How To!: Be the Next Erin Brockovich

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Society & Culture, Business, News

3.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike is an average guy on a mission to change the state of Florida—specifically, to convince the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to stop overspraying the rivers and lakes with herbicides. As a fisherman, Mike cares deeply about the waterways in his state, but he’s struggling to break into the conversation and make a real impact. In this episode of How To!, we bring on Erin Brockovich, the citizen activist and inspiration for the Oscar-winning film Erin Brockovich starring Julia Roberts. Drawing on her new book Superman’s Not Coming, she has tips for how Mike can follow in her footsteps to enact environmental change. As much as Mike may want to keep shouting about his cause until someone listens, he may need to switch tactics to actually get people to hear him. If you liked this episode, check out “How To Save the Planet (And Still Use a Plastic Straw).” Are you facing a challenge that seems insurmountable? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:00.8	I'm 60 years old, okay, and when I was 40, I mean the fishing was just unbelievable and I have seen such a decline.
1:11.0	I mean if we don't get this stopped soon, all of our lakes are going to die.
1:18.9	Welcome to how to. I'm Charles Stewart.
1:28.0	We spend a lot of time on this show helping people make changes in their lives and as hard as many of those changes can be like asking for a promotion or reconciling with a difficult parent, the outcome usually feels like it's within our control.
1:38.1	But what about when what you want to change is the world around you?
1:43.4	Meet Mike from Florida.
1:45.6	I started out as a fisherman.
1:47.4	I love to fish.
1:48.3	I turn on it fished.
1:49.7	And I just saw our water just going downhill big time and we started getting a lot of sick fish in our rivers.
1:57.0	Mike runs his own home construction business, but he spends most of his free time trying to draw attention to what he sees as a grave threat to the environment.
2:07.0	He's particularly concerned about how the state of Florida sprays herbicides in the rivers and lakes near his home.
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