The Capitalist Hippie

Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have raised the levels of atmospheric CO2 by 50% – meaning we now have over 150% more CO2 in the atmosphere than in 1750. These high levels are trapping heat and raising the temperature of the planet. There is a natural way to reverse this effect: giving our soil the power to re-absorb the CO2 released into the air.   That's Alexsandra Guerra's mis...

Almost half the land that can support plant life on Earth has been converted to croplands or pastures. And, more surprisingly, that transformation took away between 50 and 70 percent of the soil's ability to store carbon, contributing to a quarter of all man-made global greenhouse gas emissions. Enter Chris Tolles. CEO and Co-Founder of Yard Stick PBC, he took global warming personally and believe...

A study shows that 77% of people in the U.S. want to learn how to live more sustainably. Today's guest is Laura Wittig, CEO and founder of Brightly, a platform that combines content, community, and shopping to ignite change for the conscious consumer. Laura worked in tech for numerous years as a project manager. At Amazon, she hit a wall selling as many shoes and handbags as possible without conce...

An estimated 70% of carbon emissions can be decreased by transitioning to a circular economy. Today's guest is Garry Cooper, CEO and co-founder of Rheaply, a service company specializing in enterprise asset management technology for the circular economy. Garry was doing a PhD in Neuroscience at Northwestern University in a well-resourced lab when he noticed a friend's lab with fewer resources that...

Transitioning to a circular economy could generate 25 trillion USD worth of additional economic output globally by 2050. Today's guest is Stuart Lilley, CEO and founder of ReFeed Farms, a Langley, BC facility that focuses on food waste recovery through a circular nutrition model. Stuart was raised in Wales around international cuisine, and his love of food continued as he worked in the hospitality...

A third of the world's fish docks are overfished, with the remaining two-thirds fished at capacity. Today's guest is Tony Long, CEO of Global Fishing Watch, an international non-profit organization sharing open-source information to combat illegal fishing practices. Tony spent 27 years with the British Royal Navy, and his love of the high seas led him to join the non-profit sector. Tony speaks wit...

In 1993, eight hundred and fifty-seven people were arrested for civil disobedience in the Clayoquot protests, a series of blockades related to clearcutting in clayoquot sound, British Columbia. Today's guest, Tzeporah Berman, was one of the leading spokespersons and blockage coordinators at the time. Today, she is the co-founder of Stand.earth, a grassroots environmental organization, and chair of...

The tourism industry contributes to approximately 8% of total carbon emissions.  Today's guest is Amanda Ho, co-founder of Regenerative Travel, a hospitality company that helps travellers, hotels, and the travel industry develop a regenerative mindset and foster positive change to create a more equitable future through education, advocacy and collaboration. On her journey as a travel journalist, A...

In Canada, we waste 60% of the food we grow, making us the worst country per capita for food waste in the world. Today's guest is Carissa Campeotto, Co-Founder of Trendi. Trendi uses robotics, upcycling, and social change to combat the excess and unnecessary waste of misfit food from farms, retailers, cuttings from processors, and waste we produce in our homes. When Carissa was running her own jui...

Twenty-four percent of our total greenhouse gas emissions come from natural gas. Today's guest is Michael Sachse, CEO of Dandelion Energy, a geothermal heating company that has developed a scalable model for deploying residential geothermal heating and cooling to displace natural gas and heating oil and implement efficient cooling. Michael grew up in Washington, DC, and soon after working as a law...

Heatwaves in British Columbia deluges in Europe, pipes freezing in Texas. Our reality with climate change is collectively shifting and happening globally. Today's guest is Jean-Louis Warnholz, Co-Founder and CEO of Future, a fintech company that is encouraging carbon action as a smart economic choice by providing its members with incentives and five percent cashback for shopping secondhand, taking...

Truckloads of our unwanted clothing are shipped to continents like Africa, disrupting their local economy and causing massive waste. Today's guest is Negin Izad, owner of NOCTEX, a slow-fashion clothing company that prioritizes form, utility, and ethical design. Negin grew up loving clothes and started sewing in high school. At age 17, the experience of working at a rag yard had Negin decide that...

Only five percent of plastic gets recycled in the United States, with a large majority of bioplastic and compostables that cannot be adequately composted. Today's guest is Jason Hawkins, co-founder of Reusables, a zero-waste packaging platform offering a subscription-based for unlimited use of reusable packaging. Jason spent five years in scalable businesses like Rooted Foods Co., a farm-to-table...

The system is built on oppression and keeps the wheels of exploitation turning, says today's guest, Colin Vernon, co-founder and CTO of Slow Factory, a New York-based environmental and social justice nonprofit organization. Colin has worn many hats over the years, from performer and musician to producer, community organizer, and self-taught coder, always with a key concern for social and environme...

Globally, a third or one trillion US dollars of all our foods gets thrown away every year. Tessa Clarke is today's guest and the Co-founder and CEO of OLIO — a food-sharing app aiming to reduce household and food waste by connecting neighbours with spare food or household items to others nearby. Growing up on a dairy farm in the UK, Tessa developed a keen appreciation of the value of food early on...

The 7 billion dollar energy market remained undisrupted…until Mark Rabin, today's guest, and founder and CVO of Portable Electric , came along. Mark founded Portable Electric in 2015 — a clean tech company that is kicking gas and diesel generators to the curb with their noise- and emissions-free portable power stations. A self-professed energy nerd, Mark started working on the oil rigs as a 20-som...

In this week's episode, we welcome Jenn Harper, CEO and Founder of Cheekbone Beauty.   Cheekbone Beauty is a sustainable and socially conscious beauty brand with a mission to help Indigenous youth see and feel their enormous value in the world while creating sustainable cosmetics.    Cheekbone Beauty is known for creating clean, vegan, and sustainable colour cosmetics using Indigenous wisdom. The...

In this week's episode, we welcome René Gauthier, founder of the sustainable fashion lifestyle brand, Ecologyst.    René knew he wanted to change the system. But turning away from the successful business he had already built, whose manufacturing and supply chains relied on traditional models, was no easy feat. It meant completely reshaping how the company did business.   At Ecologyst, René and his...

In this week's episode, we welcome Lee Reitelman, an entrepreneur working at the intersection of health and sustainability and CEO and co-founder of PlantPaper, a tree-free, toxin-free toilet paper company.   PlantPaper was founded to radically change our current toilet paper industry and hygienic practices.    Currently, 27,000 trees per day are flushed down the world's toilet, and over a gallon...

In this week's episode, we welcome Steph Spiers, voted 2022's New England Entrepreneur of the year. Steph is co-founder and CEO at Solstice, an enterprise dedicated to radically expanding the number of American households that can take advantage of clean energy using community-shared solar farms. Solstice's mission is to work towards greater energy equity and a future in which clean energy works f...

In this week's episode, we welcome Dr. Christina Chang, Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, a venture capital dedicated to funding companies that are slashing C02 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf**k the planet. As a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, Dr. Chang incubates and invests in new technology startups with tremendous climate impact. From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Chang w...

In this week's episode, we welcome Ben Nyland, President, and CEO at Loop Energy. Loop Energy is an industry-leading developer, manufacturer, and supplier of hydrogen fuel cell systems to vehicle and power generation system manufacturers around the world.    At Loop Energy, the mission is to accelerate the hydrogen revolution and power a cleaner future with their signature patented technology know...

In this week's episode, we welcome Dr. Geoff De Ruiter, Carbon Manager at BC Biocarbon , an innovative company that uses bio-refinery technology to manufacture biogenic products, including biochar, biocoal, wood vinegar, and more. Their mission is to massively accelerate atmospheric decarbonization via carbon removal and fossil carbon displacement. BC Biocarbon provides synergistic solutions to se...

In this week's episode, we welcome Justin Kolbeck, CEO, and Co-Founder at Wildtype , a cultivated seafood brand on a mission to create the most sustainable seafood on earth. Wildtype uses cellular agriculture techniques which provide consumers with new options for real seafood that has the same nutritional benefits as wild-caught fish but without contaminants such as mercury, microplastics, antibi...

In this week's episode, we welcome Mellisa Mills, Founder, and CEO of Spread'Em Kitchen. The Vancouver-based food company makes tasty nut based dairy-alternatives like cheeze, spreads, dips, and butter with an aim to challenge the corporate-dominated food system by offering nourishing, satisfying plant-based dairy alternatives made from ethically-sourced whole ingredients. And that's not all — a p...