861: Cara Judea Alhadeff, part 1: Actually acting, the joys we feel, and the friction we face

A mutual friend introduced Cara and me. He knew we both were doing our best to live by our values in avoiding hurting others through pollution and depletion.

On the face of it, our living situations look different. Her family converted a bus into a home. I disconnected my apartment from the electric grid. We share plenty more in the conversation.

Our motivations are similar, which it didn't take us long to bond over. We also face similar misunderstanding and friction from society, especially people who purport to share our values of not hurting people (or wildlife) without consent. Also, people confuse themselves into thinking that because we do what we do, we don't do anything else.

More importantly, we also discovered similar joys, rewards, and ways to keep acting.

In this conversation, we talk about the joys and challenges of living by our values in a culture that claims to share those values but often rewards behavior that violates them. I don't get to talk to many people with similar situations so it was very refreshing. Feeling understood feels great. I hope you pick up on it.

I hope you'll join us too.

• Cara's homepage
• Her intersectional nonprofit: Radical Art in Action
• Her family's eco-art converted school bus home, using 100% reclaimed materials: The Love Bus: Beauty & Waste In the Face of Climate Crisis (youtube.com), creative, affordable housing
• S.O.U.L. (Shared Opportunity Used Local) Commons that supports mutual aid economies and gift economies through the local free store she and her partner created for their community
• Her book, mentioned in our conversation: Zazu Dreams: Between the Scarab and the Dung Beetle, A Cautionary Fable for the Anthropocene Era: Her cross-cultural, climate justice-through-alternative economies (includes a traveling exhibition and animated film adaptation)

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