EPR Minisode 16: Happy Thanksgiving!

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Transcript

Welcome back to EPR!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we're bringing you a short mini so with not just the two of us, but with Marley. We're doing a quick segment we're calling the Environmental Thanksgiving table. This idea came from Marley, and it is simple. If the environmental world were a Thanksgiving table, what's one issue you think deserves a bigger serving, which means more attention, more resources, or more conversation. 

But before we jump into the Thanksgiving table, let's each share one thing we're grateful for professionally this year. OK, so Marley goes first. Oh, OK, OK, when I wrote these questions out, I wasn't anticipating having to answer them, so now my brain. Yeah, oh, you get to rack your brain for like the cool thing that you got to do this year? Yeah, I know, right? Maybe she should go last. Nothing's coming to mind. No, um. I would say I would have to say, um, you know, being able to come out and elevate my soccer development, my soccer journey here in France has been a really huge steppingstone for me. I, I was just talking with one of my teammates about how a year ago today. I was interviewing for EPR essentially, and I was working at a Planet Fitness and I was not playing soccer, so it's been like significant difference in like where I am today. So I think I'm grateful, um, I'm grateful for the opportunities that that were presented in front of me. I'm also, um, maybe this isn't gratitude but pride, which is kind of the opposite, but I'm proud of myself for being brave enough to take the opportunity, um. Yeah, made it about myself, but happy Thanksgiving everybody. I think it was perfect. Yeah, that's amazing. 

Well, I'm grateful that you've had these opportunities and that you are here and that you actually are not only brave enough to do these things, but motivated enough to stick with us while you do these new things. Yeah, including these great guests that we've had, so yeah, very, very thankful for that. Yeah, super grateful for the guest guests that we've had. Yeah. So I mean Laura, and that that means you're next. Oh, I'm next, professionally, I'm grateful for, so I mean just everything. I think my companies are doing. Well, this podcast is doing well. I'm grateful for, I think the reason that they're doing well though is I have good people that I'm working with, so I'm, I'd have to say I have to shift it to, I'm grateful for all of my business partners, my people on the I don't like to see that the people on my teams, and I'm just I'm grateful for another year ahead. All of your best friends? Yes. That's an inside joke there. Uh, so I don't know, for, for me, you know, it's a, it's a year of change, um. In a big way, and it's very new and very recent, but one thing I'm eternally grateful for, um, is the team uh at Dawson, um. Uh, it's gonna, I'm probably gonna get choked up thinking about it, but they're, they're great and wonderful people, um, and it's been a really challenging year in lots of ways and a really fun and exciting year and many others and through that all. Um, those are people that Talk about like life journey, uh, there are people I'm gonna, you know, have in my life forever, and I think that part is. Really wonderful and it's hard to see, um, but we, you know, I, I'm, I switched jobs, you know, I, I left Dawson and I have. The memories of those uh that sendoff is still very powerfully strong, and I'm really, really thankful for that team and how much um they meant to me and how much I mean, I mean to them and. Yeah, I know it's a really big thing, but. Um, yeah, I, I love that. I'm very thankful to have that. Well, I wanna also shout out Sam and Kacie for helping the podcast go since they're not here right now and like super grateful for them to be part of the team. 100%. You need to show the harp seal who does with all the secrets um so Marley, all right, all right, give it to us. What, what are we doing? 

What is the thing today? OK, so I wanted to make this, you know, being not being in America, I really wanted to hone in on an American, a specific American holiday theme. This is coming out the day after Thanksgiving, and this is my, this is how I'm staying connected with you guys over on the east coast. Um, basically I just wanted to, you know, combine the holiday season with a little way to reflect on the last year of environmental issues and so. We're gonna think of um the issues and topics of the environmental realm, the environmental professional realm, in the concept of a huge Thanksgiving table. And so, question number one is going to be if your Thanksgiving table and you have a huge line of food laid out, what do you want front and center, but that's the biggest serving. What do you, what do you think is the one issue in the environment that deserves like the, the largest platter on the Thanksgiving table, so to speak, to make it very metaphorical. So the, the, the turkey, quote unquote. Exactly, yeah, what's gonna be, yeah, what's your turkey of the environment? This is, this is fun and challenging. I know it's so many things like ocean issues and Air quality environmental justice. I know. I mean it's hard not to put environmental justice there first.

I actually thought the same thing, honestly. You know, it's almost like, how can't you? It's the justice part, you know. How do we move on with other climate issues if we haven't solved this one yet? Yeah. And it does tie into a lot of different issues, so it's a way to, you know, connect a whole bunch of different things and uh yeah, I would say the same thing. I think that's probably about right this year. So, since we can't call it environmental justice, we'll just call it environmental turkey. There we go. That's the environmental turkey right there. 100%, yeah, I mean, it's so intersexual. It's so broad speaking when you take something like an issue of the environment, it touches on every impact, every everything in the world, and so. That's right, and every solution should include this, you know, the, the part of ESG like we're talking about, you know, if I develop a new tool to solve some other problem, it should still be taking EJ into account. Yes, 100%. Agree. Give me a big platter of environmental turkey. Um, OK, question number 2, so this is kind of like an add-on question but so worth the question. Um, like what do you think on the table is kind of like overdone, is a little overcooked on the platter. What do you think maybe deserves a smaller plate and can get shoved to the to the inside. So maybe we'll start a fight here because like you mean the cranberry sauce of the table is that what you're saying every time I turn on the table I'm like, who is this for? That's grand. Yeah, yeah, right, exactly, and I can still hear it like growing up, like it's shaking out of the can, and I don't know, I think this is like my dad's thing or he's like, it's great. Yeah, the that and the um the bread with the little jelly things in it. 

What is that? You know what I'm talking about? I know what you're talking about. I've never had that. I don't thankfully called, but it's often there, never eat it. I don't like that at all. Yeah. Way too gelatinous for my. What are, what are you cranberry sauce and cranberry sauce in the environment bread. Oh, super important, none of it's, I don't know. I feel like we're gonna make somebody upset if no matter what we say, even if we say nothing, uh, jeez. Well, yeah, and again it doesn't, it just doesn't need to be the front center. We're not saying it shouldn't be on the table. Right. Um, I think, I mean, we have talked about the plastic drawings, how it was. Necessary as far as like getting public buy-in that there is a problem. Does it need to be front and center? No, no. No, I mean, I mean like I, I don't know, for me, this kind of reminds me of something like, um, there's lots of advocacy for sea turtles, right? And we've talked a little bit about that on the show too, where it's the best thing to do for sea turtles isn't to save the eggs, it's what's cool and what's fun and what gets people engaged, and so in a way, it's the it's a way to get community buy-in to what's happening on their shores. Uh, but the best way to save turtles is to save the adults, because they're gonna lay a lot more than those eggs. Those eggs, most, most, if not all of them are not gonna reach adulthood. 

So you really want to make sure the adults who are already who've already made it stay alive, and like that's the most important thing. So it kind of becomes, you know, uh, this marketing event and this this campaign has a slightly different take to it, right? Like maybe it shouldn’t be. You know, we're saving the eggs and doing this egg drive, it's, you gotta shift that and kind of move it to the other side of the table, so to speak. Agree. It's kind of like, well, it's kind of like when we have like policies we're just literally talking about this with the guests like the inflation reduction Act is largely about environmental justice, but it's the name itself is kind of misleading, like it's not necessarily directly about inflation reduction, and it's like sometimes you have to like the way we frame movements or initiatives isn't exactly what's happening, doesn't mean it's not important. But it's a little convoluted in the sense. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, I think, I think I thought of my answer though. I think it's boxed water. Oh, that's a good one. Oh, that is good. That it's really good. That's way better than our answers. Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, boxed water. Next, overrated end of the. OK. So question number 3 is, if you could pass around one plate, one environmental priority around the table to everyone, um, which means, you know, what, what message, what sort of message or focus do you wish that the whole environmental community would carry with them? How could, what meal would you share with everyone if you wish everyone would have a bite of. Mm. This is like philosophical. This one was like hard to shape, like I was like, OK, we're gonna really use our imaginations with this one, but you know, it's it for me like it's kind of like the way I see it is What I would tell all environmental professionals is, you know, be kind, rewind, uh, and, you know, I what I mean by that is like. 

It's easy to be upset, it's easy to be frustrated, it's easy to be uh annoyed with how things have gone, uh, but you know, to make a change and to be, you know, effective in that change, you, that's not the mentality you can have, right? You've got to, you have to be. And we've talked about this like, you know, one episode ago, right? Where it's, you gotta be, you have to listen to what people are saying, understand what they, where they are, meet them where they are. Um, and be open to that being different than your thought and your plan. I mean, I don't know what that, how that equates, but that's what I would love for everyone to kind of Do on a day-to-day basis. Yeah, I think for me I'm gonna have it, if you've been listening, you know, I bring this up all the time. I'm gonna go back to all of us reminding ourselves that we are role models and that it's up to us to Pick up the trash and to. Not by the plastic and, and it doesn't like Nic said we don't have to be perfect. Just maybe a little especially when people are watching, and I'm not saying that means you can go crazy and throw trash around when the people are not watching but just being aware that sometimes it just takes seeing somebody else do the right thing for someone else to do it and so um. 

Again, it's not a preachy thing, just reminding people that We are We are the role models for those who have who don't have the degrees and the education and the common friends who have this. Value that we share. Yeah, 100%. That was kind of what I was gonna say that if you if it's not, if you're not gonna do it, who's gonna do it, you know, ditto is what Marley just said yeah, I'm yeah, I'm taking the easy way out. I agree with you. Yeah, yeah, I'm not answering first on the last one or whatever the next one or is that it? Are we dang it. Marley, you tricked me. Thanksgiving prank. Yeah, Oh man, that's too great. All right, well, I guess that's our environmental Thanksgiving table for this year, so thanks everyone for hanging out with us for this short mini so and we are grateful for all of you for listening and promoting and sharing and sending us your field stories. 

Have a wonderful holiday and we'll see you next week on EPR. 

See ya everybody! Bye bye!