10 minute read
People, place, power by Stephanie Maltarich
CRESTED BUTTE NATIVE BENJAMIN SWIFT FINDS A NEW APPROACH TO ACTIVISM – AS A PODCASTER.
By Stephanie Maltarich
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With Trisha Mukherjee, podcast fan and ecoadvocate Benjamin Swift created a six-episode podcast about activists around the world.
Born and raised in Crested Butte, Benjamin Swift is no stranger to activism. As an engaged and creative teenager, he left his mark on Crested Butte before he graduated high school. Now, as a podcaster, he hopes to broaden his reach.
Benjamin was the brains behind Crested Butte’s plastic bag ban, an initiative that went into effect in 2018. Inspired by the documentary Bag It, Benjamin applied for a grant to provide reusable bags to stores and businesses around town. After a public viewing of the film that inspired his work, then Crested Butte Town Council member Erika Vohman teamed up with Benjamin to take the initiative one step further: a full-on plastic bag ban in Crested Butte.
“I hadn’t really thought of the project as being that big at that point,” remembered Benjamin. “Then I was like, yeah, that’s a great idea!”
Benjamin went on to study sociology and filmmaking at Colorado College as a Boettcher Scholar. Through his work and studies, he’s followed his passion for enacting environmental and social change through political advocacy.
“I’m looking more at the human impact of environmental things and looking at the bigger picture,” explained Benjamin, “not necessarily making small incremental changes.”
Last year, he combined his keen interest in activism and in media when he launched a six-episode podcast called People • Place • Power. It explores “big questions about global activism through the eyes of activists creating change in unprecedented and underrepresented ways.”
The idea for the podcast, like many great ideas, came about during idle time during the pandemic. Benjamin teamed up with his longtime friend Trisha Mukherjee – when they both realized podcasts were carrying them through social isolation.
The episodes are highly produced and focus on interviews and stories from activists around the world. From indigenous women in India fighting for their freedom, to an app focused on democracy in Afghanistan, to Crested Butte’s very own Billy Barr, who has quietly and consistently collected invaluable data that has informed climate science.
Both avid podcast listeners, Benjamin and Trisha wanted to take a stab at creating their own. After many conversations
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discussing a variety of ideas, Trisha came to live in Crested Butte in October 2020. For a month the pair sifted through concepts and themes that would eventually shape the series.
“We’ve both been very interested in activism and advocacy,” Benjamin explained. “That’s kind of how we initially bonded.”
The two met while traveling in South America on a gap year program after high school. They realized their love for travel was rooted in the people they met along the way. Sharing stories from individuals around the world seemed like a great place to start.
They eventually landed on a podcast focused on activism. But – in a less traditional way. Through their travels, they learned activism is more than marching through the streets or protesting; activism also includes small and approachable actions.
Benjamin and Trisha also wanted their podcast to have an impact.
“We both wanted to make something that wasn’t just interesting or fun to listen to or entertaining, but something that would actually play a role in doing something in the world,” said Benjamin. “Whether that’s telling stories that aren’t heard that often, or inspiring others to do similar work…like with the plastic bag ban.”
Benjamin’s experience in helping to enact the plastic bag ban in Crested Butte fueled his decision to produce the activismfocused podcast. He saw Crested Butte, a small community that took a big stand against waste, as an opportunity to show the ripple effect of small actions.
“What’s really important about that [the bag ban] is the story it tells,” said Benjamin. “So many tourists pass through the valley, and if they see that, wow, there are bans in this town, they can take that story back to their own towns.”
Thus, the goal of People • Place • Power was to tell a variety of stories through the eyes of activists around the world, to inspire others to act in small ways in their own communities.
In addition to being podcast aficionados and activists, Benjamin and Trisha both had a deep interest in storytelling. Benjamin took film classes at Colorado College, and Trisha was studying creative writing at Columbia University. So, it made sense to try their hand at podcasting.
The two quickly realized producing a scripted podcast series is quite a heavy lift. They knew they’d need more help. After hashing out ideas for a month in Crested
Butte, they applied for a grant and received $6,000 from Colorado College’s Creativity and Innovation Center.
The grant allowed them to live and work solely on the podcast in New York City during the summer of 2021. It also allowed them to hire a team of experts to support their work. There’s a lot more to podcasting than simply recording voices and mixing the recordings together.
“We hired someone to do our cover art for the show; we hired someone else to do oil paintings of each of the guests,” said Benjamin. “That’s amazing, and we felt like it brought it so much more to life.”
They also hired a mentor that Trisha met while in a podcasting course at Columbia. Otis Grey, a New York City-based podcaster, provided invaluable feedback to People • Place • Power. He also helped the creators develop their script-writing skills.
“Otis helped us learn to write for the ear,” said Benjamin.
Otis explained that the script for a podcast should mimic the way one talks in everyday life. So Benjamin and Trisha learned to speak out loud to figure out what they wanted to say – then write it down to create a script.
Benjamin admitted the editing phase was more than he had anticipated. After a few months of working on the podcast in New York City, he was surprised at their progress. “We worked almost exclusively on the first two episodes of the series, and then we’re like, oh, shoot, the summer is over, I’m starting school again,” he remembered with a laugh. People • Place • Power was released last year, and Benjamin and
Trisha are proud – not only because they produced a podcast, but because they created something with meaning and inspiration behind it. Trisha graduated from Columbia
University in 2021, and because of the success of People • Place • Power, she is now a producer for iHeart Media.
Benjamin graduated from Colorado
College last spring, and the two already have another idea in the works. They recently pitched a proposal to iHeart Media to explore abortion movements in six countries around the world.
Benjamin is thrilled his work as a podcaster brings together his passions for storytelling, activism and social/ environmental equity. He hopes People • Place • Power offers insight and inspiration about activism. And he believes the diversity of stories – from an unassuming climate scientist in the mountains of Crested Butte to an indigenous comedian who uses humor to heal – can connect humans across the world. Perhaps listeners will begin “thinking about every movement as operating toward similar ends, even if those ends don’t seem the same at face value.” Ultimately, he hopes, people might begin “thinking more creatively about our world and how to work toward solving problems.” b
Stories to ski by
Speaking of podcasts, here’s another way to appreciate Crested Butte in the winter. The Gunnison Valley Audio Journal is a series of three 35-minute podcasts available on Spotify. Editors Chad Reich and George Sibley selected a variety of writings about winter in the valley. The pieces range from George’s hilarious recollection of being on the Crested Butte Ski Patrol in 1966 (when job applicants weren’t even asked if they knew how to ski!) to Cosmo Langsfeld’s short memoir of growing up near Jack’s Cabin, interspersed with limericks by children and short contemplative poems. Local musician Lizzie Plotkin provides the theme music for the inaugural episode.
Almost all of the pieces are read by their writers. You might recognize a few; some of the readings were originally published in the Crested Butte Magazine or other local publications.
The Audio Journal was created by the Gunnison Valley Resiliency Project during Covid-19’s social distancing, with the idea of giving people something to listen to while enjoying the outdoors. The length, host Chad Reich noted, “is perfect for driving up and down valley or as an accompaniment on a Nordic outing.” To enjoy an episode, Google spotify + Gunnison Valley Audio Journal.
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