Mackenzie Feldman

What does a community value when it prioritizes the health of a grass lawn over the health of the collective? What is the relationship between activism, audacity, and low hanging fruit? On today’s episode, we speak with Mackenzie Feldman, founder of Herbicide-Free Cal and Re:wild Your Campus (formerly Herbicide-Free Campus). Mackenzie and Ashley’s conversation covers the decolonization of aesthetics, how to face activism criticism, the impact of Lee Johnson’s trial against Monsanto, how to approach adversaries with care over punishment, and the value of multigenerational dialogues in cultivating real change. Mackenzie graduated from UC Berkeley in Spring 2018 with a degree in Society and Environment and a minor in Food Systems. While attending UC Berkeley, Mackenzie and Bridget Gustafson created Herbicide-Free Cal after the two got herbicides banned from their beach volleyball courts and decided to expand the campaign to the rest of the campus. Upon graduating in 2018, Mackenzie expanded the campaign to the rest of the UCs, and then nationwide, and Herbicide-Free Campus was born. The campaign resulted in the entire University of California system going glyphosate-free; HFC also worked with the Protect Our Keiki Coalition to get all herbicides banned from every public school in the state of Hawaii. Mackenzie received the 2019 Brower Youth Award for her work with HFC. Mackenzie is also a Food Sovereignty Research Assistant for the FAO and a Food Research Fellow for Data For Progress, where she writes food and agriculture policy for the Green New Deal. Resources: Civil Eats Silent Spring Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds Democracy Now! Mackenzie’s Op-Ed Johnson v. Monsanto Co.: The Monsanto Papers On Being with Krista Tippett Plugs: Rewild your Campus website IG: @rewildyourcampus Twitter: @rewildcampus FB: @rewildyourcampus Tiktok: rewildyourcampus LinkedIn Agenda 23: Food Conversations Between Generations