Earth911.com's Sustainability In Your Ear

Earth911 talks with Jennifer Maynard, CEO and cofounder of Nutrition For Longevity, a healthy and environmentally-friendly meal plan subscription service for vegan and pescatarian eaters. Most of the food is grown using regenerative farming techniques in New Jersey. Jennifer contributed an article to Earth911 last week, Zombie Soil: The Harmful Result of Industrial Farming, and we began with a conversation about the environmental impact of industrial farming. Take a few minutes to learn the difference between soil, which helps produce nutritious food, and dirt illustrate the urgency of making a switch away from using chemical fertilizers to wring crop volume out of the land.Nutrition For Longevity's prepared meals feature vegan and fish-protein options based on the Longevity Diet developed by Dr. Valter Longo. His research into the food that helps the longest-lived people stay healthy has shaped Maynard's meal plan, which is designed by a Michelin starred chef. In addition to low- and no-till farming, Nutrition For Longevity uses aquaponics to grow its greens year-round. Maynard's company is also working to reduce single-use waste in its meal deliveries, using bio-based packaging that can be recycled or composted after you eat.You can save $40 on each of your first two orders when try out the Nutrition For Longevity service. Enter the code EARTH40 when you checkout.

Carbon capture technology is a keystone investment in restoring the climate to pre-industrial CO2 levels. Earth911 talks with Rick Parnell, CEO of the Foundation for Climate Restoration about his recent Newsweek and Washington Post op-eds calling for investments in the technology and setting a price for carbon. He and his co-authors, Kathleen Rogers of EarthDay.org and Sir David King of the Center for Climate Repair at Cambridge University, point out that climate change-related health issues will lead to more than 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050 and an that additional climate-caused food shortages will contribute to 529,000 deaths a year by 2050. While he does not see carbon capture as a silver bullet -- it must be combined with reforestation, changes in farming and human diets, and radical reductions in CO2 emissions -- he and his organization believe the technology can help remove more than 150 years' worth of excess carbon from the atmosphere.Parnell and Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe discuss where carbon can be stored using marine permaculture and in industrial applications such as concrete made from calcium carbonate mined from the sky, as well as his advice for the Biden Administration as it pursues an aggressive climate policy agenda. Learn about getting involved yourself, the Foundation for Climate Restoration has local chapters and youth education programs growing across the country.

Earth911 talks with Tessa Wardley, author of a handy new guide to reducing your environmental impact, The Eco Hero Handbook: Simple Solutions to Tackle Eco-Anxiety. Young and older people are increasingly battling a paralyzing fear for the future, known as eco-anxiety, but they don't have to feel trapped. Taking the time to do research about the carbon footprint of your daily activities to make simple earth-friendly decisions, such as reducing plastic use in the bathroom or choosing a slower form of travel than flying, does make a difference, she explains. You'll save money and individual decisions also add up to social transformation as companies and governments respond the people's new priorities. "Our consumer power is actually really powerful, and we should not underestimate that," Wardley said. She also points to the fact that businesses that take social and environmental responsibility get the most qualified talent when hiring -- green is already good business.She also draws on experiences in her work at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the U.K. ,sharing how to improve local pollinator and insect biodiversity by gardening with nativar plants without using chemicals. Even window plantings can contribute to local healthier environment, as recent research proves. The Eco Hero Handbook provides hundreds of simple steps, from reducing food waste, choosing more durable clothing and sharing used clothes to changing our driving habits are effective ways to break out of eco-anxiety. Wardley also talks about how to become better informed about your shopping choices and ways to amplify your decisions to make the biggest social changes.The Eco Hero Handbook and Wardley's previous books are available on Amazon. You can also follow Tessa on Instagram (@tessawardley).

Every region has its unique sustainable living challenges. Earth911 talks with Dorie Morales, publisher of Green Living Magazine based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The desert region last year broke records last year with 16 days and nights when the temperature stayed above 90F degrees. The region already sees 175 days a year of daily highs above 90F degree days. Morales shares how residents struggle to stay cool, find shade and preserve water, which is especially precious in the Southwest. She cofounded the Green Living and has built a series of regional green living events in addition to the magazine and website. Morales shares details about the upcoming Arizona Green Chamber and Green Building events, which you can join free online. Both offer tips on green choices in business and your personal life.Visit Green Living to follow its Arizona-focused green lifestyle coverage. They are giving away five free digital subscriptions to people who comment on the Green Living AZ Facebook page.  If you are interested in advertising, Morales offers 50% off one month of any advertising package when you send an email to info@greenlivingmag.com.

Waste at restaurants and grocery stores contributes to society's overall food waste problem. Josh Goodman started PourMyBeer in 2012 to make beer and beverage dispensing a self-service experience. Now, the company helps serve beer, wine and soft drinks to customers at Whole Foods, Dave & Buster's, Caesars Entertainment locations and military bases in 24 countries. It also won an investment from Coca-Cola's European bottling business to help develop solutions to reduce single-use containers for soft drinks. Earth911 talks with Goodman about how PourMyBeer makes getting a drink quick and safe, even during the pandemic. We also explore how PourMyBeer can participate in new reusable container programs to eliminate single-use plastic waste and the prospects for a delivery system based on reusable beverage containers.

As shopping from home grows, packaging waste is piling up. Loop offers an alternative, a delivery service for food and home goods that picks up used product packaging, cleans and the reuses it to eliminate trash. Earth911 talks with Heather Crawford, global vice president of marketing and e-commerce at Loop, about the company's expansion into Canada. Loop now offers service in the U.S., U.K. and France -- it's Loop Tote bag is dropped off and picked up by FedEx, and it will soon offer in-store Tote exchanges at Kroger, Walgreens and Canada's Loblaws locations.Crawford shares how Loop, which was launched by specialty recycling company TerraCycle, designs reusable packaging that can be repeatedly cleaned and refilled with products in order to reduce post-consumer waste. We also discuss the sustainability of online shopping and how, at scale, it can be more efficient than traditional bricks-and-mortar retail shopping. Loop is partnering with several grocery and drugstore chains to introduce in-store Tote pick-up and drop-off services. Both at-home and retail services are essential to reaching consumers who want to remove single-use packaging from their shopping list.Loop currently offers hundreds of product options and is expanding its partnerships with food and personal care brands to introduce more reusable product packaging. Take a few minutes to learn more at the U.S. Loop store (https://loopstore.com), Canadian store (https://loopstore.ca), U.K. store (https://loopstore.co.uk) or the French store (https://loopparcarrefour.com).

Environmental doom hangs over the youngest generations, who need a clear path to climate recovery to regain their optimism. Earth911 talks with Dr. Erica Dodds, chief operating officer of the Foundation for Climate Restoration, a young expert in climate anxiety and international development working to raise awareness about direct air carbon capture technologies. Her organization believes that aggressive investment in scaling up current early-stage carbon capture strategies can restore the environment to pre-industrial CO2 levels by mid-century, long before many expect the technology to make an impact. Her team organizes local youth and legislative learning programs, and they are launching local chapters around the country. Visit their site to get involved.Dodds explains how ocean carbon sequestration can help humans store massive amounts of CO2. Her compelling vision for a return to the climate in which humans evolved includes the idea that the atmosphere can be mined for CO2 to use as the raw material in low-carbon cement, fuels, and other applications. Carbon capture technologies are expected to create 300,000 new jobs during the next several decades.We also discuss the overwhelming eco-anxiety afflicting her generation, starting with an introduction to the symptoms of this paralyzing psychological state. People tend to react to climate change by enthusiastically engaging in climate-friendly behaviors and judging severely others who do not participate or by closing their eyes to the problem, literally turning away from the fear that climate change creates. This may be the basis for some of the current political divisions in the U.S. and around the world. Society must find a way to bring people together around actions that can make a material difference in the fight against global warming. Dodds and the Foundation for Climate Restoration are confident that direct air carbon capture can a key component to a brighter future.The founder of the Foundation for Climate Restoration, Peter Fiekowsky, has appeared on Sustainability In Your Ear to discuss direct air carbon capture and ocean-based sequestration strategies.

As more people look to move out of cities, a new, environmentally-friendly communities may be their next home. Earth911 talks with Scott Austin, a cofounder of the Olivette Riverside Community and Farm, a 346-acre planned "agrihood" along the French Broad River near Asheville, N.C. His team built "a community in which our interactions with water, nature, food, community and lifelong learning are seamless and foster sustainable living." It introduces a unique lifestyle that includes a farm funded through a Community Supported Agriculture program built into the cost of living.Scott shares the Olivette lifestyle, and his plans for farm-to-table living that values "gardens over golf courses." In addition to being able to pick up fresh berries and produce from the farm, clusters of homes share large gardens and everyone can borrow shared bicycles to get around. An affluent community, Olivette may provide an early model for reimagining towns that integrate agriculture, wilderness and lifelong learning that can be applied in many settings. Austin point similar projects, such as Serenbe, whose founder Steve Nygren we interviewed in December 2019. There are many lessons to take from the experience of these early efforts at reinventing living for sustainability.To learn more, visit the Olivette Riverside Community and Farm at https://www.olivettenc.com/.

Earth911 talks with Hannah Bacon, a 27-year-old woman who decided to start a seven-month journey across the U.S. to raise awareness about climate change. She will walk from California to Virginia, and we caught up to her in New Mexico after two months on the road. Hannah was inspired by David Wallace-Wells’ book, "The Uninhabited Earth," while flying cross-country. She realized her non-essential travel was harming the planet, so she decided to walk home. Hannah’s “Miles for Movement” walk started on November 1, 2020, and will continue through the Summer.All donations to the walk’s GoFundMe page will go to the Sunrise Movement, a youth-focused political action movement whose goal is to mobilize climate activists across the US. It operates more than 400 local programs across the country. Hannah talks with Earth911’s Mitch Ratcliffe about the importance of promoting a healthy climate for future generations and how people can contribute to the fight against climate change on a day-to-day basis through simple changes.Follow Hannah’s progress and her stories on the Miles for Movement Instagram page and her blog. Please consider donating to and sharing her GoFundMe page.https://www.instagram.com/milesforclimate/https://milesforclimate.org/https://www.gofundme.com/f/miles-for-climate

Join another Earth911 conversation about the critical divides in U.S. politics and climate policy with Kevin Wilhelm of Sustainable Business Consulting and Danielle Butcher, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President of the young-conservative organization, the American Conservation Coalition. We discuss the differences in the right- and left-leaning climate policy debate, the role of generational change in the future of U.S. climate regulations, and the potential for establishing a new center for political discourse. Host Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Wilhelm and Butcher about the role of economic stimulus, educational funding, and the federal government's ability to shape economic priorities through incentives and carbon pricing. Hear how there actually mutually agreeable positions emerging in the climate debate.Kevin Wilhelm is the author of How to Talk to the "Other Side": Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession, and Climate Change and an adunct professor at Harvard University. Danielle Butcher is a leader of the American Conservation Coalition, a non-profit "dedicated to mobilizing young people around environmental action through common-sense, market-based, and limited-government ideals" based on localism, capitalist ideas, and innovation. This is the third in our Conversation series featuring Wilhelm, Ratcliffe, and guests from across the political, urban-rural, generational, and social justice spectrum.