An Organic Conversation

Green Energy and Youth Empowerment: Creating the Future of America Hand-in-Hand

This country needs progressive programs; ideas that can address multiple challenges that we face at once. Today we are talking about a brilliant organization that does exactly that, by offering training to young adults to become green energy auditors, and with it empowering the next generation to lead this country in its sustainability efforts.

Guest: 

Jodi Pincus, Executive Director, Rising Sun Energy Center, Berkeley, CA

Hope Cupples, Campaign Coordinator, Rising Sun Energy Center, Berkeley, CA

Chasing Coral: An Emotional Journey Under the Ocean's Surface

Today we are entering a world that many of us will never witness – the stunningly beautiful world of Coral reefs. Like tropical birds under the water, Corals are strange, incredible, and, as we will learn today, critical in the overall ecology of the oceans. And, they are as threatened as so many other ecosystems and animals today. However, if you are not a diver, there are not many other opportunities to see Corals up close. Perhaps in an aquarium you can get a glimpse of their colors and beauty, but anyone who has had a chance to dive through a Coral reef often speaks of it as if it was a outer-world experience. We now have a chance to see this amazing underwater world up close and personal – thanks to a new documentary Chasing Coral.

Guest: 

Richard Vevers, Founder & CEO, The Ocean Agency, & Underwater Photographer, Chasing Coral, Sydney, Australia

Organic and Non-Organic Wine: A Comparison from Land to Bottle

The summer months are here, with evening outdoor parties, and hopefully some leisurely slow weekends, perhaps with a glass of chilled Chardonnay, or a beautiful glass of Merlot – whatever your preference is. But do you know what’s in your glass, exactly? We are expanding the notion of “Know your farmer” or “Know where your food comes from” to “Know how your food is being made” in this episode. What does it take to make a bottle of organic wine, and what goes into non-organic wine? Most of us who are following an organic diet as much as possible know the differences between organic and non-organic produce, the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers in so-called conventional production systems, and many other issues that organic production addresses, when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Today we are walking through every step of organic and non-organic wine production.

Guest:

Katrina Frey

Jonathan Frey

Frey Vineyards, Redwood Valley, CA

Turmeric: Nature's Golden Answer to Chronic Disease

There are foods that suddenly become super hip, such as Kale, or coconut water, or Spirulina, or Avocados. And for good reasons, as these foods are so-called superfoods – that’s a category of foods with exceptional nutritional value and benefits for our health. One of these foods recently become popular, is a powerful spice, a root of the Ginger family, called Turmeric. It’s component, curcumin, has been hailed in nutritional circles for decades, but only recently has Turmeric gained public notoriety as an incredible anti-inflammatory plant medicine. New research shows, Turmeric even possesses cancer-fighting properties, as we will learn today.

Guest:

Dr. Ajay Goel, Professor and Director, Center for Translational Genomics and Oncology at Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Natural Sunscreen: Defining the Relationship Between Sky and Skin

Very few business areas are as close to our skin, literally, and as unregulated, as the bodycare industry. Even though our body is our largest organ, all of our shampoos, lotions, soaps, make-ups and other skin care products have little governmental oversight or production standards when it comes to our health. And right now in June, many of us begin to put vast amounts of sunscreen onto our bodies, and on the bodies of our loved ones. Children, with their tendency to spend much more time outdoors than adults do, are especially at risk to get a sunburn, or to be exposed to unhealthy ingredients in our sunscreen products. What do we need to look out for, what products and ingredients are best, and how to decode the Sun Protection Factor (SPF)? We’ll speak with an expert today, a concerned mother and nurse-turned-entrepreneur.

Guest: 

Lisa McHugh, Founder, Bare Belly Organics, Burbank, CA

Authentic Mexican Cuisine: A World of Flavor and Spirit

Today we are inviting you to come explore the world south of the border with us – the Mexican border, that is. We are taking it way beyond what is commonly known as Tex-Mex food - Burritos, Enchiladas, Guacamole, and Tacos. Nothing wrong with that, but do you know what real, authentic Mexican cuisine looks like? Well, you’ll know after this hour! We are speaking with the author of a brand new, beautiful cookbook on Real Mexican Food today.

Guest: 

Gonzalo Gonzalez Guzman, Chef & Owner, Nopalito, San Francisco, CA

Allyson Jossel, Owner, Nopa, San Francisco, CA

Farm from a Box: A Beautiful Marriage Between Ecology and Technology

There are plenty of challenges to food production, including access to land, the availability of clean water, and, the right infrastructure so that the farm can be functional and productive for months and years to come, for example, access to electrical power for irrigation pumps, a cooler for appropriate post harvest handling, and so much more. Today we are exploring the intersection between ecology and technology in the form of a company that has developed a complete off-grid toolkit for operating a farm anywhere there is some land and some water.

Guest:

Brandi DeCarli, Founding Partner, Farm from a Box, San Francisco, CA

A Kernel of Life: Seed, The Untold Story

A carrot seed is far less than a millimeter in size, a tiny speck of dirt, dust in the wind. And yet, it contains the DNA to sprout, and to grow big, orange, beta-carotene-rich carrots, given darkness and moisture and the right temperature. Seeds have been the foundation of life for millions of years. Seeds are an incredible invention by Mother Nature – preserving life from generation to generation, often thousands of varieties of the same species, able to withstand and learn from drought, or other weather conditions, incorporate soil quality, and other environmental factors. Seeds are a living database of the growing history, to make sure the next generation of seeds is even better equipped than the generation before. Seeds are food, diversity, and resilience. There is a new film available that is talking about the role Seeds play for society, and for life itself. We are speaking with the directors and producers today in this insightful episode on life itself.

Guests: 

Jon Betz, Director & Producer

Taggart Siegel, Director & Producer

SEED: The Untold Story

Beyond Weather: The Geo-Political Impact of Global Warming

When we hear about climate change we may think of harsher storms, flooding, or extreme drought. Those are the immediate consequences of weather on land and sea. But few have ever explained to us just how far reaching the ripple effects go from there. Drought means people in hunger, large populations moving, social breakdowns, and possibly war. A new film is focused exactly on that interconnectedness of problems, causes and effects. It’s called The Age of Consequences and it is playing in film festivals all around the country right now. We are speaking with the film maker today, in this not to be missed episode.

Guest: 

Jared Scott, Writer, Director, Producer, The Age of Consequences, Brooklyn, NY

Holistic Chiropractic Care: Creating Alignment in a Misaligned World

Most of us live in an urban environment, where we sit at our desks and drive in our cars. Most of us have a fairly sedentary lifestyle, and that may have consequences to our overall physique, our posture, and consequently can lead to subluxations, misalignments in the body in the form of a vertebra out of position, or a joint being overly stressed. But there is a treatment, the beautiful practice of chiropractic care. We are speaking with a Doctor of Chiropractic to learn what the treatment does and how it works, and what we can do to support overall holistic health.

Guest: 

Dr. Seth Labott, D.C. Chiropractor, Cafe of Life Marin, Mill Valley, CA