Eco Chic

214: Teal Lehto (@WesternWaterGirl) is a science communicator superstar with 54K+ followers on TikTok, where she breaks down some of the most significant challenges surrounding the western water crisis. Today, we're doing our best to explore the multi-faceted problem: where is all the water actually being used, and why haven't we solved this problem yet? We discuss the weird history of water rights and aversion to conservation, plus the long-ignored needs of Indigenous communities. The Colorado River Basin consists of seven states plus the country of Mexico - how are there are millions of people cautiously waiting for the western water system to collapse? Teal also discusses social media activism, her platform, and the role of recreation in bringing environmental issues to the masses. More episodes for you: Ep 178: The Drought: Water Policy, Fires, + Solutions for the American West | Gabrielle Canon 152: Heat Waves, Mega Drought, and Wildfires, Oh My... Books recommended by Teal: The Emerald Mile by Ke

213: We're rewinding to our first ever book club: a conversation with Megan McSherry on the iconic, juicy, insider look of the luxury fashion industry as told through Dana Thomas' Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. We discuss the “democratization” of luxury fashion, consumer psychology, celebrity product placement, “it” bags, perfumes… everything that you’ve ever wondered about the behind-the-scenes of the luxury fashion industry, this book got into. We also share some of our favorite iconic luxury fashion moments, retrospective disdain for trends, and the value of artisanship. Spoiler alert: we discuss why we don’t believe an Hermes Birkin Bag should fall into the same vague “luxury” category as a Louis Vuitton. More for you: Ep 181: The Evolution of the It Bag: Stuff for Status Thanks to our sponsor! EarthBreeze.com/ECOCHIC for 40% off Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

212: De-influencing is the TikTok trend we've been waiting for! Conscious consumption is finally getting its mainstream moment - or is it here to stay? We're breaking down the two major benefits of being de-influenced - why is it actually amazing we're spending less money and acquiring less stuff? We're also brainstorming how content creators may "capitalize" on this moment to actually create more impactful, authentic relationships. Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

211: When did we start thinking of furniture as disposable? Today we're discussing the under-exaggerated problem of fast furniture: cheap, low quality, and mass-produced pieces designed to be dumped. We're breaking down (ha) two iconic fast furniture items, and exploring tips for your next point-of-purchase furniture decision. Thanks to our sponsor today! Use code ECOCHIC at CarawayHome.com for 10% off. More for you: Ep 196: Creating Thoughtful Spaces | Amanda Gunawan, OWIU Designs ‘Fast Furniture’ Is Cheap. And Americans Are Throwing It in the Trash. (NY Times) Fast furniture: what’s wrong with it and 7 ways to make better choices (for you and the planet) (Heidi Bischoff, 2019) Ikea keeps price of popular Billy Bookcase the cheapest in Euro zone (Independent UK) Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

210: The news of a major nuclear fusion breakthrough seemed to break the internet last month - we've all got questions, and we're all so excited about this new potential renewable energy source. I'm deeply honored to be joined by Dr. Tammy Ma, Lead Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility, to discuss this scientific milestone. Dr. Ma explains the significance of this ignition reaction for the scientific and energy communities, challenges to scale, and the incredible potential benefits of energy access worldwide. Dr. Tammy Ma earned her bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Caltech in 2005, then received her master's degree in 2008, and Ph.D. in 2010, both from the University of California, San Diego. Following graduate school, she completed a postdoc at LLNL before becoming a staff scientist in 2012. Ma was recently awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on early-care

209: Emma Hakansson is the Founding Director of Collective Fashion Justice, a not-for-profit working for a fashion system that upholds total ethics: prioritizing justice for animals, people and the planet. Emma and I discuss leather, exotic animal skins, and the shifting role of both fashion houses and consumers in accelerating a more just fashion industry. We also discuss Emma's viral TikTok protesting outside an Hermes store for the #DropCroc campaign, and how to eloquently encourage those around you to consider more ethical fashion choices. Collective Fashion Justice is actively releasing reports in a four-part series called Under Their Skin. The latest new report, ‘Leather’s Impact on the Planet’ is a fabulous collection of data and research surrounding the destruction linked to cattle skin and leather production, tanning, and product manufacturing. Thanks to our sponsor! EarthBreeze.com/ECOCHIC to save 40% Last call! Fill out the survey ECO CHIC end-of-year survey here - should take you only a minute

208: Tis the season to set our New Years Resolutions! I'll admit I love setting these goals for the year - I am sharing tips + frameworks for how to actually achieve your goals (whatever time of year it is), and sharing some examples of where you can zoom in on your much broader commitment to "be more sustainable." Fill out the quickie end of the year survey here!!! Help us make (and keep) ECO CHIC your favorite podcast. Thanks to our sponsor! TryBite.com/ECOCHIC for 20% off Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

207: Carinne Chambers-Saini is the founder and CEO of Diva (formerly DivaCup). She is an iconic trailblazer in the menstrual health space, with an industry disruptive brand that has mainstreamed menstrual cups worldwide. Carinne is a passionate advocate for period equity, and has made menstrual care eco-friendly, clean, and comfortable to talk about. We speak intimately today about menstrual education, how she has created a company culture of care, and the early days of entrepreneurship with such an innovative new product to the sanitary care aisle. You can watch Pandora’s Box: Lifting the Lid on Menstruation here on YouTube. Thanks to our sponsor today! Use code ECOCHIC for 20% off at Everlywell.com Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

206: The annual quickie Black Friday episode! We're all feeling the pressure to shop for ourselves, to shop off TikTok gift guides, to overbuy when we're starting early.... today's conversation will hopefully help us think more mindfully around what we're giving and how we're navigating sales. Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

205: Heidi Harmon is the former Mayor of San Luis Obispo, CA and currently serves as Senior Public Affairs Director of Let's Green CA!. She discusses impactful climate policies from her time in office, including affordable housing, sanctuary cities, and fighting utilities in phasing out methane gas in buildings. We also talk about electrification - personal vehicles, infrastructure, public transportation... imagining a world of climate-positive "public luxuries." Thanks to our sponsor! TryBite.com/ECOCHIC Meet me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

204: We are overviewing the top climate solutions across four major sectors demanding major overhaul to heavily decarbonize: Transportation, the Built Environment, Food/Agriculture, and Electricity. As we are awaiting climate commitments from the currently-underway COP27, let's understand all the interwoven opportunities to meet our goals of keeping warming below 2C. Sectors discussed + resources: Ep 157: All About COP: Climate Commitments + Inequities at the UN Conference of Parties Transportation Ep 203: The Power of Walkable Cities Press release: DOE and DOT Launch Joint Effort to Build Out Nationwide Electric Vehicle Charging Network (US Dept of Energy, US Dept of Transportation) Transportation Electrification (Western Resource Advocates) Built Environment Alternate Cement (Drawdown) Ep 196: Creating Thoughtful Spaces | Amanda Gunawan Food/agriculture Examining America’s Farm Subsidy Problem (CATO Institute) This is how much meat and dairy hurt the climate (Vox) How composting can reduce our i

203: Walkability has some clear climate benefits: lower carbon footprints, resource sharing, and decreased reliance on cars for transportation. We're exploring all those, and also discussing some major social sustainability aspects to walkable cities, yielding healthier, happier communities. Today's episode is a deep dive through research on both the climate and community values around mixed-use developments. All the resources mentioned today: Project Drawdown: Walkable Cities TEDTalk: Jeff Speck: The walkable city TEDTalk: Amanda Burden: How public spaces make cities work Active Community Environments and Health: The Relationship of Walkable and Safe Communities to Individual Health by Doyle et al. (Journal of the American Planning Association, 2006) Episode 136: What is Social Sustainability? Thanks to our sponsor! TryBite.com/ECOCHIC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

202: Lindsay McCormick is the Founder + CEO of Bite Toothpaste Bits, a brand dedicated to a plastic-free personal care routine through novel products, like their flagship, viral toothpaste tablets. Lindsay and I discuss all things sustainable entrepreneurship: early challenges, deep research, finding partners that align with your mission... everything from her previous career as a producer on House Hunters to pitching Shark Tank to capitalizing on viral videos across social channels. Lindsay is transparent and reflective - a fabulous teacher and mentor for anyone interested in disrupting an industry. Thanks to our sponsor today! Aspiration.com/TREE Find me online: @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Celebrate 200 episodes! I'll send you stickers - fill out this Google Form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

201: We're learning from Yesh Pavlik Slenk, the Network Senior Manager of Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps program and host of Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers. Yesh is literally an expert at helping folks get paid to save the planet - and she's sharing thoughtful insight and tangible tips, whether you're just starting your career journey, pivoting into a more climate-conscious role, or greening your current workplace. Yesh and I discuss skills and experiences we understand as valuable in the actively-changing sustainability career space. We close out on a personal note, where Yesh shares her experiences coping with climate guilt as a mother. Thanks to today's sponsors! CozyEarth.com with code ECOCHIC for 35% off sitewide TryBite.com/ECOCHIC Find me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Celebrate 200 episodes! I'll send you stickers - fill out this Google Form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice

200: We're joined by the coolest girls rebranding politics - Sammy Kanter and Maddie Medved, cohosts of The Girl and The Gov, The Podcast. Sammy and Maddie educate us on lesser-known political basics as we prep for Midterm Elections, coming up November 8th. We learn how to "review" candidates, what ballot initiatives are, and how to motivate our friends. Plus, we learn all about two major pieces of climate legislation (NY and CA) and two offices that have major climate pull we may not have thought much about (AZ and TX). Thanks to today's sponsors! CozyEarth.com with code ECOCHIC for 35% off ShedTheSilence.com Find me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Celebrate 200 episodes! I'll send you stickers - fill out this Google Form. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

199: Annie Spence is a freelance creative and marketing consultant in fashion blogging, who also blogs and offers personal styling services. She's also one of my favorite people - an IRL friend turned internet bestie. Annie gives immediate, actionable tips for whatever stage you're in crafting the perfect-for-you closet: purging, finding your "uniform", deciding where to invest vs save, and all the little tricks for shopping secondhand both online and locally. We also share stories of our favorite thrifted finds and how we can involve friends in our sustainable fashion journeys. Thanks to our sponsor! CozyEarth.com with code ECOCHIC for 35% off sitewide. Find me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

198: From costumes to chocolate... Halloween is an easy time to trip up on our conscious consumerism. We're discussing some quick tips to keep your waste and impulse purchases this time of year, and also exploring some heavier ethical issues surrounding seasonal consumerism. We discuss costumes, decor, chocolate's dark history of child slavery, palm oil ... a quickie episode jam-packed for whatever your sustainable spooky season looks like. Articles: Cocoa’s child laborers (Washington Post) Supreme Court says chocolate companies cannot be sued over child slavery on African cocoa farms (Washington Post) Palm oil is destroying rainforests. But try going a day without it. (National Geographic) Thanks to our sponsors! Aspiration.com/ECOCHIC DameProducts.com - use code ECOCHIC for 15% off site wide Find me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

197: With more extreme weather events, we're hearing more and more about climate refugees: communities forced to flee due to environmental factors. We are having a conversation about why people migrate, whether from gradual or sudden climate stressors, and how climate change is accelerating and exacerbating humanitarian crises globally. Thanks to today's sponsors! CozyEarth.com with code ECOCHIC for 35% off ShedTheSilence.com Find me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

196: Architect and sustainable design advocate Amanda Gunawan of OWIU Designs joins us to discuss spaces: how we live, the spaces we create, and how conscious consumption can be brought into your build environment. Amanda and I discuss thoughtful design, sustainable architecture and development, and some of our favorite 'trends' in mindful living spaces. Thanks to our sponsor! Use ECOCHIC for 15% off sitewide at DameProducts.com. Find me online - @ecochicpodcast on Instagram + @lauraediez on Tiktok. Email me at laura@lauraediez.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

195: One of the most common pitfalls when we're working to become more conscious consumers is figuring out if the clothing we're buying is fast fashion. I'm breaking down five tried-and-true guidelines for us as we examine brands and think more deeply about our purchases. We're also walking through examples of greenwashing campaigns (cough cough, H&M Conscious) and discussing the juicy news of Kourtney Kardashian's appointment as Sustainability Ambassador for Boohoo (lol). More resources for us: Episode 188: How to Consciously Clean Out Your Closet Episode 173: How to Spot Greenwashing Fans call out Kourtney Kardashian Barker's new fashion collab with Boohoo (Cosmopolitan) H&M Is Being Sued for Greenwashing. What Does That Mean For Fashion? (The Cut) Some Of The Favorite Greenwashing Tactics Of Clothing Companies (Forbes) Join us in celebrating 200 episodes of ECO CHIC!! Record 1-2 minutes of yourself sharing your favorite, creative sustainability tip - something you were excited to learn during your