Pokerth sustaining better play8/13/2023 ![]() But I think also just learning more about crises of the climate and broader issues – there's a biodiversity crisis, and the sixth mass extinction going on, and plastic pollution. So there were different things kind of percolating around. But also one thing I remember is being interested in health, and starting to learn things about the environment as it relates to health, for example in terms of pollution and the food we eat. I've always been really interested and curious about animals. What specifically drove you to be interested in the climate? I remember Ferguson was a big – I was reading a lot about policing…Bernie Sanders’ primary campaign in 2015…you know, following different sorts of threads and being like “Okay, what's this? Why is this happening?” I think just reading stuff on the internet, kind of stumbling across it, and following news stories – and talking with my girlfriend, who's now my wife. What introduced you to this reading that provoked something in you? So I decided to go to grad school and study environmental policy. I wasn't really enjoying it as much and I just felt it was time to move on. So you know, I was doing that in my spare time – and then it got to the point where I just kind of wanted to do this with all my time. That's what I was most drawn to while learning things in my own research. I found that climate and environmental justice stuff was what I was really most interested in and passionate about. And I had been kind of reading and learning about stuff for a little while before that, but after Trump's election, I was finally compelled to actually get out in the real world and do something. So I got involved with political organizing with DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) in 2016. Take me through when you went from poker, to returning to school to study sustainability, and then to the environmental and climate space generally. But you also have to, when you're not playing, think about what different situations you get in, thinking through what you did, and whether you should have done things differently…and that involves a lot of reading and talking through stuff with other players. I mean, one thing is you have to play a lot. While I was looking for a job, I was like, “well, I'm gonna take this seriously for a little bit, and see if I can make a little spending money.” And I kept winning and eventually stopped looking for a job. ![]() And I was playing poker with my friends, kind of as a hobby. This conversation is slightly edited for length and clarity. What prompted the change? What energizes him? What made him so eager to embrace this new life? And perhaps, how does his story invite us to reflect on our own priorities and motives? I was intrigued by someone making a pretty out-of-the-ordinary switch in their day jobs, and wanted to learn more about Matt. Matt now writes a newsletter, Terrain, exploring what a “truly just and sustainable society built around people rather than profit might look like and how we can get there.” He also is a research fellow at Climate and Community Project, an organization dedicated towards developing climate, racial, and economic justice policy proposals. He went from poker table to classroom, studying sustainability at the University of Michigan. ![]() Soon, Matt packed up his chips and began betting on something else: the future of the planet. Matt’s professional career kicked off in January 2009, his most recent – and for now final – competition was in June 2017, around the same time Matt started getting involved with political organizing. And he did pretty darn well, earning his spot at places like the World Poker Tour final tables and a deep finish at the World Series of Poker Main Event on ESPN. Enough poker, in fact, to break into professional tournaments. After he left school, he found himself playing more and more poker. Matt Haugen graduated from the University of Florida in 2008.
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