The IMPERATIVE Podcast

Ben Shread-Hewitt, climate researcher and geopolitical analyst, joins Craig Applegath to argue that climate change is no longer a future threat but a present reality reshaping politics, economies, and the built environment. The conversation covers three urgent topics: Derailment Risk, the idea that escalating climate impacts can actively undermine mitigation efforts; the Overshoot Era, where socie...

“Make climate futures visible - We have to show positive change!” In this episode, Craig speaks with landscape architect, researcher, and educator Nadia Amoroso about the power of visual communication in shaping climate action. Drawing from her latest book, Representing Landscapes: Visualizing Climate Action, Nadia explores how drawings, mapping, and storytelling can help communities better unders...

Chris Turner: The Case for Climate Optimism “We’re not just trying to eliminate something bad—we’re building something better.” In this episode, Craig speaks with journalist and author Chris Turner about his book How to Be a Climate Optimist and the shifting narrative around climate change from one rooted in fear and sacrifice to one driven by possibility, innovation, and better ways of living. Ch...

“There is nothing radical about doing what is easy… what is truly radical is to do what is necessary to build a better world.” In this episode, Craig speaks with forester and author Ethan Tapper about his award-winning book How to Love a Forest and what it means to care for ecosystems in an age of climate change, biodiversity loss, and what he calls “global change.” Ethan’s path into forestry bega...

My guest today is Ken Greenberg - urban designer, city builder, and one of the most influential voices in shaping how North American cities think about density, public space, and climate resilience. Cities are where the climate crisis becomes real. Cities are where emissions are generated, where heat is felt, where floods happen, and where millions of daily decisions - about housing, mobility, ene...

In this conversation, Craig Applegath speaks with Lynda Ulrich, founder of  The Goodness Exchange  and host of the  Conspiracy of Goodness podcast , about why stories of progress matter and how real change actually happens. Lynda traces the origins of her work back to a moment when she noticed something unsettling: people who had once been optimistic were suddenly afraid of the future.

In this episode my guest is Patrick Crabbe. Patrick is the Director of Mass Timber at Bird Construction, North America’s first general contractor to dedicate full-time expertise, and a create a national centre of excellence, for sustainable mass timber construction. “We have to start managing infrastructure from a starting point of carbon. Carbon is the universal language. Maybe we need to stop lo...

In this episode my guest is Ben Gibbons. Ben is the Founder and Managing Partner of Waterpoint Lane , a venture capital firm focused on investing in growth stage companies centered in primary production, technology and services,  and consumer products,  that promote sustainable practices throughout our food system. In our conversation Ben and I talk about the really big challenges facing the world...

In this podcast I talk with Geoff Smith, CEO and President of EllisDon . Geoff is the President & Chief Executive Officer of EllisDon, an employee-owned, $5 billion-a-year construction services and technology company. In the world of Climate Change mitigation, Geoff Smith is probably best known for his leadership of the Carbon Impact Initiative – A Building Industry-Led Action Plan in Support of C...

In this episode I talk with Alex Lukachko. In our conversation, Alex talks about the rapid change that we face within the design and construction industry as we try to move the entire industry towards the goal of zero-carbon (and perhaps restorative construction) that we need to address the climate crisis.  He talks about the challenges of designing buildings for the long-term, but he also talks a...

In this episode our Twenty First Century Cleantech contributor, Connor Reed, talks with Matthew Tokarik, President of Subterra Renewables, a renewable energy developer who designs, builds, owns, and operates geothermal heating and cooling systems across North America, with the goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately reaching Net-Zero building operation. Matt has prev...

In this episode I talk with Sayjel Vijay Patel. Sayjel is an MIT-trained architect, technologist and the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Digital Blue Foam. Sayjel’s past work bridges across the scales of software, materials, and cities, often mashing-up industrial technologies in new and provocative collaborations; From a Bartending System using Kuka Robots for Google I/O;  to developin...

Mike Andrade is the CEO of Morgan Solar and a real veteran of the solar industry. In this episode, Mike talks about everything from his start at IBM, to his views on hydrogen, carbon capture, and of course what he’s doing to promote Canadian cleantech and manufacturing. This is our first episode in a new series that we are calling Twenty-First Century Cleantech. For regular listeners, you’ll remem...

In this podcast I talk with Michelle Xuereb, an architect and the Director of Innovation at BDP Quadrangle. In our podcast Michelle and I talk about some of the important strategies for mitigating carbon emissions – both operational and embodied carbon – but also about how we can design to improve our social infrastructure in order to increase climate change resilience, exploring some of the ideas...

In this episode I talk with Connor Reed, about the launch of a new segment on this podcast that we’re calling “Twenty First Century CleanTech.” In this segment, that will air every other month, Connor will be interviewing leading entrepreneurs, researchers, and business leaders who are breaking fresh ground with innovative new Clean Technologies that could be important tools for helping us to tran...

This is a slightly different kind of podcast. Typically I interview guests who are in some way making a difference through their efforts to deal with the causes or effects of climate change and other environment-related challenges. This podcast is no different, but the approach is very different: In today’s podcast, I interview Mario Vasilescu about “information pollution.” “What does “information...

In this podcast I talk with Taylor Davis about being a green entrepreneur and how he sees "conscious capitalism" as a means to make much needed environmental changes in the world, and his belief that we will be able to solve the key challenges posed by climate change. We also talk about Taylor’s plans for launching a podcast, what gives Taylor hope and keeps him going when things look dark, and wh...

In this podcast I talk with Martin Nielsen about his design philosophy, his belief that sustainable design is no longer enough, that we must now be designing to create truly regenerative buildings - buildings that improve the ecosystems they are part of. We also talk about what gives Martin hope when things are looking dark. Martin is one of those truly inspiring individuals whose energy and enthu...

In this episode, I talked with Lliam Hildebrand about his inspiration and reasons for founding Iron+Earth ; the huge opportunities to transform the dying fossil fuel industry workforce into a renewable energy workforce; the opportunities and challenges for policy to drive large-scale social change; and about the “ Prosperous Transition Plan ” that Iron+Earth is now rolling out, that, if implemente...

In this episode I talk with Dr. Afton Halloran about global food security and sustainability; and  the link between climate-induced food insecurity and climate refugees; the reality that there are no silver bullets to the critical environmental challenges we face; but at the same time there are still a number of positive solutions to our problems that are “lights at the end of the tunnel”, and tha...

In this podcast I spoke with Henry Gordon-Smith, the founder and CEO of Agritecture  an urban agriculture consulting firm. Henry has become the world’s go-to expert in urban agriculture: from community gardens to high-rise high-intensity hydroponic agriculture. I thought Henry would be a good person to talk with about the Twenty First Century Imperative, and specifically about the importance of de...

In this podcast interview, I spoke with Ryan Zizzo, the Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Mantle, an interdisciplinary climate change consultancy based in Toronto, about the challenges and opportunities for reducing both operating and embodied carbon in new buildings as well his thoughts on climate change adaptation. Ryan is doing some really exciting work in the quantification of carbon and...

In this podcast episode, in place of our typical interview format, you will hear the keynote presentation I gave to the American Institute of Architecture Students Conference in December 2019.This presentation sums up the key ideas that I have been exploring with our podcast guests over the past two years, as well as background research for those interviews.    For all of you who have been followi...

In this podcast I speak with Jeff Ranson, the Regional Director of the Canadian Green Building Council (for the Greater Toronto Area).  For as long as I have known Jeff (going on ten years now) he has been passionate about exploring and developing transformative policies that improve the environment, people’s living conditions, and sustainable, economic prosperity.    After receiving an Honours BA...

Aaron Myran is the founder and director of Future Majority, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to amplifying the collective voice of young Canadians, and through Future Majority, it’s pretty clear to me that Aaron is going to have a BIG impact on Canada’s future! In this episode I talked with Aaron about how he ended up as a political organizer; the role he sees for the Future Major...