Sustainability Defined

Alas, it’s time for us to stop storing this episode and release it to our Definers. This episode focuses on energy storage systems, which – as you might’ve guessed – store energy until it is needed at a later time. This of course includes lithium-ion batteries that power everything from your car to your TV remote, but as we’ll discuss, there are other exciting storage systems on the market. In this episode we talk about the various energy storage systems, explain why storage is important, dissect its downsides, and discuss the exciting future for energy storage. Our guest is Marek Kubik, a man so busy that we’re pretty sure he has his own personal energy storage system that powers all his various pursuits. His day job is Managing Director of Fluence, a leading global energy storage technology company. Enjoy! ----------------------------- Sustainability Defined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. Please go to www.sustainabilitydefined.com for more information. Our website has pages for each episode where there is a player to stream the episode, as well as hyperlinked intro notes.

Happy 2021, Definers! This month we have an update to one of our most popular episodes ever. We interviewed Paul Hawken of Project Drawdown back in June 2018. For those unfamiliar, Project Drawdown is a non-profit focused on helping the world reach “Drawdown,” which is the future point in time when the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. The need to reach Drawdown is as important as ever, so we thought it would be a good episode to revisit to start the year. Before playing the original episode, we provide an update on Project Drawdown’s many activities since we interviewed Paul, including releasing Drawdown Review 2020 that has a new framework for the most impactful activities to reach Drawdown and starting Drawdown Labs to engage the private sector. We’ll be back next month with fully new episodes of Sustainability Defined. In the meantime, have a wonderful start to the new year and enjoy this episode! ----------------------------- SustainabilityDefined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

Congratulations, definers! You’ve made it through 2020! We think it’s time for a toast… a toast of whiskey, to be precise. Join us as we round out this unparalleled year by exploring sustainability within the spirits category. We begin this episode by unpacking the environmental, economic and social impacts of spirit production. We then distill how and why top spirits brands are diving into sustainability head-first. We’re joined by Sophie Kelly, Senior Vice President of Whiskeys at Diageo North America, and Eric Sprague, Vice President of Forest Restoration at American Forests, who help us understand the link between whiskey and stewardship of our beloved oak trees, as well as the actions Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and its parent company Diageo are taking to advance sustainability in their spirit production. Cheers! ------ Sustainability Defined is the podcast that defines sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

It's that time of year again, listeners/definers! The Sustainability Defined Holiday Hodge-Podge episode—a yearly tradition many consider to be as emblematic of the holidays as snow(wo)men and Mariah Carey. Join us as we review 2020's major podcast milestones, share updates from our personal lives, discuss our favorite sustainability stories of the year, and - of course - share our favorite sustainable gifts for this holiday season. Happy holidays and thanks for joining us through this year's wild ride! ----------------------------- Sustainability Defined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

Like so many others, Sustainability Defined is learning more about structural and historic racism and what we can do to advance racial justice. This is the first of what we intend to be a number of episodes that focuses on particular aspects of the intersection of race and sustainability. We‘ve created a page on our website with a running list of valuable resources on racism and environmental justice (sustainabilitydefined.com/racism) for those eager for more info. Going forward, we plan to consider and include connections to racial justice in all episodes. We start this episode with the history of racism in the modern American environmental movement. We then explore the racist history of U.S. public lands, of which too many, including us, have been unaware. Next, we share the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color leaders on their perspectives toward the environmental movement and strategies to dismantle racism within environmental organizations. Last is a candid conversation with Faith Briggs, a racial justice advocate and trail-blazing filmmaker. We first became aware of Faith when we saw her documentary short “This Land” earlier in 2020 (you can watch it online for free!). We are so glad that she was able to join us and share her insights with our community. Have a listen, and for our U.S. listeners, make sure you've got your voting plan! ------ Sustainability Defined is the podcast that defines sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

We run a family-friendly podcast here at Sustainability Defined, but in this episode, we’re going to talk about sex. Plant sex, to be precise. Pollinators play a critical role in moving pollen from male to female parts of the flower so the plant can reproduce. Without pollinators to help plants reproduce, we wouldn’t have all sorts of food and products that we enjoy daily, our ecosystems would be severely harmed, and we wouldn’t have all those pretty flowers to look at. The world of pollinators is huge; we’re guessing many of you listeners think of bees when you think pollinators, but there’s actually more than 200,000 species of animals around the world that act as pollinators. We’re going to talk in this episode about why these pollinators are important, what’s threatening so many of them, and what you can do to help them. We also talk with THREE awesome experts about pollinator-friendly habitat at renewable energy sites: Kevin Hackett (NativeEnergy), Rob Davis (Center for Pollinators in Energy), and Elysa Hammond (Clif Bar & Company). After all, what do you get when you combine pollinator-friendly habitats and renewable energy? Our favorite thing - a win-win! This episode is sponsored by NativeEnergy. ----------------------------- Sustainability Defined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

Should it be taboo to talk about a $6 billion industry that is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving three million cars for a year? Of course not! But unfortunately, the artificial sensitivities around the topic of this month's episode - feminine hygiene products - have hindered widespread discussion of the significant environmental and social issues associated with these products. Join us as we investigate the many sustainability issues they affect, from environmental footprints and social acceptance to female genital health, access and equity, and many more. In addition to speaking with the co-founders of DAME, a startup disrupting the historically single-use tampon market, Jay and Scott are joined by two very special guests to help discuss this topic more organically - their girlfriends Anna and Shannon. Enjoy! ------ Sustainability Defined is the podcast that defines sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

This is our very first “atypical” episode. It’s gonna sound a little different than what we usually share, and we probably won’t do these too often, but hey, variety is the spice of life. So, first on this episode, we read a statement on racial justice. We’ve done a lot of reading and thinking over the past several weeks and wanted to acknowledge the fact that we have failed in a number of ways when it comes to racial justice. Our self-awareness and anti-racism have fallen short, and we’re coming to recognize the inherent shortcomings of a show hosted by two white, privileged men. We hope you’ll continue listening and growing along with us. We then break down our favorite sustainability articles over the past few months. Jay even gives a couple video suggestions (Trevor Noah and Matthew McConaughey are involved in these). Last, we play some voicemails that listeners left us where they explain who they are, what they heard on the show, and what action they have taken based on what they heard. This episode may be atypical, but we hope it has the trademark results of A) learning information that surprises/inspires you and B) shaking your head while laughing at bad jokes. Read our full statement on racial justice at www.sustainabilitydefined.com/racialjustice If you want to be on the show like the listeners we feature on this episode, leave a voicemail for us by calling 202-670-7357.

In this episode, we focus on how we can beautify our cities while delivering environmental benefits through a process called urban greening. Urban greening refers to public landscaping and urban forestry projects that create mutually beneficial relationships between city dwellers and their environments. We discuss urban greening’s impacts on human health, what listeners can do to promote urban greening, what successful green infrastructure projects look like, and which cities boast the most green space (Scott guessed wrong on which cities were at the top of the list, so we think you’ll be surprised too!). We’re joined by expert guest Sandra Albro, author of Vacant to Vibrant, a guidebook that explains how inexpensive green infrastructure projects can reduce stormwater runoff and pollution and simultaneously provide neighborhood amenities. In addition to being the author of Vacant to Vibrant and the Project Manager that oversaw the project, Sandra is also Director of Community Partnerships at Holden Forests & Gardens, Co-Chair for the Cleveland Tree Coalition, AND Project Manager for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Urban Waters project (talk about impressive). Listeners everywhere are sure to enjoy this episode, hopefully as much as they enjoy their local green space. This episode is sponsored by Island Press and also Holden Forests & Gardens with generous support from the Great Lakes Protection Fund. ----------------------------- Sustainability Defined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com

It's time for our first check-up on hospitals and sustainability. With coronavirus upending our way of life and infecting so many people, it's critical that our hospitals continue to operate. Sustainability ensures hospitals can continue operations in times of stress, and it also helps hospitals save money, reduce their impact on the environment, and make their communities more healthy. In this episode, we break down how hospitals can operate more sustainably and highlight some compelling examples from leaders like Boston Medical Center and Cleveland Clinic. We also have insights from someone well positioned to tell us about sustainability trends generally in hospitals, PLUS what it's like to administer healthcare first-hand with sustainability in mind. Julie Moyle is both the Member Engagement Manager at Practice Greenhealth and a Staff Nurse at Avista Adventist Hospital Ambulatory Surgery Center. No need to hang around the waiting room--come listen right now! And in celebration of our 50th episode, we put together a Party Fact Guide! It's beautifuly designed with a compelling party fact from each of our 50 episodes. You can download it here: https://sustainabilitydefined.com/partyfacts ----------------------------- Sustainability Defined is the podcast that seeks to define sustainability, one concept (and bad joke) at a time. Hosted by Jay Siegel and Scott Breen. Each episode focuses on a single topic that helps push sustainability forward. We explain each topic with the help of an experienced pro, place it within our organizational tree, and help our listeners define what exactly sustainability is, episode by episode. We have divided our organizational tree into the following seven sectors: Energy Cities Natural Environment Transportation Business Policy Social Each episode is categorized under one of our sectors and visually depicted within our organizational tree. The more episodes we complete, the more the tree will visually define what exactly sustainability means. www.sustainabilitydefined.com