S05 Episode 227 | YESSENIA FUNES OF ATMOS ON RACE AND THE ENVIRONMENT + CENTERING FRONTLINE ORGANIZERS AS THE WRITERS OF THEIR OWN STORIES

In episode 227, Kestrel welcomes Yessenia Funes, the Climate Editor at Atmos, to the show. A new climate and culture magazine, Atmos is curated by an ecosystem of adventurers, creatives, and journalists, and dedicated to pioneering progress around the world.

“So much of what we do is working with frontline organizers, so that they can tell their own stories — inviting them to come write for us, creating space so that they’re not just quoted in an article, but they’re writing the article. And I think that there’s sometimes hesitance to do that in the media industry, out of this sort of obsession with objectivity — I think is honestly what sometimes drives some of that. And we do that in a way that, we’re not here to necessarily push an agenda, but we’re here to give people space to to tell their truth, tell their stories and to educate the public about the battles that many of these people are fighting.” -Yessenia Funes, Climate Editor at Atmos

On this week’s show, Yessenia shares more on what led her to writing about race and the environment. She is now focused on telling human-centered stories, and welcoming frontline organizers to write their own stories on how the climate crisis is impacting them and their communities.

Kestrel asks Yessenia for her thoughts on where she thinks the media stands today, when it comes to covering stories around environmental racism and environmental justice.

• “It’s an exciting moment now to see so much understanding of what environmental racism is, of what environmental justice is, but it is alarming to see the slow response to do anything about it, especially at a scale that matters.” -Yessenia

• “Report: we have just 12 years to limit devastating global warming” via Vox, addressing the IPCC report from 2018 that Yessenia mentions

• “My favorite thing about working here at Atmos is just our dedication toward heart-centered and community-centered stories.” -Yessenia

• “You don’t need to have a graduate degree or a bachelor’s in environmental studies or climate science to be an expert on your community — you just need that lived experience, and I think there’s a growing recognition of how vital the lived experience is now.” -Yessenia

• Professor Bryan Higgins, mentioned by Yessenia — taught a class about the history of national parks in the U.S.

• “‘It’s About Sacrificing’: Indigenous Youth Runners Call on Biden to Shut Down DAPL” on Atmos

• “How Black Women Have Reimagined Nature On-screen” on Atmos

• “The Climate Movement Has Always Been Black” on Atmos

• “A Bright, Green Future” on Atmos

• The Frontline, newsletter edited by Yessenia — “a daily reminder that the warming of the world is unjust”

• Follow Yessenia on Instagram >

• Follow Atmos on Instagram >