Sustainability In Your Ear

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Earth911 Podcast: Rich Razgaitis on the Future of Drinking Water Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

The availability of safe, fresh drinking water will become a more pressing issue as the climate crisis progresses. Our guest today, Rich Razgaitis, started FloWater, a maker of water refill stations that can purify local water, allowing people to refill bottles safely and quickly. The company also sells reverse-osmosis purified water in recyclable, reusable aluminum bottles and a faucet filter attachment the remove many of the impurities that can still be found in U.S. drinking water. We discuss the role of publicly accessible water refill stations in providing access to water, and the reduction of soda and other canned and bottled beverages and water when water is easily available in offices and schools. We also look forward to consider how efficient, hyper-local water filtration services can potentially allow reuse of greywater -- post-use water generated by an office building or university -- to reuse water on-site. Los Angeles is currently providing some water that has been processed from local sewage -- these technologies can be miniaturized and distributed to help water impoverished communities build a sustainable local water supply.
Drought will reduce supplies and extreme heat will increase demand for water. Across the planet today, 785 million people do not have reliable access to drinking water and as many as 884 million are without safe drinking water, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. We’ve made progress, bringing water and sanitation services to an additional 1.4 billion people since the turn of the century. But there is a long, long way to go to providing safe drinking water for all of the people on planet while leaving enough freshwater for the rest of nature.
Learn more about FloWater at https://www.drinkflowater.com/.

Earth911 Podcast: Cloud-based Vertical Farming with Babylon Micro-Farms Jan 21, 2022

Show notes

Our guest is Alexander Olesen, CEO and founder of Babylon Micro-Farms. The Richmond, Va-based company has developed a hydroponics-based approach to growing produce in enclosed compact systems that are about the size of a large vending machine that can be managed remotely. It produces as much produce in 15 square feet of space as 2,000 square feet of traditional farmland. The company describes its product as a “cloud-based vertical farm” that provides expert cultivation advice and cues about when to harvest. The Babylon Micro-Farms system can help grocers, restaurants, and communities to plant, grow and harvest produce within yards of where it will be purchased or consumed.
Growing and shipping food is the basis of human life in our era, in any era — but today moving produce from field to table is a carbon-intensive process that also results in extensive food waste, as much as 40% of the original harvest spoils in transit or on store shelves. What if we could grow food near the the people who need it, particularly in cities? You can learn more about Babylon Micro-Farms at https://babylonmicrofarms.com/.

Earth911 Podcast: Zac Clark on the HomeMore Project Jan 19, 2022

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Discussions about the plight of the homeless usually ignore the issue of sustainability, and there are certainly more pressing concerns to be addressed when someone is in crisis. Our guest, Zac Clark of the HomeMore Project, has developed a comprehensive approach to helping the more than 10,000 homeless people in San Francisco escape from living on the street. The project includes a novel, solar-powered backpack made of recycled plastic, the Makeshift Traveler, which he describes as a “temporary form of aid” that can help keep the individual connected to society, family and services. The Makeshift Traveler provides solar power, a battery and charging ports for devices that can potentially connect them to job opportunities. Using recycled materials make this interesting, but as we’ve talked about on the show many times, there are millions of dollars worth of recyclables scattered across many cities and the digital features of the Makeshift Traveler could connect homeless people looking for a living to assist the in making their first steps to organizing an income.
We’ve talked on our podcast about the role of “trash picking” in countries with high recycling recovery rates. Zac addresses whether there are ethical ways opportunities in San Francisco, which has one of the most advanced recycling systems in the U.S., to enable the homeless to begin to earn a living and contribute to reducing waste headed for landfills. You can learn more about the HomeMore Project at https://thehomemoreproject.org/

Earth911 Podcast: Investing for Animal Welfare with Newday Impact's Doug Heske Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

Newday Impact Investing CEO Doug Heske is back for another in our regular series of conversations about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing. We discuss companies that are working to improve animal welfare, both on the farm and for pets in our homes. The first question today relates to the European Union's recent proposed rule to reclassify natural gas and nuclear power as "sustainable" bridge technologies to the post-carbon economy and how that might impact ESG investor's decisions.
We take a deep look at the stocks of British retailer Sainsbury's (OTC: JSAIY), which has established comprehensive rules for the treatment of animals in its supply chain, pet care and large animal and pharmaceutical maker Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS), Tractor Supply Company (Nasdaq: TSCO), which operates farm supply stores and Petsense, and, finally, pet product and insecticide manufacturer Central Garden & Pet Company (Nasdaq: CENTA).

Earth911 Podcast: Captain Paul Watson on Urgent Actions to Save Our Ocean Jan 12, 2022

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Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, joins Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe to talk about his new book, Urgent: Save Our Ocean to Survive Climate Change. He calls on readers to take action in their own lives to reduce their environmental impact and through protest. A controversial figure in the environmental movement because of his willingness to engage in direct action, Paul argues it is time for humans to change their relationship with nature and rejoin the bigger world they think that they control. Like his career, during which he has participated in direct actions against whalers and other extractive activities, Urgent is a challenge to the reader to look reality in the face. It's past time to that acknowledge climate change is happening, he says. He shares many ideas about how to take action to end the anthropocentrism that defines humans as the sole measure of value on Earth.
Paul shares his experiences on the seas, including the moment he realized that humanity relationship with nature is "grossly and perversely insane." We discuss environmental stewardship, the obligation to recognize other animals as individuals with value, and the challenge of living in the modern, oil-fueled world without hypocrisy. He suggests that a mindful relationship with nature and one another is the basis for restoring the planet's ecosystem. You can find his book, Urgent: Save Our Ocean to Survive Climate Change at Amazon and Powell Books.

Earth911 Podcast: DS Smith’s Wouter van Tol on seaweed-based packaging alternatives Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

Wouter van Tol, head of sustainability at packaging maker DS Smith, is working with new seaweed-based materials to deliver more alternatives to today’s frequently unrecyclable food packaging. The London-based company’s North American unit recently announced an aggressive initiative to adopt seaweed-based fiber in its products. We discuss why it's still hard to recycle even common forms of fiber packaging, like the cardboard boxes used for e-commerce order deliveries (not enough infrastructure funding) and how seaweed-based alternatives could replace food packaging from a cereal box to the trays used for raw meat.
Wouter also discusses DS Smith's progress in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, use of recycled materials and the challenge of getting its employees to adopt sustainable thinking in their daily decision-making. The many conflicting approaches to local recycling around the world have prevented society from achieving the high recycling rates necessary for the circular economy to blossom, so DS Smith is working to get five million young people to start practicing green, circular behaviors. You can follow their progress at https://www.dssmith.com/.

Earth911 Podcast: Making Buffalo, New York, a Livable, Equitable Climate Haven Dec 15, 2021

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Meet Brendan Mehaffy, Executive Director of the City of Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning, who explains how the upstate New York city is preparing for and planning for growth as people seek safer places to live as the climate changes. The advent of climate change spells disaster for many regions, especially in coastal regions and the West, where a long-term drought appears to be developing. But in some regions reaching across the northern U.S., cities are poised for what could be a migration from struggling regions. Buffalo's temperate climate -- 25.18 inches in annual precipitation, part of which falls as 93.4 inches of snowfall, and the annual average high temperature is 71 F and low 26 F -- and 570 foot elevation that insulates it from rising seas makes it an attractive destination during the climate crisis. How will the city manage its growth to preserve the lifestyle and social equity it enjoys today? Brendan shares some details about Buffalo and Erie County are preparing to grow the walkable city, develop local food sources and support green business.
A key advantage Buffalo enjoys is that hydro power from Niagara Falls provides an energy surplus today, which has attracted, among other startups, a $298M hydrogen production facility, Plug Power, that will rely on hydro power to refine its hydrogen fuel. It has also reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 36.% compared to 2005 levels and is working to meet the 50% target set by the Paris Accord by 2030. The advent of climate change spells disaster for many regions, especially in coastal regions and the West, where a long-term drought appears to be developing -- which may send migrants towards the Canadian border, where the Great Lakes are seen as a climate haven. As the second-largest city in New York with a population of 278,349 in 2020 and 1.1 million people living in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metro area, part of Buffalo’s challenge is to manage its growth. Learn more about Buffalo and its climate plan at http://www.buffalony.gov/.

Earth911 Podcast: Tetra Pak's Lisa Ryden Explains the Path to Carton Carbon Reduction Dec 13, 2021

Show notes

Earth911 talks with Lisa Ryden, Sustainable Development Director at Tetra Pak, the world's largest carton manufacturer about its 2021 corporate sustainability report and the steps the company is taking to reduce its environmental impact. Tetra Pak has established itself globally, selling 183 billion cartons in 2020. The brand name has become synonymous with cartons in many regions, where they are referred to as a “Tetra.” Lisa shares the company's 2030 goals and explains some of the challenges of reducing its carbon emissions by 46% compared to 2019 and achieve net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by the end of the decade. In the past year, Tetra Pak has launched a plant-based carton made with renewable materials, shipped 12 billion caps made from plant-based materials, and they replaced the aluminum liner used in early generations of cartons with a polymer that has a 25% lower carbon footprint. Tetra Pak's CO2 emissions peaked in 2010 and it has reduced the volume of food waste in its manufacturing processes by 50% over the past decade.
Cartons represent an emerging alternative to plastic packaging for beverages and food. The only beverage category that fiber cartons cannot serve are carbonated drinks, and more food manufacturers are considering cartons for, among other things, cheese -- Tetra Pak recently introduced a cheese packaging solution. Tetra Pak has more than 170 recycling processor partners globally. The company reports that 27% of the cartons it made in 2020 were recycled and has set a goal of reaching 70% recycling rates in Europe by 2030. Cartons remain a recycling challenge in the U.S., where there are only three carton recycling processing facilities -- this makes recycling cartons less sustainable because they must be shipped a thousand miles in many cases to be processed. You can learn more at https://tetrapak.com.

Earth911 Podcast: Scott Lively on the Future of Beef and Meat Labeling Dec 10, 2021

Show notes

Scott Lively is the co-founder of the largest organic and grass-fed beef producer in the United States, Raise American, and is the author of a new book, For the Love of Beef: The Good, the Bad and the Future of America’s Favorite Meat. America has a massive appetite for beef. It’s a $111 billion-a-year industry that accounts for almost 5.4 million jobs, and Americans consume about 57 lbs. a year per capita. In his book, he makes the case that a more sustainable meat industry can solve many of the environmental issues associated with concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) which produce about 85% of the steak and hamburger in the U.S. The key, according to Scott is a move to a grass-fed cattle raised in a far more distributed production system.
Scott’s book also details many misleading marketing claims made around beef, from the vague use of terms like “organic” and “Angus,” that are often used to justify higher costs. His book is a useful guide to seeing through marketing claims about beef and explains some potential paths to a less harmful meat industry. You can find For the Love of Beef: The Good, the Bad and the Future of America’s Favorite Meat at Amazon and local bookstores.
Editor's note: This episode covers a controversial topic that reflects each our opportunities to make a difference, environmentally and ethically; we urge to listen with an understanding that many people who still eat meat are seeking less environmentally impactful options.

Earth911 Podcast: Shannon Lohr on Building a Responsible, Tranparent Fashion Industry Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Shannon Lohr, founder of Factory45 sits down with Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe to talk transparency in fashion labeling. Fashion is one of the most environmentally harmful industries on the planet because it has focused on delivering “fast,” short-lived products made to be worn a few times and discarded. Factory45 has worked with more that 500 sustainable fashion entrepreneurs to develop a responsible industry in textiles and clothing. Her blog, podcast and free or fee-based tools for fashion startups are a great resource to understand the environmental impact of traditional fashion and the potential for a low- or no-carbon future for fashion.
Shannon discusses a broad range of topics from the the microplastics shed by recycled rayon and other plastic-based textiles to the challenges of growing an environmentally responsible fashion business and useful labels to look for when shopping. She also shares several novel materials that have caught her attention, including Qmilch, a textile made from spoiled milk, and S.Cafe. Learn more about Shannon and Factory45 at https://factory45.co/.

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