Sustainability Now! | Lauren Kallmeyer | Kentucky Heartwood | 3-27-23

Take a walk in the woods with us on this week’s Sustainability Now! Your host, Justin Mog, welcomes to the studio Lauren Kallmeyer, Director of Kentucky Heartwood (http://kyheartwood.org), which has been protecting and defending Kentucky's public wildlands since 1992. They have stopped logging on thousands of acres of Daniel Boone National Forest and continually work to protect old growth forests and preserve habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species.

Lauren Kallmeyer served on Kentucky Heartwood's Forest Council before transitioning into the director role in 2022. She brings 16 years of experience in corporate America in various leadership, project management, and communications-related roles, and is thrilled to leave the corporate environment and return home to the nonprofit world and her activist roots. She has led several nonprofit boards, has served in AmeriCorps, and has worked as a park ranger at two National Parks.

Lauren is also a clinical herbalist and owns a community-based herbalism practice, Resilient Roots (https://resilientrootsky.com/). She consults with people on how to use medicinal herbs to improve their health, teaches educational workshops, and grows medicinal plants on her farm in Berea. Her work as a clinical herbalist includes advocating for the sustainable harvest and conservation of medicinal plants, her farm is a United Plant Savers' botanical sanctuary, and all of this deeply influences her work at Kentucky Heartwood. She is an associate member of the American Herbalists Guild, has an M.S. in Therapeutic Herbalism from Maryland University of Integrative Health, an M.A. in Communication from the University of Louisville, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Centre College.

To learn more, check out these links Lauren shared:
- An overview of the South Redbird logging project where the champion Red Hickory tree is located: https://www.kyheartwood.org/south-redbird-project.html
- Article on the proposed Jellico project, federal climate policy, old growth, etc: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05032023/kentucky-old-trees-young-forest-carbon-storage/
- Herbalists Without Borders' Louisville chapter: http://www.hwblouisville.org/

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org

The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com