Well, hello there and welcome back. My name is Stephanie Safarian and you are listening to episode 180 of the Sustainable Minimalist Podcast.

On today's show, we are discussing culture's role, particularly pop culture's role, and the environmental movement.

While it can feel natural to disassociate from media coverage surrounding global

warming and climate change, it's much harder to do so when

pop culture pushes the narrative, right? As a kid, I loved the show Captain Planet and the show has stayed with me through the decades.

On today's show we're discussing why exactly that is and by the way quick shout

out to all my fellow Captain Planet lovers. I believe that the

relationship between popular culture and popular opinion is circular and so a

great way to jump-start conversations with children and with other loved ones is to do so through a show or through a book or a movie or a song that gets to the heart of the issue.

Today I'm speaking with Jessica Harris.

Jessica wears an awful lot of hats

and she's gonna tell you about all of them.

But the specific hat we are discussing today

is her role as a children's book author.

Jessica's here to divulge why on earth she wrote,

Bernie's Escape from Ong Islands, which introduces children

to issues surrounding plastic waste and

specifically the Great Pacific garbage patch. We're also discussing the

reasons why pop culture and not media coverage may be the way in which we can both broaden and diversify

the environmental movement. Jessica, how are you?

I'm good, Stephanie, how are you?

I'm good, thank you so much for asking.

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