Temperature Check

After getting her linguistics degree, Nicole Horseherder planned to return home to Black Mesa and teach. But with the region’s aquifers under threat from coal companies, she rallied against them – and won.Full transcript and related reading: https://grist.org/temperature-check/nicole-horseherder-coal-navajo-water/

Struggling with depression and on medical leave from his corporate job, Olatunji Oboi Reed decided to get his bike out of the basement and go for a ride. That ride set him on a new path that led to his current work: promoting racial equity in transportation and beyond, through his organization Equiticity.Full transcript and related reading: https://grist.org/temperature-check/olatunji-oboi-reed-equiticity-biking-equity

Maya Lilly had achieved the dream of many a theater kid: studying at Juilliard. But when she realized her environmental activism didn’t have a home there, it set her on a mission to bring climate storytelling to mainstream audiences. It was a journey that took decades.Full transcript and related reading: https://grist.org/temperature-check/maya-lilly-climate-hollywood-producer/

Until last year, Nate Johnson was a journalist at Grist, covering climate. But when he felt his passion for writing start to wane, he found a new direction — as an electrician. Now, instead of writing about the need to electrify everything, Nate is doing that work himself … and he says he is happier than ever.Full transcript and related reading: https://grist.org/temperature-check/nate-johnson-journalist-electrician/

Sharon Lavigne lives in St. James Parish, Louisiana, where industrial pollution causes high cancer rates. For decades, Sharon witnessed her neighbors suffer as air quality worsened. But when yet another plant planned to open in her community, she decided to do something about it.Full transcript and related reading: https://grist.org/temperature-check/sharon-lavigne-cancer-alley-industry-formosa/

This season, meet 6 very different climate and justice leaders who faced crucial pivot points in their paths to climate action. Each immersive episode follows one person's journey, and the story of how they made a big change in their life, career, or community.

Valencia Gunder and Tamara Toles O’Laughlin are dedicated to improving the lives of those facing unjust conditions in frontline communities. They discuss what it means to build coalitions and work the levers of policy to combat environmental racism.

For these two Indigenous women, mentorship is “less about teaching skills and more about welcoming in.” Activists Jade Begay and Eriel Tchekwie Deranger talk about the consequences of holding in trauma, and the relief that comes from sharing that burden within their communities.