In this episode, Kristy Drutman, founder of Browngirl Green and Green Jobs Board, shares her journey into environmental media work and entrepreneurship. We talk about her new show, Love and Climate, which explores the connections between dating, finding love, and climate change. We discuss how climate change impacts dating, relationships, family planning, and reproductive health. We also explore topics such as petro-masculinity, gender justice, and reproductive justice. We highlight Kristy’s recent appointment on the newly formed EPA Youth Advisory Council. Finally, we discuss Kristy’s climate tech company, Green Jobs Board, and the impact of cultivating a diverse climate workforce.
In this episode, Kristy Drutman, founder of Browngirl Green and Green Jobs Board, shares her journey into environmental media work and entrepreneurship. We talk about her new show, Love and Climate, which explores the connections between dating, finding love, and climate change. We discuss how climate change impacts dating, relationships, family planning, and reproductive health. We also explore topics such as petro-masculinity, gender justice, and reproductive justice. We highlight Kristy’s recent appointment on the newly formed EPA Youth Advisory Council. Finally, we discuss Kristy’s climate tech company, Green Jobs Board, and the impact of cultivating a diverse climate workforce.
Browngirl Green Podcast - Instagram
Browngirl Green Podcast - Linktree
Resources:
Sources:
Climate Love (And Lies) on Dating Apps | Atmos
Opinion | Why I Bring Up Climate Change on First Dates - The New York Times
4 ways that climate change could be affecting your love life
How Climate Change Inflicts a Toll on Mental Health - The New York Times
The power of love in the fight against climate change
How Climate Change May Be Shaping Our Relationship Choices | The Swaddle
The climate is changing dating - by Emily Atkin - HEATED
The Climate Reality of Roe v. Wade | Atmos
The Climate Crisis Is a Reproductive Justice Issue
Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire - Cara Daggett, 2018
Maybe Next Month? Temperature Shocks and Dynamic Adjustments in Birth Rates
Love in the Time of Climate Change | Podcast
These organizations are working to bring diverse perspectives to climate solutions | GreenBiz
Global Green Skills Report 2023 | LinkedIn
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Kiana Michaan
Edited and co-produced by Lucy Little
Kristy Drutman: [00:00:00] Love and Climate is a climate speed dating show. Why I decided to do this, I came up with it at COP24 in Poland almost five years ago. And I was like, attending one of the top, you know, forums for talking about climate change with diplomats and You know, leaders of state from around the world, and I just remember sitting there and just being like, how are people connecting?
How are people reaching each other? Because it's like, there's all these back rooms, there's all these like, hidden conversations, and all these things, and I was just like, you know, what if people actually just like, went on a date here, you know?
Kiana Michaan: Hello and welcome to Climate with Kiana, a podcast that explores topics of climate, energy and sustainability through a framework of joy and justice. I'm your host, Kiana Michaan, a climate justice and clean energy advocate. This show brings you conversations with passionate people working in climate, and together [00:01:00] we explore the many exciting and intersectional solutions to one of the greatest challenges of our time.
So if you've ever felt overwhelmed by the climate crisis, these conversations are for you. Whether you're already a climate nerd or just climate curious, join me each week in an exploration of climate justice solutions. Let's cultivate hope and joy and vision new possibilities together.
In today's episode, I speak with Kristy Drutman, an environmental entrepreneur, educator, media host, and the founder of Browngirl Green and Green Jobs Board. We talk about her journey into environmental media work to founding a climate tech startup, Green Jobs, the EPA Youth Advisory Council, and the impact of her new show, Love and Climate.
How are dating, love, and the climate crisis related? How may climate change be [00:02:00] affecting our love lives? What is petromasculinity and how are climate change and reproductive justice connected? We explore these questions and more in today's conversation. Welcome.
Kristy Drutman: Well, hi everyone. I'm so excited to be on Climate with Kiana.
Very honored to be a guest on the show. Uh, I'm Kristy Drutman, otherwise known as Browngirl Green. I am a media host. I also have a podcast called Browngirl Green. Uh, I'm an environmental advocate, a speaker, an entrepreneur, um, and overall someone who's trying to connect the dots between, um, diversity, equity, and inclusion, culture, media, and climate.
A lot of my work for the past, uh, decade has been ranging from You know, environmental advocacy to being a media producer independently running my own ship with my team. And then, uh, now I wear a new hat as the co CEO of green jobs board. We're a climate tech company focused on empowering job seekers with all the [00:03:00] tools and the resources necessary.
to build a career in climate. So I wear many hats, have come from a lot of different backgrounds and experiences, but I would say as a multi hyphenate in the climate space and a bridge builder, I'm always trying to connect the dots, um, between communities, between stories, between timelines to get people inspired and to take action.
Kiana Michaan: Truly your work has inspired me. And yes, it's your podcast also. Point of inspiration. So thank you for for being here. Um, and I think it's really beautiful to see how you've really forged your own path, uh, in the climate world and kind of just done your own thing. Even when. You know, maybe there was not a road map for how to do those things.
So I guess I'd love to, with that in mind, talk about your professional journey. Yeah. Um, about what got you inspired and interested to be working in climate and sustainability.
Kristy Drutman: Yeah. [00:04:00] Um, a lot of the work, you know, growing up, I wasn't really exposed to a lot of these issues. But it was like, I later on realized, like, These were things that I cared about.
But again, it was like I grew up in a small town in Southern California and just, you know, realize that environmental issues were probably important, but I didn't really like I wasn't like an activist at that point in time. Um, but I did care a lot about climate through a human rights angle. I was very passionate about issues related to human trafficking, actually.
Um, and I learned in high school or, like, towards the end of high school that, um, you know, women, especially in the global south, um, like, experience human trafficking at a much higher percentage and rate after a natural disaster hits. And that was, like, the first time that I remember connecting the dots between my passion for fighting against human trafficking and actually realizing that there's connections between [00:05:00] that and.
The environment. And I remember it was my AP environmental science course, um, in high school that really convinced me that I wanted to be in this work. Um, because I remember there was just like one section of the AP environmental science textbook that had a section on environmental justice. And I remember asking my teacher like, what is that?
And she was like, oh, I think that's like something you would be really into. 'cause I like was really passionate about human rights and I went to UC Berkeley. For undergrad studied environmental policy, um, and city planning. And I remember, like, it was like my first semester of college at UC Berkeley. And I was very much like, Delwide wanting to go all in.
And I remember, like, I had the opportunity to attend, um, Power Shifts, Power Shift conference in 2013. And, um, and it was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and that was the first time I ever took a flight by myself and I remember going there and all of a sudden I was [00:06:00] exposed to this whole new ecosystem of activists and speakers and like, well known climate scientists around the world.
And it was my first time ever experience that and they were protesting against, um. Fracking that was happening in the area. And that was when I attended my first climate protest was at that conference. And I remember my eyes are starting to open up because I felt like going to U. C. Berkeley. It was kind of a cliche.
Like, of course, I'm going to join a protest. Like, it kind of was a part of the brand, I guess, but then what I discovered as I went deeper into activism, which began with, you know, fighting against fracking and hydraulic fracturing across the state of California. My youth activism just started to grow and I started to learn so much more about how communities across California, across the United States, and then even greater in the world were being impacted by environmental injustice.
And so I just stayed curious. I just kept asking questions about environments and [00:07:00] communities that I had no exposure to growing up. But like I said, like I grew up in a small town, like. My friends and the community I grew up with were relatively low income and middle income, but like I had friends who were undocumented.
And so I definitely grew up like, you know, with. Within the working class, middle class, you know, lifestyle and like really, you know, started to connect the dots, then it was like, Oh, I was exposed to an academia and even student activism. And then I was realizing that, like, there's a lot of environmental injustices back where, like, I grew up that I just didn't really have a language for and realize I grew up even near a freeway and all of a sudden I was like, realizing like, Oh, these things actually do have an impact on me.
And then type went high on. It's the Philippines. Um, and then my family lives in the Philippines and all of a sudden everything started to really clinch together where all of a sudden climate change was no longer this distant thing that I [00:08:00] was just learning about in textbooks like it could actually impact the diaspora I'm a part of, the people I care about, the people I love.
Um, and I started asking more questions and so those are like the very beginnings of the work and honestly, I just started exploring storytelling and the way I started exploring it was by having. By just, like, naturally sharing things on social media about, like, things I was up to on my college campus, like, taking pictures, documenting it, like, it was very informal photojournalism, right?
And I remember, like, I'd have friends who would comment on my social media posts even back then and be like, I never knew about this, like, this is wild. Because in my head, I felt like sustainability or environmentalism, at the time when I was first approaching it and in college and all these things, it felt very elitist.
It felt like something that only People with the means and the access had the time and the privilege and the ability to think about it in [00:09:00] some ways. That's still the case. Um, and in other ways, it's a matter of survival, right? Um, but again, that's a narrative. That's a story. And, you know, for me, I realized, like, why don't I start my own thing?
And basically, podcast where, like, I decided that I didn't see many people of color who are being highlighted in the environmental space. Um, or the climate space. I didn't see their voices. I didn't see them represented. Um, I didn't feel like there was a lot of those narratives again, like, that we're reaching across the aisle, talking about different ways to talk about environmentalism.
That wasn't just the same old white voices and yeah, I came up with the name brown girl green, um, because I wanted to talk about sustainability, but I also wanted to honor that, like, Okay. There was a lot of communities excluded from this conversation. And so I wanted to make sure that I put the brown girl in there.
And so that's basically where Brown Girl Green came out of was [00:10:00] Just this desire to uplift the voices of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in the climate space.
Kiana Michaan: If you're not already a listener, check out Kristy's podcast, The Browngirl Green Podcast, where she interviews diverse environmental leaders in informative and engaging conversations on a multitude of environmental and climate topics.
Kristy Drutman: And yeah, basically, you know, flash forward, it's been almost six years. It's insane to think about of just like building a media platform and brand and entity, um, that's reached millions of people around the world talking about climate issues, started as a podcast, went to blogs, went to videos, um, went to speaking, went to a variety of different types of content.
And then from there, you know, we'll get into it more, but I became officially like a social entrepreneur from there and just from that point, like, till probably, you know, the future, I'm always thinking about ways that, [00:11:00] like, there's gaps in the storytelling space and climate and how I can fill it.
Kiana Michaan: Thank you for sharing.
There's a lot of things you've shared in your journey that resonated with me. And it's just. Uh, wonderful to see how you really have successfully leveraged the power of social media and media to tell stories that need to be told and these intersectional climate environmental stories what I really appreciate about your work.
Is that you, the way you storytell and communicate is very digestible and it really reaches people and you do it in a lot of creative ways that is, that is fun.
Kristy Drutman: These issues can just feel so complex that like fitting things into short clips, like people are like, but what about this? And I'm like, yeah, unfortunately, like in the age of social media, like the issue is when you want to get these like digitized or like small bites of information, you're, it's going to lack nuance.
Like ultimately. You know, I like my work to be this hook to bring [00:12:00] people in, but like, at the end of the day, people need to discern for themselves. They need to continue to like, practice their own critical thinking and like, do But again, not everyone wants to do that. People want the 10 second, the 30 second, the little sound bite, which is fine.
Um, but it can be concerning when this work requires nuance. It requires complex conversations. And sometimes my work does brush up against that where I'm trying to bring people in, make it accessible. But like, again, like. The work is not always sexy. Like you have to go to the lobby days. You have to do the petitioning.
You have to call your representatives. Like, these are things that are so important. But again, it doesn't necessarily, it kind of comes into clash with how some of these platforms are designed, which are focused on instant gratification and movement work is not always most of the time not instant gratification.
It's usually [00:13:00] decades in the making. It's decades in the making. Years and years. So for me, I view myself as like carving out more little divots for people to like enter into the space. And to get plugged in and to connect the dots, but I always tell people, like, it's just one part of the strategy.
Kiana Michaan: There's so many different areas of expertise within environmental and climate work and no one person can be an expert on all of them.
So I think even providing that visibility to different topics to then pique people's interest and provide, you know, a pathway into. Further knowledge is really important. So you touched on earlier how, um, how your passion for human rights and also women's rights or gender justice work. Yeah. Human rights and gender justice work was some part of your pathway into this work.
Yeah. Um, and this may seem like a leap, but I want to talk about your, your, one of your new projects, Love and Climate, because I actually think there is a big [00:14:00] connection there.
Kristy Drutman: Yeah, so my new project that I'm having a lot of fun with is called Love and Climate, which is a climate speed dating show where I'm having people go on first dates to talk about climate change and sustainability to decide if there is potential romantic compatibility.
And. Why I decided to do this, I came up with it at COP24 in Poland almost five years ago, and I just remember, again, I was like attending one of the top, you know, forums for talking about climate change with diplomats and You know, leaders of state from around the world, and I just remember sitting there and just being like, how are people connecting?
How are people reaching each other? Because it's like, there's all these back rooms, there's all these like, hidden conversations, and all these things, and I was just like, you know, what if people actually just like, went on a date here, you know? And at the time I was single too, like, maybe I'll benefit from this also, I'll meet a climate cutie, who knows?
Anyways. [00:15:00] And that was like the first iteration, and then, you know, I tried it again at COP26. Next iteration and, you know, had diplomats actually go on the dates in the blue zone. Um, you know, and then, you know, I finally had a team this year, um, where we were like, you know, we should actually, like, make this a thing.
And so, yeah, like, just a few months ago. Had our 1st session in Central Park where, you know, 20 to 30 people just showed up and went on a date to talk about climate change and sustainability. And now it's been a once a month recurring program in New York City and we're doing our 1st 1 in Los Angeles. So, we're already already going cross country, but the whole idea about it is like.
Firstly, I just think there's not enough third spaces in the climate movement. I think people either think you have to go to a protest, a networking event, and then I talk to my friends. Slash my own love life experience in the past [00:16:00] we go on these dating apps, and it was just like You claim that this is supposed to be your person for a life But then you don't even talk about your working climate or sustainability And I just was like that's kind of lag like why are we compartmentalizing?
our passion for this thing that we care about, even in our love lives. Like, we should be talking about this with our families, our friends, our lovers, right?
Kiana Michaan: I think there's a huge connection between climate change and love.
Kristy Drutman: Yes, huge!
Kiana Michaan: Dating, love, and climate are connected. As the impacts of climate change continue to affect all of our lives, conversations about climate can be important in the early stages of dating.
Is there values alignment around climate? If not, how can we have those conversations about the complex impacts of climate change on our lives?
Kristy Drutman: And I just think love comes back to the solutions piece, right? If we're going to shift the language from fear and doom, it has to be towards love and [00:17:00] solutions.
And in order to do that, we have to reach people with vulnerability, with Messiness with real conversations and that's why I love this thing so much because the conversations are getting people out of their echo chambers or even polarization that you might find on the internet or even on a dating app.
And people have to face each other face to face and have these messy conversations and I love it. It was so fun. And for me, it's bringing people together as friends as potential romantic interest and people have just been enjoying themselves. It's it's been really amazing to see a space that's centered around human connection while also educating people about climate change.
Kiana Michaan: Love is political and I think we're both people of. Mixed racial and religious heritage, so, you know, love is inherently political on a number of fronts. That's so true. You think you can just [00:18:00] love who you want, but there's so many social and political legal constructs in our world that make that a lot more complicated.
Kristy Drutman: It is.
Kiana Michaan: Um, and climate, I think. Climate change impacts all of that as well as, you know, a number of things which I want to get into and I think to your, to your larger point, getting people out of their comfort zones to have these conversations and from what I've watched of your show, it's actually, it's really interesting.
Kristy Drutman: Yeah.
Kiana Michaan: It just goes back to, it's really nuanced, so people have really different lived experiences and relationships to climate, um, and then how that impacts their relationships. So, it's, it's huge. I mean, so all these studies that like dating apps have been running are showing that there's like, um, massive increase in people's interest in environmental issues and climate change as a top priority concern and priority when they're dating.
Dating app companies have provided interesting insights into their [00:19:00] user data apps such as okcupid and tinder have released stats showing that there has been an over 300 percent increase in the mentions of climate change and environmental terms on dating profiles in the last few years And climate change has become a top factor in Gen Z users decisions of who to date. Ultimately, views, values, and actions around climate change have become a key topic of modern dating.
Kristy Drutman: I think people need to think about it because, you know, it hits everything. It hits every topic. Like, I mean, I'm dealing with it, you know, myself, like in my own relationship and, you know, other friends relationships.
Whether that be like, taking trips together, talking about having kids someday, buying a house, even though I don't know anyone in my generation buying a house, but you know, you have to think about where you're gonna buy your house based on a climate vulnerability risk index, or even where you're gonna rent, you know, you [00:20:00] gotta think about the future and like, is where I'm gonna live with my partner, like, Our rent's going to dramatically increase because of the environmental conditions, like, there's a lot of things, or even like, dietary choices, or, it hits so many topics, which I think are really interesting, but I think not a lot of people necessarily incorporate that into, like, their love lives.
Kiana Michaan: I agree, it hits so many topics, and I think this is kind of going back to where I was saying it is. It's actually connected to what I see as human rights and gender justice issues. Particularly when it comes to family planning, right? Like you were saying, family planning and women's rights and climate change are really deeply connected. And there's a lot, of really interesting statistics.
Climate impacts compound existing issues of environmental racism and gender justice. Studies show that extreme heat can diminish sex drive and leads to a reduction in birth rate nine months after [00:21:00] days over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Annual days of extreme heat are set to increase significantly in the coming years under various warming scenarios. Impacts such as extreme heat, air pollution, displacement, and other disruptions due to weather events make it more challenging for women and communities to access reproductive health care and increase overall risk factors for reproductive health. Furthermore, extreme heat and air pollution leads to increased levels of low birth weight and miscarriage. These reproductive health challenges disproportionately impact environmental justice communities and women of color.
Kristy Drutman: And you know, what happened last summer was like Roe v. Wade, no, you know, at a time where our country is fighting against women's reproductive rights and a time where people who, you know, were trying to like dismantle the patriarchy.
I think there's a lot there when it comes to, you know, Um, power dynamics and also like, [00:22:00] you know, we could spend a whole episode about the patriarchy, but like, you know, there's always, there's this term called like petro masculinity.
Kiana Michaan: I was about to say that. Okay, let's talk about it.
Kristy Drutman: Okay, great.
Kiana Michaan: Petromasculinity examines the relationship between climate misogyny as deeply connected. The connection between misogyny and the fossil fuel industry can be witnessed culturally through the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels being intimately associated with power structures based on ideas of masculinity, dominance, and extraction.
There is a really large, I think, audience that is absorbing this, these talking points that are Just downplaying the impacts of climate change. Petromasculinity says climate change is, is not a big deal. It says gender traditional relationships are important. It's very sexist. Um, and that also kind of goes to a lot of these cultural [00:23:00] themes that equate oil and with. Masculinity. So the idea that, right? Like there's an association
Kristy Drutman: manly man
Kiana Michaan: between, yeah, like trucks and gas guzzling vehicles, being masculine,
Kristy Drutman: I need to hear the engine
Kiana Michaan: which is a lot of,
Kristy Drutman: a lot of times people will be like I need to hear the engine. I'm like.
Kiana Michaan: Do you though?
Kristy Drutman: No, it's true.
Kiana Michaan: What are your thoughts on this?
Kristy Drutman: It's true. Like, I mean, I just even look at Love and Climate who signed up for these events. We always have a problem with getting men to come on the dates. The men who have come, I think, are very secure in their masculinity, in my opinion, are not like these people that are like, oh, I need to prove that, like, I can eat a steak and drill oil and Eat a steak while drilling oil and whatever.
I don't know. Like, I don't know what is romanticized by this idea of, like, having to just, like, you know, dig up the earth and, like, destroy things. And I don't know. I think it's [00:24:00] just this feeling of, like, needing control or needing to dominate things. Um, and I think men that don't subscribe to that tend to get ostracized, tend to get excluded.
It requires men to, like, really unlearn a lot of, like, toxic masculinity. And, um, unfortunately, there's not a lot of men that are doing that at the rate that they could be. And similarly, you know, it's not just men. I think it's the system, right? The patriarchy, the patriarchy harms men just the way it harms women also.
And I think It's connected, right? Similar to the way that, like, capitalism and fossil fuel energy, all these things, like, as, like, we all hate it, we're resisting it, but we're also, like, participating in it, right? So, I just want to bring that in, that, like, petromasculinity is just a symptom of living in an economic system that literally forces us to survive.
And, and for [00:25:00] some people in some communities, subscribing to petromasculinity is their way of surviving, right? In some ways it could be a trauma response, a way to Not get excluded from the group, right? Comes back to survival instincts. So, in my opinion, there needs to be more storytellers that, like, maybe understand petro masculinity or these kind of topics very intimately.
And, um, speak to those people, right? About those topics. Um, you know, I'm now on the EPA's National Environmental Youth Advisory council.
Kiana Michaan: You were recently announced as one of the members of the EPA's new historic National Environmental Youth Advisory Council. A huge congratulations.
Kristy Drutman: Oh, thank you.
Kiana Michaan: I think it's really amazing. Um, and I'm excited to see what the impact of the council is. It'll be great. Yeah. Please share what you're seeing as the significance and purpose of this, this council at the Environmental Protection Agency
Kristy Drutman: well, yeah, the reason I even brought it up is because they brought in young people from all [00:26:00] different backgrounds who I view as all different types of storytellers reaching different populations.
And they brought all of us together because they want us to really be a voice and And, you know, a contingent of young people who are actually going to be advising on policy on budgets, um, on what this country is going to do about environmental justice. Right. And it's an appointment for the next 2 years.
And I'm really grateful because that's exactly what I want to do. I wanted to be in a space where, you know, I could leverage, you know, my platform to actually inform change, actually, like, hold leaders accountable, think about the ways that there's gaps on how these things get regulated, on how communities are either included in these conversations or excluded, whether that be through funding, through the stories we tell and so forth, and making sure that I'm in those rooms to create that accountability is like a really important reason why I want to go for it and why I'm a part of it now.
Because the goal with sustainability or green or climate should be that, like, this is [00:27:00] just the standard. It's not this nice to have thing or this extra thing or this thing that takes away from people's lives. Ideally, it should be this thing that, like, people find benefits in. Whether that's, like, getting a good paying job or it's improving the The areas or neighborhoods their children grow up in, right?
Or it overall helps them, um, you know, fight against these other intersectional issues that they're they're up against. Right? Because, you know, majority of Americans today are still living paycheck to paycheck and if you're living in survival mode like that. Where is the space and the time to be able to actually, like, go to city council meetings to advocate to do all these things or to shift out of this deep, deep conditioning of things like petro masculinity.
And so, for me, you know, being in platforms and spaces, like the EPA, as well as being an entrepreneur, as well as, like, now getting into green workforce [00:28:00] stuff. I'm like starting to, um, really expose myself to some conversation, some community, some spaces that like honestly can make me feel uncomfortable sometimes because then I sometimes take a step back and I'm like, well, am I just coming from a really privileged bias?
Like, because I have this college education because I do have access to these resources. And the answer is probably yes.
Kiana Michaan: Yes. And I think the same can go for. For myself, but I think what you said really goes to it being a communications crisis in that climate. This is about human rights that we all deserve. We all deserve clean air, clean water, not a polluted environment, and we all also deserve to be able to benefit from protecting the environment. And caring for the resources in a way that is, you know, thoughtful and sustainable, um, and for, like, in the way that rural communities are not being reached because the issue has become so unfortunately politicized, right?
I think to me, it just almost goes back to what we were talking about in terms [00:29:00] of love being a really powerful tool in that we all love and care deeply about things in this world and in our, that are, that are impacted by climate change. Um, and how do we reach people by connecting it to that, which we love in our communities, right? Which are threatened by the impacts of climate change. Because I think that moves people.
Kristy Drutman: I think understanding where other like putting yourself in their shoes, I think makes you just a more empathetic leader. It doesn't mean you need to agree, it doesn't even mean you need to move forward with people, but I think doing that practice, I think is important.
Kiana Michaan: I appreciate you saying that you are open to being challenged and having those hard conversations because it's, it's really important. And I think kind of going back to the Youth Council, that's also an attempt to have more diverse voices because if you look at who's in power, it tends [00:30:00] to be less young people.
All that said, I think it's, it's great to see this, this youth council, which you're now on is in many ways trying to bring more diversity of perspective directly to decision makers, which is really exciting to see.
Kristy Drutman: So for me, of course, I could focus on a million things, but I'm, my mission is to go in there and really understand how can we improve processes and programs and funding methods to get people, um, into green jobs. I really want to understand a lot more about the Inflation Reduction Act, understanding its relationship with green jobs, getting green, young people into green jobs. That was like my top M. O.
Kiana Michaan: That's great. And I think that's a good segue for you to talk a little bit about green jobs forward and the amazing work you're doing there.
Kristy Drutman: Look at that! Yeah, so why am I passionate about green jobs? I'm passionate about green jobs because I think we've been talking a lot about intersectionality in this episode, and I think getting a job is at the intersection [00:31:00] of everything in some ways, um, at least in people's lives today as we survive capitalism.
Unfortunately, like, I do not dream of labor either people. It's not like that. I would love to, like, not, but at the same time, when we're talking about solutions, there's incredible opportunities that can be found in green workforce development. Getting people into green work and, you know, backing up like about 2 years ago, I, you know, Browngirl Green was thriving.
I mean, still thriving, but, you know, at the time it was really popping off and I was thinking to myself, I was like, what else like content wise? Like, are there gaps when it comes to the environmental climate space? And I said, why don't I just start a series where like, I'm pulling together resources that I just find on the internet that I think are interesting, um, to get people into climate work.
And basically, like, I just made it [00:32:00] an Instagram post and then it turned into like an Instagram post series that I did once a week and it blew up. It was like my best performing content that I had had in like months. People were going nuts over it, sharing it, you know, and basically companies and organizations just started, like, utilizing my platform to post their jobs, um, on social media.
And I remember, like, two months in, Someone was like, I got my first job through your Instagram post. And I was like, what? And I remember being like, this is interesting. And so I talked to my co founder, who's also my best friend, um, Usman. And I was like, what if we like made this like a thing, you know, what if we made this like a, something more real?
And so then we went from an Instagram post to then launching as an Instagram page. Within the first week, we got 3, 000 followers, and now we're a community of 100, 000 in under a year. It felt like, yes, like the climate [00:33:00] movement needs. Resources to build climate career pathways, like people need to have clear ways to find this information.
And so then, yeah, literally about a year ago till yeah, this month, um, we decided to become a company. And this past year has been the biggest whirlwind of the 1st year. Of being a company in my life, and it's been an incredible journey of starting to explore green workforce development, which is such a different landscape than the green media space.
All of a sudden, having young people of color telling me they're getting their first job and they found it through us, having companies tell us that we're giving them the most diverse, talented candidates they've ever been able to, like, recruit and hire. And this is all on like a bootstrap budget with a small team of us.
Um, we're also young people of color. And like, for me, it just feels right. It feels like a solution. It feels like something that is really going to make the impact I want to make [00:34:00] by. bringing more people into the conversation and giving them, you know, livable, good paying jobs that can inspire them to build a lifetime career in this space.
Kiana Michaan: Climate tech companies have a diversity problem. In 2022, only 2. 6 percent of VC funding for climate tech went to founders of color and just 2. 1 percent went to female founders. We need more women and people of color in climate tech, particularly at the C suite level. The demand for green jobs is growing rapidly, and the availability of skilled workers for these jobs is not keeping pace.
Which is why platforms like Kristy's Green Jobs Board are so important to build relationships between diverse job seekers and employers, and help build skills and expertise among job seekers.
Kristy Drutman: When people ask me what a green job is, it's like, you know, I think the way we view it at Green Jobs Board is like, we view the green economy as the future economy.
And so again, like, I think for now, it's like, green jobs are these [00:35:00] environmental jobs, they're labeled as that, but like, I think where the climate economy or the future economy needs to go, is that like, there's departments, there is training, there's like, you know, company wide policies that are like, focused on this stuff, which is going to also require a lot of like, internal training, training.
Yeah. Language, communication, like there's a lot of layers and just being a green organization or company actually doesn't. I mean, that much of you also don't have a great workplace where you're paying people well, treating them well, et cetera. So I like to say that a green job should encapsulate both things.
Kiana Michaan: I wanted to say that certain aspects of climate change work is so new and it's evolving so rapidly. I'm a tech and clean energy are relatively young industries and they're developing and growing really rapidly and constantly being impacted by policy changing. And so. You know, in some of these sort of niches of the sector, we're kind of writing the rules as we go in a sense [00:36:00] of most people have not been in these sectors for a really long time.
Um, and so we're, we're figuring it out all together, which is. I think exciting because there's so much room for growth and so much opportunity, uh, and, and a little bit scary too, because there's a lot, there's a lot of unknowns, but what is known is that we need to do this work and develop clean energy and decarbonize as rapidly as possible and do so in the most just and inclusive way in order to ensure a livable, uh, future for all of us.
Let's move out into some closing questions. On the show, we love to talk about joy. So I want to ask about what brings you joy in your work. And I also want to throw in, given the topic of today's conversation, kind of in addition to joy, what do you think is the importance of having, you know, this love as we've been talking about, right? Love in movement building and in climate action.
Kristy Drutman: Yeah. I would say that the [00:37:00] joy I find is that I get the opportunity and the privilege and the ability to be able to run an independent media platform. I'm not beholden to, like, any entity in that way, uh, and I'm really grateful to have the freedom and the flexibility because that means I can talk about whatever I want to on my platform, um, and I don't think a lot of people necessarily have the ability to do that, so I have a lot of joy and gratitude that I can leverage my platform and the privilege that I have to be able to, like, Raise up the profile and the stories of people who otherwise don't have access to those things
and I would say for love I mean my family my friends my partner like I think I wouldn't be able to do the work I'm doing today without that Love at the end of the day dissolves ego. It dissolves Borders boundaries. It makes you really see the clarity and the [00:38:00] truth of a situation And I think that people need to find their truth.
Kiana Michaan: Is there anyone who inspires you in your work? Whose work in the climate space, um, you appreciate and gives you inspiration? Or that you'd just like to shout out?
Kristy Drutman: Yeah, I mean, I just want to shout out, um, all the people that work on the campaign. If not us, then who? All folk, you guys, you people listening can check it out. It's just like a really incredible campaign supporting Indigenous leaders. Um, and I'm really inspired by them right now. Also inspired by just like all the Amazonian, um, leaders who are just like defending the Amazon right now, which is the lungs of the planet.
Yeah. Also indigenous land defenders in the Philippines. I think I had the privilege and the opportunity to have worked alongside them in the past, and I think about them every single day. Um. As I ground my work and try to remember, like, my [00:39:00] why and a big part of that is because again, like, there's people around the world right now.
Like, if we don't address these issues around mining extraction, um, global warming, um, or dying, they're dying, protecting their land. They're dying, protecting their families. Um, And for those of us with like the privilege and the ability to listen to something like this podcast, um, we need to do everything we can to exhaust our resources to support people that did not cause this problem in the first place.
Kiana Michaan: Thank you again to Kristy for joining me for this conversation. And thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed. Please check out the show notes for more information and resources about the topics discussed in today's episode. See you next week with another episode, and as always, be well and be joyous.
Thank you for listening. Climate with Kiana is hosted and produced by me, Kiana Michaan this episode was co-produced and edited by Lucy Little [00:40:00] Theme Music by Colette Michaan. This podcast is recorded and produced in New York City on unceded Munsee Lenape land. If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend, leave a comment and subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts.
For more information about the guests and topics discussed, please visit climatewithkiana. com.