Tonight on Studio Twelve, Colorado's own Kyle Dyer shares her journey from young reporter to respected storyteller in our Humanize Women in the workforce series, then a raw look at teen mental health in our latest Decode Colorado documentary, we meet an artist blending culture and color in Boulder and throw it back to the 90s with a nostalgic exhibit at History Colorado, plus music from Felix I o daylight and this week's Colorado Inside Out.

the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is Studio Twelve.

Kyle Dyer is a familiar face to many in Colorado, a longtime news anchor, storyteller, and voice in our community, hosting PBS Twelve's own Colorado Inside Out.

But Kyle's journey from a young journalist in Washington, DC to an accomplished broadcaster in Denver wasn't always easy.

In this episode of Humanize Women in the workforce, Kyle opens up about her path into journalism, the lessons she's learned along the way, and the importance of listening.

My name is Kyle Dyer.

I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, which is right outside of Washington, DC and went to the University of Maryland.

So I spent the good first chunk of my life in the DC area, but I've lived in Colorado for longer.

Growing up in DC, you know the news is always on our house.

I saw all the things that were happening in my town that mattered.

Maybe I didn't understand them at the time, but I knew there was something going on, so that always kind of interested me.

And to see my dad reading the paper every morning like I knew there was something about, spreading what's happening in the community, what's happening in the nation, being in DC.

I was determined, so determined to work in news.

I started, my high school newspaper, sports page editor, editor in the chief went to Maryland, where they had a great journalism program.

I was determined to make this happen for me.

My mother, was very the one who was always like, you have to have a summer job.

You have to do this.

You have to do this.

You can't sit around.

You can't just lay around the house.

You have to.

And so I feel like she's kind of pushed me.

She said, you know, every day doesn't have promise, but every day has purpose.

So every day is important to utilize what we have before us.

And I feel like every day in this world of what I do, I'm learning something.

And as long as I'm learning something new every day, it's a great day.

And I feel like we all have that opportunity.

I moved here in 1996, not knowing a soul in journalism.

You do have to go to small places, small cities and kind of pay your dues, you know, make your mistakes and learning the craft, and then you move up to a bigger city.

So ever since I left DC, I would move to someplace I didn't know anybody.

I really never thought that I would stay in Colorado.

When I first moved here, I thought I was just coming for a job.

I thought I would eventually go back home and be with family, but, my work family became pretty tight.

And then I met my husband, had my own family, have enormous friends who I adore and this is home now.

You know, when you talk about career, for me, it's what I do is what I've done for so long.

It's my purpose.

It's what I enjoy to do.

The strong journalists that are into it, starting in school to tell stories to be accurate, to have strong ethics, who will move away from home and pay their dues and really want to learn the craft.

And really then, aside from knowing the craft, they want to connect with the community in which they report.

I think that makes a strong journalist.

So yes, you've got to put in the time.

You've got to be a good writer.

You've got to be curious.

Being definitely a woman on camera in such a competitive field, it's hard.

It's hard.

You've got to believe in yourself.

You've got to work hard.

You need to know why you're doing this and that.

You're doing this for the right reasons, not just to be on TV.

You really want to add to a community.

I definitely have had bosses over the years who have criticized me to my face or rolled their eyes at my face.

Yeah, that stinks right?

I'm sure I went home and cried.

I'm sure that got under my skin.

So it's hard.

It's definitely hard, especially on social media.

There are lots of people who can say what they think about you, right?

I do believe that there are there are more fabulous people out there who will support you and embrace you than there are loud, negative people.

They're very loud.

But I think good prevails over the loud and negative negativity in our in our world right now.

I have worked really hard to get where I am.

Sure, it hasn't always been easy, but I've just, believed that it's all going to work out.

I think getting beat on live TV was probably a big thing for me.

I mean, you know, in this day and age, it was kind of a thing that was a tough time because people said lots of tough things and doubted that I would succeed and that I would come back to work.

And, I kind of just pushed that all aside and didn't listen to that and just plowed ahead when I was injured and my mouth was sewn shut for ten days, I couldn't talk and I could only listen.

And then when I had my stitches taken out of my mouth, I could talk again.

People wanted to listen to what I had to say, and I think I was always a good interviewer communicator.

But was I, was I really listening to people?

You know, I think I'm a little more empathetic.

I've interviewed some people that have had some really bad things happen, and, I kind of feel I know what they need.

They just need someone to listen to them.

I care, and I think that listening tool, that skill that I have, I hope more people find it because, yeah, we all have conversations, but do we really listen?

And then that's when the interaction, that's when the connection comes and it feels so good.

So I feel very proud that I found how to be a good listener.

I'll still always be that person.

People come up to me all the time, but they're always so nice, like, oh, I was so sad you were hurt and you're coming back after that.

Because I definitely it was it was hard to talk for a while when I got hurt getting too close to a dog I didn't know.

I think I gave people a great lesson on what to do with animals.

But too bad it had to happen on live TV.

You know what?

Things happen.

Yeah, right.

My thing was kind of a public thing.

We just got to realize it happened, learn from it, and just move on.

It doesn't define me, but it sure is a part of me.

That's part of my story.

I'm grateful for my family, that I have a great family, that my kids are doing well.

You know, they seem to be on the right track.

That's, And when you do start having a family, you do think, how am I going to do it all?

But you do.

And I feel like every age you have kids, when they're babies, when they're starting school, then they're middle school.

High school.

You're thinking, how am I going to do it?

But it just all works.

You just have to have faith.

You can love what you do professionally.

You can love your family.

But you have to think about is this is this working for me?

I'm proud.

I have, hopefully made a difference in people's lives.

So here in Denver, where I'm somebody that I feel like, people can trust me in terms of bringing them information and knowing that I'm loyal to this community.

So I'm proud of that.

I'm proud people looks at me this two years ago, I produced my first documentary, directed it.

So that wasn't something that I thought I'd ever do.

So that's pretty cool.

I'm proud of myself that I persevered, and then I've been able to help others too, with my work or just in general.

You know, I think there's a big push to be supportive of one another.

Women in the workplace.

But I still feel like there's a long way to go.

Women can be tough on each other.

I think more than than we want to be.

There should be some competition, healthy.

But come on, we're all breathing the same air.

Let's work together to make stuff happen.

Man or woman?

Woman especially.

We all are different people that can make something great happen.

We need to support one another.

And women especially.

Let's work together.

That is why we were put on this earth to not just be individual people walking around, but to acknowledge everyone.

Everyone's strengths, weaknesses, help.

Let's help this person out and work together.

Make good things happen.

From navigating setbacks in the spotlight to finding purpose through storytelling, we're grateful to Kyle for sharing her story and her voice with all of us.

Make sure to catch Kyle on Friday nights at 8 p.m. on Colorado Inside-Out right here on PBS.

12.

What happens when young people brave their darkest moments and decide to speak out?

In our next Decode Colorado documentary, filmmakers Rob and Chelsey Jackson take us deep into the heart of teen mental health in Colorado through raw emotional interviews and powerful moments.

This half hour documents capture stories of loss, resilience and the communities working to erase the stigma around mental health.

From Denver to Sterling and across Colorado, this is a conversation we just can't afford to ignore.

Here's a sneak.

Peek.

I hate repeating this statistic, but suicide.

It's the number one cause of death of kids in Colorado beginning at the age of ten.

We are finally realizing that mental health is hell, and we're finally putting the head back on the body.

I was six when my parents separated and then seven when they divorced.

That had a large play, and my whole life since then.

Because of the stigma in rural communities.

The common consensus is if you're struggling, you figure it out on your own.

You buckle down.

You get through it.

We don't have the resources.

And when they need help, they need help.

Now.

My relationship with social media isn't great.

They're growing up in a totally different landscape than we grew up in.

Kids today compare themselves to the masses.

You can't unsee what was being fed to her.

It pulls me down a rabbit hole that I have to crawl out of.

It literally destroyed her.

And our children are the future.

Sorry.

These kids are fighting such a battle.

How can any child be exposed to this?

That strength, that persistence of the parents who never gave up.

Has paid off.

I'm working through a lot of things.

It doesn't feel like I need to hide that.

The people you surround yourself with, and the larger community that you become a part of, will have such an important impact on your life.

I hope you find your people, the people who show you unconditional love and support.

We also sat down with the filmmakers to hear about how making a film like this impacted them, and their understanding of teen mental health.

I think when you're talking to somebody about a topic such as suicide, you, you obviously have to approach it with great sensitivity and care.

And I think going into that interview, I was putting, I was sort of feeling that mindset and, in a way that I had never thought about it before, just thinking about the fact that I was going to be sitting with somebody who had experienced this great loss.

I took it very seriously that I would be sitting with her for quite a while, and was feeling really honored that she was willing to open up her home and her space and her story to us.

When I put myself back in that day spending that time with Lori, I think, you know, Rob and I each were sitting there feeling very emotional, and we cried with her.

And, I think it's really important to be willing to sit in that space with your participants, and feel that and not shy away from, you know, we're human.

We're we're not just filmmakers.

We're not a brick wall.

And so we didn't want to avoid our feelings.

I think what we learned from this is that it's really important for parents and other adults and mentors to be regulating themselves.

You see, all the time when you're driving and you see parents who are literally looking at their phones while they're driving, which is obviously dangerous, dangerous and illegal now.

And so but I think all of us have been guilty of things like that in the past.

And so if our kids are seeing us use our phones in dangerous ways, or even just sort of escaping into our phones or, you know, at the dinner table if we're on our phone, that's just setting a really bad example.

And so we hope that by sharing some light on what happened with Annalee and, her family, that, you know, other families will maybe reevaluate their relationship with cell phones and also with social media.

You know, it's really interesting.

We came across a stat when doing this piece that from the years 2008 to 2020, and this is on a national level, girls between the ages of 15 and 24, their suicide rates increased by 87% 2008.

You know, that's around the time that Facebook is really starting to happen.

Within a few years after that, Instagram and these other apps, you know, TikTok and Snapchat since then have really taken off.

Undeniably a direct correlation between kids being super engaged on these social media platforms and their mental health declining.

We spend a little bit of time with Annalise, mother, who was willing to scroll through Annalise TikTok account, and that was probably the most painful part of the interview for Lori shot.

And we try not to press her to do that for too long.

But, you know, just seeing what her daughter was subjected to on social media, it made sense as to how she could have gone down a rabbit hole that really hurt her self-esteem.

And so we hope that other parents, by being exposed to this, will sort of take action and intervene if they see their own children sort of disappearing into their phones.

to watch the full documentary decode Colorado teen mental Health.

Tune in when it premieres Thursday, May 29th at 8 p.m..

Right here on PBS 12.

The filmmakers hope their work will be a reminder that when we listen, support and speak openly, we can build a future where every young person feels seen, safe and understood.

This week's heart of the West story is an artist who creates henna style textured acrylic painting and ceramics.

Bala is an Indian immigrant who has been a full time artist since 2012.

Meet Bala.

So.

So this is the same style as doing henna body art.

And I'm doing this process called sleep training where I am piping liquid clay on clay to get textured lengths.

Hi, I'm black PR graduate.

I am a full time professional artist.

I came to the US as an immigrant from Chennai, India where I grew up to pursue a PhD at Kansas State University.

It confuses a lot of people because you don't hear a lot of artists who have a PhD.

My background is wildlife diseases.

Biology was the goal.

Any other middle class upbringing in an Indian household?

You grow up with this idea of wanting to be a doctor, an engineer, you know something where you establish a career, right?

Art is not seen as worthless.

And actually, I didn't even know I could do art till I started painting.

I love prepping paint.

The reason I started doing them is I grew up with this art that's called column in South India.

Millions of Tamil women do it every day around the world.

So my thought was wanting to do that on a canvas that I could hang by the entryway.

And that's kind of how I fell into the art world.

It felt like, oh, I could do more of this.

Taking a break from biology for a bit.

It just took a life like this.

This is where my creativity is at.

Snapping.

And it's been 13 years.

It's all discovery along the way.

Honestly, like everything you see, I don't have a vision in my head when I paint.

Right?

It's not about the students of my hands.

It's about how I can control my breathing.

It's like I start with a blank canvas and where it takes me, it's unknown.

So when I finish a painting, it's as new to me as it is to you seeing it for the first time.

My main technique is grounded in how I can bring in my culture.

So you see, when I've made paintings, it's, It could be just henna.

Or if you know more about Indian stuff, it's Scholem.

Or when you see a portrait, it's like, oh, it's a dancer or it's a braid.

And so there are all these different points of connection that leads back to celebrating a culture.

When I was back in academia, it's like, you do lab work.

You do field work, you do statistics.

You know, there's so many different things you do.

But once you start doing art, you know, there's the business side of art and then there's the creative side.

But there's also this.

You have to constantly keep you all being and do more.

The masks in particular.

I started doing them about the same time.

I started painting portraits.

And it's nice because it's two different mediums, but they inform one another in how we create portraits.

Series of mixed media series.

That's the new thing that I just started like an eight and a half ago, and it is my way of showing the power of everyday women, in a sense, in the, you know, I never added labels to my identity in the past, but now it feels like I do have to, you know, say, hey, I am an Indian immigrant.

Women doing this because it brings visibility not just to me, but to also other underrepresented artists in the community, whether it's, women artists or Bipoc artists.

Right.

It's it's adding that extra voice to what I do.

We can be anything we want.

I'm not labeled or boxed in by like, oh, I used to be in academia, I was a scientist, or I am just an artist straight.

We are all so much more.

It's nice to be able to be part of that.

It's inspiring, especially for kids that they don't have to grow up with this idea of like, oh, I need to be a doctor or an engineer or any of that, that they can do whatever they want.

One of the reasons I paint mandalas and not mountains is wanting to highlight my culture and doing what I know, of course, but also I want kids to grow up with more.

More than what their parents grew up with, what their grandparents had as art in their homes, right?

We live in a global world, in a global culture, and I want kids to experience that.

And I see my art as a means producer.

It's my identity.

It's every thing that I bring to the table of who I am.

It's not just my art.

It's not just my language.

It's not just how I dress, right?

It's just all comes together.

Art is the easiest way I can express it.

And again, the group Bala mentioned is the Colorado South Asian Artists Group.

Congrats to Bala as she just had her opening night for the Go West show at the dairy Art Center in Boulder.

It'll be going now through June 29th and find out more about this Colorado artist.

You can go to Art by Bala Com or you can find her on Instagram at Art by Bala.

this week on Colorado inside Out, long time civic leader and elections expert Alton Dillard stepped in to guest host as Kyle is off this week for her daughter's graduation.

He led the roundtable discussion with our panel of local journalists and policy experts digging into the week's top headlines.

Free speech is in the headlines once again.

Lately, we've seen everything from angry constituents being 86, from elected officials, town halls to local elected bodies changing their public comment guidelines.

The latest example is the Aurora City Council, where community anger over the police shooting of an unarmed black man has led to heated exchanges inside and outside of council chambers.

Add to that the fact that the euro area camp is home to three local colleges will be monitored by the federal government because of the pro-Palestinian protest from last school year sparked allegations of anti-Semitism.

Why don't you kick us off, fatty?

Well, free speech is so tricky from so many angles because it's not just what you get to say.

It's who gets to say it.

It's who gets to say it to whom.

Let's take a radio.

One of the interesting things about that new investigation by the Civil Rights Commission is David Kopel, who's often at this table, was one of the ones who suggested it be investigated for what happened last year.

Just yesterday, Zoe Williams, who was arrested for just simply watching the action to.

And so that's another free speech issue.

So Auraria is going to be a hot button place for a long time.

And I'm not entirely sure they deserve it.

The police over responded that the DPD but the Auraria Police Department in that case.

But it's a mess.

Then let's go to the Colorado Legislature, which wants to cut back on open access, gets into who's a journalist who isn't a journalist.

Good for Polis to veto it.

Now it has to be rewritten and people will be defining what journalism is.

That's going to be a tricky task.

Well, speaking of journalism, which.

Right.

And not to mention the fact that they change the up and indeed the legislature up and the open meetings law, that's a 50 year old law that I think served journalists really well.

Up ended the whole thing and now allowed legislators to effectively talk among themselves without letting the public know what they're deciding.

I think that's a very bad scenario.

The what's happening at the Aurora City Council, I think, is less of a commentary on the First Amendment or civil discourse.

I think what's happening is a city council that struggled and lost control over the chambers order.

We have a group of very determined activists, and they have disrupted the council time and time again.

Is there some sort of an overreaction on the part of the council?

Maybe, yes.

Is there some new ones there?

I think so.

I think that at the moment, or you can't do the council's business anymore because you are disruptive, disrupted every single time.

You're no longer a functioning democracy and that's a real problem.

They have to find some sort of semblance of balance between allowing some form of protest, which is healthy for democracy, but also being able to get to the other problems that, you know, this city of, what, 400,000 people, some small city.

They've got lots of problems to get to.

Chris.

Yeah.

I mean, as far as Aurora goes, these, problems have been going on for a little while.

It's not just the activist group.

They've had situations where people have gotten on video to make comments, and and they're what they had to say was viewed as hate speech.

What we don't understand about the First Amendment is you have a right to say what you are going to say, as long as it's not perjury.

You're not lying.

You're not threatening.

You're not inciting violence.

And so we get into a situation where the council has been, accused of maybe censoring because they're only allowing one person at the podium.

I don't see a problem with that.

As long as that free speech piece isn't impeded, that people do have the right to to speak.

Another, criticism of the council was them going behind sort of closed doors and doing their business via video.

As long as it's not violating open meetings laws, they have the right to do that and to feel safe.

So it's interesting to watch the coverage of this.

I read quite a few articles.

And depending on who you read, you're going to get a different take on really what Aurora is doing.

So I highly recommend reading multiple sources on this situation to really understand.

Ian.

Well, it feels to me that the pendulum is swinging, and certainly there's this, era that we appear to be entering a federal government, really pushing into local control, trying to squeeze non-profits, trying to squeeze universities, trying to control them.

That's in the context of what's happened to Aurora and the pendulum swinging.

I think in particular, as it relates to public comment and input sessions, having worked for a local government.

There was a time when even Denver City Council didn't even have an average public comment, and it was rather challenging to even be able to use your voice.

They've added it in Lakewood and some of these other places.

And then with Covid, they moved into this opportunity of zoom or remote testimony.

I am fearful that some of those things are going to be taken away.

And to me, those are the things that are the most leveling of the playing field for people to participate.

If you're a mom and you can sit at home and wait for your few minutes to be able to voice your concerns to council, I think that's really important at the legislature and everywhere else.

And so, you know, shrinking from 3 minutes to 2 minutes, making it harder for people to sign up only in person.

This really restricts our democracy.

I don't really in favor of that.

And lastly, I guess I would say as far as free speech, if you're a free speech advocate, which I think we all should be, you have to get used to hearing things you don't like to hear, and you've got to move on with your life because everybody has that right.

Yeah, because you get a lot of that when people say, that's one of the things that's wrong with our society right now is the inability to have conversations with people you may not agree with.

So great points.

All.

I think there's an interesting point to where where councils don't have to allow for public comment.

They don't have to allow it.

However, it's good policy if they do, if they're engaged with their community and they know what the concerns of their community is.

Thanks again to Alton Dillon for guest hosting this week's episode while Kyle was away.

You can catch Colorado Inside out every Friday at 8 p.m. right here on PBS 12, also on the PBS passport app or on our YouTube channel.

You can also listen to the Colorado Inside Out podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Well, it's time to rewind to the 1990s.

In this week's viewfinder segment, we're taking a trip back to a decade that redefined culture, technology, and the way we connect with the world.

The 90s last decade Before the Future is an exhibit at the History Colorado Center.

Our own photojournalist, Rico Romero, takes us on a nostalgic ride of 90s memorabilia, fashion toys, and more.

Take a look.

We have the 90s last decade before the future.

So we brought back the greatest decade of all time.

We're trying to tell the story of how the 90s brought us to today.

Oh, yeah.

Hi.

My name is Jeremy Morton, and I'm an exhibition developer and historian at history.

I never realized how cool the 90s were.

Look at this.

This is so cool looking at the pictures.

And now I'm like, I would totally go back to the 90s.

First off, they're gonna they're gonna learn a little bit about how the 90s sort of acted as the sort of bridged decade that brought us from an analog past to a digital future.

That's what we mean when we say last decade before the future.

This is the rise of the information age.

I wonder if I can find any of my old tickets.

As they uncover this very interesting story about the 90s and also see some pretty incredible objects, things like Bill Clinton saxophone, John Elway's jersey biggie sweater, Backstreet Boys outfits, Tom Hanks uniform from Saving Private Ryan.

There's just so much to see.

And really something for everybody.

Is this from The Addams Family?

I think because it's such a intergenerational exhibit.

You know, there's something for boomers, there's something for millennials, there's something for Gen Z even.

Right?

I wish.

You can see what I'm seeing right now, that it's like I can literally I swear I can literally grab.

It.

Anybody can come here and find something that they sort of wave over the person there with to come check it out, like, oh my gosh, they have Jay-Z's Nike's like, come out here and check this out.

This is so crazy.

There's all these things that they like.

Oh wow.

Type of moment kind of.

Getting tripped out.

I don't even know.

Like what?

What is real right now?

I feel like I can touch it.

It's kind of emotional, honestly.

Like, oh, yeah, it brings these memories sort of flooding back when they see the desk like that, or a PC or a beeper or an old cell phone, or the giant Magnavox TV, the Blockbuster Video.

So you would put these in machines called VCRs.

It sort of taps into these memories.

People sometimes forgot they.

Which movie did you pick?

Oh, you're getting Star Wars in black.

Nice choice.

Sometimes you showed up at the blockbuster and they didn't have the tape you wanted.

So we have the sort of blockbuster rental case that you would have behind the VHS tape.

Where you bring the one behind it and then you leave this there.

People often discount, our lived history, our recent history, when they visit history museums or they think about history often, they're thinking hundreds of years in the past or even thousands of years in the past.

And it's easy to sort of discount this stuff that we lived through.

You know, I feel like just because I'm 21, I can't really tell, like how far away I am from like the 90s.

And I'm like, of course, some of these things, I've interacted with them before, but I'm like, I'm I'm part of it.

Probably not.

But it's just to kind of close and like, that's part of my childhood too.

You know.

People were like, why?

You know, why would you do something of the 90s?

And then you start to talk about, like, oh, yeah, we land on Mars for the first time, or, Denver International Airport, you know, Denver's growth or, the reshaping of global politics, all these huge events happened in the 90s.

These watershed events happen and people are like, oh, wow.

Yeah, the 90s really was a significant decade.

So it's super fun to show them and explain my childhood.

I'm 24 right now, and I'm like, I actually don't get a lot of the like stuff that's happening nowadays, right?

And I'm like, what?

At what point would they be going through my childhood, you know, a little.

You can see the 90s last decade before the future at the History Colorado Center in Denver.

Now through October 26th.

The museum is open daily from 10 to 5, and admission is free for kids 18 and under.

For tickets and more information, visit history colorado.org.

Spring is here and summer is coming soon.

So we invite you to journey along side one of nature's most extraordinary travelers, the Monarch Butterfly.

Monarchs in motion is a documentary by 14 year old Mason Mirabelli.

It follows the determined monarch butterfly on its 2500 mile migration from Canada to Mexico, and it uncovers the powerful connection between these butterflies, the environment and the people who work to protect them.

Enter the magical world of monarch butterflies.

Our journey shows this persistent creature as fragile as it is resilient.

Monarch butterflies are incredibly unique in that in the butterfly world, in the family of Lepidoptera, they are one of the very few that have a migration.

And not only do they have a migration, but they have a migration that extends thousands of miles, as far as southern Canada, all the way down to their wintering grounds in Mexico.

And the longest path of that migration is roughly 2500 miles.

These wintering grounds in Michoacan, Mexico, are not just a refuge for the monarchs, but an example of why it's important we continue to help the environment.

What Wellington has been working in the conservation of the migratory monarch butterfly for many, many years, and in 2000 with scientific information was able to help the Mexican government to extend the protected area where the monarch butterflies overwinter.

They created the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

When I think about visiting the wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly, the thing that comes to mind first are the people.

And when you visit the sanctuaries in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, you're visiting the homeland of people who are caring for these creatures.

And so for me, that's the first.

The face of the butterflies are the people who live in this place, who protect them.

Every little part of the migration is crucial.

The monarchs migration is not a lone journey, but a series of interactions between the butterflies and the people and places they encounter.

The life cycle of the monarch butterfly includes a metamorphosis, one of nature's most unique transformations.

To understand monarch butterfly migration, it's really important to understand the development of this butterfly because it goes through what's called metamorphosis.

Adult butterflies lay eggs and they lay their eggs on the milkweed plant.

And those eggs develop into caterpillars and those caterpillars.

Their primary job is to eat as much as possible, but they only eat one plant, and that plant is milkweed.

So then they, become a chrysalis, and then they metamorphose their cells, literally go into a goo, and then they're build into another organism, the adult phase of a butterfly.

That butterfly hatches, and then it's in its adult phase.

Access to milkweed is the most important part of the monarch lifecycle.

It's where the next generation will begin ensuring the continuation of the species as the monarchs navigate the vast landscapes of North America.

Their presence reminds us of the importance of our actions and their effects on the natural world.

As we look deeper into the monarch story, we meet the reality of the threats they face.

Their habitat, once covered in milkweed and wildflowers, has been transformed by many factors.

This one over the flies are confront the many threats.

First is Millwood extinction or depletion?

There has been a lot of human expansion and agricultural expansion, so they've been using, of course, herbicides, pesticides, and that impacts all of the plants, including the milkweed.

And monarchs depend on milkweed to reproduce.

Unfortunately, we learned that as we are producing more agricultural goods and thus we are expanding our Huron areas, we are killing those new weeds.

The monarch butterflies journey filled with many potential problems across much of North America.

Being able to ensure that milkweed and other, nectar plant species are available throughout the entire range of the monarch butterfly, that those are going to be the strategies that we need to put in place to make sure that this amazing phenomenon.

It is here to stay.

On their 2500 mile journey.

Monarchs navigate through many obstacles such as environmental hazards, shrinking breeding grounds, and the loss of milkweed due to pesticides.

I have the opportunity throughout the year to be able to guide people on wildlife tours, throughout North America, and one of the trips that I'm able to guide is actually to the wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly.

A massive community of caretakers and conservationists as formed across North America to support the migratory monarch.

When you work with species as charismatic as the monarch butterfly, is this not difficult to engage people?

This is an insect that you can see in your backyard hidden the United States, but you can also see it in Mexico.

And you can also see it in Canada.

The monarchs journey has become a shared one, with their fate linked to our individual and collective environmental actions.

And we're learning things that we never thought was possible.

And the monarch butterfly is this beautiful example of a species that is preposterous.

This half grand animal traveling 2005 hundred miles to a place it's never been before.

But its great great, great great ancestor has been to the exact tree that it's going to end up.

When we think about the monarch butterfly, it is a charismatic species and that captures the imagination of people.

It inspires people to action.

We as people can come together across boundaries, across, neighborhoods and cities and countries, and we can take care of the species that we live alongside in this one Earth, this one home.

The monarch story inspires people across North America to help these butterflies continue to thrive in their annual migration.

My advice would be to go out there, enjoy nature, and see what you can do.

There's a lot to do.

Everything that we do in our life has an impact in this planet.

From the things that we buy from the food that we eat, how we transport ourselves, but also what we do outside.

Do we trash?

Are we, you know, looking into using natural compost instead of fertilizers?

What can we do?

Is very important.

Question yourself and make sure that every action that you do impacts in a positive way, not only for the planet, but for your loved ones, is for us, is for the humanity.

Every garden planted, every pesticide not sprayed in, every voice raised in advocacy helps the monarchs continue to prosper.

From Canada to Mexico, we can all share the migratory monarch butterfly experience.

Their successes represent our shared actions and efforts towards conservation and environmentalism as we move forward.

Let the monarch be an example to the conservation and future for other species.

Their journey reminds us that hope is a choice we can make every day.

To catch this and other films like it from the Colorado Environmental Film Festival.

Go to PBS 12 for org.

If you haven't heard of Felix, I o daily, get ready.

He's a multi-instrumentalist, a vocalist, and bringing all the vibes to Ophelia's electric soap box.

MUSIC PLAYING You are one man with like, several projects, but like two big ones, like one is Felix Idolo and then one is Felix.

Fast forward, can you talk to me about the difference between those two projects?

Absolutely.

Our delay is, Because I feel like there is, one on the Pisces.

So you have these two fishes going in a different way.

So there's a there's a huge part of me that wants to, demonstrate all of my music capabilities and not feel like, oh, one of something didn't get set.

And so, Felix, fast forward is more production, more, scratching, because that's what I started off with.

More hip hop bass because I have that foundation.

And then Felix De La is, singer songwriter one natural instruments and, not as electronic.

And I feel like just having I'm basically, basically banger and ballad all the same person.

You know, I like that banger invalid.

Oh, you should do like a love below.

Speaker box album.

Like one sides banger, one side.

Ballad 113 came up again.

So to put that on, like kickstart, I'll be the first person.

Yes.

All right, Felix, thank you so much for your time.

It's always great to see you.

I need to see more of you, so I.

So I'm going.

I have to change my life so I can have you in my life for about you, right?

Already?

MUSIC PLAYING “All I Ever” is just a taste of what Felix is putting out into the world.

If you liked that, check out the full concert on Sounds on 29th right here on PBS12.

Thanks for watching Studio Twelve Be sure to follow us on social media and on YouTube.

We'll see you next Tuesday at 8 p.m. for another episode of Studio Twelve.

Until then, have a great week.

I'm Bazi Kanani.