ESF's Dr. Benette Whitmore launches
Funky Foodies, Inc. Podcast in Partnership with WCNY/PBS

Dr. Benette Whitmore-Environmental Studies faculty member and online graduate program coordinator-exudes contagious energy when talking about her newest project, the Funky Foodies podcast. "I've been thinking about food studies as an environmental, social, and cultural issue," she explains, "and I thought it would be cool to present these issues through the universal channel of food! My goal is to make learning accessible and fun. Not only will listeners take away some great nuggets of information, but each episode has a kid-friendly recipe tied to it."

Benette is the writer, director, and producer of the podcast, which she created specifically for young people who want to improve the world through environmental practices associated with food. Think: sustainable agriculture, food recovery, and preparing healthy meals. "My hope is that listeners start to see the connection between their food choices and the impact those choices have on the environment," she said. "This is a great way to expose young people to environmental issues through the lens of food and fun."

Stories are told through the voices of Frankie and Fern, who share their first encounter at the middle school cafetorium and discover their mutual interest in food as it relates to environmental concerns. They form an alliance, pledging to "Save the Planet, One Veggie Burger at a Time" by taking action that can really make a difference, thereby empowering other kids to know that they can be impactful, as well.

The 10-episode podcast launches at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 on WCNY 91.3 HD, will be hosted on WCNY.org, and can be streamed on Spotify. Funky Foodies is made possible through a generous donation from the Randolph G. Pack Foundation. Affiliated with the Environmental Studies Department at ESF, the Pack Foundation was established to create and disseminate knowledge about environmental concerns of high public interest.

Benette worked with Jason Kohlbrenner and Tyler Dorholt in ESF's Digital Storytelling Studio to produce, record, and edit each episode. ESF faculty member Tom McGrath produced music and sound design. ESF student Sami Cavalier manages social media for the project. Here's the season lineup:

EP 1: Pilot "Craving that Crispy Cricket Crunch"
EP 2: "Izzy & the Buzzing Bee Caper"
EP 3: "Frankie & Fern and the Science Fair Pickle"
EP 4: "Serving up a Food Recovery Program"
EP 5: "Standing up for Vertical Farming"
EP 6: "Vending Machine Takeover"
EP 7: "Izzy Dives into Seaweed"
EP 8: "Glow Earns Five Stars in Organics"
EP 9: "Henry Tries to Sink the Aquaponics Field Trip"
EP 10: "Izzy's Pop-up Pancake Party"

When Benette is not in the podcast studio, she's teaching courses in Environmental Education and Interpretation, and coordinating ESF's online graduate certificate program in Science & Environmental Communication and Public Relations Management. She's published seven children's books and written 35 episodes of an award-winning PBS children's television show. She has a PhD in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University. To follow the latest happenings, follow Funky Foodies @funky_foodies_inc and check out the website at funkyfoodies.org

SyraQs: What a former writer for ‘Pappyland’
TV show learned by listening to seniors


Benette Whitmore, a SUNY ESF professor and administrator for 30 years, stands near the children's section of the Community Library of DeWitt & Jamesville. Whitmore has written children's books and recently launched an environmental podcast for young people.
photo: Steve Pallone

By • Glenn Coin | gcoin@syracuse.com •
Editor’s note: Central New York is full of vibrant, intriguing, thoughtful, bright people committed to making our region a better place. Every Monday, we’ll publish a fast-paced question-and-answer session with one of them. Here is today’s interview, edited and condensed for clarity. 

Benette Whitmore has spent 30 years in the classrooms and administrative offices of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She’s also written seven children’s books, produced a video series interviewing senior citizens, wrote for a kid’s television show, and just launched a podcast that’s carried by WCNY. Whitmore sat down with syracuse.com recently to talk about saving the planet through better eating, what older people regret the most, and whether we can communicate with the dead.

• You’ve just launched a food podcast aimed at tweens called “Funky Foodies.” Can you tell me how that came about and give us a taste of the podcast, so to speak?
Years ago, I had written episodes of a children’s PBS television show called “Pappyland.” My daughter loved that show. Yes, a lot of people say that. I really got to flesh out dialogue, and it was really fun to get into the heads of these characters. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for the next step, I thought, Where I can help bridge science with communities that are non-science people? I started thinking about a podcast for children that would help them understand and learn about and get excited about the environment. Food studies is becoming a pretty hot topic on many college campuses, so I wondered how could I bring together the environmental piece with the food studies piece.

• There are a lot of podcasts out there. Why do another one? How is yours different?
There are a lot of children’s podcasts and I understand why, because parents want to get their kids away from screens and using their imaginations more. I did not find another podcast that dealt with the environment and how it’s related to food studies.

• The “Foodies” catch phrase is “Save the Planet, One Veggie Burger at a Time.” Is it really possible to save the planet by switching to Impossible burgers?
It does sound a little impossible, I know. But sure, cutting down on meat consumption is certainly a way to help improve the planet by using fewer resources and putting less methane into the air. Part of the mission (of the podcast) is to try to get kids into the kitchen cooking. Every week the theme of the episode is connected to one of the recipes that’s on our website.

• You’ve also done a series called “Rewinding the Tape,” in which you interview people in their 90s. You’re really hitting both ends of the generational spectrum.
That video series came about when my mother was living in residence for seniors. I just was so fascinated and intrigued by the older people that I met, and I just thought, “Wow, it’d be so cool to record their stories.” I was able to sit down and interview them, and then edit the films and add music that meant something (to them).

• What did people regret most? What did they cherish the most?
Across the board people always valued family and friendships. Regrets might be they worked too much and didn’t devote enough time to the things that are most important. Always with a tear in their eyes, saying, “I wish that I had realized earlier that I should have spent less time at the office and more time with my family.”

• How do those interviews affect you? Did they change the way you live or what you value?
I learned that we really need to listen to people. People who are older often are isolated or don’t have the opportunity or don’t feel like they have anything of value to share, because nobody really approaches them. I think it made me more sensitive to wanting to create those opportunities for conversations with older people.

• I imagine some of those interviews got emotional. They did. The men always broke down at some point. They’re at the stage of life where they’re really seeing that the end is not that far away and the beginning is very much in the distance. It’s a very bittersweet sort of experience, reflecting on your life.

• One of the videos wound up on the (television) show, “Long Island Medium.” Tell me how that happened.
One of the men who I had interviewed and who had passed away, his son sought out the “Long Island Medium” to try to get on the show. They asked him, “Do you have any pictures we can share as part of this segment?” and he said, “Oh, yeah, I have this.” It was really pretty cool to see it on TV.

• Did he connect with his father in the great beyond?
I don’t know that it was a conversation so much as just a reassurance that (his father) was OK. Whether you believe it or not, it was something that felt very satisfying to him.

• Do you believe in mediums? Do you believe we can talk to those who are gone?
I believe there’s more to the world than what meets our eyes. What about you?

• I'm pretty grounded in science and what we can see and observe. But until a couple hundred years ago, we had no idea the electromagnetic spectrum existed. So what else is out there?
Exactly. I don’t want to limit my understanding to just what we see here.

• You’ve written a bunch of kids books, including an endangered species counting book. It sounds kind of depressing, but maybe not.
It’s not depressing: We need to be aware of endangered species. It’s based on “The 12 days of Christmas,” but instead of “My true love gave to me,” it’s “My true love saved for me.” And the illustrations are really awesome. Of course, I didn’t do the illustrations, but it’s a nice Earth Day counting book.

• What’s it like teaching a very climate-aware group of students at ESF in times of rapidly changing climate?
I think it’s easy to feel despair when it comes to climate. I try to think of the ways that we can try to educate, to involve people, and try to inspire them to go forward and try to make things better.

• Yet we keep missing our climate emissions targets. Right, but I think that that we’re moving in the right direction.
It feels like people who weren’t that interested in climate are now getting it, and they’re really starting to get on board. They’re making it a priority.

• I guess if you if you weren’t optimistic, you wouldn’t be teaching young people.
You can’t have a Pollyanna approach to it. You have to acknowledge that there are these serious things going on, but at the same time, you have to give hope, right? There has to be hope that things can change and get better, or it would be impossible to walk into the classroom.