I'm Ashley C. Ford, and this is Into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice, produced with Vox Creative.

Let's get into it.

Today we start with someone who is not an organizer or an activist, at least according to her.

Patty Smith is many things, though. She's a musician, an artist, a writer, a cultural icon who came of age in New York City during the gritty 1970s.

She's known as Punk's poet Lorette because of the way she weaves poetry and rock together.

But really, her creative work isn't easily defined by one medium.

And while she occupies a place in our culture as a true rock legend, she blends right

in with most New Yorkers.

She's tall, reaching towards six feet, but from her slightly slouched body language, you might

not guess that she spent so much time on stage. Of course, as a musician and a poet, she has.

And these days, some of those appearances are to call attention to the urgency of climate change.

I'm interested in talking with her for many reasons,

but it's the way she uses her creative talents to draw attention to this crisis

that interests me here today, even if she won't call herself an activist.

I'm essentially an artist. I'm really not an organizer.

I'm not even that, you know, politically attuned.

I'm really, I move by common sense.

I move by common sense and love and what is best for the human condition.

Our earth is suffering, you know, and our species are suffering.

And when I think as a child, hell, I would walk through a meadow

and there'd be hundreds and hundreds of butterflies and hummingbirds

and wildflowers and herbs everywhere.

...