What happens when an entire city runs out of water?

In this eye-opening episode, 20-year-old Mexico City native Alina Feldman shares what it’s like to live under the looming threat of “Day Zero”—the moment when the taps run dry. The crisis is so severe that desperation has led to fights and even kidnappings over water.

Alina exposes the unequal burden of the crisis and the government’s failure to act. She raises a critical question: Should the government prioritize environmental issues, or are there more immediate concerns that demand attention? She also highlights a grassroots organization, founded within Mexico City's Jewish community, that is stepping in where the government has fallen short.

Climate change isn’t a distant threat—it’s already at our doorstep. Alina’s story is a stark reminder that crisis can strike when we least expect it. As you listen, you’ll realize just how unprepared we all might be. Her story isn’t just a warning—it’s a call to action before it’s too late.

In this special episode, I trade my hosting chair for the hot seat: Rebecca Riley of the Free Minds Book Club interviews me about the Changing Planet Justice Foundation, the nonprofit I founded to empower youth to lead community-based climate action.

We kick things off with my origin story, tracing how my passion for national parks and environmental justice blossomed into a global initiative. Changing Planet Justice provides youth with opportunities to share their climate stories and gain hands-on climate leadership experience. Through live workshops, citizen science projects, interactive planning tools, and one-on-one mentorship, youth of all ages and backgrounds turn their ideas into impactful climate action projects.

I share the inspiration behind the organization, the tangible impacts it has achieved, and how I keep the mission grounded by prioritizing youth perspectives and encouraging kids to define and map their environmental priorities. We dig into how I combat climate apathy, even as politicians and fossil-fools prioritize greenbacks over green solutions—handing my generation a steaming pile of earth. I share my thoughts on the outcomes of recent COP conferences and the lingering fallout from President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Finally, I explain why--despite a political climate that's as overheated as the actual climate--I’m genuinely hopeful for the planet’s future and confident in my generation’s climate resilience.

This interview will appear in Free Minds Connect magazine, published by Free Minds, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that uses books and writing workshops to empower incarcerated youth to rewrite their stories and become agents of change. Rebecca Riley, the Jail Book Club Coordinator, leads this conversation with her insightful and compelling questions.

An unusual episode. In this episode, we sit down with Ms. Rhoda, a retired banker, farmer, and quilter with Native American and German heritage. From her quiet farm in rural Maryland, Rhoda offers a deeply personal perspective on climate change, challenging mainstream views by framing it as part of Earth’s natural cycles and reversing poles. She explains her suspicions that the government's cloud seeding is the real culprit of extreme weather changes, critiques the Biden administration's climate spending, and calls for a return to self-sufficiency through gardening and traditional farming methods.

Rhoda’s perspective is both skeptical and grounded in her lived experience, emphasizing the wisdom of the past and practical steps individuals can take to reconnect with the environment. This conversation challenged both of us to look beyond our differences and explore where our goals overlap

Whether you agree with her views or not, this conversation pushes us to reconsider the interplay between tradition and innovation, individual responsibility, and the broader forces shaping our planet’s future.