026: Our Right to a Healthy Environment with Maya van Rossum
A Sustainable Mind - environment & sustainability podcast
Marjorie Alexander
4.6 • 588 Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2017
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Lawyer and veteran environmentalist Maya van Rossum has been fighting for our right to a healthy environment for over 25 years. She has played a critical role in getting environmental legislation passed and is sparking a movement with her new book The Green Amendment. In this episode, Maya reminds us that access to a clean environment is NOT a constitutional right...yet.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is A Sustainable Mind, Episode 26. |
| 0:03.8 | We didn't do that because it was the environmentally responsible thing to do. |
| 0:07.7 | We did that because it was economical and efficient and the way you live life. |
| 0:18.9 | Welcome to A Sustainable Mind, where we delve into the minds behind today's most impactful environmental campaigns, organizations, and startups, inspiring the environmental changemakers of tomorrow. |
| 0:32.4 | I'm your host, Marjorie Alexander. |
| 0:46.2 | Thank you. Marjorie Alexander. Today we'll be speaking with Maya Van Rossum, lawyer by training, |
| 0:51.9 | longtime and fierce environmental activist, and author of the book, The Green Amendment, |
| 0:56.5 | securing our right to a healthy environment. Maya, welcome to the show. |
| 1:01.6 | I'm excited and I'm really thrilled for the opportunity to talk to you about it. You're my first official on the day launch interview. Excellent. Excellent. Yes, it is launching today. Oh my gosh. |
| 1:08.7 | I was looking at my schedule. I was like, oh, that's really |
| 1:11.3 | exciting. But here we are, and you're right. It launched today. So anybody who's interested in |
| 1:16.9 | grabbing the book, either an e-book or the physical book, can head on over to a sustainablemind.com |
| 1:23.5 | at the end of this interview to grab your copy. But we'll be diving into more about the book in a second. |
| 1:29.3 | So I always like to start out with talking about how environmental sustainability played a factor in your childhood or in your young adult years. |
| 1:40.5 | Can you tell us about that? |
| 1:41.7 | Sure. Growing up, I think, you know, I was really reflecting on this question. |
| 1:46.4 | I learned to live lightly on the earth from my parents. |
| 1:49.3 | And it's not that we talked about environmental protection, and we didn't talk about why you compost or why you use cloth bags. |
| 1:57.4 | And remember, this was using cloth bags many decades ago. I'm 51 years old. |
| 2:02.7 | Well before, you know, it was common practice. We would, if you had to pick something up from the shop, |
| 2:08.1 | even though the shop was a half hour bike ride away, if you didn't need your car, you rode your bicycle. |
| 2:13.9 | We didn't do that because it was the environmentally responsible thing to do. |
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