Sustainability In Your Ear

Latest Episodes:

Earth911 Podcast: Ecoteens Founder Pragna Nidumolu On Activating Youth Environmental Networks Apr 08, 2024

Show notes

Youth face the greatest impact of climate change, and will certainly have to live with the consequences of the extractive economy for the longest time. They also have the opportunity to pass along a better world to future generations and Pragna Nidumolu, founder of EcoTeens, is working to make that happen. When she was 14, Pragna launched an organization dedicated to creating dialogue and campaigns to encourage youth to recycle and reuse products and packaging responsibly. She also produces a podcast, Green Stories, and contributed an article to Earth911 recently, How Youth Can Help Stop Plastic Pollution One Bottle Cap At A Time. The article discussed EcoTeens’ Million Voices campaign to encourage the consistent recycling of plastic bottles with the caps on, which still remains a challenge for many consumers because municipal recycling programs have conflicting practices.
Pragna discusses how to address youth eco anxiety, the potential for AI to help spread environmental practices, and the process of building a youth organization. Tune for an inspiring conversation with the next generation of environmental leaders, then get started on your mission to save our species, protect nature, and preserve the planet. You can learn more about Ecoteens at https://www.ecoteens.org/

Earth911 Podcast Special: Water For Peace With Model And Water Philanthropist Georgie Badiel Apr 01, 2024

Show notes

Join Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe for a special World Water Day conversation with model and activist Georgie Badiel and Newday Impact Investing's Dan Keeler. If you'd like to watch instead of listen to the show, which includes the world premiere of The Georgie Badiel Foundation's new fundingraising campaign video, visit our YouTube channel. Georgie's team supports a network of village wells in her homeland, Burkina Faso, that provides clean water, solar-powered community learning centers and gardens for more than 340,000 people. The organization trains women in the region to serve as engineers who install and maintain the wells, creating jobs and new life opportunities to girls who, like Georgie did in her youth, had to carry water miles every day. As many as 200 million hours per day of women's time is lost to carrying water around the world. By donating only $10 a month, you can help bring clean water to 36 people in a year.
We also talk with Dan Keeler of Newday Impact Investing, which dedicates at least five percent of its revenue to supporting environmental organizations, including The Jane Goodall Institute, EarthEcho International, and The Georgie Badiel Foundation. Dan explains how ordinary investors can participate in environmentally responsible investing through Newday's Ocean fund, clean water portfolio, and other financial services. You can learn more about The Georgie Badiel Foundation and donate to help support women-operated wells in Burkina Faso at https://www.georgiebadielfoundation.org/

Earth911 Podcast: Honeywell's Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Gavin Towler, On Accelerating ESG Efforts Mar 25, 2024

Show notes

Honeywell International is one of the largest companies in the world, ranking 115th in the Fortune 500 and operating in 70 countries around the world. With lines of business in aerospace, building technology, workplace safety, and digital technology, Honeywell is applying its expertise to reduce its environmental impact. Since 2018, Honeywell has reduced CO2 emissions by 18%, progressing toward its Scope 1 and 2 carbon neutrality goal for 2035. Our guest, Dr. Gavin Towler, the Chief Sustainability Officer at Honeywell, led those efforts. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the chemicals and fuels industry to the conversation today and has helped Honeywell reduce the emissions associated with its refrigerants and electric vehicle solutions while engaging the wider industry to encourage environmental progress.
An essential aspect of Honeywell’s progress is its focus on reducing operational carbon intensity, the amount of CO2 it generates to earn revenue, which fell from 60.5 MT of CO2e per $1 million of revenue in 2018 to 49.5 MT in 2022. Some of the projects Honeywell is pursuing include emissions management systems for oil and gas facilities that monitor and measure emissions and recover flare gas that traditionally was burned as waste. The company also launched battery energy storage systems to backup electric grids and is a leading producer of blue hydrogen, made from natural gas, at a facility that scrubs 98% of the CO2 produced by the process. You can learn more about Honeywell at https://www.honeywell.com/

Earth911 Podcast: EPAM Continuum On Amplifying The Impact Of Earth Hour Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

Earth Hour 2024, the "Biggest Hour for Earth" of the year, takes place on March 23rd. Since the World Wildlife Fund launched the event in 2007, Earth Hour has symbolized a commitment to the planet by simply turning off lights for one hour. However, despite its noble intentions, awareness of the movement was limited, with only 52% of the global population aware of the event. Our guests today, Phil Wilce and Antonia Simon, are Creative Director for Europe and Senior Experience Consultant, respectively, for EPAM Continuum, a research and strategy firm that worked with the World Wildlife Fund to reinvigorate the campaign and its outreach efforts as the climate crisis becomes more pronounced.
The project represents an opportunity to explore how to tell stories about the environment and humanity's impact on nature, something everyone listening to Sustainability In Your Ear thinks about in work and life.The project's cornerstone was identifying a new target audience, "the inactive middle," a group of people of all ages and backgrounds characterized by a lack of action driven by eco-anxiety and eco-fatigue. The strategy focused on transforming Earth Hour from a singular event into a gateway for nature-positive action, and a significant part of the design was introducing the "Biggest Hour for Earth" as a critical message. Some enjoyable new activities around Earth Hour in 2024 include an in-world Fortnite experience built to bring young people to the program.You can learn more about Earth Hour at https://www.earthhour.org/ and about EPAM at https://www.epam.com/

Earth911 Podcast: Globechain Founder & CEO May Al-Karooni On Expanding U.S. Reuse Markets Mar 11, 2024

Show notes

We can all take decisive action to protect the environment: reusing goods instead of sending them to landfills. By passing items on to others, whether through family, businesses, or community efforts, we avoid the need for new resources and reduce carbon emissions. May Al-Karooni, shares her story about founding Globechain.com, the largest dedicated reuse marketplace in the world, with just £800 (about $1,000). She aims to build a platform that enables worldwide reuse of excess inventory and lightly used goods. Globechain.com facilitates connections between corporations, charities, and individuals to repurpose a wide range of items. It prevents usable goods from contributing to landfill waste and supports non-profits and individuals by offering access to free items.
May explains how over 10,000 member organizations participate, and the unique economics that make like-new items free to those who can use them. Companies pay to list what they give away, receiving environmental reporting and sustainability credits for ESG reporting. If you've thought about starting your own reuse company, May's journey provides a blueprint you'll want to consult. You can learn more about Globechain at https://globechain.com

Earth911 Podcast: Concrete.ai CEO Alex Hall On Mixing Embodied Carbon Out Of the Built Environment Mar 04, 2024

Show notes

The built environment will evolve constantly, and NextCity.org reports that 75% of the infrastructure that will be in use by 2050 has not yet been built. That calls for a lot of concrete, and we need to avoid the emissions associated with that growth if we are to provide housing, workplaces, and everything that connects humanity on an equitable basis in a decarbonized world. Meet Alex Hall, CEO of Concrete.ai, which uses an artificial intelligence-based mixing platform to create affordable, lower-carbon concrete for any job based on the application and available materials. Concrete.ai claims its mixing solution reduces carbon emissions by an average of 30% compared to traditional concrete, and its goal is to eliminate a half-billion tons of concrete-related emissions annually.
Concrete, as we have discussed several times on the show, is one of the biggest sources of CO2 emissions in the world, accounting for between six percent and eight percent of annual carbon emissions. In the United States, we use 415 million cubic yards of concrete each year — that translates into about as much concrete as is in Hoover Dam being poured every 3 and 3/4 days. Concrete.ai’s technology, which is called Concrete Copilot, is an interesting solution because it can be applied to many different combinations of materials. That is especially useful in locations where supplies are in short supply and therefore expensive. You can learn more about Concrete.ai at https://concrete.ai

Earth911 Podcast: Xworks CEO Electra Coutsoftides on Pioneering Waste Networking Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

Meet Electra Coutsoftides, CEO of Xworks, who is building a business network to catalyze recycling progress. Xworks designed its platform to enhance waste handling and trading by accredited waste professionals. The U.K.-based company provides digital compliance reporting capabilities, making it easier for businesses and recycling programs to meet regulatory requirements. Members are verified before joining to ensure user trustworthiness, a keystone in any successful network. That confidence that trades are legitimate is essential to promoting a more efficient and reliable environment for trading and collaboration. In the past, these business conversations have taken place at industry conferences rather than in real time. A digital network can accelerate the industry’s progress. Suppose we can streamline connections, save time, reduce costs, and improve the integrity of transactions within the waste and recycling industry. In that case, we can make it more profitable to clean up our mess. You can learn more about Xworks at https://xworkstech.com

Earth911 Podcast: Dandelion Energy CEO Kathy Hannon on the Promise of Residential Geothermal Heat Pumps Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

Kathy Hannun, president and cofounder of Dandelion Energy, introduces an untapped heating and cooling capacity source for homes -- geothermal energy. Typically associated with high temperatures and geologically active areas such as hot springs or locations at the intersections of tectonic plates, geothermal heat pumps tap into the consistent year-round temperature of Earth’s outer crust to maintain a comfortable home environment. Dandelion emerged from Google X Lab and is transforming the heating and cooling choices available to New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts homeowners.
The Dandelion Energy system includes a heat pump inside the home and buried pipe systems, called ground loops, that transfer heat to or from the building. Geothermal technology is more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly than traditional furnaces, offering lower operating costs and reduced environmental impact. Kathy shares how the company started and its partnerships with utilities in the Northeast that are embracing geothermal to preserve their business and cut the peak energy demands that tax the power grid and increase emissions during high-demand events like cold snaps and heatwaves. You can learn more about Dandelion Energy at https://dandelionenergy.com/

Earth911 Podcast: EVRNU's Stacy Flynn On Creating Circular Fiber For Sustainable Fashion Feb 12, 2024

Show notes

Clothing and textile recycling has historically been scarcely available to consumers. It has yet to be successful, with clothing piling up in warehouses or being sent overseas instead of becoming a new generation of apparel. Stacy Flynn, CEO and co-founder of Evrnu, a textile innovations B Corporation, works to reduce the fashion industry's environmental impact with a circular, recycled cotton fiber called Nucycl. In this crucial conversation, Stacy discusses how we can encourage companies to stop making products while washing their hands of the environmental consequences of the take-make-waste approach to business. Fast fashion has inspired youth to wear clothing just a few times, but clothing can last and become an integral part of one's identity, not just when it's new. Making clothing last and recognizing and celebrating a fashion brand's durable clothing is one way to help create a movement for sustainable clothing and textiles for the home and office.
Evrnu made a significant mark in the sustainable fashion industry with a technology that recycles cotton garment waste to create premium, renewable fibers. This process gives a new life to discarded textiles. It reduces the need for virgin resources, reducing waste and pollution. Nucycl is a biodegradable material made from cotton that can be engineered for various uses, from intimate apparel to waterproof outdoor gear. Evrnu is pioneering innovative solutions that are both environmentally responsible and economically viable. With the growing demand for sustainability in the fashion industry, EVRNU's goal of making all textiles recyclable by 2030 and achieving a net-neutral fashion industry by 2050 are bold targets we wanted to explore. You can learn more about EVRNU at https://www.evrnu.com/

Earth911 Podcast: The Resource Renewal Institute's Chance Cutrano on Putting Fish Back in the Fields Feb 05, 2024

Show notes

Chance Cutrano is director of programs at the Resource Renewal Institute in Fairfax, California. He and his team are experimenting with blending two activities, rice and fish farming, to reduce the emissions from rice fields while creating additional income for farmers. It's a practice recovered from antiquity that led to the launch of the Fish in the Fields program, which lowers carbon equivalent emissions created by rice farming by as much as 66% while improving biodiversity. Fish in the Fields recently won the 2023 JMK Innovation Prize from the JM Kaplan Institute.
Nature does an amazing trick: it uses everything. Wherever there is an untapped source of energy, nature facilitates the differentiation of species to evolve a creature, large or small, that will consume that energy. Human industry went the other way, dumping every leftover item of waste instead of finding a way to use it — the consequence is a society that cannot live within the planet's ability to provide enough resources each year. Farming is an excellent testing ground for integrating previously disconnected industries. For example, last year, we talked with Lundberg Family Farms's Bryce Lundberg, who embraced a regenerative approach to growing rice that supports migratory birds during winter when fields are flooded.
Farming, which can be closely tied to nature when it breaks with industrial thinking, is a natural incubator of complex systems that minimize or reduce waste while contributing to the restoration of biodiversity. It might be the place where businesses will learn regenerative practices. The transition to a green, carbon, and resource-neutral economy will see many companies, communities, and nations begin to tear down the arbitrary silos in which they operate today to create circular flows of materials and energy at levels of efficiency we cannot dream of from the confines of the take-make-waste worldview.You can learn more about the Resource Renewal Institute at https://www.rri.org/fish-in-the-fields

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Sustainability In Your Ear

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected