The Stream (with Will & Tom)

Closing out this season on water and nature, in this episode, we welcomed Professor Newsha Ajami, the Chief Development Officer for Research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. After 18 months of collaboration among water leaders, the Aspen National Water Strategy was launched. The ambitious 56-page document explicitly reframes water security as economic i...

In this episode, Will and Tom welcomed Professor Fiona Regan, founder & director of the DCU Water Institute, which recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of research, innovation and impact in water science. In the episode she speaks about environmental DNA, otherwise known as eDNA, and how this links to water quality around the coastal Ireland. She also speaks about an oyster reef restora...

In this episode of The Stream, Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg sit down with Tom Quigley, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Superorganism, the first venture firm dedicated exclusively to biodiversity-focused startups. It’s a timely conversation. Just this week, Tom and his co-founder Kevin Webb announced Superorganism’s first venture fund, exceeding $25 million, marking a major milestone for nature...

In this episode of The Stream, Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg are joined by Sebastián Goldschmidt , founder of Nilus , to explore an unexpected climate solution: rebuilding ice to secure water. Named by Forbes as one of Chile’s Sustainable Minds, Sebastián is working with high-altitude communities across Latin America to develop artificial ice reservoirs, a nature-based, engineered approach inspired...

In this episode, we welcomed Nicole Richards, CEO of US firm Allonnia, a company that promises to enzymes and microbes to degrade environmental contaminants. Now the topic of PFAS, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as forever chemicals, is getting a lot of attention. Known for their unbreakable bonds, they’re used in pretty much everything, from non-stick saucepans through to waterproof ja...

How do you invest $1 billion dollars to accelerate climate and water solutions? 🌍 In this episode of The Stream Podcast , we speak with Ida Hempel from Galvanize Climate Solutions , the investment platform co-founded by Katie Hall and Tom Steyer , former hedge fund manager, climate philanthropist, and 2020 U.S. presidential candidate. In September 2023, Galvanize closed its $1B Innovation & E...

How do you plant 12.5 million trees and mobilise over 40,000 local and Indigenous people across six South American countries? 🌎 In this episode of The Stream, we sit down with Florent Kaiser, Executive Director of Global Forest Generation and co-founder of Acción Andina, a grassroots movement restoring high Andean forests. A past Earthshot Prize winner and recognised by the UN as one of the World...

Season 9 kicks off with a deep dive into nature finance, water, and market innovation, with Guy Thompson, MD at EnTrade. After more than a decade advising the UK government at Natural England, Guy Thompson made a bold leap into the private sector. In this episode, he shares why he had to scratch the itch of building something new, and how that led him to co-found EnTrade, a pioneering platform dri...

This special episode of The Stream takes you inside Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival 2025, where this year’s theme, Regeneration, inspired bold ideas and brilliant collaborations. Tom sits down with five founders and innovators in water, sustainability, and infrastructure. From 3D-printed concrete and microbial electrolysis cells to citizen-powered AI and leakage detection, these conversat...

In this episode, we closed the season with Brendan Tierney, the head of water and wastewater and Raymond James. Brendan joined us to catch up on a whole host of things, including reflecting on the latest season of The Stream and our conversations with water ‘Legends’. This conversation went many different directions, from views on the pickleball craze, through to current political headwinds and im...

In this latest episode we were delighted to welcome water policy expert Felicia Marcus, a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration and former Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. She was the chair of the board during the significant 2011-2017 drought, and shares some of the lessons learned. During the conversation she provides commentary on what California has done to d...

Former UN Under-Secretary-General Usha Rao-Monari joins The Stream to explore why blended finance isn’t working for water, lessons from the energy sector, and how her FIGS model can drive change through finance, innovation, governance, and social equity.  In this episode of The Stream podcast, Will and Tom are joined by Usha Rao-Monari — Senior Partner at Wellers Impact and Former Under-Secretary-...

Former UN Under-Secretary-General Usha Rao-Monari joins The Stream to explore why blended finance isn’t working for water, lessons from the energy sector, and how her FIGS model can drive change through finance, innovation, governance, and social equity.  In this episode of The Stream podcast, Will and Tom are joined by Usha Rao-Monari — Senior Partner at Wellers Impact and Former Under-Secretary-...

We were delighted to welcome Dr Peter Gleick, a leading scientist, innovator and communicator on water and climate issues. He founded the Pacific Institute in 1987 to be one of the most innovative, independent non-governmental research centres to advance solutions for the world’s most pressing water challenges. For the podcast we wanted to speak with him about his latest book entitled, The Three A...

On this episode of The Stream podcast, Will and Tom are joined by the brilliant Colby Manwaring, the former CEO of Innovyse, the chair of Envirosuite and the director of many other companies, who orchestrated a landmark $1 billion acquisition in the water technology sector.  In this episode, he shares his entrepreneurial journey, from shifting from mechanical to civil engineering to building a suc...

On the third episode of The Stream, Will and Tom were delighted to welcome Dr Andrew Benedek. He was the very first winner of the Lee Kuan Yew Prize, cited as someone who has revolutionised conventional water treatment. For some people, founding, scaling and selling a global technology business once is enough. For Dr Benedek, he was just getting warmed up. It was in 1980 that he founded Zenon to h...

This week on The Stream, Will and Tom are joined by the incredible Professor Dragan Savić, a legend when it comes to the intersection of water and digital. He was the UK’s first professor of Hydroinformatics, the former CEO of KWR Water Research Institute, and a chartered civil and water engineer with over 40 years of experience in research, teaching, and consulting. Plus hear about: How Will and...

It's time to celebrate the ‘Legends’ of water. 🎙️🌊 We are delighted to kickstart the season with this first episode, which welcomes Christopher Gasson, the owner and publisher of Global Water Intelligence, or GWI. Christopher is well known analyst, publisher, business owner, and has been called the water industry torchbearer who has been building the GWI empire for over 20 years now. His mon...

In the latest episode of the season, we were delighted to be joined by Baptiste Tellier, the managing director of Fall Line Capital who is focused on farm management, data analysis and deal sourcing. As a trained agronomist, Baptiste previously he oversaw the development and implementation of sustainable farming practices for over 200 potato farmers at Nestle. Before this, he was the former farm o...

In this second episode of the season we’re joined by Roric Paulman, a Nebraskan farmer and also chair of the Nebraskan Water Balance Alliance, an organisation that catalyses best practices among Nebraska farmers. Roric has nearly 40 years of farming experience, including across the family Paulman Farms, an 8500 acre, rain-fed and irrigated farming operation. It’s located in southwest Nebraska, wit...

For the fourth episode of the season, Tom and Will are joined by Noah Zelkind, VP of Business Intelligence, at 80 Acres Farms. Noah talks about his background, moving from finance into the farming markets, reflecting on the journey with his father.  He also discusses his love for data science, spotting patterns, and why this will be fundamental to growing nutritious food locally and consistently....

For the third episode of the season, Tom and Will are joined by Jairo Trad, Co-Founder & CEO of Kilimo. In this episode he talks about how he spent months talking to farmers about their challenges, including on water, to really understand the customers’ paint points. He discusses innovation in business models, and also funding challenges, including climate funds, which he believes should be re...

In this second episode of the season, we’re joined by Dane Hague, CEO & Co-Founder of MyLand. Dane openly shares his origin story, moving from a successful corporate legal career into co-founding a soil health company that harnesses microalgae. He describes how we got to the stage of unfarmable land, with heavy industrial and commercial farming activity stripping out the life from soil. The co...

In this first episode of the season we’re joined by Michael Alexander, head of environment for Diageo, the British multinational alcoholic beverage company. You would have heard of some of its world-famous brands including the stout, Guinness, Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Captain Morgan rum. The organisation has developed a 10-year action plan called Society 2030 – Spirit of Progress....

In the final episode of The Stream season 6, Will and Tom are joined by Jerry Gunderson, a 4th generation rancher and businessman from Colorado. It was great to bring in the voice of agriculture and cattle into the conversation in this episode. Often, it’s a voice that doesn’t get an invite to these types of discussions.  Jerry talks openly about life as a rancher, including anticipating water cha...