Episode Description:
In this episode of Climate By Us, hosts Bryan Tagge and Reid Taylor sit down with Chandler Rosenberg—organizer, activist, and co-founder of the Utah Food Coalition and Save Our Great Salt Lake. Together, they explore what it means to stay rooted in place, the burnout of legislative advocacy, and how joy, grief, and creativity are sustaining new community strategies. From “Death Club” to “Lake Time,” Chandler shares hopeful, human templates for resisting doom and rebuilding connection—one gathering at a time.
00:00 – Opening and Welcome
Introduction to Climate By Us mission
Welcoming Chandler Rosenberg and her many affiliations
02:00 – Chandler’s Work & Projects
Roles with Save Our Great Salt Lake, Utah Food Coalition, Stewardship Utah, and Wasatch Community Gardens
Announcement of the Living Soil Summit and Common Ground screening
04:00 – What’s on Chandler’s Mind
Reflecting on the ineffectiveness of traditional advocacy
Need for new strategies, narratives, and cultural approaches
06:00 – Burnout and Turning Points
Chandler’s story of environmental depression during the 2021 wildfire season
Founding coalitions from a place of despair and hope
09:00 – Organizing from Connection
You don’t need to be an expert—just start
Importance of finding one other person to organize with
12:00 – Creating from Passion, Not Guilt
Let joy and creativity fuel the work
Art, conversations, and parties as organizing tactics
16:00 – Death Club & Lake Time
Monthly gatherings focused on grief, transition, and community
How simple, joyful meetings sustain long-term activism
20:00 – The Power of Staying
Building relationships through local consistency
Place-based identity as resistance to rootlessness
24:00 – The Case for Deliberate Community
Choosing to stay or go with intentionality
Complacency as a danger to vulnerable communities
27:00 – Relational Infrastructure
Personal examples of how networks solve real-life challenges
Small ripples lead to community resilience
30:00 – Rebuilding Social Fabric
Reflections on Bowling Alone and Join or Die
Reclaiming power from financial capital via social capital
33:00 – Defining Real Community
Beyond purity tests and political alignment
Place-based coexistence and slow, patient democracy
37:00 – Food Systems as Common Ground
Food as a unifying subject that transcends ideology
Urgency of food security in Utah’s fragile supply chain
41:00 – Rebuilding Local Food Economies
Hourglass economy and exploitation of farmers
Need to regionalize supply chains and support producers
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