Care More Be Better: A Podcast For Sustainable Social Impact and Regeneration

This week, we’re sharing a bonus episode from Care More Be Better’s unfiltered sibling show, Care Less Be Worse: The Environmental News Rant. This version has been bleeped for this feed.

For the uncensored version and a full list of sources, follow Care Less Be Worse:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/care-less-be-worse-the-environmental-news-rant/id6826374983
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ma3uZooZf1pQ4jdmG2Oy8
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61e2aca8-9f31-45a0-809a-06190c56b559/care-less-be-worse-the-environmental-news-rant
iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-care-less-be-worse-the-env-348283076
SHOW NOTES:
Caring deeply about the world means getting angry sometimes, too. In this episode, Corinna gets personal about one of the least-covered costs of climate change: the bill that comes after the fire and the flood. She shares what it’s been like to live in the Santa Cruz Mountains since the CZU Lightning Complex in 2020, to watch friends lose their homes and their insurance, to have her home office flood three times during the atmospheric rivers of 2022 to 2023, and to see her fire insurance premium more than quadruple since 2009.

She also looks at this week’s king tide flooding in Marin, a potentially record-breaking El Niño, the latest California FAIR Plan rate hike, rising construction costs, the shrinking federal disaster safety net, and why so many homeowners still aren’t connecting their rising insurance bills to a warming planet.

It’s raw, it’s personal, and it ends with a fiery call to action ahead of Election Day. Find your voting information at vote.gov.

Key sources from this episode

California FAIR Plan rate hike (KQED): https://www.kqed.org/news/12094860/california-fair-plan-announces-29-1-rate-hike-for-homeowners-this-fall

What climate change costs U.S. households (MIT Sloan): https://mitsloan.mit.edu/press/why-climate-change-costing-u-s-households-hundreds-dollars-a-year

NOAA 2026 to 2027 Winter Outlook: https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/el-nino-looms-large-over-us-winter-outlook

Marin flooding as a preview of El Niño winter (NBC Bay Area): https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/marin-county-flooding-high-tides-el-nino/4164618/

Background music courtesy of Arches Audio’s free song of the week, June 8, 2021.

Rant there. Recover here. Next week, we’re back with more conversations with the people building a better future.

Join our circle at https://caremorebebetter.com and @caremorebebetter.

CONNECT & SUPPORT CARE MORE BE BETTER
Substack: https://caremorebebetter.substack.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better
CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner —Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

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Feeling discouraged about politics does not have to mean tuning out. Jenna Spinelle has spent years telling the stories of ordinary people who saw a problem, found like-minded neighbors, and started working on it, whether or not they won. In this conversation, Jenna traces her path from local newspapers and Penn State admissions to building a network of democracy podcasts, explains why city councils and school boards are the most accessible place to start, and shares what she is learning while writing a book about the democracy reform movement. You will leave with a short list of organizations, books, and one-hour actions that make participation feel doable.

Episode Blog is here: https://caremorebebetter.com/democracy-works-when-we-do-hope-reform-and-how-to-get-involved-with-jenna-spinelle/

Topics Covered

[00:00] Intro

[02:30] Jenna's path from print journalism and Penn State admissions to the McCourtney Institute and Democracy Works

[03:38] How The Democracy Group network came together, and why Care More Be Better is now part of it

[05:02]Registering voters as a college freshman in 2004 and how student engagement has changed

[07:33]Holding hope and concern at the same time, and limiting news to protect your mental health

[10:00] Why local government (city council, school board) is where you are most likely to effect change

[12:51] Stories from When the People Decide: everyday people working on grassroots democracy reform

[15:33] Ballot measures as a messy but useful tool, and the Citizens Initiative Review

[17:20] Why the 25th and 26th Amendment stories show that one person can start something

[20:07] A Florida resident who raised concerns about Flock cameras with his city council

[22:22] Jenna's forthcoming book and the 96% of Americans frustrated with the status quo (Pew)

[25:40] Umbrella organizations to start with: National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers, Bridge Alliance, iCivics

[28:02] Finding common ground on clean air, clean water, and public lands, and Jenna's work with Common Ground USA

[30:27]Low-lift ways to connect: democracy happy hours, Zoom and Slack groups, and Podcast Brunch Club

[33:02] If you have one hour this month: preview your ballot, plan to vote, learn about being a poll worker

[35:30] Why Jenna is hopeful about Gen Z, and her Agora Institute project connecting creators and democracy organizations

[38:00] Five-year outlook: campaign finance reform, open primaries, ranked choice voting, and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

[40:20] Ranked choice voting explained in plain language

[44:50] A closing challenge: pick something that matters to you and join with your neighbors

Resources and Links

Jenna Spinelle: https://jennaspinelle.com/

The Democracy Group: https://democracygroup.org/

NOTE: Get a free guide from The Democracy Group: nine ways to take action as a citizen
(when you subscribe on their website)

When the People Decide: https://democracygroup.org/shows/when-the-people-decide

Democracy Works: https://www.democracyworkspodcast.com/

National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers: https://www.nonpartisanreformers.org/

Bridge Alliance: https://www.bridgealliance.us/

iCivics: https://www.icivics.org/

Vote411 (League of Women Voters): https://www.vote411.org/

Ballotpedia sample ballot lookup: https://ballotpedia.org/Sample_ballot_lookup_tools

Katharine Hayhoe: https://www.katharinehayhoe.com/

Common Ground USA https://www.cg-usa.org/

The Pennsylvania Resilient State Working Group: https://www.resilientpa.org/

I Never Thought of It That Way by Monica Guzman

High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

Citizens Initiative Review: https://healthydemocracy.org/home/services/cir/

Podcast Brunch Club: https://podcastbrunchclub.com/

CONNECT & SUPPORT CARE MORE BE BETTER
Substack: https://caremorebebetter.substack.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better
CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner —Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Care More Be Better has always been about hope: amplifying the scientists, activists, and changemakers building a more sustainable, regenerative future. That isn’t changing. New interviews will keep arriving here every week.

But caring deeply about the world also means getting angry about what’s happening to it. So I’ve launched a new companion show, Care Less Be Worse: The Environmental News Rant, a raw, unedited space where I take the gloves off about the news that’s wrecking our natural world and our communities. Environmental rollbacks, public lands on the auction block, a billionaire class racing to care less while the rest of us live with the consequences. If you’ve ever finished a news story wanting to scream, this show is for you.

In this bonus episode, you’ll hear the trailer that sets the tone for what’s coming. Fair warning: it’s explicit, and it’s meant to be. Care Less Be Worse is where I process the rage so that here, at Care More Be Better, we can keep focusing on solutions.

Rant there. Recover here.

Follow Care Less Be Worse:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/care-less-be-worse-the-environmental-news-rant/id6826374983
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ma3uZooZf1pQ4jdmG2Oy8
iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-care-less-be-worse-the-env-348283076
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/61e2aca8-9f31-45a0-809a-06190c56b559/care-less-be-worse-the-environmental-news-rant

Send stories that fire you up to [email protected].

As November approaches, build your plan and make sure your voice and your vote count. Find your state’s voting information at https://vote.gov.

Background music courtesy of Arches Audio’s free song of the week, June 8, 2021.

CONNECT & SUPPORT CARE MORE BE BETTER
Substack: https://caremorebebetter.substack.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better
CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner —Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Gottfried spent three decades proving that buildings can change how the world operates, and he has come to believe that is not nearly enough. The co-founder of the US Green Building Council and founder of the World Green Building Council watched his movement grow into a trillion-dollar economy, and he still sees the ship headed for the melting iceberg. In this conversation, he lays out the idea at the center of his book Regen360, an operating system for a regenerative Earth built on one question: does this choice increase life or degrade it? Along the way, David traces a thread from his father’s family-dinner lessons about net worth and self-worth to a third kind of wealth he calls soul worth, the part of us that survives the eulogy. He tells the story of falling off his bike on Mount Diablo and being pushed across the finish line by strangers, and what it taught him about the humility inside perseverance. He and Corinna also explore putting the E in humane, giving every part of yourself a seat at the table, and small choices anyone can make this week, from repairing instead of replacing to spending time outdoors with the people you love.

Show Notes:

[00:00] Intro [02:30] Moving Beyond "Less Bad" In Green Building

[04:38] The Scale And Limits Of The Global Green Movement

[09:52] Maintaining Hope Amidst Environmental Setbacks

[15:33] Lessons From A Visionary Father: Net Worth Vs. Self-Worth

[22:00] Cultivating Gratitude And The Whole Table Of Self

[29:51] Devotion Vs. Self-Harm: Pushing Physical Limits

[37:33] Shifting From Executive Burnout To Human Being

[46:28] The E-Revolution: Accelerating Human Evolution And Health

[51:55] Deep Plant Medicine Journeys And Internal Clarity

[57:50] Re-evaluating Wealth, Time, And What Truly Matters

Guest Website: https://regen360.net/

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-gottfried-75835a2/

Guest Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidgottfried/

Guest YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@davidgottfried9610

Guest Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidGottfriedfan

Guest Substack: https://davidagottfried.substack.com/

Guest Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidgottfried

CONNECT & SUPPORT CARE MORE BE BETTER
Substack: https://caremorebebetter.substack.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better
CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner —Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shawntal Z. Brown once wore the burnt orange blazer and bought into every part of the institution she worked for. After being laid off in 2024 amid a shifting legislative landscape in Texas, she began writing about what that experience taught her, and the result is a Substack with one of the most honest titles in higher education: Loving an Institution That No Longer Loves You Back.

In this conversation, Shawntal and Corinna explore how belonging, power, and care play out inside universities, and why the tenure system, built to evaluate and rank people, struggles to center their humanity. They look at what a care-centered version of tenure might reward, including the community service that one professor was actually criticized for doing too much of. Shawntal shares what academic freedom looks like day to day in Texas, why DEI work is quietly moving underground rather than disappearing, and how to tell a symbolic gesture from structural change. Her answer is a task force that ends in a period when it should end in a comma.

The episode closes with a question for anyone who loves an institution that has not always loved them back: what is the cost, and what would it take to make these places more humane for the people inside them?

Time Stamps By Topic

02:10 Loving An Institution That Doesn't Love You Back
04:17 Exploring Power, Belonging, And Care In Institutional Life
11:47 The Complex Realities Of Tenure And Institutional Support
19:55 The Impact Of State Legislation On Academic Freedom
37:16 Redefining Service And Community Engagement
41:22 The Chilling Effect On Classroom Teaching And Academic Freedom
50:30 Moving Beyond Performative Task Forces Into Real Action
55:25 Recalibrating Expectations And The Future Of Higher Education
Resources and links

Shawntal Z. Brown on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawntalbrown/

Shawntal Z. Brown on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawntalzbrown.phd/

Loving an Institution That No Longer Loves You Back (Substack): https://lovinganinstitution.substack.com/

Ethics of Care: Can Tenure Be More Humane?: https://lovinganinstitution.substack.com/p/ethics-of-care-can-tenure-be-more

“Are we going to have a legacy or be forgotten?”: Organizational memory in an anti-DEI era, by Shawntal Z. Brown: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fdhe0000735

PEN America: https://pen.org/

Texas Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education: https://www.tadohe.com/

American Association of University Professors: https://www.aaup.org/

Iván Chaar López: https://www.ivanchaar.net/

Brian Evans on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-evans-58a2b76

Diane Gifford-Gonzalez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-gifford-gonzalez-780522222

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: https://www.amazon.com/Bell-Jar-Modern-Classics/dp/0060837020

CONNECT & SUPPORT CARE MORE BE BETTER
Substack: https://caremorebebetter.substack.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better
CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner —Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.