Food, power, and hope in the American West

In today’s podcast, we talk to Jennifer Sahn, editor of High Country News, and writers Rick Bass and Laureli Ivanoff, about HCN’s September issue, a collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN). The issue covers a wide range of topics on Food and Power in the American West.

Laureli Ivanoff photo by Jenny Irene Miller
Jennifer Sahn photo by Terence Patrick

TIMELINE
1’57 High Country News and FERN collaboration on “Food and Power in the West” issue
3’17 stories in the issue including meat packing and pecan growing
6’10 the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Lab at Cal Poly, Humboldt
7’52 what is the Food & Environment Reporting Network
10’12 RICK BASS
10’57 the definition of sustainability and why it’s not 100% attainable
12’41 forest service is part of the department of agriculture but really shouldn’t be
12’59 old growth forests are a huge carbon sink and guard against climate change
13’48 the cooling effect of forests
15’49 art inspired by old growth forests
18’07 the role of old growth forests in not only climate defense but also global security
20’43 the paradigm shift from seeing the forest as a set of commodities to seeing it as a complex ecosystem—and that saving it is actually better for people than the industrial perspective
21’49 art to help people feel more deeply
22’48 the Yaak Valley Forest Council and the campaign to save it
23’38 defending the forest with love rather than litigation
24’48 trying to reach climate champions in power
25’22 Bass has been living in the forest for nearly 40 years, where he has worked as both a writer and an activist
26’10 trying to have the area dedicated as a climate refuge and a series of climate refuges in the northern forests
27’13 no extinctions since the last ice age
29’04 being a hunter in Montana looking for deer and elk
30’27 preserving the Black Ram forest, see montanaproject.org for art and yaakvalley.org for science
31’22 the importance of contacting elected representatives
31’48 LORELI IVANOFF
32’27 The Joyful Responsibility of Cutting Fish
38’46 the deeper meaning of “subsistence”
41’22 overharvest eventually results in collapse
43’07 the problem with thinking of the earth as possessions, rather than gifts
44’31 you don’t take more than you need
45’47 the sense of belonging and community
49’55 the need to talk about community when community is threatened
50’55 how the climate has changed since she started cutting fish
51’41 it’s hard to dry fish now because of wetter summer weather, and other climate problems
55’27 the difficulty of trying to live close to nature when you’re in the city