WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:03.399 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I, and today I 2 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.320 will be reading National Geographic magazine dated April twenty twenty five, 3 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:11.000 which is donated by the publisher as a reminder. RADIOI 4 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.560 is a reading service intended for people who are blind 5 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.440 or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read 6 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.679 printed material. Please join me now for the continuation of 7 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:23.760 the article I began last time, entitled The National Geographics 8 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:31.280 Bold Thinkers, Scientists, explorers and Scout Scholars. Paddy Gonia, the 9 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:34.240 activist making the outdoors a more welcoming space for the 10 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.880 queer community. The outdoors can sometimes feel hostile for the 11 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.520 queer community. That's a conclusion when Wily reached as a 12 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.200 kid at a summer camp run by the Boy Scouts, 13 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:48.719 I was indoctrinated into this militaristic, masculine outdoor system of 14 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:52.079 you have to be strong to survive. Wiley recalls to 15 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:54.759 day that kid raised under a stifling vision of the 16 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:58.200 outdoors needs of movement built on a very different story, 17 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:01.799 and does so in heels. After going viral in twenty 18 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:05.400 eighteen for hiking in six inch heeled boots, the world's 19 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:09.760 premiere backpecking queen was born Patty Gonia, an activist in 20 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:13.560 Drag who's striving to make LGBTQ people feel more at 21 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.640 home in the outdoors. I think the narrative writ large 22 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.040 for the queer community is to run to big cities 23 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.560 for acceptance, says Patty, who uses she her pronouns in drag. 24 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:25.920 And I feel like I ran the other way into 25 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:30.680 the woods, Patty recalls from her home in bend Ore, Oregon, 26 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:34.079 while out on a hike around a favorite pond. She's 27 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.400 known to perform in lavish costumes, some made from un 28 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:42.000 upcycled camping tents. Though her approach to climate change awareness 29 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:45.760 is certainly novel, she's not a novelty act. Drag queens 30 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.239 have always been at the forefront of community organizing and protesting, 31 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:53.519 Patty says, a point reinforced by parks and Recreation star 32 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:57.000 Nick Offerman, who invited her to perform at last year's 33 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.680 Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles as part 34 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:04.159 of a night of comedy devoted to inspiring action against 35 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:08.080 climate change. Patty's set included an extended riff on the 36 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.120 movie Finding Nemo in the male clownfish's ability to change 37 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:15.439 its sex, the health of our ecosystem is no particularly 38 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.280 sexy topic, Offerman says, nor is it easily made the 39 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:23.520 subject of a comedy set, which makes Patty's expertise unique 40 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:27.360 and impressive. Patty's activism has taken her to the White 41 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:30.159 House and to Yosemite National Park, where she has been 42 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:34.599 helping organized pride celebrations for park employees for several years. 43 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:38.159 In two thousand twenty three, she released a music video 44 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:43.199 with celebrated cellist Yo Yoma and Indigenous trans musician Quinn 45 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:48.240 christoff Christofferson shot in Kenai Fiord's National Park in Alaska 46 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:52.919 to bring awareness to the steadily retreating Exit Glacier. The 47 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:56.240 place has deep meaning for the person behind the drag persona. 48 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:59.719 It's where Wiley scattered his father's ashes after his death 49 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:03.280 from cancer several years ago. While the reviews he had 50 00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:07.400 a complicated relationship with his father, but memorializing him while 51 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.599 on a kayaking trip in his dad's home state provided 52 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:14.439 some closure. Perhaps in the same way, Patty's advocacy work 53 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:18.080 on behalf of Brave Trails, a nonprofit that offers a 54 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:22.280 summer camp and backpacking trips for queer youth. Can here 55 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:26.039 heal old wounds on the day we talk, Patty remains 56 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:28.800 focused on the path ahead, trying to take pain and 57 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.639 turn it into something different. She says, I think that's 58 00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:36.599 what queer people always try to do. By Mickey Rapkin. Next, 59 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:40.719 Gabriella Hurst, the designer bringing climate consciousness to high fashion. 60 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:44.919 A visitor to the Manhattan office of Gabriella Hurst doesn't 61 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:48.080 need to peruse the impeccably well made clothes to spot 62 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:52.520 proof of the fashion designer's impact. Those recycled cardboard hangars 63 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.080 you see, Hurst says, pointing we were one of the 64 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.199 first to develop them. Her abhorrence of the plastic kind 65 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:01.319 owes to its frequent fate. The land to Day, the 66 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.800 designer who grew up on a ranch in Uruguay and 67 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:07.960 launched her eponymous brand a decade ago, is a prestige 68 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:11.039 player in the world of fashion and embodies the quiet 69 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:14.759 luxury movement. Even more distinctively. Herst, who has served for 70 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:18.759 three change making years atop the Presian luxury House Clothing, 71 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:22.839 is regarded as perhaps the most climate conscious designer in fashion. 72 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:26.079 She does more than merely buzzy things like using dead 73 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:29.319 stock fabrics, which she does, of course. She uses her 74 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:32.279 position as a business leader to immerse herself in the 75 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:36.519 global climate conversation. In twenty twenty three, she spoke at 76 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:40.399 COP twenty eight with environmental and political heavyweights such as 77 00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:45.600 a US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Carey, discussing 78 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:49.240 the promise of fusion energy. Sure, she understands the drape 79 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:51.560 of a sweater, but she might prefer to discuss her 80 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:58.120 quite nuanced opinions on alternative energy sources. Thanks to HER's activism, 81 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.120 consumers are associating the label with far more than a 82 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:06.240 flawless cashmere coat or her iconic Nina bag. The ideology 83 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:10.000 is beginning to take precedence. The most rewarding kind of anecdotes, 84 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.839 hers says, are when I hear the clients are buying 85 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:16.800 these really beautiful pieces, and when our retailed team tries 86 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.079 to wrap them up in this beautiful packaging, they say no, 87 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:23.120 thank you, because I know Gabby would prefer us not 88 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:28.759 to take the extra packaging. By Carrie Button next Arlow Parks, 89 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.240 the singer songwriter using music to campaign for mental health. 90 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:36.199 The London born musician and poet, Arlow Parks makes indie 91 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:39.759 pop with the warmth and tenderness of folk and since 92 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:44.160 her twenty twenty one debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams. She's 93 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:46.879 become known for songs that are so strikingly candid and 94 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.759 familiar that they can seem like diorama boxes filled with 95 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:54.360 life's tiniest moments. I just have my notebook for every record, 96 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:57.879 she says, and I'm collecting fragments and phrases and nuggets 97 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.279 from my life, and that's where the music comes. Because 98 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:03.959 her music is so possessed by interior life, it can 99 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:07.399 naturally seem to yearn for a reckoning with our collective 100 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:11.319 mental health. Her twenty twenty single black Dog, for instance, 101 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.720 was written for a close friend who she feared was 102 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:17.600 spiraling into depression. As she explains it, the reason why 103 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.839 your moved to write something like this is to be 104 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.399 kind of like, is anyone out there? Is anyone else 105 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.639 experiencing this? In this way, granting solace to the lost 106 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:32.519 and disheartened has since become part of a larger personal mission. 107 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.000 Shortly after the release of Black Dog, Parks twenty four 108 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:39.319 announced that she was working with a Campaign Against Living Miserably, 109 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.560 a London based suicide prevention charity, and in twenty twenty 110 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:47.160 three she met with members of UNICEF's Youth Advisory Board 111 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.639 to write a poem later released on World Mental Health Day. 112 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:55.839 Last year, she pushed further into activism, becoming the organization's 113 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:59.519 youngest UK ambassador. I always knew that I wanted to 114 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:02.879 shift the focus from me and my music into something 115 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:06.399 that felt a little bit more expansive, using my privilege 116 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.800 and the position that I was in to exact change, 117 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:13.759 she says. While the world of her songs can be intimate, 118 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.959 even insular, she's finding that the work of a unice 119 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.240 of ambassador, navigating the effects of harm and giving voice 120 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:22.920 to those marked by it, has to exist on a 121 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.399 very large scale. Her first diplomatic trip took her to 122 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.040 Sierra Leone, where she shadowed a series of youth advocates, 123 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.120 sitting in on workshops and visiting support groups for addiction 124 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.560 and victims of child marriage. That was the most beautiful 125 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.240 thing to witness, she says, young girls learning to make 126 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:42.839 sanitary pads and then teaching their younger sisters and their 127 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:47.399 younger sister's friends. Ever the mpath, she sees herself as 128 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:50.720 a translator and a bullhorn for their stories. It's about 129 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.399 amplifying their voices and what they want the world to 130 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:56.079 know about the work. She says, I really wanted them 131 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:59.439 to speak through me. Parkes also intends for there to 132 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.160 be a chared of dimension to her music. I wanted 133 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.480 to feel like a soft place for people to land, 134 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:08.000 she explains. It's obviously the softness of the actual music 135 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:10.480 and the voice, but more than that, she says, she 136 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.480 wants to create a place for people to just be 137 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.160 and to think about who they are and how they 138 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:22.720 love to listen and respond by Sheldon Pierce next York 139 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:28.519 the Otherworldly Musician, offering a lesson in environmental pragmatism. York 140 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.480 always seems to inhabit an alternate universe, a dream like 141 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:35.000 space of the highest creative ambition, free from the constraints 142 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:38.279 that govern mere mortals, which makes it all the more 143 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:40.639 jarring when she injects her work with a dose of 144 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.399 cold reality. In January, she released a concert film shot 145 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:49.480 during her recent Cornucopia tour. The show featured signature York flourishes, 146 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:53.919 including giant psychedelic projections of fungi and the flashing of 147 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:58.039 an environmental manifesto, making an explicit appeal to the most 148 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.960 urgent issue of our time. The Paris climat acorn is 149 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:07.399 a modern utopia impossible to imagine, but overcoming our mental 150 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:11.480 challenges is the only way we can survive. Over Zoom, 151 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:14.559 one day last winter, she explained what she was getting at, 152 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:18.039 namely a reframing of what's possible. When we look at 153 00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:20.919 the list of goals in the Paris Climate Accord, it 154 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.480 looks absolutely unreachable, she says. I think what we have 155 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:28.399 to do is set different goals that are reachable. While 156 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:32.519 b Yorke's artistic aims have consistently been lofty, her environmentalism 157 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.759 is grounded in practical concerns. She exists on the most 158 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.159 rarefied plane that a pop star can reach. For decades, 159 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.840 she's been a globally beloved visionary who can sell out arenas, 160 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.840 but she still operates with the spirit and principles of 161 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:49.799 an indie act from the nineties. Every other year, I 162 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:51.879 try to pick one thing that I will fight quite 163 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:54.320 hard for, she says. But I try to pick something 164 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:57.799 where it's actually possible to overturn. It's big enough that 165 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:00.200 it can matter, but small enough that you can make 166 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.759 a change. In the past two years, Byork fifty nine has 167 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:07.480 poured herself into the fight against commercial salmon farms in 168 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:11.200 her native Iceland, after a hole in one's farm's pen 169 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:15.600 allowed thousands of salmon to escape. There's a concern that 170 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:18.759 those fish may breed with native species or pass along 171 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:24.080 diseases and parasites, creating a potential ecological nightmare. Sometimes it's 172 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.240 been difficult to bridge a gap between gen z vegans 173 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:30.279 and like farmers who kill sheep every autumn to eat, 174 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:34.440 she says, But on this fish farming project, everyone is united. 175 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:37.639 To bring global awareness to the issue, she took an 176 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.679 unreleased song out of her archive and recruited Rosalia, the 177 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:46.399 Spanish pop star, to record vocals for it. Precedes. Proceeds 178 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:50.320 from the song, titled Oral, are now supporting several ongoing 179 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:54.519 lawsuits against the commercial fisheries. Next up Byorke is trying 180 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:59.840 to enlist environmental activists to petition French President Emmanuel ma 181 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:04.080 Conte to ban bottom trawling in the country's protected waters. 182 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:07.360 It's another seemingly modest goal with the potential to make 183 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:10.200 a tangible impact. I try to make the best of 184 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:12.559 the fact that I come from a very small country 185 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:16.559 that is very untouched, she says. Instead of doing ten things, 186 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:19.399 I try to do one thing properly and follow it 187 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:21.440 all the way to the end, not just be a 188 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:24.480 face on some campaign and show up at a cocktail 189 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:27.519 party and go home and not know what's going to 190 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:33.600 happen next. Carla Perez, the half breaking mountaineer helping climbers 191 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:37.200 with disabilities reach new heights. Carla Perez can feel the 192 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.519 difference when she crosses the invisible line that marks eighty 193 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.840 three hundred meters or roughly twenty seven thousand feet above 194 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.480 sea level. Before that wall, you still have a lot 195 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.440 of control over what you think and what you do, 196 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:52.799 she says. But when Perez forty two climbs higher, things change. 197 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:56.320 Her body responds sluggishly to her commands and there is 198 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.320 no reprieve from the cold or the deep exhaustion. That's 199 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:02.240 where the real test begins. Only five of the world's 200 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:07.679 fourteen eight thousand meter peaks exceed eighty three hundred meters Everest, 201 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:14.679 k two, Makalu, Kanchumadjunga, and Lotzi. Perez, a trailblazing mountaineer 202 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.840 from Ecuador, has so far summitted the first three without 203 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:21.559 the use of supplemental oxygen, and she plans to complete 204 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:24.639 the set climbing this way without the support system that 205 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.000 has helped make the highest peak in the world achievable 206 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:31.799 for generations of climbers is her preferred challenge. She Asha 207 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.919 helps others break their own boundaries through an accessibility project 208 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:41.480 called mas arad de Unatzima Beyond a Peak. The group 209 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:45.519 offers monthly outings into the mountains for Ecuadorians with disabilities, 210 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:48.759 in part to honor and uncle, who had cerebral palsy 211 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:53.360 which limited his opportunities to experience the outdoors. Always, when 212 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.759 I was climbing a mountain, I was thinking, oh my god, 213 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:58.240 he would love to be here. She says that joy 214 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:00.960 follows her from the highest reaches of her homeland to 215 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:05.200 the Himalaya and beyond. It's exploration of your body. Oh, 216 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:07.759 a fewer limits of the possibilities that you have, she 217 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:11.919 says about climbing unassisted into even thinner air and a 218 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.000 very deep connection for me with Mother Earth. The first 219 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.279 thing we do when we are born, she points out, 220 00:13:17.399 --> 00:13:23.240 is breathe. Next. Alexis Nicole Nelson, the social media star 221 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:26.000 sharing the wonder of wild plants with a wider audience. 222 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:29.799 When she was younger. Alexis Nicole Nelson had friends who 223 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:32.759 didn't understand her passion for the outdoors. They pictured some 224 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:36.519 grizzled white, macho man, says Nelson, who today has millions 225 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:38.879 of followers on Tik Tok and as widely known as 226 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:43.639 the Black Forager, a witty hiking companion with dual degrees 227 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.759 in environmental science. In theater, she has become the perfect 228 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:51.080 guide for sharing deep knowledge about edible vegetation alongside everything 229 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:56.799 from lurp sugar, insect excretions and ulva and testinalis a 230 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:59.639 form of seaweed she likes to sprinkle on popcorn to 231 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:06.000 the race sist origins of trespassing laws by Lola Oga Nike. Next, 232 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:11.039 Yara Shahidi, the actress unpacking the psychology of optimism. What 233 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.519 does optimism mean to you right now? It's a question 234 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.600 that Yarat Shahdi, best known for her role as the 235 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:20.120 gen Z cool girl Zoe Johnson on the hit show 236 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:23.799 black Ish and its spin off Grown Ish, both produced 237 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.879 by ABC, which shares a parent company with National Geographics, 238 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:30.559 often asks at the beginning of her new podcast, The 239 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.639 Optimist Project, which wrestles with how to live a more 240 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.240 fulfilling life as suicide rates rise in the United States 241 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:40.519 and the world seems to wash in the anxiety inducing headlines. 242 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:43.919 It's a question that is become ever more urgent. But 243 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.519 when asked what optimism means to her Shahdi, twenty five, 244 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:50.879 who has no trouble speaking up, she's publicly condemned acts 245 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:55.279 of voter suppression and police brutality, pauses. For me. Optimism 246 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:57.600 is a belief in self, she says, and a real 247 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:01.600 belief that I am capable of hande whatever comes my way. 248 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:04.919 Over the years, her own outlook has been shaped, in 249 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:08.720 large part by plenty of profound conversations with the fascinating 250 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:12.320 people who have always surrounded her. Shahidi, a Harvard graduate, 251 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:15.279 has two brothers. One is an actor, the other works 252 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:19.720 in fashion. Her father, Afshin Shahdi, is an immigrant from 253 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:24.080 iran cinematographer and a former photographer for the late pop 254 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:28.200 star Prince. Her cousin is the rapper Nos. Her grandfather 255 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.759 was a black Panther discussions with those family members and 256 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:35.399 with a wide range of illustrious acquaintances were always so 257 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:39.559 stimulating that the actress and her mother, Carrie Shahiti, felt 258 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:44.399 compelled to bring that energy, both introspective and socially conscious 259 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.279 to a wider audience. We feel so fortunate to be 260 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:51.120 having these conversations, says Carrie, who was Shahedi's co producer. 261 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:53.840 But equally we felt the drive to make sure other 262 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:56.879 people had the opportunity to hear what we were hearing. 263 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.200 Launched late last year, the Optimist Project has already featured 264 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:05.879 Saturday Night Lives Ego Nuan din Tony Award winning actor 265 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:10.200 Courtney b Vance, and Lori Santos, a psychology professor whose 266 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.919 online class, The Science of well Being is Yale's most 267 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:17.200 popular course of all time. The medium is one that 268 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:20.399 comes naturally to Shihiti, who describes growing up in a 269 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:24.639 TV off household, explaining that her family preferred audio books 270 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:28.720 and radio programs. She gravitated toward audio because it feels 271 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:32.320 like a participatory medium. Your audience and your host have 272 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.320 to meet halfway, she says. You rely on the audience's 273 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.519 imagination to go on this journey, which may offer more 274 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:43.559 opportunities for personal exploration. When Shihiti has used her visibility 275 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:47.559 to encourage young people to vote and pursue careers in stem, 276 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:51.039 she's now inviting listeners to slow down and reflect in 277 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:54.720 those moments she thinks real change can occur. Oftentimes, it 278 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:56.720 feels like we're so bogged down by the day to 279 00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:59.639 day of what our lives require that we don't have 280 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.320 as much space to say, let's take a step back 281 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.839 from schedules, from finances, from all these things that we 282 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.319 need to be thinking about all the time. To just 283 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:11.319 keep pushing forward, she says, what we need to do, 284 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:14.079 she believes, is talk about what quality of life means 285 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:17.839 to us. The actress may have different stressors than her listeners, 286 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.319 but Shihiti reflects on how young people today don't see 287 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:25.079 upward mobility as a given. Having to pour so much 288 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.359 thought into basic survival doesn't give your brain space to 289 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.759 think about, well, why are we living? She says, what 290 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:34.119 would make me excited to wake up the next day. 291 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.039 She acknowledges that this is a challenging moment for the 292 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:40.720 next generation of leaders. But with that comes in onslaught 293 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:44.599 a very inspired, very motivated young people, and honestly, we 294 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:47.880 need every voice. We need every person spoken like a 295 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:53.960 true optimist. Next, Don Cheedele, the acclaimed actor battling climate injustice, 296 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:58.039 one at risk community at a time. This past January, 297 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:01.240 as fires raged across Los ang Angelist Don Cheedele and 298 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.039 his wife, alongside tens of thousands of others in the region, 299 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:08.039 were forced to evacuate their home near the Pacific Palisades. 300 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:10.599 We brought some clothes and things that can't be replaced, 301 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:13.279 like pictures, paintings from our kids, and that was it, 302 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.200 he says. It was an unusually close to home crisis 303 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:19.039 for an actor and activists who has long been accustomed 304 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.960 to engaging with them farther afield as a good will 305 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.279 ambassador for the UN Environment Program and as a member 306 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:29.720 of the board of directors of the Solutions Project, which 307 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:33.519 has supported more than three hundred community organizations fighting for 308 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:36.920 climate justice in forty five states. In a way, the fires, 309 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:40.680 which consumed working class homes and mansions with equal rapacity, 310 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:45.240 were a reminder that climate emergencies don't stop to check race, ethnicity, 311 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:48.559 or bank accounts. It's a very stark demonstration of the 312 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.960 egalitarian nature of a disaster. In the beginning, Cheetle says, 313 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:56.640 putting a special emphasis on the last words at the end, 314 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.960 we'll see because we know that in situations like these, 315 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:03.200 those who are most vulnerable and have the least representation 316 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:05.680 are the ones who are going to be most damaged 317 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:08.880 and have the least ability to bounce back. It is 318 00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:13.000 this clear eyed perspective that makes Cheedle sixty a strong 319 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:17.160 advocate for human rights and climate justice. With The Solution's 320 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:21.720 Project in particular, he continues to highlight racial and gender inequalities. 321 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:26.200 Founded in twenty thirteen by actor Mark Ruffalo and two partners, 322 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:30.400 the organization has distributed more than fifty million dollars to 323 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:34.400 front line communities across America, most of them like Rhees 324 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.359 Saint James, which has battled the impacts of the petrochemical 325 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:44.200 industry in Louisiana's Cancer Ali, and to nizzoni Ani, which 326 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:48.440 seeks to protect indigenous culture and water access on Arizona's 327 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:51.720 Black Mesa, are led by women of color. I've always 328 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:55.640 been very concerned about justice and representation, Chietl says, then 329 00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:58.279 when you become a father, every concern in the world 330 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:02.000 falls in your lap. Or his Austere nominated performance as 331 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.640 a hotel manager, Paul Ruseabagina in two thousand fours a 332 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:10.799 hotel Ronda, he produced the documentary d'arfour now on the 333 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:14.880 genocide in Western Soudan, sometimes referred to as the world's 334 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.680 first climate change conflict, as for many. Al Gore's twenty 335 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:23.119 two thousand and six documentary and Inconvenient Truth opened Cheetle's 336 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.839 eyes to the urgency of the crisis. What can we do? 337 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:28.640 He recalls asking, and I think when you ask those 338 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:32.640 questions to the universe, the universe answers and goes, well, 339 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.039 how about this. He came to the Solution's project through 340 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.680 his work alongside Ruffalo in five Marvel Avengers movies, and 341 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:44.799 he's remained intentional about how movie stardom can direct attention 342 00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:48.240 to such endeavors. Often celebrities or whatever you want to 343 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:50.799 call us, are trying to get out of the spotlight, 344 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:55.000 while people who are championing these issues can't get in. 345 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:59.079 He says. Of course, the La fires demonstrated two things 346 00:20:59.319 --> 00:21:01.839 that the line between out and in when it comes 347 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:05.200 to climate change is blurry and will only grow more so, 348 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.839 and Cheetle intends to stay engaged whichever side he's on. 349 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:13.880 By Brett Martin. Next The Singular Beauty of collective Flight 350 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:19.640 by Ed Young. New research reveals why starlings travel in 351 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:24.160 those gorgeous shape shifting clouds on winter evenings throughout much 352 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:27.319 of Europe and North America. An hour before sunset, thousands 353 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.440 of starlings gather in the skies before descending to their 354 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.200 night time roots. The birds put on one of nature's 355 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.480 most spectacular displays. They pulse, ripple, and wheel as if 356 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:40.960 they were a single entity, an amorphous, shape shifting creature 357 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.279 with a delicate beauty of calligraphic brushstrokes and the erotic 358 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:50.519 chaos of flickering flames. How could so many birds be 359 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:53.960 so tightly coordinated. That's a mystery that researchers have sought 360 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:57.000 to sow for more than a century. In nineteen thirty one, 361 00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:02.920 the ornithologist Edmund Sellos argued that a sterling murmuration, which 362 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:05.720 he describes as a madness in the sky, could only 363 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:09.480 arise through telepathy. Birds must think collectively all at the 364 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:13.720 same time, he wrote, like many others, Seleus assumed that 365 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:17.559 complex behavior must have equal complex origins, But in the 366 00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:22.599 nineteen eighties, programmers and physicists started showing otherwise. They created 367 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:27.920 computer models in which virtual individuals interacted according to deceptively 368 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.920 simple rules, but none the less moved in ways that 369 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:36.359 resembled coordinated flocks. These simulations were compelling, but researchers lacked 370 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:40.000 good data on actual flocks to compare them against. Then, 371 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:43.440 in two thousand five, a team led by married physicists 372 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:48.759 Andrea Cavagna and Irene Giardina in Rome took a giant 373 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:52.519 leap forward. Over many chilly evenings across three years, they 374 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.079 climbed to the roof top of the Palazzo Massimo to 375 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.960 photograph the cities, especially epic murmurations, with pairs of camera. 376 00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:03.960 Using these images, they reconstructed the three D position of 377 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.599 each individual immumerations that included more than four thousand members. 378 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.680 The team has learned that no matter how large the flock, 379 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.759 each starling interacts with only seven neighbors, which might be 380 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.880 as much as their brains can handle. The exact neighbors 381 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:21.920 change from second to second, but the starlings don't track 382 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.279 these shifting alliances. They merely fly in the same direction 383 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:29.680 as whichever seven birds are nearest, while staying close but 384 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:34.119 not too close alignment, attraction and avoidance. By plugging this 385 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:37.160 trio of rules into a computer model, along with some 386 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:42.680 basic aerodynamics, Charlotte Hemmeldrik from the University of Gruningen in 387 00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:46.640 the Netherlands created a virtual murmeration that resembles the real 388 00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:50.160 deal and matched the data from ROME. This showed that 389 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:53.720 the Starlings need no overarching plan, no leader, and no 390 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:58.240 telepathic hive mind. They barely need to communicate it all 391 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:01.960 through the simplest of interactions playing out over distances a 392 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:07.440 few feet. The breathtaking skies spanning complexity of ammurmurration emerges. 393 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:10.880 Over the past two decades, the data from Rome have 394 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:15.799 continued to reveal surprises. When a starling turns, its new 395 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:19.359 alignment should influence its neighbors and their neighbors and so on. 396 00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:22.359 But you'd expect that mistakes would slowly creep in and 397 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:24.880 the new directions would get lost, much as in the 398 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:29.160 children's game of telephone. In fact, errors aren't magnified by 399 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:33.079 the bird's movements, but washed away. The flock shows what 400 00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:36.759 physicists call scale free correlations, which is like a game 401 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:41.000