Empowering Communities Through Carbon Removal Initiatives

Episode 43 is with Luke Connell and Shannon Sterling

As we wrap up Climate Week NYC today, I wanted to share a special episode with the CarbonRun leadership team on their exciting $25M offtake agreement with Frontier Climate - probably the biggest carbon removal news of Climate Week. It even hit the front page of the New York Times. We talk about what they’ve been up to leading to this announcement, and what this major milestone means for their company and the communities they work with.

In this episode, Na’im, Luke, and Shannon discuss: 

* The origins and mission of Carbon Run; 

* Luke's journey into carbon removal and entrepreneurship; 

* Shannon's extensive background in environmental science and working in communities

* The science and benefits of river alkalinity enhancement;

* Challenges and opportunities in scaling this technology;

* The significance of their recent offtake agreement with Frontier;

* The economic and ecological co-benefits of their approach;

* Effective community engagement and maintaining public trust; and

* Policy and regulatory needs for advancing carbon removal.

Relevant Links:

* CarbonRun Website

* New York Times article on CarbonRun

* Frontier Climate CarbonRun offtake details

* What is CarbonRun - YouTube

* Nova Scotia's rivers still suffer from acid rain. Restoring them could also help the climate - CBC News

* Where Ideas Meet Impact: Hydrologist's research positions her to take a global lead in atmospheric carbon dioxide removal - Dalhousie University

* Frontier Climate website

About CarbonRun

Founded and developed in Nova Scotia by an environmental scientist and freshwater ecologist, CarbonRun’s team of experts are dedicated to restoring rivers damaged by pollution to protect aquatic life. Its founders are global experts on river ecosystem health with decades of applied experience restoring rivers.

About Luke Connell

Over his career, Luke Connell has strived to bridge the gap between social impact and entrepreneurialism, finding his path to CDR in 2020. Prior to co-founding CarbonRun, he led an innovation based, national charity and co-owned a popular, 3 location Toronto restaurant. He has a proven track record as a small-business founder and team builder. Luke sits on various charitable boards and actively invests in promising sustainability companies. He lives in Toronto with his wife, 2 children and dog Rudy.

About Shannon Sterling

Shannon Sterling, PhD (Duke) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and  Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University, and an internationally-recognized expert in  catchment hydrology and biogeochemistry, with specific expertise in freshwater acidification and  climate change. Her research group has studied the hydrology and watersheds of Nova Scotia for the  past 15 years and led the discovery that aluminum levels were still at toxic concentrations in Nova  Scotia due to a legacy of acid rain. 

Dr. Sterling earned her Bachelor of Science in Geography at McGill University, Master of Science in Fluvial Geomorphology at the University of British Columbia, her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences at Duke University and was a Chateaubriand and a Marie Curie Intra European Fellow at the Universite de Pierre et Marie Curie (Sorbonne Université) in Paris.

This episode was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Consecon Foundation.

This episode was created and published by Na’im Merchant. Episode production and content support provided by Tank Chen.

Na’im Merchant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Carbon Removal Canada, a policy initiative focused on scaling carbon removal in Canada. He is also a policy fellow with Elemental Excelerator. He previously ran carbon removal consulting practice Carbon Curve, and publishes The Carbon Curve newsletter and podcast. Every two weeks, Na’im will release a short interview with individuals advancing the policies, technologies, and collective action needed to scale up carbon removal around the world.

Tank Chen is a carbon removal advocate based in Taiwan whose focus is on communicating the importance of carbon removal to policy makers, corporate leaders, and the broader public through education, communications, and policy advocacy.

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