Leah Thomas is an eco-communicator, aka an environmentalist with a love for writing + creativity, based in Ventura, CA. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. You could say she’s tryna make the world a little more equal for everyone and a little nicer to our home planet.

She is the founder of eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah and The Intersectional Environmentalist Platform, which is a resource + media hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice + inclusivity within environmental education + movements.

Her articles on this topic have appeared in Vogue, Elle, The Good Trade, and Youth to the People and she has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, Domino, GOOP and numerous podcasts. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Chapman University and worked for the National Park Service and Patagonia headquarters before pursuing environmentalism full time. Learn more about Leah and her mission in this BuzzFeed video.

Engaging the World: Leading the Conversation on Environmental Justice is a series of informed, sustained, and enriching dialogues looking at how environmental toxicity and risk disproportionately impact populations based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and social standing. Environmental Justice brings awareness to these disparities, fighting to ensure that every voice is heard, every challenge is addressed, and every community has a seat at the table for a greener future.

Guest: Leah Thomas
Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels
Produced by Public Podcasting in partnership with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Chapman University.

Jackson (Kanahashi) Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Book Prize in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS (Noemi Press, 2021), AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS (7.13 Books, 2022), DREAM POP ORIGAMI (Unsolicited Press, 2022), the digital novella, DUKKHA, MY LOVE, & the newsletter, MIXTAPE. Born & raised in Traverse City, Michigan until the age of fourteen, he spent his adult life in SoCal, the Pacific Northwest, & the Midwest with stints in Argentina & Burkina Faso. Jackson has a BA in comp lit from Oberlin College, a MFA from the University of Notre Dame where he was the Fiction Fellow & the Sparks Prize winner, a MA in English, & a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from USC where he worked with Aimee Bender, Viet Thanh Nguyen, & TC Boyle. His stories & essays have appeared in the New York Times,Tin House, Ploughshares, Columbia Journal, Guernica, Longreads, Antioch Review, TriQuarterly, Fiction, Witness, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, Vol.1 Brooklyn, ZYZZYVA, Joyland, Santa Monica Review, Juked, Quarterly West, The Daily Dot, Pleiades, the 2012-2013 Anthology of APIA Literature, Arts & Letters, Fiction International, Hobart, Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, & 3 am Magazine, among others. Jackson is the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University. He lives in LA with his wife and two stylish little dogs.

Dream Pop Origami
Unsolicited Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.

Kathy Weyer is an author, artist, and animal lover. She was awarded first prize by the Palm Springs Writers Guild for both the fiction and memoir contests, and she has been published in several magazines. Kathy is on the board of directors for the Friends of the Palm Springs Library and the Palm Springs Writers Guild. Kathy lives in Palm Springs with her husband of 40 years and their rescued pets. She is the author of Stitches and its sequels, Canvas and Pages of the Heritage Art Park series. Through her fiction, Kathy shines a light on women’s issues, the foster/child welfare system, domestic violence, grief, and bereavement.

Pages
Atmosphere Press, 2022

A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writing, discuss current projects, and consider life without books. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you podcast.

Past Forward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to community building. As a public podcast service and distributor, our creative media is designed to amplify the voices of community leaders by providing a platform to share stories about civic engagement and cultural enrichment. For further learning, our book initiative provides access to millions of books at a discount price.