Weaving stories of resistance and resilience that narrate struggles for environmental rights in cities, pueblos and villages across the globe, which reveal the sacredness of and kinship between plants, humans, animals, land and the Creator.
About us
Radix is a story-sharing collective promoting resistance and resilience for the healing of our lands and peoples. We are people of faith and conscience from various backgrounds, and reside in the Ventura River Watershed, Los Angeles River Watershed, Ballona Creek Watershed, and Willamette River Watershed, living and working in Chumash, Tongva and Kalapuya traditional territories.
Vision
Our mission is to share stories about how communities and individuals resist destructive social structures and environmental degradation, and seek to create a better world for all living beings. Our hope is that these stories will inspire emerging leaders to cultivate a vocation that intersects soil, sanctuary, streets, and soil.
Team Bios & Photos
Grecia Lopez-Reyes
Grecia Lopez-Reyes (she/her) is senior community organizer with Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy [link to laane.org], working around faith, labor and environmental justice. Grecia grew up in Guatemala with her grandmother and sisters. Her grandmother planted the roots of her vocation through her life of simplicity, compassion and service to others. Her grandmother’s compassionate and fierce character instilled the importance of always standing alongside communities fighting for change. Grecia currently resides in a Los Angeles suburb with her husband Josh.
Josh Lopez-Reyes
Josh Lopez-Reyes (he/him) is a son to Rocio and Manuel, brother to Abraham and husband to Grecia. He is a Californiano with family roots in the lands today known as México and the southwest of the United States. Josh currently serves as the director of the Echo Park Immigration Center [link to epicla.org]. He is passionate about the Radix storytelling project because of the ways that it brings together issues revolving around land, life, liberation, and justice for oppressed communities.
Jeannette Ban
Jeannette Ban (she/her) is a public health practitioner and regenerative farmer with a passion for environmental justice, climate change adaptation & mitigation techniques, and food policy transformation. She was born to immigrant parents in Tongva lands, now known as Los Angeles, CA, and currently resides in unceded Chumash Territory of Ventura, California. Her interest in the power of community-rooted systems change and the enduring struggle for land, water, and health rights in neighborhoods around the world drew her to the Radix storytelling project.
Lola Wests
Lola West (she/her) has worked as a writer and storyteller for non-profits in the environmental, agricultural, and social services sectors. Growing up in Southern California on unceded Chumash Territory, Lola spent afternoons in her childhood traipsing through wild grass to play with the animals that lived in the surrounding mountains or making mud pies out of soil, water, and wildflowers. Along the way, she cultivated an interest in the stories that all living things have to share. Currently, Lola lives in Ventura, CA with her partner, Jeannette, and their two lively pups, Margot and Olive.
Bethany Renata Loberg
Bethany Renata Loberg (she/her/hers) grew up in Salem, Oregon on unceded Kalapuya territory in a family that believed deeply in the interconnection and importance of peace, justice, and faith. Bethany’s parents took her to her first protest denouncing U.S. policy in Central America when she was nine days old. Trained in justice, peacebuilding, and conflict transformation, Bethany’s work has centered on immigrant rights, solidarity with Central America, and racial justice. Bethany currently lives in Salem and is a member of Salem Mennonite Church.
Gabriela Worrel
Gabriela Worrel (she/her) grew up close to the US-Mexico border in San Diego, CA, and her earliest memories involve traveling across the border to her mother’s native Baja California. Her family’s immigrant background is a formative force in her life, and brings to bear questions of how cultural ancestry impacts identity, vocation, and establishing and caring for ‘home’ on this earth. Gabriela is trained as a biologist and urban planner and resides in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, two children, and two rascally rabbits.
Daniel P. Castillo
Daniel P. Castillo (he/him) brings over 15 years of creative strategic planning and creative programming, two decades of community organizing and coalition building, several years of leadership development in the juvenile justice, education, and creative arts sectors, along with equity, inclusion, diversity, access, and anti-racism consulting experience to the team. His work spans from graphic design, filmmaking, brand and marketing consulting, to education, curriculum development, community organizing, and leadership development, with systems-impacted youth at the grassroots and executives at the treetops. Daniel supports organizations develop creative arts programming, advises on creative content, campaigns, and event promotions, and develops youth community organizing, anti-bias curriculum, and stakeholder engagement strategies across all sectors. He puts his filmmaking, graphic design, and social media marketing skills to use to provide creative marketing, design, and communications expertise for partners who are looking to effectively communicate