How A Near-Death Experience Led To Reimagining Our Plastic & Energy Consumption with Hakan Bulgurlu

Jul 13, 2022

Hakan Bulgurlu, a global business leader and climate activist, shares insights from his near-death experience while climbing Everest. He discusses how this incident fueled his commitment to sustainability, emphasizing innovative solutions to reduce plastic use and carbon footprints. He advocates for a shift in business practices towards eco-friendly methods and explains the urgency of addressing climate change impacts. Hakan also introduces the 'fish bank' concept for sustainable fish farming, urging collective action for a healthier planet.

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ANECDOTE

Aha Moment: The Plastic Beach

Hakan Bulgurlu's daughter asked him "why?" when they visited a beach covered in plastic.
This prompted him to dedicate himself to environmental action, including business changes.

INSIGHT

Profitable Sustainability

Transforming a business to be eco-friendly doesn't require excessive capital.
Many profitable, sustainable solutions exist, like using recycled plastic in appliances.

ANECDOTE

Microplastic Solution

Arçelik developed a filter that removes over 95% of microfibers from washing machine discharge.
They then open-sourced this technology to encourage industry-wide adoption.

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This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, Rupa Health, and Mitopure.

Near-death experiences aren’t that uncommon for the world’s most technical mountaineers. Summiting Mt. Everest is sure to leave anyone feeling truly awe-inspired. Completing the climb and getting home safely after nearly dying creates a whole different level of reflection. Today on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I talk to Hakan Bulgurlu about turning his near-death experience into a force for positive change in his personal life, the climate crisis, business leadership, and more.

Hakan is a global business leader and a climate activist. As the CEO of Arçelik, a home appliances manufacturer that operates in 150 countries, he is a thought leader on sustainable and purpose-driven business. In a bid to raise awareness of the climate crisis, Hakan climbed Everest in 2019. He wrote A Mountain to Climb; a retelling of his journey to Everest, accompanied by his research into the possible solutions to the climate crisis.

This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, Rupa Health, and Mitopure.

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Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):

How Hakan’s preparation for climbing Mt. Everest led to business solutions to the climate crisis (6:26 / 3:45)
Hakan’s “aha” moment that shifted his approach to business (11:25 / 8:42)
A profitable business solution to the issue of microplastics in the oceans (13:50 / 11:43)
The two types of CEOs (20:09 / 17:35)
Improving the energy efficiency of refrigerators (20:50 / 18:10)
Hakan’s early influential life experiences (26:27 / 22:07)
Hakan’s Mt. Everest climb, his near-death experiences, and how they affected him (29:20 / 24:55)
Building the price of climate issues into the market cost (41:22 / 35:14)
Humans’ relationship to nature (48:49 / 44:08)
Responding to our depression about the state of the climate (50:55 / / 46:20)

Get your copy of Hakan’s book, A Mountain to Climb: The Climate Crisis: A Summit Beyond Everest, here.