Who's Saving the Planet?

Elizabeth Gulugulu lives in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, but her ambitions reach far beyond the city limits. She has traveled to the United Nations as a representative for her community, lobbied her elected officials to enforce better governance, and given voice to the anxiety and hope of her generation.  Join us this week in our second edition of our Activism Abroad series.

What do you get when you mix energetic electrolysis, micro-biotic fermentation, and a couple of mad scientists? I'll take "Creates Dinner Out of Sunlight and Air" for 800, Alex.  Welcome to Solar Foods, the Finnish brainchild of Pasi Vainikka and his co-founder Dr Juha-Pekka Pitkänen. They've been developing a process of synthesizing a protein the've developed and feeding it using hydrogen harvested from water through electrolysis and carbon dioxide captured from air. If you're saying... what??  Have we got a journey of exploration and discovery for you! Pasi built this company because our current system of cultivating agriculture and livestock is unsustainable, and rather than improve a broken system we should consider truly out of the box alternatives. He and Dr. Pitkänen have created a technology that has the potential to revolutionize our food supply chain here on earth, and, beyond... 

The Jammu Kashmir region of India is a remote patch of land that has- for decades- been home to ongoing geo-political turmoil, border scuffles and two all out shooting wars. And recently, things got worse.  But that doesn't keep Anmol Ohri from fighting to save the planet. He is using his activism, ingenuity and grit to unite people from different countries, religions, ages, socio-economic standings, all around the central idea that if we're going to protect the future we need to do it together. This week begins a 3 part series where we speak to youth climate activists from around the world about how they're raising awareness of the climate catastrophe and driving change in their home countries.  At the top of the show we Lex does his best to describe what's happening in this part of the world, but here are other resources to that provide a more complete context. Check out this Vox article, and these two from the New York Times here and here. 

Dr. Enric Sala was a lauded professor until he quit his job because, in his words, "I was doing was writing the obituary of ocean life."  Thus began his journey in ocean conservation which would lead him to found the Pristine Seas project and become National Geographic's Explorer-in-Residence. In this episode of Who's Saving the Planet we discuss Dr. Sala's transition from the halls of academia to the (maritime) trenches of activism, his ongoing fight to preserve the aquatic wilderness, and how humans have disrupted the interconnected harmony of nature.  The Pristine Seas project began in 2008 as an idea: what if we could protect 1/3 of the ocean from exploitation, commercial fishing, pollution and, really humans?  Unsullied, wild parts of the ocean are fast becoming extinct, but all the more important to protect because "these unique ecosystems are a window into the past, revealing what the ocean looked like before overfishing and pollution took their toll. It is essential that we let the world know that these places exist, that they are threatened, and that help is needed to protect them."  In what he describes as his "loveletter to the planet," Dr. Sala has encapsulated the lessons he's learned (and taught) about human's relationship with the natural world in his forthcoming book, The Nature of Nature. The hardcover comes out August 25, and we'd encourage you to look for it at your local bookstore!

Sustainable marketing guru Suzanne Shelton pulls back the curtain on what preppers, extremists and anarchists reveal about what’s in store for a post-Covid world.  With 29 years of experience, Mrs. Shelton's consulting firm is the industry leader in providing actionable advice to industries concerning sustainable marketing, consumer insights and strategic guidance. The Shelton Group recently released a report entitled "Seeing Into the Future: Leveraging fringe consumer insights to build a sustainable brand in a post-Covid world", which forms the backbone of what we dig into in this episode of Who's Saving the Planet.  Come for the sustainable insights, stay for the advice on starting a company, navigating the choppy waters of entrepreneurship, and a prescription for how we can all do our part to save the planet. 

Every so often we find innovators creating fantastically elegant solutions to equally fantastically huge problems. In this episode we take a journey into the ocean to discover a remedy for what is a distinctly terrestrial problem: the greenhouse gasses produced by dairy and beef cows. Scientist and entrepreneur Alexia has isolated a strain of seaweed which reduces the methane output from cows (burps, not farts, FYI) by over 90% by adding just 0.2% of their seaweed extract to the cow's feed. Turns out, what we needed all along was a surf and turf mindset.  She and her team are building the operational skillset needed to harvest this seaweed, which as you'll hear is tricky in its own right (warning: many strained metaphors ahead) because it's lifecycle is akin to a kaleidoscope and you need to catch it at just the right moment in order to unlock it's de-gasifying properties. Tune in as we venture to Hawaii to learn from Alexia the secrets of seaweed cultivation, developing a supply chain in the states, getting farmers to embrace the future, and turning cows from systemic threat to sustainable food source. 

How do you align the interests of business, government, and communities with the rigor and rigidity of environmental science? Well, with carrots and sticks, and a good measure of grit. Dr. Brosnan shares with us her journey from the world of science and academia, where there can be a right answer because math, into the world of consulting where the answers are never entirely right or wrong, but can be framed as a win or a loss depending on where you stand.  Dr. Brosnan works to bring all stake holders to the table and arrive at a solution that satisfies each concerned interest, but as you'll hear, it's a tough fight- though one worth having.

Ciara May is walking the path of an entrepreneur: she recognized a problem, looked for a solution on the market, and when she found none existed, she rolled up her sleeves and built one. Rebundle is a synthetic hair brand focused on the black female market, who right now have only cheap, mass produced,  and harmful options made primarily from low-grade plastic. Ciara's created a biodegradable alternative made from plants that eliminates the itching, burning, and scalp damage that women have endured for years. She's also connecting her brand directly with the stylists who braid the hair and have built a relationship with their customers. Through that network of stylists she's building awareness, and also creating a pathway to safely recycle Rebundle hair, closing the circle.  If that wasn't enough, she's also empowering people in her community to take agency over the products that are marketed to them. In her words, "Black Americans account for over 85% of spending in the ethnic beauty market. It's time we become aware of what is being used on our hair. With responsible awareness, we can take charge in implementing positive change in this industry."

Can we save our future by putting a price on carbon? A carbon tax has been in the conversation since the 70's, but we've had very little in the way of progress despite decades of scientist and economists arguing that it could be the most efficient and effective method of combating climate change. So, what gives? This week we bring Peter Vail Marsters, researcher and carbon tax expert from Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, on to the pod to dig into the weeds about all things carbon tax. Why has the political process been so lacking? What should a ton of carbon actually cost, and how do we come up with that number? And a question that's the root of all politics: if we did enact a tax, who gets the money? 

Mimi Ausland began her career as a climate activist at the age of 14 with a click-to-give website that landed her on Oprah, Ellen, and the Today Show- and that was just the beginning.  Mimi built and runs the website Freetheocean.com which she's developed into a platform that turns eyeballs into dollars through leveraging sponsorships and advertising. She uses the revenue through advertising to fund charitable organizations removing plastic from our oceans, building a virtual bridge from a 30 second no-cost investment from people who care to real-life dollars for activists on the ground fighting for a sustainable planet.  We dig into how she's using her marketing chops to build an e-commerce portal for plastic free products, what it means to be a gen-z activist, and where she sees Freetheocean.com going in the future.