I walked down the street in the summer heat, wearing long sleeves, pants, sneakers and socks and mumbled the mantra “you can do this.” I received a call from the man I was about to meet. He asked me a peculiar question.

“You didn’t eat a banana today, did you?” said Jimmy Johnson, founder of Narrows Botanical Gardens and an avid beekeeper.

I was on my way to spend an afternoon as a beekeeper, and fortunately I had not eaten a banana that morning. Johnson said when a colony of bees feels they are in danger, they release pheromones, chemicals that smell similar to a banana.

“Remember, Lindsay, the calmer you are, the calmer they’ll be,” Johnson said as we each zipped up our white, one-piece suits. We looked as though we were about to blast off in a NASA shuttle to outer space, not beekeeping in a conservancy.

Johnson and I used recycled paper to light a smoker, which would “smoke out” the bees. Johnson explained how smoke calms the bees, allowing us to open up the beehives and get to work.

And I thought I’d be the one that would need to be calmed down.

The verdant grounds teeming with life around us were very settling. We were tucked away in an area of the botanical gardens reserved for the hives, a chicken coop and a turtle sanctuary. I felt lost in nature in Brooklyn.

Lindsay E. Brown spent an afternoon as a beekeeper, tending to 4 beehives. / Lindsay Brown

Once the smoker stayed lit, Johnson handed me a pair of heavy-duty gloves and asked that I take off any rings. “If you get stung on your finger,” he explained, “your finger will swell up and we’d have to cut off your ring.”

Johnson and I helped each other zip up the masks around our faces, and with our rings now off, we headed toward the four hives. Johnson reminded me not to make any sudden movements or loud sounds, as it would agitate the bees.

Johnson smoked out the first hive, and, using a hive tool, we pried the box open. This was tricky, since the sticky honey had glued the parts together.

The bees were tranquil, moving about as though they weren’t even aware of our presence. They looked beautiful clustered together, and the noise of their buzzing was soothing.

Transfixed on the hundreds of bees in front of us, I immediately understood why beekeeping has become popular.

Bees are tasked with performing one of the most critical naturally occurring acts our food system relies on; one in every three bites of food a human takes was once pollinated by bees. But bees are also peaceful and complex little creatures, despite their reputation as short-fused stingers.

Caring for bees is cathartic.

The hives are separated by frames, which allow for easy maintenance. We used a frame puller to extract the frames from each of the four hives, so we could inspect them to ensure each is healthy.

Johnson discovered a few beetles, which he said could harm the hives. He crushed them with his hive tool.

“I want you be on the lookout for those guys,” he said. “We can’t have them in the hives.”

Each frame held a densely packed matrix of beeswax, otherwise known as honeycomb. Johnson said the bees use beeswax to store food — honey and pollen — and to house the brood, or the eggs.

“Oooh, look at this one,” said Johnson as he inspected a frame. “Look at all the brood on this one!”

The ivory-colored bubbles on the slide indicated the bees are healthy and creating more bees. This is vital to the hive, since the average bee only lives 28 days.

Johnson and Brown looking for the queen. / Lindsay E. Brown

I helped Johnson scrape the beeswax off several frames. The wax would later be donated to Green Earth Gardens, which makes Brooklyn Bee Balm.

Once we were through inspecting one of the frames, Johnson asked me to retrieve his bee brush so he could gently brush off the bees. On my way back to the hive he said, “Come back here, but don’t startle the bees.”

Johnson held up his glove-covered hand. “A bee just stung my glove. The stinger is releasing the poison into my glove right now.”

I asked if it’s true that they die right after they sting. “He’s a goner now,” said Johnson.

Cooling off on my walk home, after several hot hours in the suit, it occurred to me that a bee’s short existence could hold a life lesson.

Bees work hard, live with purpose and peacefully co-exist.

by Lindsay E. Brown

9 Apps To Help You Make Better Food Choices For Yourself And The Planet
The actual task of grocery shopping is no easy feat. Once you’re there, the endless choices and marketing spin in your face can be overwhelming. We feel your pain.

Simply download these apps to help you make healthier, informed choices for your family so you can drop all the good stuff in your cart that does the least amount of harm to your body and the environment.

TransCanada Gets Key Go-Ahead for Final Southern Leg of Pipeline Project
The Washington Post examines the most recent update to the pipeline project: the one section of Keystone XL that has earned approval. After President Obama told agencies to “cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority . . . and get it done,” the Army Corps of Engineers has issued three permits to TransCanada that allow the Canadian company to start laying pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast.

Natural Products for Dog and Cat Lovers Who Want a Healthy Home
Any pet owner knows that it can be hard to keep a home or apartment free of pet odors. They can bring dirt into the home, shed, sometimes even leave you a surprise on the carpet or floor.

But you love them anyway.

Clean + Green makes a series of all-natural pet stain and odor removers that work well without harsh chemicals or perfumes. The products are made with ingredients that and are non-toxic, biodegradable, and will not damage the ozone layer. The packaging is even 100 percent recyclable.

How to Save Mothers’ Lives
Today the global health policy summit in London will address topics ranging from noncommunicable diseases to ageing societies to maternal-health. Just a few years ago, it was said that every minute of every hour of every day, a woman died in pregnancy and childbirth. Even though the number of deaths have halved, there is still work to be done. A session on maternal-health will assess lessons learned and the next critical steps to take so as to reduce maternal mortality.

Caffeinated Seas Found Off U.S. Pacific Northwest
Off the Pacific Northwestern coast, scientists have detected unusually high levels of caffeine in the ocean. The likely culprit is unmonitored septic systems. Experts say the discovery is evidence that contaminants in human waste are entering natural water systems, and its consequences for wildlife and humans are unknown.  

11 Easy to Save Flower Seeds
In the mood to spread some seed love this summer? Collect seeds responsibly from some of the most commonly found flowers in gardens. This post offers 11 videos to show you precisely how.

Have a tip you’d like us to include in our next roundup? Tweet @LauraSeydel and @LindsEBrown using hashtag #EcoRoundup

Photo Credit: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Image.

Photo: Bob Persenaire.

This interview was originally published at Eco-Chick.com.

Future Weather centers on 13-year-old Lauduree, who fears the collapse of both her family and the planet. Writer/Director/Producer Jenny Deller chose to explore the complex issues of climate change through “the lens of a family drama,” as she put it, as opposed to a documentary. I had the opportunity to see the film and get to know Jenny, and I was moved by this powerful drama and the woman behind it.

Lindsay: It must have been thrilling to premiere Future Weather at the Tribeca Film Festival. What was that experience like?

Jenny: This is my first feature film, so to have it debut at a world-class festival like Tribeca was a dream come true. And of course, to walk into a New York City movie theater and see your movie on the screen is just an incredible feeling—a little surreal.

Jenny Deller
Lindsay: Can you tell me about the article you read which inspired Future Weather?

Jenny: It’s called “The Climate of Man” and was written by Elizabeth Kolbert for the New Yorker in 2005. My mom gave it to me in 2006, and I was immediately absorbed. It chronicles an incredible amount of scientific evidence from around the world that points to signs of warming due to anthropogenic rises in CO2. I’ve always had an emotional connection to the environment, so I found this to be overwhelming. It made me question my whole way of life and my future. I felt very scared and alone and completely powerless. This was before Al Gore’s movie came out, and no one was talking about the issue.

Lindsay: Lauduree’s character mirrors the fragility of the environment she’s so fixated on. Why did you decide to approach global warming through the lens of a 13-year-old girl?

Jenny:  To be honest, when I first decided to write a script that I would also direct, the 13-year-old girl came first. I was inspired by the young adult novels I’d read as a kid and wanted to tell an honest story about a girl who survives abandonment. What does it take to pull through a potentially damaging experience with your soul intact? I knew Lauduree spent a lot of time outdoors and had a math and science bent, so when I learned (soon after starting the script) how urgent global warming had become, it made perfect sense to pull this issue into Lauduree’s awareness. Particularly when her story of abandonment was the perfect metaphor for what we’re doing to future generations if we continue to live as we do.

Lauduree played by actress Perla Haney-Jardine

Lindsay: Why do you feel climate change is under-reported in mainstream media? And do you hope Future Weather will not just entertain, but change, the public’s perception of the realities of our environment’s health? 

Jenny:  There’s a lot of information coming out now about major campaigns sponsored by corporate interests to generate doubt about the validity of climate science and to suggest that global warming is just an opinion—and a highly politicized one at that. This strategy has been extremely effective in mixing people up, and creating a skepticism and mistrust around the issue. I also think global warming is a very difficult situation for people to grapple with. It’s a danger that’s hard to see and quantify, particularly because it involves something that’s typically volatile—weather—so it doesn’t trigger our emergency response. It seems too far in the future to affect us. Another problem is that the cultural position of scientists is very tricky; it’s a profession founded on rationalism. Scientists are just supposed to present evidence, not become involved in social causes—even though they’re the canaries in the mine-shaft and policy-makers are not heeding their warnings. Scientists like James Hansen have gotten a lot of flack for turning to activism. And lastly, global warming is tagged as an environmental issue vs. a human issue. My hope is that the three generations of women who come of age in Future Weather will move people to begin to confront their own worst fears of a warming planet—the anxiety and anger and helplessness, the conflict between responsibility and self-fulfillment. Until we evolve emotionally, I don’t think we’ll be able to change. Another hope is that Lauduree renews young people’s interest in science, which I think will play a critical role in adapting to climate change. I also really hope that Future Weather helps people understand that our lives are inextricably connected to our habitats, our environments. If they go, we go.

Lindsay: You actually used the money you made from an acting gig to begin developing Future Weather back in 2006. What was the most challenging aspect of creating this independent film? And how were you able to raise the necessary funds?

Jenny:  The biggest challenge was, and still is, pulling the funding together. It took several years of writing and rewriting for the script to break into a sphere where it could attract the right cast and collaborators. But that did not translate into enough funding to fully finance the film. The project did win several grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Women in Film, and we also secured several equity investors. But Kristin Fairweather, my producing partner, and I have had to get really creative with funding and take a lot of risks to keep the project moving forward. We’ve done everything from selling recycled tote bags on our website to fundraising house-parties. We always joke that we’re like traveling salesman. Even now, we’re in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign to raise finishing and sales funds. It could just be that this piecemeal approach is part of the new paradigm of independent filmmaking.

Lindsay: How were you and your team able to translate the environmental message of the film into the choices made during the shooting?

Jenny: We tried to keep our goals basic and realistic since we were working on a shoestring and didn’t have the manpower to dedicate one crew-member to overseeing our sustainability efforts. After reading about how much plastic is floating around our planet, I decided I didn’t want plastic water bottles on set. We replaced them with metal canteens that our PA’s refilled with iced tap water. Our actors stayed at the only LEED-certified hotel in Philadelphia. We were able to get an excellent deal with a caterer who cooks with local and organic ingredients and uses compostable serviceware. An amazing Philly bakery, Betty’s Speakeasy, donated their homemade locally-sourced treats a few days of the shoot. And we partnered with an incredible company called Philly Compost who provided us with composting bins and daily pick-up service for our food scraps. Local green business are forging new paths, so they’re incredibly entrepreneurial—a great match for scrappy independent filmmakers!

Lindsay: What are three things you hope viewers will take away from Future Weather?

Jenny:  The healing power of being able to let go, trust and love.

Lindsay: If you’re so inclined, please help Jenny and team reach their goal on theirKickstarter campaign.

This roundup was originally published at LauraTurnerSeydel.com. (5/16/12)

Get the Lead Out (of Your Garden)
It’s that time of year to break out the garden tools and get to work on your gardens. With the out-of-season warmer weather, many of you may have even gotten a jump-start weeks ago! But beware: Many toxic chemicals may be lurking in your garden, and the culprit(s) may surprise you. A recent study found that more than 70 percent of common garden gadgets contained hazardous chemicals.

Hawaii’s Beaches Are in Retreat, and Its Way of Life May Follow
You might consider taking that Hawaiian vacation you’ve been day dreaming about sooner rather than later. According to a recent United States Geological Survey report, most of the beaches on Hawaii, Maui and Oahu are eroding quickly, and have already lost about 9 percent of their beaches over the past century.

What’s the Real Difference Between Cage-Free and Pastured Eggs
These days, there’s no shortage of big brands trying to win us over with catchy slogans, ads and packaging intended to make us feel as if the product were produced humanely and naturally. But how do we really know? Watch this beautiful video, which tells you exactly how to know if your eggs were raised humanely.

Willing to Pay (A Little) More for Clean Energy
A new study out from Harvard and Yale found that the average U.S. citizen would pay $162 more annually to support a national policy requiring 80-percent clean energy by 2035. A summary of this new study can be found here.

How ETSY is Changing the Way We All Do Business
We’ve long been big fans of ETSY here at LauraTurnerSeydel.com. Recently, I bought all of the decorations I needed for a bridal shower through the site and was blown away by the quality of the products as well as the customer service. By choosing to purchase products from local artisans, we help support a fair economy and we build relationships with producers. There’s a story to each item we purchase, and that means something this day in age.

Saudi Arabia to Unleash Solar by Investing $109 Billion
The desert country is the world’s largest exporter of oil, and has decided to capitalize on their country’s sunshine with plans to invest $109 billion in solar capacity by 2032. King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy said that it plans to turn the nation into the “Kingdom of Sustainable Energy.” “The main objectives of the program is a reduction in oil burned for power production as well as the establishment of a local solar industry and the creation of jobs.”

Must-Pack Items for an Eco Getaway
Taking a long weekend escape soon? Or maybe you’re simply looking for a good sunscreen or swimsuit to kick off the season. Well look no further: Here are a few healthy sunscreens, swimsuits and shades to keep you safe and eco-chic this summer.

Have a tip you’d like us to include in our next roundup? Tweet @LauraSeydel and@LindsEBrown using hashtag #EcoRoundup

Photo Credit – Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Former President Bill Clinton. AP Photo.

This special Earth Day edition of our weekly eco roundup takes a look at some serious issues from around the globe, while keeping things lighthearted with some fun articles you’ll enjoy during Earth Week.

Captain Planet Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary of Annual Earth Day Kids Fest 
Laura and the Captain Planet Foundation celebrated its 10th Annual Earth Day Kids Fest on Saturday. Children learned how to become stewards of the planet at the action-packed event, which included education stations, live animal encounters, canoeing, a musical performance, and so much more.

In honor of the 10th Anniversary, Captain Planet is combining forces with the Earth Day Network (EDN) to promote the ‘Billion Acts of Green’® campaign. Already, 499,578,824 global citizens have committed to their act of green! Will you? Register your act of green today here!

The Keystone XL is Back on the Menu. Again.
Here comes trouble. House Republican leadership is maneuvering to force approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline on legislation extending federal transportation funding for another 90 days.

We’ve covered Keystone, and published Ted Turner’s terrific Op-Ed on the pipeline, so we’ll stay on top of this one as things progress.

Bill Nye the Science Guy Explains Why the City of the Future is Bike-Friendly
Luminary Bill Ny The Science Guy explains his vision for a world more accommodating of bikes and bikers in this video you’ll want to watch.

Oil from Deepwater Horizon Spill Still Causing Damage in Gulf 2 Years Later, Scientists Find
The BP oil spill — which dumped an estimated 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico — is still wreaking havoc, quietly. As these types of disasters tend to go, the media gave the story an exorbitant amount of attention, and then, well, sort of dropped it.

Sure, BP spent 14 billion on the cleanup. While that sure is a lot of money, the company was bound to pay, and biologists are finding lingering — even growing — damage throughout the Gulf.

We think this part of the BP spill story needs to start picking up again.
Countdown Until Earth Day With Timepieces from Sprout Watches 
The makers of sleek-looking, eco-friendly, and affordable men’s, women’s and kid’s watches will plant a tree for every watch sold on their site in honor of Earth Day. The company is one of our Friday favorites, and we love its mission to source sustainably and give back to Mother Earth.

Arctic Climate Change Opening Region to New Military Activity
Governments are preparing for international fights over the Arctic’s resources that have thus far remained locked beneath the polar ice caps. As warmer temps continue to thaw that Arctic, the world’s military leaders have their eyes on the prize, and it could get ugly.

Bill Clinton Is Headliner at Sustainability Enclave
Political and business leaders are gathering in New York City to explore energy efficiency in buildings and other topics at the Sustainable Operations Summit at the Hilton Hotel today and Thursday. I’ll be attending tomorrow, will listen in on several sessions including Bill Clinton’s and Trudie Styler’s, and I’ll be sure to report back!

U.S. Army Renewable Energy Development Lab to Build Fuel Cells, Hybrid Vehicles in Michigan Facility
The U.S. Army opened a 30,000-square-foot laboratory in Michigan dedicated to cutting-edge, alternative energy technology for powering military vehicles. Officials said new energy research is necessary to save money and to keep soldiers safe. The new laboratory is part of the Obama administration’s initiatives to create a greener U.S. military intended to benefit the environment and improve fighting capabilities.
Coca-Cola Drums Up Water Stewardship Awareness for Earth Day
Although we don’t advise drinking soda products, we do think Coca-Cola’s partnership with River Network to donate more than 1,000 syrup drums for reuse as rain barrels in communities all across the country is worthy of recognition. The syrup drums — which will be repurposed as rain barrels — will capture rainwater and help reduce stormwater pollution. It’s estimated that the new rain barrels will help replenish 60 million gallons of water each year.
( Article submitted to the {Wednesday Roundup} by @laurencoppage – Thanks Lauren!)

Have a tip you’d like us to include in our next roundup? Tweet @LauraSeydel and@LindsEBrown using hashtag #EcoRoundup

Betsy West is the executive producer of the recently-launched MAKERS.com, an AOL/PBS-backed digital platform showcasing hundreds of inspiring video interviews from women of all generations. She’s the woman behind the camera asking questions, eliciting empowering stories from world-changing women.

MAKERS.com is a first-ever initiative to catalog women’s stories of achievement on such a scale, and there’s no one better for the job than Betsy — she’s blazed a trail for women in her own right. Betsy rose to high-powered positions at major TV news networks at a time when men ruled the roost. Her senior roles at “Turning Point” (ABC), “Nightline” (ABC), “60 Minutes” (CBS), “48 Hours” (CBS), and “9/11” (CBS) have earned her 22 Emmy Awards (is that all?) and two duPont-Columbia Awards. In 2006, she joined the Oscar-nominated production company Storyville Films, and in 2007 was appointed a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Betsy has co-produced the feature documentary “Constantine’s Sword” and is executive producer of “The Lavender Scare,” currently in production.

When you’re as well established as Betsy is, you can more than hold your own with impressive interview subjects like Madeleine Albright, Sandra Day O’Connor, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, among many others.

Betsy graciously allowed me to direct some questions at her for a change.

Lindsay:  Many of the women you interview for MAKERS broke barriers and furthered the women’s movement around the same time that you did just that. Was this something of a personal project that had been living deep inside of you?

Betsy: Absolutely. When I started my career as a television news producer, opportunities were just opening up for women.  I was always grateful for the trailblazing women — everyone from Gloria Steinem to Barbara Walters — who paved the way. But like so many workingwomen, I was very busy developing my own career and didn’t have a lot of time to look back! This project has been a chance to hunt down dramatic stories of women’s progress, like the stunning tale of what happened when runner Kathrine Switzer entered the Boston Marathon in 1967! I’ve also been amazed to find inspiring and enlightening stories from women in all fields—from Supreme Court Justices and Secretaries of State to a coal miner, a firefighter and the first female NBA referee! Playing a part in preserving these stories for future generations has been such a privilege (and lots of fun!)

 Lindsay: Fusing AOL’s and PBS’ backing of the initiative, how has MAKERS utilized cutting-edge video and mobile technology to tell these compelling stories?

Betsy: Thanks to the combined resources of AOL and PBS, MAKERS is one of the first, large-scale projects to take advantage of cutting-edge technology to preserve stories and make them easily accessible to everyone over a long period of time. In both its scale and reach, it’s an unprecedented initiative. Ongoing updates to the MAKERS.com website will launch new stories with interactive social media elements allowing users to explore and share the exclusive content. MAKERS.com is optimized for mobile with a specially created iPad App, which will allow users to access MAKERS.com where and when they want.

And, in addition to the groundbreaking women selected by the producers with the help of an advisory board, MAKERS.com extends to also profile the stories of a new generation of women who continue to have an impact on society in new and profound ways.

Lindsay: You’re also working on a three-hour documentary for PBS, “MAKERS: Women Who Make America” set to air in 2013. Why did you and your team feel that this documentary needed to be created to complement the online initiative?

Betsy: When my partner Dyllan McGee first recruited me to this project five years ago, I was stunned to discover that there had never been a documentary about the women’s movement. This was one of the most transformative events in the 20^th century, and yet there has never been a full accounting on television or film. Now I am grateful that we have an opportunity to tell this story as part of the MAKERS initiative that takes advantage of new technology to give us a larger, more dynamic platform than a traditional documentary. Our hope is that with MAKERS, the unique combination of a robust online resource rolled out over time and a major PBS television broadcast will invite sustained dialogue about how far women have come and where we need to go in the future.

Lindsay: What are your hopes and dreams for Makers.com and the documentary?

Betsy:   I hope that millions of women and men, girls and boys, will love watching the MAKER stories—that we will surprise them, make them laugh, make them understand new perspectives and inspire them to think about their own lives in new ways.

Lindsay: Why do you feel the word “feminism” gets many people so riled up? Do you consider yourself a feminist?

Betsy: I think it’s one of those words that over time have come to mean different things to different people. Some members of younger generations who didn’t live through the women’s movement may associate feminism with a style that seems to them outdated or unnecessary because women have attained a more equal footing. But if you ask them if they believe in equal rights for women in work, politics and society, the answer is a resounding “Yes.”  I think the definition of a feminist is someone who believes in fairness for everyone—women and men. And, yes, I am one!

Lindsay: Have you personally ever experienced discrimination, or someone telling you that you couldn’t do something because of your gender?

Betsy: In my career I have experienced my share of sexism, some moments funny in retrospect. There was the boss at ABC Radio News who gave me my weekly schedule in a note titled, “My Little Pumpkin.”  The boss who, angry about a mistake I’d made, screamed in front of a newsroom of men, “You are the reason there shouldn’t be an Equal Rights Amendment.”  More seriously, in 1988, when I was under consideration for my first executive producer job at ABC News, I was told I would have to share the job with a colleague, a man with fewer credentials and who was openly hostile to women. I turned down the job, but was made an executive producer a few years later.

Lindsay: In an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton, she spoke to you about the importance of women having role models. Who have been mentors to you throughout your career?

Betsy: I continue to be inspired by Diane Sawyer, who is one of the smartest, most thoughtful and hardest working journalists I know.  She is also extremely generous and taught me so much over the ten years we worked together at ABC News. I was also lucky enough to work with Barbara Walters on several documentaries. When I was getting reading to do MAKER interviews, I copied Barbara’s technique of writing each question and its potential follow-ups on a file card in order to practice and rearrange the order quickly. Meredith Vieira, with whom I worked on a number of documentaries, taught me about keeping a perspective on my life and never losing my sense of humor.

I also learned so much from my fellow producers over the years—Kyle Gibson, Julie Hartenstein, Phyllis McGrady, Susan Mercandetti, Ann Reynolds and many others. In the 1980’s, before most of us got married, the women at Nightline used to call ourselves “news nuns” because there was no time for anything but work.  We gave each other a lot of support and encouragement. We still do. 

Lindsay: You’re hard at work on a documentary in production called “The Lavender Scare,” which tells the story of the U.S. government’s campaign in the ’50s and ’60s to fire every federal employee suspected to be gay. How, and why, did you get involved with this film? And how will it inspire your audience?

Betsy:  I had never heard about The Lavender Scare until my former CBS News colleague Josh Howard told me about it. I was shocked to learn about this sanctioned persecution of homosexuals that lasted for thirty years. I encouraged Josh to make a documentary revealing this hidden history, and eventually signed on as an executive producer to help make it happen. Josh has already gathered the most extraordinary interviews, and I know that people will be amazed by this story and inspired by the bravery of those who fought to end the injustice.

Lindsay: What feat are you most proud of?

Betsy:  That’s a humbling question after the experience of interviewing the MAKERS!  I haven’t braved violence to integrate lunch counters in the 1960’s like Diane Nash, or convinced an all-male Supreme Court to overturn laws that discriminated against women, like then-attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or campaigned for justice for women around the world like Hillary Clinton!  But I am proud of being part of the team bringing these stories and many more to a wide audience.

I’m also proud of and grateful for my family, my filmmaker husband Oren Jacoby and my feisty 17-year-old daughter Jane, on her way to becoming a MAKER herself.

This interview was originally published for Eco-Chick.com.