Hot & Bothered
We are three women from three different cities who are working to shift the climate change narrative from doom-and-gloom to solutions and inspiration. Each week, we’ll highlight local sustainability changemakers making a positive impact in our communities. We hope these stories of individual and collective actions inspire you to plant seeds of change in your own community.
Episodes
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Season 1 - Wrap Up
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Join us for our reflection on Season 1 of Hot and Bothered! We share our ideas for Season 2 and ways to get involved, including a call for additional hosts to expand the pod. Email us at hnbpod@gmail.com if you’re interested!
Find us on LinkedIn. Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community (it’s free!) to help us evolve the podcast.
Resources:
The Night That Changed San Francisco Cycling Forever | KQED
Flooding rushed into a doggy day care. A dispatcher called it a water leak.
Hola Cultura
Tiny little D.C. has more green buildings than most states : NPR
mossy.earth
Wolves saved Yellowstone National Park - The Northern Range
Mr. Trash Wheel
Refuse Refuse San Francisco
CalWave
Climatebase Fellowship
Terra.do
Work on Climate
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here. Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Travys Harper Teaches Us How to Manage Stormwater in Atlanta
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Join us for our last episode for Season 1 to learn about “green infrastructure” from Travys Harper, Trees Atlanta’s first Green Infrastructure Manager. He shares his ideas about what to plant and designs on channeling your rainwater to not only benefit your gardens but how it can play a vital role in combating climate change in your local watersheds.
Follow Travys on LinkedIn and Trees Atlanta on Instagram.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community (it’s free!) to help us evolve the podcast.
Resources:
Trees Atlanta
City of Atlanta green infrastructure plan
Rain Gardens in Home Landscapes Presentation from University of Georgia’s Extension Office
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here. Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Paawan Kothari on Greening San Francisco
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Can’t get enough of trees and green infra? We got you! We sat down with Paawan Kothari from Friends of the Urban Forest about why and how we’re stubbornly trying to get trees to grow where there once were sand dunes. Listen for the low down on those winter storms and some ways to help our pollinator friends.
You can find Paawan on LinkedIn and Friends of the Urban Forest at friendsoftheurbanforest.org.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Follow us on LinkedIn and join our Patreon community (it’s free!) to help us evolve the podcast.
Resources:
Adopt a Yard Tree
Certified Wildlife Habitat Programs
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here. Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
Dr. Susan Agolini Tackles Heat Mapping in Arlington, VA
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
We all know trees remove carbon from the atmosphere, but tree canopy also plays an important role in lowering surface temperatures. In this week’s episode of Hot & Bothered, Marymount University Associate Biology Professor Dr. Susan Agolini (pictured here with her daughter at a tree planting event in Arlington) walks us through a heat mapping study conducted in the county, what the study uncovered about the interplay between surface temperatures and socioeconomics, and the role tree canopy plays in keeping the county cooler… plus local efforts underway to protect existing canopy and plant more trees!
You can find Susan on LinkedIn.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
Arlington Tree Canopy study: New Tree Canopy Data from Civic Federation Webinar — Arlington Tree Action Group
The Lancet: Planting more trees could decrease deaths from higher summer temperatures in cities by a third, modelling suggests
EcoAction Arlington: Tree Canopy Fund; Tree Canopy Equity Program
Arlington County, VA: Grants to Plant or Maintain Trees on Private Property
Arlington Tree Action Group
Tuesday Sep 19, 2023
Rebecca Serna Advocates for Safe Streets for All in Atlanta
Tuesday Sep 19, 2023
Tuesday Sep 19, 2023
How do you shift a metro from car-centric to safe for all types of mobility? We close out our Transportation series with Rebecca Serna, Executive Director of Propel ATL. Listen in as Rebecca shares her experience working with a nonprofit organization that advocates for safe streets for all, working closely with the City of Atlanta to reduce traffic fatalities, and celebrating non-automotive transportation options.
Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn and Propel ATL on Instagram.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
Atlanta Vision Zero
Vision Zero SF
League of American Bicyclists
America Walks
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Christopher Kidd on Bike Infrastructure in San Francisco
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
What's it like to create accessible bike infrastructure? This week, we sit down with Christopher Kidd to get a city planner’s point of view. Christopher is the project manager for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Active Communities Plan. Find out about the hurdles they’ve faced with the bicycle master plan and how they’re working to make sustainable transportation inclusive to all - both people and devices!
If you live in SF, answer their survey and look at their schedule of events!
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
Building California: Deal that will speed up infrastructure projects signed into law
You Want to Ride Your Bicycle? A Look into the Active Communities Plan | SPUR
Work Commute Mode Choice | Vital Signs
Greenhouse Gas Inventories | DC DOEE
CleanPowerSF | City Performance Scorecards (Correction: 60% not 75% renewable)
The San Francisco housing crisis, compared with other major cities
Washington, D.C. and San Francisco | SPUR
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here.
Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Marley Blonsky Gets All Bodies on Bikes in the DC Area
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Boosting access to eco-friendly methods of transportation is key to achieving a low-carbon future, and we need to invite everyone to the party. In this week’s episode, Marley Blonsky talks to us about co-founding All Bodies on Bikes, a non-profit working to create a size-inclusive bike community through judgment-free community rides. Marley shares how biking is a key player in a low-emissions future, how she’s working with sporting goods companies to create clothing and equipment that improves access for all, and how the size-inclusive bike movement has implications for other marginalized communities. Bonus: an All Bodies on Bikes chapter is opening in the DC area (and maybe your city, too)!
You can find Marley on LinkedIn.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
The Podcast — All Bodies on Bikes
All Bodies on Bikes Local Chapters
How riding a bike benefits the environment
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here. Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Natasha Dyer on Composting Wasted Food in Atlanta
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
As we close out our 3-part series on Food Systems, we are joined by Natasha Dyer in Atlanta to learn more about composting wasted food. Natasha is a circular economy professional who transitioned her career from fashion to composting and is now focused on the entire waste stream through the SWEEP Standard. We learn about her passion for diverting wasted food and get tips on starting a community compost program.
Follow Natasha on Instagram and The SWEEP Standard on LinkedIn.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
The SWEEP Standard
SF composting history and 2022 California state-wide mandate progress
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here.
Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Dan Kurzrock on Upcycling Food in the Bay Area
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
We’re diving into food again! This week, we chat with San Francisco Bay Area native Dan Kurzrock about how he’s fighting food waste. Dan is CEO and Co-Founder of Upcycled Foods, Inc. We cover his unlikely climate origin story, how they're upcycling and innovating, to growing an upcycled food movement.
Follow Upcycled Foods, Inc. at upcycledfoods.com, LinkedIn, or Instagram
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
Reduced Food Waste | Project Drawdown
Upcycled Food Association
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here.
Music by QubeSounds.
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Mike Ross on Vertical Farming in the DC Area
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Ever wonder what work is being done to make our food system more sustainable? Meet Mike Ross, co-founder and CEO of Beanstalk Farms–a vertical farming venture based in Herndon, VA (just outside of Washington, DC). In our very first episode, Mike shares how his innovative farming methods have sustainability–as well as efficiency and nutrition–at heart.
You can find Mike on LinkedIn and Beanstalk Farms on Insta and Facebook.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts!
Join our Patreon community to help us evolve the pod!
Resources:
Environmental Impacts of Food Production - Our World in Data
How Two Alexandria Brothers Transformed a Data Center into an Indoor Farm (northernvirginiamag.com)
Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here.
Music by QubeSounds.
Connie Lin
San Francisco, CA
I grew up in and around Philadelphia, PA and moved to San Francisco to continue my security career in tech. Between the sky going orange in 2020 and the pandemic, I finally quit to transition into climate. I’ve long been passionate about biodiversity/ecology and social impact - been a filthy vegan for over half my life! I want to cover positive climate news by highlighting community-centric work to inspire others wherever they are.
Meredith Mazzotta
Washington D.C.
Since my childhood days in Northern California, I have been a lover of animals, the outdoors, and the ocean. Now a resident of Arlington, VA with my husband and two young children, I have pivoted my career to helping protect the planet. I am a former journalist and work full time as a communications professional focusing on climate and sustainability issues. My hope is that Hot & Bothered will help communities learn from each other’s successes and expedite our collective progress on climate.
Tabitha Schwartz
Atlanta, GA
I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and from an early age I have worked toward becoming an environmental steward. I am curious to know what makes natural systems, communities, and people function. I have dedicated my career to supporting environmental nonprofits and teaching the importance of conservation work. I hope that our podcast can inspire a person to take the next steps to bring climate solutions to their own communities.