Welcome to another live stream edition of Beyond Vizcaya. My name is Oldine Monestime, and I’ll be your presenter for today. Beyond Vizcaya is a storytelling series that tells the stories of those that live or grew up in Miami. This season we focus on climate change in the natural environment.

(00:16)
As you can probably tell, we are recording from Vizcaya’s Courtyard, and today we will hear from guests that are not strangers to Vizcaya. They all took part in Vizcaya’s first-ever Climate Against Humanity event that was held for the public back in August. And we do have a short clip highlighting the event that we would like to share.

(00:36)
And in short, Climate Against Humanity is an event where people from all over our community come to tell their personal stories about how climate has impacted their lives. I want to go ahead and introduce our guests, Rebecca Peterson and Jay Goda. Thank you for being with us today.

Thank you.

Hi, hi, hi, hi.

And we’ll be spending our time today just discussing the vision behind this event and also the response and impact it had on everyone involved. And so our first question I have is for Rebecca. How are you today, Rebecca?

I’m great. Thanks for asking. How are you?

Good, good.

Good.

So if you could just share with us, how did the idea for the event come about?

Yes. So Vizcaya has been involved in climate change programming for about 10 years now. And really we started as a host, let’s say, for climate scientists to come and share what they were working on and how a changing climate is impacting us. And those were great and successful, but we really found that we were seeing a lot of the same faces again and again. And while that’s good, generally, it wasn’t helping us to broaden the reach of climate conversation and just figuring out how a changing climate is impacting us individually.

(02:01)
So it’s really easy to know that the climate is changing. It’s really hard to follow the science, and it’s really hard to feel not helpless when you hear that the climate is just changing so rapidly, the changes that are happening so rapidly have this domino effect. And we really began to think about how we could, as museum educators, figure out the spark that was going to help people feel like they’re not helpless, because we’re not helpless. We all have a role to play in a climate conversation and in changing the change of the climate, in stopping climate change, and to take it out of a strictly science-based conversation, not that science isn’t important, it’s incredibly important, but how do we demonstrate that you don’t need to be a scientist to care about or have an impact on climate change?

(03:04)
So for us, the best way to do that is to connect people. Vizcaya’s really all about community. It has been about community forever. And the idea that if we could just talk to each other, how we are all experiencing climate change is different. How I experience it is different than how Jay experiences it is different than how you’re experiencing it. We really thought that that would make some impact, both in highlighting that climate change impacts all of us every single bit of every single day, but also that we are all in this together and that we can be together through how we experience climate change.

(03:45)
And it just felt important to bring people together individually to have these conversations quietly, different than a TED Talk, let’s say, where there’s a person with a microphone. We really wanted to inspire dialogue. It’s a very long-winded answer. Sorry about that.

One thing that I want is for this to be a three-way conversation. It’s just not going to be me asking you interview-style; we’re just together having conversation. And one thing that I did forget to mention to everyone, in case they’re not familiar with who you are, you are a community programs manager. That was a key thing to mention with it being a community event that was held.

(04:25)
And you obviously had a team of folks help with organizing the event. And so the next question, I actually want to direct it to you, Jay. How did you become involved with this event and with Rebecca? How did that all come about?

Oh, that was like a domino effect, actually. I met Rebecca through Enid.

Yep.

And I met Enid, she curates storytelling, like raw storytelling. And I met her through another event from Choose954. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of those.

Yep. Yeah, yeah.

And when I went to that event, it was so funny. I used to be a teacher. I was supposed to be at work

I support it, Jay.

Instead, I went to Choose954’s event, and I met some artists. And then I spoke to Evan. You know Evan.

I do.

I spoke to him, and he spoke to me about Enid. And when I spoke to Enid, I actually did one of her raw storytelling. And then she hosted this event at Vizcaya. And it’s so funny because when I first came here, I came here during the summer, and my friend told me about Vizcaya, and I was just like, “What’s Vizcaya?” She was like, “It’s a museum in Miami.” And I was like, “Okay.” She was like, “But it’s a house.” And I was like, “We’re going to someone’s house?” That’s what I was thinking.

(05:44)
But then when I came here, oh my God, I was mesmerized. Because even now, I keep looking around, and I keep wondering, “Someone lived here, children ran around here, things was happening here.” So that’s how I came to know about Vizcaya. And then when I heard about the event, I just had to come. And since then, I will say that the conversation has expanded even into my day-to-day life.

Excellent.

Yeah. Because remember, last time I spoke about my house.

Yeah.

I have a garden now.

Oh, very nice.

It started in August right after this conversation.

Wow.

I love that.

I kid you not, and it started with one plant. Wendy actually is the one that gave me the plant. She gave me this, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of a Leaf of Life.

No.

It’s one of those plants where the leaf itself can produce more leaves and more trees.

Wow.

I love that.

You don’t even need a root; if you break a leaf off of that, she gave me one, and then she put it in soil, and then it just produced a multitude. And now I have a whole garden of them and other plants. And then I go in the morning, I wake up, I touch them, I water them. I swear, my neighbors are looking at me. I’ll stare for like 10 minutes. I just look like I’m standing there, and I’m just looking at my plants, like, “What do they need?”

(07:08)
I’ve never cared so much about the environment. I’ve never cared so much about… It’s not that I didn’t care, I wasn’t as aware. Sometimes people treat things that we see on a day-to-day basis like decorations.

Yeah.

You just kind of pass by, “Oh, that’s a nice tree, that’s a nice garden.” But you don’t never think, “What is it doing? How is it helping you?” And since I had my garden, my artistry went back up. I started my writing again. I started to be more creative again.

It fed your soul.

I like that.

I love it.

It fed my soul. So this event, I’m telling you, I think you guys should have this seasonally and have more people come out because it really makes a difference. Even Wendy said that to me the other day. She was like, “I’m really glad you care.” And I was like, “I do.” So when I die, I want to be a tree. I do.

So I think I learned 10 minutes ago that Wendy is your sister that Oldee knows somehow not through Vizcaya.

No. They are in the same running group. She was telling me she likes running. I was like, “Yo, you should join this thing my sister does.”

It was meant to be.

I love it.

And you hearing that, this response from the event, how does that make you feel?

Well, it’s powerful, for sure. It makes it feel like the work that all of us are doing together is… And I know this. In my brain, I know that the work that we’re doing together is important, but hearing it and how it’s impacted you and how it influenced you to be more intentional in your day-to-day and in your life, that makes the heavy lifting and the work all the more worth it.

(08:51)
And that’s not to say that it wasn’t worth it 12 minutes ago before you shared this story, but it energizes me to continue to go forward. It’s not an easy thing to ask people to share their stories and to do it publicly with people that they’ve never met and people that they don’t know. There’s a real vulnerability to this.

(09:13)
And so at Vizcaya, the team needs to make a really… In some ways, we have to sell it. We have to convince people to be vulnerable and to share their story and to say, “We’re going to be here with you through this journey.” But really, it’s you that has to be vulnerable, and that’s difficult. So to hear that it made such an impact, it’s re-energizing.

I like how you kept using the word “vulnerable” because I think that was the biggest part of this journey for me. It was more than just having a garden. I became more vulnerable. I became more open. Honestly, I would have panic attacks before I would come see people. Even my sister would be like, “Oh, you’re so good at talking to people.” I’m like, “You have no idea what I just went through before I even stepped up.”

(10:04)
But now, having that garden, it helped me open up things inside of me that I was sheltering, that I was scared to show the world, show people who I really am. Especially with social media, everyone’s judging everyone, and everyone’s curating things that are superficial, and everyone’s just more like, “I need the likes. I need the likes. I need the likes.” When in actuality, inside, you just want to be you.

Right.

And seeing a garden blossom, you almost feel like that’s you blossoming. My garden started from this to it’s like massive. And I felt like that was my growth. It grew with me. I grew with it, and you kind of become part of it. And even when it’s dying, I’m so sad. And I find ways. You know you could put pepper on a plant? Did you know that?

No, I didn’t. What does it do?

Yeah, like actual black pepper. It actually helps with the soil and make sure that it doesn’t dry out or die. But sometimes you think it needs more water when you really just need a little pepper.

I love it.

That’s amazing.

I love it.

I kind of want to piggyback off of this idea of vulnerability and how it’s important when you’re sharing stories to be able to be transparent in that way. Because sometimes you just never know who else is in the room, probably feeling the same thing or in the same, I guess, chapter of their life.

(11:26)
And I know that you and I, in a separate conversation, we were talking about how originally this event was supposed to be an event for maybe about 1,000 people, and it wound up being nowhere near 1,000 people. Talk about that and, I guess, the good that came out of that.

Yeah. This is probably just a Rebecca problem, but I always want to reach as many people as possible right off the bat, right? Vizcaya’s site capacity is 1,000. So in my brain I was like, “Climate change is huge, and it matters, and it’s important. So let’s get 1,000 people,” which is a terrible idea.

(12:04)
So working with the team, we started this project almost a year before it actually happened. And the more that we talked through it, the more that we were thinking about, “This is really difficult for people.” I was here in Miami during Hurricane Andrew. That was a really traumatic experience, and I don’t like to talk about that. I don’t like to go back into that place. And essentially that’s what I was asking for people in our community to do. “Tell us how this is hard for you. Tell us how your life is different.” And if I wasn’t willing to do that in front of 999 other people, how could I possibly ask anyone else to do it?

(12:48)
So we really dialed it way, way, way back. We wanted the intimacy of space, and we wanted the intimacy of circles and people together. And so we really just landed, and I think it’s a good strong number, with about 50 people. So we’ve got a couple of storytellers in each little group, and then there’s just an opportunity to connect and be humans together.

(13:12)
And so Jay shared her story, and then there were people who had thoughts and reflections. And it was, as I say, different than just the person with a mic. It was designed to facilitate conversation. And there’s no way that you could do that with 1,000, well, maybe there’s a way, but I don’t know how to do it here at Vizcaya.

What was it like for you, Jay, in that circle, sharing your story?

I think that was one of the first few times that I was able to connect with people without it, like what you were saying, that stage feeling. Because when I did the raw storytelling with Enid, it’s not a stage, but you are in front of people, so it’s really hard to connect. Because you’re really just telling a story. They’re listening, boom, you’re done.

(13:56)
But here it was more like you’re talking with one another, and that exchange, like you said, it’s energetic. I don’t think people understand energy. I don’t think people understand how powerful it is. I don’t think people realize that it even travels through the plants, through our environment. And then when you’re connected with positive energy, when you’re connected with water, when you’re connected with the trees and the leaves, everything around you, you start to feel better.

(14:22)
And I think it’s hard for people to be vulnerable because a lot of people don’t feel good, and it’s hard to talk about not feeling good.

Sure. Yeah.

I can talk about the ways that I didn’t feel good because I feel better now. When people ask me how am I doing, usually my first response is now, “I’m happy.” People don’t say that often. They say, “I’m fine. I’m good. I’m all right. I’m cool.” All those colloq…

Colloquialisms?

Girl, you said it better than me. And I was an English teacher.

I was just trying to help.

I was an English teacher. She said that word way better than me. Go ahead. All of that. And yet, when it comes down to it, I think that if people start the process of just sharing one thing about their day or one thing that happened today that was either negative or positive, it will allow just a bit of release.

(15:26)
So now even when I pick up my son, I don’t ask him, “How was your day?” That’s too broad of a question, and it makes his brain just start thinking, “Oh my God, I’m just going to say, ‘Good,’ because I had a long day.” So instead I ask him, “What is something good that happened today?” And now he’s sitting in the car like, “Oh man, now I have to actually think about something good.” And then he’ll be like, “I helped the teacher.” I was like, “Oh, you helped the teacher?” He was like, “Yeah.” I was like, “Now, what is something bad that happened?” And then he gets really quiet, and then I tell him, I say, “Your feelings are just as powerful as those good things.” I was like, “You feeling those things allow you to let it out. And once you let it out, the air could take care of it, and then you could feel better inside.”

(16:10)
He does the best he can. He’s nine. I do the best I can. I’m in my 30s. And I think a lot of the world is just trying to do the best they can with what they know. I think if they knew this, like really knew this, not just watching it on the camera, like actually if they came here and saw it and felt it, they would feel the difference. And then that would spark an initiative.

I really missed out because I was [inaudible 00:16:37] getting the remnants of it, just hearing about it from you all. With all of that sharing and vulnerability, were there any relationships developed or formed as a result of the event?

Yeah. For me, it was more of a lot of letting go of relationships and picking up relationships. Since this event, I’ve become more intentional, not just with my plants, because I’m like, “If I’m more consciously aware of them, I need to now be more consciously aware of me.”

(17:10)
There are certain people that I, not shut out, but I solidified my boundaries. So when people wonder, “Oh, why am I not hanging out with you so much?” then they have to wonder about their energy, what they’re bringing to the table, what they’re not bringing to the table. “Oh, what sort of things that I need right now in my life.” So I did have some more positive initiatives, because when you let things go-

You free up the room. Yeah.

… it frees up the room.

Yeah.

When I started letting go, I decluttered my house after four years. That house I was talking about. I was ornery, everything just had to go. Then I went to my car. I was just on, not a rampage, but it was just more like I felt like I needed a cleanse. And the cleanse just illuminated every aspect of my life.

(18:03)
I even, and I’m being honest, I quit teaching. And as much as I love the children, I could not be in a system that was designed where, as much as you try, there’s only so much you can do before it just keeps plummeting you down and down and down till you’re burnt out. And since I’ve left my job, decluttered my house, got rid of some friends, got some new friends, I’m happy.

Excellent.

I’m happy.

Excellent.

Glad you’re happy Rebecca?

I didn’t do any of that. It feels like my answer is going to be lackluster. But I’ll say there is something about just connecting with people and certainly thinking about this climate change conversation that we had. For me, being able to connect with others around their climate change stories helped me to realize that I am not stuck where I am. Where I am is where I am. That just is what it is. And I can do something from where I am.

(19:11)
And also being surrounded by people who were open to where I am, we all are coming at it from a different place, and that’s okay. That just is what it is. And if we acknowledge that we’re all starting at a different place and we support each other wherever we are, that’s how we turn that tide.

(19:29)
And so I didn’t declutter, and I didn’t quit my job. But I definitely found a sense of community that, as an introvert and as somebody who’s incredibly shy, this sense of community is elusive. And so finding it in a moment where lots of people who came from the community outside let me into their space, that was powerful and affirming.

You found your tribe.

I did find my tribe.

I’ve been looking for my tribe.

Come on over. We have a seat.

I need a tribe. That sense of community, it’s very powerful because then the exchange is more energetic.

Yeah.

You start to feel like what you’re giving out, you’re also receiving. You don’t feel like you’re just being drained or washed out going on. You’re also being refilled.

I think it’s possible too, when we think about common public spaces like Vizcaya, that there’s a way for people to be in our community, even for that brief moment, let’s say, even for that brief exchange. So you and I had not met each other before then, and here we are, and we’re continuing to be vulnerable together. And I might not see you again for another year, but when I see you again, I’m going to be excited to see you again. And if I never ever see you again, I’m going to be like, “You know what-“

“I’m glad I met you.”

Yeah, right. Exactly. So this idea of community is fluid and the idea that we can have people who are in our space for just a moment can have a powerful and good impact. And I think if we made room for that, that also will help uplift, which it sounds like is what you’re after. You just need some people to be your [inaudible 00:21:14].

Yeah. It doesn’t need to be a long time for it to be great.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. I think people miss that, the beauty in them small moments.

And small moments can be big moments.

Yes.

They don’t only have to be small, but they have value even if they’re not 30-year relationships.

Yes. I think people forget that a lot.

Yeah.

I think people forget that often. Even when it’s a dull day, I try to find beauty in anything. Even if a cloud turned pink, I’ll be driving, I’ll tell my son, “Look, look, look.” And he’s on his phone like, “Oh my God, this woman.” But I tell him all the time, “Baby, you’re missing it.” I said, “Don’t miss life.” I said, “It’s not in your phone. It’s not in front of the TV. It’s right here in front of you.”

(21:57)
And people never look up. People look at me like I’m odd because when I’m walking down the street, I’d rather look up than to just look at my phone half the time and [inaudible 00:22:05].

See the world around you.

Yeah. People won’t do that. They have the time, but they’ll say they don’t have time. They have the time when they’re waiting in traffic, they have the time when they’re waiting in line, they have the time where if they’re waiting for anything. Instead, they’d rather go straight to their phones, and they miss the moments, and then they get succumbed into the virtual world.

In some ways, you were alluding to this earlier, it’s difficult to sit with yourself in traffic or in line or whatever. So the phone is a nice distraction.

Yep.

And-

But what are you distracting yourself from?

Well, I’m distracting myself from Google headlines that say the world is ending. There are moments where the world outside is really heavy. So it seems to be a particular skill that you have found to find those beautiful moments and not crumble into a ball that the world is ending.

Yeah, I think people find it hard… I was telling, well, my sister was telling my aunt, she was like, “You should take yourself out.” And then she was like, “No.” Because most people, they know that once you’re with yourself, you have to entertain yourself. You actually have to be with yourself. And a lot of people don’t know how to do that. And they feel awkward, they feel weird, they feel shy. They feel all sorts of insecurity.

(23:24)
And then I told my son a few weeks ago, I was like, “Well, if you don’t like you, why should other people like you?” And it’s a harsh truth. And I’ll tell him every day. I was like, “Baby, I’d rather tell you the truth than to sell you a lie.” I was like, “I’m not going to do that.”

(23:41)
I used to tell my students, “I could tell you the best lie that’ll put you to sleep, or I can tell you the raw truth. Which one is it?” And most times they’ll tell me, “The truth.” On a bad day, they’re like, “Just tell me the lie. Come on. I can’t, not today.” And I know not everyone can handle that at all times, but there is something freeing to just being vulnerable, being with yourself, being honest.

I think it’s interesting how initially an event that was meant to talk about climate found itself making us, or, I guess, forcing us, to look deeper into ourselves and other areas of our lives. And it probably has something to do with the fact that we’re talking about an experience that we’re having, we’re being vulnerable.

(24:33)
And I think at the end of the event, and watching the recording, you gathered everyone together and you asked them what their experiences were like. And I think we have one video in particular that I’d like to share with everyone, where there it was a young lady, she just shared how one story in particular made her think of something that she never even imagined thinking about as it relates to climate change. And I don’t want to…

I want to give a big shout-out to Gary…

So if you could go to that.

I want to give a big shout-out to Gary for sharing his story. Gary has been a park ranger at Biscayne National Park for decades, wanted to retire. And his legacy is this really cool superhero children’s education program that gives a different spin to climate change and really opens up questions about how to raise children to be more conscious about climate change, and also the choice of whether or not to have children knowing how much each person consumes.

All right. And I think before I get to my very last question, if you could tell me one thing, each of you, that you felt that you walked away with from the event. I know we talked about a bunch of different things, but what’s one main thing that you could say you walked away with as a result of this event? Anyone can start.

Why don’t you start?

I’m going to give you guys the same response I had when we last spoke. It was time. It made me look at time differently. And it’s not even the aging or getting-older thing, it was just more like the moments. I was like, you could be old, you could be young, moments are moments, and every time suddenly felt more precious. You didn’t want to waste it.

(26:32)
And then suddenly, I find that being a very strong boundary for me. If somebody asks me, “Hey, can we do something?” I’d be like, “Well, how much time is it going to take?” or, “Are we going to do this? I need to know. Don’t waste my time.” And then people will look at you like, “Oh, you must have attitude.” It’s like, “No, no, no. This is a huge thing for me. Just because you don’t value your time doesn’t mean I don’t value mine.”

(26:54)
And in that time, I would do things that people didn’t think was valuable. A friend called me the other day and he wanted me to do a favor. I was like, “Well, can you give me five more minutes? Because the sun is going down and I’m watching the sunset, and I promise you it’ll be down in five minutes. I know this. I do it like clockwork. Just give me five minutes.” And he’s like, “What are you doing?” And I turned my phone to… I was like, “You see the sun? That’s what I’m doing. Me and the sun, we’re having a moment. This is my moment.” I was like, “I get you don’t get it, but this is everything for me. I don’t need my phone. I don’t need nothing else. I just need me and the sun, and we just sit in peace.”

(27:37)
And that has given me such a huge value in my time and how I choose to use that time. I don’t think that time should always be busy, busy, busy to feel productive. That’s the misconception, especially in today’s society. In order to show that your business is thriving or that you’re successful, you better show that you’re doing something. But God forbid you’re sitting at a beach or at a park or just watching kids or watching the birds or watching something pleasant. And then someone’s just looking at you like, “Oh, you’re just wasting time.” No, I’m valuing my time. This is how I value my time. This is how I de-stress. This is how I meditate. This is how I feel calm.

(28:20)
Because believe it or not, driving here, I was stressed. That traffic was… I was just like, “Oh my God, I know what you’re trying to do.”

Thank you for making the journey.

I’m driving, I was like, “I know what you’re trying to do. Let me calm me down.” And I just put the windows down because I know the air’s going to help. Well, you got to remember the grounding techniques, and people forget that most of the grounding techniques involve nature. That’s just where it’s at. That’s the best medicine in life. That’s where it’s at. Time will let you value the real valuable things in life.

I will answer the question, but I also just want to say your story when we were doing Climate Against Humanity was really about how the sun was your motivator, but had become this worrisome thing through climate change.

It’s winter now.

Oh, okay.

It’s a different sun.

I was going to say, I’m so glad to hear you come full circle.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Come see me in summer and then we’ll… It’s winter.

It’s different sun.

This is winter sun.

Okay.

That’s how I really know the tides, because it’s very short. That winter solstice is coming up, that’s the shortest day of the year, and a lot of people don’t even know that. It’s just stuff like that. Even learning about the moon and how it affects us as people. People think, “Oh, it only affects the tides.” Well, if it can affect the tides, which is science, why could it not affect us, who have water in our bodies?

(29:45)
I show people the full moon, they’re like, “So?” And I go, “Well, that’s why your mood is like this. Go somewhere else with all…” Because you have a lot, and you have to be more aware, be more mindful. And I think that will help you be more conscious of everything, the climate, the animals, the people. It’s like you said, full circle.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jay.

Yeah.

And Rebecca?

I would say my takeaway is that there really… Miami is often seen as this really superficial place. And why not? Sure, there is South Beach and the fun in the sun and the things that you see on TV. All of that is true and real, but it’s not the whole picture. And for me, this event reminded me that it’s not the whole picture, that there is room for this community building and for just being people together with our own stories and our own thoughts and opinions, and bringing those to a collective space or a shared space, there’s room for that.

(30:50)
And I think more than room, there’s a hunger or a yearning for it. And to be in a position here at Vizcaya to provide that for our community feels very meaningful to me. As I said, I’m an introvert and I’m shy, and I just want to be in the background, and so that I have this moment to be a facilitator, that feels good and rewarding to me. And to know that there’s room for that and a hunger for that in our community is huge.

Mm-hmm.

So I’m glad that while the event didn’t turn out exactly how it would [inaudible 00:31:25], it was still amazing.

I would say it turned out the way it should have.

Yeah, I like that.

Great. Now, will there be opportunities in the future to continue with events like these?

Yeah, I think the Climate Against Humanity team at Vizcaya, and certainly our participants, all of us have shared we should do this again, and we will do this again. I was being totally serious, though, when I said earlier, this is a huge lift. This is a big thing to ask people to do. So it takes time to pull it together and to figure out how to implement the lessons learned from the first go-round.

(32:05)
So yes, we’ll do it again, absolutely. I think probably in summer again for the summer sun, but we’ll do it in the evening. Yeah, we’ll do it again. And then I think as we get more of our legs under us, we’ll do them more frequently. I know that you’re a huge advocate for doing this more than once a year.

Yeah. I’m not here to bribe people, but I wouldn’t say that not giving a plant would help… Giving a plant would make a huge difference. Not a big plant, just something small.

Yeah, yeah. I’m with you.

When my uncle, we had a tragedy in our family, remember the story I told you about the Leaf of Life.

Yeah.

I took a leaf and I put it in the plant, and I told them the story, and I dedicated that to the loss. And I told them that, “As it grows, so will this healing for you.” And I think that people walked away knowing, “Hey, now there’s something you have to be responsible for.” It kind of forces them to care about something that, as much as stories can help, I realize that some people are more action-oriented.

(33:10)
So if you give them something that they have to do, now they’re like, “Oh man, I have to take care of this plant.” It starts like that, but then after a while you go and you ask them, they’d be like, “Oh yeah, this is massive. I’ve already repotted it six times.” I think that could be maybe a little incentive if people come, especially for a small number, and as it’s growing, you could walk away with the leaf, and that doesn’t take much because it’s just a leaf.

Yeah.

I’ll even a supply the leaf.

Excellent.

I have so much. You put them in little small pots and then you walk away with something you have to care for.

Because now they’re doing something.

Yes.

It wasn’t just a conversation. Now they’re doing [inaudible 00:33:48].

Yes. People are more action-oriented. Not everyone. Some people, they hear the word, like me, I’m a word person. You say something, I’m running with it. But some people more like, “Well, what are you going to do now?” Show them what they have to do.

Great.

Yeah.

Jay’s going to provide it. You heard it here first.

I will, I will.

All right. Well, I just want to thank you both just for sharing about your experience and the impact that it had for you personally and the impacts that you saw it had on the community. I want to thank everyone that tuned in today and watched, and those that continue to support us. And we just want you to know that you can continue to support content like this on beyondvizcaya.org, and we hope that you got something out of this, and bye for now.

The most impactful disaster of my horticulture career was with Hurricane Irma. My most stressful and most poignant memory of that whole period was walking through the gardens before the storm was to hit. And realizing that within a day and a half, 10 years of my work would be blown apart.

February, I met Running Edge, and I haven’t stopped meeting them since, like every Saturday religiously. And then we start to do things outside of Running. I start to develop relationships. So it was just right on time. So I…