About the Podcast
inbalance animates Gonzaga University’s CREATE model for sustainability through interviews and conversations with students, staff, faculty and community members practicing sustainability on campus and in our region. inbalance is co-hosted by Gonzaga staff Jim Simon, Director of Sustainability and Kelsey Solberg, Director of Professional & Community Education.
Listen on Spotify here: inbalance Podcast
Season 1
inbalance host Jim Simon sits down to chat with Carrie Herrman about her experience as an Americorps employee in of Office of Sustainability at Gonzaga University. Hear about her impact at GU and continuing her work in the environmental field at Save Our Wild Salmon, a non-profit organization in Spokane, WA.
Episode 2 with JJ Doria.
Episode 2 with Dr. Kevin Brown
Episode 4, Considering Zero Waste.
Guests: Erik Budsberg, Sustainability Coordinator at Eastern Washington University & Eva Rocke, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Montana.
Jim, Eva, and Erik discuss the opportunities and challenges of working in higher education sustainability, especially during the age of COVID-19.
Jim, Eva, and Erik discuss the opportunities and challenges of working in higher education sustainability, especially during the age of COVID-19.
This episode, Jim talks with Laura Marck 18’, who is working in procurement and sustainability at Unilever in New York City. The conversation is for any soon to be graduates considering careers in corporate social responsibility or consumers seeking to understand the role corporations can play in creating a sustainable future.
Season 2
Practitioners of the Sacred: Finding faith and spirituality amongst climate and racial disruption.
Jim talks with Gonzaga’s Chief Diversity Officer Raymond Reyes about the intersection of current events and the grounding practice of finding faith and spirituality in creation.
Jim talks with Gonzaga’s Chief Diversity Officer Raymond Reyes about the intersection of current events and the grounding practice of finding faith and spirituality in creation.
Jim talks to Creighton Randall, the CEO and Principal at Mobility Development Partners about the growth of and changes in the shared mobility space and what this means for communities like Spokane.
“What’s with all those bones? Talking with Dr. Kyle Shimabuku about bone char and beyond”
Jim talks with GU Faculty member Dr. Kyle Shimabuku about his research and the path that brought him to Gonzaga.
Jim speaks with three students about the critical intersections of race, justice, and the environment. NOTE: This podcast was recorded just days before the racist attack on the Gonzaga Black Student Union. We condemn this hateful act and hope that this conversation adds to the care and solidary for our Black students and students of color at Gonzaga University.
Jim talks with McKenna and Marisa about Fossil Free Gonzaga and the ongoing conversation at Gonzaga and other colleges and universities about divestment from fossil fuels.
Season 3
In this episode, we welcome Lars Gilberts, a self-identified dot connector and Numerica Credit Union’s AVP of Community Development and Impact. Lars invites listeners to “bring a brick, not a cathedral” to the challenges that we face in our local and global communities, highlighting the importance of small impacts, individual hope and scalability. We also meet our new co-host, Kelsey Solberg, Director of Professional and Community Education in the School of Leadership Studies and proud dog mom. Join Kelsey, Jim and Lars as we kick off season 3 of inbalance!
Jim and Kelsey sit down with Andrea Brower, a friend and Lecturer in the Social Justice & Solidarity Department at Gonzaga. Andrea - an activist, researcher, educator and mother – reflects on the moment we find ourselves in and the roles that hope and resilience will play in determining how we go forward. Andrea invites us to challenge what we think we know about activism and history and reminds us that the future is always a question in the making. Enjoy!
In this episode, we talk to Jess Vazquez, a senior Civil Engineering major also pursuing a minor in Entrepreneurial Leadership. Jess shares her journey to engineering, sparked by her mother’s art and solidified through her participation in Gonzaga Sustainable Energy. Jess sees engineering as her place in the climate movement and invites us to consider where our passions and skills intersect to find our own place in the movement. Hear about the impact that Gonzaga Sustainable Energy has had in the local community, how Jess plans to build upon this, and which books and movies are capturing Jess’ generation.
Kelsey and Jim travel to Santa Clara University to participate in the tUrn events of Earth Week 2022 and be in conversation with tUrn student researcher Petra Glenn (Economics, Political Science, Religious Studies minor) to navigate through the recent film Don’t Look Up and elaborate on the interdependencies between the quest to admit and mitigate the climate crisis and the challenges of overcoming our ill-fated human capacity for indifference.
Season 4
Kelsey and Jim talk with Gonzaga faculty Drs. Heather Crandall and Carolyn Cunningham about their recent book “The Climate Girl Effect: Fridays, Flint, and Fire”. It was so inspiring to chat about these young leaders of the climate justice movement!
In this episode, Jim and Kelsey sit down with Matt Ross, a graduate student in the M.A. in Organizational Leadership program and the current Public Affairs Manager for the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Matt shares his take on sustainability through lenses of economy, political process, family, power and recreation. Matt brings depth and humor to conversations on the impact of making tangible change, what it means to be a parent, and how we remain hopeful in the face of it all. Enjoy Matt’s insightful take on sustainability, work and life!
Kelsey and Jim talk with Tristy Osbon, an AmeriCorps Member serving in the Office of Sustainability who attended and participated as an observer at the COP 27 Climate Talks in Egypt in 2022.
Jim and Kelsey talk with Colin Quinn-Hurst, a planner with the City of Spokane about the celebrations and issues facing moving people through our public spaces in the City of Spokane and beyond.