Episode 164: Proof That One Person Can Change the World | Lauren Ferree Bash | Sustainability Creator & Storyteller
Lauren Ferree Bash, known online as ReLauren, is proof that one person can make a big difference. From growing up with an environmentalist mom to becoming a sustainability content creator, video editor, and climate advocate, she’s weaving activism into every part of her life. We talk about how being the change can be easier than you think, the importance of working together, and where we all need to unlearn and relearn. Lauren also shares her journey into content creation, what it takes to master TikTok, and the small steps anyone can take to make an impact.
“I have to use my passions, skills and privileges to fight for the things I care about.”
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Sustainability Content Creator, Video Editor, Environmentalist
Powerful Ladies for Change Podcast
Berenstain Bears & the Messy Room
Imperfect Foods ($80 off Imperfect Foods)
Good Morning Beautiful Business
Local Is Our Future: Steps to an economics of Happiness
The Human Flow - movie
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Lauren Ferree Bash
01:30 From theater kid to climate advocate
03:00 How the 2016 election sparked her activism
05:10 Building a career in sustainability content creation
07:00 Lessons from Surfrider Foundation
09:15 The intersection of environmentalism and storytelling
11:30 Why local action matters most
13:00 Unlearning habits that harm the planet
15:10 TikTok tips for cause-based creators
17:20 How to make sustainability approachable
19:30 The role of B-Corporations in change
21:15 Simple daily actions for environmental impact
23:00 Balancing abundance and conservation
25:00 The power of collective action
27:15 Advice for new activists
I wonder if we lose a sense of our imagination or dreaming as we get older, because I just feel like I don't have these like big, robust dreams anymore. And I was talking to my husband about it after, and he was like, or maybe you're just in the dream, like maybe when you were reflect and you look at these things you have you're in the dream.
And I was like, oh,
you're right. That's Lauren Ferree Bash. And this is a Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur on a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life and make the impact you want by showing you that anything is possible. People who have mastered freedom, ease and success, who are living their best and most ridiculous lives, and who are changing the world.
Our Optum people you've never heard of until now. One of my most favorite things about being a podcast host is that I get to have conversations with some of the most interesting humans on the planet. Today's guest, Lauren known across social media as we, Lauren, is one of those inspiring, energizing, gives you faith back in humanity.
Humans, I am so impressed with how she's taking on being the change that she wants to see in the world and creating new intersections of all aspects, environmentalism and content creation. She's known as one of the eco talk group where she's using TikTok to really talk about. What matters to her about environmentalism and to give us resources and tools, and of course, share, tips and funny things that happen along the way.
I'm really excited for you to hear today's conversation about how being the change can be way easier than we think it is, and less overwhelming. Why it matters that we're able to work together and support each other in, in making a bigger impact together and where we need to learn, unlearn and relearn some things that we just think of as second nature in our lives and society.
And there will even be some pro tips about mastering TikTok. Enjoy this episode.
Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast. Awesome. I'm very grateful to be here. I'm super excited to have you. And it just worked out that I was already following you on Instagram and then a previous guest Mo was like, you need to talk to Lauren. And I'm like, wait, fat Lauren, the one that I'm like obsessively following her dad's vegan journey on yes, I wanna talk to her.
Amazing. Mo's amazing too. Wonderful. How did
you and Mo meet? I think online I think once you get into the sustainability content creating space, it's like pretty small. Everybody knows everybody. So where is she living now? She's in Portugal.
I think she's still in la. She was, and I talked to her last, but maybe she's there on vacation.
Cool. And good for her. Yeah.
Very cool. Very cool.
I jumped right into a question, so let's go back a step and just tell everyone, listening your name, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
Awesome. I'm Lauren Ferree Bash. I am born and raised in Los Angeles. I'm actually moving to Santa Monica tomorrow, so it's all coming full circle.
I'm a sustainability content creator and video producer, video editor, and environmentalist. I'm newly married. I'm newly a dog mama. I have two amazing sisters, and it's my story. It sounds like life is good. Life is good. I know. I did I just turned 30 on Sunday and I did a proper reflection of 29.
And what do I wanna bring into 30? I was two days late. I did it yesterday. However, yesterday was a very powerful day too. It was 2 20, 2 22 on a Tuesday, so it felt fitting. I was writing it down and I was like, I wonder if we lose a sense of our imagination or dreaming as we get older because I just feel like I don't have these like big, robust dreams anymore.
And I was talking to my husband about it after and he was like, or maybe you're just in the dream, like maybe when you reflect and you look at these things you have you're in the dream. And I was like, sobbing all morning. I'm like, you're right. These are things I've always dreamed about and I'm in it.
Life is very good right now.
I love that he said that. And it's such a great reminder to check and see if we are in the dream. And I know that I coach people all day long about like getting back to being eight and getting back to remembering anything is possible. 'cause we get so stingy with our dreams and it's sad to me because we really can do anything in this world and we need more people in that space of being in their dream because.
You know what it's like when you're happy, everything's better. Yes. And you attract more and more
of it too.
For sure. Yeah. So what came first, were you an environmentalist first and then went into film and production? Were you in film and production and realized, oh shit, I can use this medium to change the world.
Like how did that process happen for you?
Definitely the latter. I grew up a theater kid and then I went to film school in undergrad. And so always wanted to be in storytelling in some capacity when I was a kid. Like my dream when I was a kid was to be an actor. And then I dropped out of the theater program like eight days in my freshman year.
After eight days, I was like, this is so not for me. But I was really fortunate that the school I went to had a really robust film school as well, so I transferred over and loved it. So I think I'll be in video for the rest of my life. It's, I think it's a beautiful way that we communicate to each other.
But then my mom is a mega environmentalist and definitely raised us with those. Mindsets and practices in the home. And then, like a lot of folks, it was the presidential election of 2016 when I was like, whoa, I have to use my talents and my skills and my passions to protect the things that I care so much about.
Because I didn't realize I did, in full transparency, I didn't realize how much I cared about them until they were under extreme threat. And so I guess my pivotal moment as an environmentalist was when offshore drilling became a hot topic in la because you see it in like Ventura County and you see it in Orange County, but you don't see it in la.
And the ocean's always been my, I guess my biggest connector within the planet. I think growing up by the beach. And so I literally googled how to o how to stop offshore o oil drilling in Los Angeles. And that's why I found the Surf Rider Foundation. This is six years ago, and then just attracted it in. Started attending chapter meetings and cleanups and protests and rallies and started taking classes. And so all of that to say, now I get to use my experience and my degree and my talents in video production in the intersection of creating content about the climate crisis,
which is super cool.
And there's, I'm excited in March we always do a lot of stuff for International Women's Day, and we're gonna be having this amazing panel about, being the change Powerful Ladies for Change is our theme this year. Part of it is like me getting reconnected to what powerful it was when it started and where it should be going, and knowing that the power of all these incredible women were more powerful together or we're not
hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
So how, when you're thinking about your power and your ability to make these changes. Do you go back and forth like I do between feeling so insignificant and then the next day being like, no, I can do it all. Like how do you feel with that? Because the environmental issues are so big and yeah, you can, we can compost for sure.
There's so many actions we can take and we can talk more about ones that you recommend, but it feels like it goes back and forth between being huge and doable. And how do you manage that and where do you fall in that space?
That's a good question. And I'm glad to know that I'm not alone too. 'cause I definitely default to the pendulum swing of I can do this and the.
Basement of that, of I can do it alone, which is I don't know, whatever gets into our mind to make us think that we can do anything alone. Like we are, we're built, we are literally built to function in community. But then also feeling like these problems are way too big. How could we what could we even do?
Not even I individually, but what can we even do about it? And it's interesting, I guess I'm coming off of like this buzzing vibration of this 30 journaling. 'cause the quote that I'm like grappling with for 30 is, I used to be clever and I wanted to change the world, and now I am wise and I wanna change myself, my roommate.
And I think this kind of goes to what you're saying too, like how do you, we wanna fix the world. We wanna change the world. We wanna make an impact and do all of this. And there's almost an element of a juvenile, like young, clever mindset to that. And with the wisdom, it's what can I do to con, what can I do to change myself and to take care of myself and to educate myself and become aware and the power of leading by example instead of like it all being this external thing where we're trying to fix others and change systems when it can really come from within.
And I say grappling 'cause I'm like, I would love to believe that. I would love to operate outta that mindset. Maybe I'm still young and like juvenile. Yes. So I think to answer your question, yes, I definitely swing between the two. I think a big one that comes in quite a bit when you're creating anything on the internet, and maybe you feel like this too with your podcast is imposter syndrome kicks in so hard.
I'm like, who are you to think, Lauren? Who are you to think that you can call out these big banks? Who are you to think that you can rally a group of people to restore their relationship with nature? Who do you think you are? You're like a kid from Southern California. What experience do you have?
What background or testimony do you have? And then I think if everybody thought like that, nothing would change. We would just have a bunch of people who were operating out of fear, so imposter syndrome kicks in. And then I definitely get this from my mom. My mom's a single mom raises three girls.
And so we're just like a very woman feminine filled home at mom's house. Which is like my eco sanctuary. I love visiting her house, but she defaults to the little red head. I can do it and I can do it alone. And then do you know the nursery rhyme? No. Oh, it's the best. I'll send it to you.
It's this like a nursery rhyme a children's book. It's a little red pen who's like setting up for a party or something and the pig asks, can I help? And she's no, I got it. And then the dog asks, what can I do? She's no, I got it. And she's clucking around and hurrying around trying to set up for this party or this event.
And then at the end gets mad that nobody helped her. And like things didn't, that things didn't happen and things fell through and they're like, we offered to help, but she's the little redhead who's like maybe a bit of pride or ego kicks in there, her wanting to do it for other people but doesn't seek support.
And I think I take after my mom like that too. I got it. It's cool. I got it. I want do it. And then. Crumble or burnout because they don't ask for help.
And even beyond ego, there's a trigger word that so many people have is the word burden. Yes. We don't wanna be a burden in other people.
And it's like, where did that come from in our Yes. Background. Because often asking people for help is people love helping other people. Like it's a gift to ask people to help. It can be really hard, especially if we fall into controlling tendencies. Yes. But it's really an amazing opportunity to be like, who can help?
'cause you said before, we can't do anything by ourselves. Nothing. That's like the biggest lie, right? We have as humans. But you were telling that story and at first I thought you said the little redhead and I was like, Ooh, A book about me. And then it was a redhead. But there's so many kids' books that pass through my life and I still love kids' books.
I could easily own just a kid's bookstore and be happy. Yes. But there were two that stuck with me. One was the Berenstein Bears in the Messy Room. Yes. And the other was love the go see bears. Yes. So good. And the other was the day the house ran away. Oh, I don't know that one. And I think we need a new one.
And maybe I'll plant the seed for you to create it because we could have the day the planet runs away, it would be the same concept. 'cause like it's a little boy who apparently lives by himself at age like seven as you do. Yes. And he wakes up one morning and all that's left, even the house is gone.
He's like on the concrete slab with his pillow because it's the only thing he took care of. Like he hugged it at night. Oh. But everything else was mad that he like, didn't take care of it, didn't wash it, didn't clean it. Oh. And so it all just left one day and you were like, oh shit, I gotta take care of things like, yes.
And so these, it's amazing how these stories when kids plant seeds and shift all of this yes. It's so powerful. So yes. Having the red hen in your background, how has it changed how you invite people in?
This is good. Wow. I feel like the timing of this podcast could not be better. 'cause I just had a lot of these really rich conversations over the weekend.
And I haven't really practiced this yet, but I guess a thought I will revisit when I ask for help and when I don't ask for help is what matters more? Asking someone for help and actually receiving the support or having control. Yeah, and I learned this a lot. We threw a wedding, our wedding in September, and we like did it all on our own and stayed up until the wee hours of the night every night, like making graphs and charts and excel spreadsheets and researching and like thrifting everything and coordinating everything.
And I learned this a lot because. I burned out a hundred percent to the core. Trying to do way too much, not taking care of myself. And everybody was offering to help. Let me help, let me do this, let me do this. And I was so obsessed over having control over it. It was like, because I wanted it to look a certain way and I wanted it to be a certain price and I wanted it to I wanted to make sure it was gonna be done, and so I wouldn't release control and the had dozens of people offering to help. And what mattered to me more was the control than actually seeking the support. Which led to burnout. So sometimes I think it's okay. It's okay to know. Like I, I have a lot of things I wanna get done, but maybe the control element of it ma matters a lot to you.
I feel like it really matters to me how it looks and as a video, as a content creator too. That's why I don't outsource my editing. I know a lot of creators will just shoot everything and then hire an editor and I'm like, I'm too, maybe it's a bad thing. Or maybe it's just like a how I function, but I really, it really means a lot to me that I have my fingerprints on it and I'm an editor and I get it, and I want it to look and feel a certain way.
And that's okay. Maybe I can ask for help in other areas so I can touch the editing, yeah. So I guess that'll be the litmus test or the inner question to ask myself what matters more? Asking for help and taking this off your plate and allowing it to look however they do it and loving it, and being grateful and acknowledge them for the support or to like rain in the control.
And I would even challenge you that there might be a middle ground of how do you get to be the creative director Yeah. And get it everything you want and not do it. That's, that I think trips people out when you're like, wait, it can be exactly what I want and I didn't touch it. And you're like, yes.
Yeah, that's true. That's true. But that's every business owner I talk to, that's always the space because we want more freedom and ease. We've got lots of things we gotta do, right? Yes. You and I do a lot more things than our businesses, so Yes. How do we get to do it all at once? And it's by having a magical team of elves that secretly are doing things.
And, it's, it moves into the, are we in zone of genius or not? Yes. Do they love these things? Like even the podcast editing, like I have a podcast producer who's my sister, who's a badass, and that's her full-time job for many podcasts. But I still listen to every one. Yes. And put my notes in.
And I've learned how to do it faster and more efficiently. And I can do it quicker now, but I still like to do it. 'cause of what you said, like I wanna be able to hear it and make sure that it's passing my litmus test before it goes out into the world. Yes. Because I'm, I most likely will not listen to it again.
Yeah. Yeah. And then sometimes, I'm sure you know too, like when you're shooting something you like black out and you're like, wait, all this happened. When did this happen? Yes.
Especially in your format. Like these are long format pieces. It's not oh, I'll rewatch, rewatch 45 seconds. You're like, no, I'm listening to 45 minutes.
Yeah. It adds up. Especially when you're going back and forth and pulling clips. Yeah. 'cause 45 minutes becomes an hour and a half real quick. And Yeah. When we started, they were two hours, some of them. Yeah. And so I was like, okay, we're doing two hours, we're just going to do it live because who has time for that?
Who has time? And I don't really know if the listener. Listeners, you tell me if you disagree, but I don't know if there's a, there's so many live ones that are raw. There's so many that are edited and I don't think it matters so much in regards to like appreciating it if the Yeah, if you do your homework in advance.
Yes.
Yeah. I don't think a listener only listens to edited ones or only listens to raw ones, for sure. Yeah.
So you work with some incredible brands. What are some of your favorites and for people who are thinking about working with you, like who are you attracting? Good question.
Trying to think of who.
Okay. My all time favorite brand. I think the best brands I work with, or not even brands, the best organizations I work with are ones that I would've been like a lifelong fan of before I started working with them. And I have pinch me moments that I get to work with them. I'm like, what? And now I get to work together, create content together.
Like I've been using your services or your products or whatever for years now. So the one who I'm the biggest fan of is Imperfect Foods. Are you familiar with them? Yeah. Yes. They're first and foremost a food waste prevention service. And they deliver ugly, imperfect groceries to your door. So at the beginning they were just imperfect produce and they were only doing produce, and now they have like pantry items and snacks and like beverages and everything.
And I think food is definitely one of the biggest spaces I play in within the climate space. My mom is like a master gardener in her backyard in this eco palace I'm talking about. Her backyard is like a mini urban farm. It's pretty rad. Especially like I shot a drone footage one time of her backyard and you just see all of our neighbors have like pools and lawns, which is creepy, right?
To creep out your neighbors. And you see my mom who has like a banana tree and a papa pie tree and mango tree and like apples and all these greens and hums and I think she's always connected us to food as not necessarily of and food to cook, but also food and how it's grown and where it comes from and not treating it as waste.
You would never have food waste. So all of that to say imper imperfect foods and their fight against a climate crisis by way of eliminating food waste is rad. I love them. And they just got their B Corp certification. Which is very congratulations
to them. Yes,
I know. Half off to them, which is very difficult.
And it's a strenuous certification process and have to requalify year over. And I think my favorite brands I work with typically fall within the B Corp umbrella. Because they're paying their people well. They have a transparent supply chain. A lot of them are made domestically here in the us or whatever they're creating.
And so I tend to lean towards B Corps. Yeah. I just really like working with them. I feel like we share values and I think the biggest pendulum swing or internal dilemma of being a sustainability content creator is like we can't shop our way out of climate change. And unfortunately, we as individuals, especially we as Americans, are conditioned to think we can purchase something as a way to solve a problem.
Or we can buy something. And it used to trigger me quite a bit when people would be like, where'd you get your top? Or where'd you get your toothbrush? Or where'd you get your glasses? When I'd be talking about like the IPCC report, or I'd be like talking about like wish cycling and people would be like, oh my gosh, miss your top from, and I'd be like, ah, this has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.
But also who am I to criticize that, that this is the system we live in, is that people we want to, we wanna buy this, what we wanna do. And it sucks 'cause I'm like, how do you make calling congress? Or how do you make like joining an environmental NGO as sexy as like a canvas tote bag, or like as sexy as using a glass straw.
Anyways, off topic, which make me nervous. Glass. I'm like the glass straw. Like, when I first started using one, I was so nervous that I was going to crack it in my mouth. That was my biggest fear. Yeah. I'm a little bit more comfortable, like a stainless steel straw. Yeah. But I've gotten, I've moved on.
I can now use it without fear, but the first couple of times I was like, oh God, yes, I'm going to die by shards of glass from the straw.
Yeah, I know. I just shattered a, we're moving and we put out like a little table in our front driveway of just stuff we're taking out and are just like telling our neighbors and our community and our friends like, come and get it.
Like a free garage sale. I guess it's not much like a few things. But I put a wine glass out there and it shattered all over the driveway and I was like, no. Of
course,
when, I, a client of mine connected me to Chelsea Green Publishing. They do all sustainable agriculture publisher plus they're also a sustainable publisher themselves. So yeah, all their topics are really interesting. I'm so happy she connected me into them and I found the book she recommended to me was Good Morning, beautiful Business.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah. I would highly recommend reading. I think you'll love it. It's by Judy Wick, who actually is gonna be a future podcast guest. I'm super excited. Awesome. But she was the owner of the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia and she was part of the founding like local movement and free trade movement or fair trade movement and working with coffee in South America, like all these things, and for this woman that no one's heard of and the impact she's made in.
What you can do in a local community and choosing to align your values with your business and still be profitable.
Yeah.
It was just such a great read and that then led me to the Future is local, like it's called the Economics of Happiness. And I've, I've lived abroad, I've worked for huge international corporations at times, I've worked for small startups, everything in between, and I was proud of being like a global citizen.
Yeah. I traveled the world and saw places and like I, I like this global connectiveness and I didn't realize until reading this most recent book how much the globalization is hurting so many people. It just didn't process for me because I was in that same mindset, like you said, of people just being in a consumer based structure of how does globalism hurt everyone and.
There's even studies about when a Walmart moves into a town, they might say, oh, it'll be 150 jobs, new jobs because of Walmart. But that town loses anywhere between 500 and a thousand jobs. Yeah. And it's oh I really want, my wish would be even before people maybe take an action just to start thinking about the economy of it all and ecology of it all.
Yeah. 'cause we're thinking so narrow-minded most of the time. Yes. Yeah. So that brings me back to, with the consumerism part, like how, what are practices that you're doing every day to break out of those cycles and systems and be mindful about how you're spending your money and your time, and all the things that we have to touch every day.
That's good.
I think something that's triggered me lately is I don't, I think it aired in 2020. I'm pretty sure it was A-A-P-S-A done by the Lincoln Project. But it was a scripted, it's 62nd PSA and or I don't think it was fully for the Biden administration campaign, but it was definitely against oil.
Not a PSA, but an ad against oil. And it's this really clever scripted narrative, 62nd piece of all the big oil execs. And they're just in these like big bougie mansions and they're wearing robes and smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, and they're like, we at Big Oil know that the earth is on fire, but you should probably do something about it.
And they're like shredding papers and they're like, back in the eighties we had dozens of scientists run tests to find out if it was actually creating global warming, but we paid a lot of money to cover it up. And they're like shredding the paper. And they're like he's eating this big old Turkey in this big dining room.
And he is we at big oil we will be fine, but you should probably start a compost pile. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And again, it's this pendulum swing of does my one life, does my one lifestyle. Of eating local, eating, plant-based, composting, like being connected to nature. Can this reduce global emissions?
Like No. You're talking about one, one person. No. And there are big companies who are responsible for a mass, majority of emissions who need to be held accountable like that. If we're actually going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It's not like a group of people composting. It's like big oil.
Like oil and gas, not even big polluters. Oil and gas companies being regulated and we have to switch to clean energy, like we know this. However, the future is local. I love that. And Gina McCarthy, she's the new, like head of environmental advisor and the environmental advisor for the White House.
And she was on a podcast and I, she's so funny. She's so New England has the best accent ever. And she's we need more people plugging into the community. Like we don't, because that's when it feels overbearing when you're like, how the heck are we gonna reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a country?
But if you're like, okay, my city is 120,000 people, that's two uc, Berkeleys. So we have two college campuses. Okay, how can I rally this community to just be aware of what eliminating food waste in our landfill bins? How could we, what could we do with this food waste? And granted in California we're pretty stoked.
'cause now it's a law. But you're like, but that's how it passed. Is like local communities coming together and saying, we can no longer put organic waste in landfills. We have to regenerate it into soil and boom. And you're like, wow, this is how it happens. And then we know that like California, New York said the precedent for the rest of the country too.
And that's how it happens. It starts on the coast and comes in. But that's how it, that's how this happens is like small, local to maybe statewide to then see federal change. So I love that. I love. I guess I'm not really answering your question, but
What are things to do? You said that you're, you eat plant-based, you compost?
Yes. What else are you doing on a daily basis that can inspire others?
I think the big one is plugging into environmental NGOs. While like chapter meetings are a little different now 'cause they're on Zoom and it's not the same. However it looks like some are starting to pick up in person now.
It's a very excited as like a bonafide extrovert. I'm like, yes, it burst the chapter meetings. The two, I'm the biggest members of, I guess are the Climate Reality Project and the Surf Writer Foundation. And so from there you get daily or weekly newsletters what's going on? Are there petitions you can sign?
Are there like, what can we call Congress about right now? Right now the Citizen Climate Lobby is doing a big push on asking for a price on carbon. And so it's all like very structured. We forget that there are people who are already doing this work, who are like, professionally doing this work.
So then I'm like, what can I do as a content creator to pull. The work that these amazing organizations are doing, and be a mouthpiece to my community and say, Hey, you wanna take action? Check out this petition. You wanna call your congress? Here are a few things you can mention. You wanna come attend a cleanup?
Here is our next one in Venice Beach. So it's just identifying what do we bring to the table to amplify the work that these amazing environmental organizations are doing,
and this is where that fear we get as. Business owners and people making anything. It's someone's already doing it.
Why should I? Great, we can now use that to our advantage in this space. 'cause someone's already doing it. Let's just work together. Yes. We don't need to start from zero in any of these areas at all. Yes, at all.
Yes.
And
I always ask myself, or I remind myself if it was working with this many people doing it, the solutions would've already been implemented.
Yes. But it's not working yet. So like clearly what we've done in the past isn't working, so we have to get bigger. We have like our groups and our organizations need to get bigger and louder and stronger and obviously more diverse. That's why you see all these epic youth organizations as well. 'cause they're like, hello, you've known since the sixties that this is going on and you haven't done shit about it.
So let us take the reins because this is our future that we're inheriting. And the amazing work too. I'm not super plugged in. I admire and applaud the work of the Sunrise movement. And I love donating and supporting the work that they're doing. They're brilliant.
They're all brilliant. And Friday's for future and all the youth climate movements are brilliant.
And there's, it reminds me that, going back to what we were talking about earlier, it's not so hard. Like they, everything you listed calling someone can take less than five minutes. Yep.
Attending, get reading a newsletter can take less than five minutes signing up for their email. Also less than five minutes. And you said something that I want people to hear again, which is, you said, I'm going to paraphrase it, but we can't buy our away out of the problem. I'm currently teaching a financial fitness for entrepreneurs class and I literally, a slide that I'll be showing tomorrow says, you cannot earn your way out of bad habits.
And we keep thinking like, oh, we'll just do more and it will be okay. And it's no, we have to have a timeout and like really reset the priorities and look at it. And I think so many people since the election in 2016, everyone is so mad that we now have to double check everything. Yes. Like before we could be like, oh, you are the FDA, you are doing the work for me so I don't have to, and it's actually they might be doing some of it, but here's a whole list of things that are slipping through the cracks and this is not okay.
Yes. So that I think also adds a layer of exhaustion. So finding other groups that are all are doing some of that work. Yes. And there's so many amazing people on TikTok or Instagram who are constantly being like, this is in your Kelloggs, did you know?
Yes. Yes. It's crazy. And that goes back, it all comes from full circle.
It always does. Nothing exists individually. Everything is intrinsically connected, so even going back to the future is local, you're like, what is in the grocery store? Where did this come from? What has it been treated with? What, or it's like you could ask all those questions and go to a grocery store.
And granted going into a grocery store we're constantly learning. Now too is an extreme privilege. Whoa, how many points of distribution of fresh produce exists within a five mile radius here? And you go an hour inland or an hour north and you're like, it's not, it does not exist any everywhere.
Yeah. And that's royally effed up.
Yeah, did I hear correctly from, are you in Cost Mesa right now moving back to Yes. Coast Mesa? Yes. That's where I live normally. Awesome. I'm recording this for everyone who didn't hear the beginning part in Laguna Beach today, but, so I live so close to 17th Street that I can ride my bike or walk to 10 different grocery stores.
Yes. Which is insane. Yes. It's insane. And like I thinking about moving somewhere else and I'm like, oh, but if I go somewhere else, I can't ride my bike to like, get groceries and any meal I want. And like literally it is the most convenient city I have ever lived in. Yeah. That makes it hard to be like, I should live somewhere else.
But it is insane in that way, right? Yeah. Like my parents recently moved to outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, and they still have they still feel privileged because they have seven grocery stores in a 30 minute drive. Yeah. But. It's like you could start seeing it get farther and farther away and like what level are they?
Like the closest one to their house isn't so awesome.
Yeah.
Like it just feels creepy, let alone Yeah. Is filled with things that shouldn't go into your body. Yeah. But nothing makes me lose my mind more than seeing a cantaloupe wrapped in plastic. Yes. How
do we put that? But the access element too of fresh veg, fresh fruits and veg.
There's amazing work of a bunch of, again, like grassroots organizations that show or that are bringing awareness about the food apartheid and you're like, oh no, you're not just talking like rural California like out in the high desert, something like that. You're talking like South Central. Yeah.
Where there is not a, a. Grocery store that sells fruit, fresh fruits and vegetables within a mile of radius of people's homes. And you're like, how? When 10 miles west, there's like Air one and Whole Foods and Rainbow Acres and all of these places that are extremely wealthy, dense areas where like bountiful amounts of fresh fruits and veg exists.
But you go 10 miles inland, not even inland. You go 10 miles in, in South LA and you're like, wait, what? There's corner stores and liquor stores and gun shops, and you're like, this is as clear as day systemic racism. How could anyone disagree? And it trickled it. It's it's in everything.
Not just in the, not just in the police department, in the food system, and in everything. And you're like in the education system and you, yes. Yes. And you're like, oh. And that's why the work of the intersectional environmentalist group is so wonderful too, because. We're not just talking about ecological impacts of climate change.
Yeah. And loss of biodiversity and loss of wildlife and mass extinctions. You're talking about like PE-people. Anyways, I am also doing quite a bit of learning and unlearning about that too. Like growing up in a predominantly white community and going to a very white institution for school and even living in LA like living on the west side of la constantly learning and unlearning about the environmental justice or injustice effects of climate change.
Yeah. I was doing 75 hard I started in early December and I had to, I was driving to North Carolina 'cause I had to drive things home. Wow. And right. It was fun. And it was a good getaway. I needed the break. But I had to go from committing to being plant-based to being vegetarian on that trip because I literally, even if I I brought as much food as I could and I was like making sandwiches on the roof of my car in the snow.
But I couldn't guarantee that I could find something that didn't have some sort of dairy butter in it. And I was like, I have to keep this commitment to the 75, so like I have to like level down to do it. And it was frustrating and I think I had to end up eating like 500 like veggie subway sandwiches.
'cause I was all the only option. And I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna lose my mind if I can one more of these. Yeah. The
smell of that bread is that's the
worst. Yes. And so it was, it's just that just looking at what can you eat on the highway? Yeah. What can you eat on the highway that doesn't have meat in it?
What can you eat that's actually fresh?
Yeah.
It's I it's I find it really interesting when people are, when we talk about these topics, often people have aha moments and so days it's first proceeded with anger irritation Totally. To be triggered about it. Yes. But then it's like when there's this shift that can happen if you allow yourself to have the conversation and really look at it with someone of why are we tolerating this for ourselves, let alone our family, our community, the plan.
Yes. Since when is it okay that I don't get to have access to those things?
Yes.
So I think it's also really interesting, the personal journey that being dedicated to change, like represents like, as you said, your quote for this year, right? Looking at yourself. What do you think was surprising to you since you've taken on being an environmentalist in a bigger way?
About a habit that you were resistant to give up?
I think going back to what you just said too, we initially react with a lot of anger. When you're exposed to this stuff, I think a lot of us, a lot of white folks learn this in 2020. You're like, wait, what? And it's hello. This has been going on for hundreds of years. You're just now listening, and I remember seeing a meme, it was like a girl, like a cartoon, almost like a comic, a girl holding her best friend's hair as she was like throwing up. It's like when your friend is, or holding your hair when your friend is having her enlightening awake or her awakening, and then but you holding your own hair like earlier or something.
Oh, we're all on own different path. My friend sent me that because of course you're angry. You're like, wait, what? How much money? How much money are big banks? Funding and fossil fuels? And wait, that's my money that's sitting in the savings account. That's where my money is going.
Hell no. Or what are they treating our crops with? Wait, how many layers of topsoil do we have left? How many years of topsoil do we have left until it's diminished permanently? Wait, what? And there, and we're not talking about this. You get really angry. But I think too, as a white privileged person in America, the guilt kicks in so hard and it's just like overwhelming.
It's, and I think what keeps me up at night, I think every environmentalist, every humanitarian, every person probably has the things that keep you up at night. And there's this film called The Human Flow, and it's about refugees. And there is a big chunk of it talking about climate refugees and parts of the world, what will be deemed uninhabitable because there's no access to water, and or they can't grow food and are, require these people living here can't grow food or sea levels will rise.
And there's the land is gone or flooding, sea levels rising and there's flooding. And the ization of the land doesn't allow them to grow anything. And that's when the guilt kicks in. Because there is an element of responsibility, and maybe this is why I'm so drawn to that quote of Rumi. 'cause I'm like, is it enough to work on yourself when there's an element of being a member of a wealthy country, a citizen of a wealthy country who is doing the most damage.
Yeah. And you look at emissions per capita, you're like, the US is the, it is the worst. Everyone points the finger at China and India, but you're talking about billions of people collectively across those two countries. The US we have a third of a billion people here and we are doing the most damage.
And you're like, there is an element of responsibility. Mal views will be underwater. Bangladesh will be underwater. Sub-Saharan Africa will not have, and you're like, those are hu those are human lives. So an element too of the globalization, you're like, and I have a responsibility as a citizen of a country that is doing the damage, causing that I do have an element of responsibility Yeah.
To change this.
And that's also what makes me so mad about California because it's the fifth largest economy in the world by itself. And we have people who are leading spaces of all the different levels of activism that we need, and we are not doing enough, like we are not taking and doing something with it.
There's a horrible Instagram account called, like Street People of Los Angeles.
Yeah,
I'm familiar. And I I, I go back and forth about should I follow this account or should I not? Because sometimes I don't know where it falls in like a part of the problem or a part of the solution, but there are eye-opening things that are being shared on there that are horrifying.
And I'm just, I'm so mad that like we have the money, we have the knowledge, we have people making change, and if we can't fix it here, how are we ever supposed to convince anyone else? It's possible. Yeah, we are, we have as much power as Germany as a country, and they are light years ahead of us in getting their shit together.
Yeah. What? Yeah. I'm like, whose door do I have to knock on? Because I'm gonna just start walking up and down the street. Yeah. I'm like, who's not making choices? It's baffling to me, but it brings me hope getting to talk to people like you and Mo and even, thinking about like Chandra Gore who was a guest we had, who's based in Virginia, who's literally going door to register people to vote, like
Yep.
There are so many amazing people taking action and doing things. Yeah. And I just, the more that we can all be connected to each other, I will feel better about our future. A hundred percent.
A hundred percent. And going back to your one of your first points in our conversation was we are so much stronger together than separate.
Yeah. Which is a perfect segue into. What does powerful ladies mean to you? Do those words mean something different to you on their own versus when they're combined?
I think being raised by a single mom with two sisters and just being like a full chica house powerful ladies are for sure. My mom and my sisters. Like when I think of powerful ladies, I think of them in our home. We spent all day Monday. Yeah. All day Monday together at the spa. And just I brought my journal in my book as if I was gonna write and read and we were just like, c cluck it like we are like little chickens, just like heads and like chitchatting in the jacuzzi and chitchatting in the locker room.
And it was so special. And they're all so powerful in their own ways and I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful being raised by just a rock star of a woman. She's my role model in every way, shape and form. I remember at one of the holidays last year, we were sitting at the table and I was brought to tears looking at her thinking None of us will live up to be the woman you are.
She's definitely planted a seed in each of us. Like my younger sister is really into gardening. My older sister's really into cooking. I'm obviously very into the like climate and sustainability space which she has dropped those seeds, but I'm like, but all of us but you have it all. We just have a seed of it.
We're never gonna live up to be the woman you are. Like, what are we ever gonna do without you? We all are like equally obsessed with her and it's the best. So when yeah, I know when I think of powerful ladies, especially powerful lady, I immediately think of my mom.
We ask everybody on the podcast where they put themselves in the powerful lady scale.
So if zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady possible, where would you put yourself on that scale today? And on average?
Oh, see, imposter syndrome kicks in so hard, right? Okay. A quick story, I promise it'll be quick. I was in a broadcast journalism class in school, and there was a segment done on, this reporter just opened like the yellow pages back when those existed. Or the white pages. The white pages and flipped and found a person called them, said I'm a local news reporter.
Can we come do a story on you? And she was like, why would you wanna do a story on me? I'm just an average person, right? And this reporter comes in and this she, this woman was a foster mom, a single woman who was a foster mom. I fostered several children and had adopted several of them. Oh. And it was just this beautiful, welcoming home full of children and love and just so much of, but she even told the reporter like, why would you wanna do a story on me?
There's nothing special about me. And they're like, oh my gosh. The average. Sometimes we think we're so average and don't even identify the power in ourselves,
So I dunno. That's why I do this podcast. Yes. So good. I'm amazed how many women say I'm not powerful. And I'm like, no, but I'm calling you.
So I've already decided that you are. So just say thank you and when can I schedule?
Yes.
Yes.
We all are right. We all are. Yes. Just forget it. We're constantly looking left and right, but that person's more powerful and that person's more powerful. And I'm not powerful because that person is, and it never stop, i. First going freelance and looking at my other friends who were dps and amazing cinematographers or traveling the world and creating these amazing documentaries. And I was like, I'll never be like that. I'll never have that. I'll never work on those projects. I'll never be like that.
And I'm like, I don't think it ever stops. I think you're always looking at other people. Maybe with that wisdom, maybe with the wisdom of the Rumi, of the roomy mindset, I'll be more secure and confident in myself.
And I think it the com, the watching other people's shifts from there's a breakthrough moment when you go, that's not for me, versus, oh, I can have that and then, oh, I can do better.
Yes. And I think that's when I look at like the breakthroughs I want people to have, I first want people to know you can have it. Yes. And then it's like, how do we get you there? It's simpler than you think. And then it's like, how do we even go beyond that? Because yes, I think we need. There is no business plan that doesn't include perspective and comparison.
Like I'll even change it from who are your competitors to who are your parallel brands.
That's good
because it just, that shift will move it. But if we're not paying attention to other people or doing, we can either fall into a tirade of Ego Mountain or we'll lose our own perspective to be like, why isn't this working?
Be like 'cause you're not offering what people want anymore. Yeah. So I do think it, I think it's just changing the, what power we're giving, who we're looking at.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's tough though, especially when you look at consumer driven capitalistic structures. It's all about competition. It's always about competition.
And I've worked for. A couple CPGs now in-house. Like I worked for one for way too long and the little voice was like, leave. And I did. But then even like kind of part-time consulting, freelancing. And CPG consumer packaged goods at the end of the day are driven by volume. Yeah. And it's always, what is the competitor doing?
And it's so icky. 'cause you're like, aren't we on the same team? Especially if it's a for good business, right? Yeah. You're like, we're on the same team. And especially as a content creator, you can look left or right and see these people are creating amazing short films or their engagement is so insane and people are really loving and appreciating what they're doing.
And I'm like, but we're on the same team. I think that's the thing about being an environmentalist is you're like, it is all part of the same movement. And clearly, like I said, there are not enough people on this team, otherwise we would see changes. It's like everybody is welcome. I think something I was reading what I was calling into 29.
'cause I read my letter from last year before I write my one for the next
year. I love that habit. So how long have you been, do writing yourself a letter on your birthday or the eve of
I think only four years. 27, 28, 29, 30. Yeah. So start when I was 27. I'll do it every year until the day I die. I think I wanna make a birthday book though, because now I'm like, these are like eight journals that are like all over the house, but I think I'm gonna rip 'em off and put 'em in a book.
And I'm always sobbing. I put on a playlist that just like immediately triggers, tears, a crier. But I remember writing for 29. I wanted to operate out of the abundance mindset abundance mentality. Just like when someone else succeeds, there's. There is no scarcity or no lack for me to succeed also.
Yep. The universe is infinitely big and when someone else succeeds, it's not like a cup that runs out, it just keeps flowing and flowing. So it gets dangerous when you start talking about like wealth and consumption and stuff too, because ah, it's built on an extractive system and like the earth isn't infinitely in, it doesn't infinitely produce, earth overshoot day is what in August every year, like when we've extracted more than the earth could replenish in a given year.
But I think more in like the mentality of like success in general, when someone is doing well, when someone is when someone is, it's an energy. Yes.
And energy doesn't go anywhere. Yeah. Our tangible things do.
Yes, exactly. Exactly. Energy is infinite. It's always cycling, right? And yeah, like things break.
Our phones break and then they have a life. They have a life cycle, right?
I will be yelled at by every listener if I let you squirrel out of putting yourself on the scale. So where would you rank yourself?
I'm gonna feel confident and say like, when I'm operating and I'm like confident and I'm this wise woman, powerful woman.
I'm a 10 for sure. Imposter syndrome is saying Don't say that. And I'm like, no, we're fighting that. But I have bad days too, don't get me wrong. I'm like, full of comparison or envy or ego. Or just bad days too, but that doesn't make me less powerful. It just means I had a bad day.
Yeah. Some days it's by the hour it shifts.
Yeah. It's like I, there was a guest one time that goes I'm all the numbers. I'm like,
Okay. I like that. I think I'm still that. I think I fluctuate all day actually today in my Do you do morning pages or have you heard of four pages? I've heard of
it. I, it's like the one habit that my, I don't know why I keep resisting, but
yeah, check it out when you can.
It's called The Artist Way. I written by Julia Cameron and my husband and I do it every morning. And this morning I like wrote a little roller, drew a little rollercoaster in my thing. I was like, I feel like in the 18 minutes it takes me to freehand, write three pages of journal. I like start super optimistic.
I'm like, hell yeah. I'm sitting down, I'm journaling. This is good. And then I go down, I get distracted and I'm hard on myself. You're already distracted. Come back, Lauren. And then I'm like, you're fine. Don't be hard on yourself. And I come back up and I'm like, oh yeah, we're good. We got an idea, we gotta breakthrough.
Write it out. And then I'm like, oh, I don't wanna finish the third page, but I know I have to, and I'm like super hard on myself. So I'll take that. I'll be like, I'll start the day at a 10. Drop quickly to a zero. Go to a three, then a zero, then an eight, then a four. I'll do it all.
Yeah. I love it.
So one of the things I think is so interesting about you is that you are taking this platform called TikTok Yes. That everyone has an opinion on and you are like, oh no, we are going to make it for good. Yes. Not for bad, for good. And I just hosted a TikTok Masterclass with Alex Michelson from like the TikTok agency in la.
It was like drinking from a fire hose, how much information you gave us about optimizing TikTok and what to do and like all this stuff. So first I would love to hear from you, like how you recommend people break into TikTok and because it, it occurs to me knowing it occurs to me that I need to stop doing a lot of things to find time to make tiktoks.
And I'm sure Alex says it'll be worth it in the end, but I'm like, okay, cool. In the meantime, how do I optimize this so I don't lose my mind?
Yeah. I have a ton of friends now who wanna get into this space, and maybe this comes with age too, but I'm like. If you're not super clear on your why, like why do you wanna get into this?
It is not easy nor fun, nor like super user friendly to get into you. Why is this? It's like, why is this so loud? It's like as soon as you open it, it is like loud in your face. I remember being like, whoa, how do you pause? It is intense. But if you're super clear on your why, so if it's about optimizing your business or building your community or extending the bell curve of reach of what you're already creating just being super clear on your why, and then it's easy to create your strategy from there, but I feel like when some people are like, I just wanna make TikTok videos, and it's there's a lot. There's so many different kinds.
Yeah.
Are you, it's unlimited. Yes. Do you wanna go viral? Is that the goal? Because there's ways that you can go viral, but then it's but what are you doing?
Like you could have very high video views, but what are you trying to do? Are you trying to. Offer something or try and teach people something. And I think the beautiful thing about TikTok is like the niche communities are so specific and so wonderful. Like I'm in the learn on TikTok community, so we're like the educators, educator, creators.
And I swear when I go on, we have like office hours and community webinars and things like that. And you see the niche communities that these people are from. There's like doula TikTok, there's tattoo TikTok, like tattoo artist, TikTok. There's therapy TikTok, like therapists of TikTok, there's dentists, TikTok, there's like all these people and they're using their platforms to educate people within this niche.
But they have like millions of followers and millions of views because like this, these communities are actually very robust. And people keep going back to learn and it's so rad. I'm part of like sustainability TikTok or Eco TikTok Eco Talk, what we're known as. The niche communities are red.
So I guess that if someone was just getting started, that would be my, those would be my two tips. Find out your wine, be very clear about it. For me, it was like border lining, rock bottom. Had quit my job and went to Argentina and COVID hit and I like was 28 years old and moved in with my mom and it was like, what the hell am I gonna do?
But have a background in video production and the passion for sustainability. So started making videos and granted, I like check my luck and privilege all the time that I got in on TikTok when I did, when it was very easy to build very large community. So yeah, so finding your why and now I'm like, okay.
I create original content, a storyteller. I'm educating people about the climate crisis and about sustainable living. And I also create advertisements for sustainable brands that share my values. Got it. And my niches are people within sustainability, people who are like coastal. I feel like a lot of like coastal surfing outdoors folks.
Predominantly women identifying folks and yeah, the plant-based pop, puppy mama, yeah. Maybe married people.
And that leads me to my next question, which. I was obsessed with the miniseries. This is what I'll call it about following your journey with converting your dad to plant-based.
Yes. And this I, the world cannot make enough food-based documentaries for me to be satisfied. So I was like, oh, I've watched them all already everywhere else. This is a new one I get to watch. And yes, even though I know what the answer's gonna be, I still wanna watch it. How cool was it to go through that experience and how proud of you, how proud are you of his like results and what shift that was?
Yeah, it's nuts. So for your listeners, my dad participated in v granted we were a little late. We started January 15th and February 15th, which is a month long commitment of eating plant-based. And my dad has a long history of poor health, like since I was a kid. He's al he's also smoked cigarettes for as long as I can remember since he was 18 and now he's 67, so nearly 50 years.
So he is had heart attacks and his stent and jaw cancer and just poor health. But in addition to smoking, he's just eaten a very meat animal protein heavy diet. And so my sisters and I have all been plant-based for 10 plus years, my husband and I as well. And so I knew this was a month that the world of a chunk of the world was gonna participate in eating plant-based.
I'm like, dad can do it. He turned 67 in January. It all felt timely. So he did it. And I think what's beautiful too about getting to be a content creator is. Creating original content that means something to you. And TikTok actually creates a space for you to serialize your content, which is rad that you even call it a series.
I'm like yeah, you're essentially creating a very short form series. My dad is like a absolute clown, like just loves the camera and he is just such a ham bone and is like making jokes and his little accent comes out and it's just wonderful. And natural. So it was a lot of fun to make.
It was, it's amazing that I get to create original content in addition to paid, sponsored content and serialize it and put a lot of thought and intention. Some of those videos we had four hours of footage where my dad and I were cooking or grocery shopping or speaking or yeah, I guess doing like mini interviews is what they were.
And how do you take it down to 30 seconds? So a lot of editing. But then he went to the doctor and had his blood pressure. He was tracking his blood pressure for a month and then he had his blood pressure taken with the doctor and he had his blood test taken or blood test done, and they reduced his blood pressure medicine down 50%.
And I think we get his cholesterol results back this week. So TBD on those. But I am so unbelievably proud of him and even when I look back at the footage of like when we first started verse now I'm like, he's glowing, he's smiling. He like, he got a TikTok just so he could read people's comments. 'cause he like is fueling off of the encouragement, the acknowledgement.
And I'm like, wow. Even if this, even if it like wasn't recorded. That's why I kept thinking, I'm like, it's a win-win for me. Like it's. Actually championing my dad and like getting to support my dad and encourage him to take control of his life and get off of this medicine or change the lifestyle that's caused him to be prescribed this medicine.
And also create content that like inspires people to do what their parents or their family members. Yeah. Or to reflect on their own eating habits. And I call out too the unjust elements of the food system where, why are we feeding people food that makes them
sick? It it's it's so silly how much money and resources we waste and like just giving people bad food means we're gonna spend more money somewhere else.
And looking at where we just move food around the planet. I forget there's a term for it, and you probably know it closer to the top of your head than I do of when we literally exchanged the same products from one country to another. Yeah. And it's like, why did we just send there's a famous one of like water, bottled water that went from the UK to Australia and Australia to the uk.
It was literally equal. Tons of bottled water went to both place. And I'm like, why did, why Yeah. Why did we do that? Yeah. And like that seems so, so silly. And so much of what drives me is optimizing like really. Being intentional with our time because I'd rather have fun than work. And I think most people would.
And when I think about that, I'm like, why did we make more work for ourselves? Like right before we even get to the environmental impact, it's who thought that was like the best way to move forward with something? And I think we just panic sometimes that we can only have more like grow a business and expand things by going bigger versus going better.
Yeah. And I really want people to start thinking about how can I just do it better? Yeah. Because it's, you can double your business without going bigger. Yeah. So anyway, I went on a tangent. Forgive me.
No, I love it. I love it. And I think too, going better. A lot of regulations, or what should I say? A lot of certifications exist if you do it.
If you do it good, if you're doing a good job like USD or USDA organic, you have to get these certifications. But I'm learning now that sometimes it's not just about doing it good or like sometimes businesses do it not for the pure intent of doing it good, but doing it less bad.
And I'm like, ugh. Like it's not just about paying your workers minimum wage. Yeah. It's about a living wage. Can they actually, can they survive off of this, can they take a vacation? Yeah. Shouldn't everyone have access or enough resources to take a vacation?
Are they given time off to take time off? I don't know,
you and you can build all of it in and still be profitable. Like it's a lot Yes. That you can't do. Purposeful aligned thing. Yes. And make money. Yes. It is a total lie. And it's a lie coming from people who don't wanna share.
Yes. That goes back to what you're saying about Germany too.
We have friends who live in the uk and if you look at what their base salary is, you'd be like, that literally doesn't like our rent. Our rent costs more in, granted, LA is extremely expensive, but when you're like, our rent costs more than their salaries in a year. And I'm like, but they don't have student loans.
They don't have healthcare bills. They get like X amount of time off for maternity leave. They get x amount of vacation days a year. Like they're always skiing in France or i'm like, wait, so this base salary is actually like a nice cushion salary where you're, but there, there isn't the the like addiction to grind, because your things are just taken care. You're taken care of.
Yeah. I lived in and worked in Germany for four years and. I paid the highest taxes I've ever paid and saved the most money I've ever saved. And I, it was so counterintuitive, but things worked, like everything, it felt like I went into 1950s America where everyone just smiling and doing their thing and at the park and with their family and things were closed on Sundays.
Yeah. Like it was, it felt so weird. But exactly what you said, it's like people don't have those things to worry about. Yeah. And when we, there's such a bad name put on socialism, but it really just comes back down to what do you want the average quality of life to be? And why shouldn't we have more equal quality of lives than not?
Because, yeah, giving someone maternity leave means everyone can have it and everyone gets four weeks vacation as a minimum. Yes. But then you're a CEO or you pick up garbage. Like what? Like why not? Why don't like it? It fuels all the other systems that you just say matter, because it's time with your family, time to take care of people, time to recharge.
And ultimately if people take vacation, they're not hiding in their house, not spending any money. So it doesn't even fit into the Oh, like there won't be a cycle happening. No. You spend more when you're not working, unless you're in a pandemic and you can't buy anything.
But and you're taking Yeah, it's, you're taking care of, it makes you question wait, doesn't the government exist?
So take care of people. But like the US is like, what is it the most addicted, the most uneducated, the most obese, the most pre medicated group of people in the world, or like in the top, in western culture? Yeah.
Yeah.
No,
It's, there's such an opportunity to reset because, and this is again, like with all the.
Polarization that's been happening lately when two humans in America sit down and talk to each other, the first 10 things I'll say that matter to them are the same. Yes. And one of my triggers is when politicians will push oh, we stand for family values. And it's do you, yeah.
Because to me family values is, can I spend time with my family? Can I feed my family? Do I have daycare? Do I have elderly care? None of those things are in your list, like none of 'em. So whose family are you taking care of? Because I don't know how you can use that term.
And so I just, I'm hoping that people hear podcasts like this and follow people like you and they're like, okay, hold on.
We can change this, we can unlearn this. We can really focus on what matters. And just breaking the historical logic we have that. That we're doing it the right way. Yes. We're
not. Because if it was working, it would've solved it by now. Exactly. That's what I keep reminding myself if this was working.
Yeah. I did the math the other day on Amazon's like climate fund, the like $10 million for climate change. I was like, Jeff Bezos made $126 billion last year, and how many days of 10, how many days could he donate? 10 million to equate to one year of his salary and it's 40 years. He could donate that much money every day for 40 years, and that would be his 2021 salary.
Yeah, not sorry, salary, earnings, right? Because he only takes an 80, $80,000 salary. I'm like you're still making 126 billion. So yeah, like how can that exist? Like in what ethic, ethical realm of consciousness does that exist? Although I'm learning now, like consciousness isn't necess, like who defines ethics?
That's what I'm, that's what I'm like finally getting now is that's where we disagree, is like, what is ethical.
And I don't even know if we really do when we start digging deeper, because when we get down to like the basics of humanity, most people agree. If you took, most people, if you took them to a, an factory animal farm would be like, ew.
Most people. And then something happens between going one mile away from that. Place and then having a discussion. You're like wait, we were just there. Yeah what's missing in this space? And so that's what I keep looking for because Are you familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
Yes. Okay. So for anyone who listening who doesn't know, it's like you have to have foundational things before you can have a next level conversation. And so I keep looking at what's missing for people to understand that to have this conversation, what level of security are they missing where they can't think about the health and safety of animals right now?
Yeah. Because it's really, it's okay, what's missing from your life? Or that isn't like a, oh shit, I have to go change things right now.
Yeah. I think it goes back to us being like so insulated by these systems that make sure that we never have to think about it. You know what I mean?
And not to point the finger all at capitalism, but it is, you're like, okay. What's at stake is shareholders' profits. Because if people knew then we would stop doing this and then these people would lose their money. That these businesses would be regulated or it would cost them more money so they would make less money.
That's what's at stake here. You're like, that's what's at stake. That millionaires make a few less million dollars. That's what's at stake. Yes. Wait, what? But of course you're so insulated and it goes back to that PSA. It's oh yeah, like you should probably start a compost pile.
You should probably start recycling. Like of course these big polluters or in this case like these big unethical giants of the animal ag industry, you're like, oh no. But they wanna make sure that you never know what goes on in there. And that, and now we're so like. We're so you can escape discomfort so quickly.
Like you have an uncomfortable conversation with someone and you're like, I don't like that anymore. So i's going to the next thing. Or maybe that clip, you see the hidden, hidden camera footage inside a hog farm. You see it and you're like, I don't like that. And you swipe and then you're onto the next thing.
Funny dog video
or something, right? Which we all need a few of every day.
Yes, of course. And like climate doom and, doom doesn't do anything. But also, like we're, we are so insulated by these systems that actually favor the polluters or the, what's causing the most damage.
Because it's uncomfortable. It's no. You don't have to think about it. It's okay. Even with animal ag, especially a friend of mine told me this, we actually don't call them by the mammals. We don't say cow, we say beef. We don't say pig. We say pork. Pork. Chicken. I think with birds it's a little different.
But you don't call the mammal. You don't say baby cow, you say meal.
Yeah.
But if you actually called it what it was, like, maybe that would be a behavioral nudge for folks to not eat it. But that would cost animal the meat packers a lot of money. They would lose a lot of money if people stopped eating meat.
They really would. And you spoke on like where the money goes, right? 'cause this, the, there's a fiduciary requirement for corporations to uphold what their investors are getting. Like it's part of the law of being a true corporation if you have shareholders. There's also opportunities to invest your money in local based programs, which actually have a higher rate of return.
Of course. So there's, you can keep everything you wanna do. There is a solution that's actually better. Yes. That isn't so painful to switch to. So even your bank, you mentioned earlier, I'm like, please get curious about what bank you have because that can be a whole rabbit hole of oh my Jesus, if you need to.
Yes. Yeah. We could talk for hours and hours. I think about all sorts of things. I know I'm filled.
I it's filled with inspiration, excitement.
I wanna, this powerful lady community is a big, powerful community. And so I would love to ask you as we're wrapping up, what do you need?
What are you seeking? 'cause maybe somebody listening has it and can help you.
That's good. What do I need? I think I need I would love, need ideas, inspiration, community behind making civil engagement sexy. Like, all right, I think it's sexy 'cause I do it and it feels seamless. But I'm like, how do we make, this is my te this is my challenge for 2022.
How do we make calling congress as sexy as the reusable tote? So if anyone has any ideas, like old school callons or scripts or like music videos or like, how do we do it in a non chuy 2022 way to just make people there, like we have our elected officials need to hold businesses accountable. That is the solution to the climate crisis.
Even in the IPCC report. What's missing is fossil fuels are causing climate change. How do we regulate and eliminate fossil fuel?
It is there. I know. So everyone who is now obsessed with you and wants to follow you, support you, help you, where can they find you? Contact you, all the things.
I go by re Lauren, R-E-L-A-U-R-E-N, on all the things.
Mostly TikTok, like you mentioned. I have a lot of fun on TikTok, Instagram a little bit. And maybe you too, this year we shall see.
Awesome. Thank you so much for being a Yes to what matters to you. A Yes to me in this podcast and for sharing your story with everyone listening. Aw, thank you so
much.
Thank you for holding space. Thank you for having me on. I'm so grateful.
All the links to connect with Lauren, earn her show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. They're so critical for podcast visibility and helping us connect to more people who would love to hear this episode. Come hang out with us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com or Kara underscore Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode and an amazing new guest. Until then, after taking on being powerful in your life, go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
