As the hosts of the Going Green Podcast, we are big fans of podcasts and utilizing the platform to share quality information with listeners around the world. Because of this, we were very excited to talk about Conscious Consumerism with Kamea Chayne, the host of the Green Dreamer Podcast,
Kamea, tell us a little bit about you,
I Host of Green Dreamer Podcast, which explores our paths to ecological regeneration, intersectional sustainability, and true abundance and wellness for all.
How did you get involved in the sustainable industry?
My curiosity and love for nature had always been intuitive and innate, but I solidified this path during my college years when I studied psychology, environmental studies, and marketing. At the same time, I started turning to fast fashion consumerism as a means of creative expression to cope with my period of depression during my freshman year. A few years later, I read a book called The Ecologist’s Guide to Fashion, that seemed to bridge my interest in fashion + the environment, and that’s when I learned how exploitative, wasteful, and toxic the industry is, and how unaligned my fashion choices were with my values. That was my major entry point to an interest in writing about conscious consumerism.
However, as I learned more, I realized we can’t simply buy our ways to a truly sustainable future, as our social and ecological issues are wide-ranging, complex, and many systemic. So, I was overwhelmed for quite some time and eventually decided to start Green Dreamer Podcast as a way for me and others to learn how these varied issues connect and to learn from people working on solutions in different areas in their own ways.
It’s been a profound learning journey getting to interview over 200 environmental thought leaders, and it’s led to quite a few perspective shifts or AHA’s for me—including how we need to go beyond doing less bad to becoming regenerative, what intersectionality entails in sustainability, and how wellness must include environmental care.
I’m excited to keep staying humble and deepening my knowledge.
What trends are you seeing in your industry?
An increased interest in bridging social justice + sustainability, as sparked by Black Lives Matter, as well as a resurgence of interest in victory gardens in the midst of the pandemic.
What is one “Action Item” the viewers can take away from this conversation?
Supporting regeneration: Start growing edible plants, if you haven’t already—for your health, for carbon drawdown, and for your community food resilience—or grow some native pollinator-friendly plants to support your bioregional biodiversity and living world.
Be sure to take a look at the Green Dreamer podcast, and we are excited to have Kamea on The Going Green podcast in the future.