I Am Interchange

Alright, welcome back to the I Am Interchange podcast, everybody! Tate Chamberlin here for an impromptu interview with Vancouver BC-based social entrepreneur and culinary badass Mark Brand.  He’s opened and run several successful restaurants ranging from fine-dining to diners, and in 2013 started the highly successful meal token program out of his restaurant Save-On-Meats that’s prepared over 2 million meals for the homeless and underserved. 

As an increasing number of jobs are relegated to robotics, what is the future of work? Will employment become obsolete and, with its predicted scarcity, where will the majority of the population find meaning and the financial resources necessary to realize that meaning once found? As the industrial revolution swept the country and fears that the future of employment looked bleak, work continued. Jobs changed and workers developed new skill sets to meet evolving demands. In this podcast, I Am Interchange; the Montana Governor's Office of Economic Development; and esteemed panelists Rob Irizarry, Deano Roberts, Sandra Boham, and Henri Pellerin explore the good, the bad and the altogether unimaginable Future of Work.

As it turns out, economics isn’t the study of money, but rather one of human actions, behavior, and the incentives that drive them. As local entrepreneur, economist, and co-owner of Dean’s Zesty Booch Henri Pellerin relates, studying economics can shed a lot of light on oneself, others, and how the world works. There is some sort of logical process happening, some measurable motivation that guides humans on the common path from where they are to the “preferable state” of where they want to be. In this podcast, I Am Interchange Founder Tate Chamberlin sits down with Henri Pellerin to discuss economics, the evolution of work, and humanity’s place and purpose in an uncertain future. Henri is on our Future of Work podcast, to be featured next.

Purchasing a home has always been an exalted and expected right of passage into American adulthood, the penultimate realization of the Dream. Buyers’ freedom from the rent trap, pride in ownership, and investment in the future are timeless selling points still touted by realtors marketing homes like snake oil. But, the Dream has become an arguable impossibility for much of the population and a nightmare for many more. As countless Americans continue to spend more and more of their incomes on nicely appointed boxes, pushing through 60-hour work weeks and struggling with the chronic diseases that seem inextricably tied to them, a surprising alternative to homeownership is emerging and gathering followers faster than Instagram. Roam homing, a modern spin on a nomadic lifestyle, provides for inexpensive shelter alternatives, while supporting travel, unique experiences, freedom and, as its proponents argue, a wondrous life beyond the 9-to-5 grind.

In this podcast, Interchange founder Tate Chamberlin explores the simplicity and complexity, the practicality and romanticism, the planning and spontaneity, the infinity adaptable concept of defining home where you park it.

Technology is directing and defining current strategic marketing trends. From LinkedIn connections to enormous MailChimp distributions, drip marketing to Google Ads, Instagram to Facebook, companies are increasingly employing technology to determine, isolate and engage customers in targeted multi-channel campaigns. And consumers, in turn, are inundated with a tech noise jam session every time they open an inbox or launch an app. But what informs this massive marketing machine? Authentic and customized data analytics or unchecked algorithms? Are businesses riding a technologically defined tidal wave to unfettered success or just falling for marketing’s sexiest new toy?

Apsáalooke rapper Christian Parrish Takes the Gun, aka Supaman, was born in Seattle, Washington, but grew up in Crow Agency, Montana. After a series of emotionally charged, formative events throughout childhood, Parrish began an artistic career that has more firmly defined him as a leader among men, an indigenous activist and a spiritual guide than he could have imagined. Or might still.

In June of 2017, 21-year-old Ashley Loring Heavyrunner vanished from the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana. She took with her the laughter, joy, and brave-as-a-bear courage for which she is lovingly remembered and left behind an oil-stained sweater and a fathomless void full of questions with no answers. With more than four out of five Native women affected by violence (twice the national average) and one in three the victim of rape/attempted rape, unmitigated violence toward indigenous women is a disturbing and multifaceted problem. In this interview with Kimberly Loring, Ashley’s devoted sister and inadvertent champion for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) movement, Interchange unravels the story behind the complex sovereignty designations that have left this population relatively unprotected and explores the far-reaching impacts of MMIP loss through the eyes and hearts of the broken families left in its wake.

Special thanks to Susan Carstensen, Kirsten & Pat Kainz, Yellowstone Theological Institute, Blackfeet Community, HeavyRunner Loring Family, The Crazy Dog Society.

Paul Nachman is featured in this episode, examining the duality of Compassion Vs. Practicality. Paul grew up in the 50s and 60s in Chicago, attending public schools in the heart of the city. As a young man, he was a voracious reader and taught himself the foundations of astronomy and scientific study that would help inform his career as a Physicist. He's currently an Associate Research Professor of Physics at Montana State University here in Bozeman.

As an adult, he became active in the anti-illegal-immigration political movement while living in California. He believes unchecked immigration is an invitation for chaos, with cultural and language differences creating a divide between citizens. In particular, he sees the lack of assimilation of ethnic groups into American culture, causing conflict and a lack of community - or as he describes it as "a bunch of warring tribes" within our nations.

For Paul, collective or systemic compassion is a set up for failure - causing us to overextend our resources and create policies that make us feel good instead of bringing order to society. During this episode, we'll dive into his beliefs that a certain degree of separation and a considerable measure of practicality makes us stronger as a nation.

Cover photo by Ben Johnson

Greg grew up in Twin Bridges, Montana, reading everything he could get his hands on. He realized early on in life that he was gay, but chose to shut that part of himself down to be socially accepted. Later in life, he decided to enter the seminary for the Roman Catholic Church and served as a priest at a cathedral in Helena, Montana.  He ultimately took a sabbatical from the church to more fully embrace his identity while becoming an activist in Seattle's LGBTQ community.  He's since started a counseling practice and is an advocate working to make sure LGBTQ kids growing up in Montana feel safe in their homes and schools. 

Recently, we caught up with Claire Putnam, an Obstetrician-Gynecologist who opened NOVA Women's Health here in Montana to help women make informed decisions about their physical and emotional health. Claire has always felt a desire to help others and jokes that she started her career in medicine early in life, playing the role of doctor and dentist to her young friends and stuffed animals. As she progressed through high school in Berkeley, California and went on to UCLA she pursed the scientific skills and medical training that allowed her to use her natural compassion to serve others as a physician.

Claire's deep sense of connection to other people and desire to see equal access to basic human needs has informed her political perspectives. She believes global migration is an inevitable outcome of the pressures we'll all face while climate change and political conflicts intensify - and that's our global responsibility to find ways to support refugees. On the healthcare front, she believes it's a fundamental human right to have easy access to basic services that support our well-being, at little to no cost.

In a world where we argue about the power of an ‘environmental footprint’, why aren’t we concerned about the increasing number of feet making them?  Overpopulation and population control has been a source of debate for philosophers and scientists since the 1700s, and became a household conversation in the 1950s with the publication of the book “A Population Bomb”.  But in recent decades the conversation has been sidelined by divisive religious and political views. We’re already seeing the symptoms of population out-consuming its resources. What can we expect when we add another 3.2 billion to our masses by 2050? A number merely 200 million away from the 10 billion maximum cap many scientists have determined is the maximum earth can sustainably support. In this episode, we’ll take an earnest look at our human family, what we’ve done - and what we’re capable of doing to align population growth with the health of our planet.  We’ll explore our willingness and our lines in the sand; our stewardship and our salvation. And perhaps, most importantly, we’ll examine the expanse separating belief from science and contemplation from action.

As with all Exchange discussions, we focused on bringing balanced and informed perspectives to the table. We hope you’ll learn something new, or have an opportunity to listen deeper into this challenging and sensitive topic.

Tate Chamberlin here to kick off this episode of the I Am Interchange morning show, focused on the issue of population control. My guest this morning is Danielle Egnew, a psychic medium and author who’s currently in the midst of a tour channeling and translating angelic messages for people in cities across the country.   And, as I came to learn, she’s also very tapped into what she describes as ‘heavy air traffic’ for unidentified flying objects over Yellowstone National Park - just a couple hours from our Interchange recording studio.

Danielle is a fourth generation Montanan, born and mostly raised in Billings before pursuing a career in entertainment and music. Her early career included being signed with a small grunge label in Seattle and landing acting gigs before her desire to channel her connection to the beyond drew her back to Montana.   Since then her psychic abilities have been called on by police looking for information on cases, and by people looking to have contact with lost loved ones.

 Although Danielle believes we are beyond the carrying capacity of the earth, she believes a mindful approach to how and why we have children - and eliminating our consumerist behavior - is the only way to avoid disaster. As a psychic, every timeline she sees in the future includes a dire lack of water - with evidence like the contamination disaster in Flint, Michigan serving as one of hundreds or thousands of warning signs available to us now.

Ultimately Danielle believes nature always win, and will balance itself out - even if that means a drastic reduction in the human population. It’s up to us to decide how our actions influence that balance; and how we ‘surf the avalanche’ of catastrophes we’ve already set off.

Tate Chamberlin here to kick off this episode of I Am Interchange, focused on the issue of population control, with Jacob Schreiner, a senior pastor with New Life Four Square Ministries. After a tumultuous childhood and a party-filled adolescence he had what he calls an encounter with Jesus and opted to forego material privilege and studying law to forge a closer relationship with the Christian church and Christian principles.

Jacob's take on some key topics are outside the mainstream, for sure. He believes the Earth is approximately 10,000 years old. He also believes the idea of population control is a laughable notion - flying in the face of God's intentions. From his perspective, we are God gave humans dominion over the Earth, ad we have been given infinite capacity to produce the resources that meet our needs and meet challenges as they arise.

From Jacob's perspective, the proof of our authority is in scripture - and the only way the Earth will be destroyed will be due to an act of God.

During the summer of 2018, the western United States and Canada entered what had previously been an ‘unprecedented’ wildfire season.  Walls of flame threatened environments from urban neighborhoods to national parks in fires burning more intensely than we’ve seen in this lifetime. And a generations-old debate rages on: can and should humans be doing more to manage these wildfires before they get started AND while they burn?  Or should we decide that 100+ years of fire suppression has led us down the wrong path, and it’s time to get out of the way of a natural process? As with anything this complicated, no one side is ever 100% wrong, so we had to take a closer look.

This conversation is not one about the details of firefighting, logging, or forest conservation efforts.  It’s about entire ecosystems and community vitality - and how fires have a dynamic impact on both. Wildfires put economic security - and even human lives - on the line, so it’s no surprise perspectives on how to manage and control them evoke strong emotions.  But, as with all Interchange panel discussions, we focused on bringing balanced and informed perspectives to the table. We hope you’ll learn something new, or have an opportunity to listen deeper on this challenging and sensitive topic.

We sat down with John Bielenberg, a design guru with more than 250 design awards. From working with some of the world’s top businesses to questioning the practice of design and its function in the world, John is now focused on improving the state of the world through the application of creativity and ingenuity. While humans have the capacity to effect positive change in the world, John believes dysfunctional neural pathways often get in the way. Using this sentiment as the crux behind his design thinking, John continues to inspire our youth and community to use their creative genius to positively serve the world.

Veteran Smokejumper and Interchange X-Change Panelist, Paul Chamberlin sat down with his nephew, Tate Chamberlin. His 25 years of service in an age of evolving science gives Paul a unique view on if forest fires can be managed. As Tate searches for the answer, he discovers how it feels when a noble idea stops being noble in hind site. Why we must adapt to new discoveries despite how it may contradict our pre-existing beliefs. And, how everything, including a devastating forest fire, can be both useful and "good". This while exploring his uncle’s fears, his place in the brotherhood of Smokejumpers, and his view on Climate Change Deniers.

Photo by: Ben Johnson

With farming and ranching moving to an industrial scale and model worldwide, the mechanization of all things edible, and the ready availability of foods imported from across the globe, our relationship with our food has become more complex than ever before. Add to that the mind-melting array of different diets espoused as the best (or only) option and deciding “what's for dinner?” has become a question of health, environmental concerns, and ethics. As with anything this complicated, no one side is ever 100% right, so we had to take a closer look.

This is not a discussion of the broad strokes of agriculture and how we get our food—it is a close look at how people find themselves engaging with the massively complex systems that come between the food on our plates and the farms from whence it came. It’s about personal ethics and cultural philosophies. It does get a little heated when the question of ethics comes up, but that only serves to show how deep, how meaningful the whole enterprise of feeding ourselves actually is.