Season 1 Recap: Energy, Equity & Empowerment | Tangelic Talks Podcast - video Dailymotion

Tangelic Life

🔥 From clean energy and gender equity to local leadership and climate innovation — Season 1 of Tangelic Talks explored the most pressing issues shaping a just energy future.   🎧 In this powerful recap episode, hosts Victoria Cornelio and Jensen Cummings reflect on the most inspiring insights, solutions, and conversations from our first season. Whether you're new to the series or a returning listener, this episode delivers a refreshing perspective on sustainability, social impact, and systemic change.   ✨ Key Themes Covered:  🔹 Gender-responsive climate policy  🔹 Clean energy and cooking access in Ghana  🔹 Investing in women-led community solutions  🔹 Lessons in resilience, equity, and leadership  🔹 Highlights from thought leaders across energy, climate, and justice   📌 Timestamps:  00:00-00:36 | Setting the Tone for Season One Recap  01:40 – 04:55 | Dr. Atul Arya — Balancing Growth & Decarbonization in the Global South  04:56 – 08:05 | Dr. Peg Spitzer — Empowering Women for Climate Justice  08:06 – 11:23 | Dr. Tom Murphy — How Much Growth is Too Much? Planetary Limits & Sustainability  11:24 – 14:13 | Dr. Shaolei Ren — AI & the Planet: Finding Fair, Sustainable Solutions  14:14 – 17:32 | Peter Schwartzstein — The Real Human Impact of Climate Change  17:33 – 20:19 | Lisa Kjellstrom — Empowering Leadership for a Sustainable Future  20:20 – 23:37 | Dr. Nathan Andrews — Corporate Social Responsibility or Corporate Control?  23:38 – 26:07 | Ryan Pyle — Global Perspectives: How Travel Connects Us to Sustainability  26:08 – 29:39 | John Sumbo — A Greener Ghana: Restoring Nature & Nurturing Hope  29:40 – 31:51 | Sara Black — Sculpting Sustainability Through Art & Entanglement  31:52 – 34:01 | Eric Lyon — From Special Ops to Green Energy: Critical Minerals & Energy Security  34:02 – 36:47 | Bree Carriglio — Empowering Women Through Tech: Bridging Opportunity & Resilience  36:15-39:20 | Final Reflections and Gratitude for Season One   💬 Join the conversation: What’s your biggest takeaway from Season 1? What energy or equity issue should we cover next? Let us know in the comments.   🔖 #TangelicTalks #Season1Recap #EnergyEquityEmpowerment #ClimateJustice #CleanEnergyForAll #WomenInClimate #EnergyAccess #CommunitySolutions #JustTransition #PodcastRecap #SustainabilityPodcast #SocialImpact

Transcript

00:00Thirdly, creating a warm and engaging mechanism for your podcast instead of great, tell me

00:05as a suggestion that combines an upbeat and abiding spirit of humanity like grow music.

00:10Welcome to Tangelic Talks, your go-to podcast from Tangelic, where we dive into the vibrant

00:15world of clean energy, development, sustainability, and climate change in Africa. We bring you

00:21inspiring stories, insightful discussions, and groundbreaking innovations from the

00:26continent-making waves in the global community. Tune in and join the conversation toward a

00:30brighter, greener future. Let's get started.

00:36Welcome to Tangelic Talks, a podcast at the intersection of energy, equity, and empowerment

00:42with your co-hosts, Victoria Cornelio and myself, Jensen Cummings. Today is an exciting episode

00:48for us because we are going to be recapping our first 12 episodes, our season one, if you will,

00:56we're going to go episode by episode, give you some of our top takeaways, our own perspectives,

01:00the things that we're recalling and remembering as we've been able to explore back some of the

01:05episodes and the things that were most impactful to us personally. As you listen to what we're

01:10talking about, as you're watching us go through our excitement and our energy around these episodes,

01:16please do go check out TangelicLife.org. You can find blog posts for each of these episodes

01:22with some more tidbits on there of the episodes and some of the Q&A that's exclusive to those

01:28blog posts as well as the episode video or audio itself. So definitely go and check that out. All

01:33right. You ready, Victoria? Let's go. Let's get into it. So episode one was Dr. Atul Arielle with

01:41S&P Global. Victoria, kick us off. What was your kind of top takeaway from that first episode?

01:47I want to start by saying that was 12 weeks ago. What? That's crazy. Actually, we recorded that

01:53like 17 weeks ago. So it's been a while. It's been a ride. Yeah. I think my main thing,

02:01I think Dr. Atul really set the tone for us in terms of this podcast because he mentioned something

02:06that keeps coming up when we talk about communities. And I think he gave us a really interesting

02:11perspective into the work that is so important when it comes to green initiatives to be in touch with

02:16the community. And I think something a lot of our guests have brought up back and forth,

02:20but he really, I don't know, he sounded the alarm in my head. I was like, yes,

02:25this is important. And now I kind of pick it out every time we go through. So that was mine. What

02:30about you? Because we talked about cookware as well. I'm guessing that's kind of yours.

02:35You know, there's multiple times that cooking comes up. And obviously my background as a chef,

02:39I always peek up and get excited about that and an opportunity. And it was meaningful to me

02:45because sometimes when you're a chef, when you're a cook, you're kind of stuck in the kitchen

02:49and you don't know the impact that food has, how it builds community, how it builds culture,

02:55the impact that it may have on our global climates. And these initiatives like Sunrise Spectrum that

03:02comes up multiple times through the work that we're doing is meaningful and powerful. So I felt very

03:08empowered in this podcast at the intersection of energy, equity, and empowerment to know that I have had an

03:14impact sometimes negatively. And I have to kind of reconcile with that. And Dr. Aria really kind of

03:19brought some things to light from episode one was, was really palpable and powerful for me personally.

03:25What my biggest takeaway actually though, was we talked about some of the Northern centric

03:30kind of approaches and philosophies and tactics that get deployed in the global South. Sometimes it's

03:36a round peg in a square hole is kind of what I, what I got from that. And so we're talking about

03:41electric vehicles was one of the points that he brought up that were really hyped up on electric

03:46vehicles as a way into the future. And when we talk about some of the areas in the global South,

03:51they have no access to those types of vehicles. If they're lucky, maybe for an entire community,

03:58you might have one two wheeled vehicle, one motorcycles, one moped to, to move around people

04:05and resources for an entire community or for a family. And so thinking about that, thinking about the

04:11two wheel possible solar power with swappable batteries, that to me was one of the big

04:16takeaways. So that's, it's meaningful again. Yeah. Yeah. And I think we went a bit more into that

04:24where we were talking about those offshoot ideas that don't hit the mainstream because they're so

04:29niche to the community, which is great because you're serving the community, right? And yeah,

04:35go check out that blog because there is some really interesting stuff in there.

04:38Yeah. And, and just that we started with coming up with ideas and understanding that every idea

04:44does not fit for every community, for every need. So being really innovative, not just in the

04:51application with the thinking process, even of how we're bringing these to these different

04:54communities. So, all right. Episode number two, we talked to Dr. Peg Spitzer, author of Empowering

05:00Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South. That was another powerful episode. We started off

05:05really strong. So for you, what's really stands out from episode number two with Dr. Spitzer?

05:11I mean, she also went into, especially her book goes really in depth with working with communities

05:16very specifically and how each community is dealing with something different. But I think what I found

05:20so interesting about her is the way she speaks about things. Like, I don't know, it feels very much

05:26like she's there. Like she, she talks from a place of doing a lot of field study and doing a lot of

05:33field work. And I think as me, who I've been at uni for the last five years, I have, I've had a lot

05:39of experiences of people speaking on books they've read or on, you know, research of the research of

05:45the research. And it's like, it's so far removed from being in the field. So the way she would speak,

05:51she would like set the scene. And I'm like, yes, I know exactly where you are. You're like standing

05:55right there. And I think that was a great following up from Dr. Aria because it was like community,

06:01but with a more like visual feel. I loved it. Got very, I have basically a piggyback right off

06:07what you said, because she talked about very specific projects. So it wasn't, it wasn't a

06:14philosophical episode. It wasn't just about these grandiose ideas and these, these implementations

06:19that are happening somewhere else. It was her standing there shoulder to shoulder with many of

06:24these women. So I had kind of the list of a couple. She talked about the Bungaroo technology

06:29in Gujarat in India and the irrigation solution grants women control over water resources,

06:36bypassing traditional land ownership barriers. So that was like a really specific project happening

06:41there where their ability to be able to utilize water, something we take for granted was again,

06:48really important there. Muleworm farming in Guatemala, right over my head, had no idea that

06:54was happening. They're so context specific that it is like, you can't just read that.

07:01Like you have to be there. You have to be there. What does the mealworm farming in Guatemala look

07:07like and feel like what impact does it have? And obviously there's, there's the need potentially

07:12in the way that we're consuming resources when it comes to animals and protein, something like that

07:18in my own culinary career, cricket and cricket flour has come up a lot as an alternative source

07:24of protein. So this conversation is happening. It's starting in the global South is starting in a

07:29lot of communities where it's happening out of necessity. It's going to become a necessity for

07:33other parts of the world. So looking into that was interesting. And then solar battery building

07:38in Turkey's refugee camps, building batteries and refugee camps, women learning the skills

07:43to be able to put together batteries. I thought that was another, again, wow.

07:49Amazing. It's amazing. And again, if you check out her book, you'll see very in-depth things. Like

07:55every chapter sort of deals with different projects and gives you a lot of context of why the project

08:00is so community context specific. And I think that's what I most appreciate it from her.

08:05Okay. Episode number three, I got to take a deep breath here.

08:09Oh God, can we not? Dr. Tom Murphy, University of California, San Diego, a physicist who basically

08:17made Victoria and I have a complete existential crisis and meltdown right on screen. Definitely

08:23go check that out. You can feel and see our faces when we're responding to some of what Dr. Tom Murphy

08:32was talking about, where it was really difficult to be able to understand the potential impacts of

08:39where we're at today. So what's a tread gently, Victoria, what was the top takeaway for you

08:45in that episode?

08:47I mean, I think, I think the interesting thing that I still can't get, this is the thing I can't even

08:55talk about. My biggest thing was Dr. Murphy was really good at making the point that a lot of the

09:04solutions that we come up with, we want them to go into effect tomorrow. And that's not what

09:09sustainability looks like. Of course, him as a physicist saw it as like, you know, a million years

09:15as sustainable. But I think he really drove the point home that just because we have this idea now,

09:22we're going to solve it. It just doesn't work like that. We need to do this work over and over.

09:28We need to see a societal shift. It was something that he was mentioning as well, where it's like,

09:31you can't just say you're the first person to put solar panels in your street and then everyone

09:36starts doing it. You know, it's like, there is this slow process that we're just not ready about.

09:42And I think it's just, I've heard it be called like the microwave theory. It's like, you just put

09:47something in the microwave and it's ready in like 10 minutes, whereas in the oven, it would have been

09:52like two hours, you know? And that's the thing. He really drove the point home that sustainability

09:57isn't something that you wake up tomorrow and we fixed it.

10:00Yeah. I asked him like the question of, of the context of time that he thinks. And he's like,

10:05I'm thinking in 10,000 years. I'm like, Oh, I'm thinking about getting through today. So the fact

10:10that that microwave theory makes a lot of sense, he said something really jarring. Whereas like,

10:16you know, the Titanic, if the Titanic had had solar power and, and the batteries and all this,

10:22it's still would have sunk by hitting that, that iceberg. I was like, so, so we're on the Titanic

10:28and we're about to hit that iceberg and it doesn't matter if we have solar panels. So

10:31that is dire. So that was something. The other one that hit me was a stat that he gave us that 96%

10:36of the planet's mammal biomass is humans and our livestock, which only less left 4% of the planet's

10:45mammal capacity for wildlife. Basically.

10:49I remember asking him, like, how do you stay positive? Like, this is very sad. I'm like,

10:55full of dread. And he's like, I'm not sad. This is just life. And I was like, Oh my God.

11:01So thank you to Dr. Murphy for, for shaking us loose a little bit. It's had me thinking a lot,

11:07which I appreciate, even though it may have me going into doom scrolling far too often. So

11:13check that episode out. It's absolutely a really powerful one for, uh, for anybody who's thinking

11:20about their impact on the global stage. All right. Episode number four, Dr. Shelley Wren,

11:25associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university of California,

11:30Riverside. Uh, we talked about AI in this episode. What's a big takeaway for you on the, uh, AI

11:37arena. I mean, I really liked how it's a tool and I think we were very successful at explaining how

11:47a tool is just a tool, but the way that we use it and the things that come out of using that tool

11:53are the things that we need to focus on. So with AI, there's all this generation of carbon

11:58and a lot of polluting, but also something Dr. Wren said is it can be really useful for helping us

12:05map out a big project to support a community, right? So the tool can do the thing. It's just

12:12keeping in mind that no tool is going to be, you know, absolutely perfect, but just, I don't know,

12:19coming to terms with the trade-offs, I think is, it's quite a realistic view of where we're at

12:24at the moment. And I really appreciate it a lot. And again, being able to apply the technology in

12:30the right communities in the right way that are we thinking about these technologies and their

12:36implementation from a, from a Northern or Western type approach, but then having some of these,

12:44so the data centers specifically, some of these places are going into lower income areas because

12:49they can buy up the land cheap and the inhabitants are going to complain less because what do they

12:56know? And, and they don't have ownership over the land and all of this. So they're just going to

13:00sign off on the dotted line. And all of a sudden they have all of these impactors, these, these

13:06stressors on their environment, be it pollution, air pollution, be it water pollution, things like

13:11that. So that to me was interesting. He did say that in the next five to 10 years, he expects that

13:17there's going to be a level of efficiency where all of a sudden that there'll be a net positive.

13:21And in the short term, there are significant detrimental impacts to the environments, to the

13:27grid, to things like that. So we're in that innovation, that stage of the arc where we're maybe

13:33doing more harm than good. The hope is in the longterm, once some of those things level off, we'll be able

13:39to have that meaningful impact be sustainable.

13:41I think it was one of the few times I've heard talk of AI be more on the positive side, where

13:48it's not all doom and gloom and the robots are coming for us, you know, but the robots

13:52still might be coming for us.

13:54Well, yes, but at least they're not producing that much carbon.

13:57Exactly. At least the robots are a little bit more green in their approach as they take over

14:01the world. Yep. Yep.

14:02Priorities.

14:03Episode number five, a journalist, prolific journalist, Peter Schwarzstein talked about the,

14:10the conflict nexus, right? Climate conflict, climate conflict, a term that I hadn't heard

14:17before. That was, that was a big takeaway again. Uh, for me, I also asked him the question,

14:23why does he personally do it? Because it's such heavy, heavy work. And he was really optimistic

14:30about the fact that somebody needs to be out there telling these stories. So for you, what

14:33was a big takeaway from, uh, from talking to Peter?

14:36I mean, I've always found that topic quite controversial because, um, like if you watch

14:41the episode, you'll notice why it becomes something where a lot of people don't even

14:45want to touch it with a pole because it is one of those things that it can be a slippery

14:49slope for justifying certain issues in a political social realm. But I think he was really good at

14:58explaining how climate change is just an exacerbator of, there are these stresses that communities

15:05or societies or groups are going through and climate change just makes that worse. So the

15:10climate conflict nexus isn't like the boogeyman that is just creeping up because, you know,

15:14it's been drier this year. It's just, there are underlying issues that we need to address

15:19so that when climate change hits in the way that, you know, it does. And as we're seeing now,

15:25it doesn't destabilize society. And I think he, he really hammered that point home in a really

15:31nice way.

15:33It also did get very specific. And the one that stood out to me was ISIS and their ability

15:41to use massive amounts of drought and kind of a agricultural collapse in Iraq and Syria

15:47as a really strong recruitment tool to turn people militant very quickly because they saw

15:54no hope, no other way out, no way but to militarize and weaponize themselves against the real and

16:05perceived oppressors of their dire situations. And that, again, I think that's part of what spurred

16:11all my questions and said, why are you doing this work? This is, this is really tough stuff to see

16:16the impact that it's having on these communities where they're just trying to survive and they're

16:21being sold a concept of this militant way of being able to take back their own power, their own land,

16:30their own livelihoods. And it's really sad that that becomes a generational drama too.

16:36Yeah, no. And I think you see that very potent in places like Colombia, you see it in Lake Victoria

16:43and Africa, you see it up in like even places where it's, you think everything's fine. Like,

16:49for example, I'm in the UK and you do see a conversation happening of, well, there's too

16:54many of us, we don't have enough land. And people start riling up against that and using climate change

17:00as an excuse for why we need to kick some people off and things like that. Right.

17:04So it can always escalate. And I think he was, he was very inspiring in the way that someone needs

17:11to tell these stories. Very. Yeah. Yeah. It gave me a reality check and some hope as well.

17:18Both simultaneously that at least we have an opportunity to address these things, share these

17:22stories, allow some humanity to peek through these really dark and difficult times and these difficult

17:29situations in, in these areas. So that's great. All right. Next episode. This was a really lighthearted

17:35episode. Episode number six with Lisa Kelstrom is a leadership expert and working. Yeah. We got some

17:41coaching. We got some coaching. Yeah. I kind of took, took advantage that, Oh, I'm very, I'm very much

17:46into this leadership and communication and being entrepreneurial. Like how do I galvanize messages and

17:52teams? Storytelling talked about how we are addicted to storytelling as a species. That to me was great

18:00because I am 100% of storytellers, how I look at myself. Even as a chef, I imagine myself as a

18:06storyteller. I just use food as my medium. Even when we close our eyes and go to sleep, we dream and tell

18:11ourselves more stories. So we are addicted to stories and you see stories that, that stand the test of time

18:17being a part of our, our very cultural fabric. So that was the big takeaway for me. And there was also a little

18:24bit of talking about collaboration and storytelling. She gave an example of Netflix and Disney

18:28collaborating in a way that you'd never expect. And too often we are so in kind of our capitalist

18:35mindset. It's like you have to out-compete the person next to you, the company next to you. And the fact that

18:42there's opportunities for collaboration and communication to be able to have a rising tide lift all ships.

18:47That was a great takeaway for me as well. What about for you from Lisa?

18:51I love how she brought in the mental health aspect of being a leader in especially this kind of sector

18:59of climate change where everything's quite gloomy. So yeah, I really appreciated her sort of bringing

19:03that in and being like, as to be a good leader, you have to be in touch with these things so you can

19:08lead other people and address those concerns. And it was amazing. And she gave us a lot of really good

19:14frameworks and examples that you can check out at the blog as well if you want to get some coaching

19:18because it was great. Even just listening to the episode and reading the blog, you will get

19:24coaching some one-on-one stuff. Absolutely big takeaway. Again, tangeliclife.org. You can go

19:30through and find all of the blog posts for the podcast and just scroll to Tangelic Talks and check that

19:36out. So yeah, great episode. I think we need to be very cognizant. And it was nice that her episode

19:43was right in the middle, episode six of our own mental health and fortitude through this process

19:48was we're talking about these very heavy topics, sometimes dark topics that we're going to need

19:53some levity through this. So let's make sure we have some energizing episodes sprinkled in just even

19:58for you and I are in our own mental health in this process. Yeah, great shout out. And for our

20:03listeners, we want to take care of them as well. Yes, we want to take you on a story arc that doesn't

20:08just have doom and gloom as well. So episode seven, Dr. Nathan Andrews, associate professor

20:13in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University. We talked corporate social

20:18responsibility. CSR is that acronym you get seen thrown around a lot. We're talking about big companies

20:24and the work that they're doing and the impact that they're having on the communities where they do

20:29their business, where they do their work. What was the takeaway for you? A little bit what we've said

20:34before about some bad actors taking advantage of deprived areas. In some cases, it's for, you know,

20:44militant and violent reasons. In other cases is, you know, the community won't stand up to you

20:49and you come in and promise them all these things that actually don't happen. And something that he was

20:56really good at bringing up is the way of keeping these companies accountable is quite tricky.

21:03And it puts communities in a really, you know, uncomfortable position because to an extent it's

21:08needed, but it's, again, it only happens because there is a system governance issue that does not

21:15protect communities. So he relies on these companies to do the thing that maybe other bodies should be

21:20do the thing. You know, I don't know if you got that. Yeah. Very specific. Oh, a hundred percent.

21:28And, and the kind of takeaway that I, that I scribbled down from this episode was that often

21:33the governments are protecting these corporations over their own people because there's a monetary

21:38incentive there and impoverished areas that money talks louder than sometimes the wellbeing of their

21:46their own people. And he mentioned a specific incident where a Ghanaian military kind of protected

21:53a mining company to the point where there were, there were casualties. And that for me is really

22:01jarring that we're protecting these companies over our own people because we have a vested interest

22:07in that. That is definitely not how corporate social responsibility was meant to be structured

22:13in its kind of creation invention and intent. And the fact that some companies have been able to

22:20twist it and manipulate it to the point where a government or a military is turning on its own

22:27people to keep that cashflow coming. That's probably moving. At some point, we should have someone come in

22:35and teach us a bit about greenwashing in that sense. Cause I think it's a light version of that bad CSR.

22:42You know, when you say your company does 4% of green and everything else is oil, you know,

22:48right. I think that'd be interesting, that impact is very different than that, that tagline that they

22:54can attach to themselves or that somebody comes up with a sticker that you can throw on your packaging

22:59that says you're doing X, Y, Z work when the net impact or being able to buy, you know, carbon credits

23:06that you're not actually the one doing the mitigation. Some of those things are problematic. Yeah.

23:10So if you're listening and you know about this, reach out to us, or if you have any topics you want

23:16to talk to us about on Tangelic Talks, you can always reach out and come on.

23:21Yeah. Podcast at TangelicLife.org. Just email us directly. Podcast at TangelicLife.org. We want to

23:28hear from all of you. What are the topics that we need to be covering? Who are the people that we need

23:33to be speaking with as we move forward in these conversations? Oh, episode number eight,

23:39prolific TV host adventure, Ryan Pyle, who's traveled the world, climbed mountains,

23:45had a Guinness world record for longest consecutive trip, motorcycle trip around China.

23:52Really, really great stuff with the AKA the most interesting man in the world, Ryan Pyle.

23:57This was a fun episode for us. We had some laughs on this. We learned a little bit. We laughed,

24:02we cried, all of it. It was a great episode. So what were some takeaways for you? I think the main

24:07one is how the reverse culture shock, I guess. It was really interesting how Ryan talked about,

24:14you know, coming back home after being in a really remote place and suddenly you can just turn your

24:19lights on. It like freaked him out a little. I think that's so interesting. It's not something

24:26I think about, you know, that it's crazy. Yeah. It was amazing. You can turn the lights on and they

24:34turn on and you want to do something at nine o'clock at night. You can do that. You have that option to

24:40many people in the world, unless you have some candles lit. That's about it. You don't have that

24:44option. I think I have to say the best part, the funniest part was the leave no trace approach when

24:51they're climbing the mountains. And we had a conversation about some places you're putting

24:54your stool in a bag and you're carrying it back down the mountain because they want you to leave

25:00no trace. So just rethinking the way that you work as a human, the way your body literally works and how

25:07you handle those situations was wild to me. And being able to do that in tune with nature.

25:15Wow. That's what I mean. It really highlights that of like, you're not just using nature for

25:19entertainment, you know, you have to take care of it. And one of the ways of taking care of it

25:25is taking that with you. And it's still entertainment the way that he goes about it,

25:30because clearly he's made a great living out of being a TV host. And he and I even talked about

25:35how Anthony Bourdain is one of our, both of our idols in the way that he approached TV and television.

25:41And then for me, the way he approached being a chef. And so the, the, the fact that he can turn

25:46something into entertainment, that is just a pure relationship with nature. I think that's why he's

25:52successful at the work that he does and why he's got such a great, very unique perspective.

25:58Yeah. It's awesome. Check that episode out for sure. And follow him on social media is really active.

26:04Ryan pile on social media is really active as well. It's got some great content. So

26:08episode number nine, John Sumbu, the executive director of green for change Ghana, one of the

26:13partners, I mentioned it earlier for Tangelic that the sunrise spectrum initiative, being able to bring

26:20solar panels and solar cookware to off grid communities in Ghana is one of the things that

26:28we are supporting at Tangelic. It was amazing to not just read about that program, which I had

26:35be able to hear from John himself and the interaction in those communities and his,

26:39his own family and his own dynamic there and being able to come back home and support his community.

26:46So what was a takeaway for you?

26:47Yeah, I think something we talked about that I love tree planting. I do tree planting every year.

26:54And something I never think about is how many trees have I planted? Because I've never been back to

26:59check on them. And I think he really, when he said that it made me think like, oh my gosh,

27:07I've never gone back to check in a tree. And something he was saying is one of the reasons you

27:10have to do that is because it's part of your ongoing care for nature, right? You go and check things,

27:16you go and revisit the thing you've done and all that. And I was like, wow.

27:19Wow. Yeah, you're right. I need to go on a little tour. Go check on my trees.

27:26Because I think we, we think about the planting of a tree as being this thing that we can do

27:31as our own kind of social impact. We say, Hey, we're going to, we're going to plant some trees

27:37because it's Arbor Day. Great. That sounds amazing. We should definitely do that. Somebody has to take

27:42care of those trees. Somebody has the job of upkeep and too often nobody takes on that responsibility.

27:49And then you have these, these places where we're supposed to plant these trees and we check that

27:54box. The problem is nobody maintains them. And those trees die off. Those trees have potentially

28:00negative impact on the community. So the fact that they planted 60,000 trees and they have a whole

28:05system around supporting that ecosystem. That's the whole point, right?

28:10Right. It's to make sure that those trees flourish into the future.

28:13Yeah. Involving the whole community, the children, everything. I think

28:17it really, really creates a different experience.

28:20Yes. And I asked the question about the cookware because in my own experience, sometimes we've been

28:27asked in the restaurant industry to go from gas cooking to electric cooking. And we scoff at it

28:33because, Oh, I know I need those BTUs, those British thermal units. I need to be able to get the food

28:39hot. I need these pans searing and the electric just doesn't quite do that. So I asked, are these,

28:46are these communities, are these cooks able to really create their traditional dishes in the way

28:52that they see fit that has the flavor, the profiles that are true to them? And the fact that he said a

28:58resounding, yes, that we've seen great results. That to me was really encouraging in the way that we're

29:04cooking our food and the way that we're gathering around the table and creating community in that way.

29:08So that to me, cooking is my love language. So the fact that you can have that love language

29:13in a sustainable way versus using potentially animal dried animal dung and cooking with that as fuel to

29:25then have toxicity in your lungs, like that, that shift to me was really encouraging. I'm really

29:34excited to see where that goes. So big takeaway for me, very personal episode for me as well.

29:39Episode 10. Ooh, Sarah Black, head of the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago.

29:46Oh my gosh. Yes. Entanglement. Entanglement. What did you think? Because you were quite taken

29:52aback by it. Well, look, I'm going to jump in first then. And I'll say I was so excited to hear

29:58about the program that they do. And was there a name to the program? I can't remember. Knowledge Lab

30:03Entanglements Course is what is actually called Sarah's Knowledge Lab Entanglements Course at the Art

30:08Institute of Chicago. They plan a dinner for the whole semester. They make furniture and they plant

30:15and grow the food and they are getting involved in every step of the way and what it takes to put

30:21on a meal and gather around a table. So I've got my invite. I'm going, I'm going to make it there

30:27for one of these dinners to be able to check out that experience because being able to be that

30:31connected to the process, not just getting the ingredients shipped to you and cooking a great meal,

30:38which is what I'm so used to, but really being entangled in that process.

30:42That was fun to hear about. And Sarah and I got a lot more to talk about. What about for you?

30:47A hundred percent. No, I just loved it. I love, we always talk about not separating ourselves from

30:53nature because we are part of nature and nature is us. Like I like saying, when you walk down the street,

30:59you're basically just walking in nature. Really? We've just altered it to the point where it doesn't feel

31:04like our conception of nature. And I think she really drove that point home through her art

31:10and through the way that she creates her art. So I just loved it. You know, there is,

31:16they always say a picture is a thousand words. I would imagine her sculptures are probably like a

31:21million. And I think that's all I've got to say, really.

31:24That sounds about right. She, she sent me a portfolio of photos of all her different projects

31:30that I looked through. And it was, it was a lot to look through that and just

31:35immerse yourself in a very different way. When you hear like immersive art, you think, okay,

31:40it's slightly interactive. It's like you are in it. You have to immerse yourself in the mud to be able

31:47to experience some of the art that they have. So it was, it was a great episode. Next, Eric Lyon,

31:53former special ops, now author, exploring clean energy. We talked about minerals, critical minerals.

32:00We talked about the United States lack of a critical mineral strategy and the impacts that that might

32:06have, right? China controls 97% of solar wafer production gallium and 98% of graphite anodes for

32:14batteries. Those are the big stat takeaways that I had from this episode. It was a little bit scary

32:22for, especially here in the United States that we do not have it together when it comes to critical

32:28minerals. And the fact that we are so reliant on so many other places, including the, the stranglehold

32:36that China has on a lot of these, they've done a much better job of investing in that infrastructure

32:40globally. So that was a big takeaway and a little bit, uh, a little bit scary. I'm not going to lie.

32:46Yeah. What about for you?

32:47But I think, um, Eric was so good at showing us how being curious is one of the coolest things we

32:53can be, you know, he wrote a book a year and it's all based on, oh, I was curious about this thing.

32:58So I'm going to research it, you know, just a normal Tuesday in the life of Eric Lyon.

33:05Amazing. I'm curious. I'm going to write a book on it. I think that's a great way to,

33:11he said, you know, scratch his own itch type of thing.

33:12Yeah. It's amazing. And I think it's one of those where, I don't know, besides the really

33:17interesting critical minerals conversation we had, and you know, him pivoting from being in

33:21a really complete different area of life into green energy, I think being able to look at,

33:28if you're curious about something, just go. And I think that was the advice he gave towards the end.

33:31He's like, if you're curious, if you have a question, just check, just read, go do it.

33:38And honestly, I think it's just, it's impressive because in, we talk about innovation a lot and

33:45it always feels like there's a barrier to access to doing innovation.

33:48Right. There's gatekeepers all over.

33:50Exactly. No, if you're curious, just go check it out.

33:54He just knocks those barriers right down. Those gatekeepers have no time to,

33:58he's just whizzing right by him. It's awesome.

34:01Oh, great. And finally, episode last but not least, episode number 12,

34:05Brie Coriglio, executive director of the Fund for Armenian Relief. This was a really...

34:12Touching.

34:14Touching. Yes. It was so personal.

34:17Yeah.

34:18I think you and I, for Brie, so for you, what did you get from this episode?

34:22Oh gosh, I felt like, I don't know. It was like talking to an older sister almost. It was like

34:29all this knowledge and I don't know, she has such a loving way of speaking, such a raw way of speaking.

34:37And I think it just, again, it ties back to what Lisa was talking about when it comes to empowering

34:43leaders. Brie is such an amazing leader because she's so in touch with that emotional side and

34:49the things that it brings up. And I think, you know, her passion is her work. And I think that just

34:55makes her an amazing leader at it. And I don't know, so honored to have had her on the podcast. It

35:00was a great episode and it really spans into how you can turn, again, like Eric does, you can turn

35:07a curiosity and a passion into a whole thing, you know?

35:11Yeah. She is the embodiment of heart leadership. That's really the top, top takeaway. Her

35:21ability in that episode, which was her first ever podcast, I was so grateful that she trusted us

35:28enough to take her on that journey and to be a part of that journey. The fact that she was so

35:35vulnerable and willing to share about the love and respect she had for her mother and

35:40her siblings being involved in the journey and her own Armenian heritage. Again, all of the things,

35:47the technical things that she said where there were a lot of, and there were very specific things that

35:52are happening with far and the work that she's doing and the women, especially that they're empowering.

35:59But it was so clearly a personal endeavor for her that the work that was happening at the end

36:06was the icing on the cake for her, that she had already found this purpose and this meaning and

36:13the fact that she's able to do that work and that it's having an impact. Well, that's just amazing on

36:18top of everything else. And then we got to talk about women starting businesses and being empowered to

36:24do so and having the infrastructure and the support and the tools and the training and the skills to be

36:30able to be able to do that, talking about utilizing social media to be able to sell textiles or to

36:36start your own business. That's like real work. That's changing people's lives.

36:43And I think, again, it's a sustainable way of doing it. You know, similar to what Dr. Tom Murphy was

36:50saying, you don't just do this overnight. But again, like Dr. Run said, we need the tools to

36:56change things around. And I think that's the beauty about a lot of the conversations we've

37:00been having. Our guests are referencing each other without knowing and topics keep up and we

37:06keep finding this thread. And it's, it's, I don't know, it feels very whole.

37:10Yeah. It's illuminating a bigger picture. It's like, we're getting to zoom out you and I

37:17and our audience and Tangelic talks to this podcast and see how so many people's stories and work are

37:24interconnected in this way that when you're kind of stuck in your day to day and the grind and all

37:29that, you don't get an opportunity to see. And at the same time, we're able to zoom way, way,

37:34way in and get these nuanced, microscopic details of what it takes step by step to be able to accomplish

37:40some of these things. It's, it's really great seat that we're in. I'm really grateful that we get to

37:46stay in this seat and be able to have these conversations and be able to for ourselves selfishly,

37:51even personally be able to now evolve as, as humans on this planet, trying to survive and thrive.

37:58People would say we're set at the intersection.

38:01We are indeed a podcast and two podcast hosts at the intersection of energy equity empowerment.

38:08That was a great segue into wrapping up this episode, which is very personal for Victoria and I

38:14we're grateful for the opportunity that our guests have given us, given us that Tangelic,

38:19that Justin and Justin and Amber and Taufik and Nosy, Queen, Matthew, Grace, many more that I'm

38:27forgetting on our team that have allowed us the opportunity to be able to spearhead these

38:31conversations and be able to learn and evolve and hopefully have an impact on, on you and your day

38:38and the work that you do. So again, if anybody out there has a story to tell in this space,

38:44has somebody that they look up to, that they work with, that they want to hear represented in

38:49Tangelic talks, please email us at podcast at tangeliclife.org, go to tangeliclife.org and check

38:55out the blog posts, these episodes and all future episodes, follow us on social media,

39:00tangelic life, go to our Instagram, go check out our Facebook. We'd love to have you be a part of this

39:05journey and we appreciate the opportunity for checking back in with you in our next 12 episodes.

39:12Yeah, thank you guys for an amazing season one. All right, that's it. That's what we got for you.

39:18Cheers. Bye.

39:35We're building tomorrow where we all belong

39:39Tangera talks, energy, equity, pride, empowering the world side by side

39:46The spark becomes a fire, a vision that's true, together we rise, it starts with you

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Season 1 Recap: Energy, Equity & Empowerment | Tangelic Talks Podcast

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