Tonight on studio 12, we take you to the largest community garden.

Colorado has to offer, the Denver Urban Gardens.

And we go inside the world of a local stained glass artist and his unique creations.

Kyle Dyer covers the hottest issues affecting our state in this week's Colorado Inside Out.

We also caught up with the band Dead Pioneers at their recent show at the Bluebird Theater.

We learn more about them as a band and what their message is all about.

All that and more.

Studio 12 starts right now.

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

This is studio 12.

Hi, I'm bazi kanani.

Our PBS 12 viewers have been asking for more gardening, and we're proudly giving it to them through our new partnership with Denver Urban Gardens.

Denver Urban Gardens, or Doug, as they're called for short, is one of the largest independent networks of food producing gardens in the country.

They have 200 community gardens and food forests across seven counties in metro Denver.

Doug is much more than just gardens.

Take a look.

Hi, my name is Judy Elliott.

I'm director of Compost and Garden education with Denver Urban Garden.

So Denver Urban Gardens, we are one of the largest nonprofit, independent community garden organizations in the US.

We started in the late 70s, unofficially, with one garden in northwest Denver.

And in that garden, our garden leader met a group of young women who had come from their country saying, isn't there a place in Denver where we can recreate our cultural traditions of food and heritage and connection to family?

So the garden leader said, I don't know.

Let me go talk to the person in the church right there.

So the garden leader talked to the person in the church who said, absolutely lutely.

We'll donate this plot of land and make it a community garden.

So today we are at our Grove Community Garden, which is a community garden.

And it's also our citywide composting demonstration site.

We are right off of Colorado Boulevard and 13th be right next to, you know, and a lot, which is actually owned by National Jewish Hospital.

It is very urban.

It is very loud.

When we teach compost classes, we have microphones to drown out the noise.

Here I've got all my peppers for the season.

Fresno, Shishito.

Some Greek chamomile, which is a Thai pepper.

So gardens?

Absolutely are important for food access.

They're also important.

Many of our gardens are on land in the inner city.

That has very little in the way of a tree canopy canopy on heat islands where grocery stores are not available.

Yes, you're such a good mind.

From our start in 1970 with four gardens, we now have almost 200 gardens, 20 food forests, many, many education programs.

And we're proud that of those 200 gardens that we had, only four of the gardens we no longer have.

So that's a pretty good testament to what we're doing for sustainability and resilience.

Our gardens are always managed by volunteer garden leaders, so nobody is prohibited from growing.

If they don't have the funds to rent a plant, they operate on a pay what you can basis.

I'm never done.

I mean, I do plants like printers and thing at home, but I'm never planted vegetables.

I think what distinguishes them from backyard gardens is that you or I might have in our home.

Is that their way of joining cultures?

So I gather you're not, a fan of the how bananas.

Very interactive.

Hey, I've got a new pepper.

Do you want to try it?

I've got new tomato type one.

Try it.

Whether they are in under-resourced communities or whether they are in the community.

So a little bit more resource.

They bring people together with from different cultural traditions, different growing styles, people who might not in everyday life know of each other and know of their strengths.

So they're a way of joining community.

We're lucky in this community garden because we have a really tight knit group.

And I really like it now.

It's just a nice little plot, and I've met a lot of people.

So this garden got me through Covid.

Actually, I joined in 2020 when everybody was stuck inside and I was going stir crazy and I joined the garden.

And I found my people.

I don't usually join a lot of things, but this has been kind of nice for me because I like to see things grow and watch them.

I get a little anxious, like, hurry up and grow.

But, you know, it's been fun to watch things.

So I like to think that that we don't just provide the space, but we're there to adapt our resources and our trainings to what community we need.

Definitely to share and to have a sense of community outside.

I think over the winter, people are, you know, tired of being inside.

They want to get out in nature.

I love the way you've planted things like corners.

All the gardeners share what they know about weeds and what works and what doesn't.

Teaching the skills for people to grow their own food.

So we're not providing food.

We are helping with food, access plants and then teaching people how to grow those.

about Denver Urban Gardens and how you can get involved, go to dewji.org.

Tonight, as part of our Humanize Women in the workforce series, we meet Alicia Harris, CEO and founder of Original Account Strategies.

That's a website development and graphic design agency here in Denver.

Alicia shares what her journey as a small business owner has been like, from building bridges among people and community to encouraging women to highlight their talents and accomplishments as she has continued to do in her career.

Here's Alicia's story.

My name is Alisha Harris.

I am the CEO and founder of Original Account Strategies.

We are a web development and graphic design agency.

I initially started this business, during the pandemic.

I was working in restaurants and quickly lost my job and needed to change and to adapt.

Especially knowing that in my household I am the major breadwinner.

When I started, it was just me trying to figure out what I could do to be helpful to people.

I got to a breaking point when I was working both the restaurant and my business, and realizing that I was pouring a lot of energy into building something for someone else, but not really giving my dreams a shot.

And I'm really excited that we now have three people and actually an intern starting today.

I really got passionate about being able to create spaces for people like me that I didn't see necessarily front and center in the industry, especially considering the world of graphic design and web development.

There are fewer females, fewer females of color.

I didn't know that it was possible for me.

It's a lot of pressure, but it is also a lot of fun because you know that it is uncharted territory.

Starting a business was actually what forced me to go out and find community.

And then my success came from really rooting into that community of pouring back into people and letting them pour into me.

Without community, I would not have a business that is still standing today.

People don't know what you're doing unless you tell them.

Being more comfortable about speaking about what it is that you're doing and telling the great things that you're able to bring to the table, has been one of the most important lessons that I have learned, whether throughout my career or in being a business owner, was letting people know how great I am and not being afraid to shy away from that.

Especially as women, we get made to feel smaller or to downsize our accomplishments because it we're told that it sounds like bragging.

I don't think that that's true.

You don't want to be the light that no one can see.

You want to be the light that everyone can see.

And now that I am growing my team, what I set as pricing or commanding, what we're worth or what the value is that we bring.

I have to stand firm for that because it also supports my team.

And so knowing that I'm upfront, it pushes me to really squeeze more of the value out of things and really showcase and highlight what we bring to the table because it's different.

It's not what you're getting from everyone else, and I'm really confident in that.

And I believe in my team as well as myself, and I have to be the one that is continuously putting forth that message so that other people can also see that and respond to that.

My mom was a really hard worker the way that she was always willing to be that pillar of strength for us, which means keeping a steady job, making sure that we had health insurance and, you know, all those like, little things that allow you to function as a as a full human or as a little child.

She was also our biggest cheerleader and our biggest fan, and I think that my mom knew that she wanted to be there for us.

And even though she wasn't the most vocal, she showed us love in a lot of different ways.

That is something that I always think about when I am the face of something, or presenting myself to someone, is that other people are depending on me in this way.

I don't want to speak for all females, but for me, I have approached things with more hesitancy than a male would.

There's a certain amount of risk in adventure that I absolutely adore that is just like inherent to my soul.

But when it comes to thinking bigger or dreaming bigger, I think a lot of times I get in my head.

This could only ever be a certain size, could only ever do a certain thing.

I've learned to take some influence, both from daring women in my life, but also some of the men who allow themselves to think without boundaries, and to think that this could be something bigger than what it is.

I am also frequently one of the younger people in some of the different conferences or events that I attend, and for me, that was also another really hard hurdle to overcome was this idea that I'm not qualified or I don't have as much experience and that I don't know what I'm doing because I'm so young and have had this success, I can't change, I can't change my age.

And one of the biggest things that allowed me to both have my business and live my life in a way that I enjoy.

The act of balancing.

It's not balance.

It is not a fixed point, but it is something that is always changing and adjusting and shifting.

When we think of like a flower in the breeze, it's shifting, it's moving, it's adjusting.

Life is not fixed.

It's always moving and it's always changing.

And I think that that's what work life balancing is.

It's making room for things and knowing that there's different seasons where I might be working a lot more, but also seasons where I might be playing a lot more.

I think we we get told as women that there are certain general benchmarks, I guess, that you're supposed to be hitting, you're supposed to have this type of relationship.

You're supposed to have these people surrounding you.

You're supposed to be at this stage in your career, it can be really hard to drown out that noise, especially when it's coming at you from lots of different sources.

Right?

You've got different types of media.

You've got reinforcement from family kind of pigeonholing you into this role.

That's one of the dangers, is not realizing that you're living someone else's dream.

If you know me and my husband, I am someone who is often daydreaming.

I'm thinking about how do we make things better, how do we improve this very future forward?

And he is someone who has a gentle way of bringing me back into, well, what do we need to do?

How do we get it done?

I'm so thankful for him and the support that he gives me, especially when it comes to thinking of being a female and not really falling into that traditional household role.

His support is really fantastic, and I find that both he and others that I surround myself have different patterns of thinking, which is so helpful.

My career trajectory has never been in a straight line.

I worked in costume design.

I worked on backcountry trail crews.

I worked in construction.

I worked in restaurants.

I'm willing to try new things.

I'm willing to test them out, and I'm willing to really give it my best effort to see if it might fit.

But there comes a point when I know that it's not a fit.

I have stayed at different places for far too long, or stayed in situations that I know were not right for me because I was scared to let go, scared to make that shift.

So I think hindsight I would give myself the advice to trust myself a little bit more, and to listen to my intuition and to listen to my gut and know that if I've given my best effort and I've made my best attempt at making something work, and I know that it's not right to give myself permission to let go and to do something different.

One of the things that I think is not talked about is sacrifice, or the ability to give one thing up if it's not for you.

So like for me, I don't want to have children and I'm okay with that.

I can give back to my community in other ways.

I think this idea of having it all, and of not acknowledging some of the hardship that comes along with it, can be really damaging.

It can be damaging externally because something always ends up falling, or it can be damaging internally because you're not realizing your true passion.

I think that women haven't been given that permission, so we kind of have to take it for ourselves, right?

We have to just say what it is that we want, and also be unapologetic about what it is that we don't want.

Since our interview with Alicia, she has finished her second year of graduate school, all while still running her business full time.

To view Alicia's personal artwork, you can visit her on Instagram at Alicia Harris Dot design or visit her website at Original Account strategies.com.

And if you all of the humanized series, you can go to our YouTube channel or our website at PBS 12.org.

Next up, as part of our heart of the West series celebrating local artists, we're taking you inside the colorful world of stained glass art.

And into the garage studio of Colorado artist Mark Stein.

We talked with Mark about his life and career as a stained glass artist, with big projects like at Buckley Air Force Chapel, two custom pieces that shine in homes across the world.

When I'm out here during the summer, my friends, my neighbors come by and watch for a while.

It's very nice.

My iPod is my most prized possession.

I get all my, music from basically the public library, and my cassettes go even further back, and I've just never really thrown them away.

But I certainly don't really listen to the man.

Him or, you know, I listen to a lot of different kinds of music today.

A lot of music has a very simplistic melody.

I like a cappella.

I like classic rock and roll.

I like Western music, not country, but Western music.

You know, about the cowboy and, rodeo, that kind of music.

When I was ten years old, my dad and two of my uncles took a class and adult class and stained glass.

My father had bought the tools and supplies.

So at the age of 11, I started teaching myself, with getting started by my uncle.

But the method I use today is what I came up with pretty much on my own.

I was destined to go to med school.

I was a microbiology major in college.

I was already making stained glass all the time and as a summer job.

And so I thought, I'll do stained glass professionally for a year.

And I've always loved it, and I just never went back.

And I struggled before the internet.

There were times I worked a a second job because I struggled to make enough money.

That stained glass.

Yeah, I love to show these off because they are pretty cool.

My parents used to say, oh Mark, go get your late.

Your latest thing and show these people.

It was also difficult for them because they were they were frightened from the first moment that I would make a career out of this.

They wanted the best for me and they were, convinced without really knowing, but still very sure of the fact that I would struggle all my life if I chose arts over medicine.

I've never had an art class in my life.

I mean, I've studied enough about art on my own that I'm able to design for my clients, but I couldn't sketch a face if my life depended on it.

So I'm kind of a one trick pony.

Not exactly okay.

For me, the internet was a real savior because my work went from local to national.

One morning about 20 years ago, I got a phone call from an Air Force architect.

I met with them at about noon, and by 1230 I had $100,000 commission, which I completed in six months.

The scale of it was a challenge.

It was 47 windows, large windows.

It's in the main chapel at the Chapel Center at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.

I just like to say I submitted 13 designs.

They picked the one I liked the least.

I can see that's going to be the problem.

Stained glass can be very frustrating.

Ball of clay.

You can pull it out a thousand times on the wheel until you learn how to do it.

But stained glass is expensive.

The materials, the glass, etc.

is expensive and once you scratch a line on the glass, there's no taking it away.

There's no going back.

There are a number of moments that are better than others.

Grinding is drudgery.

Working with the clients is definitely one of the high points.

Putting in the windows is definitely one of the high points when you stand back and you and you're, you know, you're impressed by your own creation and your client is equally, you know, aghast at how great it comes out.

This is going to go in the front door of this home in Houston.

And stained glass grabs a lot of people because it's colorful and, and it's got the, the light, the play of light that's come in through the glass.

There's a lot about art that I don't know.

I know what I like.

I spent lots of hours in the library looking at art books.

Up there in the window.

You can see what I started making when I was 11.

The butterfly, the skier, little sun catchers.

I was captivated by it immediately.

I consider myself extremely lucky that I make my living at basically this hobby that I took up when I was ten years old that I fell in love with.

How did I become who I am?

And really, it's so circumstantial.

If my dad hadn't taken this class, I never would have touched a glass cutter in my whole life, I'm sure.

And I love my life.

I never set an alarm clock, and I never drive rush hour traffic.

You know, it's been so rewarding, the the work that I do for people and the life that I live because of it.

To see more of his designs, head to TD stained glass.com and stay tuned for more in our heart of the West series as we continue to spotlight Colorado artists here on studio 12.

Colorado's number of measles cases is now in the double digits and is only June.

In a typical year, we usually see just 1 or 2 reported cases.

Coloradans seem to be reacting to this news.

Officials at the state health department say more people of all ages are now getting the MMR vaccine to protect from measles.

But our vaccine rates are still slightly below the threshold needed for broad community protection.

Scientists are pointing to a familiar culprit vaccine hesitancy.

My colleague Arlo Perez Esquivel is co-host of the Colorado to Day podcast from CPR news.

He recently spoke with a local researcher who has found something unexpected about how the media you choose may influence your choice to get vaccinated.

People who get their news from a wider set of political viewpoints are less likely to trust science.

That, according to a new study out of Colorado, Dan Grant is lead researcher.

She is here with me now.

Hey there.

Danny.

Hi.

Thank you for having me.

Hello.

So I want to start out by asking you what actually got you to study the media habits and how they affect health decisions.

Well, we all lived through the Covid 19 pandemic and the lockdowns.

And during this time, my collaborators and I just noticed this intense polarization developing where more right leaning news outlets tended to question, the efficacy of Covid 19 vaccines, whereas, left leaning and farther left leaning news tended to focus on, you know, emphasizing that we should trust in scientists.

Now, you decided to question that narrative.

Yeah.

So we found that, when people consumed more diverse media.

So when people were consuming both Fox News and CNN or, CNN and ABC and Wall Street Journal, they were more likely to get vaccinated, but surprisingly less likely to trust in science.

That is surprising.

Can you break it down for me?

Why?

Trust in science isn't necessarily something that should be unconditionally embraced, but the history of science, we have, you know, numerous points of evidence where, scientists didn't necessarily, intend to benefit the community that they served.

Questioning scientists is not only, important for the public to do, but also an important piece of the scientific process.

That's why we have peer review.

So the fact that when liberals consumed more diverse outlets across the spectrum, the fact that trust in science decreased in my opinion, may be a good thing.

So that is one side of the spectrum.

What happens with the conservative side?

What do you see there?

Well, the conservative side is far less trusting of science.

It's not unconditional distrust, but it is certainly an overly healthy distrust.

This became problematic when it comes to communal behaviors to help protect your community.

In order for, a community to reach herd immunity.

We need somewhere around 80%, what, 90, 95% for measles?

This means that when you have a large portion, an active society that has a strong distrust in science or distrust in vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, it makes it much more difficult to reach that point where your community can reach herd immunity.

So when the public kind of sees the data that came out of your study, what should they do?

How should they act differently?

Well, first, one thing you could do is just power through listening to news that you might not agree with.

But what our research shows is that you don't have to necessarily jump into the other extreme.

You can still consume news that is, you know, leans into your ideological, inclinations.

But trying to just get news from different places Vox, slate and, you know, NBC and CBS, they don't report news.

The exact same way.

They have different journalists that have different values.

And this goes the same for, news on the right.

You know, Breitbart doesn't report the news in the same way that Fox News does.

Another thing, part of the reason I'm doing this interview is because I think that scientists need to get more on the news.

They need to, and particularly with news that might not necessarily be sympathetic to the things that they do research on.

As you mentioned, that challenge is a part of the scientific process.

Yeah.

The challenge is part of the scientific process.

The news outlets on the right, you know, may often, not be sympathetic to some of the things that we research, but I have no doubt that there is a thirst for a dialog there.

Danny Grant, thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

That was Danny Grant from the University of Colorado speaking with Arlo Perez Esquibel.

From CPR news, you can hear more stories like this and the day's top stories each weekday and the Colorado to Day podcast.

Find it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

On Colorado Inside Out, Kyle Dyer and her dynamic lineup of panelists bring to the table real issues that impact Colorado and our lives.

Here's Kyle with more of this week's stories making headlines.

Hello.

The most special thing about Colorado Inside Out is that we have the time to devote to discussing important happenings and issues in our communities.

Every week, our panel comes to this table with different perspectives and insights, which allows us to bring some context to the stories that surround us in Colorado, after the anti-Semitic attacks on Boulder's Pearl Street.

There is a lot to talk about and to listen to as the city and the Jewish community here.

Here's part of our conversation.

Healing is the focus.

Going forward in Boulder and among the Jewish community.

Wednesday night, there was a large community gathering at the JCC earlier that day.

There was a rally with local leaders.

And then this Sunday, the 30th annual Boulder Jewish Festival is set to go on as scheduled in the same spot right there on Pearl Street, where last weekend people were horribly injured.

Now, the man charged with the anti-Semitic attack will spend life in prison if convicted of the dozens of state charges and then the federal hate crime he's facing.

The Egyptian national was in the country illegally and chose to use fire as his weapon when he could not purchase a gun because his visa had expired.

Patty, I will start with you.

This story was shocking, and just how it evolved over the speakers has been something to watch.

It was incredible just hearing on Sunday first that there was an attack on the mall.

I automatically assumed it was downtown because people had been so concerned downtown Denver would reopen 16th Street and something would happen because everyone had been so obsessed with safety there.

And then all of a sudden, you hear Boulder and you hear you think, not again.

I mean, this state has gone through Columbine.

It's gone through the Aurora theater shootings, the Planned Parenthood shootings, the club shootings, the King Soopers shootings, and at King Soopers.

And then this happened in Boulder.

It's just a narrative that's beyond belief.

It can happen there.

It can happen anywhere.

And then as the additional news started coming out, the peaceful gathering that has been getting together, what, since October of 2023, they have gone to protest the continuing hostage situation with the Hamas.

And for these people to be attacked by this man who we are now finding out was had overstayed his welcome with the visa.

We now hear Trump, of course, is now banning travelers from 12 countries.

When Egypt wasn't even one of them.

So that wouldn't have stopped this.

Interestingly, the gun law in Colorado did stop him getting a gun, which might have made it worse.

The fire, though, was just the video that was captured is horrifying.

Eric.

Obviously this hits personally.

It hits home.

Some viewers, you know, know my story.

I'm the first born son of two Holocaust refugees who got out of Germany, but not all of their families were able to escape with them.

So, you know, we're all a product of of our heritage and where we came from.

And some issues hit home more than others.

There's this delineation that some people try to hold that to hang their hat on of, anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic.

And I will grant there's a difference between the two.

They're not, always one and the same, but they are close cousins in many sense.

If you want to argue as vociferously as you want against specific policies of the Israeli government or specific actors within the Israeli government, more power to you and I'll join in on that.

But when you attack Israel's right to exist as a country, when you will get up there and pronounce from the river to the sea, which basically means there is no more Jewish homeland, that then goes way beyond anti-Zionism and into full blown anti-Semitism.

And there's way too much of that in the world.

It's the disease that won't go away.

And he was caught on camera.

The attacker was making claims and shouting things like that.

Chris well, I'm going to make the case that the gun law didn't work in this situation because he was flagged, because he failed the background check.

His visa had expired, but there was no follow up on this man.

Why was there no follow up that he could have been stopped right there?

The law really didn't work.

Gun laws don't prevent violence.

Granted, he didn't do as much damage as he could have, but violent offenders will always find a way to violently offend unless we stop them first.

You know, as to what Eric was sharing about this group did not have, a Zionist message.

They were simply protesting the fact that hostages are still being held for a very long time.

And these were Americans.

Every American should be upset about what happened here.

This wasn't just, an attack on someone because of what's going on in another country, but these were Americans that had a voice and they were expressing it peacefully.

And then this happened.

Every American should be angry.

Laura, what.

Was interesting is that this man is coming from a, a city of Colorado Springs, which is not a sanctuary city.

And so much has been made about whether it's a sanctuary city and it's allowing immigrants to stay undocumented in, in those cities or states.

And this clearly wasn't the case in Colorado Springs.

And yet he still was able to to, bring about these acts of violence.

So I think that's, I think we need to take a moment about what it what it means to be a sanctuary city or not, and, and what the results can lead to.

And that's been so much of the talk.

You know, people are pointing fingers.

People are publicly going online blaming Governor Polis, for creating a sanctuary state.

I don't think this man was really thinking about what policies policies were.

This man was blinded by pure hatred, and that's what he took action on.

And we're beginning now to see he made videos.

He kept a journal.

He had a manifesto.

So his twisted the thinking was all hate.

The problem is, though, we don't know who is in this country because we have allowed immigration and an open border policy for four years, and we're trying to correct that now.

I don't know that the methods are always lining up with what's going to be the best, but we really don't know who's in this country and what their opinions of us are or what their intentions are.

But but I think you are talking about it's a broken system.

I think everybody would agree that it's a broken system, but it doesn't mean that that has been open for the last four years.

I would disagree with you on that point.

I think it's been a different attempt.

Right.

And if you'll remember, the there was a bipartisan bill that came up that was going to reform, immigration and the way people came into this country.

And Trump shot it down and everybody was on board.

Both sides were on board.

And because of politics and because he's more concerned about himself than what's good for our country, it was shot down and every Republican stood behind him.

And so that's that is a problem.

Also, the policy brought up earlier in the administration.

It was negotiated and the Republicans pushed the Democrats to the table.

And I think that's fantastic.

And that is a great way for our country to move forward.

But then the Republicans fell in line behind a specific leader instead of behind principles.

Both Laura and Chris are correct in their own way.

Yes, it is a broken system.

And yes, it was particularly out of control and ill managed over the last four years.

But I think it is a mistake to hang this purely on the issue that he was an immigrant.

I mean, I flashback to Oklahoma City, those two guys, they weren't immigrants.

They were as white bread as American boys can be.

These are individual acts.

They are not group acts.

We need to address them as individual acts.

That is not to say we can't fix our immigration system, and must fix our immigration system and have a better idea of who's in this country.

But to use this to demonize all immigrants is wrong, and.

I don't want to pretend that I'm demonizing all immigrants.

But we have had a broken system and this man was here illegally, expired visa, 40% of those who are here illegally came with a visa and it's expired.

So something has to be fixed.

And the administration says they're going to be cracking down on those people who are overstaying their visas.

Now, you can watch our full episode of Colorado Inside Out at PBS 12.org on the PBS passport app or on our YouTube channel.

You can also listen to our extended conversation on our podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

We are here for you, Colorado, and we're already gearing up for this week's episode, which will premiere this Friday at eight right here on PBS 12.

If you love nature's wonders, we invite you to journey alongside the monarch butterfly.

Monarchs in motion is a documentary by a 14 year old filmmaker.

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.org.

And to end our show tonight, we bring you the raw punk sounds of the band Dead Pioneers and their electrifying performance at the Bluebird Theater here in Denver.

Rooted in themes of identity, resistance and the indigenous experience, their music confronts American political life.

Head on.

Bold, defiant and unforgettable.

Here are Dead Pioneers.

MUSIC PLAYING Him.

Greg, I want to just get right into it.

When talking with a mind like yours, an artist of your caliber.

I just want to hop right into it.

When we last talked, you talked about being native.

Being indigenous as first and foremost, a political like identity.

Can you talk to me about that a bit?

Yeah.

The misconception of indigenous existence in the United States is that we're a racial group.

We're not a racial group.

We're a political group, a political status.

We're canonized in, the so-called founding documents of this country.

And, and also canonized as, as Indians, which, you know, 4 or 500 years later, we know is an incorrect term, but we still use it.

And, which changes sort of the way in which, like, as a native person, when you know that and you realize that it changes the way that you articulate our issues and recognize the, the power and the importance of the things that we say that are sort of on a political, social, or even a cultural spectrum.

Until I found out that you Public enemy has plays a big role in some of your political and activist awakening.

Yeah.

So how does a kid from Salt Lake City encounter Chuck D and then become a visual artist and then leading this, like, this incredible group that pioneers like, what's that path?

It's not as straight as a line as you had just stayed as head.

For sure.

Music was always really important growing up.

And my father was a hippie.

And so it was just like, you know, Bob Dylan and Crosby, stills and Nash and Crosby young and Neil Young and, even, you know, some others, like Steely Dan and Steppenwolf and, and James Taylor, you know.

But my mom had a pop sensibility, so she was, Prince and Michael Jackson and David Bowie and things of that nature.

But it was always really important.

And those ended up being things that I connected with as a, disenfranchized indigenous kid, a brown kid in an all white small town in Utah.

And, so I connected with a lot of music and a lot of things.

But, watching the black experience unfold in rap and hip hop meant something to me because there was something familiar to it, to the shared experiences of being othered, you know, sort of in a, in an American system.

And Public Enemy, was it?

I mean, they minced no words.

They they say exactly what, you think that they're saying.

And, I loved the unapologetic nature of Chuck D and his delivery and cadences.

Something I've always loved, I know.

Welcome to the terrordome.

From the beginning to the end, off of, fear of a Black Planet.

And that really sort of is, I think, a catalyst for my own political ideas in awakening, realizing that there's a shared experience between the black experience and the indigenous experience, as we are both two groups that are rooted in the foundation of this country.

And in its problematic, you know, presentation, that translates, I think, to, a career of being unapologetically outspoken.

Within my work, within my activism, within, anything that I've been attached to.

And now to, my inability to speak in a poetic way.

What you hear is what you get.

And, and that that's how it exists within dead pioneers, which to me feels like a culmination of everything that I've been working on into this one project.

And it just happens to be the project that seems to be gaining ground.

I don't know that it's necessarily better or worse than anything else I've ever done.

It just in the moment, it seems to be the thing that is being amplified the most.

MUSIC PLAYING watching studio 12.

Be sure to follow us on social media and on YouTube.

We'll see you next Tuesday night at eight.

Until then, have a great week.

I'm Bazi Kanani.