Talaterra

Today my guest is fundraiser and impact growth leader, Alexandra Dumitrescu. In this episode, we discuss nonprofit funding. Alexandra highlights the potential of technology to enhance fundraising efforts and presents ways nonprofits can diversify income streams. We discuss e-commerce models, leveraging SaaS platforms, improving donor relations, and lost funding opportunities.We also discuss initiatives Alexandra founded to help nonprofits create sustainable income and integrate social impact features in business products.How might Alexandra's ideas (or some version of them) be applied to your project, organization, or partnerships?How does this conversation reframe what you see as being possible in environmental education? LEARN MOREAlexandra Dumitrescu on LinkedInBiggerPie (LinkedIn)RWAYS for Nonprofits (LinkedIn)Shop for Hope (Alexandra on Substack)Fundraising Platforms Mentioned:FundraiseUpDonorBoxiRaiserDataro.io Automation Services Mentioned:ZapierZendeskAcronyms Defined:Saas - Software as a Service (clo

Rob Law  is a musician and composer with decades of experience in the music industry. He has composed music for films and advertising campaigns. Rob is also a podcaster, a storyteller, and an advocate for outdoor learning. In this episode, Rob and I talk about The Creek Kids, his podcast for children inspired by the radio plays from the Golden Age of Radio.The Creek Kids on PodbeanRob Law (website) AUDIO SAMPLES (in order of appearance):Lux. “Lux Radio Theater - Single Episodes : Old Time Radio Researchers Group : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.” Internet Archive, 2025. https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles. Sample is from "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes.' https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The Mystery of the Flood: The Creek Kids. Produced by Rob Law. Used with permission.Campbells Creek Soundtrail. Produced by Rob Law. Used with permission.  CREDITS:Producer: Tania MarienMusic: So Far So Close by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike Li

Dinah Awino Kawino is the founder and director of Akadi Eco and Mentorship Ventures.Akadi Eco is a consulting firm based in Kenya. It focuses on bringing environmental mentorship and sustainability solutions to educational and community spaces.This year, Akadi Eco is leading an initiative called  Pendo Mazingira. Pendo Mazingira is Swahili for "Love Environment."Awino describes this program as “an eco-sensitivity mentorship program designed to cultivate a sense of environmental belonging through nature-based sensory experiences.” Pendo Mazingira serves both youth and adults.How is the program working?Let’s find out. SUBSTACK:  Pendo Mazingira Substack - AkadiEco and Mentorship Ventures KenyaPANEL DISCUSSION:Empowering Women in Science: Bridging Gaps and Building FuturesInteresting and honest conversation about being a woman in science. Awino's presentation begins at timestamp 57:22. Her presentation is titled, Empowering Women and Girls: Disrupting Fear-based Silence for Thriving Sustainability Science. This

Christina Carter is the author, illustrator, and founder of Gumnut Trails—a unique collection of Outdoor Adventure Guides that help families rediscover the joy of exploring nature together.In this episode, we dive into how Christina’s own nature-rich childhood inspired her to create the “Lonely Planet of childhood adventures”—starting with four beautifully illustrated Guides across Melbourne.Each Adventure Guide transforms an ‘ordinary’ walk into an immersive experience using storytelling, creative missions, and joyful illustrations. Designed to be interactive, screen-free, and deeply local, Gumnut Trails helps families connect with the natural spaces around them in fun, meaningful ways.Every guide is built around the history, features, and hidden stories of each location. Months of on-the-ground exploring, researching, writing, and illustrating go into each one—making them more than just ready-made adventures, but true works of art.What began as one parent’s mission to capture the magic of a childhood spent

We are all in the attention economy.Louise Karch (pronounced CARSH) makes sure good people like us break out not blend in.Louise is delighted to speak us. She has a special fondness for environmental educators having been an Outward Bound Instructor.For over a decade, she also was a career management professional, She was honoured to study with and support Richard Bolles, the author of the bestselling career/life planning in history, What Color Is Your Parachute.It was Richard Bolles who inspired Louise to write guidebooks. Louise is the award-winning author of Word Glue, and head cheerleader and one of the co-authors of the global mega-hit The Carbon Almanac, It’s Not Too Late (Penguin Random House),Louise’s most recent book, First Aid for Fairies: From Rain to Rainbows, is an uplifting steampunk-inspired guide that helps teens shift from stress to strength It’s been nominated for the American Library Association’s MIchael Princz award.Louise has mentored leaders in 71 countries and edu-tained audiences from

Episode description:Join us as we dive into the world of innovation with Vanessa Thompson, Managing Director of The Sustainability Experts. Vanessa shares bold strategies for sparking disruptive ideas, seizing new opportunities, and leveraging cutting-edge technologies to transform businesses and careers.A renowned keynote speaker and consultant, Vanessa partners with startups, VCs, and global corporations to deliver powerful solutions that merge innovation with sustainability for lasting impact.Listen to Vanessa’s Podcast: https://www.the-sustainability-experts.com/the-showBook Vanessa as a Speaker: https://www.vanessathompson.comContact Us:- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-sustainability-experts/?viewAsMember=true- Email: info@the-sustainability-experts.com- Website: The Sustainability Experts- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5PLmkmxJLJQ5BJ2KgluxkuDon’t miss this insightful episode packed with actionable ideas to drive innovation and sustainable success! CREDITS:Producer: Tania MarienM

Last week I launched the new newsletter. It’s called Transferable Solutions and the theme of the newsletter is “Environmental Skills, Reimagined.” When I started The Freelance Project, I wanted to explore what freelancing looked like in environmental education. The people we've had the opportunity to meet through the podcast have shown us there are dozens of ways to approach working as an environmental education professional. With this deeper understanding established, it is time to add the next layer to my project.Subscribe to the newsletter at https://talaterra.com.  CREDITS:Producer: Tania MarienMusic: So Far So Close by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License;SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 United States License.Subscribe to Transferable Solutions.Talaterra is an affiliate of Bookshop.org. Commissions earned support the publication Transferable Solutions.Contact Us

Today we get to learn from Kalliopi Monoyios, visual science communicator and lead author of "Visuals as a Catalyst for Climate Science Communication," a chapter in the book "Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions" (Springer Nature, 2024).In this episode, Kalliopi and I discuss the value of visuals in climate change communication. We discuss what effective visuals look like and also talk about creating culturally relevant and sensitive information. Kalliopi shares how someone can become a visual science communicator and what a collaborative project between a visual science communicator and a client might look like. LINKSKalliopi Monoyios websiteGuild of Natural Science IllustratorsVisuals as a Catalyst for Climate Communication (Open Access)Kirsten Carlson | Fathom iT StudiosTaina Litwak Fiona Martin | Visualizing ScienceYour Inner Fish (book)Your Inner Fish (PBS video)Association of Medical Illustrators YOU MAY ALSO LIKEStorytelling and Climate Solutions - A conversation with co-editors Emily Coren and

A conversation with Emily Coren and Hua (Helen) Wang, editors of Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions (Springer Nature, 2024). They collaborated with 44 authors to create a resource addressing many forms of climate communication.Each of the book chapters addresses a specific type of storytelling. You’ll find chapters about entertainment education, locally-driven narratives, youth engagement, Hollywood, climate fiction, music, news reporting, geospatial tools, interactive storytelling, mental health, and telling stories through food. There is also a chapter about using visuals as a catalyst for climate science communication. Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions is an open-access title. You can download the entire book or individual chapters for free.  LINKSStorytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions (Download)Publications by Emily CorenContact Emily CorenHelen Wang, University of BuffaloEntertainment-Education Behind the Scenes - Case Studies for Theory and Practice (Download)Emily Coren: Scie

Introducing a new feature to the podcast. This new feature is called INSIGHT. With each episode we’ll explore some aspect of freelancing and how it intersects with the environmental awareness work being done by independent professionals worldwide. In this first episode, we consider seven types of freelancing as described by Nikita Tambe, a contributor to Forbes magazine. Which type of freelancing best describes you?Let’s talk. I am inviting people to 1:1 conversations to learn more about them and their experiences freelancing. Join me here. LINKSThe Freelance Project PortfolioWhat is freelancing and how does it work? (Nikita Tambe) (Photo in episode art by Annie Spratt on Unsplash) CREDITS:Producer: Tania MarienMusic: So Far So Close by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License;SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 United States License.View The Freelance Project Portfolio to learn more about Independent environmental education professionals and how they stren

Maria Coryell-Martin is an expeditionary artist.That’s right.Expeditionary, as in expeditions. What type of imagery does this bring up? If you imagine an artist traveling with a scientist or an explorer, you are imagining things correctly.This episode originally aired in 2019. Back then, Maria took a few moments to speak with me while she was packing for her trip to meet a scientist in Alaska.In this episode, we discuss Maria’s journey from student to artist, how she has sustained herself as a working artist, and the three questions she answers before taking on new projects.Plus, I have exciting updates to share. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Maria. LINKSLearn more about Maria’s current project in the post Witnessing Climate Change.View the exhibition and other news about Maria's trip to Alaska.Expeditionary Art (Maria’s website)Maria talks about her work in this presentation for Girls Can Do.Maria shares how she introduces nature journaling to kids.See the Art Toolkit's new store!Follow Maria on In

Wendy Nadherny Fachon is an author, journalist, podcast host and environmental educator. Her work is published by Natural Awakenings Magazine, Sustainable Living News, and Dreamvisions 7 Radio.After working many years in the healthcare industry, Wendy left her position to focus on children's health and wellness issues. She developed an afterschool walking program, which gave rise to her radio show, the Story Walking Radio Hour.How did Wendy develop her afterschool program?What is her radio show about?How does she approach partnership building, which has been critical to her success?Let's find out. LINKSStory Walking Radio HourListen to the latest episodeStory Walking WebsiteStory Walking Radio Hour Facebook groupNature Drawing ProgramThe Empowerment Factory's Trash to Treasures Short Video (YouTube)Contact Wendy ________________________Producer: Tania MarienMusic: So Far So Close by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License; SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribut

Today, we get to learn from Gloria Desanker, geospatial storyteller, founder, and Principal Consultant at Map Nerd Consulting.More About GloriaMy name is Gloria Desanker, and I founded Map Nerd Consulting so that I could work as a Geospatial Storyteller to help others unlock the power of location-based insights. My services are designed to uplift community stories, especially communities of color. I offer tailored GIS solutions, visually appealing cartographic design, social media and marketing support, and storytelling guidance so that you can ensure your stories and experiences are authentically portrayed.As a Black woman in the GIS, forestry, environmental science, and environmental education fields/sectors, I experience firsthand the lack of acknowledgment and representation these fields have of Black and brown successes, accomplishments, and feats. That is why I strive to change the white-dominant narrative of how data should be used, why data should be used, and how to use data and GIS to share an accur

In this episode, we get to learn from Dr. Tom Rhoads, an economist and professor at Towson University.Dr. Rhoads shares his transition from sports economics to environmental economics and his research integrating economics into environmental education.Dr. Rhoads explains that his interest in environmental education began about five years ago when he noticed a shift in the demographics of his class, with more environmental science and studies majors than economics majors. This led him to change his approach to teaching environmental economics, focusing more on the environment and finding the economics within it. LINKSTom Rhoads, Towson UniversityAldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac*Rachel Carson, Silent Spring*The Leopold Writing ProgramWorking Paper - Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2023 Conference | Thinking like an economist while reading the land: Using reading quizzes to show environmental studies and sciences and economics intersecting in Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac; Working pap

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Bill Reynolds, Lars Wohlers, and Mike Mayer, co-founders of Experiential Interpretive Design, a coaching company they founded to help individuals, organizations, and sites develop the interpretive experiences they provide.In this episode, we learned about the founders, their respective specialties, and why they founded EID.Today is part 2 of this conversation. In this episode, I sit down with Mike Mayer to discuss his specialty (environmental education) and to learn more about the environmental program that inspires what he, Bill, and Lars do at EID.We begin this episode by learning more about the Institute for Earth Education. Some of this may sound familiar because I included a short segment in Part 1. Don’t let this distract you because you’ll hear something a bit different before Mike walks us through an example of the type of programming offered by the Institute.In this conversation, Mike and I also discuss creating holistic experiences in free-choice settings, the

In this episode, we meet the co-founders of Experiential Interpretive Design (EID) -- Bill Reynolds, Lars Wohlers, and Mike Mayer. Collectively, they have many years of experience in interpretation and experience design and bring to EID the experience they gained from various roles in tourism, planning, heritage interpretation, environmental education, and coaching. We learn about the founders, why they started EID Coaching, and discuss what is working in the field of interpretation and what is not working. This is the first installment of a two-part episode. In Part 2 of this episode, I sit down with Mike Mayer to learn more about the environmental education program that inspires the work he, Bill, and Lars do at EID.  LINKSExperiential Interpretive DesignMétis CrossingSteve Van MatreJohn Ververke ADDITIONAL RESOURCES SHARED BY THE EID TEAMLars Wohlers’ bilingual website about digital evaluation (Visitor Studies)Expecting Company? Preparing your site for Ag-Tourism! (youtube.com)Sharing Great Ways to Greet t

Janice Kelley is the founder and program director for Nature Detectives, where children in kindergarten through third grade discover the mysteries of the outdoor world on their school campus, at home, at a park, and in their neighborhood.She is the author of several publications, and when she was here before, we spoke about her book "Mornings on Fair Oaks Bridge: Watching Wildlife at the Lower American River." Today, we’re talking about a book she wrote for parents, grandparents, and family friends called "Nature Detectives at Home." LINKSNature Detectives websiteNature Detectives at Home_____TALATERRA Community Calendar - Learn more about the calendar and how to add your events here.   ________________________Producer: Tania MarienMusic: So Far So Close by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License; SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 United States License.View The Freelance Project Portfolio to learn more about environmental education professionals and

Roots of Success (RoS) is an empowering environmental literacy and job training program that prepares youth and adults with significant barriers to employment to access jobs and career pathways in environmental fields and to improve environmental and social conditions in their communities. The program is centered around a federally registered Department of Labor Apprenticeship and Pre-Apprenticeship program and 10-module course. We prepare individuals for 70 jobs and 111 career pathways  in environmental and STEM fields.Roots of Success is offered in job training programs, reentry programs, prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, high schools, youth programs, adult schools and other workforce and education settings throughout the United States. Since 2009, the program has been offered in over 600 programs in 40 states and over 26,000 youth and adults have gone through the program; more than 12,000 youth and adults took the course while incarcerated. The Roots of Success course is composed of 10 modules: 1) Funda

Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Jerry Willenbring.Jerry is a community organizer, teacher, and guide. He is also a physicist and an electrical engineer who has taken on electrifying California.Literally.In 2020, Jerry formed Electrify California, a nonprofit committed to providing education and resources to guide the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. When Jerry and I met we talked about why he started Electrify California, who he created it for, and how he engages with the public and supports them as they explore what’s possible while living an electrified life. LINKSElectrifyNow.orgInflation Reduction ActInflation Reduction Act Rebates and Tax Credits (MarketWatch)CA Climate Action RebatesExxon scientists predicted global warming with ‘shocking skill and accuracy,’ Harvard researchers say.The Climate Exxon Memo (1982)  (The Carbon Almanac)Microgrid Community in Menifee, CAMore about heat pumps and property value  (Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland)The Carbon Alm

Erin Majeske is a mother, wife, dreamer, kitchen experimenter, wannabe gardener, nature explorer, and founder of Barefeet Farm School. When she's not in the outdoor classroom with preschoolers, she loves to enjoy the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her family and make as much music as possible.In this episode, Erin shares how the need for a summer job led to her opening Barefeet Farm School. She shares her successes, challenges, and what she has learned to improve.Topics discussed include licensing, consulting, working with parents, and building community partnerships. LINKSBarefeet Farm SchoolExplore starting your own preschoolInstagram (@barefeetfarmschool)Loving Space SchoolWashington State is First to License Outdoor PreschoolsNatural Start