EP 45: A Joyful Approach to Climate Activism Featuring Writer, Eco-Strategist and Podcast Host Alexa Gantous

Today’s guest is a very dear friend of mine – Alexa Gantous of Trash Talk Studio. Alexa is a creative brand strategist and writer focused on eco-consulting. Her work uses ecological innovation and the power of play as a way to co-create a positive cultural impact. She is also the co-founder of LitterRally, a trash pick up dance party that elevates joy as a radical form of resistance and connects people to environmental action through fun. She’s a contributing writer for Mind Body Green and host of the Trash Talk Studio Podcast where she interviews guests from different industries, disciplines and perspectives about how they apply environmentalism to their respective fields. In this episode, we discuss: the spiritual awakening that prompted Alexa to care about where her waste was going, the power of small actions in shifting our consciousness on a bigger level, where Alexa began to focus her energy once she became aware of her consumption, how Alexa navigated the grief that came up when she really opened herself up to the current climate crisis, the psychological effects of living in a human-centered world and why inner transformation is essential to shifting our external reality.

Alexa is truly one of my most favorite individuals in the environmental space to speak with. She approaches saving the planet with possibility, creativity and fun, and I couldn’t agree with this perspective more.

So let’s go into it! Welcome to my conversation with the eloquent, compassionate and wise Alexa Gantous.

“The way we live is not the only way to live.” - Alexa Gantous x Our Nature
“I do think we collectively have a fear of death, we have a fear of darkness, and if we’re not willing to go to those places, then I think we’re missing the point.” - Alexa Gantous x Our Nature
“When we’re so stuck in ourselves...we forget to look up at the sky and remember – we’re missing out on so much of that beauty that is there all the time.” - Alexa Gantous x Our Nature
“We live in a world where we don’t worship anything other than ourselves, which is crazy to think about.” - Alexa Gantous x Our Nature

“We are disconnected from a sense of belonging to the world...there’s nothing as essential as remembering that we are part of everything.” - Alexa Gantous x Our Nature

Resources

Show Notes

What Alexa’s relationship was like with nature growing up in Mexico City
The spiritual awakening that prompted Alexa to care about where her waste was going
The power of small actions in shifting our consciousness on a bigger level
Where Alexa began to focus her energy once she became aware of her consumption
How Alexa navigated the grief that came up when she really opened herself up to the current climate crisis
Why we continue to destroy nature even though in doing so we are harming ourselves
What it means to understand there’s no arriving
What is on the other side of numbness when we can develop a relationship with all our emotions.
Why we resist nature and the role this resistance plays in our lives and Alexa’s life
The psychological effects of living in a human-centered world
How your choices become an act of giving or taking from the world
Why inner transformation is essential to shifting our external reality
All about LitterRally
What the environmental crisis offers humanity
The common thread between every one of Trash Talk Studio’s guests
The future vision for Trash Talk Studio
The Last 5 Questions

The Last Five Questions

What is your favorite place in nature?
The ocean with really big rocks.
What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most?
Turtles - I love the sea turtles and the way in which they really flow.
What is one thing we can do right now to connect with the natural world and bring more harmony into our lives?
Look up at the sky.
What’s the greatest lesson nature has taught you?
Impermanence.
Complete this sentence: Nature brings me…
Joy.

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