feet from a plane with Skydive
Chicago.
Not in Chicago, though InOttawa.
(46:09):
Not in Chicago, though InOttawa On Monday at Brookdale
Senior Living.
The associates of BrookdaleLakeview are deeply saddened, of
course, by the passing of theirresident, but they were
thrilled to see her continue tolive with passion and purpose,
skydiving earlier this month at104, ultimately proving that age
is just a number.
Whether you got the record ornot, slap the power that props
(46:32):
to you.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
I mean, what a life though.
What a life 104 and skydiving,Hell yeah, she doesn't need that
record.
We all know it now and I'm gladshe got some props and got a
new story out of it.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
Going out with a bang .
Speaker 3 (46:43):
I like it For real.
Yeah, for real.
That's amazing.
I love that one.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
All right, that'll do it for us this week.
Before we head out, make sureto like, comment, share,
subscribe, hit us up in thecomments, ask us any question.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
Who knows, we might even chop it up on the episode
next week and if you want tofoster or adopt one of our
amazing animals we talk about onthe show, you can always visit
Compassion Kind and we alwayshave our links in the show notes
to help find our pups.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Yes, find them some forever homes yes.
And before we get out of here,as we are taping this, it is the
evening of January 7th and ourhearts go out to everybody in
the Pacific Palisades and thefires, and it's a crazy time.
I've been getting texts whilewe've been on air from friends
(47:34):
that have had to evacuate, andwe also know our partners have
already had to evacuate, and so,yeah, our hearts are definitely
out to you guys.
Take care of each other andstay safe.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
Yeah, definitely Lean on your neighbors, and I'm
rooting for all the animals andhumans to get out of there.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Yeah, alright, till next week.
Sonics, love, action, progress.
That's right.
See you guys next week.
Bye, slap the Power is a SlapNetwork production.
It's written and produced byRick Barriodil and Asia Nakia.
Our senior producer is BreeCorey, audio and video editing
by Asher Freidberg and BrieCorey and studio facilities
provided by Slap Studios LA and360 Pod Studios.
(48:16):
If you're into online powerscrolling, like we are, don't
forget to follow Slap the Poweron Instagram, twitter, tiktok,
youtube and probably Pinterestsoon For access to full episodes
, bonus content and more.
And if you're as full of hottakes and crazy ideas as we are,
please think about dropping usa review to help boost this
episode.
And you can help blow up thegroup chat by sharing with
(48:36):
friends, family or random shitposters on the internet.
You want in on the conversation.
And if you're interested inbeing a guest on the show,
please email info atslapthepowercom.
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