Mothers of Invention

In an extra special live edition of Mothers Of Invention, US Senator Bernie Sanders and Mary meet for the first time! Moderated by Thimali, they discuss reentering the Paris Agreement, reimagining global governance and planned migration. With help from our guest Mother, Sacajawea Hall of Cooperation Jackson, we learn what justice looks like when led by communities most affected by social, economic and racial inequity. Recorded at I.NY Festival in partnership with I.NY and The Sanders Institute.

Are you new to climate justice and want to learn more? Looking to get involved in the movement and not sure where to start? Mary, Maeve & Thimali have the rundown on what you need to get going.

The only way to create the future is to imagine it first. In our final release of Season Three, Mary, Maeve & Thimali explore regenerative futures for all on the other side of a very special US election.

The climate crisis has made our young people a marginalized group. But the youth climate movement is being led by no ordinary generation. They are passionate, educated and organized. In our season finale, six days before the US election, Mary, Maeve & Thimali recognize the importance of these critical perspectives from global North and global South youth. In an unprecedented episode, we learn about their hopes, their fears, their ambitions, and their strategies and visions for the future.

Thimali engages in a little self-care with her friend, climate essayist and co-host of Hot Take podcast, Mary Annaïse Heglar. Strolling through a New York City forest, they share good and bad experiences being of colour in nature, but have a chance encounter that helps them connect back to the land…

Extractive capitalism has caused so much destruction to our planet. So with all we've learnt this season, how can we rethink the value of natural resources, and the people who work hard to bring them from the land to our homes? And how does it contribute to our new visions and value systems for a regenerative future? Could 'climate justice for all' in fact be in our reach? In this episode we talk to Bina Agarwal in Delhi & Omar Freilla in the South Bronx about the power of going local.

Keep having climate chats with your family that end in eye rolls, clenched or lost teeth? Well in this week's minisode, Maeve & Thimali talk to two youth activists from The CLEO Institute in Florida, our friends Gabi Rodriguez & Nicole Gazo. They're on a mission to awaken our parents’ inner climate warrior. From deflecting confrontation and forging connection, to active listening and using stats the right way, we learn how to bridge the generational gap, and transform bickering into brainstorming!

We sometimes forget that the most sophisticated carbon sequestration infrastructures in the world are thousands of years old! Reforestation may reduce fossil fuel emissions, but replanting monocultures won’t solve the problem. Our ecosystems are ancient, complex and not easily replaced. What are some of the oldest and newest techniques around for protecting and regenerating our planet’s biodiversity? Mary, Maeve & Thimali talk to Mina Susana Setra and Jane Zelikova in this week’s episode!

Taking your government to court over their climate impact is a fast-growing phenomenon that’s seeing powerful change. Individuals and organisations all over the world are setting new precedents and holding governments to account. But it’s not exactly a walk in the park! So how do you get it done? Well luckily Tessa Khan, human rights lawyer, co-founder of the Climate Litigation Network and Season 1 Mother of Invention, is on hand to explain to Maeve Higgins how it’s done! Archive: Our Children's Trust / Other Archive: RTE News

We learned in our last episode that food insecurity will cause huge swathes of climate migration by the end of the century. So are there ways large-scale farms could nurture our soil? What could small-scale farming do to bring justice to marginalized communities? This week, Mary, Maeve & Thimali meet Zoraida Calle in Colombia, and Vivien Sansour in Palestine as they learn how to breathe new life into dead land, and bring hope back to damaged communities.

Do you do a sad face when you see a big grey space in the town centre where a tall green tree should be? Well this episode is for you. Maeve is on (another) mission - this time to green up her home, and not just for cleaner air but for climate and racial justice too. But how easy is that in New York City? And what can all of us do, no matter where we are, to make it happen? Maeve attempts to plant her very own tree on the street and Thimali meets the amazing urban gardener Ena K. McPherson.

This late into the climate crisis, it’s now time for us to embrace adaptation as a solution, as communities reconsider the fight for their ancestral homes. We welcome Mary’s friend, Ursula Rakova, executive director of Tulele Peisa on the Carteret Islands, who is helping almost its entire population migrate to safe land. And Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, Colette Pichon-Battle of Louisiana, USA who unpacks her work amongst local communities in the Bayou.

Yearning for good news? Hungry to get involved in IRL change? Well we could all learn a lot from our friend Tara Houska who has been smacking climate justice victories out of the park this summer. Frankly, it’s kind of hard to keep up. From big banks and big pipelines to big league football teams it’s clear that Tara really knows how to get things done. Maeve called her up to find out how we can learn from her summer of success. 

The IPCC uses the Industrial Revolution as the keystone for human-induced climate change, but there is a different marker for black, brown and indigenous peoples who have also been measuring climate change. How can the colonial impact on their homes be quantified, argued and repaid? Archaeologist Kristina Douglass talks about colonization and climate in Madagascar. And Lidy Nacpil, of the Asian People’s Movement on Debt & Development shares her fight for reparations on the global stage.

Ever wanted to write a letter or email to rage and complain to the Powers That Be, but found yourself lost after “Hey. You.”? Yeah, us too. But take a deep breath and join Maeve and Thimali as they figure out how to put pen to paper for the climate crisis. From who to write to and how to build your argument, to which edible treats to include - we’ve got you covered. And there’s some top advice from our very own Mary Robinson. Now - quills at the ready you bards of beauty, it’s letter time.