Everybody in the Pool

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going up a level, from the entrepreneurs inventing solutions to the climate crisis to an investor who’s keeping an eye out for the next big thing. But this isn’t just any venture capital fund—Fifth Wall is a massive investment fund that gets a lot of its money from the property and real estate industry. So, obviously, climate was an inevitable part of its investment thesis, since the built environment is a huge contributor to climate change, and an industry desperately in need of innovative solutions. Molly talks with Greg Smithies, co-head of the climate practice at Fifth Wall.RESOURCES & LINKSFifth Wall: https://fifthwall.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going back to the topic that first got Molly interested in climate solutions: adaptation and resilience. Or, put simply, how we survive the worsening climate crisis. This week, we’re talking with Emilie Mazzacurati, who’s been working on getting attention, money, and data on this part of the conversation for over a decade. She’s now founded Tailwind Climate, an organization designed to encourage, incubate and fund solutions that help us survive—and thrive—the changes all around us.RESOURCES & LINKSTailwind Climate: https://www.tailwindclimate.com/All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, alchemy! Just kidding, it’s science. I’m talking to a cleantech entrepreneur who has co-invented a new way to make magnesium metal out of seawater, in a process that’s specifically designed to use renewable energy. That’s a big deal because magnesium is an alloy in all kinds of metals we need, like aluminum, steel, and titanium, and right now it’s almost all coming from China or Russia and it’s made with coal. An abundant supply of domestic lightweight metal leads to, among other things, EVs that go farther on a charge, and could just replace dirtier aluminum altogether. With Alex Grant, co-founder and CEO of Magrathea Metals.RESOURCES & LINKSMagrathea Metals: https://magratheametals.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re always looking to national governments and multinational corporations to make big changes, but a lot of times, the real impact is local. The LA Cleantech Incubator is a super interesting example of an organization that used support from the city to raise private dollars and start a fund to support entrepreneurs building cool climate solutions. And with the Olympic Games coming to town in 2028, it’s an organization on a mission to decarbonize the city before they get there. Who doesn’t love a deadline, right?RESOURCES & LINKSLA Cleantech Incubator: https://laincubator.org/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Visit the website: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going full sci-fi. And when we say full sci-fi, we mean back to science that was conceived in the 17th century and is only now being perfected by a startup that’s trying to bring back lighter-than-air ships (blimps and aerostats) in the hopes of eventually moving cargo around in a zero-emissions and possibly even carbon-negative way. Diana Little of Anuma Aerospace explains the tech and and how proving the co-inventor of calculus wrong is only part of the, ahem, equation.RESOURCES & LINKSAnuma Aerospace: https://www.anumaaerospace.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Visit the website: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s funny how we keep talking about climate solutions and haven’t gotten to the big ball of free energy in the sky yet. Maybe it’s because everybody thinks solar is “solved,” or it’s old tech, or it’s boring. But actually, solar adoption is lagging, and that’s a problem, because as we electrify everything, we need lots more renewable energy to meet the demand, and solar combined with batteries is not only a renewable energy solution, but a really cool way to create a resilient and effective kind of “shadow grid” for electricity. Today’s guest is Chris Rauscher, the head of grid services at Sunrun. Oh, and we even get to geek out about cars!RESOURCES & LINKSSunrun: https://www.sunrun.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Visit the website: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/ Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, more hard problems! Today we’re talking to a startup focused on buildings and the carbon emissions that get literally built into them. That comes from construction materials like walls and flooring and yes, concrete, and even windows and the steel used to support them. Increasingly, developers and builders are on the hook for measuring and reducing what’s known as “embodied carbon,” and this week’s startup helps them do just that. Nicole Granath and Anneli Tostar of Tangible Materials join Molly to talk about building better buildings, and, full disclosure, make a lot of “tangible” puns.RESOURCES & LINKSMore on Tangible Materials: https://tangiblematerials.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, sometimes you just need to know that people are out there working on solving hard problems—like cement, which has roughly the same global CO2 emissions as … well, cars. It’s a big problem, it’s basically been made for the same way for 150 years, and it’s the single most-consumed human-made material on earth. So a few years ago, Cody Finke, a chemist, was looking for an impactful company to start in the climate space that wasn’t getting a ton of attention. Turns out, it’s cement. Fast forward to today and they’ve got a process for making carbon negative cement that’s exactly the same as what we use today. PHEW, right?RESOURCES & LINKSMore on Brimstone: https://www.brimstone.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Visit the website: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-poolPlease subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, a two-fer of artist-activists who are both advocating for a world without fossil fuel-derived plastics and also working to portray that world in film and TV. Dianna Cohen is the founder and CEO of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, and Nada Djordjevich is an independent filmmaker, and both are trying to change the story—or at least make it represent real life.RESOURCES & LINKSPlastic Pollution Coalition: https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/Plastic Kills! Horror short film contest: https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2023/9/7/plastic-kills-horror-short-film-contest-2023Visit the website: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Become a member and get an ad-free version of the podcast: https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we respectfully thank you very, very much for carrying a reusable water bottle and refilling it instead of buying plastic water bottles. And also, sadly, we’re going to have to do a lot more than that to get rid of disposable beverage containers. This week’s entrepreneur, Manuela Zoninsein, is building a whole bottling plant the size of a vending machine that plugs into local tap water, filters it, delivers it in a reusable stainless steel bottle, and washes, sanitizes, and refills it when you bring it back. And that’s cool, but what’s really smart is who the first customers are—warehouses, construction sites, Air Force bases—and how they ended up with those customers at all. Drink it all in and enjoy!RESOURCES & LINKSKadeyaSubscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/Please subscribe and tell your friends about EITP! Send feedback or become a sponsor at in@everybodyinthepool.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.