Clare Gallagher, ultra runner and Patagonia ambassador, shares her story and useful tips on ways to get involved in the issues that you care about.
Clare Gallagher is an accomplished trail and ultra runner who made history when she won the Leadville 100 in 2016, a notorious 100-mile trek through the Rocky Mountains. Soon after she started her career, Clare realized that she had a unique platform as an outdoor athlete to become a dedicated environmental advocate. For Clare, working for a healthy planet is a no-brainer, and she argues that it is not such a wild idea to fight pollution and climate change. In this episode, Clare shares her story and useful tips on easy ways to get involved in the issues that you care about.
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Shelby Stanger:
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Shelby Stanger:
No matter what wild idea you're chasing, the Subaru Crosstrek is a good choice to get you there. Love is out there. Find it in a Subaru Crosstrek. You can learn more about the new, more powerful Crosstrek at subaru.com. Before we dive into this week's show, I wanted to let you know, this episode addresses some political issues. As a reminder, REI maintains a strongly nonpartisan stance and does not endorse candidates or political parties. At the same time, REI does support an active electorate. Well, Clare, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.
Clare Gallagher:
Thanks for having me.
Shelby Stanger:
I love that you've had the wild idea to combine trail running and environmentalism.
Clare Gallagher:
Well, running is the most pure form of being outside for me as an athlete, but really for anyone, and that includes walking, right? Say, yeah, you're walking outside. You're running outside. You're hiking. You're breathing air. You're looking at your surroundings and you're able to see the natural world or your urban environment at a pace that's digestible. That's how I started thinking about, "Okay. Well, what is the air I'm breathing? Is this high quality air? Is this clean air? Is there trash all over the trail? Are there oil wells in the background of the trail I'm running on? Oh gosh, another no trespassing sign."
Clare Gallagher:
I think for me it seemed pretty innate the connection of seeing, where can we run? How can we run? How is it for our bodies? I don't think it's that wild, but thanks.
Shelby Stanger:
If you exercise outside or even if you just enjoy being out in nature, pledging your time and energy to protect this planet is really not such a wild idea. Clare Gallagher is an accomplished trail and ultrarunner who realized she had a platform to fight climate change. Environmental activism might not be so wild, but the path Clare has taken to become a professional athlete and a dedicated advocate has been anything but predictable. I'm Shelby Stanger and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living. Clare's athletic career took off in 2016 when she won the Leadville 100.
Shelby Stanger:
It's one of the most celebrated ultramarathon races ever, set at high altitude in the Rocky Mountains near the town of Leadville, Colorado. It's almost as though Clare came out of nowhere. She'd never run anywhere close to the a hundred mile length of Leadville and yet she set the second fastest record by a woman in the history of the race. Since then, she's competed in and won ultramarathons around the world.
Shelby Stanger:
To see how she became such a badass athlete and an environmental activist, we're going to go back to the beginning, even before she exploded onto the international trail running scene. How did you get into running, growing up?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. I did a bunch of sports, like a pretty standard suburban youth, and outside Denver. I grew up in Englewood, Colorado, and then I ran in middle school, and then high school I did cross country and track. That's where I started getting recruited to run in college because I was decent in high school at cross country and track. Yeah. I ran at Princeton in New Jersey and that was not as great of a 'career', just because it's very common for a distance runner, especially female distance runner, to just get sucked into the dishwasher that is collegiate women's running and spit back out.
Shelby Stanger:
What does that mean?
Clare Gallagher:
I mean, it's just the culture for better or worse. I do think things are changing, especially in the last five years. I graduated six years ago, but yeah. Eating disorders are crazy prevalent. At Princeton, we had these pretty intense academic lives. Even just to hang on, you still had to work your butt off to hang on academically. If you're trying to run at a high level, division one, compete nationally and pass your classes and maybe specialize in a certain academic field and have a social life, yeah, you're not sleeping much.
Clare Gallagher:
For me, that ended up in a lot of injury. I was injured, I think like five out of the 12 seasons. I could have actually run a fifth year after Princeton and I decided not to, but I finished out all four years, made some of the best friends in my life.
Shelby Stanger:
Good for you.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
You did four years of running in college.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. For distance runners, that's cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter.
Shelby Stanger:
Oh, indoor track is the worst.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. Completely agree. Outdoor track in the spring. It's extremely full on commitment.
Shelby Stanger:
What events did you do when you did track? Did you do the mile and the two mile?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. In college, it's-
Shelby Stanger:
Or it's the 1500?
Clare Gallagher:
It's the 1500 and then in outdoor track I did steeplechase.
Shelby Stanger:
Whoa. You're a badass athlete. Steeplechase real quick. It's-
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
It's when you ... Ah, you say it. Sorry.
Clare Gallagher:
Steeplechase is an outdoor track event and it's a 3K, which is just under two miles and you're jumping over big hurdles that don't move. Yeah. Then there's a water jump where you have to catapult off a barrier into this 12 foot long water pit that's three foot deep at its highest depth. It definitely requires some athleticism that a lot of standard track runners don't have.
Shelby Stanger:
It's so badass. I mean, besides pole vaulting, I feel like it's the most cool track sport there is. It's like the closest thing to an obstacle race in track.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. 100%.
Shelby Stanger:
When you ran in college, you basically did three sports in college and you didn't stop running. You didn't really get a break?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. You don't really have break. You maybe have a couple of weeks off in December. Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
That's really intense. I didn't know that you stayed with it for all four years. Wow. That's wild. What did you study in school?
Clare Gallagher:
I studied biology, but specifically ecology and evolutionary biology and I specialized in coral reefs. It actually was on a whim. I was really injured one year, my sophomore year and I was like, "Oh, what am I going to do this summer?" I was like, "Screw it. I'm so pissed off that I'm injured." Some of my non-runner friends were like, "You should apply to this internship in Bermuda to study coral reefs." Because I was trying to find my niche in ecology. I did, and I got it. I did it because I was like, "Oh, I won't be able to run in Bermuda. It'll distract me."
Clare Gallagher:
Lo and behold, I couldn't run that whole summer, but I was scuba diving almost every single day, seeing reefs, relatively healthy reefs and really learning about coral and the marine world.
Shelby Stanger:
That must've been such a freeing feeling to, one, not have to run for an entire four months, but also to experience something so different when you're underwater every day, seeing I'm sure wild stuff. What did you see?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. Well, Bermuda is really cool because a lot of people don't realize it's about the same latitude as North Carolina, so it's really high. It's way high above the equator. That means the water is colder and the fish and the coral are bigger. They're hardier. You don't have as many delicate fish and coral species that require warmer and less wave action. Bermuda is really, really studied as a resilient reef.
Shelby Stanger:
You graduate from Princeton in four years with a degree in coral ecology. Good for you. What did you do next?
Clare Gallagher:
After I finished school, I got a teaching fellowship in Thailand and that actually had nothing to do with coral reefs, even though I dove a lot there. I taught there almost for two years on and off, and a girlfriend I started a little swim program to teach these kids how to swim. These kids live on one of the most beautiful beaches in Southern Thailand. I taught at a school with like a thousand kids, K-12, most of whom were either orphans or underprivileged and none of them knew how to swim. It's still happening.
Clare Gallagher:
We called it Earthraging with English. It's through this program called Princeton in Asia and these teachers every year that go that are freshly graduated, have kept this program going.
Shelby Stanger:
That's fantastic.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. We get photos of these kids learning how to swim. It's arguably the thing I'm most proud of.
Shelby Stanger:
I would be pretty proud of that too. I mean, teaching someone to swim is huge, especially when they live in a place like that. How long did you stay there?
Clare Gallagher:
When it was all said and done, it was almost two years.
Shelby Stanger:
Thailand sparked this love of environmentalism, but it's also where you found ultra.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty weird. I was living in this tiny fishing village, which was a couple of hours North of Phuket, if people know where Phuket is in Thailand, Southern Thailand. There was nothing to do around other than run honestly. That was my method of exploration. I really, really fell in love with running because I had been burned out after four years of college running. Once I found myself in Thailand, I'm like, "How else am I going to see this place and discover these oil palm plantations and still old growth forest and coastlines?"
Clare Gallagher:
Then one of the weekends I had Wi-Fi, because we were pretty out of touch there. I was like, "I wonder if there's any races I could sign up for?" I found this 80 kilometer, which is like 50 miler in Northern Thailand, way, way, way up there. I was like, "Oh, I should just sign up for this. This is in six months." Some friends and I made a backpacking trip out of it. Yeah. That's how I basically became an ultrarunner. I googled some training plans. I had no idea what I was doing. I think my longest run was like six hours. It's a pretty long run.
Shelby Stanger:
That's a legit run.
Clare Gallagher:
I would stop at these little gas stations and get these Thai sweets, sticky rice.
Shelby Stanger:
Yum.
Clare Gallagher:
Coke or the Thai tea. It was so good. Yeah. That was my life. My hobby, I guess you could call it. Then I did this race in Northern Thailand, very close to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. They are these hill tribe villages in Northern Thailand and, oh, it's just patchworks of gorgeous farmland mixed with really thick forested hills and really, really diverse tribes up there. Yeah. I was alone by myself for 12 hours, and some of the most poisonous snakes in the world are out there.
Clare Gallagher:
The pre-race briefing was like, "Hey, if you get bit by a snake, make sure you take a photo of it. We need a photo so we know which antivenom to use." I mean, everyone's just rolling their eyes like, "Yeah. If I get bit by a snake I'm so dead. LOL. You want me to take a photo."
Shelby Stanger:
I love that you're laughing. Yes.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
Crazy.
Clare Gallagher:
It was pretty gnarly. There was like a three meter ... I don't even know what type of snake it was that was killed the day before the race went off and they hung it in front of the race start. Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
Just to show you.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. There's like 30 people who did this. It was pretty core in that regard.
Shelby Stanger:
Were you worried about getting lost?
Clare Gallagher:
I mean, I did get lost a few times and you figure it out. Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
You kind of have this like, "Oh, figure it out attitude." Have you been like that always in life or are you just young?
Clare Gallagher:
I don't know. I mean, it's running. I guess in that case it is life or death, but at the end of the day, it's just running and I'm doing this for fun.
Shelby Stanger:
You loved it.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. Yeah. I totally fell in love with it. I'm like, "What is this sport?" This is so weird. My friends were there. They had been caving that day because there's also these really great caves. It's actually like in Planet Earth one of the cave scenes is-
Shelby Stanger:
We're all going to Thailand after this.
Clare Gallagher:
I know. Yeah. Yeah. Then my friends come from their epic day caving and they cheer me on. It's just so community. I was eating this amazing Thai food the whole time.
Shelby Stanger:
Oh, that's cool. The race directors put on ... The food they were giving you at each ultra stop was yummy Thai food.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. I didn't eat a gel. I didn't ... Oh, absolutely not.
Shelby Stanger:
Tell me what the food was.
Clare Gallagher:
I ate fried rice and then they had banana leafs covered ... What would you call it? It's basically like sticky rice with molasses.
Shelby Stanger:
Yum.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. It's like a natural version of a gel just like ... I bet these sticky rice with molasses things had like 500 calories in them, honestly, and I would just pound them. It was so good.
Shelby Stanger:
After two years in Thailand, Clare moved back to Boulder, Colorado in 2016. She was preparing to go to med school and she was even working in an emergency room, but on a whim that August, she competed in the Leadville 100 race. Not only did Clare win first place, she also set the second fastest female time ever. If you don't know much about Leadville, it's a huge deal for endurance athletes. There's a mystique around this race. I'll let Clare describe it in her own words.
Clare Gallagher:
Leadville, it's one of the oldest races in the U.S. Why it's difficult is because it's so high. It starts above 9,000 feet in the town of Leadville, Colorado, which is basically, it would have been an abandoned mining town. It's not far from Copper or Vail if people are familiar with that. Yeah. Then the race goes above 12,000 feet above sea level, is the highest point.
Shelby Stanger:
How many miles is it?
Clare Gallagher:
It's a hundred miles.
Shelby Stanger:
A hundred miles?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
It's not a 100K, it's a hundred miles.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. No. It's a hundred miles.
Shelby Stanger:
Holy F. How did you get your body to do that race?
Clare Gallagher:
Well, I mean, I'll be perfectly honest. The longest run I did before Leadville was 30 miles.
Shelby Stanger:
Sorry, my jaw has dropped. Wait, how? I don't understand.
Clare Gallagher:
I don't really either sometimes, but now that I'm more in this forum I'm like, "Geez, how did I do that?" Also, I think it goes to show that the key with ultrarunning, at least for myself personally, is not being over-trained, is showing up healthy, psyched, well rested because so much of ultrarunning is mental and you just can't get injured. If you show up with those two boxes pretty dialed, then you have a really high likelihood of having a good day.
Clare Gallagher:
Yes, you need a baseline of fitness if you're trying to win, but yeah, I had no clue what I was doing. I mean, I moved to Boulder in January and I met this group of runners called Rocky Mountain Runners. Made some of my best friends. It's this weirdo trail running group.
Shelby Stanger:
Trailers are the weirdest but I love them.
Clare Gallagher:
They're so weird yeah, and they're amazing. They're just talking about [inaudible 00:16:41] hundreds. It's the most rural bizarre mountain ranges no one's heard of that are so beautiful. They're just really smart people. I heard people talking about hundreds and I'm like, "Maybe I should try a hundred this year. Why not?" They're like, "Yeah. Yeah. Just sign up, do it." Yeah. I did some races during that summer and they were all really fast though so I was tapping into my collegiate roots. Then I showed up at Leadville and had a pretty good day.
Shelby Stanger:
You were going to become a doctor, but then you run Leadville. What changed?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. Well, so I was scribing. I had these pretty gnarly shifts, like 12 hours four times a week. I usually would do night shifts. I honestly think that's one of the reasons why I did so well in Leadville because I didn't let myself sit in those shifts because I wasn't running that much or maybe I was running like 60/70 miles a week, which is what I still run today, but I wouldn't sit down when I was working in ERs. I think that just made my legs really strong, and the sleep deprivation stuff I got good at.
Clare Gallagher:
Then I quit because I needed to take organic chemistry before the second one because I didn't take it at Princeton before applying to med school, right? This was the final step. I got two days into this class at CU. It was at University of Colorado Boulder. Two days into the summer expedited course. I was like, "No." I had a complete mental breakdown. I was like, "I don't want to do this. I don't care enough about this." It really made me think like, do I want to be a doctor?
Clare Gallagher:
I'm like, "I think I can find other ways to help people than to be a doctor." Other ways that suit my strengths because academia and organic chemistry are not my strengths.
Shelby Stanger:
Well, you're clearly smart. You went to Princeton. You graduated in four years and you ran cross country and I can hear you're very articulate, but that's interesting that you didn't give into sunk costs. A lot of people would go as far as you got and been like, "Well I'm so invested. I can't quit now."
Clare Gallagher:
Totally. Yeah. I spent like the last six, seven months working in hospitals. Yeah. I quit and I had no regrets. Then I didn't tell anyone really, my parents or my family. Then it was like two weeks after that I ran Leadville and I had nothing going for me because I had quit school. I quit my job and then I won Leadville. Then it was so bizarre because I started getting calls from brands. I'm like, "Huh? Maybe I could do this as a job."
Shelby Stanger:
Clare took a wild risk when she decided not to continue to go to medical school, and some would say an even bigger risk when she showed up to run Leadville without having run anything further than 30 miles before. Clare's a risk taker. She sees an opportunity and she goes for it. It sounds like her big gambles tend to pay off. When we return, we'll hear how Clare got drawn into activism at the same time her ultrarunning career took off.
Shelby Stanger:
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Shelby Stanger:
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Shelby Stanger:
On sale now, every 2020-2021 Ikon Pass comes with adventure assurance, giving you the confidence to ride. Discover pass options and plan for adventure at ikonpass.com. After winning the Leadville 100, Clare decided to ditch medical school and focus on her career as a professional ultrarunner. Simultaneously, something happened in this country that motivated her and a lot of other Americans to take action. If you're interested in getting involved as a climate activist, pay close attention.
Shelby Stanger:
Clare drops a ton of knowledge and resources on how to get educated and how to make a difference with people who represent you locally and in Washington DC. You had this aha moment like, "Maybe I can make a career as a runner." When was this aha moment when you realized you could combine running with environmentalism?
Clare Gallagher:
I feel fortunate personally. I mean, I really ache for the future of earth and humanity, but this timing was in the fall of 2016. I signed with The North Face and it was when Trump was elected. Basically, the moment I became a professional runner was intertwined 100% with activism because I felt this immense privilege. I'm like I get to run and race around the world and see and meet people and travel and witness climate change and the crazy assault on our public lands that just happened immediately when Trump went into office.
Clare Gallagher:
I felt it was really my duty to educate the small following I was creating and to talk about it amongst my community. This has all been new to me, with the trail running community in general. I'm like, "Why aren't we talking about this? This is our sport. These are our trails. It's our air. It's our ..." Not to mention all of these way more foundational parts of the climate crisis, which is that frontline communities are being way more impacted than I am as a privileged trail runner.
Clare Gallagher:
After a year, I had the amazing opportunity to become a Patagonia ambassador and that just catapulted my ability to talk about these issues and to really learn, because anyone who's listening knows Patagonia cares so, so deeply about the climate crisis. I mean their mission statement has changed to we're in business to save our home planet. Yeah. My professional running career basically became more personal in a way and then I felt like a professional activist in a way.
Shelby Stanger:
How unique that you've studied environmentalism and ecology and biology in school, so you had this background, and then you're able to marry that with running and you got picked up by Patagonia, which is pretty damn cool. Talk to me about trail running and environmentalism. What are things that trail runners should be aware of in their impact on the environment?
Clare Gallagher:
Well, I like to separate it into two categories. You have the NC2 everyday impacts of actually running on a trail. Honestly, these are very minor compared to the global impacts of emissions and things. Yeah. Stay on trails. Don't run on the side of the trails when they're really muddy because that creates braiding and it widens trails. It can create erosion. Do trail work at least once a year at a minimum. Most races require it, which is good.
Shelby Stanger:
Wow.
Clare Gallagher:
If you can do trail work regularly, that's great. Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
I didn't know trail races required that.
Clare Gallagher:
Most like hundred ... Any legit a hundred mile race requires trail work.
Shelby Stanger:
That's so cool.
Clare Gallagher:
Leadville doesn't, but then Leadville is kind of corporate.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah.
Clare Gallagher:
I think every a hundred mile trail race should require eight hours of trail work. Absolutely. Or volunteering. Yeah. Don't litter obviously, basic leave no trace practices. Then you have the larger, which is frankly way more important that I think athletes in general and people outdoor lovers are just starting to really grasp, that if you really love to be outside, what are you doing to help the climate crisis? In my opinion, that means engaging and changing the system.
Clare Gallagher:
That means getting involved with our democracy and our government, because if we drive a Prius to a trailhead, that's great, but that is not going to save the world. I don't care if you drive a truck to the trailhead, don't litter and stuff. If you can get involved with an organization like Protect Our Winners or a local climate organization or elect people to your city council who push climate policies, that's way, way more important.
Shelby Stanger:
You've also had to get educated pretty fast on climate policy because you've spoken in DC about it. How did you get educated so fast? What have you been reading? Who's helped you?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. I'll be honest. It's the internet.
Shelby Stanger:
Awesome. I love that you just told me that.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. I mean, but I'm glad you asked it because I think a lot of people might think, "Oh, you have to have some background or some degree in science to know about air pollution or how to get involved politically. The reality is, this is all at our fingertips. You would laugh so hard if you see the questions I google. Literally like three years ago, I was like, "What is the senate? Who are my representatives? What county do I live in?" Basic things and-
Shelby Stanger:
What district number do you live in?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. Exactly.
Shelby Stanger:
They're just things that so many people don't know.
Clare Gallagher:
I commend people who will take the time to actually ask these questions that seem really basic, but it's just not part of ... We didn't learn this. I didn't learn it in high school. I didn't learn it in college and it's not talked about commonly, and so that's like a form of civic duty is educating ourselves with these very basic things. I think at a minimum, everyone should know who their two senators are and who their representative is.
Clare Gallagher:
You have three people representing you in DC. You should know who those people are because those people matter very much. You should know what they vote on, especially on the issues you care about.
Shelby Stanger:
I really appreciate you for letting us all know to do this because I think that's a good call to action for everybody listening to this podcast. How is the best way to get a hold of your representatives?
Clare Gallagher:
First, you can find out who your reps are with this great website called Common Cause. I'm pretty sure it's commoncause.com or org. You just type in your address and you can see from the local all the way up to the president who represents you. Then you can click on their websites and you can sign up for their newsletters. That's a very direct way. I have all of my reps' phone numbers saved in my phone. When something relevant I know is going on, I'll call and leave a message and say, "Hey there's this Arctic bill coming up. Please vote for it."
Shelby Stanger:
Is a phone message or an email, what's more effective?
Clare Gallagher:
Phone. 100% phone because aides have to pick up the phone in these offices and talking to them it's a pain for them, but they have to listen. Whereas, emails often get ... They don't get overlooked, but they can get grouped together more easily. Especially if you're signing say a petition with something, even POW or Conservation Colorado or something and it's just a pre-written letter, that's fine. If they get 500 of those, it's just going to be that letter times 500.
Clare Gallagher:
Whereas phone calls, one, you can have an emotional conversation with a human, which is very important, right? Two, they'll write down what the issue is and they have to document it in real time.
Shelby Stanger:
There is a lot you can do and it can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. It's really cool that you've gotten so involved in politics and you're so young and you're so fiery and you're running. You're running on all levels, it sounds like. You're running races. You're an activist, which is refreshing. I appreciate that. It's really cool that you know what a privilege it is to be an athlete.
Clare Gallagher:
Well, thanks. Yeah. I mean, whether you're a professional athlete or you like to ski or surf or run outside, I personally don't think we really have a choice not to get involved in the climate crisis in an advocacy way if we want our grandkids to live in a place with clean air and clean water. I feel so strongly about this. It's like if you like to be outside, we need to go harder in the advocacy side.
Shelby Stanger:
Full disclosure, this conversation was recorded in January of 2020 before the world was turned upside down. I reached out to Clare again, to see how she's been handling things and how her activism has changed in the face of the pandemic, unprecedented forest fires, the ongoing racial justice movement and the impending election. Hey Clare, when we last talked, it was January. It's now September. The world has obviously changed. How has your approach to advocacy changed since then?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. It's changed quite a bit in the sense that the world has been turned upside down due to the pandemic and the civil rights movement our country and world is experiencing right now. I've changed my approach in that I've tried to take a step back and really learn about all of the racial injustices within the climate movement because that's my realm. That's where I do most of my activism and try to really learn and embody that climate justice is racial justice and vice versa. Racial justice is climate justice.
Clare Gallagher:
I think more than ever climate activists like myself need to be holding space for all of the black, brown, indigenous leaders that have been leading in the climate movement for so long. We need to listen.
Shelby Stanger:
Is there anybody that you've been following recently that just stands out that is someone we should all follow?
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. I'm guessing a lot of listeners probably have heard of her. Her name is Leah Thomas. I knew her because she worked at Patagonia for last few years. She came up with the phrase Environmentalists for Black Lives Matter. Yeah. She's completely taken off. She created a platform called Intersectional Environmentalist and she has just shed so much light on how so many climate issues are impacting mostly non-white people. We need to be talking about that, especially from air pollution, from unhealthy drinking water, the list goes on. She spells it out via her platform. She's on Instagram as Green Girl Leah. That's a great place to start.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. She seems really awesome. How has what you've been doing and what you've been seeing also changed the way you're viewing the upcoming election? Obviously, this podcast is coming out in October. It's going to be top of mind for everybody. We're probably going to be a little sick of it at the same time, but it's really important.
Clare Gallagher:
Yeah. I mean, I think about the election every second of every day. It's become all-consuming. I think a lot of listeners probably will agree, and so then the next question is like, okay, how do we get out of an echo chamber of caring for climate justice? How do we make subtle changes if those one or two family members that we might be able to flip or those one or two friends that we might get out to vote who might not be voting? It's exhausting.
Clare Gallagher:
It's made me really get out of my comfort zone of climate science because the people I'm trying to connect with and learn from, their talking points aren't the same as mine. I need to get out of my climate bubble and learn more about what makes people tick. In many ways I have to talk less about climate change and try and meet people. Whether it's my partner's family members or a friend who might not vote. I'm trying to convince that friend like, "I really think it's important for you to vote."
Clare Gallagher:
Try and meet them where they're at. Not everyone feels the same way you or I do about climate change and so it's important to suss out what makes people tick, right? Is it the economy? Is it coronavirus deaths? I try to vary my approach on a person-to-person basis. I'm not talking to hundreds of people every day. It takes work to talk to one person. It takes a lot of work. It takes sorting through different articles that I think my partner's nephew will connect with.
Clare Gallagher:
Along those lines, there's also things like postcard writing, getting people out to vote, which is there's a huge national campaign where you can send postcards or letters to unlikely voters and you can volunteer to be a poll worker. Traditionally, poll workers are all retirees. They're elderly. People are so scared of the coronavirus and there's a national shortage of poll workers.
Clare Gallagher:
So if you're young, you're healthy, you can get time off, you should ask your boss off for work on November 3rd or whatever day that your county might be collecting and counting ballots. Volunteer. Actually, most of those positions are paid. You get paid like 15 bucks an hour to be a poll worker.
Shelby Stanger:
That's awesome. How do we all stay and how do you stay positive through the election season? Because this is such a chaotic time and for people so passionate about politics and advocacy work, where are you going right now for happiness?
Clare Gallagher:
I think everything we do, whether it's actual activism, conversations, volunteering, writing letters, it has to come from a place of love. When we're talking to our friends and family, we might not agree with, at the end of the day, our foundation has to be love because there's just no other good option.
Shelby Stanger:
Whether it be the election this November or her personal climate advocacy work, Clare is driven by love. It's love for family, for friends, the nation, the earth and the air we breathe. Like Clare said, it's really not a wild idea to fight for clean air and a healthy environment. Clare, thank you so much for such a fun and informative conversation. You crack me up and your tips for getting involved in environmental activism efforts, on a small or large scale, are invaluable. Especially right now in this election year.
Shelby Stanger:
You can find links to the resources that Clare mentioned by heading over to our show notes at rei.com/wildideasworthliving. You can also follow Clare on Instagram at Clare Gallagher Runs. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI podcast network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, written and edited by Sam Peers Nitzberg and produced by Chelsea Davis. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby.
Shelby Stanger:
As always, we love it when you subscribe to the show, rate it and review it wherever you listen. We read all of the reviews. Remember, some of the best adventures often happen when you follow your wildest ideas.