What happens when disaster strikes, a hurricane or fire, and communities are left stranded without power, water, or basic medical needs? Generally we rely on shipping in fuel to power generators, but that's not always an option, and certainly an imperfect one- burning the same fossil fuels which helped propogate the disaster in the first place.

Sesame Solar has a solution. Today CEO and co-founder Lauren Flanagan joins us today to discuss her all in one solution for a mobile disaster relief unit powered by, you guessed it, solar.

But that's not all Lauren brings to the table. From a lifetime of working in tech, she shares with us the teachings from working alongside none other than Steve Jobs.

Ted is famously known for their captivating talks on how to change our perception of, well, everything. But what comes next? How do we translate that attention into action? Lindsay Levin has a plan. Lindsay is in charge of partnerships and impact at TED, her mandate is to mobilize the global platform beyond the role of educator to catalyst for action. We discuss how she sees how role of storytelling can unite disparate communities through a collective action platform, what challenges lay ahead in our fight against climate change, and how you can get involved.

Tim Hade is the COO and Co-Founder of Scale Microgrid Solutions. He founded Scale Microgrid Solutions to build distributed energy systems for businesses and electric vehicle transit fleets throughout the country. Before joining the cleantech industry, Tim served on Active Duty as an officer in the United States Air Force. His time in the military taught him how to achieve an objective, but when he became a civilian he found it virtually impossible to get the government to do anything about climate change.

Tim believes that the public sector is broken when it comes to climate change. He stresses we need to hold our leaders accountable for the dire future we are leaving to our children while also getting to work and taking matters into our own hands to create change.

Sameera delves into her work at the UNDP, which supports countries to transition toward low-emission and climate-resilient sustainable development. She discusses the critical work that the UNDP does globally, like Mission 1.5 and how her work supports the most vulnerable of communities, whose problems are exacerbated by the effect of climate.

WSTP travels (via Zoom) to the historic Vino Nobile district in the southeastern Siena province of Tuscany. There, we speak to Michele Manelli — the man behind Salcheto Wine. The word ‘salcheto’ comes from the stream that runs through the town of Montepulciano and is the boundary of their organic winery. The willow trees are still planted at the winery and form a part of their logo to show their commitment towards environmental sustainability. The winery is a proud member of Alliance Vinum and also won the Sustainable Winery of the Year 2014 by Gambero Rosso. Their mission is to do quality work in both the vineyards and the cellar to make the best possible wines. Tune in to learn all about Michele's mission, and how he transformed a classic farm into a modern winery famous for its technology and making the most eco-friendly vino available on the market.

Not satisfied to keep his sustainability goals contained in Salcheto, Michele is a co-creator of the Equalitas certification. Through their 8 step process they evaluate every aspect of a wineries impact on the earth, from practices in the vineyard, winery, through to the packaging and distribution. A true champion the palate and the planet, we raise a glass to you Michele!

Alice Min Soo Chun is an architect who is used to overseeing large-scale projects, but her greatest design is an item that weighs just over two ounces. After the catastrophic 2010 earthquake that hit Haiti, the Columbia University professor set out to invent something that could be used to help the victims who were left in the dark. The effort eventually culminated with the launch of Solight Design, a New York-based startup known for its origami-inspired "SolarPuff" lantern. Made out of a sturdy, waterproof cloth that folds flat and pops open to emit light from its solar-powered LEDs, SolarPuffs have be sent around the globe to aid impoverished areas. Solight officially took off in 2015 with a KickStarter program that yielded unprecedented results. Alice also went on to win numerous awards including the US Patent Award for Humanity and her products have been exhibited at MOMA, the Modern Museum of Art in New York City. She is also featured in "The Book of Gutsy Women" by Hillary Clinton. And she's still inventing! With the current pandemic still disrupting everyday life, Alice is hard at  work devising a new type of mask that can help prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

Throughout the pandemic, including the cresting of the first wave in New York City, Dr. Khullar has been on the front lines caring for patients at Weill Cornell Medicine. All the while, he chronicled his experiences in a series of dispatches for the New Yorker, offering a rare glimpse into the emotional, mental and physical toll the Coronavirus has taken on patients, families, and the healthcare workers providing life-saving medicine, or at times, the life's final moment of compassion. 

In this episode of Who's Saving the Planet Dhruv takes us into the hospital to provide a firsthand account of how the practice of medicine has evolved and in response to Covid and he provides advice to doctors in other cities who are in the throws of what New York overcame in April. We also take a step back and look at the larger picture of how society has responded to this health crisis- rooted in science- and what it can teach us about how society can and will respond to the other science based crisis of our time, climate change. Covid and Climate Change share many similarities: a time delay between knowledge of the threat and the effects on our day to day lives, the solutions have more to do with changing our behavior than any single technological or biological silver bullet, and in order to overcome the worst we'll have to sacrifice individually for the collective good. 

This week, Lex and Tony head into "the lab" with the brilliant Naz Shams as their guide. Hear how this fellow New Yorker took a chance, changed careers and embarked on a mission to ethically — and sustainably — create beautifully crafted clothes. DAYWEARLAB is the place to go for "elevated classics with a twist." Not only that, the company is dedicated to making sure your closet is climate friendly. According to Naz, more than half of the environmental impact of her company’s clothing happens at the raw material stage. All of the mills DAYWEARLAB works with have taken “significant steps to reduce their water, energy and chemical footprint.”  So alleviate your daywear distress! Tune in to Naz and hear her story. 

How do we alter our perception of the world in ways so subtle we don't realize it's happening? To quote Morpheus from the Matrix, "what you know you can't explain, but you feel it...." (yes, we're nerds here on this podcast) 

Angela Spangler, Director from the WELL Building Institute, joins us to explain how subtle, but intentional, shifts in our environment can have profound effects on our emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. In what she describes as "Second Wave Sustainability," our understanding of how the environments we spend time in, like schools, offices, and our homes, is undergoing of renaissance. She walks us through the science of the relationship between humans and our spaces can impact our productivity, engender a more sociable atmosphere, effect or mental health, and more, all through subtle manipulations of the seemingly mundane.

Sound like dark arts? I thought so too. But these forces when used for good can make for a healthier, happier world. 

Would you wear a t-shirt made from milk? You might soon enough. Two years ago, Robert Luo visited his uncle's dairy farm and was shocked to see buckets and buckets of sour and spoiled milk just sitting there. Food and money gone to waste — a common problem among farmers! (see past episodes FoodMaven and Milk Marketing King) After returning home, Robert started researching ways to solve this problem. His solution is Mi Terro. The startup is devoted to making sure our dairy waste never goes to landfills again. Instead, they become our pajamas... our underwear... all for a better tomorrow! 

You may have seen the letters ESG in the news recently, we certainly have. Literally, that translates to "Environmental, Social and Governance", but it actually means in practice, that's a whole separate matter. This week we dig into the meaning behind the acronym with ESG expert and good friend Harry Etra, founder and CEO of HXE partners. 

Also, special guest and longtime friend of the Pod, Lizzie Horvitz, joins us!

The conflict between doing good and making money will always be a balancing act in one way or another. If you're a company and not profitable, you're not long for the world (or market). However, these days, companies are finding that if they don't consider more than fattening up that dividend they could engender real backlash from consumers. We dig into how the scales are tipping, what's driving the shift in focus, and what the heck is up with this "greenwashing" we're hearing about.

In episode 22, Tony and Lex meet Bertrand Piccard — the legendary pilot who circumnavigated the globe with a solar-powered aircraft. Before that, he completed the trip in a hot-air balloon! He's also a psychiatrist. A hypnotist. And a hang-gliding champion. And Captain Piccard is still traveling the world. Only this time, he's on a quest to find 1000 solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way. As founder/chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he's globetrotting to all corners of the planet, presenting these solutions to world leaders and key decision-makers, urging them to fast-track their implementation. The future looks a bit brighter with Captain Piccard guiding us at the helm. 

Farms, and specifically dairy farms, were traditionally a centerpiece of economic livelihood and cultural heritage in the rural North East. In the last 70 years they've come under tremendous economic pressure, forcing closures across the north east and migration of dairy production to Midwest and Southwest. This week we speak with Dan Horan, CEO of Five Acre Farms, about the marketing and supply chain solution he's developed to give those farms, and farmers, a fighting chance. 

And, a special guest on the intro! Dear friend, environmentalist, and Yale School of Forestry grad, Andy Beck, lends his expertise on the importance of small scale farms to provide context. 

Back to Dan... Five Acre's strategy is to consolidate the farms behind a single brand, which sells at a premium. This signals to the customer the quality is better and that their purchase supports local farms, while providing enough of a profit margin to keep those farms in businesses.

Considering the alternative, it better work. Mid/small scale farms were once the lifeblood of the US, providing generational job security, purpose, high quality food and farming practices that are sustainable. The challenges these days are immense: government regulation including a price control on milk (unique across commodities), large scale farms that sacrifice quality for profit while destroying the health of the land and creating torturous conditions for animals, pressure to move to monoculture (single crops) that reduces the vitality of the soil (really bad for lots of reasons) and more. Dan digs into (sorry, unavoidable pun) how branding and marketing may provide the tools the little guys need to fight back.

The fashion industry is incredibly wasteful. Of the 100 billion garments manufactured in the world every year over 50 billion end up in landfill within 12 months.

Inspired by Iceland, where beauty and sustainability go hand in hand, Katla.com is an eco-friendly fashion brand built on the core values of respect for people, animals and the environment. KATLA is pioneering a regenerative fashion business model and recognizes that the needs of the world today demand that we strive further and put in more than we take out. It is not enough to simply limit our impact on the environment; rather, we need to also put our efforts into regeneration. Katla has a range of items made of seaweed blends that have been sustainably harvested in Iceland in the area surrounding Sleepy Islands.

Listeners of Who's Saving the Planet can get an exclusive $100 Credit by entering the code planet100 at checkout.

Seaweed regeneration is a key tool to solving the climate crisis as seaweed is an effective tool for carbon sequestration. More than land forest, seaweed is in fact up to 20x more effective at carbon sequestration. KATLA has set up an experimental hatchery in the Sleepy Islands for the development of best practices for seaweed cultivation in Iceland.

Katla works with leading fabric suppliers to develop vegan fabrics with minimal environmental impact. Katla uses small production runs and on-demand manufacturing to minimize wasted inventory. 

Katla is pioneering advances in Web 3 including the delivery of NFTs directly through clothing. Katla recently launched a series of NFTs, the Wonderful Beings, in collaboration with Icelandic artist Hendrikka Waage. A portion of the sales will go towards ocean regeneration.

 

Aslaug Magnusdottir, Founder & CEO Katla

 

Aslaug Magnusdottir is the Founder and CEO of Katla, a DTC, sustainable fashion brand that applies zero waste manufacturing practices. Aslaug is the Co-Founder and former CEO of luxury e-commerce site Moda Operandi. Previously, she launched TSM Capital, a retail and fashion investment company she co-founded with industry legend Marvin Traub. She served as a senior executive at Gilt Groupe, overseeing merchandising. Previously, Magnusdottir served as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co and as a corporate attorney at Deloitte. A Fulbright Scholar, Magnusdottir holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an LL.M from Duke University School of Law and an undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Iceland. She is a Forbes contributor on sustainable fashion.

 

Website: www.katla.com

Instagram: @katlaforce

Aslaug Magnusdottir

 

Listener $100 credit is code planet100 for use at check out at www.katla.com

When you're unemployed, sites like LinkedIn or Indeed feel more like a rabbit hole than job-search platforms. That's especially the case if you're on the hunt for something more niche... specialized... or challenging. For Evan Hynes, climate change is the "mother of all challenges." And there were no websites that made finding a job in this space conducive. That is, until, Evan launched one. This week, WSTP hosts Tony and Lex sit with the founder of Climate.Careers. Discover what corners of the industry are hiring, what trends bode well for remote workers and why it's crucial to find that intersection where your passions and talents converge. 

The 5/6th grade class of NYC's Pine Street School host this episode of Who's Saving the Planet, and they're bringing the heat! Since March they've been schooling from home, and they want to know what will need to change before they can get back to the classroom. Who better to answer those questions than WSTP longtime friend and guest, CEO of the Center for Active Design Joanna Frank. Join them as they dig into the important questions, like: will the subway be safe? Do we have to wear masks? What about the air in the buildings, how do we know it's clean? 

Most of our episodes are dedicated to people who are saving the planet today, but in this edition of CONTEXT we dig into how we're preparing the next generation to save the planet tomorrow. The team at TED-ED, led by founding director Logan Smalley, and  has long been in the business of making complex issues accessible, entertaining and actionable for students of all ages. The TED-ED team transforms the expert videos on the TED  platform into animated versions geared toward a younger audience- and then they dub those videos in a variety of language so students from all over the world can participate in the panacea of learning. 

They've recently expanded their offerings to include a curated series of videos  specifically designed for teaching about our home, called Earth School. Before digging into the episode we suggest you take a spin through the classroom, check it out here: https://ed.ted.com/earth-school The  program is composed of 6 weeks, each of which has a particular theme, like the Nature of Society, or the Nature of Change. Each week they've selected five videos on that particular topic, and provided supporting material like follow up lessons, discussion board, and teaching tools. As Logan says in the episode, the idea is to not just provide the teachers with a dimensional tool (video), but a three dimensional platform that goes deeper into subject allowing for further research, segmenting the students into appropriate teaching groups, and much, much more. 

But wait, there's more! The team at TED has created a somewhat cryptic (stay tuned, it's evolving!) project called COUNTDOWN. Here's the website: https://countdown.ted.com/. The overarching message is that we have a limited time to take our global carbon emissions down to zero, and it's going to take all of us to get there.  The project is still undergoing some tweaks (responding to the Corona world), so it's not exactly what the specific outcome will be, but given their previous work it's absolutely worth getting involved and paying attention. 

As the husband of a teacher this one hit home for me. Thanks for listening in, and thanks to Logan and the TED team for the work they're doing- bravo! 

A mechanical bug just might be the answer to solving the world's plastic problem — a 6 billion-ton problem. That's how much plastic is in the environment. It piles up onto our land into trash heaps, and clogs our oceans, forming islands. It's beyond gross. "The question still remains," Scarab Tech co-founder Simon Davis tells us. "What on Earth do we do with this ever growing mountain of plastic?" 

Simon and his fellow co-founder, Jeffrey Barbee, have an answer. These beetle bros educate Lex and Tony on the technological advancements they made by "feeding" their mechanical creation excess trash, which is then transformed into fuel that can power electrical grids. So not only is this "Dung Beetle" gobbling up our garbage, it also has the ability to solve an extremely important issue: energy poverty.

Impoverished communities either rely on archaic solutions like coal, or have zero energy resources at all. Meanwhile, plastic continues to pollute local water resources. Can a fire-belching beetle come to the rescue? Sounds like science fiction, but it's not — this "scarab" solution can solve a very real, and devastating, crisis. 

Consumer facing companies are in the news constantly touting "green" initiatives, socially responsible campaigns, and feel good stories that make you wonder whether the marketing budget is bigger than the actual investment in changing their business practices for the better. And those are the one's who are defending a consumer facing brand- what we don't hear about are the companies farther up the supply chain that don't have a consumer presence and aren't as sensitive to negative impacts on their brand, but none the less have a tremendous impact on the environment. Getting these companies to care about, let alone change, their effect on the environment is a huge challenge, and vitally important. 

That's where Mighty Earth comes in. CEO Glenn Hurowitz explains how they've developed a "perfect storm" tactical approach to achieving the strategic outcomes that will influence upstream businesses like Cargill- one of the world's largest producers of meat. He explains how in order to get these massive companies, generally happier to work in the shadows than expose themselves to consumer facing pressure, Mighty Earth employs a multi-layered influence campaign involving consumer awareness, grassroots activation, financial pressure, political influence, and competitive deterrence. 

And because it's an election year (and we just couldn't resist), we dig into the political moment we're in now, and the one we need to be in come November 4th. How will we rally the political capital needed to push through an ambitious climate agenda? What lessons from previous administrations are salient, and how can we use them to not make the same mistakes in the future? 

With their powers combined, planeteers Lex and Tony bring you this super-sized episode featuring one of the most brilliant scientists working in the renewable energy industry today. He's Dr. Reginald Parker — aka Dr. Green Power! His base of operations is in "Hot-Lanta" — but the solar panel technology he innovated can be found all over the world. His mantra: "Use energy better and then use better energy!” Listen in as Dr. Parker reveals the genesis of his startup, Optimal Power Solutions, and the positive impact it has on the environment — starting with hospitality! So as the country begins to open up again and you find yourself itching to travel, you just might end up booking a room at a "smart" hotel that's monitored by Dr. Green Power himself through his Artificially Intelligent bots. The upside for business owners? Lower energy costs and higher profits. The upside for us? A cleaner and healthier planet. Last but not least, Dr. Parker unveils how he and his MIT classmates influenced the creation of one of Lex and Tony's favorite superheroes — Captain Planet! Fitting, since this episode was recorded on National Superhero Day. Tune in now for a nerd celebration unlike any other. 

“Sometimes you need to understand that a small change in a big problem is a big change.” Words of subtle wisdom from the founder of Eva, Tamara Mumcuoglu.

In this week’s episode we discuss the technology Tamara and her team developed- specifically, a means of recycling old concrete in order to reduce the need for a harmful byproduct of coal power plants in creating new concrete- but also how much humanity is required to attempt something ambitious. Tamara is a gifted scientist, having invented a new adaptation of a wind turbine in graduate school. She had her first moment of inspiration as an entrepreneur  shortly thereafter, that no matter how good the solution, if it isn’t solving a problem there’s not a market for it. So when she started her second company, Eva, she went looking for the problem first. We discuss the solution she crafted, the path that led her there, and the lessons she learned along the way. In a personal note, it’s was inspiring to see someone technically brilliant express such humanity.

During this shutdown we've seen the LA skyline emerge from a haze as if on cue from a cinematographer, the Himalayas visible from India for the first time in memory, and images from space revealing a planet unburdened by pollution not seen in generations. It's as though humans took a moment to rest so the planet could breath. But at what cost, and what of this temporary pause will become permanent? This week we speak with the American Lung Association's Director for Clean Air Activism for California, Will Barrett,  to understand how the impact of this dramatic reduction in pollution is affecting our respiratory health today, and what it could mean for our perception of the impact we have on our air quality will have when we return to an unrestricted lifestyle. 

The ocean is in jeopardy! Scientists say if we continue to pollute and plunder the seven seas, they'll be fully depleted by 2050. In other words, there will be no fish left for us to eat.

What can be done to solve this crisis? Amy Novogratz has an answer.

She's the founder and managing director of Aquaspark — a fund that invests in aquaculture... namely fish farms. That's right. Seafood, a go-to source of protein for most Americans, can be grown and cultivated in a sustainable way... just like the heirloom tomatoes you pick up at the local market. Unlike tomatoes, however, seafood is growing scarce, and the marine life we depend on is in dire straits.

"The amount of fish that we're catching now is really at its limit," Amy tells us.   

Thankfully, there are more sustainable supply chains -- all made possible by Aquaspark, a firm that invests in companies that are mutually supportive of each other. Whether they're building farms or creating feed,  each "Aquaspark" portfolio company is synergistic. They depend on each other to grow, thrive and -- as a result -- benefit the overall ecosystem. Just like THE OCEAN. No more water metaphors; we promise. Take the plunge (we lied) with co-hosts Lex and Tony. This is one deep dive (we lied again) you'll not want to miss (no lie)!

What will the world look like when we can return to it? What will we need to change in order to restore the trust on only in the safety and hygiene of our shared spaces, but in each other? In this week’s edition of CONTEXT Lex speaks with CEO and Founder of the Center for Active Design, Joanna Frank, foremost expert in understanding the relationship between our shared spaces and the humans who use them.  We dive into how access to outdoor space effects our mental and physical health, what will need to change in the post-covid world, and the small things we can do in our own lives and homes to create a healthier, happier space.

We throw away 50,000,000,000, that's fifty BILLION, single use coffee cups each year, in the US alone. While most of these are made out of paper they include a plastic liner which makes them very tricky, if impossible, to recycle. Sanjeev Mankotia is on a mission to create a better coffee cup, one you can recycle yourself, just by smashing it on the ground. The idea for Gaeastar arose when Sanjeev was visiting family in India. There he was re-introduced the millennia old practice of building a cup out of clay. Local vendors would go the river bed in the morning, form their cups out of mud, then sell their wares to clients who would smash the cups on the ground after they'd finished their drink. Simple, elegant, and entirely environmentally sound. Using 3D printing and robotics automation Sanjeev is adopting that tradition to a western market. He envisions a world where every coffee shop has their own 3D printing machine on the counter, building coffee cups to order, personalized with your name and smash-ready when you're done with your morning brew. Check out more at www.gaeastar.com. Thanks for listening, you can always email us with thoughts, guest suggestions and feedback at hello@whossavingtheplanet.com

More than 294 million Americans used liquid hand soap in 2019. That soap typically comes in plastic packaging... and it ultimately pollutes our planet in landfills and oceans. But while everyone talks about the environmental damage caused by plastic straws and plastic bags, no one seems to be talking about the soap next to our sinks. "For Soapply, that's where we land," says CEO and founder Mera McGrew. In this episode of "Who's Saving The Planet?" get to know Mera — who she is and how she came to be the SOAPerhero we need, but not necessarily the one we deserve. Through an ingenious "modern milk man system," her startup delivers and replenishes your Soapply stock of all-natural lather in glass recycled bottles, reducing the number of plastic dispensers that would otherwise get piled onto trash islands. Lex and Tony also get drenched with some eye-burning facts: 1.4 million children still die from diseases that could be prevented through the simple act of hand washing. That's because many of us don't realize that access to soap is still a luxury that is out of reach for people in many corners of the world. The Soapply community is changing that. With every 8 ounces of Soapply sold, $1 is donated to help fund water, sanitation, and hygiene that makes hand washing with soap possible. It doesn't end there: Mera schools us on the dangers of using synthetic detergents, andhow they differ from actual soap. We also learn where the word 'soap' comes from, and how soap gets made (Tyler Durden was right). Lastly, Mera confirms whether scalding hot water is necessary for a thorough hand cleaning (hint: "You do you, Goldilocks!").

This is our first in a series of episodes that reflect how the events we are living through today will impact the struggle to save the planet for tomorrow. We’ll interview a host of professionals form academia, economics, venture capital, institutional investment, advocacy and activism to give context to where we stand in our efforts to combat climate change. We’re thrilled to kick off the series on Earth Day with Jackie Ostfeld, Director of the Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All.

In this episode Jackie and Lex talk about the advocacy work currently underway at the Sierra Club, particularly what they are doing to protect communities at risk and expand equal access to the outdoors. Right now we’re all living in a new, smaller world, but that won’t last forever. We talk about how our collective efforts to combat corona through social distancing has impact the work Sierra Club’s activism and what they’ve done to adapt. Briefly, we talk a walk back into a historical context, touching on the legacy left by Sierra Club founder John Muir, both positive and checkered. And finally, Jackie leaves us with a message of optimism for the future.

CEO and Founder Jonathan Cedar had his eureka moment a decade ago which led him to create a revolutionary way to cook meals and generate electricity. BioLite's signature product, the CampStove, uses thermoelectric technology to improve the efficiency of campfires by over 90% while providing electricity to power lights and charge phones. That would have been enough of an invention itself, but he's also tackling the challenge of how to create a sustainable and profitable business selling into some the poorest communities on the planet.  Join us as we talk with Jonathan about the moment he decided to dedicate his life to improving the wellbeing of others, the challenges of running a company with two distinct markets, how to make the most of an uncertain future, and what it means to live a purposeful life. 

The dark side of coffee isn’t the roast. It’s the trash. Enter Muuse, the reusable coffee cup company that’s using technology to create a system of sustainable caffeination. Every year in the United States over 58 Billion single use coffee cups are thrown into landfills- that’s the entire footprint of of New York’s central park covered in coffee cups, stacked 100 feet high. To tackle the single use catastrophe Muuse has crafted an elegant reusable thermos and partnered with local coffee shops to afford the user the sophistication of a superior coffee cup with the convenience of not needing to worry about washing it in between uses. The aficionado brings their cup back to the store and swaps it out for a fresh one each time, getting a little discount in the process. In this episode we dig into the problem at hand, their intricate business model that leverages network effects to grow on a viral loop, and dig into how their COO Lizzie Horvitz got into the coffee game in the first place. Bottoms up!

Did you know that 40% (!!!) of all the food grown in the USA goes to waste? This week we interview Ben Deda, CEO of FoodMaven, a Colorado based start-up committed to cutting down on that waste while giving back to their community. Also we dig into how a start-up pivots on a dime when a quarter of their revenue dries up over night.

Liz Turrigiano and her co-founders are solving a problem every new parent is all too familiar with, what to do with the poop? They’ve created a sustainable diapering company that tackles the problem of how to reduce the over 30 BILLION diapers that end up in landfills every year. We dig into how Esembly Baby grew out of their first start up, what it’s like to raise money in this environment, how to balance life, family, and growing a business in the corona-verse, and more.

Meet Amanda Weeks. She's the genius behind Veles, a revolutionary all-purpose household cleaner composed of two things — water and organic food waste. Join Lex and Tony as they discover the science behind Amanda's remarkable method of taking organic chemical compounds derived from food scraps and transforming them into a product that actually disinfects and cleans. Let's face it: It's the perfect way to take preemptive action against coronavirus AND practice sustainability. In a quarantined world, Amanda is the entrepreneur you need to know. 

Lex is in Brooklyn. Tony is in Manhattan. Boroughs apart... but the show must go on! This week, the Planeteers wield Zoom to bring you a special edition of Who's Saving The Planet? to discuss two important topics. First — the brilliant guests they have on deck for upcoming episodes: Amanda Weeks, CEO of Ambrosia and creator of Veles; and Liz Turrigiano, co-founder and CEO at Esembly. Second — how the heck they're staying sane in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. Join them as they discuss social distancing, Simon's canine heritage, virtual happy hours with "quarantinis," Bill Murray's mid-90s elephant adventure, and the definitive action film that is most definitely a Christmas classic. Stream it now.  

In the most epic meet cute, Olivia met Kyle when he was running a diamond mine and she was polishing her diamond skills as a gemologist. What came later was the company they co-founded — The Clear Cut. The custom online jeweler was born and lives entirely in the digital arena. In this episode, Lex and Tony dig into how these two found each other and launched the start-up, along with the unique customer acquisition strategy that led them to build a consumer focused company with zero marketing budget. Olivia and Kyle also discuss why lab grown diamonds aren’t the planet saving alternative they claim to be, and how they’re ensuring that all the diamonds in their products are sourced from reputable sources with the minimum impact on the environment.

The indomitable Carly Bigi pulls back the curtain on the incredible waste — including literally setting clothes on fire — that is rampant in the fashion industry. The company she founded, Laws of Motion, is upending that status quo. Laws of Motion uses cutting edge (get it?) technology to right-size every dress, custom crafting them one at a time using next generation AI, reducing waste in the factory and creating a product consumers love. We go back to the first days of deciding to launch a company rather than return to a safe career in consulting, to the trials of growing a start-up in the hyper-competitive fashion industry, and that amazing feeling the first time a woman actually tried on one of their prototype dresses, and it was a perfect fit!

It all started with a pizza box.

Jack Bruner, co-founder and CEO of Carbon Neutral Club, is a reformed consultant, some of our favorite people here at WSTP. After cutting his teeth building vast and complex solutions for the corporate 100's of the world, he wanted to create a company that imbued his values, not just got the job done. Thus was born Carbon Neutral Club, the one-stop solution for building a workplace culture which revolves around education about and action toward a more sustainable future.

When you’re faced with a giant systemic machine that looks like it’s really never going to change, adopting some sort of nihilistic view isn’t uncommon.

Brooke Bowlin’s giant machine is the Fast Fashion industry, which (for the record) creates more carbon emissions than the global shipping and aviation industries combined.

What makes Brooke’s situation unique is that despite facing down this giant for the last four years, she hasn’t succumbed to some doomsday-style climate nihilism.And that’s what makes her so uncommon.

Brooke Bowlin is a ray of sunshine when she enters a room. Or at least when she logs onto a zoom call. 

-She’s an artist, entrepreneur, content creator and sustainable fast fashion advocate. 

-In the past, she was the owner of Thrift 251, a thrift store aimed at reducing clothing waste. 

-Today, she is the voice of “Secondhand Sustainability,” a popular cross-platform media project for conscious fashion. It currently has over 18K+ followers on instagram, and she’s even planning a podcast for it.

Over the past three years, Brooke has cultivated a strong following of young adults eager to change the usually wasteful model that is the modern fashion industry. 

Brooke's Book Recs: -

Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit

All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine Wilkinson

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler  (mentioned)

Consumed by Aja Barber

Follow her on Instagram: @Secondhand.Sustainability

Her Website Nuance Required

And Newsletter: Nuance Required Newsletter

Riddle me this: What if all of our clothes were made from seaweed? 

This week we sit down with two phenomenal women who are changing the fashion industry from the inside out. Keel Labs was founded by fashion industry alumni Tessa Callaghan and Aleksandra Gosiewski. They’re two business partners who met at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and founded Keel Labs to create ocean based solutions, including their flagship product which is a kelp based yarn. 

Here's a breakdown of some of the highlights:

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:34) - United By Zero

(00:04:09) - Interview

(00:05:05) - What is Keel Labs?

(00:13:44) - Changing existing systems to be plant-based

(00:20:24) - Market challenges for seaweed-derived yarns

(00:26:52) - Changing systems from the inside the fashion industry

(00:42:34) - Dealing with doubts about how much you’re helping

(00:44:33) - Advice to your younger self

(00:50:11) - Credits

And, we'd love to thank our sponsor, and our adored sister organization, United by Zero!

Let’s say you’re a big company. You’ve been making all these commitments recently at press conferences to get “carbon neutral”.” it’s been great for publicity, but now you’re worried because you have to actually follow through on them. You look through your contacts and you’re coming up short. Who do you call? Who can help your company actually go carbon-neutral?

Julia Collins. That's who. Julia is the CEO of PlanetFWD, a company that bills itself as a brand’s “ultimate climate ally.” PlanetFWD specializes in reducing emissions for companies that have made these promises and works with them to become carbon-neutral and (with a little magic) get brands on the path to becoming net zero. Not bad for someone in an industry expected to be worth $30-40 billion in 2030.

Julia is also the founder of Moonshot Snacks, the world’s first climate-friendly, truly carbon neutral snack brand. She’s a start-up entrepreneur, mother and a fantastic optimist who believes that everyone can do something today to fight climate change.

—--

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

[00:03:33] - How do you raise children when you own a company?

[00:08:47] - What is PlanetFWD?

[00:09:58] - How did PlanetFWD start?

[00:11:14] - Creating Moonshot: the world’s first climate-friendly snack brand

[00:17:12] - How do you get big companies to change?

[00:24:21] - The Cartographer’s Paradox

[00:28:21] - What can we do to save the planet?

[00:33:24] - If you could go back to the beginning, what would you change?

[00:37:16] - Credits

—--

Our host, Lex, also runs an eco-friendly fashion company called United By Zero. You can find out more about it at www.unitedbyzero.com.

Every brand worth their sustainable (or marketing...) salt is claiming a path to carbon neutrality, the bridge between the marking claims and the climate realities is being built in real time. This week we sit down with the hyper-successful startup Patch, Brennan Spellacy, to unpack how they are building the tools necessary to make corporate climate neutrality a reality. 

Patch was founded in 2020 but has already raised over $80 million in venture funding from blue chip firms like Andreessen Horowitz. They serve companies in two main ways: understanding what drives carbon emissions in the company, and building a plan to offset that carbon through internal reductions and when appropriate buying carbon offsets. 

Prior to becoming the President and Chief Strategy Officer of Arrival, Avinash Rugoobur, led General Motor's billion dollar acquisition of autonomous driving company Cruise. Understanding frontier technology in the world of automotive advancement is squarely in his wheelhouse, which is why it created quite a stir when he left Cruise in 2020 for the startup electric bus company, Arrival. 

Since he joined, they've been on a roller coaster of valuations and product launches. In 2021 Arrival went public through a SPAC, listing at a $13 billion valuation. Today the valuation is less than down 97%, to under $300 million. But, where there's a will there's a way, and Avinash is in it for the long term. We touch on the future of the electric vehicle industry, the need for innovation on a scale to equal the threat of climate change, and not the least, what working in a chocolate factor can teach you about running an billion dollar car manufacturer. 

Note: This interview was recorded in May of 2022. 

As with most things magically, Joro was once an excel spreadsheet. Sanchali Pal was concerned with her personal carbon footprint when she was in undergrad at Princeton, so did as anyone would: she started tabulating the specific carbon weights of all of her choices on what became a massive excel sheet. After Harvard Business School, Ms. Pal was ready to turn this hobby into a force for empowering every consumer with better information about- and the means to offset- their personal consumption choices.

Joro was founded in 2019 backed by one of (if not the) world's most preeminent venture capital firms, Sequoia. The app connects with a consumer's credit card to track and analyze spending habits, proving automated insight into what our most carbon intensive activities are, how to curb those habits, and opportunities to offset the carbon we consume in our daily lives. 

More broadly, Sanchali's mission goes to the heart of consumer behavior, and human nature. How can we make it so simple to save our planet, that not doing so is actually less convenient?

When we last spoke to Sanchali Pal she was the CEO of Juro. Today, Juro is called Commons, and she has $10,000,000 reasons to be more optimistic about the future of personal carbon accountability.

Commons is an app that allows you to track your credit card spend and then offset your carbon footprint, a simple and elegant means of self-accountability. They've also partnered with pre-vetted businesses to offer more sustainable options to the products you purchase regularly.

Since we last spoke with Sanchali she's raised a Series A round from Sequoia Capital, the founders of Afterpay and the one and only Jay-Z. We dig into how she was able to achieve that milestone and what's in the store for the future of Commons.

Put your money where your mouth is, perhaps more effect would be to put your moneys where your values are. Carbon Collective is an investment platform that identifies companies dedicated to creating the technology, infrastructure, commerce and business necessary for a sustainable future, and they put your money to work supporting those companies. The value proposition is simple: if you think that not destroying the earth is good business, then investing in the businesses doing the most to save the planet while divesting from the companies actively destroying it is a great long term investment strategy.

This week Zach Stein, CEO and Co-Founder of Carbon Collective joins us to talk about how his company is using simple metrics to unlock an investment strategy appropriate for anyone keen on the survival of civilization and the environment. We discuss the path to creating carbon collective, how their model differs from the status quo, and what makes for a winning investment strategy. Or, at least one that won't kill us along the way. 

Note: Nothing in this podcast (and certainly nothing from me) should be taken as financial advice. 

We often discuss saving the planet in terms of technological breakthroughs, political movements or individual choices. This week we examine a more fundamental element necessary for our survival: empathy.

Jordana Guimaraes is many things. She is an author, an entrepreneur, a global ambassador for fashion, and a champion of human rights. She joins us to peel back the curtain on how her journey unfolded, the challenges she had to overcome both personally and professionally to realize her vision. The through line for all of her works has been a deeply held compassion for her fellow humans, expressed in many forms but always a driving force in her life story.

Jordana is the co-founder of Fashinnovation, a global platform at the frontier of technology and sustainability in the fashion industry. After a career in PR she built fashinnovation to highlight the changing landscape of one of the world's largest and important industries. Along the way she also authored a book, It Could Be You, an exploration of homelessness, that is a vehicle for philanthropy. 

They say culture eats strategy for breakfast, and if that's true it's unlikely Raven Hernandez, CEO and founder of Earthrides, will be hungry any time soon. She's an attorney, entrepreneur, and visionary rebuilding the relationship between ride sharing companies and the people who actually drive the cars. 

Earthrides offers a fully electric fleet of cars, largely owned by the company themselves, with employees rather than just contract workers. She's taken the proven model for ride sharing but infused it with a deeply felt conviction of honesty, integrity and purpose. In the episode we get into the company, how and why she founded it, and how her lived experiences are informing the culture of Earthrides, which sets it apart from the competition. 

Who gets a voice when it comes to the environment? After all, we all have to live on this little blue dot together. Everyone, regardless of identity, has a right to define humanity’s relationship with the environment. However, environmentalism has a long and unfortunate track record of exclusion towards BIPOC and other marginalized groups. If we truly want to save the planet, we need to work towards a future that is just and equitable for all.

Who’s Saving the Planet is celebrating Earth Day this year by collaborating with Isaias Hernandez, (@queerbrownvegan), Sally Garcia (@callmeflowerchild), and Reza Cristian from Sustain the Mag to discuss how sustainability and social justice intersect!

Isaias Hernandez is an environmental justice activist and influencer, and he is the creator behind Queer Brown Vegan, an educational platform and safe space for other like-minded individuals to learn terminology in the environmental movement.

Sally Garcia is a BIPOC environmental activist and influencer who is working to make America’s National Parks more safe and equitable for all.

Reza Cristián is the founder and editor-in-chief of SUSTAIN THE MAG, an online media platform where eco-conscious warriors cultivate a healthy, planet-friendly lifestyle. Sustain disrupts complacency and refuses the old habits of our over-consuming, throw-away society.

Listen, share with friends, and get out there to keep saving the planet!

Imagine if you could wave your phone across a hoodie and instantly get information about where the cotton was sourced, how much the workers were paid, what the carbon impact of your purchase would be, specific to that individual product and delivered straight to your palm. 

That's the world EON is building, and it's going to be here sooner than you think. 

Natasha Franck, CEO and founder of EON Group, is pioneering technology that uses Near Field Communication to deliver information directly to the consumers about the products their buying and unlock a treasure chest of insights in how consumers interact with their stuff. They are powering the technology that can accelerate circular business models, resale channels, authentication, and, the ability to build integrity into fashion industry. 

Recently EON announced a $10 million series A round, providing the fuel to carry Natasha's vision into the future. But, for the better part of a decade, she had just the vision to keep her going, well before the dollar showed up. Tune in to hear about the transformative potential of the technology, the impact it could have on sustainable manufacturing, and the people who made it happen.  

Imagine a substance which is as durable, malleable, and practical as plastic, except it's produced through extracting methane from the atmosphere, making it carbon negative, and is fully biodegradable by microorganisms, the same "as a leaf or a twig." No need to imagine it, just hop into a Target and you'll find Aircarbon cutlery on the shelves. 

It's been a nearly two decade journey for CEO Mark Herrema, starting in a converted garage and landing, for the moment, behind the counter of Shake Shack. That's where you'll find Newlight's cutlery, made from their flagship product Aircarbon.  In this episode we dig into the transformative potential of their technology, the moment of epiphany which lead to its creation, and the journey from an idea to a decades long struggle against doubt and biology. Today Newlight is an ascendent technology company with over $100 million in venture funding, but that's hardly how the story begins. Join us for this episode as Mark recounts their early beginnings, the fortitude to see it through and leaves us with a vision for a more sustainable future. 

92 million tonnes of clothes end up in the garbage every year. That's more than one full dumpster truck every second. The fashion industry has long been built on a model of planned obsolescence: each season new styles pushed out the now arcane pieces from last year. Except, with the rise of fast fashion, seasons are compressed into weeks, at times days. As these companies push out new product, generally low quality, designed to be destroyed, we need to get rid of the old. Hence, 92 million tonnes of waste, every year.

Re/Curate is combatting this cycle of waste through providing brands the technology to verify and re-sell clothes under their label on their own digital platforms. They work with top brands like Steve Madden and Outerknown to securely re-sell items that they've vetted on the brand's own platform. Effectively, this means when you buy something new you have a fair sense of what its value will be when it's resold, sort of a baked in discount if/when you decide to move on from the product while opening up the brand to customers who may not be able to afford a new purchase but love the brand. 

How is this different from your normal re-sale platform, or thrift store for that matter? Tune in to find out!