Earth911.com's Sustainability In Your Ear

Environmental Media Association CEO Debbie Levin invites you to watch this year's EMA Awards, hosted by Lance Bass, on August 20, 2020. We talk about the role of storytelling and celebrity in making sustainability mainstream. Levin took on leadership at the EMA in 2020 and created a very successful approach to using celebrities to make environmental stories tangible to viewers. We discuss the importance of transparency and accountability in media, the positive role stars can play in raising awareness, and how the EMA has evolved. Levin shares the story of how she put Hollywood in the Toyota Prius, making the car an attractive option for many consumers who first encountered electric vehicles when stars drove them to the Oscars, Emmy Awards and other heavily covered media events.With nominees that include the films Dark Waters and Frozen 2, television shows including Discovery's The Story of Plastic and CNN's Ted Turner: Captain Planet, as well as comedies such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Politician, among many others, the EMA Awards is a great way to discover the best of environmental viewing. The EMA also produces a star-studded annual EMA Impact Summit, which brings celebrities and experts together to raise awareness about nature and human impacts on the ecosystem. Want to dig into deep topics with discussions between environmentalist celebrities and scientists about climate change and COVID-19, planetary health, clothing recycling, and more EMA Talks, a recent addition to the EMA's outreach efforts.

Earth911.com talks with Ford Seeman, founder of Forest Founders, a tree-planting subscription service working to integrated carbon responsibility in daily shopping and marketing programs, and Righteous Causes, a sustainable business incubator in New York. We talked with him from his home, where trees were falling to the recent hurricane, about planting trees as an everyday activity we support with small contributions. Forest Founders offers $10- and $20-a-month subscription programs that have planted more than 40,000 trees in protected National Park lands in the U.S. We explore how the company will expand and some of the innovations that are necessary to make carbon neutrality a habit, not just an aspiration.We also discuss the importance of sustainability as a mission for companies today. While the COVID-19 pause in CO2 emissions is still fresh in our minds, Ford offers ideas about how individuals and businesses can act today to reduce their carbon footprint. And we explore how a combination of consumer action, government policy, and enlightened, profitable businesses can turn green intentions into real changes to, and recovery of, the environment. He shares how Righteous Causes is lowering the cost of starting a green company, as well as help entrepreneurs raise early-stage funding to grow a business.

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) monitors the sustainability and environmental responsibility performance of the world's largest countries. Charlotte Hugman, a researcher for the climate and energy programs at WBA shares the results of the organization's July 2020 Electric Utilities Benchmark of the 50 largest electric producers in the world, including the top 10 U.S. utilities. The report is the first update of a regular review of energy producers' progress toward the U.N. Paris Agreement 2030 targets necessary to prevent disastrous climate change. Unfortunately, they found that seven of the 10 U.S. companies reviewed will actually fall backward in their decarbonization performance in the near-term. Among EU electricity producers, half will see short-term declines in performance. In fact, 35 of the 50 global companies studied will exceed their carbon goals in the short term.We discuss the WBA methodology and Hugman suggests that if you are interested in understanding your local utilities' carbon emissions can start by reading the report to learn about the key issues that affect environmental performance. She explains that electricity production is the foundation for a wide range of social and technical changes which will help reduce CO2 emissions. In addition to decarbonization of the energy sector, the WBA identifies financial system innovation, food and agricultural changes, digital transformation, social changes, urban reinvention, and the circular economy as the keystones of a sustainable economy. Each of these pillars relies on low- or zero-carbon electricity, so power must be transitioned to renewable sources for everything else to succeed.Take a few minutes with Charlotte Hugman to be introduced to the WBA's comprehensive approach to providing business and government leaders with reliable information about the global economy's progress toward a net-zero sustainable world. Then, take a few minutes to study your local utility's carbon footprint. Let's change the world starting in our own neighborhoods.

Pablo Diaz, founder and CEO of Direct Solar America, joins Earth911 to talk about the current state of solar subsidies in the U.S. Recently named one of CEO Magazine's Top 20 Dynamic CEOs, Diaz founded the company as a solar installer but transitioned to providing solar technology and installation services for home and business owners. Visitors to DirectSolarAmerica.com can enter their address and share energy bills to receive a complete analysis of the potential cost, subsidies available for, and a connection to a vetted local installer.We discussed the current federal and state subsidies for solar installation around the country. The federal investment tax credit, which allowed solar buyers to write off up to 30% of their solar equipment and installation costs in 2019, fell to 26% this year and will go down to 22% in 2021 before falling to 10% in 2022. Individual states offer generous subsidies that add to the federal savings.Considering that the oil industry receives approximately $650 billion a year in subsidies, Diaz thinks there is a high likelihood solar subsidies will continue for many years. However, Congress must vote to extend those subsidies or they will be sunsetted after 2022. That's why this year's state and national elections are so important to the future of U.S. solar growth. It took approximately 15 years for the first million installations to be completed, three years to reach two million, and the Solar Energy Industries Association expects to reach four million installations by 2023. But that represents only about 2 percent market penetration.Diaz urges our listeners to vote for solar-supporting representatives and executive candidates. The nation needs to keep adopting solar to avoid 1.5-degrees Centigrade global warming by 2030, and remains far from that goal. Check out Direct Solar America to find out how your home can generate its own solar-powered electricity.

The time to talk about climate change and social equity is now. Author and sustainability consultant Kevin Wilhelm has a valuable new guide to bridging the political, social, and ideological chasms that keep that discussion from happening, How to Talk to the “Other Side”: Finding Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession and Climate Change. A practical book full of real-world examples of collaboration that succeeded despite Left-Right, Urban-Rural, and racial divisions. Wilhelm and his co-author Natalie Hoffman provide a framework for building “allyship” with people usually dismissed as the stubborn, unthinking opposition. Listen to this important discussion, if only to take a little hope away to use in your life during these difficult times.Written during the early weeks of the pandemic, How to Talk to the Other Side has even more relevance in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that started in June. He discusses the backgrounds of different factions in the climate debate, offering empathetic ideas about how to build an effective connection. We also explore the impact of generational change — among Millennials, both Republican and Democratic voters say climate change is a real, urgent issue facing our species.Wilhelm is CEO of Seattle-based Sustainable Business Consulting, a professor at the University of Washington and Harvard University, as well as the author of Return on Sustainability: How Business Can Increase Profitability & Address Climate Change in an Uncertain Economy and other business books.Join the conversation and share your thoughts with the community in our Earthling Forum.

As the world re-opens in the wake of COVID-19 Wave 1, revenge pollution threatens to amplify human environmental impacts as people travel, spend, and discard products and packaging at a higher level than before the global lockdown. Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Lauren K. Olson, zero-waste manager at World Centric, a Rohnert Park, Calif.-based maker of compostable bioplastic food packaging and tableware about how to avoid revenge pollution in our personal lives. She shares insights into plastic choices, composting practices, travel and conscious shopping strategies that will reduce your footprint.Join the conversation and share your thoughts with the community in our Earthling Forum.

We're still deep in the lockdown and the Earth911 team gathers from the far corners of the U.S. to discuss how to improve our personal and community sustainability as we emerge from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earth911's Sarah Lozanova, Mitch Ratcliffe and our producer, Doug Mackey, talk about the increased recycling reported by cities, as well as the disappointing news that people are not cleaning and sorting recyclables -- contamination rates stay stuck between 20 percent and 25 percent in many areas. The Recycling Partnership reports similar results from its recent survey of programs in Washington, Oregon, and California.But the Great Pause has shown that when people stop commuting and flying, significant changes in the environment can be seen. It's proof that all our small changes can add up, the question is, will we embrace this opportunity to change as the world awakes after the pandemic? We have ideas to share about how to extend the short-term changes you make in response to COVID-19 beyond the end of the lockdown. Simple changes at home, such as using rags instead of paper towels, reducing your household food waste, and rethinking when and how to travel can contribute to postive changes. And we talk about the changing way people will work as society adapts to life without a coronavirus vaccine for at least 12 to 18 months.We also answer Earthling Questions about how to recycle tires, where to recycle marble construction waste, and the safe and successful way to recycle compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs).Join the conversation and share your thoughts with the community in our Earthling Forum.

Earth911 talks with Rita Katona and Eric Hall, cofounders of probiotic juice shot makers SoGoodSoYou about their new biodegradable packaging, the BtrBtl, and how contemporary companies must embrace ecological sustainability. The BtrBtl breaks down approximately 17 times faster (it “biodegrades 31.7–37.0% after 391 days in active landfill conditions compared to 2% biodegradation of untreated PET”). It’s an important step in the company’s efforts to reduce its ecological footprint.Rita and Eric describe their search for better packaging for the pure juice mind and health juice shots. They cofounded the company in 2014, at the same time that they became engaged during a trip to Mexico. Together, they have created a line of probiotic 100-percent juice body and mind tonics. But they have long been troubled by the plastic waste generated, so began to explore alternatives that led to their embrace of BtrBtl this year. As Eric Hall explains, this is a step in the right direction that they will continue to pursue as they reduce their footprint.SoGoodSoYou puts people and planet first while building on available technology. They’ve built a team dedicated to delivering healty food in sustainable packaging. If you’re practicing better plastic uses, keep an eye on SoGoodSoYou.Join the conversation and share your thoughts with the community in our Earthling Forum.

The recycling industry, like the rest of the world, is coping with the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joe Pickard, the chief economist of the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), shares his insights into how recycling will change as a new normal emerges after the pandemic. Even as homeowners and apartment-dwellers send more recyclables through curbside programs, the commercial recycling market has slowed with closures and declining manufacturing. The results are that overall recycling rates have fallen in most states, such as California and Oregon.After closures, many recycling programs are re-opening with new employee safety programs. And recycling firms will fail. Those without the cash to get through the crisis are at the greatest risk, Pickard explains. Recyclers are wrestling with the changing requirements for the Payroll Protection Program loans from the Small Business Administration, but before the pandemic investments in U.S. recycling was on the increase. Perhaps the "new normal" will be a more efficient and innovative recycling infrastructure.Join the conversation and share your thoughts with the community in our Earthling Forum.

Bevi, an office water dispenser company, has saved more than 180 million plastic bottles from landfills. Earth911 talks with Sean Grundy, cofounder and CEO of Bevi, about the company's mission to deliver sustainable and healthy water, with or without flavoring. They developed a networked water dispenser that can be installed in an office to distill and carbonate tap water, adding natural flavors for about one-third the cost of a can or bottle or soda.Grundy explains how Bevi has measured many aspects of its supply chain to understand its CO2 emissions. Its water flavorings bags and boxes, equipment, and delivery services through local partners are optimized to reduce emissions. He also explains the motivations business must embrace to win and keep dedicated employees who care about the environment. Bevi's commitment to sustainability grew out of the founding team's values, but he says they find their customers purchase its water services also embrace a concern to the environment. Check out Bevi for a fresh, sustainable drink of water.Join the conversation and share your thoughts with the community in our Earthling Forum.