Environmental Content Creation with METAPHOR Isaias Hernandez

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After criss-crossing at climate events on both coasts, Isaias Hernandez, also known as Queer Brown Vegan, sits down with Amber to discuss being an environmental content creator. 

Growing up in poverty in LA, Isaias played in nature but had an a-ha moment when he realized he IS nature.  And he’s been breaking down barriers ever since.  

Together, we wind our way through the intersection of Western and community-based science and the need for diverse storytelling in both.  

And he’s not stopping there.  Looking to the future, he’s imaging events, nonprofits, tv, and more into being – while also acknowledging the need for rest to remain curious and creative.  

PS.  You may enjoy tracking how many times Isaias says “fungi” during the show!



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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Mycelium, the reason why I use them as such a metaphor for my queer identity is that the diversity

(00:07):
and the oddities that have come to it, right? Like the fungi kingdom is opposite from the animal
and plant a kingdom. They are their own kingdom yet these fungi have thousands of sex species, but they
also are grown during harsh temperatures underground and they give rise to their fruits of themselves.

(00:27):
So like what you see is the fungus fruit, you don't see the roots of the mycelium because that's not it.
It's underground these networks and I think for me to see that a non-traditional form of what you
would see as beautiful, right? Whether that's an animal or plant, a fungi kind of
challenges you to think what the heck is that, but to it's like, but it's not a plant or animal.

(00:48):
So what are you? And so I think as a queer person here in America, I think that's something where
I've really struggled with is people asking like, what are you? And it's like, I'm human.
Welcome to the EarthMates podcast. Together we explore how to find your path from climate

(01:09):
anxiety to community action by asking, who are you? Because just like any relationship, that matters.
So get ready to be raw and real, but also playful and silly with me, Chief Relationship Officer Amber
Peoples, as we discover what's possible through the lens of the five Earth archetypes.

(01:35):
Curiosity and subscription buttons highly encouraged.
Welcome, friends. Today as we record this session, it was just the longest night of the year.
And what was so special is I had this moment to be with the sunset's last night and I'm still

(01:58):
feeling that reverberation as as it darkens today close to sunset here again, where I am at the 45th
parallel on the north side. And what I love about that feeling is that feeling of
slowness, of taking a beat, of a way that's often referred to in the Celtic calendar as a time to

(02:28):
begin receptivity until we get to the symbolic in about six weeks from now. And so with that energy
around me, I'm very excited to start this podcast, but wherever you are listening to this, it could
be summer solstice perhaps by the time you're listening to this. And so I want to honor where you

(02:49):
are right now and what is happening in the environment and nature around you. So what I'm going to do
is silently I'm going to count to five and at the end I will bring us back together, but for those five
moments, please tap into what is around you and what nature is doing and that you are a part of.

(03:11):
Thank you.
Now I'm delighted to introduce you to our metaphor Earth relationship type, Isaiah Fernandez.

(03:37):
I was introduced to his work during the Hollywood Climate Summit in June of 2023.
Commonly known by his monk, here, queer, brown, vegan, Isaiah is an educator and creative devoted
to improving environmental literacy through content creation, storytelling, and public engagements
like this. This includes the independent media platform he started to bring intersectional

(04:02):
environmental education to all, landing him a spot on a panel at the summit. That's how I got to know him.
Finally, we met face to face at climate week a few months later when I asked him what his goal was.
I'm so excited for him to be here today to dive deeper into that question for you to listen to

(04:23):
and of course many more questions. So for now, welcome Isaiah and I am so curious to hear what is your
version of this story of our relationship. Yeah, of course, and hi, I'm Rick. So lovely to meet you again
and thank you so much again for having me. You know, I think that the question that you asked about
relationship, I think that it goes back to this idea of when the time, when is the right time to meet

(04:49):
and I feel that oftentimes there's moments where we really want to connect with individuals at events,
conferences or other spaces within. You never really had time to connect quickly and I
think that meeting you back in September of climate week New York City when it was the last day of
climate week New York City, I felt like it was a really great blessing because I think there was

(05:10):
moments for both of us to be able to relax. We already relaxed in the state of evening time,
but also I think it was a time for both of us to be able to actually have a more delightful
and depth conversation. I love that. Thank you for that reflection and yeah, that's dead. There
definitely feels like some truth to that that the the intensity of that event space is constantly

(05:37):
go, go, go, and and I've heard that more and more from people about that that tail end of an event
and how sweet and kind of delicious those moments can be. So thank you for reflecting that and
I'm so glad that we had that opportunity in that moment to share that mutually and and bring you
here now as a result. And so let's go ahead and dive in. So one of things I want to start with is

(06:04):
right from the beginning, we're here to talk about the metaphor type, which is also kind of known as
the artist type, which is really focuses on this idea of relationships of bringing together two
unlike things. And that's that's how a metaphor similarly works is that you're taking two things and
you're comparing them to help you illuminate or create insights and perhaps even change. And you also

(06:28):
have lots of other qualities about you. And one of those is that you didn't start as a content
creator. You started as an environmental scientist. And so I'm super interested to hear what inspired
that for you? What led you to begin that? And and then we'll get a little bit more into what change,
but I want to know more of that origin for you. Yeah, absolutely. I think that as many

(06:51):
environmentalists, you'll probably ask them like, you know, why were they interested in they're like,
I want to save the environment or they had some relationship of memories. And I always
love to say that everyone has cultural foundations from their family and lineages that has honored
their earth in some way, whether that was your hiking trips, my fishing, just doing other
outdoor activities with family was something that was embedded in my relationships growing up.

(07:14):
But I think growing up in poverty here in Los Angeles, California, I think it really shaped my
experiences and the ways that I really saw myself as part of the environment. And I think the reason
why the environment itself brought so much curiosity to me is that it was a non, it was a living yet
non-living structure that did not communicate to the human world, right? And I mean, I didn't

(07:36):
communicate the human world. I meant that in our dominant society today, what was often being
presented is it's very mechanistic lens of nature is apart from human. Therefore, you're visiting
nature right now. But when you get back home, you are not nature. And so I think to me that really
illustrated the ways in which I saw myself as an individual of like, well, what does that really

(07:58):
mean when I'm watching these TV shows of the rainforests, the deserts, the aquatic ecosystems,
like, why is it the fact that we naturalize those systems? We don't naturalize our urban
communities. And that's when I think I realize and I learned about climate change is that I said,
oh, wow, like this is a very unique subject to me because I feel that every time I look into the

(08:22):
environment, I have more questions to who I am and the relationship that I am. So I think that
brought me invested in saying, if I want to learn how to protect the environment or to understand
the environment, what better ways to put myself through an academic lens of an environmental
scientist and learn about the methodologies from both the social, biological and physical sciences

(08:44):
in the ways that organisms interact with each other. Anything to me as a scientist, that was
something that was a very interesting subject to study because I think a lot of it is to understanding
these very complex ecosystems in these systems that are sometimes unknown to the dominant society
of 11 today. But the more that I delve into these subjects, the more I saw the similarities

(09:07):
of my lived experiences through this academic scientific lens. And that was through, again,
collecting specimens, researching specimens, understanding the history of these landscapes,
and then going to those landscapes and interacting with them to understand what was happening
in those ecosystems.
Amazing. Yeah. So that word that you kind of have almost on repeat in your sense,

(09:33):
or there is that word understanding. And then and what was interesting is so much of what we were
talking about, you could apply that same language to what you're doing now with content creating.
There's still that drive to understand. But the part where it diverged, where it went more into
the like the ecological realm, the scientific realm was when you started talking about like specimens

(09:59):
and the scientific process. And so I find that interesting that from the beginning, you've had
that that drive to understand. And it's just a different method of understanding. It's a different
skill set or a different set of tools. And so I'm curious then that when you move from this specimen

(10:19):
driven, science driven way of understanding to a way where you're doing more, I guess I'm going
to call what you do a little bit of not quite investigative reporting, but similar. There's
there's a quality of what you do that feels like that to me. What what do you think are the the skill
sets that are similar and which ones do you think are different? I think that one thing that I

(10:41):
recognize leaving undergrad after graduating and choosing a new career is the fact that western
science models are very sometimes reductionists, but I mean western science models. I mean the ways
in which what we can kind of see the methodologies using to extract to disfossess, to claim, to
quantify whereas indigenous or lived or community based science was more focused on the communal

(11:06):
relationships of individuals asking questions and really dissecting those types of nuances without
what you would say that could unquote western science at times. And what one would argue that
indigenous or even community based science research is based on lived experiences. So it's
directly from those from the land. And I think that when I got into content creation specifically is

(11:30):
that I had this huge passion to be curious through media and seeing how you could pull stories
from science and communication and distill it to young people. And I think that comes from the fact
that this is something what I would have wished to have learned growing up my entire life. And because

(11:51):
I didn't I felt the need that like boy my little educate other people who would greatly benefit
from these types of knowledge systems that I didn't have access to because of my educational and
economic resources I had that were in my area. And I would say that you know both models are very
useful right there's no such thing as one being more powerful than the other but I do agree that the

(12:16):
ways in which we have focused on science and understanding ecosystems has been heavily here in
the global Northland focus on western science models. So I do think that as much as we can say oh well
that's they're all equal there is a power imbalance that was noted but there's also the new ones of
both need to coexist at the same time in order for us to get to the next level. And so I saw that

(12:42):
western science had a huge communication issue that it wasn't reaching young people and instead
it was reaching older adults that are only environmental scientists that I said this is not going to
work when only our circles are practicing these types of policies and practices but the general
American does not care about these things then that's was a testament for me to get on social media

(13:04):
as a young person to say we need to teach this type of education online.
Yeah that's powerful and it really resonates with with what seems to be happening in regards to
especially after I attended my first ecological conference this summer and I was I was so excited

(13:25):
when I first started and by the end I was a little jaded because I was like the whole structure of
the event was so hierarchical like who got to show a poster versus who got to get 15 minutes versus
who got to talk for a whole hour and how that was rated and how good science was rated and I was
I was just so fascinated that for a science that focuses on relationship how it still had this

(13:52):
kind of what you called reductionist quality to it and what you know so much of what we're realizing
now is that for 50 years we've been trying to talk about science as if you were at a science conference.
Yes exactly. Rather than these other ways that we know touch people's hearts.
Yeah that's through you know different mediums like media art fashion and technology like these

(14:17):
are all different ways in which people tackle communicating since the age of dawn I mean music
arts has always been a cultural foundation. So how do you feel like with the strategies that you have
and the tools that you're using and the metaphors that you're drawing upon what what are inroads

(14:38):
that you're finding for this challenging message because that's the point we've reached now where
the message itself is so daunting it's so big it's so dystopian and doomsday how what what processes
are you finding as you communicate these emotions and thus have to feel them yourself in order to do
that. What are you finding is a successful or profound even perhaps? I think on my end of how I built

(15:08):
queer brown vegan is that it's very focused on storytelling through the heart so like obviously
everyone could say like you know from the heart experience but I think I'm very personal when I
deliver the science so like I think one part is that 50% of the content is very high heavy science focus
where it's like I don't want to hear that many facts but I also need to hear it and the other half is

(15:30):
a very personal spiritual lens of my experience and I think that when it comes to my queer identity
one way to engage different groups that are outside of what you would call the dominant spaces whether
that's people of color like Latinos or queer people or people or vegan or you know other live
share identity base or lifestyle values is going back to the metaphorical spiritual route that has

(15:54):
worked for me as someone that's also very spiritual in my work and thought that within Western science
malls I had to hide that away because it's not seen as matchable I have found that many young
young people are spiritual people whether or not they believe in God or not or they believe in
whatever they want to believe in they believe that nature is alive and that is a form of spirituality

(16:16):
to me and so I think that example of this is like the micro identity and I talk a lot about like my
ceilium for example my ceilium the reason why I use them as such a metaphor for my queer identity
is that the diversity and the oddities that have come to it right like the fungi kingdom is

(16:37):
opposite from the animal and plants a kingdom they are their own kingdom yet these fungi have thousands
of sex species but they also are grown during harsh temperatures underground and they give rise to
their fruits of themselves so like what you see is the fungus fruit you don't see the roots of the
my ceilium because that's not it it's underground these networks and I think for me to see that

(17:02):
a non-traditional form of what you would see as beautiful right whether that's an animal or plant
a fungi kind of challenges you to think what the heck is that but to it's like
but it's not a plant or animal so what are you and so I think as a queer person here in America I think
that's something where I've really struggled with is people ask me like what are you and it's like

(17:24):
I'm human and but like yes I am queer but like also like I love to teach science like what's the issue
with my identity as a queer person and so I think that being able to share this with
audience about my experience as being a scientist that's also queer it has given really rise to
other people to share their stories and I feel like it's not about the success of how many

(17:46):
likes they get how many shares they get how many views I get but rather the individual who then
felt authentic and validated that they could share their stories or that they can get into this
field of study and do work for themselves yeah that word authentic I think really
makes a lot of sense for the this type of storytelling you do especially with the monk year that

(18:09):
you have queer brown vegan where you're like putting it right out there this is this is what I am you know
these three qualities that are often marginalized in a variety of different ways but also by proudly
declaring them you're finding the people that you know need to hear your message because they do feel
like they're they're not being represented in in what they're doing and and that authenticity

(18:32):
is challenging to the mainstream like one of the things that I I know that you talk about is
when when you talked about mycelium is the fact that nature is so queer in so many different ways
you know the the rainbow is just the beginning and when we when we forgot to talk about like

(18:52):
queerness of colors but then with the different genders of the different animals the things that
are even past gender the things that are like if we're just talking about relationships the way that
this plant has a relationship with this animal but not that animal there's there's queerness within
that and I wonder as as you continue to grow your platform how how has that element evolved in

(19:18):
regards to serving as a metaphor that helps you communicate your message I think that as more as
the platform has evolved the more my voice has been able to become more dominant in my system of like
media creation storytelling where we are past the questioning and hypothesis of my identity

(19:38):
and more focus on the subject and I think that it's a double edge sword to have used queer
brown vegan because I think that mean reason why I didn't want to do that is that people are going
to think that it's all about my identity but the second thing is that I hated being in western science
academic setting where people would always ask well what is your what is your sexuality what are you
like there's something different about you and it's like you know at the end of the day whether or not

(20:03):
I want to share about my identity I think it was a reclamation for me to be saying if I don't do this
for other people who will and I think the more I delved into this work the more I realized
I've become so much more confident who I am as an individual and I think being one of the more
known prominent figures in the LGBT movement for environmentalists it's made me very happy

(20:25):
to see that there are others out there that exist like me but that hopefully in the future we can
abandon these titles that they no longer have to be so attached to who we are and really reclaim
our humanity and actions and not be question of like are you gay are you trans or you're non-bind
what are you it's like I am human and I think that's where of course I can't abandon the title and

(20:49):
that society that's constantly homophobic, transphobic, sexist like these are all these other
layers that are happening but that is the goal is that what if one day we were to abandon these
titles as we become more progressive towards our environmental liberation?
Ooh that's that's an interesting word there at the end environmental liberation. I'm curious

(21:10):
to dive more into what you mean by that what's what's a definition or an example that you can give
around that? Yeah so environmental liberation if I if I correct or if I remember correctly was
coined and talked about it by um generation green I think it was a black organization that was
these young black environmentalists woman that wanted to talk about that the the extraction

(21:37):
of the planets or ecological crises that we face today has very deep ties to colonialism
and slavery and so environmental liberation is saying that the liberations of those who have
been oppressed specifically many black and indigenous communities worldwide is essential in the

(21:58):
were in the roles for us to liberate them to also liberate the land that has been poisoned by
these heavy colonial systems that have reproduced violent cycles whether that's through agricultural
mechanistic systems of pesticides slave labor or if you look in the energy industry the displacement
of farmers and land that have unaligned women for these also fuel projects or whether you look at

(22:24):
the fashion system the mass cheap reproduction of slave labor and also the production of
petrochemicals to produce cheap plastic clothing environmental liberation was a the lens to really
I would say illustrate more on the the the issues that we face because I think global warming the

(22:44):
way that it's presented is basically saying that through this anthropocentric view all of us are
responsible for the emissions which it is true we do produce emissions however those are very
unequally distributed when you look at race class and also um corporate versus individual
pollution is way way horrible so I think it was to be able to push back and say what do you mean

(23:11):
my greenhouse gas emissions I don't know what that is but I know what slavery is so I want to learn more
about why slavery even matters and as we know slavery never ended it just re-transformed itself
into different industries today and that is the new form of slavery that we're seeing all across
in the world and here in America yeah yeah powerful so then that actually brings me back to your

(23:37):
your set of tools which is video it's video contacts and social media um I'm I'm beginning my journey
of becoming um you know a film person as well because I used to do live events and for me that
sense of felt experience was such a crucial part of what you know but Mr. Fuller called world building
and as I transitioned to filmmaking and it is such a different medium that

(24:04):
making it not extractive is really hard yeah because it feels like it's kind of that that journalist
or that photojournalist dilemma of like do you capture a moment or do you actually
interfere and do something about it and so I'm wondering how you deal with that that challenge
and that ethic behind capturing a moment and being able to spur energy around it versus doing

(24:32):
something directly yeah well I think with media um and the reason why I've always been so
invested is that you know my my first ever laptop I thought was when I was 15 or 16 in high school
and I saw chips and soda to afford my first ever laptop and it was such a huge privilege because I

(24:52):
worked so hard and didn't have access to technology back then and this is maybe 2010 11 like I thought
people it was not back in the early 2000s like I used to public libraries to access media and I think
for me I thought as like like a like a wizard I don't know how to like a wand because you could
call a technology a wand where I felt that telling stories through media for me was something much more

(25:17):
impactful for my work specifically after realizing that doing grassroots work wasn't always for me
I'm not saying that it's selective when I'm on I will always be there but I realized that the most
impact I could have too was through media making and when I produce a lot of these like longer form
episodic series that I'm working on independently to me I feel much more powerful of activating an

(25:43):
individual who does not have a platform and not say I'm saving them but to rather illustrate their work
and their experience and their voice and to give validation to many people who are out there is
that look this person doesn't have thousands of followers they have maybe 300 followers but they're
doing so much amazing work to restore the Los Angeles River and I didn't know about that about

(26:07):
them and their work until I met them so these are examples of individuals where I feel like they
are going above and beyond to save the earth and I think being able to just highlight their story but
then from the second strategy that I do at queer brown vegan and I'm going to do next year is having
an event that explains not what the film or the movie or whatever I produces about but it was to

(26:31):
empower people to go on ecological field trips and say look if you don't want to look at me talking
about this and you want to go in person and look at the river let's do it together and like let's
all sit down and understand our responsibilities as as local Los Angeles folks what we can do and
listening to the experts over there and I found that my community responded so much well to

(26:57):
these projects because I think they know when it comes from limited budget but to it comes from an
individual who wants to create media but unfortunately doesn't have the the amount of resources from
production companies out there but I know that I want to do this grassroots media because if not
who then when and we shouldn't have to wait for these media companies to do stories about local

(27:22):
issues in our area they're extremely talented they continue to do so much work but many of us young
people that want to be filmmakers are learned about media there needs to be other alternatives and so
I think social media has allowed me to tap into that faucet and to really open that well for others
to say this is possibility that we can all really strive for not just myself. What's interesting

(27:46):
about this idea of using the resources you have to the max like social media which gives you
you know access beyond what might be given to you by the echelon of Hollywood as well as creating
these community events these grassroots levels is that there's this important element around the

(28:07):
gift that the metaphor type can give which is helping us envision a new future because if if the
story we're hearing if the science is telling us you know you screwed like doomsday is coming the
temperature is becoming this which unfortunately we are now knowing is actually being fed by the people
causing the destruction so that we do give up but one of the crises that we're starting to realize

(28:32):
we have is a crisis of imagination and what is the possibilities how much do you feel like that
influences what you do with your content creation and now event creation.
Yeah I mean I think that the crisis of the imagination is such a really hugely popular use phrase
today that I feel like it does add influence to the ways that we see I mean I think for me as an

(28:55):
independent media creator like again like digital media has always been a way for me to be able to extend
myself to understanding liberation and so I think when we think about storytelling I think sometimes
people just think films and TV and it's like yes those are valid those are valid for them but poetry
fashion technology like you know photography like all of these other skill sets that are often

(29:20):
disconnected from the environment even though it uses materials from the environment I need to
be reactivated and I think to me it's really informed me of the ways in which how to work with people
differently that don't want to do social media I mean like not everyone wants to do social media
and that's completely fine what I do think is that people need to become social media literate

(29:43):
to be able to know how to use those resources for them to get to what they need to do
and I think that's where I feel that in my end you know I had this vision in the future of growing up
watching that geo and discovery channel and I said that'd be cool if I think they can make a
queer lad and kid like go on TV but I don't have the look for it or I don't have this title or I don't

(30:06):
have anything to my name and realizing now more than ever how much traditional networks really
rely now on content creators to work with them but also like I have the audience behind me like they
I have a large audience that I've built over the years that like have trusted me for so much work and
I think I tend to always remember like to to stay that as a strong held for my work I do as an

(30:30):
environmentalist. So then I return to the question that I mentioned I asked you back during climate
week to see with with all these many factors going on and as you grow and learn in your own experience
of what it means to be a content creator where at this stage do you feel like your your goal is

(30:51):
whether that is you know in the next month or the next year or 10 years down the line? Where do you
see you growing in regards to both your sense of identity because you are the host for these things
but also the larger movement that you want to create? Yeah I mean I think that the next 10 years
and I always say that everything is everlasting like you can never know what I mean this year was

(31:15):
different than what I thought last year in this in this upcoming year who knows what will happen but
I do think that some of my primary goals have always been to do education events which is experiential
events like field trips creating an ecological field trip series in LA to get people out and about
hopefully establishing a nonprofit because realizing a lot of people are like you can get money

(31:37):
for this and I'm like you know what I think it's time to look into a nonprofit too and then the next
thing I would say is really really going into TV and media after realizing that in the past year I was
trying to look into governmental things and after applying going through interviews it was all
knows and I realized perhaps the what the university trying to tell me to do is to go to media and TV

(32:02):
and I think that's really what I want to be focusing on with my team is just that over
all um continuing momentum of of doing what kind of like doing what I did originally of
what was the purpose of me to create content and that was for you to learn when I feel like the last
three years was focusing like oh grow the numbers and money and all these things which suck sometimes

(32:25):
with business but then I'm realizing oh the heart of it I'm still having fun but I want to go
back to its roots and it's remembrance of that and I think it's all about you know it's funny that
we talked about how it's been four years since COVID but I honestly think I'm going back to 2020 of
my original roots of what I used to do and I think um there's a lot that's going to be explored
through there and one of the things that I know is on your horizon is something that I got a taste

(32:50):
of during climate week which was the symbiosis and I'd love you to share more about what that is and
and what you're experimenting with and and what's uh what's what's percolating from that
yeah so the symbiosis is essentially an event series that was co-produced by my friend
Kapana Arias from nowadays on earth and myself and we were very inspired by environmental

(33:16):
philosopher Glenn Albert who coined the symbiosis and he defines symbiosis as essentially the period
of symbiotic relationships that come together to defeat and to put an end to harmful extractive
systems and the reason why he talked about symbiosis in his work is that he believes and I believe too

(33:37):
that the anthropocene is very enshrouded with human supremacist type language of this very focus
on shaming individuals and the anthropocene is the period of where you would say that human
induced activity um has caused the largest greatest amounts of emissions in our lifetimes and the
symbiosis in to me is a very futuristic approach that uses the mix the mixers of art technology and

(34:01):
science and grassroots activism to really paint a picture of the ways that what we are creating right
now is for a symbiotic future and I think um we launched this the event back in June of 2023
in London and then we brought it to climate week in New York City in in in September and then we held

(34:22):
up many one in Dubai during COP28 and what we recognize is that there is a craving for people to
wanting to delve into those subjects of mythology spirituality science um and indigenous wisdom
to really go beyond these traditional forms of conversations of environmentalism of like what

(34:45):
can you do as a climate activist and what is the science out there with the climate but actually
focused on the individual component of themselves of saying as our hearts are collapsing right now
and how do we really tend to that as individuals doesn't matter if you're not an environmental
so you don't believe in climate change all of us here can raise our hands that our hearts are
collapsing in these systems because we are on well and I think um the future of that event is

(35:10):
actually we're trying to um we're creating an advisory um team because we are trying to launch it
again in June um talking to a venue to do incandination and we want to make it into symposium
not just a pan anymore and I think obviously with symposium comes with the need of
forming an advisory council um finding someone that knows fundraising and event management more

(35:35):
better and so I think that we really have come to a point where there is a need for the community
wanting this experience but the end goal with the symbiosis is to do is that while we fundraise all
this money to produce a event we want to create like a pot of gold that would basically be redistributed
to these small grassroots organizations that need the money that I've been doing this work and I

(35:58):
think it's a very events redistribution model that goes against the dominant forms of like Coachella
or these other things where it's like we're charging you this much money and then this all goes
to the artist and it goes to us in our profits and that's it you know it's like we're
focused on giving that money back because that money does not belong to us either um but it goes
back to those communities that are creating that symbiotic future so not just doing the talk and the

(36:22):
walk but actually giving them the the financial resources to continue for them to do the walk
and that's that's what I love about the metaphor type is this idea of
finding these unique ways um putting them together in these ways that create these aha moments
you know it's just like this moment that just happened is there's it's like we're we're thinking about

(36:46):
these different ways that we're stuck and then there's this moment of oh this could be a way that we
we reconfigure this and there's this discovery and through that discovery is this power for for change
and and I really see you in our conversation wrestling with that as you're pulling from all
these amazing resources and even just like the references you've made to certain people that have

(37:10):
influenced your thinking shows how you're doing this amazing job of pulling from from different places
and I'm curious one of the things that I think is really something that happens to me and I wonder if
it is common within this world of synthesizing is synchronicity do you find that as you're pulling

(37:31):
these things together there's some moments where it's just the the aha is just actually that somehow
things just come together in a smooth way that you thought was going to be so much more work or
this insight came that you're like oh my gosh that's that's exactly it and I was like taking a shower
or whatever and I'm wondering as as a content creator what are what are those synergistic moments for

(37:55):
you I think the synergistic moments I have is having semblance with the audience and I don't
call them followers I call them more students because I'm a student too and a lot of the times I'll be
talking about certain things and I'm just like I'm really just trying to understand more about this
and someone says hey I'm actually doing my research on this and it's so interesting to see that

(38:16):
the the scholar the students themselves also feel validated that despite the writing of what I was
talking about maybe isn't exactly what they're saying but they're like this is actually very
similar to what I'm saying in my work and actually you're interested in learning more let me send this
to you and I think it's been really cool to see that achieving synchronicities through collaboration but

(38:37):
if you don't ask questions out loud or add your own commentary you won't find those answers so I think
for me like I see I see my work more as a library these days where a lot of people are just at the
library asking questions and I'm also asking questions and I think it's a it's a place for knowledge keepers

(38:57):
to be able to have space spaces in there versus it's a classroom and I'm talking down on you and
you think that I'm writing everything right where I'm like I'm actually not always right and like
I'm also learning my own errors that I have in my work so in regards to because I know that that
curiosity can take a lot of energy and you know in a world that you know the term decision fatigue

(39:22):
is floating around and is very real for a lot of people or perhaps there's there's 10
bazillion other reasons to feel like there's not enough energy where do you find the energy to
continue being curious and seek understanding where does where do you feel that's sourced within you?
I think that's sourced within having a strict regimen of my own life so I sleep a lot and I don't

(39:47):
mean like you know I have a very strict sleeping to me is a form of ecological wealth because to me if
I don't take care of my body it will collapse and that's someone that deals with chronic health issue
I think being able to continue this curiosity momentum is being able to have my brain to rest
in my mind to rest in my solar rest and I think those those are the moments where I feel very grateful

(40:12):
for the people understanding who I am as an individual and how I operate I do think though
turning off my laptop and getting off screen has been very inspirational for me to reenergize my
creative energy because when you're stuck to a very mechanistic light that is constantly showing
your our bodies are both solar and lunar so like I don't get night time energy outside and I'm

(40:35):
always inside during the day and absorbing this light I feel that there's an imbalance in my system
and I think that curiosity to me with a constantly asked questions comes from a home-uneal thesis
say a mind of like I am balanced in and out. Thank you for that yeah that that power of sleep is

(40:57):
something we don't talk enough about I think it's it's something we take for granted and it's
it's refreshing to hear you claim it as like almost the most in the most valuable currency you could have
yeah definitely yeah I love that so we've been talking a lot about the amazing things kind of like

(41:18):
superpowers that have when you're when you're in this artistic and metaphorical realm
there's also just like anything else you just mentioned that there's both the solar and lunar
side of us there's kind of the shadow sides that tend to go with this and I'm wondering
where how do you also deal with maybe some of these challenges that can happen such as like

(41:40):
shiny objects in drum is something that can often happen to folks that are working in thinness
like I know it can happen to me like I get introduced to 10 things but I only have time for one
and but I want to do them all and so I get stuck in that there's also there can be a perfection

(42:04):
you've seems like you've been dealing with it head on by just being like but I'm just curious and
so I'm gonna fail as part of the part of the process there but I know for for others that are maybe
trying to to feel their way through this that that sense of failure can be um almost debilitating
and I'm wondering if there's either insights that you have from working through some of these

(42:27):
things or things that you're like honestly you know I'm still working through this particular thing
and and and this is what that looks like yeah I mean I think ego is obviously very influenced I
even have myself I talk people like I have my moments too and I need to be checked by in my friends
sometimes but I think that one of those things is really recognizing like you know this work

(42:52):
is it me at the end of the day like queer around vegan is not Isaiah's Hernandez I am my own Isaiah's
Hernandez and I get to reclaim that for myself who I am the day that I decide to not be on social media
or I'm like I don't want to do this anymore and queer around vegan doesn't decide if I'm gonna stay

(43:13):
or not I get to decide and I think being able to have a very clear distinction is that regardless
if the brand is dead or alive the next day I'm so alive because I'm Isaiah's Hernandez and no one can
take that away from me that's my life and I think that's where I've been able to keep myself very grounded
and attuned of never forgetting where I come from never forgetting the conscience or what I live in to

(43:34):
get today and never also forgetting that like there's somebody who would look up to me that need help
and I think um to me it's not about secrecy me there it's more about like able to offer an extra hand
because I know what it means to just offer an extra hand and how game changer it was to be able to
find mentors throughout my life that really got me to the career I have to gain how much they really

(43:59):
believed in me and invested in me and and they didn't have to they they could have just been like
goodbye and I think that was really um powerful in that end for them to do yeah that that power of
mentorship is is such a crucial thing and I know we talked a little bit about that too in climate
week in regards to um how how it's something really to seek definitely of course when you're young

(44:21):
but really throughout your life uh is is that sense of mentorship and and acknowledging that
that can come from anywhere like you talked about your your fellow students you know it can be that
that part of that group where they're like I'm studying that thing and voila they become a mentor
yeah it takes me into another piece that I'd love your opinion on which is it's becoming more and more
of a buzzword but I do think there's such still a critical importance to it which is this idea of

(44:48):
reciprocal relationships and I'm wondering as either in regards to your experience of them or moments
that you're trying to capture of them within your content I'm wondering what role that A what that
means to you and what role that might play for you yeah I think with reciprocal relationships
always based on the foundations that we can work together and we can laugh together if that's not

(45:13):
where we can't laugh together then that's not a reciprocal relationship to me but I think when it
comes to business unfortunately I think that you know a lot of people throughout the collaboration
term a lot which basically means free work or me promoting their work and I have very honest
conversations I'm like are you asking for a service are you asking for a collaboration I said do

(45:33):
you go to your parents and say give me a hundred dollars and I'm gonna walk away or do you say hey can
I borrow a hundred dollars and I'm gonna do exchange this is not a labor helping you wash around
the home and I think that like a lot of the times people are surprised when they realize I can
you know I have a response of like that's not a collaboration let's actually talk about ethical

(45:57):
collaboration ethical collaboration means that two parties are agreeing that there's gonna be
some form of labor contributed based on the basis that there's a mutual benefit from that party
but when it comes to reciprocal relationship I think it's more about like you know we all take
and give when we can and not to me it's like very much been shared a lot culturally my community it's

(46:17):
like my parents my siblings always did that where it's like they give me things without asking for
anything back and I give them things without exciting anything back and I think to me a reciprocal
relationship that takes time to establish because you need a friendship versus a collaboration for
business it's more let's do this and you do this and you know that's it but it's like you know there

(46:39):
is labor that is being put both on each other's parties ends that is takes time to produce and that
is something that should be valued that element of value is such a such an interesting question
especially in the environmental space because you know there's even just like there's a GDP they're
working on an NDP to be like how do we value nature and that kind of almost feels like it brings us

(47:03):
full circle to what you were talking about at the beginning as to your origin story with environmental
science which is I'm nature too you know I'm I'm how do how do I study that how do I learn the urban
element of nature and and so you know you talked about within a work relationship you you will know

(47:25):
unders you understand how to value because you understand different ways of contribution to a
collaboration and making sure that that feels good for everybody and I love that you set on a more
personal basis that had to do with laughter because that's such an interesting insight into what you
value and so I'm wondering when it comes to this place of nature and and your extended understanding

(47:54):
and definition of nature to include all things on this planet I'm wondering how do you
communicate as a country creator the value of nature yeah I mean I I think it goes back to like the
foundations of what I write about I think my writing is nature and I think um you know I think we

(48:16):
get take this very philosophical Bobby Moore direct on this experience is that I do think that
many young people really feel lost and scared the times of me growing up as a teenager was I was
in a very privileged era I mean like as much as we say like the 2000 wasn't that bad like
was bad it was pretty good for me I mean I got to enjoy my childhood I got to enjoy my teenager

(48:39):
was it as much as I wanted no but like there was a lot of moments that I felt like I didn't have to
think about climate change now you talk to a young person and you're like oh my god they're 1314
they know all this language and you're like oh my god like it's good for them but also like I'm
scared that they're not able to grow up in a world that allows in their livelihood or their
their youthfulness and I think that's so sad for me because I feel like they're becoming

(49:01):
adults so fast and I feel like they're losing parts of the developmental stages that they need to
be able to develop themselves um and I think um for me I really try to really express that with my
community it's like yes I'll talk about my breakups online yes I'll talk about my friend breakups
yes I'll talk about real things that happened to me because at the end of the day like I'm human

(49:23):
like I I choose to suffer both a living and dying world too and I don't think that these
Polish 2010s Millennial lifestyles is really what I am either anything if I can humanize my experience
throughout the documentation of my career because I want to look back and draw this in my kids and
be like you guys coming fun it like if you guys ever want to know how I look like back then it's all

(49:45):
all night you can find it and see how I look like back then when I was in my 20 but it's like to me it's
like I'm doing this for myself too and I'm doing it for them so I hope that I can help alleviate some
of their stress and their journeys and their environmental work I really hear in that the value
is really looking ahead at future generations is is really what I heard in that because you kept

(50:08):
talking about the honesty of now to help the process of discovery in the future or the results of the
now for the for the people in the future. That's beautiful yeah so as we get close to the end of our
hour together thank you so much Isaiah this it's been just an absolute delight to get to know you

(50:32):
better and have kind of this end of the conference opportunity to connect and learn about you and
there's one question that I love to answer to end all of these podcasts with and I must admit it's
a bit of a twist and you are free to answer it however feels true to you and that question is
what is something you wished I would have asked during this podcast.

(50:58):
I really feel like you answered all my you you know you answered a lot of my questions I had
I really think that it would have been cool to say what is your favorite fungi I think that would
have been really cool to ask but I I don't think it's not until you do have known that either

(51:20):
but I think it's really cool to always find out like the the oddities that people like to do or like
what they're interested. I love that because that gives us so much insight also into your
content creation of like you're looking for those oddities you're looking for those those human
moments of of going back to laughter and play and so I think that's so insightful as to the way that

(51:43):
you frame and look at the world and so with this last little bit of time we have I'd love to ask
what is your favorite fungi? Yeah my favorite fungi is called chicken of the woods it's called
lathaportis since the natives it is also lathaportis sulfuria is more of an orange yellow but it's a
bright orange or bright yellow or in just fungus and it tastes like chicken and like it's really

(52:06):
weird so if you were like is this chicken on I give it to my friend and I'm like no it's not chicken
it's mushroom but it's also tastes like chicken and it grows ice living in New Jersey and it grows
throughout the summer around the late spring early summer season and you can get it during the
after a rainfall and humidity it's really good and I miss New Jersey because I support there a lot

(52:27):
oh I love that I love I love hearing the trail of stories that make it your favorite as you can
tell you had a real relationship with this mushroom and and the stories that connect you to it so
thank you so much for that that odd insight into you and for this this hour together

(52:48):
yeah thank you so much again hey earthmate how did that episode resonate did it stretch you inspire you
or perhaps urqu you I'm here for it so please reach out besides the socials we have a community
to practice with on our website eartharchetypes.com where more earth archetypes can guide your path

(53:13):
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