Sustainability In Your Ear

After another election fought over by parties committed to winning and sidelining the opposition for four years will not heal the nation or provide the basis for constructive conversations about progress toward a fair and sustainable net-zero society. Mitch Ratcliffe, publisher of Earth911.com, and Sustainable Business Consulting's Kevin Wilhelm introduce a series of conversations that cross the r...

Author Marc Schaus talks with Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe about his new book, Our Livable World: Creating the Clean Earth of Tomorrow, a hopeful book about addressing climate change through improved energy efficiency and new, clean electricity generation technologies. Schaus explains that many new technologies are appearing that can help pivot the economy to renewable energy, and this is a source o...

Steve Groff, author of The Future-Proof Farm, the creator of widely used regenerative farming techniques known as cover-cropping, joins Earth911. He talks with us about the importance of improving soil health and explains the changing relationship between the farm and grocery store. America lost more than one-third of its topsoil during the last 150 years, and Steve says his technique mimics natur...

Earth911 talks with oil industry veteran and critic Jack Kerfoot, the author of Fueling America: An Insider’s Journey. He spent decades in the oil industry and argues that it is responsible for pollution and geopolitical issues that plague our planet and people. Approximately 3.7 million people die from chronic or acute pollution-related illness per year due. Kerfoot argues that the U.S. and count...

Earth911 talks with Roger Duncan and Dr. Michael E. Webber of the University of Texas at Austin. They are the authors of The Future of Buildings, Transportation, and Power. We discuss the profound changes in the ways we travel and the places we work or live that will occur as we build a sustainable economy. Listen in to hear the political, social, and economic opportunities and challenges that wil...

Earth911 talks with Space, keyboardist and guitarist of Never Not Nothing, (“NNN”) a rising British duo that takes sustainability seriously. Space discusses the band’s philosophy of positive nihilism and how they contribute to sustainable culture through direct donations and support for green music festivals. The band, originally named Black Futures, recently changed its name in solidarity with th...

Carbon emissions are piling up every day, affecting the world’s weather patterns, and accelerating climate change. Earth 911 talks with Cool Effect’s Blake Lawrence about how you can offset your carbon emissions inexpensively and with confidence it will remain sequestered. Cool Effect is a non-profit organization that seeks out the highest quality carbon reduction projects globally and assists the...

Earth 911 talks with Sandra Ann Harris, the founder and president of Ecolunchboxes.com and the author of Say Goodbye to Plastic: A Survival Guide To Plastic-Free Living. She’s been living an increasingly plastic-free lifestyle for several years and shares here experience and what she’s learned along the way. There are many small ways to help with preventing pollution that you can do daily. Take yo...

Extreme weather damage grows more expensive every decade. Storms, floods, droughts, and wildfire have cost the world more than $2.97 trillion dollars since 2000, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Earth911 talks with Professor Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters Climate Change at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand about the economics of disa...

Author and entrepreneur Steve Melink joins Earth911 to talk about making the conservative case for clean energy. His new book, Fusion Capitalism, is a call for conservatives to recognize the dangerous reality of climate change and invest in a rapid transition to renewable energy. His company, Melink Corp. pioneered energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for commercial buildings in Ohio -...

Earth911 talks with Eden Green CEO Eddy Badrina about the company’s vertical greenhouses that will help the world grow locally and end food insecurity. While Americans expect to buy fresh product year-round, flying foods from Central America and Southern Hemisphere carries a heavy environmental cost. Urban farming can fill in critical gaps in local food supplies, providing year-round, locally grow...

Pharmaceuticals represent a growing source of pollution that impacts the water in streams, and can eventually make its way into the bodies of animals, fish, and humans. Earth911 talks with Nancy Devine, chief operating officer of Deterra, a Verde Environmental Technologies business, about safe drug disposal. The company makes the Deterra Drug Deactivation System, a recycled- and bioplastic-plastic...

Suntory, the Japanese beverage and distillery company famous for its whiskey, American bourbons including Jim Beam and Maker's Mark, as well as Laphroaig scotch and many non-alcoholic drinks including Orangina, Boss canned coffee, and many bottled teas, is a sustainability leader. It has consistently ranked above average in the industry for environmental, social, and governance practices. Earth911...

Arguments against embracing sustainable choices often suggest life will be less prosperous. Philosopher Kate Soper argues that the first step toward a sustainable lifestyle is changing the things we appreciate. Modern life has made us frantic and despite technical advances, people work more than ever, particularly in the United States. Soper's new book, Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedon...

More algae blooms and red tides are affecting the grassy coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. David Wolff, founder of OceanHabitats Inc., recognized the need for natural solutions in the 1990s, when he built the first Mini Reef, a structure that can be placed under docks in coastal waterways and canals that supports plant and ocean life. But the world wasn't ready for the idea and money ran out by 199...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft National Recycling Policy in October. Earth911 speaks with Adina Renee Adler, vice president of advocacy at the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) about the plan's strengths and areas for improvement. ISRI offered comments about the EPA's focus on job creation as a primary goal and basis for measuring the new regulations' succe...

EarthFund Global's ambitious plan to finance and accelerate national transitions to renewable energy is starting in Greece, where we spoke with founder Alysia Helming. A veteran of the U.S. renewable energy industry, she founded Santa Monica, Calif.-based EarthFund Global in collaboration with Green Cross International as a non-profit in March 2020 to attempt to meet the challenge of making renewa...

The fashion industry is a profligate source of pollution, even when making baby clothing. Lauren Gregor founded Rent-a-Room to help parents find and reuse baby clothing. During the first years of a baby’s life, they change sizes and styles faster than a teenage fashion plate. Gregor, a new mom, decided to follow the fashion rental examples of Rent-the-Runway and StitchFix, introducing a subscripti...

Enspire leather is a novel take on recycling one of humanity's oldest industrial materials. Earth911 talks with Frank Fox, cofounder of Sustainable Composites, a Lancaster, Pa.-based company that recycles leather fibers to create new leather that looks, feels, and performs like the real thing. By breaking leather down to individual fibers, the grain of which you can see if you turn over a swatch o...

Earth911 talks with Jeremy Schewe, a wetlands scientist who is chief science officer and cofounder of Ecobot, an app company that helps to accurately inventory wetlands. Schewe shares the state of more than 110 million acres of wetlands in the U.S. and progress in understanding the role wetlands play in the carbon cycle, their influences on local weather and environmental diversity, and policymaki...

Earth911 talks with Adam Met, bassist of the multi-platinum indie pop group AJR and advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Program, about his new podcast, Planet Reimagined and how to start a lasting sustainability transition. Adam and his brothers Jack and Ryan launched AJR as teens. They've produced numerous hits, including their current release Bummerland, while Adam continued...

Feeling like the world can't survive 2020? Take a few minutes to meet 15-year-old Adarsh Ambati of San Jose, Calif., winner of the Innovation prize in the 2020 International Young Eco-Hero Awards to discover why there is hope. Adarsh and 16 other 8-to-12-year-olds and 13-to-16-year olds were recognized this month for their contributions to global sustainability. Adarsh's story is an inspiration th...

Plastic pollution surged along with COVID-19 as the world's human population raced to protect itself from the virus. We talk with Kevin Kelly, CEO of Emerald Packaging, one of the largest plastic bag makers in the country. Kelly shares how in-store recycling programs have been curtailed by fears about spreading infections and the continuing increase in plastic usage compared to previous years. Eme...

Environmental Media Association CEO Debbie Levin invites you to watch this year's EMA Awards, hosted by Lance Bass, on August 20, 2020. We talk about the role of storytelling and celebrity in making sustainability mainstream. Levin took on leadership at the EMA in 2020 and created a very successful approach to using celebrities to make environmental stories tangible to viewers. We discuss the impo...

Earth911.com talks with Ford Seeman, founder of Forest Founders, a tree-planting subscription service working to integrated carbon responsibility in daily shopping and marketing programs, and Righteous Causes, a sustainable business incubator in New York. We talked with him from his home, where trees were falling to the recent hurricane, about planting trees as an everyday activity we support with...