Sustainability In Your Ear

Earth911 talks with Jeremy Schewe, a wetlands scientist who is chief science officer and cofounder of Ecobot, an app company that helps to accurately inventory wetlands. Schewe shares the state of more than 110 million acres of wetlands in the U.S. and progress in understanding the role wetlands play in the carbon cycle, their influences on local weather and environmental diversity, and policymaking to protect these valuable natural resources. Wetlands are estimated to provide up to $14 trillion dollars in environmental services to humans annually by processing CO2, providing a home to fish and game, serving as a source of biological solutions to human disease and food production, and other functions humans cannot perform.Wetlands' CO2 capture capacity is important to reducing global warming and in some regions they serve as a storm buffer. With extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, increasing in intensity, wetlands can alleviate damage from storm surges by capturing rising waters. Each major storm costs more than $2 billion in damage repair and climate remediation. Investing in better tracking of wetlands is essential to reversing the climate changes we already see and feel around us.We explore the state of wetlands mapping and descriptions of what lives in these areas, which can be as large as a river delta or as small as a holler that contains water only part of the year. Ecobot assists scientists when they inventory a location, providing easy entry of plant and animal species present, physical features, and water information. Progress toward a complete understanding of wetlands is really only getting started, Schewe explains. In 2021, the next U.S. National Wetlands Condition Assessment will be released, providing the first five-year view into wetland changes. As humans gain insights into wetlands, they can better manage, restore, and preserve them.

Earth911 talks with Adam Met, bassist of the multi-platinum indie pop group AJR and advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Program, about his new podcast, Planet Reimagined and how to start a lasting sustainability transition. Adam and his brothers Jack and Ryan launched AJR as teens. They've produced numerous hits, including their current release Bummerland, while Adam continued his studies in philosophy and international law. He is completing a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law and is the executive director of Sustainable Partners, Inc., a "thought and action think tank" that creates sustainability initiatives around the world. He recently began working with the UN's Sustainable Development program to raise awareness about the many paths to a humane and prosperous green economy.Adam shares his thoughts about the role of celebrity and protest in a modern connected society, and how each person's decisions to be sustainable can be communicated to spread the word about the importance of living within the planet's resources. We discuss bridging the economic and justice gap between the developed and emerging economies, as well as how AJR encourages sustainability on its global tours. We can each be an example and, when communities pull together and communicate their priorities to business and government the world can change.Planet Reimagined, Adam's new podcast, was introduced last week. Subscribe today and Planet Reimagined will plant a tree! His guests during the first season include former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, economist Jeffrey Sachs, March For Our Lives founder Matt Deitch, Allbirds CEO Joey Zwillinger and Keiana Cave, a 22-year-old scientist working on the chemistry of oil cleanups and hormone-free birth control.

Feeling like the world can't survive 2020? Take a few minutes to meet 15-year-old Adarsh Ambati of San Jose, Calif., winner of the Innovation prize in the 2020 International Young Eco-Hero Awards to discover why there is hope. Adarsh and 16 other 8-to-12-year-olds and 13-to-16-year olds were recognized this month for their contributions to global sustainability. Adarsh's story is an inspiration that will get you looking at your world with a new eye for positive change. He's also one of the most well-spoken young people you'll meet. He explains how everyone can take action with clear and inspiring lessons he learned after inventing a neighborhood sprinkler monitoring system at age 11 during California's drought. His inspiration was waste he observed around him on a drive when he saw a sprinkler running during a rare rainstorm in the Bay Area.Adarsh took about a year to develop a Raspberry Pi-based controller that connects water sensors, weather data, local watering regulations, and social media to provide local watering guidance. He trialed the device with 10 neighbors and found that they could have saved 50,000 gallons of water in just two months. His $50 device was a fraction of the cost of competing sprinkler control systems but he went for two years without gaining any traction with local utilities until his project won MagPi Magazine's 2019 Coolest Projects USA competition. The recognition was followed by support from Raspberry Pi CEO Phil Colligan and local utility Lake Canyon Mutal Water Company in nearby Los Gatos, Calif., which is planning to trial the device with its customers. At 15, he's got a successful invention and, as a side-gig, founded Gro-STEMs, a site that sells succulents to provide support to technology training at San Jose's LifeMoves Homeless Shelter and the Aarti for Girls School for abandoned children in Kadapa, India.What Adarsh learned would take a lifetime for many people in Silicon Valley, and we urge you to listen to his approach to innovation and the importance of taking criticism constructively, even when it isn't offered constructively, to develop a successful technology product. He breaks down his three key ideas for sustainable innovation so that anyone can apply changes to the world they find, a world often built on wasteful practices that can be improved. His persistence is an inspiration. You'll learn a lot from him and we hope you come away from the conversation as energized was we did.

Plastic pollution surged along with COVID-19 as the world's human population raced to protect itself from the virus. We talk with Kevin Kelly, CEO of Emerald Packaging, one of the largest plastic bag makers in the country. Kelly shares how in-store recycling programs have been curtailed by fears about spreading infections and the continuing increase in plastic usage compared to previous years. Emerald Packaging is working to reduce its reliance on virgin plastic resins, as well as introducing recyclable and compostable produce packaging.Kelly also shares his personal concern that American business has not fully understood the threat from climate change, which he describes as "existential" in scope. If, for example, sea levels rise, the consequences to Emerald Packaging will be disastrous because food supply chains will be interrupted at every port, reducing the sales of vegetables and other produce and by extension produce bags. Kelly urges business leaders and consumers to work to reduce plastic use and to recycle any plastic that must be used. We discuss the recent defeat of California Senate Bill 54, the California Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, which he opposed because it did not provide funding for recycling programs. Yet, Kelly is supportive of the California initiative that will attempt to put SB 54 into law at the ballot box since it will likely include a funding mechanism based in part on extended producer responsibility requirements.That willingness to embrace producer responsibility, which requires companies to participate in collecting and recycling what they make, is encouraging. Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe asked Kelly what percentage of a company's revenue should be allocated to recycling and got a concrete answer: 1%, which Kelly said was a quick estimate. If every business that makes a product that becomes waste at the end of its useful life were to contribute 1% of revenue to support recycling programs, it would go a long way toward revolutionizing the U.S. recycling system. If business refuses to shoulder that responsibility, Kelly said, they will eventually be driven out of business by the consequences of climate change.Surprising and positive comments from a plastic manufacturer. Be sure to give this interview a careful listen.Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.Follow the podcast on Spreaker, iHeartRadio, or YouTube.

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.