Uptown Chats

About Uptown Chats

Join Jaron and Lonnie as they explore issues in their community through the eyes of everyday people, and discuss how environmental justice is showing up in the news. It’s not just for experts, it's for everyone! The podcast is officially 1 year old! Now that we're older and wiser, we're releasing episodes twice each month - on the second and last Monday of each month. Uptown Chats is the official podcast of WE ACT for Environmental Justice. WE ACT was founded in 1988 and has offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. You can find us online at weact.org.

Publisher

Jaron Burke, Lonnie Portis, WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Category

business · education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Dec 2022

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

80 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   Data Centers and Environmental Justice

   Hyperscale data centers are getting a lot of coverage in the news lately. Join Jaron and Lonnie to learn about the impact of these data centers on environmental justice communities across the country with help from WE ACT’s Federal Policy Manager, Yosef Robele. Learn more about WE ACT's Data Center Environmental Justice Principles! Check out one of our previous episodes featuring Dr. Nicky Sheats, where we talked about his role in the development of New Jersey’s Cumulative Impacts law, and the larger issue of cumulative impacts across the country: Episode 31: US Energy Policy Wrong Direction Mini-Series: Cumulative Impacts

2. 

   28 Sept 2026

   Climate Resilience and Economics

   Climate week may be over, but we're still here doing the work! Join Jaron and Lonnie to learn about some of WE ACT's ongoing efforts in East Harlem to promote climate resilience along with an interview with Dr. Gary Yohe about the intersection between climate resilience and economics. Want to learn more about our work in East Harlem? RSVP for the State of East Harlem Town Hall on Wednesday, October 21st 6:00pm at El Museo del Barrio!

3. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Environmental Justice Leadership Forum

   It's a podcast takeover! Join Tali Natter, WE ACT's Research Coordinator and former Cecil Corbin-Mark Environmental Justice Research Fellow, to get a peak into the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum Annual Convening that WE ACT help coordinate back in June of this year in Chicago along with several environmental justice organizations across the country. Some of the interviews were conducted during the annual convening, and may not have the same audio quality as the rest of the episode - our apologies! Learn more about the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum! You can also listen to this episode on YouTube. Got questions? Email us at podcast@weact.org Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Facebook Donate to WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Who has been a guest on Uptown Chats

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jon Furlong
• Robert Zandi
• Alexander Seki

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

97,411

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 62 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

44

Social presence

97

YouTube

76

Engagement

77

Contact Uptown Chats

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Uptown Chats