Jasmin Singer: Author, actor, advocate and climate migrant is the brains and voice behind WXXI’s ‘Environmental Connections’

We love stories about how people find their way to Rochester.  This is an especially good one…

In the 2010s, WXXI Public Broadcasting’s Jasmin Singer, an accomplished and versatile writer, speaker, podcaster, thespian (and more), endured a wearying spate of stressful climate change-fueled disasters (droughts, fires, choking smoke, floods) in both northern and southern California. Being all-in on environmental and climate solutions in both her professional and personal life–and therefore viscerally affected by the ‘paradise lost’ patterns in California–Jasmin and her wife decided sadly that they needed to move on from the Golden State. They began researching American metros that would not only be relatively climate-friendly, but also climate-focused. Jasmin also sought a walkable, vegan-friendly, and LGBTQ+-friendly city to put down her new roots. 

In 2021, Jasmin rolled into Rochester, and since that first day, those new roots have deepened, spread and strengthened at warp speed. 

With her impressive combination of experience and interests–including authoring books on animal welfare and veganism, an award-winning podcast, and acting– Jasmin caught the eye of WXXI, our region’s PBS station. Today, Jasmin is the host of WXXI’s Environmental Connections, an exciting, compelling new radio and TV series focused on climate-related topics and issues affecting our region, nation, and planet. (Jasmin also deftly serves as a host for Weekend Edition and a fill-in host for the popular lunchtime radio talk show Connections with Evan Dawson, in addition to Morning Edition and All Things Considered).

Because the causes, consequences, and solutions to climate change are inherently intersectional, featured topics on the show range widely– topics to date have included “green jobs,” “beneficial electrification,” rewilding, eating for the climate, the re-use movement, family planning amidst climate change, “eco-tourism,” climate activism and civil disobedience, environmental justice, microplastics, eco-anxiety, wildlife, consumerism and consumer products, air travel, and many more. The TV show brings to the screen the most compelling issues and dialogues from the radio broadcasts, produced with on-location footage from out and about in the community. 

The Environmental Connections radio show airs the last Friday of each month, from 12-2 p.m., on WXXI-FM (105.9 and WXXI-AM 1370 in Rochester) and also on Geneva’s WEOS 89.5 FM; the TV show airs at 8:30 p.m. on Friday evenings and also on 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings, on WXXI-TV. 

Thanks to the magic of the internet, listeners and viewers can also access Environmental Connections radio and TV episodes on demand, at https://www.wxxinews.org/environmentalconnections and https://www.pbs.org/show/environmental-connections/. 

We are fortunate in Greater Rochester to have Jasmin working and living in and loving our community! Not only is she contributing hugely to environmental media, she is also walking the talk– with her ardent veganism, and her super-efficient, solar-powered and geothermally heated/cooled home in the city!

Rochester Ecology Partners team is thrilled to have Environmental Connections providing environmental information and inspiration via our public broadcasting station.  We’re also proud that our own Erin “E” Turpin has been a guest on two episodes of the show– one on whether to have kids in a warming world, and one on the importance of urban trees and tree equity! 

Environmental Connections becomes more impactful with the expansion of both the volume and variety of listeners and viewers. So tune in, spread the word, *and* share your show topic ideas with Jasmin here!