World Changing Ideas

Last month, UN members convened at the UN Environment Assembly and passed a historic resolution to end plastic pollution. On this week's episode we're looking at what plastic is, how it can biodegrade, what biodegradable even means and what we can do to start taking plastic out of our everyday life.Dr. Ting Xu is a professor in the Department of Science Engineering and the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley.Sarah Paiji Yoo is the CEO and co-founder of Blueland, a company that has committed to revolutionizing conventional cleaning and personal care products.

A few weeks ago, we went up to Stowe, Vermont and rode on Taiga's new electric snowmobiles. It was a fun experience testing out its new model, which is much quieter than traditional gas-powered snowmobiles.

On today's episode, we’re going to look at methane. While we know that a major source of greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide, methane also plays a huge part. It doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide but one molecule of methane has more than 80 times the warming power of a molecule of CO2. Lena Hoeglund Isaksson is a senior research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and she explains how we can focus our efforts on removing methane. Then Newlight Technologies Co-founder and CEO Mark Herrema discusses how his company developed a unique process that creates a bioplastic material by combining air with methane.

This episode we're looking at the potential philosophical problem behind implementing carbon removal strategies. Could they inadvertently cause industries to stop trying to curb emissions in the first place? Would this be like a get-out-of-jail-free card for people? American University's Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy Co-director Simon Nicholson helps explore this thorny topic, along with Klaus Lackner, the director for the Center of Negative Carbon Emissions at Arizona State University.

When it comes to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, the words decarbonize and carbon negativity get bandied about. To help dissect what those mean, Talib chatted with Simon Nicholson, an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University and the director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy.Gaurab Chakrabarti is the CEO and co-founder of Solugen, a company that uses plant-powered technology to produce molecules more sustainably than traditional chemical companies. It also happens to be completely carbon negative.

On this episode, we’re talking about something that’s at the heart of the climate crisis - how do we get more people to care about it? Fast Company Senior Staff Editor Jeff Beer joins Talib to discuss it.

We're kicking off a new season by delving into our world's most challenging issue: climate change. We all know that it's a crisis we need to fix before it's too late. Instead of focusing on the doom and gloom though, we're going to look at the innovative ways entrepreneurs and scientists are tackling it.Dr. Kim Cobb is a climatologist at Georgia Tech and she lays out the very real goals we need to set for ourselves in the next coming decades. Then, Fast Company Senior Editor Morgan Clendaniel chats about what to expect this season.

In this episode, host Abigail Bassett is joined by Lenovo’s Calvin Crosslin to talk about how companies can incorporate diversity and inclusion into their product design - plus a conversation with Carnegie Mellon’s Eric Anderson about how ensuring the inclusivity and accessibility of products has become a business imperative.

In this episode, host Abigail Bassett is joined by Lenovo’s Vlad Rozanovich to talk about how the tech company looks at product design through a sustainability lens - plus a conversation with actress and activist, Sophia Bush on a bold new Lenovo-led initiative to help prevent the extinction of endangered species and support a local community on its journey to sustainability.

We’re kicking off this new season with a special series completely dedicated to climate change. We’ll cover everything from the decarbonization of the chemical industry to how we can take plastic out of our cleaning supplies. We’ll be talking with people who saw a problem and were determined to fix it.Tune in every Wednesday starting on February 23rd.