Sustainability In Your Ear

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Earth911 Podcast: Project Censored's 25 Under-Reported Environmental Stories of 2023 Jan 29, 2024

Show notes

As we enter 2024, closing the books on 2023's record heat, economic and geopolitical turmoil, and a raft of climate change stories in the mainstream press, we're fortunate to have Project Censored's Andy Lee Roth return to the show to discuss the most under-reported environmental stories of the last year. Andy last visited with us to discuss 2022's under-reported stories. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation about the hidden environmental stories reported on independent news sites like The Guardian, High Country News, and other news sources tracked by Project Censored.
The mainstream press has responded to rising public concern about climate change with more practical information — they've assigned sustainability as a beat and hired columnists to deliver action-oriented articles. But at the same time, they do not do the enterprise reporting required to uncover significant environmental abuses by companies and governments. We're getting more attention to the climate crisis but not enough digging into its continuing sources, from misleading research funded by private companies to the lack of oversight of new products and chemicals, like per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.
The news is what we make it, and in this era of transactional politics, too often, it is what we are willing to pay for. Now more than ever, an independent press is necessary. You can learn more about Project Censored's 2023 under-reported environmental stories at https://projectcensored.org

Earth911 Podcast: Can Nano Nuclear Energy's Microreactors Deliver Equitable Electricity? Jan 22, 2024

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Despite its other environmental impacts, including toxic waste that requires centuries or millennia of storage in facilities designed to protect future generations from the genetic and acute effects of radiation, nuclear power is considered by some influential environmentalists an essential component of the post-fossil fuel economy. For example, James Hansen, the NASA scientist who raised the alarm about global warming in Congressional testimony in 1987, advocates expanded nuclear energy generation. Meet Jay Yu, founder, executive chairman, and president of Nano Nuclear Energy Inc., and James Walker, CEO of the company. Nano Nuclear develops smaller, portable nuclear microreactors that can be moved to where electricity is needed on a truck. These microreactors can generate between 1 and 20 megawatts of energy, enough electricity to power as few as 400 homes or up to 20,000 homes, depending on their needs — and that's plenty for many large manufacturing companies to use in a crisis when other sources of power are down. Nano Nuclear is working on two designs, the Zeus and Odin reactors, for different uses.
Jay and James offer arguments for considering the role of microreactors in various settings we've discussed on the show. Ocean freight shipping, for example, accounts for 2% of humanity's annual carbon emissions, and a microreactor is about the same size as a diesel engine, so it could easily replace today's engine. Bringing inexpensive electricity to low-income countries could provide power to run water desalination plants and air conditioners as the planet warms and create economic opportunities that have never developed in the fossil fuel era. When you introduce new energy platforms, there is a chance to reorganize society for greater fairness. But there is still the question of what to do with spent nuclear fuel. The United States shut down its Yucca Mountain storage project, the country's only deep geological long-term storage facility, for many reasons, including the well-justified protest by the indigenous communities that live near the site. You can learn more about Nano Nuclear Energy at https://nanonuclearenergy.com/

Earth911 Podcast: Ben Vivari On Getting Started With ESG Investing Jan 15, 2024

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2023 was a challenging year for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, even though more capital continues to flow into ESG-reporting companies. In 2024, as inflation cools, consumers are expected to continue migrating to sustainable products and services, fueling higher returns for ESG-aligned stocks. Explore the first steps you can take to begin with Ben Vivari, cofounder of Till Investors, which helps investors evaluate and invest in green and socially responsible funds. Ben contributed an article to Earth911, published today, How to Invest for a Healthy Planet, a valuable introduction to ESG investing that looks at how you, the individual investor, think about risk. He identified three "fighting" styles, Avoiding, Rewarding, and Engaging companies based on their ESG disclosures.
Ben shares the news and research sources ESG investors should know and use when making decisions. Your choices as an investor to choose responsibility for the future in addition to profits make a difference — learn about your potential power and exercise it. Till Investors has also published a guide for new ESG investors, Sustainable Investing: An "ESG" Starter Kit for Everyday Investors, available on Amazon. You can learn more about Till Investors at tillinvestors.com

Earth911 Podcast: Nikki Batchelor and Mike Leitch introduce the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Finalists Dec 18, 2023

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How do you kickstart an industry? The $100 million XPrize for Carbon Removal recently announced its 15 winners in the first competition stage to achieve gigaton-scale carbon removal. With more than 1300 entrants in the XPrize process, the carbon removal prize may be the largest experiment in innovation in human history. The goal is to lower the cost of carbon removal to well below $100 per ton and ultimately to store atmospheric CO2 for centuries to halt and eventually reverse climate change. The XPrize Carbon Removal competition's Executive Director, Nikki Batchelor, and Mike Leitch, the project's technical leader, join the conversation to discuss the 15 milestone winners who earned $1 million each. When the final awards are announced in 2025, the winner will receive a $50-million prize, and the runners-up will split $30 million. Both for-profit and university teams were among this year's winners, and they represent a variety of natural and technical approaches to capturing CO2 from the air and sequestering CO2 in the ocean, farmland, and rock formations.
Natural approaches, such as enhanced rock weathering, biomass processing, or supplementing agricultural land with biochar, are many people's preferred carbon drawdown options. However, we need to place many bets to create diverse solutions if the industry is to grow. Technical solutions, including direct air capture and various ocean-based approaches, must be explored and readied to help keep the planet from warming more than 2C. At this point, genuinely catastrophic climate impacts will be inescapable. Given the pace, or more accurately, the lack of progress in reducing emissions, society needs to experiment safely and deliberatively with various carbon removal pathways. Explore some of these strategies to understand how the nascent carbon removal industry is taking shape.

Earth911 Podcast: Orlo Nutrition Introduces Carbon-Negative Algae-based Omega-3 Oil Supplements Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

Nutritional supplements, which the Centers for Disease Control report that 57.6% of adults consume, have significant environmental impacts. One family of supplements, Omega-3 oils, the healthy fats about 20 million Americans take each month to support brain and circulatory health, is responsible for the decline of krill in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and overfishing of pelagic fish, such as anchovies and sardines, along the coast of Africa. Meet Corinna Bellizzi, Head of Sales and Marketing at Orlo Nutrition, an Icelandic nutritional supplement company growing algae to produce Omega-3 and related supplements. They remove the need to harvest krill or pelagic fish, which eat algae to produce Omega-3 oil coveted by fishermen.
We recently spoke with Philippe and Ashlan Cousteau about how Omega-3 oil production relies on harvesting krill. These tiny crustaceans capture and sequester massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Their lifecycle is responsible for as much or more carbon sequestration as the Amazon rainforest. Orlo’s production facilities are colocated with a geothermal plant in Iceland, allowing the company to use renewable energy and CO2 captured from the sky to feed its algae. The result is a methylated form of vitamin B12 that contains the same amino acids as beef that removes about 1.1 Algae growth in labs and ponds could be the basis for a food and nutrition revolution, as well as replacing fossil fuel-based plastics with biodegradable alternatives, as we learned from Algenesis earlier this year. You can learn more about Orlo Nutrition at https://orlonutrition.com/

Earth911 Podcast: The Apparel Impact Institute’s Kurt Kipka Maps the Path to Sustainable Fashion Dec 11, 2023

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Fashion makes us feel elegant and affluent, creating unique looks that allow people living in crowded societies to set themselves apart with unique styles. But fashion also comes at a substantial environmental cost. According to many estimates, 10% of the world's carbon emissions and 20% of wastewater are generated by making, shipping, and selling clothing, much of which ends up in landfills long before the clothing's usefulness is exhausted. Meet Kurt Kipka, Chief Impact Officer at the Apparel Impact Institute. This nonprofit is working to reduce the apparel industry's negative environmental and social consequences. The Apparel Impact Institute created a methodology called Clean by Design that helps textiles and clothing manufacturers identify issues, get funding to trial new strategies, and propagate solutions across the industry. The organization emphasizes the importance of objectively measurable progress toward using less energy, water, and chemicals and reducing waste in the manufacturing process.
The American Chemical Society, funded by the plastic industry responsible for the rise of the materials that enable fast fashion, claims the volume of fashion production will grow by 300% before 2050, which is unsustainable. Our society might be buried in its clothing waste. Kurt outlines the path to a more sustainable fashion industry, including using natural and recycled fiber, decarbonizing production, and shorter supply chains built around local clothing hubs that sell, resell, repair, and recycle clothing. Today's fast fashion item that costs $10 and is worn three times before being discarded could become a durable piece of clothing that is sold, resold, loaned, and traded in many times, with the fashion label earning revenue at each turn as the facilitator of the experience of shopping for quality, long-lasting clothing. You can learn more about the Apparel Impact Institute at https://apparelimpact.org/

Earth911 Podcast: Avoiding PFAS and Other Water Contaminants Dec 08, 2023

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Drinking water is at risk of becoming scarce in the face of climate change. More than 50% of the nation has experienced drought since 2000. Rich “Raz” Razgaitis, CEO of Bluewater North America, a water purification company, joins the conversation to discuss the rising incidence in the water of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, the forever chemicals used in everything from the lining of fast food containers and firefighting foams to cosmetics and waterproof clothing. A recent United States Geological Survey study found that as much as 45% of U.S. tap water is contaminated with PFAS. Rich last joined us in early 2022, before the company he co-founded, FloWater, was acquired by Bluewater.
Water filtering, use, and reuse will become a more prominent feature of daily life in the coming years. The USGS study, however, is a wake-up call about chemical contamination. It found at least one type of PFAS in almost half of 716 samples taken from taps around the nation from public and private water sources. The Eastern seaboard and Midwest have the most contaminated water systems. And several cities in the West with heavy industry and military bases also have PFAS-contaminated water. You can learn more about Bluewater North America at https://www.bluewatergroup.com/us

Alchemy’s James Murdock on Building a Circular Economy for Technology Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

The volume of electronic waste doubles about every six years as technology plays a more significant role in daily life. In 2019, the United Nations estimated that only 17.4% of electronics were recycled. The United States recycled only 9.4% of its e-waste that year. But in Europe, the recycling rate was 42.5% in 2019. There are many ways to improve, and one is the growing market for refurbished technology. Meet James Murdock, founder and chief marketing officer of Alchemy Global Solutions, a trade-in, refurbishing, and remarketing services provider for technology and telecommunications companies. Alchemy also sells refurbished phones, tablets, and laptops at Loop-mobile.com.
The constant upgrade cycle for phones, tablets, and laptops keeps people on a wasteful and expensive spending treadmill. According to Statista, the average phone user keeps their phone for about two-and-a-half years, even though manufacturers claim that they make their products to last between six and eight years. Trade-in programs have become a familiar part of our digital life. Like the auto market, where used cars account for 74% of sales annually, a used phone is now considered a smart, sustainable choice. Alchemy, based in Britain, offers services in the U.K., Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, South Asia, and the United States. The company has refurbished and sold 4.6 million devices since its founding to create a circular market for technology. You can learn more about Alchemy at https://www.alchemyglobalsolutions.com/

Earth911 Podcast: Peter Glenn on Financing Your EV Life Dec 01, 2023

Show notes

Electric vehicles are taking market share away from internal combustion competitors, with new plugin vehicle registrations in 2023 growing 45% yearly and accounting for 18% of all vehicle sales worldwide this year. U.S. EV sales hit 7.9% of all new car sales over the past three months. In Silicon Valley-speak, EVs are nearly across the chasm, the point at which a new product category is poised to displace older products rapidly. You're probably asking, "Can I afford one?" Our guest, Peter Glenn, CEO of EV Life, is working to make the answer to your question an affordable "Yes." EV Life works with EV shoppers to pre-qualify them for a loan, then applies available rebates and the federal tax credit that buyers typically have to wait to claim on their federal and state taxes to lower their monthly EV payments.
The financialization of life over the past 50 years has delivered mixed results for consumers. As Peter explains, those tools could be turned to positive use by connecting car owners to savings, reduced charging costs, and other benefits based on the ability to track vehicle use, the EV's ability to send power to the grid when parked, or potentially by passing the value of carbon emissions avoided to the vehicle owner. That requires a more connected lifestyle, which represents a new co-ownership scenario — we may own the car but have committed to sending the used battery to a processor who will pay us today or over time for the lithium they will recover when the vehicle reaches the end of its useful life. EV Life was born with a mission to help people find the information they need to buy the right electric car for their needs. You can learn more at EVLife.co

Earth911 Podcast: The Skills Activist Leaders in Business Need in the Climate Era Nov 27, 2023

Show notes

Business may be the most potent force in the world, perhaps more poweful than government. The largest corporations—only 20 companies— are responsible for one-third of carbon emissions, and some firms carry more economic heft than many nations. For example, Apple earned $99 billion in net income in 2022, and if Apple were a nation, it would rank 67th in the world if compared to the GDP of other countries. The Climate Crisis and its related food, water, and immigration impacts present the most significant challenge business has ever faced. Can business deliver a better world and equitable society while avoiding a global economic collapse? The Activist Leader: A New Mindset for Doing Business, a new book by our guests Jon Miller and Lucy Parker, reports that business has the tools. Now, the will to lead is required.
Lucy and Jon outline a simple challenge for leaders and people who want to become business leaders: they must adopt a new mindset and the ability to think like an activist about the role a business plays in the world. That’s a tall order in a fractured political environment in which critics from the extremes of the political spectrum monitor every word for controversy. It takes courage to be an activist leader, and that’s a topic worth exploring in a world that needs businesses to step up to their responsibility for the system that produced climate change. You can find The Activist Leader: A New Mindset for Doing Business at Amazon, Powell’s Books, and local bookstores.

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