Inevitable

Today’s guest is Dr. David Kirtley , Founder and CEO at Helion , which is building the world's first fusion generator and enabling a future of unlimited clean electricity.  Nuclear fusion has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce energy. As the driving force behind every star in our galaxy, fusion has long been hailed as the "holy grail" of clean energy, offering a limitless and fossil...

Today's guest is Manik Suri , CEO and Founder of Therma .  The cold chain is a massive part of modern society that doesn't get much attention. It stores a huge amount of goods, allowing us to keep food fresh, medicines effective, and current internet infrastructure. Yes, even data centers are part of the cold chain. Therma is turning commercial and industrial refrigeration systems into virtual pow...

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Today's guest is Brittany Heller , Director of Program Management at HeatSpring .  Last year, we k...

Today's guest is Dr. Leah Ellis , CEO and co-founder of Sublime Systems , which is using electrochemistry to make cement and in doing so claims to have a pathway to reduce the emissions footprint of cement production by 60-90%. Cement is the most abundant man-made material on earth, with billions of tons produced yearly. So far the primary pathway to reducing its emissions footprint is via point s...

Today's guest is Jonathan Strauss , co-founder and CEO of Climate Draft , whose mission is to expose more people to the inspiring, impactful, and lucrative opportunities at venture-backed startups focused on decarbonizing the global economy. Talent movement into climate tech is critical, especially talent that has learned to scale businesses and technologies fast. In many cases, the skillsets that...

Today's guest is Sarah Richardson , CEO and co-founder of MicroByre , which is domesticating novel bacteria and using biology to produce chemicals that can supplant petrochemical production methods. Only a small portion of a barrel of oil is responsible for its petrochemical outputs. Most of a barrel is what you'd expect: fuel that's converted to gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc. But that small por...

This episode is part of our new Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Today, we are talking trucks with Larry Coons .  Transportation accounted for the largest port...

Today's guest is Jason Prapas , CEO and Founder of FYTO , which is a technology company that is unlocking the potential of nutrient-rich aquatic plants to reduce the emissions and water footprint of food production, starting with cattle cultivation. Raising livestock, particularly cattle, is known for its incredibly high emissions footprint. And while we can make responsible diet choices individua...

Today's guest is Dr. Katharine Wilkinson , best-selling author, strategist, teacher, and one of 15 “women who will save the world,” according to Time magazine. Dr. Wilkinson leads the All We Can Save Project , which she co-founded with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. As an emergent nonprofit, the project's mission is to nurture the leaderful climate community we need for a life-giving future using th...

Today's guest is Adam Wright , CEO and co-founder of Vespene Energy , which uses landfill methane to fuel Bitcoin mining. At MCJ we’ve spent some time at the intersection of Bitcoin as an incentive mechanism for halting methane emissions with Crusoe Energy and their work with flared waste gas at oil wells. But understanding the actual scale of the landfill emissions problem and how the status quo...

Today's guest is Ira Pearl , Vice President of Environmental Sustainability at Cox Enterprises . Ira is also the leader of Cox Conserves.  In his role, Ira leads Cox's efforts to tackle sustainability challenges while driving its goals to achieve zero waste to landfill by 2024 and become water and carbon neutral by 2034. Cox Enterprises is interesting because they are a privately held global congl...

Today's guest is Matt LeDucq , CEO and co-founder of Forum Mobility , which is working on the problem of heavy-duty trucking electrification, starting in California with the drayage sector. There are essentially two types of trucking. The first is long-haul or "over the road" which transports goods over long distances. If you've ever done a cross-country road-trip, the semi trucks on the interstat...

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu . This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Today's guest is Alejandro Carrillo , a rancher who lives in El Paso, Texas and stewards his famil...

Today's guest is Taj Eldridge . He calls himself the DJ Khaled of climate and you’ll know why when you hear him speak.  Taj’s professional portfolio spans a variety of roles that live at the intersection of diversity, inclusivity, and climate. He’s currently involved in three exciting pursuits. As general partner at Include Ventures , Taj works with a team of experts to build a large and dynamic p...

Today's guest is Eric Reinhardt , CEO and co-founder of Helio , which makes it simple for customers to transition off fossil fuels and fully electrify their homes.  The home electrification process in most of the U.S. is not a seamless experience. Homeowners approach electrification with different needs. Some have to upgrade broken equipment, whereas others opt for a total rehab. But having to pie...

Today's guest is Jill Tauber , Vice President of Litigation for Climate and Energy at Earthjustice .  Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization. They wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, preserve magnificent places and wildlife, advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. The work they do is not only e...

Today’s guest is Emily McAteer , co-founder and CEO of Odyssey Energy Solutions , helping emerging market project developers to finance, build and operate distributed renewable energy at scale.  How the Global South modernizes is the original climate justice debate that has been a key topic of global policy discussions for decades, going back to the Kyoto Protocol of the 1990s and even earlier. Th...

Today's guest is Felicia Marcus ,  the Williams C. Landreth visiting fellow at Stanford University's Water in the West program.  Felicia is also an attorney, consultant, and member of the Water Policy Group. She most recently served as Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, where she implemented laws regarding drinking water, water quality and state's water rights, as well as...

Today’s guest is Lauren Salz , co-founder and CEO of Sealed , which modernizes houses with the latest HVAC, weatherproofing and smart home technology, while covering the upfront cost to homeowners. Home efficiency and electrification is a critical front for combating climate change. Incentives for residential heat pump installation are one of the big winners of the Inflation Reduction Act. The oft...

Today's guests are Geert van de Wouw and Vikas Gupta from Shell Ventures .  Shell Ventures was established in 1996 as one of the first corporate venture funds in the oil and gas industry. Although we’ve published over 300 episodes to date, Geert and Vikas are actually the first guests we’ve had from the oil majors come on the show. Although tons of anger has been directed at the oil and gas indust...

Today's guest is Tom Green , CEO and Co-founder of Vesta . The ocean is one of nature's largest carbon sinks, as it absorbs upwards of 30% of cumulative human emissions. Vesta is tackling the dual problem of shoreline erosion due to sea level rise and carbon emissions reduction with olivine sand that speeds up the ocean's natural carbon cycle. They call it coastal carbon capture, and it's one form...

Today's guest is Dr. Leah Stokes , a renowned climate and energy policy expert, strategist and researcher, helping leaders build clean energy practices into their long-term plans to secure our future.  But her resume doesn’t end there. Leah is an award-winning author of Short Circuiting Policy , an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-host of a top climate podc...

Today's guest is David Wallace , co-founder and CEO of CODA Farm Technologies , which provides remote monitoring and control for agricultural irrigation pumps and irrigation reels.  The looming water crisis is often described as one of the major symptoms of climate change. You hear about it in the news, coupled with drought-stricken images of dried up riverbeds and diminishing reservoirs. The West...

Today's guest is Scott Arnold , a HVAC technician and small business owner based out of New York.  With heating and cooling accounting for nearly 50% of energy costs, upgrading outdated appliances can not only save homeowners money but also provide a cleaner environment to live in and a healthier planet overall. Scott’s company is working to help customers purchase and install heat pumps as an alt...

Today's guest is Sue Brown, Executive Group Director of Sustainability at Worley .  As a leading global provider of professional project and asset services in the energy, chemicals and resources sectors, Worley is on the frontlines of doing the actual work to engineer and build everything we’re going to need for the clean energy transition, and they’re doing so across industries and the globe. Wor...