Sustainability In Your Ear

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) monitors the sustainability and environmental responsibility performance of the world's largest countries. Charlotte Hugman, a researcher for the climate and energy programs at WBA shares the results of the organization's July 2020 Electric Utilities Benchmark of the 50 largest electric producers in the world, including the top 10 U.S. utilities. The report is...

Pablo Diaz, founder and CEO of Direct Solar America, joins Earth911 to talk about the current state of solar subsidies in the U.S. Recently named one of CEO Magazine's Top 20 Dynamic CEOs, Diaz founded the company as a solar installer but transitioned to providing solar technology and installation services for home and business owners. Visitors to DirectSolarAmerica.com can enter their address and...

The time to talk about climate change and social equity is now. Author and sustainability consultant Kevin Wilhelm has a valuable new guide to bridging the political, social, and ideological chasms that keep that discussion from happening, How to Talk to the “Other Side”: Finding Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession and Climate Change. A practical book full of real-world examples of...

As the world re-opens in the wake of COVID-19 Wave 1, revenge pollution threatens to amplify human environmental impacts as people travel, spend, and discard products and packaging at a higher level than before the global lockdown. Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Lauren K. Olson, zero-waste manager at World Centric, a Rohnert Park, Calif.-based maker of compostable bioplastic food packaging...

We're still deep in the lockdown and the Earth911 team gathers from the far corners of the U.S. to discuss how to improve our personal and community sustainability as we emerge from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earth911's Sarah Lozanova, Mitch Ratcliffe and our producer, Doug Mackey, talk about the increased recycling reported by cities, as well as the disappointing news that people ar...

Earth911 talks with Rita Katona and Eric Hall, cofounders of probiotic juice shot makers SoGoodSoYou about their new biodegradable packaging, the BtrBtl, and how contemporary companies must embrace ecological sustainability. The BtrBtl breaks down approximately 17 times faster (it “biodegrades 31.7–37.0% after 391 days in active landfill conditions compared to 2% biodegradation of untreated PET”)....

Bevi, an office water dispenser company, has saved more than 180 million plastic bottles from landfills. Earth911 talks with Sean Grundy, cofounder and CEO of Bevi, about the company's mission to deliver sustainable and healthy water, with or without flavoring. They developed a networked water dispenser that can be installed in an office to distill and carbonate tap water, adding natural flavors f...

The recycling industry, like the rest of the world, is coping with the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joe Pickard, the chief economist of the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), shares his insights into how recycling will change as a new normal emerges after the pandemic. Even as homeowners and apartment-dwellers send more recyclables through curbside programs, the comme...

Are you thinking about shopping with home delivery during the lockdown? You need to know Loop, the home grocery delivery service that picks up and recycles what you buy when you are done. Earth911 talks with Benjamin Weir, North American business development manager at Loop. Launched by Terracycle, the innovative recycling company, Loopstore.com offers 173 food and personal care products to custom...

The Earth911 team gathers, again, from the far corners of this isolated country to talk about the opportunities to improve our lives and reduce our impact on the planet in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown. Join Mitch Ratcliffe and Sarah Lozanova for a conversation about keeping sane and adding sustainability education for your kids while stuck at home. We also talk more about the phenomenal evid...

Begin building resilient communities based on a thorough awareness of nature, Aris Popadopoulos, founder of the Resilience Action Fund, a non-profit that provides information, educational information, and research to communities. As rising sea levels threaten coastal communities and extreme weather increases inland, Popadopoulos advises homeowners and renters to become more aware of the at-risk lo...

Companies face growing demands from consumers, government, and NGOs to reduce their carbon footprint, decrease their overall environmental impact, and to provide just work conditions. Ramprate.com, an innovative sourcing advisory firm that pioneered data services based on renewable energy, has launched a scoring system to track the impacts at every step in a company's supply chain, Syzygy Sourcing...

The Earth911 gang assembles in a time of crisis. Maybe we aren't The Avengers, but we have proof from the pandemic that many individual changes in behavior can add up to massive changes in environmental impact. The coronavirus has halted life in many parts of the world, driving down pollution levels and raising sustainability red flags as oil prices drop, plastic has come back in vogue, and the pl...

New York City's Earth Day celebrations are among the largest in the world. Earth911 talks with John Oppermann, executive director of Earth Day Initiative, which produces the annual events. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day physical events have been canceled, but Oppermann's team has set up a virtual event, including speeches, interactive presentations, and booths that you can stroll from home. Lea...

The Earth is our shared home, and that insight can help save the world, Dr. Anita Sanchez explains in this thoughtful conversation with Earth911. The author of The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times shares her lifelong investigation of our interconnectedness, traversing Mohican, Hopi, and Buddhist thought to suggest four key actions for making climate change personal. She links...

The annual challenge of keeping walkways and drives clear of snow has a terrible environmental impact. In colder regions, a single household will use between 200 lb.s and 800 lbs. of salt each year, which leads to chloride contamination in lakes, streams, and groundwater. PlaySafe Ice Blocker is a new chloride-free anti-icing liquid that is safe for the environment, pets, and your children. Earth9...

The Earth911 team is talking about the household decisions and projects to think about if you have some extra coronavirus-isolation time on your hands. We look at four kinds of laundry detergent, including powdered, liquid, pod, and sheet detergents that are easier on your clothes and the environment. Thinking about a Mother's Day or Father's Day gift you can make yourself this year? Take a look a...

Plastic recycling in the U.S. has declined so much since the China ban on contaminated recyclable materials that it is no longer legally "recyclable" according to Federal Trade Commission rules. How2Recycle.org, the organization that labels products has downgraded plastic from "recyclable" to "check locally" for available programs. You can use Earth911's recycling search to find local plastic recy...

The Earth911 team is back at the microphone to talk about plastic, sustainability, and the actions we can all take around the house to reduce, reuse, and recycle. This week, learn how to recycle disposable contact lenses and how to create a zero-waste kitchen. We also talk through the many problems with bottled water in plastic packaging, from the reliance on virgin petroleum resources to micro-pl...

Dvele's Brandon Weiss has a vision for durable Net-zero housing. As Chief Innovation Officer at Dvele, a San Diego-based manufacturer of sustainably made passive homes, Weiss is creating an array of home styles that buyers can customize and see built within six months. The company is working in Ventura and Sonoma Counties in California to help provide new homes for wildfire victims. Earth911's Mit...

Happy New Year, Earthlings! Join the Earth911 team as they talk about the green choices and important trends of 2020. Evelyn Fielding-Lopez, Sarah Lozanova, and Mitch Ratcliffe are on the air to discuss minimalist living and how it fits with frugal choices, the important trends in solar power and environmentally friendly living that we expect to see take hold in 202o, as well as the growing range...

Serenbe is an ecologically responsible 1,000-acre community in the Chattahoochee Hill Country just outside Atlanta. With more than 700 residents living around four village centers, Serenbe maintains more than 70 percent of its land as green space, offering a lovely combination of environmental living with culture, food, and shopping designed for local consumption. Former restauranteur Steve Nygren...

The Earth911 team has a lot to celebrate this year. We're live on Google Assistant, where you can now ask how and where to recycle materials with a simple "Hey, Google!" Evelyn Fielding-Lopez and Mitch Ratcliffe sit down to talk about the last year and where sustainability is going. Learn how to be environmentally friendly at college -- the lessons there will affect a lifetime and can be applied b...

Jason Pelz, vice president of the Carton Council, joins Earth911 to talk about progress in beverage carton recycling, which is up more than 280 percent over the last decade. Founded in 2009, when carton recycling rates were stuck at six percent, the Carton Council is an alliance of beverage packaging manufacturing companies. Pelz, who is also the director of circular economy projects at TetraPak,...

Tony Juniper spent a lifetime traveling the world’s rainforests and raising awareness about environmental threats. Now, he chairman of the United Kingdom’s Natural England, the national conservation agency — by contrast the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is headed by a former coal industry lobbyist. He joins Earth911 to talk about his new book, Rainforest: Dispatches From the Earth’s Most Vi...