Climate Tech Cocktails is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
It’s all 🍸Bombay Sapphire,🍸Citadelle Gin, disco-balled cocktail shakers and Karaoke with Apoorv Bhargava, co-founder and CEO of WeaveGrid. A trailblazer in electrifying the future of EV grid integration, WeaveGrid is connecting automakers, utilities and drivers to tackle the challenges to and boost EV adoption across the industry. Featuring a stirring performance from Apoorv, this is one episode you’ll want to sit back, take a sip, and maybe even sing along to!
Climate Tech Cocktails is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Today, Matt is joined by Chris Tolles, Co-founder and CEO of Yard Stick, an organization that is revolutionizing the way farmers measure their soil by making it accurate, instant, and affordable. While Chris sips on a Gangster Duck, and Matt quaffs both a Sparkle Pony and A Brew Hope, their discussion unearths the importance of soil health, its role as a carbon sink, and Chris’s fascinating journey from humanitarian relief worker to cutting-edge climate tech leader. So, go ahead, grab whatever beverage is calling your name right now, and let’s dig into the dirt together!
Regrow: Anastasia Volkova
Episode 40
Tuesday, July 11, 2023 • Duration 01:10:45
In this episode, we’re grabbing a drink with Anastasia Volkova, co-founder and CEO of Regrow.
Regrow’s mission is to make resilient agriculture ubiquitous. On every acre. Globally. Our vision is for agriculture to be driven by science and technology to restore the environmental balance globally to nourish the population and be equitable for everyone. Environment. People. Equity. In that order.
Zero Acre Farms: Jeff Nobbs
Episode 39
Tuesday, June 13, 2023 • Duration 01:04:54
Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails.
Zero Acre Farms is on a mission to remove destructive vegetable oils from the food system. And we’re not going to stop until restaurant deep fryers, home pantries, and packaged foods around the world are finally free of these harmful oils and fats.
We’re grateful to have you with us, fighting the good fight with a cool beverage in hand.
🥃 What we drank during the episode: Bunratty Mead (Matt) and homemade mead (Jeff).
🎭The evening was topped off with comedic relief by the one, the only Paul Robertson!
Synonym: Edward Shenderovich
Episode 37
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 • Duration 01:16:22
Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails.
In this episode, we’re grabbing a drink with Edward Shenderovich, co-founder and CEO of Synonym…
“Synonym is accelerating the world's biological future by developing, financing, and building commercial-scale biomanufacturing facilities. We provide synthetic biology (synbio) producers – from startups to the Fortune 500 – with flexible production capacity while giving infrastructure investors access to a new, carbon-negative biomanufacturing asset class that we are calling “fermentation farms.”
“Ultimately, all company building activity comes down to -- market and people. The market needs to be there and you need to have an amazing team to figure out… what is the right product for market and what is the right way to bring that product to market”-Edward Shenderovich, founder and CEO of Synonym.
Floodbase: Bessie Schwarz
Episode 36
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 • Duration 01:11:32
Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails.
In this episode, we’re grabbing a drink with Bessie Schwarz, co-founder and CEO of Floodbase (Formally known as Cloud to Street)…
“Floodbase has pioneered the field of satellite flood tracking, with our science appearing on the cover of Nature in 2021. Our Flood Intelligence Platform has enabled the United Nations and several national governments to improve flood disaster response. We are now powering a new type of flood insurance to help flood-vulnerable communities around the world access financial support and adapt in the face of increasing climate disasters.”
“We have realized that there are so many solutions that we have now and it’s a matter of investing in them that is the actual barrier to us adapting to climate change. Meaning, meeting the need with the money required at the time.”
Vibrant Planet: Allison Wolff
Episode 35
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 • Duration 01:18:47
Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails.
In this episode, we’re grabbing a drink with Allison Wolff, co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Planet.
“Vibrant Planet harnesses data-driven science and cloud-based technology to help make communities and ecosystems more resilient in the face of climate change. Our goal is to help planners, and policymakers save lives, avoid trillions of dollars in infrastructure loss, and restore the ability of natural systems to store carbon, deliver clean water, and support biodiversity, local economies, and recreational habits.”
“We play out the Lorax, right? We literally cut every tree in North America; we deforest it like we’re deforesting the Amazon right now to build towns and railroads and mines.”
Shiok Meats: Sandhya Sriram
Episode 33
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 • Duration 01:02:49
🌊🍤 Shrimp, Stem Cells, Star Trek 🚀 Orange Juice 🍊 and more!
In this episode, we’re grabbing a drink with Sandhya Sriram, co-founder and CEO of Shiok
Meats. Shiok Meats is the world’s first cultivated crustacean meat company, and Southeast Asia’s first
cultivated seafood company. “Shiok” is a local slang that means fantastic, delicious, and simply,
pleasure. Their mission is to bring delicious, sustainable, and healthy seafood to your table,
using our technology to grow meat from healthy cells instead of animals.
Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails.
In this episode, we’re grabbing a drink with Steve Bennett, co-founder, and chief climate officer of the Demex Group - the first company to offer comprehensive solutions for assessing and transferring climate risks at scale.
Demex uses modeling to evaluate weather risk and helps clients transfer that risk to maintain their resilience.
Steve’s background as a weather person at The Weather Channel and then Scripps Institution of Oceanography led to founding his first software firm, EarthRisk Technologies.
Continuing his mission to bridge the gap between weather volatility and business operations, Steve joined founder Ed Byrns in creating the Demex Group to meet the ever-increasing need of businesses to understand and guard against catastrophic and damaging weather events.
We’re grateful to have you with us, fighting the good fight with a cool beverage in hand.
⚡️ New to CTC?
About Melibio:
‘We at MeliBio know that without bees our lives on this Planet would be almost impossible. To protect the bees and support bee biodiversity, we created an alternative, science-driven approach in turning plants into honey, so that the precious keystone species could thrive. Read our State of the Bees report to learn more about the challenges bees are going through, especially 20,000 wild and native bee species whose story everyone should learn about.’
About Minus:
Minus produces coffee using 94% less water than traditional coffee, 91% less GHG emissions, and shorter supply chains.
Minus was developed by a team of coffee-obsessed, planet-loving scientists. How did they do this exactly? They subtracted the beans, kept the caffeine, and dialed up the flavor through a precise fermentation process. Minus is dangerously smooth and consciously created; even the most discerning coffee snobs won't believe it's beanless.
What we drank during the episode:
🐝🥃 Darko and Matt: Bees Knee’s (ft. Melbio honey without the bees]
☕️🥃 Maricel and Matt: Carajillo (ft. Coffee without the bean from Minus!)
🙌This episode of the Climate Not Too Late Show could not have been possible without our incredible sponsor, Air Company.
Enjoy the show!
Companies/Startups/Things mentioned during the show:
[13:51] Allison going on her own and takes on eBay
[15:34] Google Green
[18:30] What Worked
[19:40] Bob Inglis - progressives and conservatives on science
[21:15] Katherine Hey Hoe (Faith and Science)
[23:43] Allison’s upbringing and love of nature
[25:21] Paul Hawken and Drawdown
[27:41] Matt’s introduction to Drawdown
[28:36] Trail Running, bears, and mountain lions
[31:10] Truckee Tahoe
[32:43] Allison process, forming Vibrant Planet
[34:55] California Forest Observatory
[40:54] What can we do to protect forests
[42:24] Native Americans and forest management
[45:20] The value of ecosystem services
[46:18] What it takes to restore forests
[49:19] The Dixie Fire
[51:55] Collaborations to deal with fires
[55:44] Clarifying the use of Allison’s tool
[59:00] Matt gets controversial
[01:02:44] Co2 of California wildfires
[01:05:37] How to unlock billions of dollars
[01:08:55] The insurance play to invest in forest resilience
[01:10:00] Having a teenage daughter and running a startup
[01:12:14] Book recommendations
[01:14:47] Loved startups and founders
[01:16:33] Final Thoughts
[01:18:47] END
Twitter
👉
📝Show Notes Below👇
🎧 New podcast episode:
“I always questioned, “why do people eat meat?”... And then, I came to the conclusion that I shouldn’t answer the why, I should just answer, how do we do this?”
Sandhya Sriram, co-founder and CEO of Shiok Meats.
Steve Bennett, co-founder, and chief climate officer of the Demex Group
“We link the weather in an area to the economic impact. The core of our technology is really about pricing the risk using a climate appraisal; we look at what parts of a client’s business are affected by weather by working with first-party data, determining the relevant weather characteristics, running a baseline scenario and a climate scenario, and comparing cost. This allows us to price the risk, producing a premium for an insurance policy that will protect the customer.”
- Steve Bennett on the special sauce that Demex offers its clients
Find Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephendbennett
And his company’s site: https://thedemexgroup.com
🥃 What we drank during the episode: SeaFall Chardonnay, 2017 Sonoma (me) and a Midnight Manhattan (Steve).
[6:12] A Little about Wine and A Little about Raleigh
[8:30] Catastrophic and Costly Weather
[14:14] Home Insurance and Climate
[18:49] The Colorado River
[24:54] My Paris Heat Wave Story
[28:14] What is Climate Migration
[36:08] Climate Pioneers, Let’s Head to Vermont
[37:28] Steve’s Weather Expertise and Career
[53:03] The Entrepreneurial Evolution
[61:50] How Demex Meets a Growing Need
[65:51] How Weather Models Work
[72:44] Demex’s Special Sauce
[74:32] 3 Books
[80:40] 3 Start-ups
[84:23] Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Related Shows Based on Content Similarities
Discover shows related to Climate Tech Cocktails, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
