Fairfax Co. high schoolers launch podcast to debunk environmental myths

Nishka and Julie standing outside of the Herrity Building in Fair Oaks VA after discussing Debunking Earth at the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District s April board meeting Courtesy Smita Sheth Nishka and Julie standing outside of the Herrity Building in Fair Oaks VA after discussing Debunking Earth at the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District s April board meeting Courtesy Smita Sheth Julie Kinkead and Nishka Shah have been friends since elementary school but it wasn t until last year that Fairfax County high schoolers decided to combine their love for environmental science with a desire to give back to the population The pair had considered launching a podcast to share their ideas especially because they both enjoy talking to other people and the idea came to fruition earlier this year The aftermath is a weekly podcast called Debunking Earth with a new sustainability topic up for discussion every week Kinkead a scholar at Langley High School and Shah a trainee at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and System launched the project after watching friends and family members make choices they mistakenly thought were beneficial to the milieu Now they re hoping to equip listeners with the knowledge necessary to prevent that from happening We craved a way to create something that we could break down these different myths to use actual research and inform these people on better choices Kinkead stated The first episode came out in March and discussed the toxic truth about forever chemicals Episodes are usually about to minutes and topics range from sustainable dieting to plastic consumption Conversations are inspired by things they see or think about in their daily lives An episode about reef-safe sunscreen was born out of Kinkead s family s love of beach trips One of my favorite parts is that we were able to explore how although companies can slap on different products and different labels it can often still be harmful to the climate as they can contain different nanoparticles or preservatives that are harmful to the marine ecosystem Kinkead noted Shah s experiences watching her family buy soaps and shampoos at Whole Foods meanwhile encouraged the pair to consider an episode on greenwashing A lot of times this packaging can have kind of green and brown colors to make it look sustainable Shah disclosed There s certain fonts that also kind of fit this pattern But a lot of times it can be really misleading It takes hours to prepare for each episode and the two divide tasks for example reviewing scientific studies and executive websites to help ensure the information they re sharing is unbiased and accurate They hope the information is easily understandable for students riding the bus to school or commuters in their cars Obviously you can t change everything that you use in your life and make a sustainable choice about everything Shah explained But we hope that listeners can at least make particular more sustainable decisions Kinkead revealed the podcast has almost listeners across seven states and searches on Spotify They re continuing the project this summer with shorter episodes Our purpose is to try to make environmental and different social topics more accessible and accurate to a wide range of audiences Kinkead stated Especially in a time where misinformation can be spread around a lot due to social media or other different factors Source