Sustainability Defined

Transportation is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the United States, it's actually the #1 source, above both energy and industry, which, you know, are kind of big activities. A transition to e-Mobility – the use of transportation modes that are fully or partly driven with an electric drivetrain – along with decarbonizing our energy system would mean significant progress in th...

Do you remember your first time? We sure do - it was on a bike! In preparation for some awesome new content coming up, we're replaying our very first episode from way back in April of 2016. Join us as we cover the basics of electric bikes and discuss the latest developments in the e-bike market. Hint: they're gaining speed and show no signs of braking. ------ Sustainability Defined is the podcast...

"How do I get started with a career in sustainability?" "Do I need a master's degree to advance within the field?" "What if you really love the company you work for, but they don't have an opportunity to work in sustainability (and get paid for it)?" Pursuing a career in sustainability can seem as tough as defining sustainability in the first place. Fret not, dear listeners! We collected your ques...

Beneath our feet lies a huge carbon sink. In fact, soils hold more than three times the amount of carbon that's in the atmosphere! It used to hold a whole lot more before we disrupted the soil with certain kinds of development and agricultural practices. Today, many see restoring the carbon that used to be in our soil (and then some) as key to what's needed to avoid the worst effects of climate ch...

It's that time of year again - peppermint mochas, trendy scarves, and Sustainability Defined's holiday hodge podge episode! We have our usual slate of sustainability-minded holiday gift ideas in addition to what we hope will be a new tradition: sharing highlights from our favorite sustainability articles of the year. We also interview Annabelle Mercer and Samantha Burch, students at Duke Universit...

For most listeners, the term "farming" evokes images of tall crops on large swaths of land (hello, listeners from Nebraska!). Well, there is also farming in the water to raise fish! This practice is known as aquaculture, and it's becoming increasingly important as we look to meet the demand for fish as a protein source without putting additional strain on wild fish stocks. Aquaculture is also big...

Mimicking nature might be the plan for your Halloween costume (trick or treating is so close!), but looking to nature is also increasingly seen as a way to solve problems and innovate both in life and business. Biomimicry is a burgeoning field that involves finding sustainable solutions to certain challenges by emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies. Innovators have found solutions...

High speed rail ain't your grandparents' type of train. Modern high speed rail systems sustain speeds of more than 125 MPH, drastically cutting transit time between major destinations while reducing road congestion at the same time. In this episode, you'll learn about the many benefits of these systems and why so many global cities have developed state of the art systems while the U.S. lags behind...

In every episode, we make sure to include how you, dear listener, can put the concept we discuss into action. Well, with this episode on climate advocacy, we spotlight the ways you can get involved and share tips on how to be most effective. We need you out there explaining the urgent need for action (listening to this podcast earns you partial credit)! Our expert guests, Brady Walkinshaw, CEO of...

When we think about sustainability in cities, the first things we envision tend to be sexy mobility systems, smart buildings, and urban forests. Fact is, there's an additional layer to the sustainability cake that's just as important (and tasty): equity. It's not enough for sustainability efforts to increase renewable energy production, make water use more efficient, decrease carbon emissions, etc...

Dearest Sustainability Defined family, we are taking a short hiatus. This is the third in a brief series of episodes where we'll give a short update on what we're up to outside of the podcast and then replay an oldie but goodie in its entirety. For this month's hiatus, we're revisiting our episode on Big Data & Sustainability. It's one of our most downloaded episodes and features an interview with...

Dearest Sustainability Defined family, we are taking a short hiatus. This is the second in a brief series of episodes where we'll give a short update on what we're up to outside of the podcast and then replay an oldie but goodie in its entirety. For this month's hiatus episode, we're revisiting Walmart's ambitious supply chain emissions initiative called Project Gigaton, which I think we can all a...

Dearest Sustainability Defined family, we are taking a short hiatus. This is the first in a brief series of episodes in which each episode we'll be giving a short update on what we're up to outside of the podcast and then replaying an oldie but goodie in its entirety. For this month's hiatus episode, we'll be raising a toast to sustainable beer. We didn't get score any free drinks out of this epis...

Grab your notebook and #2 pencil... we're going back to school! Through their operations, research, and course offerings, universities have a large carbon footprint and play a major role in advancing sustainability. Join us as we dive into the nuances of sustainability on college campuses, including a special focus on Penn State University, where one of its professors, Lucy McClain, includes our p...

Producing a watt of energy from renewable sources is great, but y'know what's better? Not even using that watt in the first place! This is where energy efficiency comes into play. It allows us to keep doing our favorite activities but not use as much energy in the process. In this episode, you'll learn about energy efficiency's many benefits, the challenges to its widespread adoption, which organi...

Still hunting for a New Years resolution? Look no further! Reducing food waste is one of the easiest ways we as individuals can fight climate change. It also happens to be the third most impactful solution on Paul Hawken's Project Drawdown list to reverse global warming (see Episode 32 for our interview with Paul Hawken). We covered this important topic in early 2016, back when Jay and Scott were...

This year, the holidays are coming early to Sustainability Defined listeners. Tune into our Holiday Hodge-Podge episode for all kinds of treats, including sustainable gift ideas, an overview of the climate change migrants issue, a summary of Jay's European travels, and exciting podcast updates. Plus, we include not one, but three (!) interviews from sustainability leaders around the world: Lauren...

Get your lifejackets on, folks - we're going offshore! While most installed wind energy capacity in the U.S. is on land, offshore wind is prevalent in Europe and poised to accelerate on American waters. We have no doubt you'll be blown away as you hear about the potential for offshore wind and the jobs it can generate. Join us as we speak with experts on two different continents: Jay spoke with Be...

When we say "sustainability," the first thing you think about is how we bury our dead, right? Ok, we rarely think about it either, but by the end of this episode, we think you'll agree that green burial has a significant environmental impact. We also hope the episode spurs conversations with your loved ones about your (and their) end of life wishes. The perfect guest joins us to chat about this in...

While we know our listeners are beautiful inside and out, we all have our go-to beauty and personal care products that help us feel fresh and clean. Dating would be a huge challenge without 'em. However, some of these products harm our health and the environment due to their ingredients, packaging, and manufacturing processes. We'll talk about the sustainability of beauty and personal care product...

There are all kinds of claims out there about compostability, bio-based packaging, and biodegradability. In this episode, we clarify all those terms, explain why they're important, and discuss the latest trends in biodegradable products. We then bring on our expert guest Susanna Carson, someone who once wore a compostable ball gown, to tell us about her bio-based product companies and what we shou...

When you think of travel and tourism, what comes to mind? Maybe it's a pristine beach, an exciting new city, or all those airline miles you're dying to use. Odds are, the environmental impacts of your travel are more of an afterthought, but that's no reason to believe they don't exist. In this episode we dive into why a sustainable tourism industry is so important. We're joined by Daniella Foster,...

The effects of global warming can sound so calamitous that the problem itself seems insurmountable. Well do we have some good news for you! In this episode, we overwhelm you with solutions to global warming and explain how we can actually reverse it. Our latest sustainability celebrity, Paul Hawken, an environmentalist, entrepreneur, activist, and author, joins us to talk about his latest project-...

You, dear listener, may be one of the few Americans who knows that 97% of climate scientists believe climate change is human-caused... but how do you approach the topic with someone who doesn't believe it's even happening? And how many climate change skeptics are out there? We talk in this episode with the man who has the answers to these questions and more. Ed Maibach, Director of George Mason Un...

We've been told we have the faces for podcasting, but apparently the U.S. Green Building Council thinks we have the faces for speeches too. USGBC invited us to its annual GreenCon event to give a keynote speech on existing buildings, and here for your listening pleasure is a live recording of our talk. It's certainly a timely topic - in 2015, about 40% of total U.S. energy consumption was consumed...