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This is Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast.

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Climate to Action is an initiative of the Climate Action and Sustainability Center at

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California State University San Marcos, and my name is Kaden Luna de la Fuente.

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And I'm Molly Saruwatari.

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We're here to amplify voices and explore solutions in the fight against climate change and to

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address climate injustices for all living things.

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We are committed to incorporating discussions on Indigenous knowledge in addressing the

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climate crisis and to providing a call to action in every episode.

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But first, we'd like to acknowledge that our recording studio is located on the traditional

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territory of the Luseno and Pa'iku'ichun people.

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CSUSM and its surrounding areas are still home to the six federally recognized bands

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of the La Jolla, Pala, Palma, Pechanga, Rincon, and Ceboba-Luseno-Pa'iku'ichun people.

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It's also important to acknowledge this land remains the shared space among the Kupeno,

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Kumeya'i, and Ipai peoples.

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Today's episode is focused on local climate actions and climate justice initiatives.

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We've invited Adrienne Fusik, the executive director and founder of InGood Company, to

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talk with us about this topic.

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Thank you for being with us today.

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Thanks for having me.

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Of course.

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Adrienne, can you tell us a little about yourself?

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What brings you to work on the climate crisis and why did you decide to start InGood Company?

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Yeah, I'm glad you asked.

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But first, I want to say thank you so much for the work you're doing for having this

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podcast.

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I feel like it's really, really important to get the word out there.

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The more we talk about the climate crisis, the better.

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So thank you for the work you're doing.

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So about me, I am from Sacramento.

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So I grew up in Sacramento with my family, obviously.

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My siblings and I spent a lot of time outside.

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Grew up in the 80s, kind of free range parenting, something that they don't do now.

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But in Sacramento, there's a lot of rivers.

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So I grew up right by the American River and most of my time was spent outside.

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So my siblings and I would basically make forts.

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We would make jumps for our bikes.

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We would just spend all day out by the river.

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And we would find all kinds of cool stuff.

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We'd find newts and frogs, and we're just curious about everything.

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And just really fell in love with the natural environment and all of the different creatures

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we were finding and stuff.

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And so that was just my environment.

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And that's how I grew up.

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And I really learned to just love the natural environment and care a lot about it and all

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the different creatures that are on this planet with us.

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So I started IGC after working in international education for about 19 years.

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So I was developing international programs for faculty members and students.

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And so that was great work.

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It was fun.

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I got to go to all these cool places.

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But I know this is completely irrational, but I felt personally responsible for all

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of those flights.

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And I reached this point where I felt like I was way more part of the problem than the

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solution.

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And so I felt like I could not continue doing that work.

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I had to take my time and energy and put it towards something more meaningful, especially

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in terms of trying to reduce our impact on the planet, our negative impact.

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And so I started IGC during the pandemic because all of the things that were happening during

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the pandemic.

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But basically, I felt like I had no choice.

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I had to put my time and energy on this planet toward trying to make sure that it can continue

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to support our life.

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I really love that.

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That's really cool how you brought your upbringing into creating IGC, this amazing nonprofit

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here in San Diego.

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What is the core mission, would you say, of IGC?

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Of course, you kind of brought up how you want to be part of the solution, not the problem.

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So what do you want our listeners to really see in good company as and see what they're

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for?

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Yeah.

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So our mission is, and the board meticulously crafted every word.

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So our mission is to transform climate curiosity into a catalyst for environmental justice

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through education and engagement.

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Oh, wow.

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That's a beautiful mission statement.

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I love that.

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So you actually offer carbon literacy for community action classes, or IGC does, to

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people in the San Diego community.

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What do you want San Diegans to gain from these classes?

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In other words, why should people go and take these classes?

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Yeah, that's a good question.

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So education in itself is wonderful, self-fulfilling.

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I mean, it's fulfilling, right?

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But if there's no action attached to it, then there's a really limited amount of progress

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you can make, right?

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Absolutely, yeah.

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In terms of collective action.

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So I think the main thing that I want people to get out of these classes is to understand

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that each one of us has a role to play in terms of creating a better future.

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So we all have different strengths, and we don't need to be attacking the same problems

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altogether at once.

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Because we all have different strengths, we could be moving toward climate solutions in

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a lot of different areas, because that's needed, right?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So we need to have hundreds of thousands of solutions across all sectors, and helping

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people understand where they can be most impactful is really what carbon literacy stands for.

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And also, we really want to build a critical mass of people who are pushing for climate

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solutions.

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So we need to be engaging with politicians, engaging with local nonprofits, and really

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forcing this change that we absolutely need to see.

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I love that.

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And I do know that the carbon literacy for community action, the classes do cost money.

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I know that you just got, I believe it's a grant for scholarships, which is amazing.

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I know as a college student, sometimes it's like we try to find hardships, or we find

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hardships in everything like paying for new classes or something.

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But this is definitely something important.

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And especially for people who have never taken an environmental class, I've gotten the privilege

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of taking environmental classes as an ENBS major.

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But can you talk a little bit about the price and the scholarships that you offer, and go

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on that so that people can understand what price-wise is?

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Yeah, exactly.

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So as the title of this podcast implies, we are all about climate justice, right?

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And all about access.

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And so if the price, which is $295 for the class, and the class is eight hours long,

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and it's synchronous online, it's pretty accessible in terms of logging in and taking the class.

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But if the price is a barrier, then we have scholarships.

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And then if we just need to waive it, and we don't have funders giving us scholarships

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at the moment, then we'll make sure that there's a way for people to participate.

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So actually, we have a lot of really generous donors who will donate scholarships.

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And actually, when they donate a scholarship, so they can donate $295 or more.

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And then when they donate, they can say whether or not they want to be put in touch with a

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person that receives that scholarship.

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So this is a way to sort of build collective action.

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And so for funders, too, it's impactful for them to understand, okay, well, this person

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actually is implementing these actions because of this education that I was able to help

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support.

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So yeah, I think out of all of the people who've taken our course and obviously can

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pay if you want to pay, and that funding goes to IGC and helps with all of this stuff and

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the accessibility.

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I think there have only been two people who paid.

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Oh, wow.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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So it's really, it's very accessible.

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I love that.

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Yeah, definitely accessibility is a huge thing.

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And I do know that you get a pretty sick little certificate that you can put on a resume.

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So yeah, definitely an amazing class for people to take.

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And you mentioned carbon literacy, climate curiosity a few times now.

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Can you give us a quick like definition of what those are and what they kind of mean

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to you?

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So carbon literacy as defined by the carbon literacy project.

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So the carbon literacy project is based in Manchester in the UK.

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And so they're the ones that actually accredite the course and review participants evidence

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form.

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So they're they and IGC issue the certificate.

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So according to the carbon literacy project, carbon literacy is an awareness of the carbon

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dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions

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on an individual community and organizational basis.

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Oh, wow.

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So that could look like reducing your individual carbon burn, which is important.

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But way more importantly, it must look like partnering with others to push for systemic

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change away from a fossil fuel base.

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Yes, absolutely.

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And then the other term, so climate curiosity, that in our mission, we basically use it as

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a catch all term for climate anxiety, climate grief, climate despair.

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So we want to transform that energy, which is not productive at all, into action.

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And so in doing that, through the education programs and also building a community and

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supporting folks through their actions, that's really kind of where it all all comes together.

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I love that.

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Like building a community base.

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It's where it all starts.

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Like, obviously, it starts with the individual, but it grows and the movement grows with the

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community.

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So really, I apologize, you guys, for doing all that you do.

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Thank you.

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So my next question for you is that IGC places a strong focus on reducing inequalities faced

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by lower income communities and uplifting historically excluded communities such as those

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who are predominantly people of color.

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Can you share any stories about how your organization was able to provide resources to these communities

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and what IGC inspired there?

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Yeah.

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So first, I would say that we're actually really good at diversity.

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Oh, love it.

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So we provide a really opening welcome space where people are encouraged to come in their

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wholeness.

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And so our cohorts, so each carbon literacy class is a cohort of people who do it together,

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which also helps with that community building piece.

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Each cohort has included a super good mix of people from different racial, ethnic backgrounds,

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different lived experiences.

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So it's a very safe space to ask questions and figure it out together.

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The whole idea is we come to this class not really knowing, right?

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And you go to the class to learn.

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And so that's what we focus on is really kind of that collective intelligence and learning

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together.

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Again, in terms of resources, the scholarships really help.

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Absolutely.

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There's no barrier there.

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And then our evaluation.

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So with all of the courses that we do, we make sure that we are doing what we're saying

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we're doing by asking people their impressions of the class, what they learn, what they would

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like to improve, that kind of thing.

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But respondents to these evaluations say that they talk about climate change much more often

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than before taking the training.

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And as we know, talking about climate change and kind of normalizing it.

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Like the first step.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Normalizing these conversations and being curious.

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I mean, that's really the first step.

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In terms of civic engagement and advocacy for admissions reductions at school and work,

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people who have responded to these surveys say they do that more often than before taking

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the course.

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And then also several people have reported that they have obtained new jobs, gotten promotions,

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and pay increases specifically related to transitioning from non-climate related work

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into climate related work or emissions reduction work or work related to basically what they

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learned in carbon literacy.

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Yeah, definitely the climate.

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Like working in anything that has to do with emissions, energy, environmentalism, like

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it's such a demand.

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So I bet this definitely helps like being able to take this carbon literacy class.

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And it's cool that you guys have these measures and like people coming back and reporting

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back to you about how the classes directly impacted them and how they've taken it and

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ran with it.

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And I also love you mentioned like when you first started speaking about how you take

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InGood Company and IGC into the like two different communities.

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I like how you emphasized that it's a very welcoming space because even like as a college

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student who's I'm a junior, so I've been doing this for almost three years now.

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It's like every time I walk into a class, it's intimidating.

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And it's like I know people, but it's still it's just scary.

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And so especially my first time ever taking an environmental course, I remember I was

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like so nervous.

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And so I love that it's a welcoming environment because like you said, these people a lot

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of the times they don't know what climate literacy is or anything along those lines.

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So I think too, like because our courses are open to the public.

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So it's not like a college course.

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Yeah, exactly.

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But because of that, we have like high schoolers along with like in the same cohort as retired

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professionals.

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And so they're all kind of at that same level in terms of let's figure this out together.

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I love that.

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And I think it might be initially, you know, before you get to meet people a little bit

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of course, a little bit intimidating.

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But, you know, as we kind of get those conversations going and just talk like break it down to

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the basics, it's like it's literacy, it's carbon literacy.

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And so you're not supposed to know anything coming into it.

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You're going to learn it all together.

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And so, yeah, I think the diversity in terms of age is important too.

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And what people, like how people spend their time, what they do during the day and then

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bringing that all together is actually a really cool experience.

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That's really cool too.

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I love that there's, you know, high schoolers that are willing to make the action from a

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young age to retirees who are wanting to still learn because I know that a lot of people

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think that older generations don't really care about the climate and clearly they're

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breaking down these barriers because they're taking your class.

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Would you ever be open to like maybe presenting, I used to work in an elementary school, would

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you ever be open to like taking IGCs like and maybe like doing like a much like toned

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down version of the literacy?

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Like for kids?

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Mm hmm.

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Ooh, maybe.

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So each course has to be accredited through the carbon literacy project.

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Of course.

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And so in order to do a class for them, I would put together the curriculum and send

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it to them for approval and stuff.

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But I mean, I could always come and talk to kids.

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Oh, yeah.

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Totally.

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And like it starts young, like genuinely the movement starts so young.

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So I know in this we're talking about carbon literacy, but we also do workshops in the

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community.

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Oh wow.

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Okay.

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And so these workshops, so we actually sell them to clients.

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So if a lot of people, you know, working at corporations or whatever, you know, they have

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professional development or team building activities.

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And so this is a workshop that focuses on climate science and it's a very collaborative

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because we have fee paying clients, we're able to do it for free in the community.

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So another thing that they do a lot of.

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But those are super good for kids because there's different versions of the workshop.

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And so and that's just it's very engaging, very hands on.

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There's an artistic component.

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Oh, perfect.

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So yeah, we can we can absolutely talk about that.

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Yeah.

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Kids love like finger painting or just playing in the dirt, playing in the mud.

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So definitely.

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I mean, I do, too.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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Who doesn't?

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So I do see does emphasize an idea of a just future in your vision.

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What does this future look like?

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And how does I do see his work bring us closer to achieving this just future?

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That's a good question.

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So so we envision a future where people are actively engaged in sustaining justice for

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people on the planet because we've already achieved it.

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Right.

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Right.

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And we've achieved all this, all this equal despair and all the society and all of that

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stuff.

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We're actually informed and engaged and actively participating in maintaining that clean, beautiful,

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green future where everybody has access to clean air, access to food and the dream, clean

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energy.

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Right.

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And easy transportation that's maybe even social.

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You know, so this future that we envision is way better than the reality we have now,

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even though it seems like things are pretty great.

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There could be, you know, there's so many different benefits to reducing our reliance

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on fossil fuels in terms of health, financial and, I mean, obviously environmental.

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So that's the that's the future we envision and we love that.

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I love that future.

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I envision that.

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I know it's not just about me having a clean earth, but it's about my kids, my grandkids,

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my great grandkids having a cleaner than everything like that.

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And to kind of backtrack, we were talking about the community and your workshops going

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into the community, the carbon literacy classes in the community.

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What role does the public play in driving changes needed for climate justice?

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And how do you ensure these communities have a voice in decision making?

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Like we talked about earlier, a lot of like there's a lot of communities that don't have

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a voice because of San Diego's very affluent versus very much.

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There's a huge range of income and medium income household in San Diego County.

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So how do you ensure that all communities are heard, not just the ones that maybe are

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a little bit more affluent?

314
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Yeah, that's such a good question.

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So the the communities who are, you know, busy working and trying to feed the kids,

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you know, going from job to job and, you know, stopping to pick up fast food for the kids,

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you know, get some some calories for the kids on the way home, that kind of thing.

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Those are the communities that the politicians need to hear from the most.

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Absolutely.

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And I think communities that have to be able to articulate the problems that they're seeing

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in their in their lives have the vocabulary and the confidence to show up to public meetings

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and say, look, this is my lived experience and I am an expert in that and have that,

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you know, confidence to go and push for those changes.

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So I think what really comes down to is helping folks identify what is their unique area where

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they can contribute.

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Right.

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And I think if you are, you know, in marketing and marketing is is your total jam, you know,

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you love it.

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You could still work in climate.

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Oh, absolutely.

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You could be promoting climate compatible organizations rather than climate irresponsible

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organizations.

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And so I think it really comes down to understanding that we all have a role to play in terms of

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what we're really good at, and then we can focus on that one thing and then relieve a

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little bit of that anxiety by understanding, too, that everybody else has their role to

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play.

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And so collectively, we're going to have a really, really big impact and then hugely.

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I don't have to do it on my own.

339
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Yeah, that's definitely so nice.

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So it's all about working together.

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Yeah, that's a huge part.

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I know a lot of people like to take on the whole idea of, oh, I'm going to change the

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world, which is an amazing mindset to have.

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So lean on your peers, lean on your neighbors.

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They're here to help you take a carbon literacy class.

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Obviously, you're going to find people like minded individuals who want to make a change.

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And I know being like in the Environmental Stories Association here on campus or being

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in a Greek organization, you see this like people from all backgrounds, all majors, you

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know, people who know what Greek life is, people who know what environmentalism is and

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coming together in these organizations here at Cal State San Marcos.

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It's really cool because there are such specific roles that everybody gets a chance to be involved

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and feel like they're involved, no matter their background.

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Like for the environmental org, like we have people who are sociology majors on our executive

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board or for my sorority, we have people from marketing to me and environmental studies.

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So it's really cool to see all of this.

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And definitely, I also see being in these organizations, how much collaboration with

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individuals and with the community impacts our mission.

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For example, fundraising for a philanthropic partner.

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Do you or does Ingood Company have any specific collaborations you hope to have in the future?

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Yeah.

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And I want to mention before I get into that, that the affluent communities too have a really

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important role to play.

363
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Oh, absolutely.

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And need to leverage that influence, right?

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And so really what we want to encourage people to do is analyze who is watching what they're

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doing, who is going to be influenced by their actions, and then take that and incorporate

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climate action and work.

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And so everybody across all income groups, all sectors, everybody has a role to play.

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In terms of future collaborations, we really want to build a collective that will be modeled

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after it's called Give a Shit Collective.

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Love it.

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Love it.

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And that is through Chicago Votes.

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And so what it is really, it's led by creatives.

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So artists, performers, musicians, DJs, et cetera.

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So folks who have just this natural inclination to be very creative.

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And this collective will creatively engage others to find solutions to how to engage

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politically, right?

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So it's all about policy change and influencing politicians to make the decisions in favor

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of our future.

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Right, of course.

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And the ability of the planet to support our life.

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And so by putting together a collective of folks who just naturally think very creatively,

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that will help us, I feel, and break down a lot of the barriers.

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Because people are doing a lot of really great work.

386
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:46,440
Oh, absolutely.

387
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:52,240
And I think by connecting maybe like huge dance parties or something like that, and

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just getting a lot of attention around this, I think that's an unexplored area for sure.

389
00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,800
Yeah, and definitely this year's so important.

390
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,000
Of course, it's an election year.

391
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,520
I literally went out and dropped in my ballot that morning.

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So thank you.

393
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Got to do my part.

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00:22:05,820 --> 00:22:10,360
And so it's huge to definitely get the voice out so that people know how to vote, how to

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make the change.

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Presidents maybe can be influenced.

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Because you never know how far one person's action can grow into a community, to a national,

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to a global idea.

399
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And so that's super amazing.

400
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I applaud you for that.

401
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,000
Thank you.

402
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,960
Well, Adrienne, thank you so much again for talking with us today.

403
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:29,960
You're welcome.

404
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:30,960
Thank you so much for having me.

405
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:31,960
Absolutely.

406
00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,560
You have been so informative, so amazing.

407
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,480
And we do this thing on Climate to Action where we do a call to action that our listeners

408
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,960
will hear our personal call to action that we wrote for them later.

409
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,480
But do you have a personal call for action for listeners or any resources you can provide

410
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:46,640
or anything like that?

411
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:47,640
I do.

412
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,940
I have a couple that are my favorite.

413
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So the first one helps you identify your climate superpower.

414
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So Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson, who is a complete badass.

415
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So she has created this Venn diagram.

416
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So it's like these three circles and they overlap in the middle.

417
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And so basically she helps you think through what brings you joy, what you're good at,

418
00:23:10,940 --> 00:23:12,240
and what needs to be done.

419
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:17,160
And then the intersection of those different things, that's your climate superpower.

420
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And so I will give you a link to her TED Talk and that worksheet to put in the show notes.

421
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:23,680
Beautiful.

422
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:30,080
And then the second one is download the Climate Action Now app, which is basically it has

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these pre-created forms that go directly to your elected official.

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So there's somebody on the back end.

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00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:42,400
It's probably a Climate Reality Project person from the Climate Reality Project, which is

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led by Al Gore.

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00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:50,920
So you put in your address and so automatically they know who your elected officials are and

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00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:57,200
they're keeping track of what are the different climate related actions that need to happen.

429
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:01,560
And so then you can just go in there and fill in your name and then send these emails, maybe

430
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:02,560
call or do whatever.

431
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,440
But it's a really, really easy way to take direct action.

432
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,040
So I will put the link to that app for you.

433
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,240
I'll give that to you to put in the show notes as well.

434
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,680
And then is it like, does it also see like county specific environmental impacts or is

435
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,480
it more of like a national government?

436
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:18,480
All of it.

437
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:19,480
Oh, yeah.

438
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:20,480
Yeah.

439
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:25,440
So it could be things that are in your local area, initiatives that are at the state level

440
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:26,880
or even federal level.

441
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:27,880
Oh, beautiful.

442
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:28,880
Beautiful.

443
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:29,880
That's so amazing.

444
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:35,300
Want to hear more from Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast?

445
00:24:35,300 --> 00:24:39,660
Listen wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on our socials at climate to action.

446
00:24:39,660 --> 00:24:42,800
For Instagram and YouTube, that's climate to action.

447
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,800
For TikTok, it's at climate, the number two action.

448
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,880
Visit for updates, behind the scenes contents and more.

449
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,600
Finally, Climate to Action wants to remind you to take climate action.

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00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,040
We challenge you to take the first step in your own climate journey.

451
00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:02,000
Get involved with a local organization like InGood Company, attend a carbon literacy class

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00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,840
or connect with one of San Diego's many sustainability initiatives.

453
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,440
Let's transform our climate curiosity into climate action together.

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00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:14,160
Remember, every small change can create a big impact when we work collectively.

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Until next time, this is Climate to Action signing off.