Climate Papa

On this show, we’ve explored how people can make infrastructure changes in their lives that have long-term positive climate impacts—whether it’s upgrading your furnace to a heat pump or switching from a gas car to an EV. Food is on the other end of the spectrum. It’s the ultimate behavioral challenge: the average person has three meals a day, 21 meals a week. That's over 1,000 meals a year or 5,000 decisions over five years. Compare that to the one-time choice of a car you may drive for five years. Each of these meals—and how we prepare them—has a major impact, both on our personal health and on the health of the planet. In this episode, I sit down with my friend Joel Gamoran—a fellow Seattle papa, chef, culinary teacher, and founder of Homemade Cooking. Joel’s journey has taken him from teaching as the head chef at Sur La Table to hosting the cooking show Scraps, where he turned food waste into culinary masterpieces (and published a cookbook as well). We discuss staggering truths about the waste in our food system—and how culinary medicine is a key unlock for our health, our communities, and the planet. Joel generously opens up about his own health journey and how that connects to his life’s work. If after this conversation you want more of Joel’s amazing energy, you can cook with him via his site Homemade Cooking, watch his PBS show Homemade Live, and follow along via his Instagram. Referenced: Food Waste - ReFED Land use data - Our World in Data Seattle not among nation’s vegan/vegetarian hot spots - Seattle Times Get connected: Joel - Instagram | Homemade Cooking Ben - LinkedIn | ⁠Climate Papa⁠ To get in touch, email ⁠ben@climatepapa.com⁠ Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)

I sit down with Kathy Hannun--the founder of Dandelion Energy, a geothermal heat pump comany that she spun out of Google X. What is a geothermal heat pump? Well, if you go outside and drill a hole a few hundred feet below ground you would get to a stable temperature--somewhere in the 50-60 degrees range. This earth is a fantastic place to transfer heat to and from. You can then cycle a fluid (like water) down there and use the transfer of heat to very efficiently heat or cool a home via a heatpump. In fact, a geothermal heatpump should be the most efficient way to heat and cool any building. We unpack all of that, and also discuss how Kathy made major career decisions—optimizing for each step along the way. Of course, we chat about kids, Halloween costumes, and more. After the election, I was reflecting on Kathy's timeline--she spun this business out of Google X in 2017. She raised a Seed round then--proving out the product and model until growing significantly in over the last 3 years. It's interesting to realize that the product, team, and company were really formed in the early days of a very pro-fossil fuel administration. I suspect Kathy's story will have many analogs. Many of the most impactful and successful companies will be formed in 2025 by founders just as relentless and thoughtful as her. Referenced: Ebb Carbon Episode #10: The magic devices that cool (and heat) our homes and how to perfect them with Bill Kee Get connected: Kathy - LinkedIn | Dandelion Ben - LinkedIn | ⁠Climate Papa⁠ To get in touch, email ⁠ben@climatepapa.com⁠ Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)

A bit over a year ago Ben met Anay Shah. In the months that followed Anay and Ben spent hours, then days, then months bringing forth Stepchange. Anay has not only become a fund co-founder and close friend—he’s also shared in the joy of parallel newborn parenting—both he and Ben had new babies less than a month apart over the summer. Together, they explore Anay’s journey from his early days at the State Department to leadership roles at global fintech startups (Remitly and Tala), focusing on financial inclusion in emerging markets, and how that path led him ultimately to climate tech and venture investing. Anay accidentally coined the idea of “techno-obligation,” the belief that we have a responsibility to use technology for solving urgent global challenges, particularly climate change. The conversation dives into how loss, the birth of their children, and an awareness of the finite nature of time have shaped their perspectives on life and work, and how those experiences influenced the founding of Stepchange. Referenced in the episode: On Children, Meaning, Media and Psychedelics - Ezra Klein and Jia Tolentino Image of Earth’s atmosphere Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We'll Win the Climate War by Tom Steyer Speed and Scale #16 - Introducing Stepchange, our new venture fund Get connected: Anay - LinkedIn | anay@stepchange.vc Ben - LinkedIn | ⁠Climate Papa⁠ To get in touch, email ⁠ben@climatepapa.com⁠ Music: Sheeba Marie - Persephone Intro Music:Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)

How do we get the money from climate legislation into the hands of someone buying a heat pump or solar? Between passing legislation, like the Inflation Reducaiton Act (IRA), and a homeowner getting new devices to run their homes there is a major coordination, paperwork, and financing problem to orchestrate. In this episode Ben interviews Jeff Coleman, founder and CEO of Eli Technologies, and fellow climate dad. Jeff’s career has a theme of building digital infrastructure to drive systemic change. He worked on the 2008 Obama campaign, numerous non-profits, and built the digital tools behind Access Clean California. This all led to founding Eli—a startup on a mission to make home decarbonization more equitable and affordable at scale. Side note—Eli is exactly the type of company that Stepchange is focused on--finding places where software-based products can accelerate the deployment speed of climate solutions. We're lucky to be investors in Eli and as always, nothing in this conversation is investment advice. Referenced: Node Collective Eli Technologies Hot Buttered Rum (Jeff’s Bluegrass band) Get connected: Jeff - LinkedIn | Eli Ben - LinkedIn | ⁠Climate Papa⁠ To get in touch, email ⁠ben@climatepapa.com⁠ Today’s outro music: Hot Buttered Rum - No Reason Why Show theme music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix) 02:20 Jeff's Musical Background and Family Life 06:03 Jeff's Journey: From Musician to Climate Advocate 10:11 The Obama Campaign Experience 17:24 Transition to Climate Solutions 21:12 Challenges in Solar Installation 22:52 Building Access Clean California 26:51 Government's Role in Program Funding 27:48 Program Administration and Challenges 30:03 Equity and Incentive Structures 32:21 Decentralization and Local Needs 34:29 Eli's Mission and Approach 41:20 Building a Multi-Sided Platform 44:19 The Role of Software in Climate Solutions 50:15 Balancing Startup Life and Family 56:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This episode is a bit more papa and a bit less climate. Ben shares some family news and processes it with his 6-year-old and 3-year-old. They hit on some climate topics, the purpose of ants, and what was in the universe before earth. Kids are the best. Happy Father’s Day to all the fellow climate papas out there. Referenced in the episode: Last year’s Father’s Day special Astrophysics for People in a Hurry In other fun news, I made Bloomberg Green’s “13 Most Influential Climate Leaders to Watch in 2024” Hope to see many of you at the Bloomberg Green Festival in July in Seattle. Shoot me a note (ben@climatepapa.com) if you’re planning to make it. We may have some special Climate Papa meetups in the works!

Nat Bullard discusses the importance of understanding the present in decarbonization efforts, stocks, and flows. The conversation delves into his annual trend report on the state of decarbonization, exploring the process of creating it and its impact. Topics range from big life transitions to raising kids in Singapore, offering valuable insights for those interested in climate and sustainability markets.

As the first episode of the year, I’m focusing on a bit of a personal update. Today, I'm announcing the launch of a new climate venture fund, Stepchange. I use this week's episode to share the story behind the fund. I struggled with putting this episode out—I felt self-conscious spending the time promoting my work so publicly. But I believe that investing our money, our time, and our social capital in these startups is the best thing that I can do right now to make a difference. These companies will be critical to our energy transition and to addressing big elements of the climate crisis. This is how I’m spending most of my time. This is my toolkit, my hammer—and I’m going to swing it. So yes, this episode is me introducing Stepchange. The episode plays out in three parts: We review the Stepchange thesis on climate investing, discuss how the fund came to be, and chat with our venture partners: Anay and Arthur. We also meet three of our fund advisors: Steph, Ari, and Ian. I interview founders from the fund’s first four investments: itselectric, Bayou Energy, Line.Build, and Rhizome. I chat with fund collaborators and investors (LPs): Aaref from Bain Capital Ventures, Julie Sandler from PSL, and Marc Bridge. Thanks so much for listening today. I'm really excited to get Stepchange out into the world. Here’s to 2024. -Benben@stepchange.vc Referenced in the episode: Stepchange The Guide to Software in Climate Tech, written by Ben and Nathan itselectric: Tiya & Nathan Bayou Energy: James Line.Build: Dasha & Steph Rhizome: Mish Bain Capital Ventures: Aaref Hilaly PSL: Julie Sandler Marc Bridge (At Present) Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)

See Nicole's work referenced here. The world of climate tech is small and something happened about two years ago. From climate newsletters to Twitter accounts and LinkedIn posts... everything became more...colorful. There were stunning watercolors explaining the carbon cycle in oceans, the carbon impact of a hamburger, or the way that heat pump works to magically transfer heat into a home. Nicole Kelner had arrived on the scene. Taking her unique water color style and combining it with a deep desire to understand, and communicate, climate solutions. In this conversation, Nicole shares her journey to climate tech artist, her process for coming up with new art ideas, and her love of running the business. We also cover why Taylor Swift should date a climate scientist, the role of AI in art, and how to make wind turbines into a beautiful neon mural. Nicole's created the first climate solutions coloring book, The Electrify Everything Coloring book. The next episode of Climate Papa will share more on my focus for 2024. If you haven’t already subscribe here to follow along. To see more of Nicole’s work: Her website Her Substack blog Referenced: Climatoonist Nicole’s IPCC Image | Original IPCC image You want to work in climate spreadsheet Get connected: Nicole - LinkedIn | X Ben - LinkedIn | ⁠Climate Papa⁠ To get in touch, email ⁠ben@climatepapa.com⁠ Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)

It was the summer of 2022 and David Rusenko had completed 15 years of a classic Silicon Valley success story. It started back in 2007 when he applied to the 4th batch of YC two hours before the deadline with his startup--Weebly. He grew Weebly, a website and ecommerce platform, to hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions in revenue and was acquired by Square in 2018. At Square he took on integrating Weebly and leading all of the growing company’s ecommerce products. When it came time for David to pop his head out to think about what was next he came to a familiar conclusion--he would deeply regret not spending this essential next decade working on climate. This conversation was filled with an abundance of agreement on the urgency to work on climate, founder-company fit, and the values we want to bring to our work with founders. We talk about some of the areas most interesting to us and the underrated role that YC has played in bolstering the climate tech ecosystem. As I've gotten to know David over the last few months, I've consistently found a kindred spirit--someone trying to take the last 15 years of product and company building and apply it to climate tech. Putting to use all the founder empathy muscles possible, and trying to dust off our electrical engineering backgrounds. We also love hearing our kids comment on the slow and smelliness of fossil fuel burning machines. David invites climate tech founders that are raising their pre-seed or seed rounds to get in touch at leapforward.vc--and to maybe look for some fun easter eggs on his website. Referenced in the episode: David's taxonomy of climate tech YC Request for Climate Tech Startups David’s talk on How to Find Product Market Fit Lazard Cost of Energy Report Guide to Software in Climate Tech Get connected: David - LinkedIn | Leap Forward Ben - ⁠Climate Papa⁠ Feedback? Guest suggestions? Email ⁠ben@climatepapa.com⁠ Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix) Note: Nothing in this episode should be viewed as investment advice.

Ben sits down with Dimitry Gershenson, a fellow climate papa, to discuss balancing fatherhood with startup ambitions and the importance of vulnerability. They also explore climate funding gaps and the unique ways fintech tools like revenue-based financing can support climate companies. Dimitry's experience in M&A and energy access initiatives brings valuable insights to the conversation. Bridging the gap between capital and government receivables is another key topic, showcasing specific case studies of invested companies.