“Crisis to Comeback: Your Local Climate Action Podcast” is a Western Colorado local and regional weekly short-form podcast that explores the impacts of climate change and the state of warming in Delta County and Western Colorado, and local climate actions taken by individual citizens, businesses, and government. Get informed, inspired and empowered by listening to these short episodes and become part of the solution to addressing our rapidly changing local climate. These podcasts may be used as school curriculum, or as stand-alone pieces for public education.
This podcast was made possible in part by the West Elk Community Fund and Citizens for A Healthy Community. If you have questions, comments, or want to learn more about this podcast please reach out to us at crisistocomeback@chc4you.org.
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This episode features a conversation around the carbon cycle with political economist, climate change advisor and North Fork Valley resident, Calla Rose Ostrander. Calla Rose is also the co-creator and host of 'Rain & Shine'.
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This episode features a conversation with Ben Katz, former Public Lands Program Director, for the Western Slope Conservation Center, a non-profit organization based in the North Fork Valley. Ben shares his perspective on how climate is affecting Public Lands in the North Fork Valley and regionally on the Western Slope. He joined the Conservation Lands Foundation in 2023 as the Southwest Associate Program Director.
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In this episode host Kori Stanton speaks with Black Hills Energy's West Slope Community Affairs Manager, Jason Auslander.
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Crisis to Comeback: Food Security & Climate Change | Kate Greenberg CO's Commissioner of AgricultureThis episode features a discussion on food security and new state programs for grant and funding opportunities for small and large scale farmers and retailers. Colorado's Commissioner of Agriculture, Kate Greenberg, also talks about climate change and how it relates to current Agriculture in Colorado. Here are some links to the state programs mentioned in this interview: 1. Colorado's Community Food Access Program 2. Colorado's Soil Health Program 3. Colorado Department of Agriculture Job Opportunities
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This week's episode features a conversation with Dr. Heidi Steltzer. Dr. Steltzer is a Professor of Environment and Sustainability at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO where she’s been teaching for the last 15 years. She's been living in and studying Colorado since 1994., She founded the Heidi Mountains Cooperative, a non-profit field station & retreat center in Cortez, Colorado that honors science and faith as ways of knowing. Heidi is a Master’s student in Theological Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver., Dr. Steltzer is a lead author for the chapter on High Mountain Areas in the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Special Report on the Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. She studies how environmental changes affect mountain watersheds and Arctic ecosystems and their link to our well-being. She has spent 25 years conducting field studies on mountain and Arctic hillslopes in Colorado, Alaska, Greenland and recently China. She’s pioneered studies on the impacts of earlier snowmelt through experimentally accelerating snowmelt and monitoring plant and ecosystem responses. Her field studies lead to an experiential approach to higher education, in which she creates opportunities for student-led inquiry into environmental issues. Dr. Steltzer earned her BS in Biology at Duke University. Her doctorate is in Ecosystem Ecology from University of Colorado at Boulder. Find her on social media @heidimountains. Recent Honors: Witness before the US House Committee Science, Space, and Technology for the U.S. House of Representatives for the hearing on: An Update on the Climate Crisis: From Science to Solutions, Powerhouse Science Center Honoree, Durango, Colorado, 2020, 2019.
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In this week's Crisis to Comeback podcast, Kori Stanton speaks with Mark Waltermire, owner of Thistle Whistle Farm about hotter and drier growing seasons and the future of agriculture. Mark shares his perspective on food security, community resiliency, and agrivoltaics.
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This week's episode features John Miller who is the Soil Health Program Manager through the Colorado Department of Agriculture. John was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Delta County, he has a background in engineering and prior to working for the CDA he spent over 11 years working for the Delta Conservation District teaching people irrigation water management in Delta, Mesa and Montrose Counties.
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This episode features Paonia resident, Elizabeth Agee. Elizabeth is passionate about helping people build their connection with the natural world through gardening and conservation. In 2015, she moved to Colorado to study permaculture at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, seed saving at Rocky Mountain Seed School, Holistic Management at Holistic Management International and Southwestern agriculture and tradition. She values collaborations within the local community and thrives in situations where she can support others' work in conservation and agriculture. Elizabeth works for an organization called Colorado Farm & Food Alliance (COFFA) and manages the Plant-A-Row project, Just Good Food Campaign and the newly minted Equity Garden Incubator Plot in Paonia, CO.
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This episode of "Crisis to Comeback" features Christie Ashwanden who is the Executive Director of the Grand Mesa Nordic Council. Christie has been involved with this western slope organization since 2004, she is also a journalist and has served on several local nonprofit boards over the last 20 years.
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Part 2 of an interview with Hotchkiss, Colorado resident Wade Pridgen. Wade is a self described misfit from Florida, he has an extensive background in land surveying for large infrastructure projects and he worked in the oil and gas industry from 2014 to 2021. He is now retired and spends his days living in an RV on his little bit of land with his two dogs. Wade has made it his personal mission "to be a soldier for Mother Earth."