Commonwealth Club of California Podcast CLIMATE ONE: ENCORE - Small Dollar, Big Impact
Nov 28, 2025
Kinari Webb, a physician and conservationist, discusses how intertwining healthcare with rainforest conservation has led to significant environmental and health improvements in communities. Premal Shah, social entrepreneur and co-founder of Kiva.org, shares insights on the power of microfinance in driving renewable energy solutions, advocating for funding solar projects where they have the greatest impact. Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the Environmental Voter Project, highlights the need to shift the narrative around climate action from individual guilt to collective political responsibility.
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Listening Reveals High-Leverage Needs
- Webb's teams practiced 'radical listening' and asked communities what they'd need to protect the forest in return for stewardship.
- Communities prioritized healthcare and livelihoods training, which led to dramatic drops in deforestation and infant mortality.
Health Investments Protect Forests
- Targeted, community-led interventions yielded measurable ecological and health returns: forest regrowth, reduced infant mortality, and large carbon savings.
- Health in Harmony reported a 70% reduction in primary forest loss and a twelvefold return on investment.
Near-Death Shifted Her Scale
- Webb survived a nearly fatal box jellyfish sting that left her critically ill for years and motivated broader scaling of her work.
- After recovery she expanded Health in Harmony from Borneo to Madagascar and Brazil to avoid rainforest tipping points.
