In 1993, eight hundred and fifty-seven people were arrested for civil disobedience in the Clayoquot protests, a series of blockades related to clearcutting in clayoquot sound, British Columbia. Today’s guest, Tzeporah Berman, was one of the leading spokespersons and blockage coordinators at the time. Today, she is the co-founder of Stand.earth, a grassroots environmental organization, and chair of the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative, a proposed treaty to explicitly stop the expansion of fossil fuel exploitation and manage a transition from coal, oil, and gas to clean energy. Initially studying arts, fashion, and design, Tzeporah promptly switched to studying environmental studies at the University of Toronto after backpacking through Europe in the late 1980s and saw firsthand industrialization’s impact on the Harz mountains in Germany.
Tzeporah speaks with Marco about how she found herself in jail right after university supporting the Clayoquot protests, from which she learned after that that change is made through power. She also shares that we’ve invested more in clean, renewable energy in the last year but still need to continue declining emissions and production to combat climate change. The world is being re-invented, from how we heat our homes, to how we travel, and Tzeporah’s work through stand earth and the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative shows us that now is an exciting and essential time to get involved and stand up for our earth.
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Play Episode 35: Tzeporah Berman, Stand.earth: