Abigail: 00:06

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Environment podcast where we explore the environment we see every day. And today, we have all of our hosts on. So I'm Abigail Garofalo, one of the hosts from Northern Illinois.

Erin: 00:20

I'm Erin Garrett. I am based in Southernmost Illinois.

Amy: 00:23

And hi, everyone. I am Amy Lefringhouse. I am based in West Central Illinois.

Abigail: 00:29

And it is a special edition episode, just kind of taking the time with you all as our listeners to introduce our new season of Everyday Environment and all of the things that we'll be focusing on. We took a little bit of a break between our climate change season, and now we are back. So my first question for you all is how does it feel to be back in the podcast recording seat, in the editor seat, in the video production seat? What's it like?

Amy: 00:57

Well, I missed you guys. I love talking about explaining our everyday observations and learning more about our everyday observations. I feel like we get to nerd out about that. So I'm happy to, talk to you guys and see what you guys are seeing out there in nature. So that's fun for me.

Erin: 01:15

Yeah. It's been really great to get a whole new group of guests to talk to on the podcast. That's always fun for me is finding new people and getting to pick their brains and and hear them nerd out about their areas of expertise and kinda blows our minds every time with the new things that we learn and some things that we maybe were like, well, we don't know anything about this. And it doesn't sound like the most interesting thing, but it's actually really cool. So that's been fun for me.

Abigail: 01:43

Yeah. I've definitely missed you all. I definitely just it's like a little warm hug hanging out with you all on the podcast chair. So thanks y'all for getting together and keeping this project going. We've been very busy in the off season.

Abigail: 01:57

As we've alluded to a few times, we do all of our recording in the off season, and then and then we edit and release during the those, like, seasonal months. So when when the podcast officially starts next week, that all was probably recorded as you'll notice in our everyday observations in the winter. And so you'll start to see some of those things as they come through. So we focused on climate last season. What are we focusing on this season for season two and those guests?

Amy: 02:28

What are they talking about? We like to take our listeners on a journey, right, through the through a specific topic. So we decided that we would do themes within our everyday environment series. And this season, we are going to take a journey through water. We're really excited about water or talking about water.

Amy: 02:49

It sounds like, you know, something that we might not think about every day or may not even realize. It's such an important resource, but it really touches our lives every day. It touches all things. It's I think as you follow along in this journey with us, you'll you'll realize it's important a lot more. If you follow us to the end, we get again, we talk to a lot of different experts and how water relates to our everyday lives, whether we know it or not. Yeah. So we're really excited. Water.

Abigail: 03:26

There's so much to say. Right? That's why we're doing a whole season on it. And so I love that it's something that, like, really shapes almost, like, everything. I always say, like, I've I've studied soil in college, and and I always say, like, water is one of the most powerful forces on Earth.

Abigail: 03:42

And so not just physically, but also socially, we see a lot of communities centered around water. A lot of community decisions are centered around water. And so it's really, really cool to explore all of those aspects from the ecology of water to, like, the social implications to even the economics. It just it's really, really exciting to be able to talk to just such a diverse group of experts when it comes to just this one subject.

Erin: 04:07

Yeah. I think that's what I was gonna say too is kind of the human dimension of it is way more prevalent in this season, I feel like. And with a lot of the topics that we talk about, you know, we're focused on our natural spaces or our wildlife. And in this one, it really is that connection between our communities, our choices that we make, and, you know, everything else that's connected to us through water. So that's just been really kind of the common thread that I've seen throughout each of the interviews that we've had this season.

Erin: 04:36

So it's been really good to kinda explore that connection and and kinda see all the ways that water touches our lives.

Abigail: 04:43

Yeah. And we not only get to interview guests, but we've gotten to work with some people who help create videos and are doing webinars for us too. And so, definitely look forward to that because that's we've got some really, really interesting concepts lined up and some really cool webinars that just allow us to dive into a little deeper and and get that connection with water that maybe this podcast might not get you or just gets you a little deeper. You know? So well, do you all wanna give the audience just some sneak peeks of who we're gonna talk to or what we're gonna talk about?

Amy: 05:17

Well, Abigail, one of my favorite episodes was when we interviewed Scott Kuykendall, from up north in Northern Illinois. He really, I don't know, opened my eyes about, I don't know, working from a county level and really paying attention to our, you know, water resources. And he talks about I mean, and you can see you can feel and hear, I guess, the passion in the work that he's doing. And so you start to kind of, like, ask those same questions about your own source of water. You know?

Amy: 05:59

What is happening with my drinking water sources or just the water resources around me? And he just inspires you to start asking those questions and thinking a little bit deeper about, you know, how healthy is our water? Is our water supply the quantity of our water supply, is it okay? And he talks a lot about the resources that he uses in educating his community about their water and then the resources that we can use to find out more about our our local water sources. So it was a really great episode. I was really excited after after that one.

Abigail: 06:37

What about you, Erin?

Erin: 06:38

Yeah. I would have to say, you know, we bring a lot of new guests on each season, but we also bring back some previous guests. And Sarah Zach has been on the pod before. She's done webinars for us before, written blogs, and done videos as well. And so she's kind of been around everyday environment, and I always enjoy chatting with her.

Erin: 07:00

And, this season, we talked about emerging contaminants, which might sound kind of concerning, but she breaks it down in a way that makes it where it really helps you understand what's going on. Do we need to be concerned? Do we not need to be concerned? What can we do about it? I leave feeling more reassured, just knowing more understanding, have a have a fuller understanding.

Erin: 07:22

And Sarah's gonna be back to doing another video, this season. So we're excited, to have her around and help put all those videos together with us.

Abigail: 07:33

Yeah. We love working with Sarah and a little bit, behind the scenes for the audiences. We brought on a content expert this season to really help guide us and, specifically, when it came to the videos, where should we focus on when it came to water and and things like that. And so it's helpful for us because we we have various backgrounds, but to bring in an expert to kinda help guide that content to make sure we're asking the questions that need to be asked because we don't know what we don't know. And so we're always trying to making sure that we're getting you all the best information that we possibly can and finding the best people that we possibly can find and and bringing on a content expert is really helpful for that. So Sarah's been really, really great this season in helping.

Abigail: 08:15

One that I really enjoyed is is one that's a little close to home for me. And so we brought on Phil Nicodemus from Urban Rivers, and he talked about the reversal of the Chicago River, which if you're not familiar with that story, it's, like, really, really fascinating. And if you are familiar with that story, it's something that you're like, oh. And he just knew so much and was able to really just talk about it in a way that was really, like, appreciative of the process that occurred and also, like, thinking about it from a future standpoint as well of where we are and and the context of it all.

Abigail: 08:49

And it was just really interesting to think about all of the different pieces that went into the choices that were made and how they impact our future and and all the pieces like that and and how water really is, like, the great shaper of a lot of our communities, of a lot of our eco ecosystems. And so really cool.

Amy: 09:07

Yeah. He was like an encyclopedia and a historian. It was like all that wrapped in one with Phil. It was really fun to talk to him. Even if you're not from the Chicago area, I mean, you know, the Illinois River flows up and down throughout the state and just a lot of that affected us even if we if we're not from the Chicago area, but it was really we really need to talk to him.

Abigail: 09:29

Well, those were all the questions I had, everybody. Is there any other things you all wanted to add that you want the audience to know about season two?

Erin: 09:36

Yes. Just in case our listeners don't know, we do have a newsletter that we send out weekly during the season. And so that will give you direct links not only to the podcast, which we know a lot of you just, you know, if you're subscribed, we encourage you to, be subscribed to the podcast. It pops up. Right?

Erin: 09:54

And you can just listen to it. But the newsletter gives you more information. So it'll link the blog every week. It'll share information about our upcoming webinars. It'll link those other short videos that we produce and put out, and then has other just in relevant information.

Erin: 10:10

And in the off season, we've been sending out monthly newsletters on just other topics that there's a lot of Extension resources, that we have and just sharing those out as well. So lots of good nuggets of information come from our newsletter. So make sure to visit our website and check that out and subscribe to that if you're not already.

Amy: 10:28

Well, I'll highlight too, Erin. We have a blog post that is written that accompanies each of our interviews that we do with these experts. So we may, you know, refer to different resources or links or, you know, things that you can use, within those interviews. And a lot of times, that blog is where you can find those links to, you know, find out where your water sources are or find out what watershed you're living in or things like that that we reference in the interview. And you can find those a lot of times in the blog, but we also sometimes post those within the newsletter as well.

Amy: 11:06

So both of those avenues can help you find some of the information that we cover throughout this season.

Abigail: 11:12

Or even just they're 45 minute long episodes. I don't wanna, like, figure out what which time stamp was it at. I'm gonna go back and just read that really quickly on the blog because a lot of that information is is really similar or, like, expansions of that information. So,

Abigail: 11:28

Well, thanks everyone for dropping in to talk about our season of water that we have coming up. Our first episode that's going to be with Laura Kiefer, the state hydrologist, releases on March 6, so that's next week. So definitely listen in and subscribe to the newsletter so you can get all of that lovely information. This has been another episode of the everyday environment series.

Abigail: 11:56

This podcast is a University of Illinois Extension production hosted and edited by Abigail Garofalo, Erin Garrett, and Amy Lefringhouse.