World Changing Ideas

Latest Episodes:

How We Can Pave Roads and Electrify Cars to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions May 18, 2022

Show notes

Global transportation is responsible for 24 percent of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. The transportation sector in the U.S is responsible for roughly 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

First, we look at how Ford is remodeling its most popular vehicle and then learn about a unique way to solve climate change in the transportation industry. Haakon Brunell is the co-founder of Carbon Crusher, a road tech company that builds carbon negative roads.

Can Going Meat-Free Really Help Cut Back on Carbon Emissions? May 11, 2022

Show notes

A new study shows how quickly reducing animal farming could unlock ‘negative emissions’ by lowering the amount of methane and nitrous oxide from the air and allowing forests to regenerate. Talib and Avery discuss this development through the lens of their own dietary choices.

How Can We Farm Against Climate Change and Grow Crops Sustainably? May 04, 2022

Show notes

Deforestation is partially a result of traditional agriculture practices so we’re looking into alternative agriculture to find out how it can actually benefit the environment. We're focusing on two farming innovations, one of which doesn’t involve soil to grow plants and another that uses a machine to clean up cow manure.

Stanley Janicki is the vice president of Sedron Technologies and Donald De Jong is the co-owner and CEO of Natural Prairie Dairy. They partnered to roll out the Varcor system, which upcycles cow manure into a better fertilizer while helping to sequester more carbon in the soil. Plus, it produces clean drinking water!

Gotham Greens Co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri developed an urban greenhouse farm that's completely devoid of soil. With the goal to localize supply chains, Puri is opening up more hydroponic farms located in urban settings to cut back on distribution distances.

Resources on regenerative farming and permaculture:

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/regenerative-agriculture-101#whatis

https://www.thespruce.com/permaculture-garden-principles-steps-5199140

How We Can Create Climate Equity using Trees: A Recap Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

Last year Talib talked with Maisie Hughes from American Forests about tree equity and since it seemed like a good follow-up to our episode on reforestation last week, we’re going to share some highlights from that interview.

Can Planting Trees Really Save the Planet from Global Warming? Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

Because it’s Earth Day in two days, we thought, what better way to celebrate than by talking about the most iconic symbol of the Earth? Trees are nature’s first line of defense when it comes to fighting climate change, because of their capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it. In this episode we’ll learn about two ways that will help forests keep doing the work they need to do.

Yee Lee is the VP of Growth at Terraformation, a forest restoration startup that aims to speed up the reforesting process.

Zack Parisa is NCX CEO and co-founder and Dr. Jennifer Jenkins is its Chief Sustainability Officer. NCX is connecting American landowners with carbon buyers using AI data mapping to open up access to the carbon offsets market.

How Much Can We Blame Companies for Causing Climate Change? Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

We know that corporations have known about their own role in climate change for some time but while they might be accountable, individuals are also responsible for managing their own carbon-producing behavior.

On today's episode, we’re looking at a decades-long blame game and then we'll find out about the recent SEC ruling that could change the way companies operate when it comes to climate change.

How Does Plastic Actually Break Down and Can We Replace it? Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

Last month, UN members convened at the UN Environment Assembly and passed a historic resolution to end plastic pollution. On this week's episode we're looking at what plastic is, how it can biodegrade, what biodegradable even means and what we can do to start taking plastic out of our everyday life.

Dr. Ting Xu is a professor in the Department of Science Engineering and the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley.

Sarah Paiji Yoo is the CEO and co-founder of Blueland, a company that has committed to revolutionizing conventional cleaning and personal care products.

We Traveled to Vermont and Tried Out the New Taiga Electric Snowmobile! Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

A few weeks ago, we went up to Stowe, Vermont and rode on Taiga's new electric snowmobiles. It was a fun experience testing out its new model, which is much quieter than traditional gas-powered snowmobiles.

How Can We Harness Methane as a Source for Good? Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

On today's episode, we’re going to look at methane. While we know that a major source of greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide, methane also plays a huge part. It doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide but one molecule of methane has more than 80 times the warming power of a molecule of CO2. Lena Hoeglund Isaksson is a senior research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and she explains how we can focus our efforts on removing methane. Then Newlight Technologies Co-founder and CEO Mark Herrema discusses how his company developed a unique process that creates a bioplastic material by combining air with methane.

How Removing Carbon Could Actually Encourage Us to Continue Polluting Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

This episode we're looking at the potential philosophical problem behind implementing carbon removal strategies. Could they inadvertently cause industries to stop trying to curb emissions in the first place? Would this be like a get-out-of-jail-free card for people? American University's Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy Co-director Simon Nicholson helps explore this thorny topic, along with Klaus Lackner, the director for the Center of Negative Carbon Emissions at Arizona State University.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected