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 Keel Labs, 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....

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...

Tune in to a special Earth Day 2024 episode about accelerating the path to a circular economy. Sustainability In Your Ear Mitch Ratcliffe shares lessons he learned at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's circular economy-focused REMADE conference, which met at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington DC earlier this month. Scientists and business leaders gathered to discuss and share research about enabling a circular economy. REMADE focuses on reducing waste and...

The built environment, particularly office buildings other urban facilities, are responsible for 39% of the global energy-related emissions, according to the World Green Building Council. About a third of that impact comes from the initial construction of a building and the other two-thirds is produced over the lifetime of a building by heating, cooling, and providing power to the occupants. Our guest today is leading a key battle to reduce the impact of the built environment. Tune in for a...

Youth face the greatest impact of climate change, and will certainly have to live with the consequences of the extractive economy for the longest time. They also have the opportunity to pass along a better world to future generations and Pragna Nidumolu, founder of EcoTeens, is working to make that happen. When she was 14, Pragna launched an organization dedicated to creating dialogue and campaigns to encourage youth to recycle and reuse products and packaging responsibly. She also produces a...

Join Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe for a special World Water Day conversation with model and activist Georgie Badiel and Newday Impact Investing's Dan Keeler. If you'd like to watch instead of listen to the show, which includes the world premiere of The Georgie Badiel Foundation's new fundingraising campaign video, visit our YouTube channel. Georgie's team supports a network of village wells in her homeland, Burkina Faso, that provides clean water, solar-powered community learning centers and...

Honeywell International is one of the largest companies in the world, ranking 115th in the Fortune 500 and operating in 70 countries around the world. With lines of business in aerospace, building technology, workplace safety, and digital technology, Honeywell is applying its expertise to reduce its environmental impact. Since 2018, Honeywell has reduced CO2 emissions by 18%, progressing toward its Scope 1 and 2 carbon neutrality goal for 2035. Our guest, Dr. Gavin Towler, the Chief...

Earth Hour 2024, the "Biggest Hour for Earth" of the year, takes place on March 23rd. Since the World Wildlife Fund launched the event in 2007, Earth Hour has symbolized a commitment to the planet by simply turning off lights for one hour. However, despite its noble intentions, awareness of the movement was limited, with only 52% of the global population aware of the event. Our guests today, Phil Wilce and Antonia Simon, are Creative Director for Europe and Senior Experience Consultant,...

We can all take decisive action to protect the environment: reusing goods instead of sending them to landfills. By passing items on to others, whether through family, businesses, or community efforts, we avoid the need for new resources and reduce carbon emissions. May Al-Karooni, shares her story about founding Globechain.com, the largest dedicated reuse marketplace in the world, with just £800 (about $1,000). She aims to build a platform that enables worldwide reuse of excess inventory and...

The built environment will evolve constantly, and NextCity.org reports that 75% of the infrastructure that will be in use by 2050 has not yet been built. That calls for a lot of concrete, and we need to avoid the emissions associated with that growth if we are to provide housing, workplaces, and everything that connects humanity on an equitable basis in a decarbonized world. Meet Alex Hall, CEO of Concrete.ai, which uses an artificial intelligence-based mixing platform to create affordable,...

Meet Electra Coutsoftides, CEO of Xworks, who is building a business network to catalyze recycling progress. Xworks designed its platform to enhance waste handling and trading by accredited waste professionals. The U.K.-based company provides digital compliance reporting capabilities, making it easier for businesses and recycling programs to meet regulatory requirements. Members are verified before joining to ensure user trustworthiness, a keystone in any successful network. That confidence...

Kathy Hannun, president and cofounder of Dandelion Energy, introduces an untapped heating and cooling capacity source for homes -- geothermal energy. Typically associated with high temperatures and geologically active areas such as hot springs or locations at the intersections of tectonic plates, geothermal heat pumps tap into the consistent year-round temperature of Earth’s outer crust to maintain a comfortable home environment. Dandelion emerged from Google X Lab and is transforming the...

Clothing and textile recycling has historically been scarcely available to consumers. It has yet to be successful, with clothing piling up in warehouses or being sent overseas instead of becoming a new generation of apparel. Stacy Flynn, CEO and co-founder of Evrnu, a textile innovations B Corporation, works to reduce the fashion industry's environmental impact with a circular, recycled cotton fiber called Nucycl. In this crucial conversation, Stacy discusses how we can encourage companies to...

Chance Cutrano is director of programs at the Resource Renewal Institute in Fairfax, California. He and his team are experimenting with blending two activities, rice and fish farming, to reduce the emissions from rice fields while creating additional income for farmers. It's a practice recovered from antiquity that led to the launch of the Fish in the Fields program, which lowers carbon equivalent emissions created by rice farming by as much as 66% while improving biodiversity. Fish in the...

As we enter 2024, closing the books on 2023's record heat, economic and geopolitical turmoil, and a raft of climate change stories in the mainstream press, we're fortunate to have Project Censored's Andy Lee Roth return to the show to discuss the most under-reported environmental stories of the last year. Andy last visited with us to discuss 2022's under-reported stories. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation about the hidden environmental stories reported on independent news sites like The...

Despite its other environmental impacts, including toxic waste that requires centuries or millennia of storage in facilities designed to protect future generations from the genetic and acute effects of radiation, nuclear power is considered by some influential environmentalists an essential component of the post-fossil fuel economy. For example, James Hansen, the NASA scientist who raised the alarm about global warming in Congressional testimony in 1987, advocates expanded nuclear energy...

2023 was a challenging year for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, even though more capital continues to flow into ESG-reporting companies. In 2024, as inflation cools, consumers are expected to continue migrating to sustainable products and services, fueling higher returns for ESG-aligned stocks. Explore the first steps you can take to begin with Ben Vivari, cofounder of Till Investors, which helps investors evaluate and invest in green and socially responsible funds. Ben...

How do you kickstart an industry? The $100 million XPrize for Carbon Removal recently announced its 15 winners in the first competition stage to achieve gigaton-scale carbon removal. With more than 1300 entrants in the XPrize process, the carbon removal prize may be the largest experiment in innovation in human history. The goal is to lower the cost of carbon removal to well below $100 per ton and ultimately to store atmospheric CO2 for centuries to halt and eventually reverse climate change....

Nutritional supplements, which the Centers for Disease Control report that 57.6% of adults consume, have significant environmental impacts. One family of supplements, Omega-3 oils, the healthy fats about 20 million Americans take each month to support brain and circulatory health, is responsible for the decline of krill in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and overfishing of pelagic fish, such as anchovies and sardines, along the coast of Africa. Meet Corinna Bellizzi, Head of Sales and...

Fashion makes us feel elegant and affluent, creating unique looks that allow people living in crowded societies to set themselves apart with unique styles. But fashion also comes at a substantial environmental cost. According to many estimates, 10% of the world's carbon emissions and 20% of wastewater are generated by making, shipping, and selling clothing, much of which ends up in landfills long before the clothing's usefulness is exhausted. Meet Kurt Kipka, Chief Impact Officer at the...

Drinking water is at risk of becoming scarce in the face of climate change. More than 50% of the nation has experienced drought since 2000. Rich “Raz” Razgaitis, CEO of Bluewater North America, a water purification company, joins the conversation to discuss the rising incidence in the water of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, the forever chemicals used in everything from the lining of fast food containers and firefighting foams to cosmetics and waterproof clothing. A recent...

The volume of electronic waste doubles about every six years as technology plays a more significant role in daily life. In 2019, the United Nations estimated that only 17.4% of electronics were recycled. The United States recycled only 9.4% of its e-waste that year. But in Europe, the recycling rate was 42.5% in 2019. There are many ways to improve, and one is the growing market for refurbished technology. Meet James Murdock, founder and chief marketing officer of Alchemy Global Solutions, a...

Electric vehicles are taking market share away from internal combustion competitors, with new plugin vehicle registrations in 2023 growing 45% yearly and accounting for 18% of all vehicle sales worldwide this year. U.S. EV sales hit 7.9% of all new car sales over the past three months. In Silicon Valley-speak, EVs are nearly across the chasm, the point at which a new product category is poised to displace older products rapidly. You're probably asking, "Can I afford one?" Our guest, Peter...

Business may be the most potent force in the world, perhaps more poweful than government. The largest corporations—only 20 companies— are responsible for one-third of carbon emissions, and some firms carry more economic heft than many nations. For example, Apple earned $99 billion in net income in 2022, and if Apple were a nation, it would rank 67th in the world if compared to the GDP of other countries. The Climate Crisis and its related food, water, and immigration impacts present the most...