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

Our oceans are slowly being destroyed by plastic pollution, and marine debris rapidly increases every year with no end in sight. Corrina Bellizzi takes a deep dive into one of the most visible and urgent environmental challenges of our time with Eric Magers, Founder and Executive Director of Seaside Sustainability. Together, they discuss what must be done to minimize and put an end to plastic pollution, from getting rid of single-use plastic to pushing for legislation centered on environmental preservation. Eric also explains the importance of empowering small-scale projects and pushing young people to drive project-based sustainability initiatives.

COMPLETE BLOG & TRANSCRIPT: https://caremorebebetter.com/solving-plastic-pollution-in-our-ocean-with-eric-magers/
About Guest:

Eric Magers is the Founder and Executive Director of Seaside Sustainability, a nationally recognized nonprofit driving innovative solutions to plastic pollution, marine debris, and climate education. A lifelong educator and award-winning climate leader, Eric was honored at the White House and named Climate Educator of the Year for his pioneering work bridging science, community, and action. He is also the creator of Green Scholars, a nationally award-winning project-based learning course that empowers students to transform their schools through sustainability initiatives. Several schools implementing this program have been recognized as some of the greenest schools in America. Beyond Seaside, Eric is the Founder and CEO of the National STEM Honor Society (NSTEM), which now includes more than 500 chapters and 6,000 members worldwide. Across all his work, Eric’s vision is clear: empower students, schools, and communities with the tools to create systemic change and build a sustainable, innovative future.

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-magers/ 

Guest Website: https://www.seasidesustainability.org/home 

Guest Social: 

https://www.facebook.com/seasusinc

https://www.instagram.com/seasusinc/

Additional Resources Mentioned:

 Trash to Treasure: Exploring What It Takes to Build a Business from Waste with Kelsey Rumburg

 Solving The Problem Of Plastic Pollution With Judith Enck

 The Problem with Plastic by Judith Enck

Show Notes:

03:33 - How Eric Became An Environmental Educator And Ocean Advocate
10:00 - The Planet’s Big Problem Of Consumer Marine Debris

20:37 - How Environmental Legislation Can Solve Plastic Pollution

28:21 - Why A Total Plastic Ban Would Never Work

34:50 - Seaside Sustainability’s Focus On Plastics And Marine Debris

37:29 - Addressing Environmental Problems Even If You Are Not Seeing Them

49:46 - Plastics Should Never Find Their Way Back Into The Environment

54:57 - Keep Yourself Updated With Google Alerts

58:14 - Discussion Wrap-up And Closing Words

BUILD A GREENER FUTURE with CARE MORE BE BETTER

Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you!

NEW CAUSE PARTNER FOR 2025-2026 SELECTED!

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/

Follow us on social media:

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

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Toxic chemicals are found in products we use daily, and they threaten our health every single day. What can we do to keep ourselves safe from these invisible enemies, and who must we hold accountable? Corinna Bellizzi sits down with Vineet Dubey, a co-founding partner of Custodio, who shares his experiences with legal battles against manufacturers who continue to use toxic chemicals and put all of us at risk. Vineet discusses how environmental litigation puts legal pressure on big corporations, as well as the urgent need for federal action against the use of toxic chemicals. He also shares simple but effective ways to reduce your toxic exposure, as well as practical tips for becoming responsible consumers.

About Guest: Vineet Dubey is a co-founding partner of Custodio Dubey, LLP. Vineet has dedicated his career to cleaning up the environment to ensure the safety of our planet for future generations. Vineet is a fierce advocate who consistently takes on the largest corporations and their corporate defense counsel. Vineet is an environmental litigator who sues companies that are endangering the health and well-being of California citizens by selling products containing toxic chemicals. Because of Vineet’s advocacy, thousands of products tainted with Lead, Cadmium, Phthalates, and other cancer-causing chemicals, have been taken off the shelves and cleaned up.

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cd-law-firm/

Guest Website:

https://cd-lawyers.com

Guest Socials:

https://www.instagram.com/cdlawfirm/

https://www.tiktok.com/@cdlawfirm

https://www.youtube.com/@custodio-dubey-cd-law

https://www.facebook.com/cdlawfirm/

Addressing America’s PFAS Crisis With Rachel Frazin: https://caremorebebetter.com/addressing-americas-pfas-crisis-with-rachel-frazin/

Show Notes:

02:40 - Why Everyday Products Are Riddled With Toxic Chemicals

09:52 - Fighting Toxic Chemicals Through Litigation And Beyond

17:17 - Dealing With Toxic Chemicals In Our Drinking Water

22:53 - Exposing Yourself To Toxic Chemicals Through Dermal Absorption

26:32 - Getting Rid Of Toxic Food Additives

30:15 - The Urgent Need For A Federal Response

35:42 - Harnessing Your Consumer Power To Build A Safer Marketplace

40:36 - Hopeful Movements Against Toxic Chemicals

51:22 - Small Daily Changes Can Lead To A Huge Change

53:55 - Discussion Wrap-up And Closing Words

BUILD A GREENER FUTURE with CARE MORE BE BETTER

Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you!

CAUSE PARTNER FOR 2026!

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/

Follow us on social media:

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

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The climate crisis is not only a technological or policy challenge — it is also a crisis of worldview.

In this powerful conversation, Corinna Bellizzi speaks with Osprey Orielle Lake, founder and executive director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), about how climate justice movements around the world are working to transform our relationship with nature, power, and community.

Osprey’s work bridges grassroots activism, Indigenous leadership, international climate negotiations, and legal innovations like the Rights of Nature movement. Drawing from her book The Story Is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis, she explores how systems like colonization, extractive economics, and patriarchy have shaped today’s ecological crises — and how new stories rooted in reciprocity, justice, and stewardship can guide the path forward.

This conversation explores the role of Indigenous knowledge in climate solutions, the fight against fossil fuel expansion, the growing global push for legal protections for ecosystems, and the importance of community-led restoration efforts around the world.

Originally recorded in 2024, this episode remains deeply relevant today as movements for climate justice, land stewardship, and ecological restoration continue to gain momentum globally.

Key Topics in This Episode


Why the climate crisis is fundamentally a crisis of worldview


The role of Indigenous knowledge and leadership in climate solutions


The Rights of Nature movement and legal frameworks that protect ecosystems


The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative


Climate justice and the risks faced by frontline land defenders


Reforestation projects led by women restoring ecosystems and communities


Why global transformation requires both systemic change and cultural shifts

About Osprey Orielle Lake

Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), an international organization that works with grassroots, Indigenous, and frontline communities to advance climate justice and a just transition to renewable energy.

She serves on the Executive Committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and the Steering Committee for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. Osprey is the author of The Story Is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis and the award-winning book Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature.

Transcript - FINAL - CMBB 172 O…

Her work has been featured in publications including The Guardian, Earth Island Journal, The Ecologist, and Ms. Magazine.

Resources & Organizations Mentioned


Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)


The Story Is in Our Bones – Osprey Orielle Lake


Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative


Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature


Movement Rights


Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation – Paul Hawken


Green Amendments – Maya van Rossum

Guest Links

Website:
https://ospreyoriellelake.earth

WECAN International:
https://www.wecaninternational.org

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ospreyoriellelake

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/osprey-orielle-lake-4286bb12

Related Episodes


Stand Up With The Earth: Fighting Fossil Fuels with Tzeporah Berman


Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation with Paul Hawken


Green Amendments and Environmental Rights with Maya van Rossum

Join the Conversation

What stories shape how we see our relationship with nature?

Share your thoughts and reflections with us — and tell us what regenerative solutions you’re seeing in your community.

Join Me at Bioneers 2026

I’ll be attending Bioneers in Berkeley from March 26–28 and look forward to meeting Nina in person and hearing her speak live.

If you’re considering going, now’s the time:

https://conference.bioneers.org/
***Use code BRINGAFRIEND for 2-for-1 pricing***

Let’s gather, learn, and co-create regenerative solutions together.

Support Care More Be Better

Care More Be Better is an independent, values-driven podcast. We answer only to our collective conscience.

If you believe in regenerative leadership, systems change, and social impact storytelling, please:


Subscribe, Rate & Review


Share this episode


Support the show at: https://www.caremorebebetter.com/support

Together, we can care more and be better — and we can even regenerate our leadership models to heal people, planet, and the next generation.

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Coffee is the richest source of dietary antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents in the American diet. But behind every cup of coffee is a global story that spans centuries of cultural transformation, health science, and a tangled web of trade ethics. Corinna Bellizzi delves into this topic with Chris Kilhan, medicine hunter and author of The Way of Coffee. Together, they unpack the role of coffee in social transformation, particularly with critical tensions in the coffee trade and the nonstop price increase due to the “coffee shop culture.” Chris also presents potential solutions to solve the biggest problems of the global botanical trade to radically improve consumer prices and provide better opportunities to small farmers, the heroes behind our most delicious cups of coffee.

About Guest:

Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter, author, educator and yogi. The founder of Medicine Hunter Inc., Chris has conducted medicinal plant research and sustainable botanical sourcing in over 50 countries. Chris works with companies to develop and popularize traditional plant-based food and medicinal products into market successes. These include ashwagandha, kava, maca, rhodiola, schisandra, tamanu oil, cat’s claw, dragon’s blood, ayahuasca, and hundreds of other plants. Chris also works to bridge worlds, regularly sharing information about other cultures through presentations and media. He has appeared on major media globally for decades. The New York Times calls Chris “part David Attenborough, part Indiana Jones.”

Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskilham/ 

Guest Website: http://medicinehunter.com/

Guest Social: 

https://www.instagram.com/medicinehunter/

https://www.facebook.com/medicinehunter/

https://www.youtube.com/user/chriskilham

Additional Resources Mentioned:

BOOK: The Way of Coffee by Chris Kilham, Medicine Hunter

CHRIS' EARLIER EPISODE: On Building Sustainable Communities By Learning From Indigenous People with Medicine Hunter, Chris Kilham

PRIOR EPISODE MENTIONED: Healing The Soil Through Regenerative Farming With Ric Scalzo, CEO of Kokora Life

Show Notes:

02:39 - Deep Dive Into Coffee Production And Consumption

15:06 - How Coffee Transformed Our Societies

21:03 - How We Can Walk Away From Unnecessary Coffee Hype

34:43 - How Firms Can Commit To Running An Ethical Business

49:10 - Giving More Opportunities To Small Farmers

53:40 - What It Is Like To Bridge Different Worlds

01:01:39 - Green Flags To Look For When Buying Coffee And Botanicals

01:07:00 - Diving Into A Big Product Project On Coca Leaf

BUILD A GREENER FUTURE with CARE MORE BE BETTER

Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you!

NEW CAUSE PARTNER FOR 2026!

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/

Follow us on social media:

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

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

As human beings, we are built for relationship. Yet many of the leadership models we inherit are hierarchical, extractive, and rooted in struggle. In this conversation, Nina and I explore:


What relational leadership really means


Why empathy, vulnerability, and collaboration are strengths — not weaknesses


How climate justice, racial equity, gender equity, and economic reform are deeply interconnected


Why “solving for pattern” (in the spirit of Wendell Berry) leads to cascading regenerative benefits


The importance of integrating restorative, regenerative rhythms into our leadership and lives

Nina also reflects on redefining sacrifice, embracing conflict as a doorway to deeper relationship, and leading from wholeness rather than burnout.

Why This Matters Now

We are living through overlapping crises — climate instability, political gridlock, reproductive rights rollbacks, and widening inequity. Nina reminds us that these are not separate issues, but interconnected systems.

We will not achieve climate justice without racial and gender equity.
We will not build regenerative economies without collaborative leadership.
And we cannot solve systemic problems while remaining disconnected from one another — or from the Earth.

Relational leadership invites us to lead not from dominance, but from interdependence.

About Nina Simons

Nina Simons is Co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers and leads its Everywoman’s Leadership program. Throughout her career across nonprofit, social entrepreneurship, corporate, and philanthropic sectors, Nina has worked with nearly a thousand diverse women leaders to cultivate mutual learning, trust, and transformative leadership.

She is the author of Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership and co-editor of Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart. Her work integrates ecological wisdom, spiritual insight, and systems thinking to inspire regenerative futures.

Connect with Nina:


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-simons/


Website: https://www.ninasimons.com/


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1ninasimons/


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nina.simons


Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ninabioneers

Join Me at Bioneers 2026

I’ll be attending Bioneers in Berkeley from March 26–28 and look forward to meeting Nina in person and hearing her speak live.

If you’re considering going, now’s the time:

https://conference.bioneers.org/
***Use code BRINGAFRIEND for 2-for-1 pricing***

Let’s gather, learn, and co-create regenerative solutions together.

Support Care More Be Better

Care More Be Better is an independent, values-driven podcast. We answer only to our collective conscience.

If you believe in regenerative leadership, systems change, and social impact storytelling, please:


Subscribe, Rate & Review


Share this episode


Support the show at: https://www.caremorebebetter.com/support

Together, we can care more and be better — and we can even regenerate our leadership models to heal people, planet, and the next generation.

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