1 JUL 2024 · Circular economies grow from the ground up, starting with recognizing that a material used to make a product can be recaptured, reused, resold, and recycled to lower the cost of sourcing raw materials. Mike Baker saw the opportunity to recycle cork for use in the custom insoles and footwear his company, https://yoursole.com/, makes and launched the https://recork.com/ more than 15 years ago. Since founding in 2008 as a second business of the custom orthopedic insole company SOLE, ReCORK has recycled an astonishing 132 million wine corks and planted over 8,000 cork trees. These milestones are part of SOLE’s broader mission to reduce environmental impact and promote sustainable practices. ReCORK recently contributed an Earth911 article, https://earth911.com/how-to-recycle/guest-opinion-recycle-cork-to-replace-petroleum-based-polymers-and-foams/, about its program. Too often, we hear that one side of the equation — the manufacturer or the consumer — is solely responsible for recycling. It is a partnership that cannot succeed if the first step, putting the material back into the system for recycling, is not taken at home or the office. ReCORK found a way to make that first step more accessible for consumers and businesses by placing collection bins in bars, liquor stores, and consumers. Mike explains how collection must be followed up with by careful material management, including designing it to be easily deconstructed for processing into a reusable feedstock for the next round of products. And the story of the journey of a cork or a PC or an aluminum can is essential to be transparently shared with the public so that people learn they can recycle with confidence — it takes time, which is always in short supply; therefore, it’s critical to let every participant in the circular economy know their efforts were worthwhile. You can learn more about  ReCORK at https://recork.com/, and to check out SOLE, visit https://yoursole.com/

24 JUN 2024 · https://www.cotopaxi.com/ was built from the ground up to meet these high goals, but any company can transform itself; it just takes the first step, beginning the critical self-reflection that thoughtful leaders can apply to their business. A certified B Corporation, Cotopaxi was founded in 2014 in Salt Lake City and is known for its sustainably designed outdoor products, Cotopaxi is a market leader in combining innovative gear with a solid commitment to social and environmental responsibility. And our guest today is Annie Agle, Cotopaxi's Vice President of Sustainability and Impact. We’ll talk about the company's strategies for sustainable design, circular economy practices, philanthropic initiatives, and more. Cotopaxi supports education, housing, healthcare, climate solutions, and employment in impoverished communities, reportedly having helped more than 4.2 million people. The company's holistic approach to sustainability includes rigorous assessments of environmental, social, and governance risks across its global value chain, and it aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. That includes migrating all its product designs to use recycled, repurposed or responsibly sourced materials by 2025. You can learn more at https://www.cotopaxi.com/ Then, take some time to learn more about the sustainable fashion and outdoor gear movement: - https://earth911.com/how-and-buy/regenerative-fashion-cultivating-a-positive-impact-on-the-planet/ - https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-evrnus-stacy-flynn-on-creating-circular-fiber-for-sustainable-fashion/ - https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-the-apparel-impact-institutes-kurt-kipka-maps-the-path-to-sustainable-fashion/ - https://earth911.com/business-policy/traceability-is-the-next-important-fashion-trend/ - https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-fordham-universitys-frank-zambrelli-on-scaling-esg-solutions-in-fashion/ - https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-tentree-ceo-derrick-emsley-sustainable-fashion-reforestation/ - https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-keel-labs-tessa-gallagher-introduces-kelsun-kelp-based-textiles/  

17 JUN 2024 · Rising CO2 levels have created climate change, the denier's name for global warming. It's the environmental crisis that will shape our species' future. The long story of willful disregard of the consequences of CO2 levels by government and businesses perpetrated through a trail of lies and misinformation is the history lesson everyone needs to know. However, most books about the climate crisis begin and remain serious, which makes them seriously challenging to read. Our guest today, David Lipsky, tells the tale with surprising insights and even some laugh-out-loud humor through a modernist collection of compact chapters that will keep you turning the pages of his new book, https://amzn.to/3yTqHk6. Even though the climate story is gloomy, the book is an entertaining and often infuriating read that starts with the electrification of communication and human life by Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, then weaves the threads of scientific alarms raised throughout the second half of the 20th Century, along briefings about the many liars, spin doctors, and industrial lackeys who carried the water that drowned out every effort to curtail CO2 emissions. Lipsky teaches at New York University and is a National Magazine Award winner who turned his attention to climate denial out of frustration with the lack of visibility into the sources and tactics of misinformation about our warming planet. You'll enjoy The Parrot and the Igloo and likely want to see some of its villains imprisoned when you finish the last page. The book is available at https://amzn.to/3yTqHk6, https://www.powells.com/book/the-parrot-and-the-igloo-9781324086055, and your local bookstore.

10 JUN 2024 · Join the Earth911 podcast community for a special World Ocean Day conversation,  Blueprints for Coastal Adaptation, keynoted by ocean advocate Ashlan Cousteau of https://www.earthecho.org/ and https://voyacy.com/. Hear nine experts working at the cutting edge of biodiversity restoration, climate mitigation, and financial engineering about how to construct a blue economy that preserves the rich ecosystems at the boundary of land and sea. The conversation features Doug Heske and Brian Fairhurst of https://newdayimpact.com, https://www.noaa.gov/ Superintendent of the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries, Maria Brown, https://www.sequoiasofthesea.com/trailer filmmaker Natasha Benjamin, Christopher Chin of the https://coare.org/, https://www.bluecommunity.info/'s David Randle, https://www.reefgen.io/ CEO Chris Oakes, and Carter Henne of https://seaandshoreline.com/. You can also watch this week's special episode on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pif3gwrG2yQ. This episode is a collaboration of Newday Impact Investing and https://www.intentionalfutures.com/.

3 JUN 2024 · Meet Michelle Carnevale, president of 11th Hour Racing, which advocates for sustainability and ocean health with solutions designed to create a more inclusive future. Michelle recently contributed an article to Earth911, How You Can Help Create A Healthier Ocean By Composting. While it is a growing industry, composting services are still available in too few cities across the United States. According to a 2023 report by the Environmental Protection Agency, only 5% of food waste was composted in 2019, the last year for which the government has data. But many materials besides food, from yard waste to compostable packaging, could be returned to the soil through healthy, regenerative programs. In recent years, access to composting services has grown by 65%, according to Environmental America.  The connection between groundwater, composting, and the oceans needs to be more widely understood. Michelle explains how healthy soil contributes to cooler, cleaner oceans. 11tth Hour Racing encourages residents in the Northeast to find and use composting services, promoting awareness at sailing competitions and through dozens of programs it supports. You can learn more about the organization and find local composting options in the Northeast at https://11thhourracing.org/closer/

27 MAY 2024 · With the rise of recommerce, parents can find and buy top brands' children's products — from toys and clothing to furniture and car seats — at a deep discount. Our guest today is Shraysi Tandon, cofounder and CEO of https://kidsy.co/, a dealer of new and open-box children's products that is growing fast. https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/28/kidsy-is-a-startup-selling-liquidated-childrens-clothing-and-gear-like-a-tj-maxx-for-kids/, the company reached an annual revenue run rate of $1 million only a few months after going live, and its backers are a Who's Who of tech and sustainability investors. Shraysi comes from a journalism background at Bloomberg and ABC News, and her experience making a documentary on child labor shaped the Kidsy business plan. She says the "beautiful surprise" she found when starting Kidsy was the ease with which a company can begin sustainably and get on the path to constant improvement. That means we can retire environmentally irresponsible practices across the economy.   Children's products are a circular challenge since states sometimes ban used items, as we heard in our https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-ikeas-mardi-ditz-on-retailings-path-to-the-circular-economy/ with IKEA's U.S. Sustainability Manager, Mardi Ditze. Kidsy's strategy focuses on capturing unsold goods from retail and opened but unused items. It's part of the $761 billion https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-the-rise-of-recommerce-with-ebay-chief-sustainability-officer-renee-morin/ with special requirements, and we'll explore how Kidsy ensures products are safe and clean, as well as the challenges of competing with established E-commerce companies. You can learn more at https://kidsy.co/

20 MAY 2024 · IKEA is a global retail and furniture giant that has grown up with the modern era, defining a spare but elegant Nordic style that influences many of our homes. Mardi Ditze, IKEA's Country Sustainability Manager, joins the conversation to discuss how the company partners with customers to reduce, reuse, and recycle across its products' lifecycles. Mardi leads the IKEA team that is creating and implementing IKEA's climate goals, which include designing all products for a circular lifecycle, using renewable or recyclable materials in all its products by 2030, developing new circular services and the business models to support them, and collaborating with other organizations to lead the way to a sustainable economy by example. Mardi explains the business benefits of IKEA's Buy Back and Resell program, which does not markup used goods when reselling them, and how providing free replacement parts deepens customer relationships. She also addresses global retailers' challenges when interacting with the fractured local recycling infrastructure in different U.S. communities. IKEA has partnered with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to develop a circular economy glossary, which integrates into its marketing, customer communications, and retail experiences. IKEA's massive, multifaceted stores may be a model for spurring local innovation simply through its ability to connect flows of materials to collection programs and processors that will keep wood, metal, glass, and more in use over many generations of products. You can learn more about IKEA and its sustainability efforts at https://www.ikea.com/us/en/this-is-ikea/sustainable-everyday/

13 MAY 2024 · http://consumerreports.org/ and https://breakthroughenergy.org/ recently put numbers on the social cost of carbon, calculating the cost for an American child born in 2024  due to climate change. They found that an American child will https://www.consumerreports.org/home-garden/climate-change/the-per-person-financial-cost-of-climate-change-a6081217358/ during their lifetime as the planet warms, life and food supplies are disrupted, and returns on investments fall.  Consumer Reports’ Senior Policy Analyst for Transportation and Energy Chris Harto, who led the research work for the nonprofit magazine, joins the conversation to discuss the economic consequences of a warming planet. Chris discusses the findings and shares Consumer Reports' http://cr.org/climatecosts2024, and tips on how to reduce today's impact from https://www.consumerreports.org/home-garden/energy-efficiency/big-home-energy-upgrades-that-pay-off-a6185108924/ and https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/hybrids-evs/buying-guide/ to help relieve our children and their descendants of the burden of climate change.  '' The social cost of carbon typically described in the aggregate, as representing trillions of dollars in added cost of living for future generations. The Biden administration pegs the social cost of carbon to a ton of emissions, currently pricing the future cost at $51 per ton of CO2 emitted today; more than ten times higher than the Trump era’s $5 per ton estimate but far below science based estimates of $185 per ton, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Resources for the Future. So, It’s hard to imagine the actual impact on us, or our grandchildren. The article, Climate Change Could Cost Each American Born Today $500,000, is available at https://www.consumerreports.org/home-garden/climate-change/the-per-person-financial-cost-of-climate-change-a6081217358/

6 MAY 2024 · The fashion industry is responsible for as much as 10% of annual CO2 emissions and an immense amount of waste that chokes landfills, rivers, and beaches worldwide. Too much of our clothing is made from oil-based textiles, like polyester. Tessa Callaghan, cofounder and CEO of https://www.keellabs.com/, has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 leader for her contributions to plant-based fashion. The Morrisville, North Carolina-based early-stage startup has developed a kelp-based alternative called Kelsun. According to the company, Kelsun is a compostable, soft natural fiber that can be integrated into the clothing production system with no changes. The result is clothing as comfortable and durable as those made with water-intensive cotton or oil-based textiles. After beginning her career in the fashion industry, Tessa recognized the growing demand for sustainable alternatives to clothing that’s bad for the environment at every step in the lifecycle. Keel Labs converts kelp into Kelsun, and the resulting fiber is compostable at the end of its useful life, making it a potentially circular material we can be proud to wear. You can learn more about Keel Labs at https://www.keellabs.com/

29 APR 2024 · The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973 and signed into law by Republican Richard Nixon, has been a bulwark against unrestrained deforestation and development for over 50 years. It has protected and helped restore 1,700 species that teetered on the brink of extinction but returned to viable populations. Author Lowell Baier was a young lawyer in Washington, D.C., when the law passed and has worked for 60 years at the leading edge of environmental law, including leading the first President Bush's conservation policies in 1989. Tune into this critical discussion to learn from Lowell's work on a comprehensive history of the ESA in two volumes, The Codex of the Endangered Species Act and his just-released book, Earth's Emergency Room: Saving Species As The Planet And Politics Gets Hotter.  Lowell explains the origins of the law during the 1960s and 70s Green Revolution and the revitalization of the ESA in the Clinton era, which made it more effective and responsive in the face of climate change. A post-partisan movement, Conservation Without Conflict, is now working in Washington to pass new legislation, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act, to expand funding to support state and federal species restoration programs—Lowell Baier's books are available on https://amzn.to/4aTO1fM and the Powell Books website.