Sustainability In Your Ear

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Earth911 Podcast: Author Chunka Mui on Building a Perfect Future for Our Children Oct 04, 2021

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The future is not written, we can make a better, sustainable future for our children according to Chunka Mui, cofounder of the Future Histories Group and co-author of A Brief History of a Perfect Future: Inventing the world we can proudly leave to our kids by 2050, with Paul Carroll, a former reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal, and Tim Andrews of consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton. They crafted a vision for evolving our society and technology to achieve an environmentally sustainable and just world. Their book describes how computation, telecommunications, and information can help to tune the waste out of our economy while innovations in genomics, energy, water management and transportation deliver improved health and sustainable use of limited resources.
Starting from computing pioneer Alan Kay's quip that the best way to predict the future is to invent it, A Brief History of a Perfect Future presents a realist, and slightly pessimistic forecast for 2050, but they offer ideas about how we can navigate out of catastrophe. Their vision is far-ranging and we encourage you to read and decide for yourself. Do it with a skeptical but open mind and you’ll find that there are many paths through the climate and equity crises we face.

Earth911 Podcast: Discover The Atlas of Disappearing Places with Christina Conklin Sep 29, 2021

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The Atlas of Disappearing Places, a new book by Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros, is a catalog of the coastal, island and deep ocean locations around the world most at risk during the Climate Crisis. It also forecasts how humanity, including individuals, governments and business, can collaborate to restore the planet.
Humanity faces serious and difficult questions as it adapts to climate change. More extreme weather and rising sea levels will have dire consequences for the environment, human food production and the livability of populated regions, especially along the coasts. The stories in Conklin's book beautifully illustrate stories explore the consequences of changing chemistries in our ecosystems, the strengthening of storms, warming water and ice loss, as well as the consequences for humans and animals of rising seas along coasts around the world. The Atlas of Disappearing Places is available now in a beautiful hardcover edition on Amazon and at Powell's Books.

Earth911 Podcast: Climate Crisis Lessons From the Struggle Against Industrial Agribusiness Sep 27, 2021

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Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with authors Daniel O’Connell and Scott Peters about their book In The Struggle. It is a chronicle of the decline of the traditional small farm in California’s Central Valley, the resulting social and political movement by small farmers and farm workers, and the lessons for future generations seeking equitable, environmentally responsible communities. Under the onslaught of industrial agribusiness, which manipulated provisions of several landmark federal laws meant to protect small farms, those farmers, farm workers and a cadre of university social researchers forged a resistance that attempted to preserve democratic agrarian communities against loss of income and political power.
In the Struggle is also a narrative reflection on the process and purpose of sociological research featuring the stories of eight prominent ethnographic and community development professionals who worked in the region over the past 100 years. The lessons and tools identified are valuable in the battle to solve today’s climate crisis equitably. Daniel O’Connell is the executive director of the Central Valley Partnership, a network of labor, environmental and community groups, and Scott Peters is professor of Global Development at Cornell University.

Earth911 Podcast: Torii Industries Plots Hot-Water-as-a-Service For the Home Sep 22, 2021

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Earth911 explores the circular economy potential of subscription hot-water-as-a-service programs with Gordon Olson, cofounder and CEO of Fairfield, Montana-based Torii Industries. The startup is committed to making “green water heating available to all.” They are launching a “hot-water-as-a-service” business that provides customers with a newly patented water heater design that eliminates the oxidation issues caused by traditional metal heating elements. Available through a monthly subscription, the Torii water heater uses a carbon foam element to rapidly heat water to a uniform temperature — it’s more efficient than traditional water heating. The inline, tankless water heater is more energy-efficient than conventional tank heaters. It also connects to a WiFi network to help you track energy use and identify issues before they interrupt service -- Torii will deploy a plumber to fix a problem before it becomes evident to the homeowner.
Olson explains how Torii plans to grow a network of local plumbers who can install and service subscription water heaters. While subscription business models for essential home products may challenge homeowners’ ideas about ownership, they promise to recapture the materials so that they can be recycled. The Torii app will also provide customers with guidance about their energy use.

Earth911 Podcast: Reinventing Community Recycling with Recyclops' Ryan Smith Sep 20, 2021

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Recyclops founder Ryan Smith has a vision for locally grown recycling services. The company's Uber-like on-demand residential, apartment and business recycling service is available in 16 states and adds three or more new cities every month. With pickups starting at $12 a month, customers can place plastic, paper, cardboard, glass and other recyclables in a single-use plastic bag provided by Recyclops on their curb for twice-monthly removal and recycling. Drivers make about $25 an hour before their costs, servicing a regular route of about 100 customer homes or businesses. Find out where Recyclops needs drivers.
Ryan, who has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 innovator, shares how he developed Recyclops from an initial idea in 2013. The company responded to the pandemic, which shuttered recycling services across the country, with a plan to relaunch recycling in 100 cities. He describes why the company selected single-use plastic pickup bags over reusables and how Recyclops can support recovery of branded packaging to enable improved recovery rates of hard-to-recycle items. The opportunities for innovation in a flexible, on-demand approach to recycling are virtually unlimited. Because anyone could start their own Recyclops route by recruiting their neighbors, the company's app is a potential launching pad for a new, resilient and constantly evolving recycling infrastructure built from the grass-roots up. Check out how to get started at Recyclops.com.

Earth911 Podcast: Planting 8BillionTrees to Offset Carbon Emissions Sep 13, 2021

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Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Jon Chambers, cofounder of 8BillionTrees.com, which offers a variety of ways to “shop and erase your carbon footprint.” They've planted more than 6.4 million trees to date and make is simple to calculate how much CO2 your daily habits produce. For example, 8 Billion Trees provides tree-planting to offset your streaming video habit, a birthday party or your pet’s carbon footprint. Chambers and his cofounder Michael Powell set out to create “the most environmentally aware social enterprise on the planet.”

Earth911 Podcast: Finding Our Niche with Author Philip Loring Sep 10, 2021

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Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe explores the cultural barriers to a harmonious relationship with nature in conversation with author Philip Loring about his book, Finding Our Niche. Loring is the Arrell Chair in Food, Policy and Society at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He writes that “reconciliation takes hard work at all levels, from federal governments to within individuals’ hearts and minds. It requires that we dismantle our existing, imbalanced systems of power and privilege, give the land back to Indigenous peoples and then trust, rather than fear, what these actions will mean for us settlers.” His meditative writing based on decades of research in indigenous communities is a pleasure to read, opening paths to discovering the sense of stewardship that humans must bring to their interactions with the environment if we are to recast our lifestyles. Phil discusses myth, metaphor and the shifts in thinking that can transform our relationship with nature. A climate optimist, Loring also talks about the value of speculative science fiction, including Star Trek, as humanity wrestles with its poor environmental record.

Earth911 Podcast: Trek Bicycles Charts a Public Path to Sustainability Sep 08, 2021

Show notes

Earth911 talks with Eric Bjorling, Trek Bicycles' Director of Brand Marketing and Public Relations. He explains the sustainability commitments and business transformation ideas it published in its 2021 sustainability report. We found it one of the clearest and easy-to-understand examples of corporate environmental reporting. That's because it is also being used as an internal learning tool to create awareness of the goals among Trek employees globally.
Trek is “just getting started” on “moving fast and taking real action to reduce our environmental impact," and shared 10 useful ideas it is putting into place, ideas that any business can learn from. Eric discusses how Trek's decision to slash its reliance on air freight by 75% before 2024, consolidating its shipments to retail bike shops to reduce transportation impacts, and its growing use of renewable energy have affected its business. We also cover the carbon footprints of Trek's most advanced bike lines, the Madone road bike and Marlin mountain bikes, which point to the environmental improvements that can be achieved using advanced materials, as well as the challenge of recycling aluminum, carbon fiber and plastics for reuse in new products. He also explains how the company launched the Trek Foundation to encourage the building of bike trails and bicycle-friendly infrastructure to get more people out of cars and onto bikes.
If you've heard companies will see decreased profitability when they adopt greener practices, Bjorling's explanations about the savings Trek realized by transitioning to use more renewable energy -- it will use 100% renewable power sources by 2023 -- will give you plenty of ammunition to make the case to try it at your workplace.

Earth911 Podcast: Making Meat Sustainable & Humane with Paul Shapiro Sep 06, 2021

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Author, Business for Good Podcast host and The Better Meat Co. CEO Paul Shapiro joins Earth911 to explain prospects for clean meat made from fungi, animal cell cultures and plant-based proteins. The future of meat will involve far fewer animals raised on inhumane industrial farms, which are known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or “CAFOs.” In a CAFO, animals are packed into small spaces polluted by their own waste; it’s a horrible life that ends in terror. Better Meat has developed fungi-based protein, called Rhiza, that can augment beef, chicken, pork, turkey, fish and shellfish in recipes, lowering our own environmental impact and reducing the cruel treatment of animals. But the story only starts there, he explains how cultured meats grown from animals cells, known as clean meat, is more sanitary -- it is not exposed to viscera and fecal matter during slaughter, because there is no slaughter -- and can be produced at large scale within the decade.
Paul argues that we need to stop subsidizing meat production and fund more research into meat alternatives. Like Big Oil, Big Meat has an unfair advantage that can be turned toward incentives for clean meat. Meat consumption is on the rise globally and in the U.S. we consume 9 billion chickens, 32.2 million cattle, 241.7 million turkeys and 121 million hogs annually, according to the North American Meat Institute. That’s about 100 billion pounds of meat annually. By contrast, clean meat alternatives still account for less than 1% of the meat sold in the U.S. There's a long road ahead, and this interview is an opportunity to meet an early leader is the post-industrial meat movement.

Earth911 Podcast: Learning to Instigate Change with Herbicide-Free Campus Sep 01, 2021

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Herbicide-Free Campus is a growing student-led movement to eliminate the use of harmful herbicides, pesticides and other toxins on college and public school campuses. We can all learn from the experience of founders Mackenzie Feldman and Bridget Gustafson, who were student-athletes at the University of California, Berkeley when they started the organization. It now has chapters at seven universities, along with communities at 13 other schools. Mackenzie and Bridget began by forging a local community around concerns about glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup. They started Herbicide-free Campus in 2017 when their volleyball team offered to help weed the grounds at UC Berkeley in exchange for the grounds staff stopping the use of herbicide near the volleyball practice area they used. Partnering with the groundskeeping staff, who were the most directly impacted group, was critical to their success. Within four years had eliminated virtually all herbicide use at Berkeley, protecting workers, students and the insect and animal population.
Take a few minutes to read the Earth911 article by Mackenzie and Bridget, Herbicide Free Campus: Student-led Environmental Advocacy, in which they share their ideas about organizing and expanding a community organization, first in college and then as activist alumni. Also, check out Mackenzie's podcast, Agenda 23. You'll find actionable ideas and more information about the environmental and health impacts of glyphosate and other commonly used chemicals that are better off retired and forgotten.

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