The Problem of Our Time

Bonus Episode : Tiffany Fant on Sol Nation’s Solution-Based Environmental Justice Work

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Colin Harden and Tiffany Fant of Sol Nation discuss their environmental justice work in Charlotte and statewide. Sol Nation prioritizes people, land, and water, investing in youth ambassadors and workforce development while organizing around solutions. Fant defines food sovereignty as community ownership of the entire food system and shares lessons from producing a 31-minute documentary connecting local efforts. They discuss mental wellness, including eco anxiety and post-disaster supports, and talk the rushed 1% transit tax and organizing to pause the I-77 expansion.

00:00 Interview Introduction

00:13 Soul Nation Priorities

03:12 Food Sovereignty Explained

05:20 Calming Room Origins

08:23 Climate Mental Health

11:19 Making the Documentary

13:23 Screenings and Festivals

15:57 Transit Tax and I-77

23:02 Worst and Best Outcomes

26:12 How to Get Involved

27:08 Credits and Thanks

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Soil Restoration is Soul Restoration w/Elliot Royal

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:00:00 GMT

The episode connects soil restoration to human health and climate action, then examines food insecurity in Charlotte as both lack of funds and lack of proximity to healthy food retailers. It defines “food desert” using the federal criteria and cites a 2020 Sustain Charlotte figure that 15% of Mecklenburg County residents—about 180,000 people—lived in a food desert. Leaders from the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition explain West Boulevard has lacked a full-service grocery store since 1989, describing how grocery store location decisions track median incomes and framing food as a “new age version of segregation.” The community’s response is Three Sisters Market, a community-owned food co-op honoring Amy James, Lucille McNeil, and Dorothy Wade, building on Seeds for Change, a quarter-acre urban farm employing youth. The episode links food access work to environmental justice, community organizing, and food sovereignty, and shares ways to support through memberships and volunteerism.

00:00 Soil and Soul

01:23 Defining Food Deserts

03:22 West Boulevard Grocery Gap

05:15 Why Stores Avoid It

08:15 Food as Segregation

10:41 Community Co-op Solution

12:12 Three Sisters Origins

13:52 Seeds for Change Farm

16:36 Community Gardens Debate

20:12 How to Get Involved

23:16 Environmental Justice Link

29:22 Food Sovereignty Wrap

31:02 Closing Credits

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Visions of Our Public Transportation Future w/ Shannon Binns

Fri, 22 May 2026 18:16:27 GMT

This is episode asks the question: Is Charlotte's failure to provide a viable public transportation an environmental issue? Spoiler alert: YES! But how and what are some of the visions for the future. Host, Colin Harden sat down with Shannon Binns of Sustain Charlotte to find out. I also take the bus to work to see how trash it is and got an unexpected to call from my buddy Charles who tells me his bus story.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trees Disparity w/ Joi Mayo

Fri, 08 May 2026 21:06:00 GMT

Host Colin Harden explores how trees and tree canopy connect to environmental justice in Charlotte, featuring Joi Mayo, Charlotte City Council District 3 member and Trees Charlotte community engagement manager.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HEAT w/ Dr. Katherine Idziorek...and my Mom

Fri, 01 May 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Do you know what a heat island is? Probably not but if you do you may understand how dangerous heat can be; but to take it a bit further extreme heat and the injuries and deaths that can occur from impact people of color and people of lower incomes more than others. But why? I sat down with researcher and college professor Dr. Idzriorek who gave me some greater insight. Oh and my Mother joined the pod to tell her heat stroke story.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Environmental Justice, Participatory Science & the “Spidey Sensor” with Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson | Bonus Episode

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:44:27 GMT

In this bonus episode of The Problem of Our Time, Colin Harden shares a full interview with Dr. Valerie Ann Johnson, a medical anthropologist, scholar-activist, and board member across multiple North Carolina commissions and advisory councils. Johnson explains how her interdisciplinary work connects preservation history, public humanities, environmental justice, and participatory sciences. She defines environmental justice through its origins in 1982 Warren County, North Carolina, describing the injustice of toxic dumping in deliberately marginalized Black communities, and highlights health impacts such as cancer risks and endocrine disruption. Johnson discusses demystifying science through community and citizen science, including NASA programs and projects led by the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network. She details the “Spidey Sensor” method, and describes community mapping and monitoring efforts to support organizing and policy advocacy against industrial waste, CAFOs, and landfills.

00:30 Meet Dr Valerie Johnson

02:56 Interdisciplinary Scholar Activism

07:43 Defining Environmental Justice

10:51 Health Impacts On Communities

13:59 What Is Participatory Science

19:56 Spidey Sensor Explained

24:43 Ways to Join Citizen Science

26:49 Mapping Hidden Poultry Farms

29:57 Data for Organizing and Policy

31:16 Rural Impacts and Environmental Injustice

34:40 Movement Then and Now

44:05 Afrofuturism and Imagining Justice

45:15 Hopeful Closing and Credits

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is Environmental Justice?

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:58:52 GMT

What is environmental justice—and why does it matter in Charlotte? Featuring John Rash and Dr. Valerie Johnson, Episode 1 breaks down the history, systems, and real-world impact of environmental inequality.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.