
One Planet Podcast · Climate Change, Politics, Sustainability, Environmental Solutions, Renewable Energy, Activism, Biodiversity, Carbon Footprint, Wildlife, Regenerative Agriculture, Circular Economy, Extinction, Net-Zero
The story of our environment may well be the most important story this century. We focus on issues facing people and the planet. Leading environmentalists, organizations, activists, and conservationists discuss meaningful ways to create a better and more sustainable future.
Participants include United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, European Environment Agency, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, European Commission, EARTHDAY·ORG, Greenpeace, IPCC Lead Authors, WWF, PETA, Climate Analytics, NASA, UN Development Program, Solar Impulse Foundation, 15-Minute City Movement, Energy Watch Group, Peter Singer, 350.org, UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Global Witness, Global Institute for Water Security, EarthLife Africa, Planetary Health Alliance, Ocean Protection Council, among others.
Interviews are conducted by artist, activist, and educator Mia Funk with the participation of students and universities around the world. One Planet Podcast Is part of The Creative Process’ environmental initiative.
Latest episodes

Nov 16, 2023 • 12min
Highlights - UN Young Champion of the Earth GATOR HALPERN - Co-Founder & President of Coral Vita - Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur
“Coral reefs are the most biodiverse habitat on the planet, despite covering less than 1 percent of the ocean area, over a quarter of all marine life exists in these rainforests of the sea. And if you think of a coral reef as a rainforest, the trees are the coral themselves. Which are incredible organisms, so, magic is really the right word to describe them. They're these animals that are one of the original forms of animal life, the second branch of the animal kingdom is actually Cnidaria, which includes coral and jellyfish. So, an ancient animal, but they have a symbiotic relationship with algae, and so inside the animal tissue are these zooxanthellae, these algae that do photosynthesis, like algae do, like plants do. It's able to capture sunlight and convert it into sugars and energy. And so, it's an animal, but it's got plants that live inside it, this algae, and then even more wild - it grows a skeleton that is rock!So coral skeleton is actually calcium carbonate, which is limestone. And most of the limestone that exists on the earth was grown by these organisms. And so they're animals with plants inside of them that grow rock as skeleton. And the rock skeletons form these incredibly intricate structures that are coral reefs that can grow for thousands of miles and the corals can live for thousands of years to be seen from space and to create these essential ecosystems that are really the cornerstone of all of life in the ocean and, and therefore much of life on Earth.”Coral reefs are the most biodiverse habitat on the planet, despite covering less than 1 percent of the ocean. Over a quarter of all marine life exists in these rain forests of the sea. Gator Halpern is the Co-founder and President of Coral Vita, a mission-driven company working to restore our world’s dying coral reefs. He is a lifelong entrepreneur who is passionate about starting projects that can help create a better harmony between society and nature. His work has earned him a number of awards including being named a United Nation’s Young Champion of the Earth, a Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur, and an Echoing Green fellow. Before founding Coral Vita, he worked on development projects in Brazil, Peru, and South Africa. During his career, he has helped distribute millions of baby fish for aquaculture to remote villages in the Amazon, he’s analyzed the environmental effects of land-use change projects on three different continents, and worked for the World Wildlife Fund Global Marine Program. Gator founded Coral Vita during his graduate studies at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and he lives and works in the Bahamas where Coral Vita operates the world’s first commercial land-based coral farm for reef restoration.https://coralvita.cowww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Nov 15, 2023 • 47min
GATOR HALPERN - Co-Founder & President of Coral Vita - UN Young Champion of the Earth - Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur
Coral reefs are the most biodiverse habitat on the planet, despite covering less than 1 percent of the ocean. Over a quarter of all marine life exists in these rain forests of the sea. Gator Halpern is the Co-founder and President of Coral Vita, a mission-driven company working to restore our world’s dying coral reefs. He is a lifelong entrepreneur who is passionate about starting projects that can help create a better harmony between society and nature. His work has earned him a number of awards including being named a United Nation’s Young Champion of the Earth, a Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur, and an Echoing Green fellow. Before founding Coral Vita, he worked on development projects in Brazil, Peru, and South Africa. During his career, he has helped distribute millions of baby fish for aquaculture to remote villages in the Amazon, he’s analyzed the environmental effects of land-use change projects on three different continents, and worked for the World Wildlife Fund Global Marine Program. Gator founded Coral Vita during his graduate studies at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and he lives and works in the Bahamas where Coral Vita operates the world’s first commercial land-based coral farm for reef restoration.“Coral reefs are the most biodiverse habitat on the planet, despite covering less than 1 percent of the ocean area, over a quarter of all marine life exists in these rainforests of the sea. And if you think of a coral reef as a rainforest, the trees are the coral themselves. Which are incredible organisms, so, magic is really the right word to describe them. They're these animals that are one of the original forms of animal life, the second branch of the animal kingdom is actually Cnidaria, which includes coral and jellyfish. So, an ancient animal, but they have a symbiotic relationship with algae, and so inside the animal tissue are these zooxanthellae, these algae that do photosynthesis, like algae do, like plants do. It's able to capture sunlight and convert it into sugars and energy. And so, it's an animal, but it's got plants that live inside it, this algae, and then even more wild - it grows a skeleton that is rock!So coral skeleton is actually calcium carbonate, which is limestone. And most of the limestone that exists on the earth was grown by these organisms. And so they're animals with plants inside of them that grow rock as skeleton. And the rock skeletons form these incredibly intricate structures that are coral reefs that can grow for thousands of miles and the corals can live for thousands of years to be seen from space and to create these essential ecosystems that are really the cornerstone of all of life in the ocean and, and therefore much of life on Earth.”https://coralvita.cowww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Nov 13, 2023 • 11min
Highlights - LEAH THOMAS - Author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet
"So I think the first step is definitely awareness. I know when I was the only Black student in my environmental science program, I didn't quite understand why I really wanted to focus on the environmental injustices that were going on in my neighborhood. Or the concept of racial justice was always kind of intertwined with my environmental advocacy. So it's something that I want other communities of color to understand that that's okay, that you can show up to this field and also have empathy for your own community and that you don't need to separate your identity from your environmental practice. And including your cultural background can actually enhance the work that you do because I think it's such a beautiful thing that we all have different identity aspects, whether that's religion, race, gender, etc.So I think that's the first step, making sure that representation is there so all people can see themselves reflected in environmental education and feel empowered to know that they belong and they can take their identity with them and that enhances their environmental practice. And secondly, through The Intersectional Environmentalist Platform, we love to platform students who are working on climate justice research and share it through kind of untraditional means. So they might not be published in a scientific paper, but it's something they can share amongst their peers in our community of about half a million people, etc. So it's another way for them to share their research at the intersection of identity and environmentalism with more people. And that's something I really enjoy with our work, just letting people know that, yeah, your work is important, even if it's not published in a scientific paper. There is a really big community of people out there who are interested in learning and might even relate to that research."Leah Thomas is an intersectional environmental activist and eco-communicator based in Southern California. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism and was the first to define the term “Intersectional Environmentalism.” She is the founder of @greengirlleah and The Intersectional Environmentalist platform. Her articles on this topic have appeared in Vogue, Elle, The Good Trade, and Youth to the People and she has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, Domino, GOOP, Fashionista, BuzzFeed, and numerous podcasts. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Chapman University and worked for the National Park Service and Patagonia headquarters before pursuing activism full time. She lives in Carpinteria, California. She is the author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet, and Winner of the Creative Force Foundation Award 2023.www.intersectionalenvironmentalist.com www.instagram.com/greengirlleah www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/leah-thomas/the-intersectional-environmentalist/9780316281935/?lens=voraciousSeason 2 of Business & Society focuses on CEOs , Sustainability & Environmental Solutions Business & Society is a limited series co-hosted by Bruce Piasecki & Mia Funkwww.oneplanetpodcast.org

Nov 13, 2023 • 37min
LEAH THOMAS - Author of The Intersectional Environmentalist - Founder of IE Platform & @GreenGirlLeah
Leah Thomas is an intersectional environmental activist and eco-communicator based in Southern California. She’s passionate about advocating for and exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism and was the first to define the term “Intersectional Environmentalism.” She is the founder of @greengirlleah and The Intersectional Environmentalist platform. Her articles on this topic have appeared in Vogue, Elle, The Good Trade, and Youth to the People and she has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, Domino, GOOP, Fashionista, BuzzFeed, and numerous podcasts. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Chapman University and worked for the National Park Service and Patagonia headquarters before pursuing activism full time. She lives in Carpinteria, California. She is the author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet, and Winner of the Creative Force Foundation Award 2023."So I think the first step is definitely awareness. I know when I was the only Black student in my environmental science program, I didn't quite understand why I really wanted to focus on the environmental injustices that were going on in my neighborhood. Or the concept of racial justice was always kind of intertwined with my environmental advocacy. So it's something that I want other communities of color to understand that that's okay, that you can show up to this field and also have empathy for your own community and that you don't need to separate your identity from your environmental practice. And including your cultural background can actually enhance the work that you do because I think it's such a beautiful thing that we all have different identity aspects, whether that's religion, race, gender, etc.So I think that's the first step, making sure that representation is there so all people can see themselves reflected in environmental education and feel empowered to know that they belong and they can take their identity with them and that enhances their environmental practice. And secondly, through The Intersectional Environmentalist Platform, we love to platform students who are working on climate justice research and share it through kind of untraditional means. So they might not be published in a scientific paper, but it's something they can share amongst their peers in our community of about half a million people, etc. So it's another way for them to share their research at the intersection of identity and environmentalism with more people. And that's something I really enjoy with our work, just letting people know that, yeah, your work is important, even if it's not published in a scientific paper. There is a really big community of people out there who are interested in learning and might even relate to that research."www.intersectionalenvironmentalist.com www.instagram.com/greengirlleah www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/leah-thomas/the-intersectional-environmentalist/9780316281935/?lens=voraciousSeason 2 of Business & Society focuses on CEOs , Sustainability & Environmental Solutions Business & Society is a limited series co-hosted by Bruce Piasecki & Mia Funkwww.oneplanetpodcast.org

Nov 10, 2023 • 13min
Highlights - MICHAEL S. ROTH - President of Wesleyan University - Author of The Student: A Short History
“So I wrote this book and it was a lot of fun because I had to learn so much. The book examines three iconic teachers: Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus. And I look at how each of those teachers encourage a certain kind of student. The student as follower, someone who will take on the path that you've developed. In the case of Socrates, the student as critical interlocutor or critical conversation partner, someone who will, in dialogue with you, learn what they don't know, how to take things apart. And in the case of Jesus and the apostles, I look at trying to imitate a way of life to transform themselves to strive towards being the kind of person that Jesus incarnated. And so that's the beginning of the book, these models of studenthood, if I could use that word, and being a teacher. And then I look at the way in which these ideas reverberate in the West across a long period of time. So I'm interested in the idea of the student before there were schools. What did we expect young people to learn even when they weren't going to school?”What is the purpose of education? How are we educating students for the future? What is the importance of the humanities in this age of AI and the rapidly changing workplace?Michael S. Roth is President of Wesleyan University. His books include Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters and Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses. He's been a Professor of History and the Humanities since 1983, was the Founding Director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute, and was the Associate Director of the Getty Research Institute. His scholarly interests center on how people make sense of the past, and he has authored eight books around this topic, including his latest, The Student: A Short History.https://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/mroth/profile.htmlhttps://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300250039/the-student/www.wesleyan.eduhttps://twitter.com/mroth78www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Nov 8, 2023 • 48min
MICHAEL S. ROTH - President of Wesleyan University - Author of The Student: A Short History
Michael S. Roth is President of Wesleyan University. His books include Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters and Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses. He's been a Professor of History and the Humanities since 1983, was the Founding Director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute, and was the Associate Director of the Getty Research Institute. His scholarly interests center on how people make sense of the past, and he has authored eight books around this topic, including his latest, The Student: A Short History.“I've been President now for more than 15 years, and we've created I think six new interdisciplinary colleges in that period. There were two when I started, and they had been there for 50 years, but we've created a College of the Environment, a College of Film and the Moving Image, a College of Education, College of Integrated Sciences, College of East Asian Studies, and a College of Design and Engineering, the newest one. And I love these things because they bring different disciplines. In the College of the Environment, you can have a biologist, a dancer, an anthropologist, and an economist, and they're all worrying about a certain problem in environmental studies, but they come at it from different perspectives, and they join together in their work. That's extremely exciting.”https://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/mroth/profile.htmlhttps://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300250039/the-student/www.wesleyan.eduhttps://twitter.com/mroth78www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Nov 4, 2023 • 11min
Highlights - BRIAN DAVID JOHNSON - Director of the ASU Threatcasting Lab - Author of The Future You
"I think the most important thing that I would like young people to know is that they can build their future. That they have the power and they have the agency to shape their future and they have the ability and the power when working with others to have an even broader impact.The thing that scares me the most about the future is when people give up that agency and they let other people design their futures for them. For me, I think it's incredibly powerful to go to young people and say you can do it. But also you need to tell me what you want. And I think empowering them to have a vision for the future, that's why I spend so much time in schools and talking to young people because it's those visions that I think are incredibly important."Brian David Johnson is Futurist in Residence at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination, a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and the Director of the ASU Threatcasting Lab. He is Author of The Future You: How to Create the Life You Always Wanted, Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction, 21st Century Robot: The Dr. Simon Egerton Stories, Humanity in the Machine: What Comes After Greed?, Screen Future: The Future of Entertainment, Computing, and the Devices We Love.https://csi.asu.edu/people/brian-david-johnson/www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Nov 3, 2023 • 47min
BRIAN DAVID JOHNSON - Author of The Future You: How to Create the Life You Always Wanted - Futurist in Residence, ASU’s Center for Science & the Imagination
Brian David Johnson is Futurist in Residence at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination, a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and the Director of the ASU Threatcasting Lab. He is Author of The Future You: How to Create the Life You Always Wanted, Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction, 21st Century Robot: The Dr. Simon Egerton Stories, Humanity in the Machine: What Comes After Greed?, Screen Future: The Future of Entertainment, Computing, and the Devices We Love."I think the most important thing that I would like young people to know is that they can build their future. That they have the power and they have the agency to shape their future and they have the ability and the power when working with others to have an even broader impact.The thing that scares me the most about the future is when people give up that agency and they let other people design their futures for them. For me, I think it's incredibly powerful to go to young people and say you can do it. But also you need to tell me what you want. And I think empowering them to have a vision for the future, that's why I spend so much time in schools and talking to young people because it's those visions that I think are incredibly important."https://csi.asu.edu/people/brian-david-johnson/www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Oct 31, 2023 • 13min
Highlights - SUSAN SCHNEIDER - Author of Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, Fmr. Distinguished Scholar, US Library of Congress
"I'm using ChatGPT Plus, and you can do much better research. I think the scientific possibilities are amazing, and it's a very good research assistant. There are plugins you can use to go through scientific papers quickly. And if you feed it the right sort of data, it has near instantaneous access to a range of facts that helps me in my field. And I think any system that has these kinds of capacities...it's a sort of crowdsourced brain if you will. So it's roughly like the neocortex, very roughly. And it's a neocortex without a limbic system. So it's just an association engine without necessarily emotions, but it's able to quickly access a range of materials that humans can't. So there should be intriguing scientific discoveries, drug discovery, and computations. And of course, involving climate change."Will AI become conscious? President Biden has just unveiled a new executive order on AI — the U.S. government’s first action of its kind — requiring new safety assessments, equity and civil rights guidance, and research on AI’s impact on the labor market. With this governance in place, can tech companies be counted on to do the right thing for humanity? Susan Schneider is a philosopher, artificial intelligence expert, and founding director of the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University. She is author of Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence, and The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. She held the NASA Chair with NASA and the Distinguished Scholar Chair at the Library of Congress. She is now working on projects related to advancements in AI policy and technology, drawing from neuroscience research and philosophical developments and writing a new book on the shape of intelligent systems.www.fau.edu/artsandletters/philosophy/susan-schneider/index www.fau.edu/future-mind/www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Oct 31, 2023 • 34min
SUSAN SCHNEIDER - Director, Center for the Future Mind, FAU, Fmr. NASA Chair at NASA
Will AI become conscious? President Biden has just unveiled a new executive order on AI — the U.S. government’s first action of its kind — requiring new safety assessments, equity and civil rights guidance, and research on AI’s impact on the labor market. With this governance in place, can tech companies be counted on to do the right thing for humanity? Susan Schneider is a philosopher, artificial intelligence expert, and founding director of the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University. She is author of Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence, and The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. She held the NASA Chair with NASA and the Distinguished Scholar Chair at the Library of Congress. She is now working on projects related to advancements in AI policy and technology, drawing from neuroscience research and philosophical developments and writing a new book on the shape of intelligent systems."I'm using ChatGPT Plus, and you can do much better research. I think the scientific possibilities are amazing, and it's a very good research assistant. There are plugins you can use to go through scientific papers quickly. And if you feed it the right sort of data, it has near instantaneous access to a range of facts that helps me in my field. And I think any system that has these kinds of capacities...it's a sort of crowdsourced brain if you will. So it's roughly like the neocortex, very roughly. And it's a neocortex without a limbic system. So it's just an association engine without necessarily emotions, but it's able to quickly access a range of materials that humans can't. So there should be intriguing scientific discoveries, drug discovery, and computations. And of course, involving climate change."www.fau.edu/artsandletters/philosophy/susan-schneider/index www.fau.edu/future-mind/www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast