Inevitable

Today’s guest is Matthias Schmelzer , an economic historian, networker and climate activist.  This episode is complementary to a previous podcast with Timothée Parrique, who covered the topic of degrowth. Matthias’ main interests include the political economy of capitalism, social and environmental history, climate catastrophe, aviation, and alternative economics. He is author of the award-winning...

Today’s guest is Rollie Williams , host and creator of Climate Town .  The topic of climate change can be dark upon initial exploration. While some find inspiration in innovation and action, many folks struggle to get beyond the pervasive desperation and doomerism that dominate the conversation. Climate Town takes a totally different approach and uses humor to unpack complex climate topics while o...

Today’s guest is Alex Trembath , Deputy Director at the Breakthrough Institute .  The Breakthrough Institute is a global research center that identifies and promotes technological solutions to environmental and human development challenges. Their vision is of a world that is good for both people and nature, and they believe that human prosperity and an ecologically vibrant planet are possible at t...

Today’s guest is Moji Karimi , CEO and Co-Founder of Cemvita Factory .  Cemvita Factory’s mission is to deploy nature-inspired economical technology to empower the energy transition and create a brighter future. This is done by a portfolio of industrial biotechnology solutions across Cemvita’s three verticals: CO2-based biomanufacturing, biomining, and subsurface biomanufacturing. On the surface,...

Today's guest is Rebecca Dell , Senior Program Director, Industry at ClimateWorks Foundation . ClimateWorks is on a mission to end the climate crisis by amplifying the power of philanthropy. Since 2008, ClimateWorks has granted over $1.3 billion to more than 600 grantees in over 50 countries. Now, Rebecca leads the industry program, which is dedicated to reducing and eliminating the one-third of g...

Today's guests are Mary Yap , Co-Founder and CEO at Lithos Carbon , and Adam Wolf , Co-Founder and CEO at Eion Carbon . Both Lithos and Eion work in the space of enhanced rock weathering, a subset of carbon removal that seeks to speed up the planet's natural carbon cycle. In this process, rain absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, falls onto and weathers rocks and in doing so creates a bicarbonate solu...

Today's guest is Timothée Parrique , a researcher in ecological economics at Lund University in Sweden.  Degrowth is one school of thought in the path towards decarbonization, but the topic is rife with controversy. Proponents argue against growing economies and instead shrinking production and consumption while favoring sustainability, social justice, democracy, and well-being. In other words, in...

Today's guest is Kip Pastor , Founder and CEO of Pique Action . When most people think of climate change, they picture stories about wildfires, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and a myriad of other ways we’re all just generally screwed. It can feel pretty hopeless, but those of us who have been leaning into solutions know that not all is lost. There are incredible innovations that have the po...

Today's guest is John Dees , Senior Science Analyst at Carbon Direct . Carbon Direct is a science-first carbon management firm that enables organizations around the world to reduce, remove, and monitor their carbon emissions. They combine science, technology, and market expertise to help these organizations take action and reach their climate goals. They’re an incredible organization with clients...

Today's guest is Allison Wolff , Founder and CEO at Vibrant Planet .  This year, wildfires have raged across the Western US, the Mediterranean, Australia, and parts of Canada. While many worry that the intensity and frequency of these blazes are going to get worse, Vibrant Planet is on a mission to create a cloud-based planning and monitoring tool for agile, adaptive land management at scale. The...

Today's guest is Benji Backer , Founder and President of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC).  ACC is focused on building grassroots environmental movement amongst the right-of-center space for climate action, with 150 chapters across the country. Benji is a passionate environmentalist and out to change the minds of people who think conservative and climate change advocate don't belong in th...

Today's guest is Jacob Nathan , CEO and Co-Founder of Epoch Biodesign . Plastics are among the most visible and ubiquitous environmental issues plaguing Earth today. Hundreds of millions of tons of plastics are produced every year, but they weren't mass produced until after World War II (that's just one human lifetime ago). As a byproduct of the fossil fuel industry, plastics contribute significan...

Today's guest is Ketan Joshi , a writer, data analyst and communications consultant working on climate and energy.  Ketan Joshi has been at the forefront of clean energy for eight years, starting out as a data analyst working in wind energy, and expanding his knowledge base to community engagement, climate science and new energy technology. He’s written for the Guardian, The Monthly, ABC News and...

Today's guest is Jeff Nobbs , CEO and Co-Founder of Zero Acre Farms . It turns out 20% of our daily caloric intake is made of vegetable oils that are not only harmful to human health, but also have a massive impact on the environment and deforestation. So when thinking about systems problems that impact climate change, how we produce oils for food consumption is a big lever that's yet to be pulled...

Today's guest is Cris Stainbrook , President of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) .  ILTF is a national community-based organization serving Indian nations and Indian people in the recovery and control of their rightful homelands. They work to promote education, increase cultural awareness, create economic opportunity, and reform the legal and administrative systems that prevent Indian peop...

Today's guest is Mujeeb Ijaz , Founder and CEO of ONE .  Widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) not only face technical challenges, but also psychological barriers that consumers need to overcome. ONE has the audacious goal to design a battery that can double the range of EVs while using sustainable and safe materials, avoiding nickel and cobalt in particular. The company is also working t...

Today's guest is Marcius Extavour , Chief Scientist, Executive Vice President Energy and Climate at XPRIZE . XPRIZE is a global future positive movement of over a million people and rising. They are a trusted, proven platform for impact that leverages the power of competition to catalyze innovation and accelerate a more hopeful future by incentivizing radical breakthroughs for the benefit of human...

Today's guest is Marcus Lehmann , CEO and Co-Founder of CalWave .  Our planet’s surface is mostly covered by ocean, but harnessing the power of our ceaseless water world has not been a considerable part of the energy mix to date. CalWave is on a mission to provide reliable, cost-effective ocean wave technologies for sustainable energy access. The company’s award-winning technology transforms the m...

Today's guest is Kerry Bowie , Founder, President and Executive Director of Browning the Green Space . Browning the Green Space (BGS) is a voluntary coalition of leaders and organizations primarily in the New England region that share a passion to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in clean energy. The organization's goal is to increase the participation and leadership of people in underrepre...

Today's guest is Mohit Yadav , co-founder of BOLT .  BOLT was founded in 2017 with the dream of making electric vehicles more accessible by easing and accelerating the transition of emerging markets to cleaner mobility. Currently, the company manages India’s largest EV charging network with over 10,000 charging points across 100 different cities. Although we haven't spent much time on the region h...

Today's guests are Craig Shapiro and Tomas Alvarez Belon from Collaborative Fund .  Collaborative Fund is an investment firm focused on supporting and investing in the shared future. Their funds center around two macro themes, the growth of the creative class and the concept of the collaborative economy.  Recently, Collaborative Fund announced their new Shared Future Fund which provides rapid fund...

Today's guest is Titiaan Palazzi , COO and Co-Founder at Myst .  Myst is a machine learning platform that leverages AI technology to improve demand and supply forecasting for an increasingly renewable power grid. Their platform helps companies accelerate the deployment of expert forecasting solutions that not only increase profitability but also reduce risk.  We have a great discussion about the d...

Today’s guest is Jamie Alexander, Founding Director at Drawdown Labs .  Drawdown Labs serves as Project Drawdown’s private sector testing ground for accelerating the scaling of climate solutions quickly, safely, and equitably. In her role, Jamie leverages the organization's world-class research and analysis—and the cross-industry capabilities of participating businesses and funders—to experiment w...

Today’s guest is Mike Phillips, Co-founder and CEO of Sense . Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, Sense provides homeowners with real-time insights that illustrate their home energy use. Users of Sense’s Home Energy Monitor are able to not only understand energy use on an appliance level, but also identify opportunities to both save money and consume energy when it's cheapest and c...

Today’s guest is Rachel Slaybaugh, Principal at DCVC . In her role, Rachel is focused on climate, sustainability, and energy investments. Before joining DCVC, Rachel was an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley where she held leadership roles in several data science and entrepreneurship efforts. Concurrent to being a professor, Rachel was a Division D...