Real Life Sustainability

Your daily hygiene routine has more to do with the future of our planet than you may think. Around the world, 1.5 billion toothpaste tubes are discarded each year, enough to fill 50 Empire State Buildings. And since most tubes are made of mixed materials, typically plastic and aluminum, they are incredibly difficult to recycle and often wind up in landfills. The design has changed very little since the invention of the first toothpaste tube in 1856, but that's starting to change. Lindsay McCormick is the founder and CEO of Bite, makers of plastic-free, cruelty-free products on a mission to become the world's most sustainable personal care company. Lindsay has built a multimillion-dollar company aimed at getting plastic out of our daily routines with her first product being viral toothpaste tablets in 2018. Since then, Bite has created an entirely plastic-free oral care set and most recently, released the first ever 100% plastic-free deodorant with compostable refills and its plastic-free and pump-free body balm. During this episode, Lindsay and I had an insightful conversation about the challenges she faces as a pioneer in her industry and her advice for new founders seeking to make a change. Resources mentioned in today's episode:https://bitetoothpastebits.com/ https://bitetoothpastebits.com/blogs/blog Connect with Lindsay McCormick:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-mccormick-39188521/ https://www.instagram.com/heylindsaymc Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: +1 (855) 429-0455 Email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Several states have recently enacted—or are considering enacting—constitutional amendments that protect our right to live in a healthy environment. Such policies ensure that in every action the government takes, the protection of our world is prioritized. Yet, in conversations about our fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech and religion, the right to a stable climate and access to clean water and air are often overlooked. Veteran environmentalist Maya K. van Rossum proposes raising environmental rights to the highest constitutional standing is critical to ensuring essential climate justice. She is the founder of Green Amendments for The Generations, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring the passage of environmental legislation in every state constitution across our nation and at the federal level when the time is right. Green Amendments–a term coined and defined by Maya in her 2017 award-winning book–recognize and protect environmental rights on par with other inalienable civic and political freedoms. She has also served as the leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network for over 30 years, a regional advocacy organization that works throughout the four states of the Delaware River watershed and at the national level using advocacy, science, and litigation to protect the Delaware River and its tributaries. In this episode, Maya and I discuss the specific language written into Green Amendments that make them so powerful, and what an environmental right at the federal level might look like for the U.S. Resources mentioned in today's episode:https://forthegenerations.org/ https://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/ The Green Amendment: Securing Our Right to A Healthy Environmenthttps://www.amazon.com/Green-Amendment-Securing-Healthy-Environment/dp/1633310213 Connect with Maya van Rossum:https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-van-rossum-21803114/ https://twitter.com/MayaKvanRossum Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.comReach out to Coolperx®:Phone: +1 (855) 429-0455Email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing!Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

The road to decarbonization hasn't been an easy one for the cement industry. The sector, which produces about 4 billion metric tons of the world's most common building material, simultaneously puts almost 4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, or about 7% of the world's total emissions. But, thanks to leaders like Ian Riley, movement is happening. In 2019, Ian joined the World Cement Association as CEO, leading the organization's key mission of sustainability, innovation and internationalization to face the challenges associated with creating a sustainable cement industry. He is responsible for motivating members to improve product selection, use new technologies and drive innovation to find approaches for less energy-intensive and more sustainable cement production. Ian is passionate about reducing the industry's GHG emissions so as to accelerate the response to climate change and achieve full decarbonization by 2050. During this episode, Ian and I had an insightful conversation about some of the unsolved problems that are standing in the way of more sustainable cement production. Resources mentioned in today's episode:https://www.worldcement.com/ Connect with Ian Riley:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ipriley/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: +1 (855) 429-0455Email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Sustainability is a word that's becoming increasingly familiar across every single market sector. Little by little, the importance of caring for the planet is permeating society and becoming a way of life. And with the relentless expansion of cities across the nation, the need to preserve natural resources has now seeped into the architectural industry. But, architecture presents a unique challenge in the field of sustainability, as construction projects typically consume large amounts of materials and produce tons of waste. One of the architectural companies trying to solve this problem by focusing on sustainable design is RODE Architects. Kevin Deabler, the LEED-accredited co-founder, owner, and principal of RODE Architects, uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the buil environment. With a background in environmental design, Kevin is helping shape the architecture of the future by infusing sustainability into his work. His approach focuses on minimizing non-renewable resource consumption, enhancing the natural environment and eliminating the use of toxic materials. In this episode, Kevin and I discuss how we can take LEED certification to the next level in order to really help move the needle on climate change. Resources mentioned in today's episode:https://www.rodearchitects.com/ https://www.instagram.com/rodearchitects/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/rodearchitects/ https://twitter.com/RODEArchitects https://www.facebook.com/RODEArchitects Connect with Kevin Deabler:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevind4/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: +1 (855) 429-0455Email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing!Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Corporate commitments to carbon neutrality have yet to slow down, as more and more business leaders race to align their strategic priorities with pressure from the public for urgent climate action. Companies are now trying to decarbonize their operations while simultaneously compensating for unavoidable emissions. However, many well-intended but misinformed businesses often fall victim to carbon management solutions that don't have much of an impact. That's where Patch comes in, as the most effective and responsible way for organizations to access carbon credit projects. The Co-founder and CEO of Patch, Brennan Spellacy has figured out how businesses can make bold, impactful climate action a reality with every transaction — with just four simple lines of code. Backed by some of the world's most visionary investors, Patch is making it easier for companies to do the right thing, giving us a real chance to mitigate the climate crisis. The platform is helping businesses of all sizes offset emissions by backing the right carbon removal projects. In this episode, Brennan and I discuss the opportunities for sustainability and profitability to coexist, and how companies can actually gain a competitive advantage by mitigating their environmental impact. Resources mentioned in today's episode:https://www.patch.io/ Connect with Brennan Spellacy:https://bspellacy.co/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bspellacy/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: +1 (855) 429-0455Email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Omega-3 is easily the most popular supplement in America. Recent studies have found that roughly 8% of adults—or about 19 million people—take some kind of omega-3 fatty acid supplement. But, the harvesting of fish for these supplements is having a ripple effect on our oceans. Omega-3 supplements come from fish in the critical layer of the ocean biosphere that are essential for preserving ecosystem dynamics. With no signs of slowing down, the industry risks permanently damaging our marine ecosystems and impacting the ocean's resiliency to climate change. Corinna Bellizzi is taking the lead in changing the tide as she hopes to prevent yet another human-caused environmental imbalance. Corinna is a natural products industry specialist who has earned a reputation for leading the development and growth of responsible brands like Nordic Naturals. Given her concern for the future health of both people and the planet, she shifted her focus from fish-sourced to algae-sourced omegas in 2016. Today, she leads Örlö Nutrition, a brand that is cultivating the world's first carbon-negative omega-3 supplement. During this episode, Corinna and I had an insightful conversation about the importance of extracting less and supplying more when it comes to our oceans, and the potential that algae has to revolutionize the omega-3 industry. Resources mentioned in today's episode:Orlo Nutrition: https://orlonutrition.com/ - Discount code: "SUSTAIN10" Care More Be Better: https://caremorebebetter.com/ Nutrition Without Compromise: https://link.chtbl.com/NutritionWithoutCompromise Inside this vertical farm, carbon-neutral algae grows under glowing pink lights: https://www.fastcompany.com/90790596/inside-this-vertical-farm-carbon-neutral-algae-grows-under-glowing-pink-lights Environmental Impacts of Large-Scale Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) Production in Hellisheidi Geothermal Park Iceland: Life Cycle Assessment: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10126-022-10162-8 Connect with Corinna Bellizzi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbellizzi/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: +1 (855) 429-0455Email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Across all industries, the future is being dictated by a focus on sustainability - and sports are no exception. Just last year, the Tokyo Olympics set out to raise awareness about the role that sports play in sustainability. Podiums were made from recycled plastic, athletes' beds were made with cardboard, and even the medals were made using recycled electronic devices. Although this is a step in the right direction, the sports industry as a whole continues to have a significant impact on the environment, from the construction of venues to the travel of competitors and spectators. Sustainability expert Kristen Fulmer has made it her mission to transform the future of sustainable sports. After years of practicing sustainability in the international real estate industry, she identified the vastly impactful and largely unexplored potential to fuse sport and sustainability. Kristen realized that sport is a universal language, an opportunity to find commonalities, and a tool to facilitate tough conversations. She founded Recipric in 2019 to help sports organizations seeking support with enacting positive environmental and social change. In this episode, Kristen and I discuss the economic opportunities for embedding sustainability into sports and the potential challenges associated with doing so. Resources mentioned in today's episode:https://www.recipric.com/https://www.fgr.co.uk/ Connect with Kristen Fulmer:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenfulmer/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Public discourse around climate change widely focuses on reaching net zero emissions. Yet, some propose that even after we reach net zero, temperatures will continue to warm, sea levels will continue to rise, and climate disasters will continue to occur. There are currently a number of proposed ideas that go beyond net zero by pulling carbon out of the atmosphere or artificially cooling the planet, known collectively as geoengineering. While geoengineering methods don't invalidate the need to decarbonize now and fast, given the dangerous trajectory of global heating, reaching net zero emissions may only be the beginning, not the end, of our fight against climate change. Wake Smith argues that future generations may be forced to take such dire actions to combat climate change and, if so, they deserve to inherit research done now to understand the potential feasibility and consequences of geoengineering. As a lecturer at Yale University, Wake teaches a world-leading undergraduate course on climate intervention, the syllabus of which forms the basis of his book, Pandora's Toolbox. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School, writing scholarly articles on the aeronautics, costs, and governance of solar geoengineering. In this episode, Wake and I discuss the current climate intervention landscape and the future possibilities that geoengineering offers. Resources mentioned in today's episode:Pandora's Toolbox: The Hopes and Hazards of Climate Intervention https://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Toolbox-Hazards-Climate-Intervention/dp/1316518434 Connect with Wake Smith:https://www.wakesmith.earth/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Climate change is forcing consumers to reevaluate their shopping habits, and the motorcycle industry is no exception. Riders are looking for options that will help them reduce their impact on the environment, as traditional gas motorcycles are large contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. There is hope on the horizon as, according to the United Nations, shifting to 90% of battery-powered electric motorcycles by 2030 will dramatically reduce carbon emissions by 11 billion tons from now to 2050. In today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jay Giraud, a leader in the electric motorcycle space. The co-founder and CEO of Damon Motors, Jay has focused his efforts on redefining mobility by creating an eco-conscious motorcycle experience. He is passionate about the fact that electric motorcycles will not only lead us into a greener future but also have immediate positive impacts on both people and the planet. Jay is also the author of multiple patents and has spoken extensively about automotive, mobility, and cleantech at various conferences around the world. During this episode, Jay and I had an insightful conversation about how the introduction of a fully electric high-performance option for motorcyclists will change the future of sustainable transportation. Resources mentioned in today's episode: https://damon.com/  Connect with Jay Giraud:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygiraud/ Visit Coolperx® home page: www.coolperx.com Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today, I am happy to welcome Laura Asiala to the podcast. Laura is the Chief Sustainability Officer of WholeWorks. She is also the lead facilitator for the ‘Leading Sustainability Transformation' program, in which experienced professionals and leaders accelerate their ability to integrate ESG issues across their companies, creating value and transforming a traditional business into a sustainable one via a realistic team simulation. Laura has extensive experience in the field of global, sustainable development. Prior to her current role, she served as the Director of Corporate Communications and Citizenship for Dow Corning. In addition, Laura has held positions such as Vice President of Public Affairs at PYXERA Global, Senior Director of the Council of the Great Lakes Region, and Editor at the Great Lakes Economic Forum: Online. You can read her posts on Amplify, an Arthur D. Little Publication, or GreenBiz. During this episode, Laura and I talk about the opportunities that both business leaders and professionals have to integrate sustainability into their specific positions, and create systems that make the world a better place. To learn more about the ‘Leading the Sustainability Transformation' Professional Certificate Program, check out the WholeWorks website or register for the free webinar on October 12th. You can find Laura here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-asiala-8777b78/ Twitter: @LauraAsialaCSR   And here are the resources Laura mentioned in this episode: Capitalism at the Crossroads by Stuart L. Hart, Ph.D.: https://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Crossroads-Generation-Strategies-Post-Crisis/dp/0137042329 Global Handbook of Impact Investing edited by Elsa De Morais Sarmento and R. Paul Herman (HIP Investor): https://www.amazon.com/Global-Handbook-Impact-Investing-Sustainable/dp/1119690641 Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D.: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Us-Climate-Scientists-Healing/dp/1982143835

Today, I am happy to welcome Aaron Blanchard to the podcast. Aaron has been the Director of Operations at Earthwise Architectural Salvage for over 8 years. Earthwise Architectural Salvage removes materials from homes and buildings that are scheduled for demolition or remodeling so that they may be reused and reinstalled into other spaces. The company is often the last stop before the landfill, where quality materials would otherwise be discarded. After earning his degree in environmental science, Aaron worked as a Community Economic Development Volunteer at the Peace Corps in Uganda, where he helped secure funding to create a zip-line ecotourism attraction that was unique to the region. At Earthwise, Aaron's hands-on approach is pivotal to the organization. Along with day-to-day operations, he works on high-level concepts to bring Earthwise into the future, as the company gives a new life to items from the past. During this episode, Aaron and I talk about what the architectural salvage process looks like and the role it plays in protecting the environment. Visit Coolperx® home page:Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

On today's podcast, I'm joined by Clarence Jackson. Clarence is the Senior Director of Sustainable Supply Chain and Business Operations with Cox Enterprises, a leader in the communications and automotive industries. He is responsible for the development and implementation of innovative strategies for Cox Enterprises' sustainability program, Cox Conserves. Clarence and his team drive change across Cox's businesses, suppliers and industry partners to ensure sustainability targets and objectives are met and in alignment with ESG programs and priorities. Prior to his current role, Clarence served as the senior director of operations for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. He led the way for the AJC to be the first newspaper in the country to be certified as Zero Waste to Landfill, by the US Zero Waste Business Council. Clarence began his career in the US military. He is active in numerous philanthropic organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and is a mentor at Chamblee Charter High School. Clarence graduated from Penn State World Campus with a degree in organizational development and lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Heather, and daughter Charley. They enjoy volunteering and spending time outdoors. In this episode, I spoke with Clarence about becoming carbon-neutral and the challenges associated with it, especially in terms of Scope 3 emissions. Visit Coolperx® home page:Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode of Scaling Sustainability, I'm pleased to welcome Sophie Stephens to the podcast. Sophie is the Head of Environment and Sustainability at Ground Control, a carbon-neutral external maintenance provider. Sophie is in charge of leading the company's environmental and sustainability strategies, with a focus on carbon net-zero, biodiversity enhancement, responsible materials, and social value. In addition, she is working with Ground Control to rewild 296 acres of land at their Wildfell Centre for Environmental Recovery. Prior to her current role, Sophie spent 13 years at Balfour Beatty, where she led strategic programs focused on both environmental and social sustainability for the company's UK operations. Sophie is passionate about educating people on the importance of biodiversity and leaving the planet a better place than she found it. In this episode, I spoke with Sophie about how corporate operations intersect with sustainability, and the importance of taking a holistic approach to environmental responsibility. Visit Coolperx® home page:Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today, I am happy to welcome John Shegerian to the podcast. John is the co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of ERI, the largest cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction and electronic waste recycling company in the United States. John is a serial entrepreneur who focuses on solving global problems by building socially responsible companies. He is also the co-founder of RecycleNation, a dynamic recycling and green living resource that simplifies the recycling process on a national level with a comprehensive, interactive recycling location database. During this episode, John and I talk about the importance of responsibly recycling electronics and the cybersecurity threats associated with the hacking of discarded electronics. Be sure to visit:ERI Visit Coolperx® home page:Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

On today's podcast, I'm joined by Alp Bora, the co-founder of Greenlight Partners. Greenlight Partners aims to work with early-stage startups to build the green technology solutions of tomorrow. Alp is a mining and metals expert who is passionate about making the industry a more sustainable one. He spent more than ten years as an operations and maintenance professional across multiple commodities on three continents. He is now focused on supporting the development and use of renewable energy on the road to decarbonization. In this episode, I spoke with Alp about the future of sustainable mining and the challenges associated with it. Be sure to visit:Greenlight Partners Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode, we speak with Will Peterffy, the ESG Director at Interactive Brokers. He recently led the development and launch of IMPACT, a mobile trading platform that streamlines the sustainable investing process and allows users to invest according to their values. As a lifelong environmental advocate, he made it his mission to help humanity right its relationship with the earth. As such, Will has built an organization called “One Small Planet” whose mission statement is to harmonize the wealth of people and the planet through the deployment of vital capital. He also serves on the board of directors for Bioneers, a nonprofit organization that serves as a hub for social and scientific innovators with solutions to the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. Today, I spoke with Will about the future of conscious investing and how it can help the planet. Be sure to visit:Interactive Brokers IMPACT Mobile Trading App Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today, we are pleased to welcome Adam Taubenfligel to the podcast. Adam is the Creative Director and Sustainability Lead at Triarchy, a fully sustainable fashion company dedicated to shining a light on the wasteful practices of the denim industry. He is responsible for the design and manufacturing of Triarchy's low water, consciously produced denim brand. Adam is consistently innovating fabric technology, traceability, and reusability that minimize waste and maintain authenticity at every possible juncture. During this episode, Adam and I talk about the future of sustainable denim production, the greenwashing surrounding organic cotton, and more. Be sure to visit:Triarchy Setting An Intention: 11 Brief Sessions on Achieving Your Greater Good Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

On today's podcast, I'm joined by Lizzie Horvitz, the founder and CEO of Finch Insights. Finch aims to decode sustainability and empower consumers to make better purchasing decisions. Lizzie started Finch to educate people on the ins and outs of sustainability by turning complex scientific facts into simple, actionable insights. She has been passionate about sustainability since the age of 16, when she lived off the grid. It was there that, dependent only on wind energy and rainwater, she saw the solution to climate change before fully understanding the problem. I spoke with Lizzie about the biggest obstacles in terms of greenwashing, and the future of sustainability and commerce.   Be sure to visit: Finch Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®:Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

On today's podcast, I'm excited to be speaking with Paul Shapiro. Paul is the CEO of The Better Meat Co., a company that harnesses the power of fermentation to create mycoprotein ingredients and empowers people to make meat that's better for the planet, animals, and public health. In this episode, we discuss how to satiate our population's increasing demand for meat without harming the planet and what the future of meat production might look like in the next ten years. Paul is an authority figure on food and agricultural sustainability. He is the author of the national bestseller Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World. He lives in Sacramento, California with his wife Toni Okamoto Shapiro, author and founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, and their very friendly pitbull, Eddie. Be sure to visit: Paul Shapiro The Better Meat Co. Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today on the podcast, Michael Stausholm joins us. Michael is the founder and CEO of Sprout World, the company behind the world's only plantable pencil, with over 30 million pencils sold in over 80 countries. Michael has also advised the likes of Nike and Walmart on how to implement more sustainable production practices, and in addition to running Sprout World, he mentors green start-ups as a board member of Greencubator. Here is my discussion with Michael. Show Notes:Be sure to visit: Sprout World Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Show Transcript: Seth Cysewski: Welcome John, thank you so much for for being here today.     John Belizaire: Thanks for having me Seth. It's a pleasure looking forward to this conversation.     Seth Cysewski: Absolutely. So I'm very fascinated about what you're doing. But, why don't we start just with the basics. Maybe if you could tell me more about John the person and and how and then maybe eventually how you ended up working around clean energy challenges.     John Belizaire: I like to say I'm not an energy guy I'm actually a software guy I yeah studied computer science undergrad started my career at Intel really helping bring software to the personal computer and for the next. Twenty plus years I was ah following my passion really creating new companies I've been an entrepreneur. I hate to say serial entrepreneur because it's so cliche. But, it's true I started my career in the e-commerce space and primarily focus on selling technology to large enterprises I used to carry around lego blocks to big financial services companies and and and explain to them the future of software will be built like this you know and they're like well how much are those lego blocks these these are five bucks but the ones I'm gonna sell you. They're like a million dollars and so enterprise software has really been my focus and and most recently I was in the insurance software space did some work helping insurance the insurance industry sort of transition into the digital realm using data and analytics to make better decisions and then about four years ago I had just finished that experience and I was taking a bit of a break doing some writing I pen a blog where I sort of write down all my learnings and a close friend of mine and mentor who had been an investor in a number of my companies suggested that I look at this business that he was working on. And I said what business would you be doing that I would be focused on because you always do industrial companies. I'm a software guy and he explained well you've got to look at this one. It's the intersection between renewable energy and blockchain. And the only thing I heard in that sentence was blockchain I heard of that and that might be interesting and that started a 4 year journey until today where I am the CEO of Soluna Computing, a company focused on unlocking the potential of renewable energy. And by using computing as a catalyst so that's a quick tour. I'm from New York originally father of 2 two girls, extra extra data there.     Seth Cysewski: It's awesome. I'm a father of one daughter and daughters the are amazing. They the best for sure. So you got a you got a good computing background and so they're bringing you in to Soluna.     John Belizaire: Exactly.       Seth Cysewski: Tell me more about Soluna Computing and I mean obviously the intersection of blockchain and renewable energy sounds very fascinating. So tell me about the problem. Maybe that Soluna is setting out to solve and and a little bit more about that.     John Belizaire: Exactly, you know I get that a lot. You know we don't really have lots of cocktail parties these days given when we're recording this this podcast, but the the questions I get when people sort of asking me what are you doing now is like "What are you up to?" and "What does the Soluna do?" "What's the problem you solve?" and what I explained to them is that we solve a little unknown problem which happens to be a huge problem for renewable energy and the renewable energy transition. And that is that most renewable power plants, up to 30% of their power production never actually make it to the grid. Let me say that again over $700 to $ 750 billion dollars has been spent in the last two years alone clean tech clean energy infrastructure and a host of technology to bring more green electrons to the grid. But when you zoom in on the power plants that are actually producing those electrons big wind farms big solar farms spread around the country and around the world, up to about 30% of their power never makes it to the grid and the reason is because the grid was designed based on this concept that energy the energy that's produced must be synchronized with the energy that's used this concept of sort of direct synchronization. So it that grid infrastructure which is which is very brittle and inflexible. At this point really was focused on ah power plants that can be dispatched by the grid operator and controlled and and fired on literally you know fired on right? And as you begin to replace those old legacy fuels, coal plants etc, with green power plants, well the grid is no longer in charge of dispatching those power plants mother nature sets that schedule if the wind is blowing really heavily in in Oklahoma, there'll be lots of energy produced by the big wind farms out in the field there and there may not be any users of that because people might be asleep at night in Oklahoma and they're not. Many large pipes or transmission lines to take that power perhaps to down south where people might be ready at a party and use that energy. So that's the problem. There is lots of wasted energy which reduces the amount of renewable energy that you can actually bring on grid. That's the problem.     How do we solve it the way we solve it is we bring ah another interesting user of energy that happens to be quite flexible right? What their grid needs is a user of power that can ramp up and ramp down if they can control that part of the equation. Then they can bring more power to the grid. So what we're bringing is these specially built onsite scalable data centers that absorb that wasted energy. We actually will use that energy instead of spilling it and we convert it to global, clean low cost computing and what type of computing are we focused on? Well we're not going to run your email. We're not going to run your e-commerce applications, your mission-critical applications. What we run are what we call batchable applications, anything that can be paused and restarted, put to sleep, that sort of thing because power might not be available. The types of applications that do that or any or anything that are highly compute intensive, okay, and have this ability to sort of pause themselves and examples of that are bitcoin mining. And kind of crypto mining application, AI, and machine Learning. So I you know write my Peloton in the morning as lots of data collected on me and then the next day it's a better. It's a better ride that's happening in the background in a model or or AI system that we never see but it's become a big part of just about every application out there. Scientific computing, for example, is a host of different applications that represent a a sizable slice of computing these days that is perfect for this type of data center and that's what we put inside of our facilities. And then we build these facilities around these green, these green power plants all around the world and that adds retroactively to flexibility that the grid needs.     Seth Cysewski: Thank you, I have some follow up so that's really great. So just so I understand this, when I think about traditional legacy power generation, and we were just in Tennessee and they have peaker plants there using natural gas, right? They're just designed to to fire up when they're needed and so traditionally what you're saying is the energy energy generation was the one that was flexible but with renewables it's not as flexible. So in turn you're making the usage flexible and we're not quite there with.     John Belizaire: Exactly.     Seth Cysewski: Batteries which would be another another solution with this wasted or stranded energy which we could store and so essentially we're just repurposing computing. That's already going to be done and just moving it in to that 30% that that normally they wouldn't hit the grid typically.     John Belizaire: Exactly, you got it Seth, basically computing is a capability something that you can do anywhere in the world. It is flexible in the sense that you can run a a computing process just about anywhere. Not every computing application is resilient enough to be put in an environment where it's not running in a 24 by 7 facility, but there are now a host of applications that are perfect for that environment. And what we're doing is basically taking the insatiable demand for energy created by computing because we all walk around with computers in our in our pockets, we talk to magic assistants at home that use computing somewhere in the cloud, and it just so happens that with a little lateral thinking, that opportunity or that technology can be applied here where a solution is needed today. It needs to be scalable and it needs to solve this wasted energy problem in the near term not in the long term. You're right Seth, batteries are also a solution. They're perfect. You can store the energy deploy it but there are some problems there because batteries are companies too. They have to at some point pull the power down when the power is cheap and that's usually when all that congestion and mismatches and then they need to put the power back on the grid at some point. The power is high so they work on an arbitrage model. Most people don't know that and so if you're in a situation where there's lots of renewables in a particular area, well the power is not going to be high very often and so it becomes very hard for the battery to actually be profitable and they're not scalable from a cost perspective yet. So we're not saying we're a replacement for batteries and transmission. What we're saying is, flexible computing is another somewhat counterintuitive solution to the problem.     Seth Cysewski: Now that's very fascinating. So then who would your, it seems like to me that maybe you would have customers on both ends right? So you're either, you're probably working either and you can correct me, either with with the owners of these power generations or maybe even the people that sign these PPAs. I don't know if you work with them at all on the one end and then on the on the other end, you're you're working with computing companies or people that can then utilize your computing you you call it, batchable? Maybe you can tell me more about your customers on both ends and and how that works from their perspective.     John Belizaire: That's right. Yeah sure on the power side. We work with what we call power partners they're exactly as you described, they're independent power producers,  they're large utilities that have big, you know, assets that are renewable around the country, and big funds, infrastructure funds who deploy capital to build out projects. They may not be the development company. So sometimes they buy a site from a developer and then they build it out. Finance it and operate it. Those are the are the folks that are our power counter parties if you will on the on the other side. We focus on large enterprises enterprises that have a big data science arm or a growing one. And, they are really concerned about 2 things. Number 1: the rising cost of the computing as a percentage of their total revenue. Those Amazon bills start to add up after a while and the second is since what they're doing, this computing is so intense, is very compute intense. It's big. You know the data corps they're dealing with are quite large constantly processing them. The data scientists are now within their communities talking about whether you know are we destroying the world I mean pretty much every application has a data element to it. And are we essentially subsidizing the continuation of legacy fuels because we live inside of these not so flexible data centers that have to be on 24 7, 5 to 9. etc. But what if I told you I can take that slice of compute load, or that slice of computing processes? We like to call them jobs and maybe they represent single digits 2% to 3% of your total computing within an enterprise and move them over to these data centers that are catalyzers for renewable energy, that could be pretty compelling for a company that helps them with their ESG goals. They can point to their applications being directly powered by green electrons and, you know from a data scientist perspective, they just want to have lower cost access to computing that is good for the planet.     Seth Cysewski: That makes sense. This reminds me, so this I probably is a good segue to talk about, you mentioned Blockchain and I think when most people think of, or maybe I don't know about most people, think a lot of people that hear blockchain think of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. You know some people are really into it and others are, you know, a little further out and so and they're just hearing about it, but I'm wondering, I was listening to your your recent financial call, and whatnot, so you guys are scaling pretty quickly which is really awesome, and I believe that bitcoin mining or cryptocurrency mining probably makes up a majority ah of your business right now.      John Belizaire: Yes.     Seth Cysewski: We're talking about like the intersection of how these come together and you're mentioning some of these companies are are a little concerned about their data usage. I think you know bitcoin so I'm just going to point out critics point out I guess that bitcoin can be really detrimental towards climate progress. Not that anyone anyone's going to stop it necessarily, but a recent Columbia paper noted that but bitcoin's currently using over 20 Million metric tons of CO2 each year, and China alone could be up to 130 Million metric tons by itself in 2024. So these are like super big numbers and I'm wondering about. It makes sense what you're doing and and why that would be a really good for that. So that's awesome. But maybe you could talk to me more about like from your perspective what is bitcoin or cryptocurrencies role in in a clean energy future.     John Belizaire: Fantastic! So there are 2 narratives Seth around bitcoin 1 narrative is that it's an incredibly novel technology that could reshape the future of financial services but it's got this terrible side effect. And you've alluded to a number of examples of that. The other narrative is that it is an incredible catalyzer for the future of financial services that are not tied to authoritarian governments and gives people financial freedom money and wealth preservation is now democratized on a global basis and that's made possible by an incredible technology. And, the energy use is a feature, it is not a bug. It's a feature and so I want to talk about the second narrative because it's very easy to get access to information about the first narrative. It's sexy. It sells papers and online clicks and so forth and unfortunately it's a snapshot of the truth. The truth is that the young bitcoin industry was not very focused on its effect on climate and. Probably wasn't really aware of the eventual effect on climate and the reason was because it was a very small network really driven by a vision of really you know, bringing back the control of financial services and money to the people. And it was also driven by cracking some pretty challenging problems to create a decentralized form of money and you've got to solve some real real challenges, right? So as a result you started to see essentially two bitcoins. In fact, there are really 2 bitcoins. One is Bitcoin the capital B the other is bitcoin the lowercase b. Bitcoin capital B is the protocol that powers the global Bitcoin network which is now approaching over close to $1 Trillion in total value. It is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world and the underlying capabilities for providing security is what the crypto mining aspect or bitcoin mining aspect of the platform is, the platform is designed or the protocol, is designed to use mining as a mechanism to protect the blockchain. Transactions that occur on it and thereby protecting the assets that people are trusting the platform to deliver and so mining has as the value of the of the currency. The the lower case b has has increased mining has become a larger and larger enterprise if you will around the platform, and as a result it's matured significantly over the last decade. Number one, you're starting to see a re-shift. There's a movement underway, literally, of companies leaving China. Mostly driven by China kicking them out. They're, you know, domiciling themselves, repatriating themselves around the world in all sorts of different places. They're primarily first driven by where can I find cheap power. But now there's a sentiment around a really want to find the cheapest green power there is. Over $100 Million approaching over $1 Billion invested in very mature companies run by professionals. You know, some of the early versions of the company were run by young folks who didn't have a sort of, you know, business acumen, and they were not backed by institutional capital that asked really tough questions about what you're doing, and so as a result you now have companies much like ourselves out there that are taking a completely different approach to reshaping the next chapter in the Bitcoin landscape. And so the positive narrative is that the bitcoin mining is now seeing its role as a dual purpose one is protecting the Bitcoin network and the second is finding a way to become more sustainable. And catalyzed to renewable energy ah transform transition and bitcoin small b, by the way, is gone from, you know, being really so you know this speculative asset, actually playing a very important role in the global economy in asset allocations for some of the largest asset management companies in the world. It's now made its way into pension pension plans people are getting paid in it. It's maturing. It's a young thirteen year old technology.     And it reminds me of another technology. That's a little older. It started when I started my entrepreneurship career, it had this sort of similar concept of you know capital letter lowercase letter, and it was focused on bringing the world's information to 1 digital place, and it eventually evolved to e-commerce, and then it evolved to connecting people, and it evolved to pretty much everything, and by now you you can guess who the character is I'm describing, and that's the internet. It has the same characteristics as Bitcoin. It evolved over a 20 year period and most of that development happened in the the last decade or so, and we now take for granted the role. The internet has played, and so I often say you should never underestimate the potential technology and the fact that it can really advance way beyond your current expectations, and it can happen very quickly and Bitcoin is gaining momentum and we're proud to be helping to make that happen.     Seth Cysewski: That's fascinating. I thought I was there, I used to dial into my local BBS and I remember Prodigy. I remember when we got my first Encarta CD, it changed all my school projects. Yeah, it's interesting and I hear what you're saying about as it becomes, I almost say more legitimate, but maybe more mature, as a process and as a currency that the stakeholders are more mature too and the things that they're looking for and their external pressures are are different.     John Belizaire: Exactly. That's exactly right. You know the public companies that are doing this for example, their shareholders put tremendous pressure on them, like we need to know where your powers are sources. And you now need to be carbon zero or negative right? And so there's a lot of pressure.     And as more of the industry moves to countries that have rule of law that have access to these renewable resources and this pressure to put to to leverage those over others that industry you know has no choice but to mature and sort of accept those those things. So it's interesting to see the transition over to in the short four years that I've been involved.     Seth Cysewski: Yeah, no, that that makes a lot of sense. We were just out in in rural America, and we have some direct solar investments for for our company, and I remember talking to some of the economic development officials out there and they were saying that it's not even a competitive advantage. It's a requirement now. So their communities need to have green power. Otherwise you're not going to recruit in any sort of job creating companies, because that's a requirement from them, and so I see that parallel as just being really a requirement moving forward, and that's everywhere. So it's a very exciting I think trajectory that that we're starting to to see. Maybe tell me a little bit more. This is all really fascinating, can you tell me more about maybe your company and the challenges you guys face right now like as you as you guys are scaling?     John Belizaire: Indeed.     Seth Cysewski: And, what are you guys running into and and what are you doing about it.     John Belizaire: Yeah, good. Good, great question. Once a year Seth, I write what I like to call sort of the kickoff letter, and it's usually right after the holidays we we we have this shutdown period where we we really encourage everyone to sort of take a real break. You know, stay off of email and whatnot and I try to be an example, but usually I fail, but recently, I guess I would say but before when there was travel, I'd force myself to go someplace where there's only but just rocks and sand around and you know there's nothing to connect to. But after that, after that break, I feel that it's really important to give the team sort of 1 focusing message around what's going to be important in this coming year as we execute and and build out the next phase of our business and in my note this year, the the overarching word if you will and it's usually 1 word that I sort of sort zoom around, and is called scale. How do you scale the business that we're in, and I used a question that Peter Thiel asks a lot too. Set up what I wanted to ask the team to do and the question is if let's say you have a 10 year vision you know everybody sort of sees a picture of themselves a few years out if you have a 10 year vision to do something. Why can't you do it in six months another way, to ask the question is what's the 1 thing you can do in the next six months to get you closer or to ensure that you'll reach that 10 year vision? Everything we're doing right now as an organization going from 50 Megawatts, you know, about 3 data centers around the country, to building an entire fleet of hundreds to if not Gigawatts of facilities around the world is going to be focused on finding new and clever ways to scale our operations the way we operate our facilities the way we manage inventory. We have thousands of pieces of equipment in our data centers. The way we recruit employees, the way we communicate as a very large distributed organization, the way we raise capital at scale, you know, going from tens of millions dollars of financing to hundreds of millions of dollars of of financing, this is a very capital intensive business to build data centers and operate them., these are all things that we need to figure out. How do you create a iconic brand around renewable energy and catalyzing renewables using the blockchain and crypto without ah without that brand being associated with hubris right? We have to be a humble participant in the new community that we're part of to help to drive the future of this industry. These are the questions that we pose ourselves here at Soluna, that I asked the team to think about, and on a regular basis. We generate ideas on how to tackle those gnarly problems around scale. And that's what we've been working on. Yeah, it's hard to tell how long it's been in '22, but I feel like a year has passed already in the in the short two weeks that we've been back to the office but, there's a lot to do Seth, and you know, our big challenges are are really around scaling the operation in a way that is repeatable, we learn from quickly, and continue to grow.     Seth Cysewski: Is the grid and the way it's structured one of them for you?     John Belizaire: Yeah, so the grid is a is a very rigid thing in many ways right? So it's technically architected for a legacy approach to grid a lot of the laws that govern grid operations in just about every region around the country are also legacy and they actually create barriers to innovation and they also ah slow down. Very much the rate with which you can deploy new and interesting approaches to actually bring the very thing that the grid needs which is the flexibility and so, there is a lot of challenge related to that we ah spent a lot of our time as a company. Educating, and this isn't new to me, when you're when you're a new technologist. You're constantly a missionary. You've got to train folks and and explain to them why they should do something different that they that they've always done. You know all that. All that smells is risk for them and when you're in the business of providing reliable always on power to the country, one of the greatest countries in the world, risk is not something that's in your vocabulary and so, what we've done in addition to the technology that we use for our data centers, the way we, you know, manage the facilities the way we deal with jobs and everything we've actually built a ah set of principles structures both financial and technical in nature. To mitigate a lot of the risk associated with placing our. Next to the power plants, tying it into the grid, we spend a lot of time, you know, talking to the grid operators and, you know, government officials associated with the regions that we're in to make sure we're not doing anything that threatens the service that they are mandated to deliver, but only enhancing it right? That's improving it and making it more flexible and actually allowing them to to deliver I like to say that you know what's our mission, our mission is to help deliver clean green low-cost power locally, and deliver clean, sustainable computing on a global basis and so that does require lots of education especially when you have words like blockchain and crypto and anything, any of your marketing materials. Forget about it. You better be ready to do a lot of education.      Seth Cysewski: I hear you, so I guess maybe, if you could, you have a very unique perspective and a lot of experience here, especially with what you're doing looking into your crystal ball. You're talking about a tenure like exercise. But maybe you could tell me what you think for you, the the next five and 10 years looks like, either for the grid or you could even add in or talk about maybe the future of of how computing is either executed or powered?     John Belizaire: Yeah, you know I think that there are 2 perspectives we have on the future over here. Number one is that the transition to green power is inevitable at this point. We're basically all sitting in a fast-moving Tesla heading toward the renewable energy transition, and by the way, we're probably nobody's probably driving the car. We're just hanging out there talking about how, you know, can you believe we used to power the world by burning old pieces of, you know, households, and now it's completely powered by electrons that are are powered by Mother Nature essentially because that is the case you're going to see massive amounts of change. You know who are in the back of that who are in the back of that that vehicle? They're not energy experts, they're like, you know, dumb guys like me who don't know anything about energy but have brought sort of experience from other places to really help fight the the the good climate fight. So their technologists PHDs, data scientists, software engineers, all sorts of people who usually don't have anything to do with power power will become about computing. And that's because you're going to see more ah science and technology inserted into the grid to improve its flexibility. Its ability to sort of evolve almost future-proofing, if you will, the grid and I see that in a short period of time. All utilities are now sort of waking up. You're also seeing a change of the guard, Seth, at these places. Even legacy people need to be moved out, I hate to say, and new open minded people around technology and sort of finding ways to to address things. For example, I met an amazing young entrepreneur who built this drone system powered by AI that flies over the power lines to evaluate maintenance and things that can be done to reduce forest fires and potential issues that could significantly impact grid stability. But never thought about that right? You're just used to guys drive around trucks. They're on a maintenance and they'll eventually get to no. But if you had these systems that are constantly checking, you could you could prevent a lot of things happening so we're seeing that you know that that fast moving Tesla sort of evolving on the on the energy side. On the compute side I think you're going to see a step change in what we describe as data centers today. Data centers are these you know Ferraris, fast-moving cars, super resilient. And we're building a truck. We're building a facility that is specifically designed to be in the rugged environments far away from ah metro places super flexible and and and and resilient and agile in these environments. And it's going to be powering what will be and I believe today is probably 1 of the fastest growing segments in computing today and that's all of these batchable and AI-based environments. I read something that described it as somewhere around 20% is where it is today but it's growing at 40 to 50%. I don't think I know a single software company that doesn't have some sort of data science behind their business. Actually it sort of you got to ask the question if they don't right? Compass Real Estate, one of the most amazing real estate companies I was reading about a fact, the founder found it has a Masterclass, you know, the Masterclass app, and a very good friend friend of mine heads up data science for him ,and he explained to me how that whole thing works. And it's more of a data science company than it is a real estate company. To be honest, and it's just fascinating to me, that that is really touching just about everything in the world at this point. And so in 10 years, that's going to be an immutable truth and it will spawn these different types of platforms where you can run those things in a way that is good for the planet. So that's our perspective on it and I really hope you know that the young folks, anybody who was young, you know, technologist or if you're in school listening to this, I think there's a lot of opportunity to jump into this industry. You know I talk a lot about the need for some sort of climate Peace Corps or something like that, you know, where before you go work for Google or go work for Google for a year but then come back and just like jump in and see if you can bring a fresh look at, the energy systems of the world and see if you can help to make that. Part of helping us survive all of these climate issues.     Seth Cysewski: I love how youth is just so open. They just they haven't been taught. They haven't learned what what's what they can and cannot do yet. Yeah, the sky's the limit.     John Belizaire: Exactly. Nobody's pounded into them. They know we don't do it like that, we do not do that. So don't even think about it. You know and learn behavior is what I like to call it. You know they they haven't exposed a lot of learned behavior yet they're just they're just raw and that's what you need when you're looking at hard problems like this.     Seth Cysewski: Well I think that leads me into to my last question then, and maybe it's along these lines maybe not. What advice would you have for you know any business leaders or people that want to make a difference entering maybe emerging markets, either in the sustainability space, you know, in the future space.     John Belizaire: Yeah. So the way I got into the Soluna business, I didn't share at at the beginning, but that project my friend asked me to go run it. It was actually in in Southern Morocco and it was in a place otherwise known as the kite surfing capital of the world. Amazing wind, really high speed. I don't really keep my hair very long. So it's hard to to show you film of how fast but when you go to the airport. There are really 2 types of...     Seth Cysewski: You look aerodynamic.     John Belizaire: There are only 2 types of people at the airport. Renewable energy people and kite surfers. I'm talking about Olympic-class kite surfers in Dahkla, Morocco, and what was fascinating to me spending time trying to develop a wind farm there, and develop, you know, and get the idea for shifting our our whole focus during the pandemic to this computing company, was that there is so much energy poverty on that continent, really caused by 2 important things. Number 1, you don't have an economy to support the energy so you have this sort of chicken and egg problem like why are you building power, there's not enough use for the power. And 2, bringing in financial constructs. You know, attracting capital to build out resources is very challenging. And, by the way, it's not like there aren't resources to be developed. There's and there's an incredible abundance of natural resources hydro wind solar that can be turned into. Ah, economic growth. You know by building power plants and the solution we've developed helps to drive that. That's really what got me super passionate about that. This could be a new way to build renewable energy and so I think the message for folks out there is spend some time over there. If you really want to understand what it's like to not experience what you enjoy here, which is you know, clean, eventually green power that is consistent and persistent that helps to drive our our economy, go to a place where a young child doesn't have access to to medical services because there's no power to provide it and see if there's there's a way for you to help there. I would encourage everyone to do that to get a real sense of the opportunities for changing the world in a major way by solving problems at home that can be brought elsewhere. And that's the message I would leave with folks out there.     Seth Cysewski: Thank you for sharing that. That's great. Well John it has been really lovely. I just want to tell you I don't think I was aware of the solution, and not really so much. The problem outside of batteries before kind of looking into what what you were doing and I just think it's it's a very clever and a needed solution. So I'm glad you're doing it and and I and I appreciate you coming on and and and sharing.   John Belizaire: Thank you. Thanks Seth I really enjoyed the time great questions and thank you so much for the opportunity. Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

E36 - Cooling the Planet with Norman Crowley of CoolPlanet and AVA   We are pleased to have Norman Crowley join us today. Norman is a serial entrepreneur, who founded and sold three businesses for over three-quarters of a billion dollars before the age of forty. He has started more than 8 different businesses, including a welding business and a gaming firm. He is currently the founder of CoolPlanet, the decarbonization platform of choice for global brands. The company combines in-house developed software, advanced engineering, and world-leading expertise to help firms achieve net-zero. He is also the founder of AVA, a company that transforms some of the world's most desirable classic cars to electric.   This is one of my favorite conversations to date, I'm very excited to share it with you. Here is our interview.   Show Notes:   Be sure to visit: CoolPlanet AVA   Social Media: LinkedIn Twitter   Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx®   Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com   Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE

John's parents escaped Haitian dictatorship and potential death before reuniting and coming to the United States. Since the age of 14 selling floppy discs in high school, John has had an entrepreneurial spirit and interest in technology. He was a recipient of the Intel Scholarship Program and he went on to receive a computer science and engineering degree from Cornell University.    When he was 28 years old, he sold his first start-up company for $150 million. He has gone on to become a versatile CEO and serial entrepreneur who has successfully founded and scaled several multi-million dollar technology and fintech companies. He is currently the CEO of Soluna, a computing company helping to shape the future of renewable energy development. His expertise as both a highly effective business leader and technology strategist has enabled his new venture and operational success steering complex initiatives from concept to funding to launch to growth.   I speak with John about cryptocurrency mining, stranded renewable energy, the future of the grid, and their very clever solution to utilize batchable computing to accelerate the renewable energy transition. Here is our interview.    Show Notes:   Be sure to visit:   SolunaComputing.com Personal Blog: ceoplaybook.co   Social Media:  LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/solunaholdings/ Twitter: @solunaholdings     Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx®   Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com     Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE     Show Transcript:   Seth Cysewski: Welcome John, thank you so much for for being here today.     John Belizaire: Thanks for having me Seth. It's a pleasure looking forward to this conversation.     Seth Cysewski: Absolutely. So I'm very fascinated about what you're doing. But, why don't we start just with the basics. Maybe if you could tell me more about John the person and and how and then maybe eventually how you ended up working around clean energy challenges.     John Belizaire: I like to say I'm not an energy guy I'm actually a software guy I yeah studied computer science undergrad started my career at Intel really helping bring software to the personal computer and for the next. Twenty plus years I was ah following my passion really creating new companies I've been an entrepreneur. I hate to say serial entrepreneur because it's so cliche. But, it's true I started my career in the e-commerce space and primarily focus on selling technology to large enterprises I used to carry around lego blocks to big financial services companies and and explain to them the future of software will be built like this you know and they're like well how much are those lego blocks these these are five bucks but the ones I'm gonna sell you. They're like a million dollars and so enterprise software has really been my focus and and most recently I was in the insurance software space did some work helping insurance the insurance industry sort of transition into the digital realm using data and analytics to make better decisions and then about four years ago I had just finished that experience and I was taking a bit of a break doing some writing I pen a blog where I sort of write down all my learnings and a close friend of mine and mentor who had been an investor in a number of my companies suggested that I look at this business that he was working on. And I said what business would you be doing that I would be focused on because you always do industrial companies. I'm a software guy and he explained well you've got to look at this one. It's the intersection between renewable energy and blockchain. And the only thing I heard in that sentence was blockchain I heard of that and that might be interesting and that started a 4 year journey until today where I am the CEO of Soluna Computing, a company focused on unlocking the potential of renewable energy. And by using computing as a catalyst so that's a quick tour. I'm from New York originally father of 2 two girls, extra data there.     Seth Cysewski: It's awesome. I'm a father of one daughter and daughters are amazing. They are the best for sure. So you got a good computing background and so they're bringing you into Soluna.     John Belizaire: Exactly.       Seth Cysewski: Tell me more about Soluna Computing and I mean obviously the intersection of blockchain and renewable energy sounds very fascinating. So tell me about the problem. Maybe that Soluna is setting out to solve and a little bit more about that.     John Belizaire: Exactly, you know I get that a lot. You know we don't really have lots of cocktail parties these days given when we're recording this this podcast, but the questions I get when people sort of asking me what are you doing now is like "What are you up to?" and "What does the Soluna do?" "What's the problem you solve?" and what I explained to them is that we solve a little unknown problem which happens to be a huge problem for renewable energy and the renewable energy transition. And that is that most renewable power plants, up to 30% of their power production never actually make it to the grid. Let me say that again over $700 to $ 750 billion dollars has been spent in the last two years alone clean tech clean energy infrastructure and a host of technology to bring more green electrons to the grid. But when you zoom in on the power plants that are actually producing those electrons big wind farms big solar farms spread around the country and around the world, up to about 30% of their power never makes it to the grid and the reason is because the grid was designed based on this concept that energy the energy that's produced must be synchronized with the energy that's used this concept of sort of direct synchronization. So it that grid infrastructure which is which is very brittle and inflexible. At this point really was focused on ah power plants that can be dispatched by the grid operator and controlled and fired on literally you know fired on right? And as you begin to replace those old legacy fuels, coal plants etc, with green power plants, well the grid is no longer in charge of dispatching those power plants mother nature sets that schedule if the wind is blowing really heavily in Oklahoma, there'll be lots of energy produced by the big wind farms out in the field there and there may not be any users of that because people might be asleep at night in Oklahoma and they're not. Many large pipes or transmission lines to take that power perhaps to down south where people might be ready at a party and use that energy. So that's the problem. There is lots of wasted energy which reduces the amount of renewable energy that you can actually bring on grid. That's the problem.     How do we solve it the way we solve it is we bring ah another interesting user of energy that happens to be quite flexible right? What their grid needs is a user of power that can ramp up and ramp down if they can control that part of the equation. Then they can bring more power to the grid. So what we're bringing is these specially built onsite scalable data centers that absorb that wasted energy. We actually will use that energy instead of spilling it and we convert it to global, clean low-cost computing and what type of computing are we focused on? Well, we're not going to run your email. We're not going to run your e-commerce applications, your mission-critical applications. What we run are what we call batchable applications, anything that can be paused and restarted, put to sleep, that sort of thing because power might not be available. The types of applications that do that or any or anything that are highly compute-intensive, okay, and have this ability to sort of pause themselves and examples of that are bitcoin mining. And kind of crypto mining application, AI, and machine learning. So I you know ride my Peloton in the morning as lots of data collected on me and then the next day it's better. It's a better ride that's happening in the background in a model or AI system that we never see but it's become a big part of just about every application out there. Scientific computing, for example, is a host of different applications that represent a sizable slice of computing these days that is perfect for this type of data center and that's what we put inside of our facilities. And then we build these facilities around these green, these green power plants all around the world and that adds retroactively to flexibility that the grid needs.     Seth Cysewski: Thank you, I have some follow up so that's really great. So just so I understand this, when I think about traditional legacy power generation, and we were just in Tennessee and they have peaker plants there using natural gas, right? They're just designed to fire up when they're needed and so traditionally what you're saying is the energy generation was the one that was flexible but with renewables, it's not as flexible. So in turn you're making the usage flexible and we're not quite there with.     John Belizaire: Exactly.     Seth Cysewski: Batteries which would be another solution with this wasted or stranded energy which we could store and so essentially we're just repurposing computing. That's already going to be done and just moving it into that 30% that normally they wouldn't hit the grid typically.     John Belizaire: Exactly, you got it Seth, basically, computing is a capability something that you can do anywhere in the world. It is flexible in the sense that you can run a computing process just about anywhere. Not every computing application is resilient enough to be put in an environment where it's not running in a 24 by 7 facility, but there are now a host of applications that are perfect for that environment. And what we're doing is basically taking the insatiable demand for energy created by computing because we all walk around with computers in our in our pockets, we talk to magic assistants at home that use computing somewhere in the cloud, and it just so happens that with a little lateral thinking, that opportunity or that technology can be applied here where a solution is needed today. It needs to be scalable and it needs to solve this wasted energy problem in the near term not in the long term. You're right Seth, batteries are also a solution. They're perfect. You can store the energy deploy it but there are some problems there because batteries are companies too. They have to at some point pull the power down when the power is cheap and that's usually when all that congestion and mismatches and then they need to put the power back on the grid at some point. The power is high so they work on an arbitrage model. Most people don't know that and so if you're in a situation where there's lots of renewables in a particular area, well the power is not going to be high very often and so it becomes very hard for the battery to actually be profitable and they're not scalable from a cost perspective yet. So we're not saying we're a replacement for batteries and transmission. What we're saying is, flexible computing is another somewhat counterintuitive solution to the problem.     Seth Cysewski: Now that's very fascinating. So then who would your, it seems like to me that maybe you would have customers on both ends right? So you're either, you're probably working either and you can correct me, either with the owners of these power generations or maybe even the people that sign these PPAs. I don't know if you work with them at all on the one end and then on the other end, you're working with computing companies or people that can then utilize your computing you call it, batchable? Maybe you can tell me more about your customers on both ends and how that works from their perspective.     John Belizaire: That's right. Yeah sure on the power side. We work with what we call power partners they're exactly as you described, they're independent power producers,  they're large utilities that have big, you know, assets that are renewable around the country, and big funds, infrastructure funds who deploy capital to build out projects. They may not be the development company. So sometimes they buy a site from a developer and then they build it out. Finance it and operate it. Those are the folks that are our power counterparties if you will on the other side. We focus on large enterprises that have a big data science arm or a growing one. And, they are really concerned about 2 things. Number 1: the rising cost of the computing as a percentage of their total revenue. Those Amazon bills start to add up after a while and the second is since what they're doing, this computing is so intense, is very compute intense. It's big. You know the data corps they're dealing with are quite large constantly processing them. The data scientists are now within their communities talking about whether you know are we destroying the world I mean pretty much every application has a data element to it. And are we essentially subsidizing the continuation of legacy fuels because we live inside of these not so flexible data centers that have to be on 24 7, 5 to 9. etc. But what if I told you I can take that slice of compute load, or that slice of computing processes? We like to call them jobs and maybe they represent single digits 2% to 3% of your total computing within an enterprise and move them over to these data centers that are catalyzers for renewable energy, that could be pretty compelling for a company that helps them with their ESG goals. They can point to their applications being directly powered by green electrons and, you know from a data scientist perspective, they just want to have lower-cost access to computing that is good for the planet.     Seth Cysewski: That makes sense. This reminds me, so this I probably is a good segue to talk about, you mentioned Blockchain and I think when most people think of, or maybe I don't know about most people, think a lot of people that hear blockchain think of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. You know some people are really into it and others are, you know, a little further out and so and they're just hearing about it, but I'm wondering, I was listening to your recent financial call, and whatnot, so you guys are scaling pretty quickly which is really awesome, and I believe that bitcoin mining or cryptocurrency mining probably makes up a majority ah of your business right now.      John Belizaire: Yes.     Seth Cysewski: We're talking about like the intersection of how these come together and you're mentioning some of these companies are a little concerned about their data usage. I think you know bitcoin so I'm just going to point out critics point out I guess that bitcoin can be really detrimental towards climate progress. Not that anyone's going to stop it necessarily, but a recent Columbia paper noted that but bitcoin's currently using over 20 million metric tons of CO2 each year, and China alone could be up to 130 million metric tons by itself in 2024. So these are like super big numbers and I'm wondering about. It makes sense what you're doing and why that would be a really good for that. So that's awesome. But maybe you could talk to me more about like from your perspective what is bitcoin or cryptocurrencies' role in a clean energy future.     John Belizaire: Fantastic! So there are 2 narratives Seth around bitcoin 1 narrative is that it's an incredibly novel technology that could reshape the future of financial services but it's got this terrible side effect. And you've alluded to a number of examples of that. The other narrative is that it is an incredible catalyzer for the future of financial services that are not tied to authoritarian governments and gives people financial freedom money and wealth preservation is now democratized on a global basis and that's made possible by an incredible technology. And, the energy use is a feature, it is not a bug. It's a feature and so I want to talk about the second narrative because it's very easy to get access to information about the first narrative. It's sexy. It sells papers and online clicks and so forth and unfortunately it's a snapshot of the truth. The truth is that the young bitcoin industry was not very focused on its effect on climate and. Probably wasn't really aware of the eventual effect on climate and the reason was because it was a very small network really driven by a vision of really you know, bringing back the control of financial services and money to the people. And it was also driven by cracking some pretty challenging problems to create a decentralized form of money and you've got to solve some real challenges, right? So as a result you started to see essentially two bitcoins. In fact, there are really 2 bitcoins. One is Bitcoin the capital B the other is bitcoin the lowercase b. Bitcoin capital B is the protocol that powers the global Bitcoin network which is now approaching over close to $1 Trillion in total value. It is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world and the underlying capabilities for providing security is what the crypto mining aspect or bitcoin mining aspect of the platform is, the platform is designed or the protocol, is designed to use mining as a mechanism to protect the blockchain. Transactions that occur on it and thereby protecting the assets that people are trusting the platform to deliver and so mining has as the value of the of the currency. The lower case b has increased mining has become a larger and larger enterprise if you will around the platform, and as a result it's matured significantly over the last decade. Number one, you're starting to see a re-shift. There's a movement underway, literally, of companies leaving China. Mostly driven by China kicking them out. They're, you know, domiciling themselves, repatriating themselves around the world in all sorts of different places. They're primarily first driven by where can I find cheap power. But now there's a sentiment around a really want to find the cheapest green power there is. Over $100 Million approaching over $1 Billion invested in very mature companies run by professionals. You know, some of the early versions of the company were run by young folks who didn't have a sort of, you know, business acumen, and they were not backed by institutional capital that asked really tough questions about what you're doing, and so as a result you now have companies much like ourselves out there that are taking a completely different approach to reshaping the next chapter in the Bitcoin landscape. And so the positive narrative is that the bitcoin mining is now seeing its role as a dual purpose one is protecting the Bitcoin network and the second is finding a way to become more sustainable. And catalyzed to renewable energy ah transform transition and bitcoin small b, by the way, is gone from, you know, being really so you know this speculative asset, actually playing a very important role in the global economy in asset allocations for some of the largest asset management companies in the world. It's now made its way into pension plans people are getting paid in it. It's maturing. It's a young thirteen-year-old technology.     And it reminds me of another technology. That's a little older. It started when I started my entrepreneurship career, it had this sort of similar concept of you know capital letter lowercase letter, and it was focused on bringing the world's information to 1 digital place, and it eventually evolved to e-commerce, and then it evolved to connecting people, and it evolved to pretty much everything, and by now you can guess who the character is I'm describing, and that's the internet. It has the same characteristics as Bitcoin. It evolved over a 20 year period and most of that development happened in the last decade or so, and we now take for granted the role. The internet has played, and so I often say you should never underestimate the potential technology and the fact that it can really advance way beyond your current expectations, and it can happen very quickly and Bitcoin is gaining momentum and we're proud to be helping to make that happen.     Seth Cysewski: That's fascinating. I thought I was there, I used to dial into my local BBS and I remember Prodigy. I remember when we got my first Encarta CD, it changed all my school projects. Yeah, it's interesting and I hear what you're saying about as it becomes, I almost say more legitimate, but maybe more mature, as a process and as a currency that the stakeholders are more mature too and the things that they're looking for and their external pressures are are different.     John Belizaire: Exactly. That's exactly right. You know the public companies that are doing this for example, their shareholders put tremendous pressure on them, like we need to know where your powers are sources. And you now need to be carbon zero or negative right? And so there's a lot of pressure.     And as more of the industry moves to countries that have rule of law that have access to these renewable resources and this pressure to put to leverage those over others that industry you know has no choice but to mature and sort of accept those things. So it's interesting to see the transition over to in the short four years that I've been involved.     Seth Cysewski: Yeah, no, that that makes a lot of sense. We were just out in rural America, and we have some direct solar investments for our company, and I remember talking to some of the economic development officials out there and they were saying that it's not even a competitive advantage. It's a requirement now. So their communities need to have green power. Otherwise, you're not going to recruit in any sort of job-creating companies, because that's a requirement from them, and so I see that parallel as just being really a requirement moving forward, and that's everywhere. So it's a very exciting I think trajectory that we're starting to see. Maybe tell me a little bit more. This is all really fascinating, can you tell me more about maybe your company and the challenges you guys face right now like as you as you guys are scaling?     John Belizaire: Indeed.     Seth Cysewski: And, what are you guys running into and what are you doing about it.     John Belizaire: Yeah, good. Good, great question. Once a year Seth, I write what I like to call sort of the kickoff letter, and it's usually right after the holidays we have this shutdown period where we really encourage everyone to sort of take a real break. You know, stay off of email and whatnot and I try to be an example, but usually, I fail, but recently, I guess I would say but before when there was travel, I'd force myself to go someplace where there's only but just rocks and sand around and you know there's nothing to connect to. But after that, after that break, I feel that it's really important to give the team sort of 1 focusing message around what's going to be important in this coming year as we execute and build out the next phase of our business and in my note this year, the overarching word if you will and it's usually 1 word that I sort of sort zoom around, and is called scale. How do you scale the business that we're in, and I used a question that Peter Thiel asks a lot too. Set up what I wanted to ask the team to do and the question is if let's say you have a 10-year vision you know everybody sort of sees a picture of themselves a few years out if you have a 10-year vision to do something. Why can't you do it in six months another way, to ask the question is what's the 1 thing you can do in the next six months to get you closer or to ensure that you'll reach that 10-year vision? Everything we're doing right now as an organization going from 50 Megawatts, you know, about 3 data centers around the country, to building an entire fleet of hundreds to if not Gigawatts of facilities around the world is going to be focused on finding new and clever ways to scale our operations the way we operate our facilities the way we manage inventory. We have thousands of pieces of equipment in our data centers. The way we recruit employees, the way we communicate as a very large distributed organization, the way we raise capital at scale, you know, going from tens of millions of dollars of financing to hundreds of millions of dollars of of financing, this is a very capital intensive business to build data centers and operate them., these are all things that we need to figure out. How do you create an iconic brand around renewable energy and catalyzing renewables using the blockchain and crypto without that brand being associated with hubris right? We have to be a humble participant in the new community that we're part of to help to drive the future of this industry. These are the questions that we pose ourselves here at Soluna, that I asked the team to think about, and on a regular basis. We generate ideas on how to tackle those gnarly problems around scale. And that's what we've been working on. Yeah, it's hard to tell how long it's been in '22, but I feel like a year has passed already in the in the short two weeks that we've been back to the office but, there's a lot to do Seth, and you know, our big challenges are really around scaling the operation in a way that is repeatable, we learn from quickly, and continue to grow.     Seth Cysewski: Is the grid and the way it's structured one of them for you?     John Belizaire: Yeah, so the grid is a is a very rigid thing in many ways right? So it's technically architected for a legacy approach to grid a lot of the laws that govern grid operations in just about every region around the country are also legacy and they actually create barriers to innovation and they also ah slow down. Very much the rate with which you can deploy new and interesting approaches to actually bring the very thing that the grid needs which is the flexibility and so, there is a lot of challenge related to that we ah spent a lot of our time as a company. Educating, and this isn't new to me, when you're when you're a new technologist. You're constantly a missionary. You've got to train folks and explain to them why they should do something different than they that they've always done. You know all that. All that smells is risk for them and when you're in the business of providing reliable always-on power to the country, one of the greatest countries in the world, risk is not something that's in your vocabulary and so, what we've done in addition to the technology that we use for our data centers, the way we, you know, manage the facilities the way we deal with jobs and everything we've actually built a set of principles structures both financial and technical in nature. To mitigate a lot of the risk associated with placing ours next to the power plants, tying it into the grid, we spend a lot of time, you know, talking to the grid operators and, you know, government officials associated with the regions that we're in to make sure we're not doing anything that threatens the service that they are mandated to deliver, but only enhancing it right? That's improving it and making it more flexible and actually allowing them to deliver I like to say that you know what's our mission, our mission is to help deliver clean green low-cost power locally, and deliver clean, sustainable computing on a global basis and so that does require lots of education especially when you have words like blockchain and crypto and anything, any of your marketing materials. Forget about it. You better be ready to do a lot of education.      Seth Cysewski: I hear you, so I guess maybe, if you could, you have a very unique perspective and a lot of experience here, especially with what you're doing looking into your crystal ball. You're talking about a tenure-like exercise. But maybe you could tell me what you think for you, the next five and 10 years looks like, either for the grid or you could even add in or talk about maybe the future of how computing is either executed or powered?     John Belizaire: Yeah, you know I think that there are 2 perspectives we have on the future over here. Number one is that the transition to green power is inevitable at this point. We're basically all sitting in a fast-moving Tesla heading toward the renewable energy transition, and by the way, we're probably nobody's probably driving the car. We're just hanging out there talking about how, you know, can you believe we used to power the world by burning old pieces of, you know, households, and now it's completely powered by electrons that are powered by Mother Nature essentially because that is the case you're going to see massive amounts of change. You know who are in the back of that who are in the back of that vehicle? They're not energy experts, they're like, you know, dumb guys like me who don't know anything about energy but have brought sort of experience from other places to really help fight the the the good climate fight. So their technologists PHDs, data scientists, software engineers, all sorts of people who usually don't have anything to do with power will become about computing. And that's because you're going to see more ah science and technology inserted into the grid to improve its flexibility. Its ability to sort of evolve almost future-proofing, if you will, the grid and I see that in a short period of time. All utilities are now sort of waking up. You're also seeing a change of the guard, Seth, at these places. Even legacy people need to be moved out, I hate to say, and new open-minded people around technology and sort of finding ways to address things. For example, I met an amazing young entrepreneur who built this drone system powered by AI that flies over the power lines to evaluate maintenance and things that can be done to reduce forest fires and potential issues that could significantly impact grid stability. But never thought about that right? You're just used to guys drive around trucks. They're on a maintenance and they'll eventually get to no. But if you had these systems that are constantly checking, you could you could prevent a lot of things happening so we're seeing that you know that that fast-moving Tesla sort of evolving on the on the energy side. On the compute side I think you're going to see a step change in what we describe as data centers today. Data centers are these you know Ferraris, fast-moving cars, super resilient. And we're building a truck. We're building a facility that is specifically designed to be in the rugged environments far away from ah metro places super flexible and and and and resilient and agile in these environments. And it's going to be powering what will be and I believe today is probably 1 of the fastest-growing segments in computing today and that's all of these batchable and AI-based environments. I read something that described it as somewhere around 20% is where it is today but it's growing at 40 to 50%. I don't think I know a single software company that doesn't have some sort of data science behind their business. Actually, it sort of you got to ask the question if they don't right? Compass Real Estate, one of the most amazing real estate companies I was reading about a fact, the founder found it has a Masterclass, you know, the Masterclass app, and a very good friend of mine heads up data science for him, and he explained to me how that whole thing works. And it's more of a data science company than it is a real estate company. To be honest, and it's just fascinating to me, that that is really touching just about everything in the world at this point. And so in 10 years, that's going to be an immutable truth and it will spawn these different types of platforms where you can run those things in a way that is good for the planet. So that's our perspective on it and I really hope you know that the young folks, anybody who was young, you know, technologist or if you're in school listening to this, I think there's a lot of opportunity to jump into this industry. You know I talk a lot about the need for some sort of climate Peace Corps or something like that, you know, where before you go work for Google or go work for Google for a year but then come back and just like jump in and see if you can bring a fresh look at, the energy systems of the world and see if you can help to make that. Part of helping us survive all of these climate issues.     Seth Cysewski: I love how youth is just so open. They just haven't been taught. They haven't learned what's what they can and cannot do yet. Yeah, the sky's the limit.     John Belizaire: Exactly. Nobody's pounded into them. They know we don't do it like that, we do not do that. So don't even think about it. You know and learn behavior is what I like to call it. You know they haven't exposed a lot of learned behavior yet they're just raw and that's what you need when you're looking at hard problems like this.     Seth Cysewski: Well, I think that leads me into my last question then, and maybe it's along these lines maybe not. What advice would you have for you know any business leaders or people that want to make a difference entering maybe emerging markets, either in the sustainability space, you know, in the future space?     John Belizaire: Yeah. So the way I got into the Soluna business, I didn't share at the beginning, but that project my friend asked me to go run it. It was actually in Southern Morocco and it was in a place otherwise known as the kite surfing capital of the world. Amazing wind, really high speed. I don't really keep my hair very long. So it's hard to show you film of how fast but when you go to the airport. There are really 2 types of...     Seth Cysewski: You look aerodynamic.     John Belizaire: There are only 2 types of people at the airport. Renewable energy people and kite surfers. I'm talking about Olympic-class kite surfers in Dakhla, Morocco, and what was fascinating to me spending time trying to develop a wind farm there, and develop, you know, and get the idea for shifting our whole focus during the pandemic to this computing company, was that there is so much energy poverty on that continent, really caused by 2 important things. Number 1, you don't have an economy to support the energy so you have this sort of chicken and egg problem like why are you building power, there's not enough use for the power. And 2, bringing in financial constructs. You know, attracting capital to build out resources is very challenging. And, by the way, it's not like there aren't resources to be developed. There's and there's an incredible abundance of natural resources hydro, wind, solar that can be turned into. Ah, economic growth. You know by building power plants and the solution we've developed helps to drive that. That's really what got me super passionate about that. This could be a new way to build renewable energy and so I think the message for folks out there is spend some time over there. If you really want to understand what it's like to not experience what you enjoy here, which is you know, clean, eventually green power that is consistent and persistent that helps to drive our economy, go to a place where a young child doesn't have access to medical services because there's no power to provide it and see if there's a way for you to help there. I would encourage everyone to do that to get a real sense of the opportunities for changing the world in a major way by solving problems at home that can be brought elsewhere. And that's the message I would leave with folks out there.     Seth Cysewski: Thank you for sharing that. That's great. Well John it has been really lovely. I just want to tell you I don't think I was aware of the solution, and not really so much. The problem outside of batteries before kind of looking into what you were doing and I just think it's it's a very clever and a needed solution. So I'm glad you're doing it and I and I appreciate you coming on and and and sharing.   John Belizaire: Thank you. Thanks, Seth I really enjoyed the time great questions and thank you so much for the opportunity.     Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing!   Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.   Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co.   © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today we are pleased to have join us, Andrew Savage, a founding member of Lime and currently serving as their VP of Sustainability. Lime is now the world's largest shared micromobility company operating in over 200 markets worldwide and having raised over $1B in capital and have announced plans for an IPO this year.   Andrew is an experienced leader at the intersection of business, government, and sustainability. A founding member at Lime, he led new market development, government relations, and policy strategy, helping the company expand globally. He now leads Lime's sustainability strategy. Prior to Lime, Andrew served on the executive team of an Inc. 500 solar company and served on the Board of Directors to the U.S. solar industry's national trade association. Prior he worked in the U.S. Congress and on President Barack Obama's presidential campaign. He is a graduate of Middlebury College, mentor at Harvard's iLab, and advises several sustainability start-ups.   Andrew and I talk about the future of micro-mobility, decarbonization, policy, and more.    Show Notes: Be sure to visit: Lime   Social Media: LinkedIn Twitter     Transcript:   Seth Cysewski: Andrew, thank you so much for joining us here today. I appreciate it. So you grew up in rural Vermont. Can you tell me what that was like and how that laid the groundwork for your career and sustainability?     Andrew Savage: It's great to be with you. Thanks. Yeah, I mean it was a pretty amazing place to gain an appreciation for the environment in a really sort of organic way. I mean I lived in a very rural town with 2 parents that essentially used our hundred acres to get by and not in the sense that we needed the land to, you know, make a living, but they just used it for everything it was worth. My mom had a huge garden where she'd grow things that we would eat year-round. We would gather firewood for the winter, and I'll tell you, you know, when I did the math of how many times you actually touch a piece of firewood before it goes actually in the furnace, it's amazing, it's like 9 times. You know you're cutting it down. You're throwing in the truck you're driving it up the hill. You're unloading it. You're putting it in a wagon. You're you know, putting in a pile in the basement, then you're stacking, and then finally you're putting it in. And then you know, in the fireplace or in the the the furnace. It's amazing. You actually really then know and think about what conservation means, and what, you know, turning the thermostat up and down means you get a real appreciation for the environment that you live in and it was just a real amazing community where we were close to neighbors and neighbors relied on neighbors which I think has a real deep interplay with sustainability as well.     Seth Cysewski: Sure. Was there any specific moment, maybe like in your life or in your career early on, that really pivoted you or set your core focus on sustainability going forward?     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I mean, I think back. Certainly, with that sort of environmental ethic as a foundation from growing up in that kind of an environment, I think when I first went to Middlebury College, which has one of the oldest or the oldest environmental studies programs in the country.     Seth Cysewski: What was that?     Andrew Savage: I heard a physics professor of all things, and I'm not a scientist by any means, but I heard a physics professor sharing the latest on climate science, and you know, he was sharing about the IPCC reports, and it totally blew me away, and I think the experience there and through that you know, program at Middlebury, it allowed me to sort of connect the sort of land ethic if you will environmental ethic that I've grown up with to an academic sense, and that's where I studied political science and really got a sense of all right, How do you take something you care about something you know could be a personal mission and apply it to a professional setting? So it was really quite formative and really motivated me to dive into the world of both politics and the environment.     Seth Cysewski: That's great. Can you tell me more about Middleberry college. I believe you met Bill McKibben there. Could you tell us about Bill?     Andrew Savage: Sure. Yeah, I mean there is a funny story there. So he was a cross country ski racer in college, and he had written a book called Long Distance about essentially training to be a pro. He trained like he was a professional ski racer year-round as well as sort of sharing a bit about his personal experience with the loss of a father and sort of, you know to his own health and the declining health of a parent and my dad had given it to me for Christmas present. And I read it and was intrigued. I was a skier, and suddenly Bill had become a scholar in residence at Middlebury, and I knew nothing about his environmental creds and obviously, as you know by asking that question. You know he's one of the world's leading climate activists. I knew enough, little enough about him that I had the hubris to call him up and ask him if he wanted to go for a run because why would I not. He'd just written a book about cross country skiing and my roommate at the time was far more read than I was and more academic than I was and knew a lot more than I did was like are you kidding that you just called Bill up for a run. And I did, and a friendship was born. He started coming to practices with us when we had sort of bring a friend day, and to this day, he remains an incredible mentor to me. He's about as magnanimous a person as I've ever met. He ended up being the officiant at my wife and my wedding.     Seth Cysewski: Wow.     Andrew Savage: And doing wonderful jobs, so he is, you know he's one of those people whom you know the bar is really high with Bill because he is such an incredible presence in the climate movement but has also remained a really wonderful ally and advisor and someone I aspire to. Um, you know, sort of fulfill a certain mission in life as well.      Seth Cysewski: That's a great story. Thank you for sharing. So you mentioned something about being the intersection of politics and sustainability and so you have quite an interesting and diverse background. Can you tell me more about your time in politics and specifically you used to work for Congressman Peter Welch, I believe, and you led an effort to have him or make him the first carbon-neutral member of Congress.   I would love to hear more about that, and I think there might even be a story in there about Nancy Pelosi's office and whatnot. I'm going to let you talk to me about politics.     Andrew Savage: Yeah, sure. So as I mentioned, I studied environmental studies and political science and college and really jumped right into the political environment first with Howard Dean's presidential campaign and later in Vermont politics where Peter Welch was a congressional candidate a few years into my working with him and we won the race, and we were joining essentially a freshman class in Congress of a ton of new members. It was when the Democrats took back control of Congress Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the house and when you are. Ah, fresher member of Congress, and you're from a state like Vermont, which on its face is not necessarily always the most competitive congressional race. We had a competitive race just based on the candidates that were in the race; you were about as low as they get fresh and member non-competitive race. You're not going to get anything from anyone. You really got to be scrappy about how you position yourself, and you sort of navigate the world of Washington DC and um you know usually when you're a staff person in Congress you let the member take all the credit they wrote the bill they did all over I will take a little bit of credit for this crazy idea that then the congressman was very receptive to. I was out roller skiing of all things exercising before we were all moved down to Washington DC and had this crazy idea out of my work at Middlebury College of all places of carbon neutrality and how could we make Congressman Welch's office the first carbon-neutral office in the country and looked it up. It didn't seem like anyone had done it. We hatched a plan using, you know, then carbon offsets now. Obviously, we can have a chat about whether carbon offsets are a good thing or a bad thing and how they play into the sustainability movement, but at the time, it was a real statement around addressing your carbon footprint as best you could. You know the member of Congress flies back and forth to and from Washington DC to the home office. That's just a necessity of the job and so had this idea that Congressman Welch was extremely receptive so three weeks into to taking office. He's holding a press conference in the small Longworth house office building Boston Globe shows up the hill newspaper shows up a whole bunch of other DC papers and reporters and we got great coverage and but literally within hours of doing this Nancy Pelosi's office calls up says "How'd you do this? What'd you do? We're super intrigued in this" and that gave him a real opportunity to be talking about issues of energy the environment carbon and a year and a half later an appointment to the energy and commerce committee where he had a seat on a committee that would lead to you know writing Waxman-Markey the only climate real climate change bill that's come through Congress in ever really, you know, so it was an example where you know a small thing on the sustainability front can lead to you know much more impactful opportunities and I think was you know informative of a way that a small idea could actually you know catalyze something that could lead to something much greater.     Seth Cysewski: I love the way that that demonstrates that's the ripple effect, right?     Andrew Savage: Yeah, you know and and ultimately what just to route out the story I didn't share why speaker Pelosi's office was so interested they were interested in a greening the capitol initiative and so over the coming months develop their own How do we decarbonize the US Capitol and and and provide a leadership role for the speaker's office and in democratic leadership in general on Capitol Hill which I think that if you put in the front of the minds of you know dozens and dozens or hundreds of members of Congress is a really important thing for driving at least the hope for policy change that we need to address the climate crisis we face.     Seth Cysewski: So leading by example and then like creating a conversation, right?     Andrew Savage: Absolutely. You got to start somewhere, and in many ways often people are too reluctant to take a step, so they take no steps, but you know we you just don't get anywhere that way, and you got us keep moving the ball down the field, or we won't make any progress on anything.     Seth Cysewski: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more on that all right? So maybe let's dive in how did you end up at Lime. What are you doing?     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I mean, what am I doing? That's a good question. So I had spent 6 years after the work in Congress in the renewable energy space at a solar manufacturer that was also developing renewable energy projects, and so had spent quite a lot of time including work while I was on the board of SEIA the National Solar Industry Association talking about the electrification of everything so here we are in the renewable energy and solar space talking about how the future, transportation, homes, everything is going to be electrified and as it came to a juncture in my career with with that company and both personally and professionally we were looking to make a move west I ended up just having some conversations and connecting with with Toby and Brad who are at the time thinking about this idea of dockless bike sharing bike sharing had become very popular in Asia in particular in China where the combination of reliable GPS with ubiquitously available smartphones allowed people to rent bikes on the fly pretty much anywhere by scanning a QR code and you know having automatic payments and so the idea was to bring that service and technology to initially the United States and so we had some conversations, and ultimately at the time of the founding I hopped on board as one of the members of the founding team and was there to essentially help the company lead our policy and market development at a time when nobody really knew what dockless bikes were or how to regulate them so it was a really pretty fascinating and interesting professional experience of being able to bring a whole different set of sustainability objectives to in this case, the transportation sector with ultimately electric bikes and now e-scooters at the company.     Seth Cysewski: Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that because since you were on the founding team so it started with just ah, a real small group of individuals and now you have over 500 employees. You guys have raised over $1 Billion in capital you announced that you guys are going to be filing for an IPO later this year. So, you are very large; what is the growth in the maturity of the company been like for you, and then maybe how have your how or what have your objectives like how have they changed or your or your role changed since maybe you started to today.     Andrew Savage: I mean, I know you have a young child or children. Yeah, okay, well I know you have a young child at home. So this might resonate with you, I do as well. I feel like the journey of Lime is much like raising a small child where every four months every six months, it morphs and grows in a different way that you couldn't have imagined prior to that experience, and I would say that every quarter or every half year at Lime over the last five years has really felt like a different company because we've had a different objective. We've had a different team. We've had just a real evolving growth. I mean it was truly hyper-growth at the time people were coming to us from very fast-growing companies saying we cannot believe at the pace that this company is growing and that was just the nature of the industry, the nature of of the times but also the nature of of the adoption of the service that that it's one of those things where once you built it once you put it out in the market. The interest and the utilization was so high that it only started booing more growth. So it allowed us to raise money. It allowed us to hire. You know, to go from 5 to 500 plus employees allowed us to expand you know to now over 200 markets globally allowed us to offer new products to go from offering an e-bike and bikes to an e-scooter. So you know, in many ways, it's just been a constant evolution of what do we do now to continue to grow this company. How to build a better business, a more sustainable business. Both sustainable in the environmental sense, but also on the economic sense have a company that makes money so that it can truly be an enduring service and have a long-term sustainable benefit and, you know, I think what's interesting is we',ve been able to deliver on all that. I think as we've done that been able to grow out a much more robust sustainability mission as well.     Seth Cysewski: Can you talk to me a little bit about the sustainability mission? Maybe where it got started and how it's played out until now, and where you're at maybe right now with it?     Andrew Savage: For sure. So you know when we started the company, you know, clearly we had among our goals the environmental impact goal. I mean we had we had objectives around equity in serving cities and helping you know. Sort of the last mile and the first mile of transportation in cities, which had always vexed city leaders and policymakers and even those who deliver a service like public transportation. So our goal was really to help deliver a better transportation service, and you know a lot of people ask well did you guys start with such a strong sustainability environmental ethic or practice and I think the candid answer is not as much as we would have liked. It was more survival right? When you are starting a company, especially in a competitive space. You know you'd love to be doing all the nice stuff that fits the mission, but survival was the most important thing because if you don't survive, then how are you going to deliver on a much more robust or bigger mission and so I would say that over the last several years, we've really been able to, you know, meet that sort of test of durability. Are we going to be a service that will be around in 10 years and add in layers of sustainability that have helped us enhance the mission? I spent the first two years at Lime leading all of our policy government relations at around that juncture. I shifted roles to lead sustainability for the company and it was in part because I felt like it was so important to our key stakeholders. Our cities who give us the green light or red light to operate our riders who want to see us living by our mission, and there were so many opportunities for us to lead on sustainability, so to your question, we really started with some of the basic stuff we were offering and like you know, electric service scooters and bikes. We thought, well let's commit to renewable energy for all that electricity. You know, let's start where it matters most, and so we did that, and that was the first. Many things that we've done since then to enhance our sustainability mission I think the thing that I'm most proud at the highest level that we've done is we have a really ambitious Science Based Target we're going to be Net Zero by 2030 we have a 1.5°c aligned target aligned with the Paris Climate Accord and the reason that I'm proud of it. But even though we haven't achieved it, of course that's something that's, you know, now eight years away, is that it really sets the company up to orient around.   It's a goal that matters most to this company that if we're going to deliver on our promise around decarbonizing transportation. We need to look within and decarbonize our business as well, and that's something that has allowed the entire company to rally around. It's an objective that that. Many people come to the company for, and it gives us a real anchoring point to make the changes that we need to make internally to decarbonize Lime and thus have an ah have a shot as an industry of decarbonizing transportation as a whole.     Seth Cysewski: You mentioned earlier about electrifying everything and you know you guys being a primarily electric-based service and talking about decarbonization right now. What do you guys see, or what do you see as your primary challenges that maybe you're directly or indirectly facing or working to address at Lime right now around that?     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I think, you know in our aspiration to meet the Science Based Target and to be a Net Zero company, you know, we're looking throughout the business from how our product is made to how it's served in markets to its end of life. And so what we're doing is rolling up our sleeves and looking at throughout the life cycle of a Lime scooter or a Lime bike. What can we do to improve the environmental footprint of the service that we provide, so we are looking at everything from the materials that go into our scooter and bike and how it's designed in markets. How are we operating the service so we have recently introduced swappable batteries, which means that instead of having to bring a vehicle from a city to the city streets back to a warehouse to charge the vehicle, we could actually swap in a fully charged battery reducing the amount of transportation by half right? Because you're making one trip instead of 2, or actually, it could be even longer depending on sort of the routes that you take in bringing the vehicles back and then redeploying them. And so there are things like that that we can do to help decarbonize the business and and we are doing and we're also thinking about our what kind of fleet. Do we use to operate the programs in cities that we serve so electrifying our e-van our vans into e-vans, and so, also think about things like second life if we have batteries that are no longer usable for mobility moving people around. How can we use those batteries for a second life that adds some purpose to them so they're having to be recycled, which would ultimately be what we would do with the material? An example of that is we have a really exciting partnership with a company called Gomi out of the UK, and they have taken our bike batteries they take out the cells, and they've been using the cells that are still viable for essentially a Bluetooth speaker system, and that's a great use of battery that isn't. You know, able to move a person around anymore but certainly could power a speaker or other or other electronics. Absolutely yeah.     Seth Cysewski: Gets a second life. Circularity always being the goal and it could be. It could be a challenge.     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I mean, I think that's exactly right. You know your mention of circularity raises just the higher level point that you know has gone unspoken so far in this conversation but just the nature of a shared transportation. Service is a, you know, more circular model than everyone needing to own an individual vehicle. You know, I think if we're doing things right in the future, we're using fewer resources to deliver the exact service that is necessary and if it's possible to share it great and you have to build fewer of them, and you know we often talk about how transportation. You know is such as you know such a big part of the carbon problem, you know over 25% of the world's carbon. Emissions comes from transportation, in fact, the majority of that is personal transportation, and the majority of personal transportation are trips under 5 miles that people often take by a car. So if we could think about ways to make transportation lower carbon through things like microrobility and Lime service, we have a real shot at reducing the overall carbon impact that people have in moving around and think about how inefficient moving around in a car is you're essentially moving a 6000 lb vehicle to move you know between 100 or 300 lb person a few miles, and you're spending all that energy to move the vehicle around versus move the individual around, and our focus really is on the individual and the rider. How do we get them from point A to point B? And I think we can do so in a much lower carbon way.     Seth Cysewski: I actually think about that all the time. I don't know if everyone does, but I do think of how how how crazy it is yeah that I'm in a car, and then I think it's more pronounced for me when I travel to Europe and the train systems, you know, you don't use cars at all, really you know?     Andrew Savage: Yeah.     Seth Cysewski: I guess it depends on where you're at, and maybe to that point, I would love to hear your thoughts or like what's your vision for carbon free mobility? What does the future look like to you?     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I mean, it's fun to think about what the future could look like because I think we're seeing at this moment and amazing, you know, growth and electrification of transportation. You know, I think micromobility has the potential to be the first totally carbon-free mobility service period full stop without needing to use carbon offsets without you know some of the, you know, the practices that companies have used in the past to mitigate their environmental footprint. I think that that, of course, will involve if you're looking at it from a full lifecycle perspective. Zeroing out the emissions of manufacturing zeroing out the emissions of managing the service or transporting the vehicles zeroing out the emissions of end of life but micromobility has the greatest shot at that to achieve zero emissions first. And yes, companies will need to use carbon removal to account for you know, some of the things that are aren't able to be mitigated. But I think if we're looking at the future of transportation micromobility could very well be the first place you go to for a truly zero carbon service. And that's an objective there. We're after, we want to be looking throughout the business throughout the lifecycle of our product to decarbonize and achieve that mission. I also think yes, I also think we're going to see innovations that maybe a few years ago you wouldn't have been able. We wouldn't have been able to comprehend but things like wireless charging. Do we see the ability for micromobility to snack on electricity in a wireless way at a stoplight in a bike lane because people know in Paris or London or New York that there's going to be a dozen vehicles, bike or scooter, sitting over that pad for 30 seconds during a red light and is that going to help us get from here to there even more efficiently reduce the need for operations allow vehicles to go farther or you know longer in the day et cetera. So I think there's just an amazing amount of innovation that's going to happen in the coming years as adoption has picked up and and formalized within cities and frankly cities provide more space for micro mobility as well.     Seth Cysewski: Yeah, I saw a video recently they were talking about a new technology where they were using like these tall wind turbines kind of next to next to highways and stuff, so they're using the inertia from the cars going by and it's spinning these little turbines on the side and producing electricity. I just keep thinking about all these different applications and the way I mean it's so hard to predict the future, but innovation is certainly a very cool thing and I like the direction we're heading what now, so you just mentioned you know without offsets, and I would love to hear., love to hear your thought on offsets and what role they play for you guys right now or in the broader transportation sector or company sector in operations, and where we're heading in that realm.     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I think it is a complicated one and, you know, a hard one to digest into little sound bites. I think you often lose folks when talking about the sort of nuances of carbon mitigation. But, you know, as I mentioned earlier with Congressman Welch for example, almost twenty years ago carbon offsets were a very reasonable approach to take to reduce your carbon footprint and to have some some sort of mitigating impact that countered the the carbon impact you were having whether you were a person individual a business a you know public servant etc. I think today it's become clear that businesses that want to lead on carbon need to reduce emissions and need to essentially sequester carbon that they aren't able to mitigate. So I think that in lies the biggest difference. Lime has used carbon offsets to certify certain markets carbon neutral that have wanted to do so. Do we see that as a long-term strategy towards carbon? No, we see decarbonization as our long-term strategy full mitigation of carbon wherever we can. And then for the remaining residual amount of carbon that you just cannot reduce because you just don't control it. For example, if you have to fly to a meeting or you know or to a market that you're serving and the airlines haven't yet decarbonized. You're going to have to find ways to mitigate that, and that's where I think the nuance of carbon removal is so important where it's not that you're buying an offset saying that we're not going to cut down this forest you're saying we're actually going to have additional measures whether they be nature-based or technology-based that sequester carbon that wouldn't otherwise be reduced and mitigated so that that to me is the real difference and I think we've come a long way even in just the last couple years in that conversation in the industry and in businesses that are seeking carbon goals and as you're probably aware a Science Based Target does not allow the use of carbon offsets and there is an allowance for the use of carbon removal for just that reason.     Seth Cysewski: Thank you. That's really, that's good information. So let's circle back. So you started with policy at Lime and I would love to shift gears a little bit. We're talking about decarbonization, and where do you think or where does policy play a role in decarbonization and in other sustainability efforts, both across countries and inside of large organizations?     Andrew Savage: I mean, I think your policy can be a real catalyzing influence, and policy can help open markets policy can help mitigate for sort of an imbalance in markets. You know, I think having come from an industry where we've received venture capital to grow in the industry and the goal really is to achieve profitability so that you have a long-term enduring impact you know. Ultimately, you want to be in a place where you don't need policy to thrive. You don't need, for example, text credits or things like that, something that we haven't had to receive at Lime. What we have needed and I do think policy plays a major role and is creating a stable market or creating an environment where you know the lay of the land, or there is a playing field on which to operate as a business so you know you can see this now even you know, for example, solar industry wind industry where wind and solar are competitive with coal, and it's in part because of policy but in part, because it's just good business now. It's just good economics, and so I think what we've found at Lime is that that policy plays a major role in creating a landscape for us to do our job, which is run a good business that people like and will use and where there is imbalance, you know, take for example, the externalities of companies that are polluting. That's where policy can or should step in and say you wait a second; we actually should be accounting for the bad things that are happening so that those who are bad actors aren't able to get a free ride and have a better business simply because they get away with it. So, you know, I think policy is going to need to drive the decarbonization transformation policy. You know we'll need to play a role in you know, sort of accounting for those you know those sort of market imbalances, but ultimately I think where businesses thrive is when you have a playing field where you can actually compete and do great. With a level playing field and have your service thrive because it's lower carbon and ultimately lower carbon simply means you're wasting less carbon is not an efficient long-term solution, right? You burn it once. And it's gone. You transport it all around the world just to burn it once, and it's gone. Wouldn't you rather have a business or an economy that's based on something that's far more sustainable, and ultimately it will be far lower cost once you get those sort of imbalances out?     I think that's where policy really can play a leading role. I know a bit of a wonky answer, but I think an important one, and I think it's often lost on folks on the general public. How sort of imbalanced, you know, the market is without policy stepping in, and that's where it's really hard to get the right policies because that imbalance, you know, create some great winners. I mean, look at the oil and gas industry. They've been doing just fine for years and years and years, and they don't want to get rid of their, you know, their preferential leases that they get for land, or they don't want to get rid of their infrastructure that's been built around them to transport their oil and gas. They don't want to get rid of subsidies that they've received but they see a huge threat in in those that that those businesses that don't need those things and and and could deliver a similar service at a lower cost.     Seth Cysewski: What role do you think business can or needs to be involved for this decarbonized future?     Andrew Savage: I think, you know, sort of putting, you know, the hat that I have in politics and advocacy on with the hat that I have in business kind of hard to wear two hats. But, if you could picture, you can picture that if you could picture me wearing two hats here. I think that businesses small and large, and I'm sort of emphasized small here as well, underestimate how much impact they can have being advocates. Policymakers don't often hear from businesses. They hear from big businesses. We all know where you know the giant traditional companies stand. But when you think about the sustainability businesses that you know you work with and that we work with and you know those businesses are the future, people know that they're creating jobs. They're creating a better, they're offering a better service. They are going to be more efficient long-term, but I think businesses, small and large, often underestimate how much impact they can have by speaking up, and you know you don't have to have a fully built out policy shop to do so you don't have to have a huge political or policy ask to do so. I just think elected leaders, whether they be state, local, or federal, need to hear from the businesses of the future because they need to see what the future looks like and that there are jobs and better markets being created because of this work. So I think business plays an enormous role in advocating for itself and doesn't have to be like in a self-interested way but just sort of guiding where the future is going and if Policymakers don't hear about it. They really aren't going to be able to be responsive to it either.     Seth Cysewski: Yeah, that makes sense. What I hear you saying is that there's great opportunity out there, and business plays a huge role in opening that up and making that visible for policy makers and everyone, essentially.     Andrew Savage: Absolutely yeah, you said it more succinctly than I did. But yeah, exactly all right. That's fair. It's sheer cheating there, all right.     Seth Cysewski: I was thinking about the way you were talking, looking into your crystal ball; what is the next five and then the next ten years look like to you for the future of either micro-mobility, or even cities? I saw you post something about city planning the other day on LinkedIn, and it got me thinking about it tool I thought about all the great cities I visit and what I like and don't like, and how they work, and I know you think about it more than I do so I would love to hear your thoughts on those two timeframes and what you see.     Andrew Savage: Yeah, I appreciate it. I think that when you look at a service like Lime, one of the biggest benefits is the mode shift people taking scooters and or a bike. Instead of taking a much more polluting car or a ride-hail vehicle and globally, our road shift is around 25%, so one in every four trips is preventing a car trip. I see that only increasing I see cities adopting the service or sort of welcoming more micromobility than they ever have before, you know we went from being really a disruptive service to cities to being an essential service in the pandemic you had cities that actually declared micromobility as an essential service because it was you know, socially distant it would allow people to get around. It was autonomous. So we're seeing cities around the globe carving out more space for micro micromobility creating bike lanes protected lanes. You also see and will see over the 10 or 5-year horizon better integrations with public transit. You mentioned public transit earlier; the ability to sort of link up with and provide a first and last-mile connection to public transit is that's the secret sauce, right? That's how you get people using public transit if it's really efficient and really easy and if it gets you from here to there and micromobility really helps serve in that role. And so I feel like in the next five years ten years you're going to see more space given to micromobility in transportation. I also think what you know what's interesting is that vehicles you know cars they sit idle 96% of their lives that they're parked. 96% of our lives, if you think about how much space is used for simply parking a vehicle such wasted space, especially in an urban environment so instead picture all those vehicles gone for a second, you suddenly have an entire travel lane on the other side of most roads that could be parks. That could be protected bike lanes that could be eateries outside of restaurants; things that we've seen during this pandemic think about all the parking structures the parking garages in urban cores, you know multi-level 4 or 5, six, ten-story buildings used to park cars. Actually could be turned into public housing; it could be public housing, affordable housing. It could be market-rate housing; it would allow people to live where they were such a novel concept, right? So the idea of moving away from the car. That's not used for most of its life, and carving out taking the space that the car over the last hundred years has elbowed its way into I think, is a really transformative 5 to 10-year horizon that we will see in the relatively near term if you think about a hundred plus years get into the mess that we have with a car-centered culture I think it could be unwound much faster and I think it could be unwound in a way that the public will much appreciate with more space more affordable, housing. More places that do the things that we and actually enjoy in cities versus using it for cars.     Seth Cysewski: You just painted a really pretty picture for me. Yeah, let's do it and in 5 to 10 years. I love that. That's exciting, and I like hearing that's you're thought too, is that you know, we're really trending in that direction, and I think I think it's a generational thing too. So that's very exciting. As we wind down just two last questions. I guess the first one I like to ask occasionally is, I was wondering if you had any personal or professional core value values that you operate on or that that you would maybe want to share.     Andrew Savage: I tend to not be someone who has lots of, I don't know, sayings or things of that nature, though there is one saying that I and that I've come across more recently by a physicist.   Albert Sweitzer, who essentially, had said that his life, or my life, is my argument and I really like that the concept of my life is my argument. That resonated with me for a few reasons. It's not to say that I think I'm doing things perfectly. I don't, especially when it comes to sustainability when you start saying you're perfect. You absolutely deserve a giant mirror to look at, but it's more that do want to choose to live your life in a way that's deliberate a way that you're living a life that is in line with your core values, and I think that saying also, in this day and age of the metaverse and all that it sort of it raises the question of do you want to be running around on Twitter making short political arguments or do you want to actually just go live a life that actually has impact. I think that sort of Twitter argument is too easy, and I think making your life. Your argument is the hard stuff, and so while I by no means think I'm perfect and I would say we all need to aspire to do better and we can all look for things internally to our lives whatever, wherever we're at on the sort of continuum that where we can improve, I like the concept of just constantly thinking about all right? How do we live a life that's deliberate and choose professional paths that feel deliberate to us or choose pursuits that feel like they're deliberate in a way that fits in with our values?     Seth Cysewski: So being on Twitter isn't gonna, isn't gonna change it all.     Andrew Savage: Sorry sorry if I knocked anyone on Twitter. I mean, I think you can still be on Twitter and have an impact, I don't mean to disrupt the world order right now with social media. But, you know, I think it it is worth thinking about how much time do you spend on things, Seth, for Twitter and making arguments there. How much are you spending, you know, at a city council meeting or, you know, working with a member of Congress to think about the next policy that we should enact I think there is a balance, and there's room for it all. But I think when you look back on your life I think you'll see more value in the time that you spent not making arguments but living the argument that you want.      Seth Cysewski: Yeah, it's like effort allocation. You know all right? We'll finish up here with last question unless there's anything else you want to get into, and my question would be, what is one takeaway that you would want business leaders listening to know?     Andrew Savage: That's a hard one. At Lime we're laser-focused now on building a transportation future that is shared, is affordable, and is carbon-free, and those anchor points allow us to think about decisions every day that we are making to better the business. And I think for any business leader that is starting a business, that's in the middle of the business; I think it's thinking about: All right, what do you want to achieve as a company? What motivates your employees? What gets your customers excited, and I think then just pursuing that with all focus that you can is the way to have an impact and have a sustainable impact in the future.     Seth Cysewski: That's great. Thank thank you for sharing, and I appreciate it all. Andrew, it has been just lovely getting to chat with you today about all thing, this is great. Do you have anything else?     Andrew Savage:   Of course. And no, I'm good, but it was great. It was great talking with you. I think the conversations that you're having are awesome. I think that the idea of having more conversations around sustainability in business is just so important, and more and more businesses, thankfully are tuning in.     Seth Cysewski: I hope so. I think so, too, though. So that's great. Yeah, thank you for that, and we'll go ahead and put some links in the show notes thank you again for joining. Much appreciated.     Andrew Savage: Thanks, Seth appreciate it.           Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx®   Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com   Check out Coolperx® blog: blog   Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE   Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing!   Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks.   Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co.   © 2022 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today on the podcast we are pleased to have join us, Stuart Landesberg of Grove Collaborative. Stu is the co-founder and CEO of Grove, a leading sustainable consumer products company transforming its industry into a force for human and environmental good. Stu has long been passionate about sustainability and began building Grove in 2012 when he became frustrated that he had to choose between his values and products for his home. He wanted to create a platform that would allow families easy access to healthy, sustainable products. Grove serves millions of households in the U.S. every year and in 2021 alone, Grove's product innovations are expected to save over 2.3 million pounds of plastic. Last year Grove launched nationwide into Target stores and just announced they are going public via Richard Branson's Virgin Group's SPAC. Stu and his wife, Caitlin, live in San Francisco with their two children and dog and spend as much time outside as possible. Stu and Seth had a great conversation about a wide range of topics including choosing to make a difference in this world over just making money, the ongoing toxic plastic crisis, and more. Show Notes: Be sure to visit: Grove Plastic is Killing Our Planet Social Media: LinkedIn Twitter Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. Episode Transcript: 00:00.00 Seth Cysewski Stu, thank you so much for joining the podcast today I super appreciate your time and and being willing to come on in. 00:10.00 Stuart Landesberg Seth pleasure to be here. Thanks so much for having me. 00:10.10 Seth Cysewski First I just want to say ah you congratulations on quite an impressive year so far so you had brick and mortar launch nationwide with Target and then just recently the announcement of going public with the Virgin Group SPAC. So. Wow. Ah, maybe how how has that all been for you and. 00:31.77 Stuart Landesberg You know it's interesting I well first of all, thanks, you're kind and as any any good business operator knows you know if it looks good on the outside that means it's frenetic and crazy on the inside. So you know I appreciate that. But as you might imagine. There's always a million things swirling. You know I started Grove in 2012 out of a spare bedroom and the business is obviously a lot bigger than that today but it doesn't it doesn't feel that different. You know it's is still the same drumbeat and I still am excited to come to work every day for the same reasons and it feels. Feels just as hard and I have to say it still feels like we have just as much work to do. We are still such a small player with so much work to do to change our industry There's it's easy to wake up wake up hustling now. 01:21.95 Seth Cysewski Yeah I I completely understand what you're saying um well that's great because I want to dive into ah kind of a bunch bunch of that today. Um, maybe let let's start with doing this. Maybe you can tell us a little bit more about your company for the I mean for those who are unfamiliar. I can tell you I was talking to my operations manager and she was so excited I was doing this interview. She sent me the most passionate email I'm telling I had to print it off and read it and she was such an advocate for what you guys are doing and and it which is just speaks so much to the culture and what you guys are building there. But for those. Those who aren't writing those emails to me yet. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about about about the company Grove Collaborative. Ah. 02:03.97 Stuart Landesberg Well first of all, you have great people who work with you I just extended high 5 to her. Um, so Grove is a business that sets that has the goal of changing the home and personal care industries to be a positive force for human environmental health and the way we do that. Is we we play in categories like hand soap dish soap bath tissue laundry detergent face wash shampoo dishwasher tabs. All of those products that are in almost every home in the world and we started out by working with great partners like seventh generation and method Burt's Bees, Mrs Meyers to bring natural products to as many folks as possible make it easier to create a healthy habit around those but where the business is really trended over time is to continue those partnerships but build on them by creating our own brands of product that can really represent the pinnacle of sustainability and not just be less bad but actually be more good and for us the. Biggest commitment. There is how do we take these categories and make them completely 0 waste completely zero plastic. How do we make zero plastic dish soap laundry detergent 0 plastic hard surface cleaner glass cleaner shampoo all of those categories and so the business you know is has really focused over the last several years on how do we go through category by category and create and promote and bring consume to consumers products that are 0 waste in categories where historically the choices have been a derived from synthetic and petroleum based ingredients and b reliant on single waste largely plastic single use sorry largely plastic. Ah, for packaging and that's our focus and we've a commitment to be 0 plastic by 2025 and we're making good progress so get some work to do but making good progress. 03:43.88 Seth Cysewski Yeah, no, That's that's amazing. Can you tell me about the impetus to start Grove and maybe like maybe I mean I hear all these great things you guys are doing. But maybe you can tell me more about like the the problem. And it's magnitude that you're trying to solve or maybe multiple problems. 04:01.24 Stuart Landesberg Sure so we play in a really big industry in the category that we're in home and personal care is about one hundred and eighty billion in the us and about a trillion globally in this giant category where about 100% is wrapped in single use plastic and so that's the catalyst and that's the the mission. But the way we got started is you know, much sort humbler and simpler than that I grew up in a family that was I say ahead of its time in terms of realizing that the world is on fire. Well I should say either is on fire or flooding um depending on the week right? Interesting times we love it. Um. 04:35.10 Seth Cysewski Right. 04:39.14 Stuart Landesberg And so yeah I was probably fourteen years old before I realized paper towels came in any color other than brown and I vividly remember as a kid I wanted to be the CEO of the biggest company in the world. Biggest company in the world as identified by Stuart Landesberg in 1997 was Seventh Generation probably doing like $20,000,000 of sales at the time but we had yeah when you're 14 years old, 13 years old that is like 1 SKU from Coca-Cola in the fridge 1 car from Ford in the driveway and like 200 products from Seventh Generation all around the house so that thought it was the biggest company and I've always had a fascination for this category and a belief that it's one that both there's a huge footprint. But also that the products we use around us right in our homes our most sacred spaces with our families our most sort of like special connections. They're not just about how do you get the the spaghetti off your kid's shirt. That's not just about them. Function. But also it says something about you as a mom or a dad or a parent. Yeah, and so how do we create products that that don't just have a lower footprint but also make it really easy for people to join a movement and to believe that they can make a positive impact right? many of our customers and 1 of the things I'm most proud of. Is that we do as what we do better in Texas than we do in California we do as well in Kansas as in New York you know in our best zip codes are if you look at our top ten best zip codes San Francisco California Portland Maine Elmore Idaho right? This is not a business that has one type of customer. And I feel so passionately about making it easy for everyone across the political spectrum across income levels. You know urban suburban rural to be able to to buy products and to embrace conscientious purchase decisions and embrace a life that that. Regardless of sort of your political ideology embraces things we know to be true like using single use garbage that will last forever is a bad idea for things like dish soap that you use for like an aggregate of 20 minutes right so that's it really started. You know I should say with my parents. But as I've come to understand the size of the opportunity and the number of people it touches I I that's the thing that gets me so excited every day. 07:00.68 Seth Cysewski Yeah, no, that's so fascinating. You mentioned that we we talk about that interestingly I come from a promotional product's background and like bunch of years ago we just had this epiphany. It was like look the industry is just selling waste and like when you when you're giving waste to your stakeholders and then like. Putting that on them like if all of a sudden ah that you're making it their problem and their responsibility and like sometimes making more sustainable choices or in in this case like if you you provide a better customer experience. Um, yeah, it's inclusive of everywhere. I love hearing about that that that's that's really fascinating about the the demographics there. Why why? do you think your industry or or maybe the way you think about this or more specifically Grove is um is well suited. Or needed to tackle this problem head on like what why I mean I know you said like ah it's a big industry and it's ah, there's just a lot of single use plastic but anything more specific about um why you guys or this industry really needs to to. 08:13.96 Stuart Landesberg So interesting I view my life goal as leveraging business to solve the urgent environmental problems of the day and we were talking before you started recording and I like look at the world and I'm like we are can I use an expletive on this podcast. We are kind of fucked. 08:14.26 Seth Cysewski To lead. 08:22.34 Seth Cysewski And. Yes. 08:31.83 Stuart Landesberg And like we need to solve these massive environmental problems I have zero confidence in government to do it. So The private sector has to do it and it will be consumer led because it has to be consumer Led and so given that you look around at the most important environmental problems of the day. And there are people doing really great work to decarbonize our energy and transportation economies and that's really important more recently. There's really good work being done to think about sustainable animal Agriculture right? or replacing animal agriculture which is a huge cause of some of our environmental issues. 08:59.96 Seth Cysewski Um. 09:07.12 Stuart Landesberg But the plastic problem is one. That's really hard to tackle if you think about plastic I mean for those who don't know the origin story of plastic is incredible. It was actually created in the 1950 s sort of out of the petrochemical complex and in the 1980 s 09:08.55 Seth Cysewski Is it. 09:25.74 Stuart Landesberg It became clear and they always knew that end of use was going to be a problem in the 1980 s the industry sort of realized that plastic what what happened to styrofoam and you rarely see the big thick styrofoam cups was going to happen to plastic which is that people were going to say. It makes no sense. We're using this It's totally wasteful. You have to throw in the garbage I feel guilty every time I buy a piece of plastic and that would be a massive problem for all of the giant chemical and petroleum companies that profit from it and so over the last 2030 years a giant lobbying effort. Got sprung up by the petrochemical companies to make the myth of plastic recycling which doesn't work in the vast majority of cases viable are not viable but believable right? It's it's like sort of 1 of the original fake news is that plastic recycling works in the early days of plastic recycling. There was just one type of plastic and you could. 10:10.40 Seth Cysewski Um, right. 10:20.10 Stuart Landesberg Only put I don't know if any of you are old enough to remember like you'd only put a triangle on basically like number 1 plastic like a certain type of very recyclable plastic and then the plastic industry lobbied to be able to create you now. Flip whatever plastic thing is near you over you'll see you know number 1 through number 7 2 through 7 are like never recycled but you always put that into the plastic recycling thing. The result is you don't feel guilty but basically all of that plastic is now not recyclable because the cost of sorting is not worth it anyway. I'm down the rabbit hole but I talk about this because the plastic waste problem is one that the industry has done a better job of covering up. Then the animal agriculture industry or the sort of traditional oil and gas petroleum coal like energy industries. But it's huge. We put almost a trillion pounds of plastic in our landfills and ocean every year and almost 40% of that comes from single use plastic packaging. And if you think of the largest contributors to single use plastic packaging. It is my industry right? We have made trillions of dollars by putting trillions of pounds of plastic into and that is unsustainable right? You've heard all the metrics around the great pacific plastic patch the fact it'll be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2020. Excuse me by 2050 microplastics in the what I mean it's it's happening and so I look at the most important problems of our day and see this as one that's not being solved at scale yet. But it's also one that every consumer understands because every consumer. Has a piece of single use plastic I would bet everybody listening to this podcast has single use plastic within ten feet of them right? It's everywhere. Yeah. 11:56.34 Seth Cysewski Yeah, no I I Totally agree I think that was one of the original sins right? The chasing arrows and and and I mean I think if anyone goes to to their garbage. It's plastic that makes up the the majority of everything that's going into a a landfill and and it's um. I Love the you're right I think it it's way under undersolved I mean because recycling is really a myth at this point at least at the way in which they want you to believe it So tackling this this huge problem head on and in in in this way is um is commendable. 12:30.83 Stuart Landesberg I mean I don't know that we'll we'll be successful right? But we're sure as hell gonna try. 12:32.79 Seth Cysewski And yeah, well I just I just watched the new Marvel movie. It was a Shang-Chi I don't know if you've seen it. It's amazing. Okay, so it way exceeded my expectations. So the whole family we watched it but there was just a little. 12:41.73 Stuart Landesberg I have it more. 12:50.95 Seth Cysewski Like a little zen quote in there about like you. You know you're never going to hit the target if you don't if you don't shoot the arrow right? , so I want to talk a little bit about like ah you've grown rapidly and you guys are a large organization now which is which is amazing and because you guys are doing really great work. Um, maybe you could talk to me about how you thought about scaling like sustainability and and those solutions. Um I mean because clearly you've been very successful in your leadership and strategy and maybe you know what's coming next for your company and the broader consumer goods industry. From from a least ah from like scaling sustainable solutions from where you see it. 13:31.88 Stuart Landesberg Yeah, it's interesting. So I would say the reason we've been able to improve our sustainability practices as we've scaled is that we've always made it clear from day zero that this is not an organization that's going to attract people who want to make the most money. This is an organization that's going to attract people who want to make the most difference I mean that doesn't mean you. We underpay our people like we have great people. We pay them appropriately. But if you think about like think about your own friends who what do they care about right? There are people who care about you know driving the nicest car and. May be really cool people right? There's people who care about you know Whatever how the patriots did on Sunday and there's people who really care about making an impact and we've always made clear that our team is going to be full of brilliant people. Want to play on the big stage but fundamentally want their life's work to have left the planet a little different and so when you bring those people in to scale the business because I'm not making basically any decisions in the business anymore company is you know thousand well over a thousand people and. So you know, ah very very few decisions are made by me. So my values yeah and sort of don't matter the way they matter is if I make clear that we're always going to bring in people who are making principled decisions and as those people get more resources hire more people who report to them. We're creating a virtuous cycle. Around going deeper and because I've got you know I think about the person who runs our physical product development. This is one of the like best sustainability thinkers I know and so as we get deeper. He is not coming to me with ways just to be more profitable. He's also coming to me with ways. To be more sustainable and that's the kind of person that not just drives or business results but also drives real strategic progress and in terms of how what I think is next for the industry and I'll get get to what next? What's next for Grove after that I think the reason that ties to real commercial success. Is. We've picked a sustainability vector that also is commercially relevant right? 84% of us consumers. Want us to take action on single use plastic 84% like try to find 84% consensus on any other issue right? Ah, it's impossible. 15:53.40 Seth Cysewski Replace. 15:58.68 Stuart Landesberg But everybody understands like you know it's a bad idea a piece of garbage that lasts 1000000 years for my water bottle like you know, ah, it's um and that type of consensus makes it a commercially viable issue right? So when we get better at sustainability. It also helps our business. 16:14.52 Seth Cysewski Um, but. 16:16.84 Stuart Landesberg And that's where I think the industry is going right? finding ways to build solutions that are genuinely better product for the consumer and also aligned from a sustainability perspective I think that's what's happened in you know animal agriculture with beyond meat and a bunch of the plant-based meats a bunch of the play-based milks you see it in the. Electric vehicles and alternative forms of energy and I think it's going to happen in more and more sectors and I think that's what happened for us right? We can find more categories where we can release a product that's genuinely better and also more sustainable now I'll give you a great example of that a couple of examples of that. Our most recent product launch was laundry sheets and these are the most efficacious laundry sheets in the market laundry sheets have exists for a long time but they didn't work right? So it's sort of like you know tree falls in a Forest There's anyone here it nobody's nobody's buying laundry sheets that don't work but they're super efficacious. And they're affordable to the consumer and there's 0 waste and so this is an easier format than sort of like the you know drippy laundry detergent stuff. Um, and so it's a better format better customer experience. Lighter environmental footprint. We can deliver it at an affordable cost. That's going to drive our sales and it's going to drive our impact and so we'll double down there and do more and more and more and so I think what you'll you can expect from us is to really double down. On places where we can deliver a better customer experience I will say we're committed over the long term to not just single you eliminating sort of single single use waste but also finding true circularity right? And that's probably a 10 to 20 year mission but you you should expect us to start dipping our toe that because there's real work to make that happen. 18:00.90 Seth Cysewski Yeah I love hearing that it's so interesting I mean we talk about these big problems that have to be solved right? and like so carbon being one plastics being another but when I have these conversations I the way I look at it is that like. Circularity is where we're going right? because if you solve circularity none of these other things are a problem they they all just go away with circularity. So I I love the target that you're heading and yeah and it's interesting to talking about like. You said 84% of people want to get rid of single use plastics I was just thinking like France just ended up banning it on on their use of produce and so I feel like feel like there's there's the right momentum and um and just getting people on board is is really important. And and speaking of that you guys just launched your own initiative that includes like a working group as well if I understand that correctly. 19:00.38 Stuart Landesberg That's right? So yeah, one of the things. So a second word in our name is Collaborative. We are an organization that genuinely believes if you want to go far go together so we launched the plastic working group. It's got over 75 members. Some companies are much much larger than we um, some companies are super small. And the goal is to help move the whole industry forward and we want to share our Ip and our challenges and we want to hear what others are doing and really the belief is that if we're able to solve this problem for our industry. We're going to move the whole industry forward in a way that's absolutely necessary and I think you know look it also benefits our business because we're on the side of sustainability right? And so we're happy to see that dialogue elevated. 19:48.80 Seth Cysewski Yeah I think of just the way Tesla did that with EVs you know they they they just kind of kept pushing on and then now everyone's just kind of following in line which is going to make a huge impact over time even though they just started as as a niche you know automaker. 20:02.70 Stuart Landesberg Totally and I mean you know when I first started telling people that we should be 0 plastic I think it was like 2015 and people were like that is a impossible be dumb and see like where do you even start Um, and we like started with a single glass bottle. And I will tell you that glass bottle is one that broke a lot of times but you know you get started and I wouldn't say that I mean we're nowhere near Tesla in terms of the acceptance that the next wave in our category is 0 single use plastic. But I think you know we might be 10 years from it and. I think you know is this being early and being crazy are not that different. 20:44.31 Seth Cysewski Well maybe you tell me where do you think you are right now like ah like talk to me about like where in the process I know you said 2025 you're aiming to be 0 plastic or where are you right now and like maybe what? What are your biggest success there or biggest challenge too. 21:01.42 Stuart Landesberg So I look at our industry as at a bit of a tipping point and I look at our success and target as one really interesting proof point. There's never been a brand in our categories that one with a chassis refill system right? and when I say chassis refill. We will sell a glass bottle that you can reuse forever and then you get a one ounce concentrate and you add your own water for example in the hole in the cleaning categories right? and we were so successful with that in our launch we exceeded our expectations and targets. Best launch in the category. Best repeat rate across conventional and natural brands in the category really just super super strong results and this is a format. That's totally new to a lot of consumers and I see us winning in a mass channel like that. As an interesting tipping point because Seventh generation tried something similar, maybe a decade ago decade and a half ago wasn't it was still in plastic back then but they tried concentrates I should say ton of respect for the folks at Seventh Generation real pioneers in this industry but they tried and it didn't work and you know there's a long history. Sure if you've still seen the documentary who killed the electric car. Love that documentary e v one is actually the name of my home wi-fi network. But like there is such a long history of really great sustainable ability driven innovation that was just too early and so I think we're now seeing. The type of innovation that we're bringing to market be adopted by consumers and that is the tipping point and when you know you talked a little bit about like us going public. The reason we're doing it now is that our industry is at a tipping point and the thing we're doing is coming out of being a niche thing. Into that. What I think is going to become really clear is the new I say Heir apparent but is the new de facto for our category. 22:58.99 Seth Cysewski Oh that that makes sense and and the adoption is is may is a is a huge point to to reach and actually I'm going that I had a question for later but just because you mentioned the going public and it it aligns here I Want to jump out to this maybe? um. You talk to me a little bit about like now that you're going public like what will this allow you to do specifically that maybe you were finding challenging up until now is it just speed. Is it just scale or or is there other other is there other synergies or or things that that. That's going to bring to the table to help you. 23:38.70 Stuart Landesberg So when I think about decisions like this I always think with a long view and 1 of the nice things about being a mission oriented company is it's easy to ground ourselves until our vision statement is that we want consumer products to be a positive force for human and environmental health. It doesn't say at Grove it does. That's the thing we want to achieve and when I look at the opportunity to partner with someone like Richard Branson who you know his mouthpiece is a little bit bigger than mine right. His ability to take a trend validated and show that this is the way the world is moving from a mainstream perspective is incredible and that opportunity combined with our ability as a public company to be more transparent and to be a lighthouse. For other folks is really important to me. You know one of the things that's not sort of like in our charter is you know I'm not going to be the one to solve the plastic problem I'm sure some somebody who's you know twelve years old or 20 years old today is going to solve it help solve it. But maybe they will look at our business. As an example of hey you know you could you can build something pretty interesting around these trends and they'll look at that and maybe they'll be able to attract capital because we've been able to return capital to our shareholders right? Maybe they'll feel more inspired to dream big because they can see how big we are. And it's really important to me on a personal level to create that foundation and prove that by I mean we're not the only ones doing this could be 1 of the companies that helps people who are starting companies today understand. That being a a truly mission driven organization. Not a greenwash bullshit mission driven organization is is ah not just a nice to have but actually can be a competitive advantage. 25:36.20 Seth Cysewski Yeah I appreciate that answer I think that that's that's spot on all right I want to wanna take a ah moment and dive into something that like that i'm. Super passionate about and I'm into and and I think about this all the time because we act essentially as a retailer to corporate. So it's it's a little different. We're not direct to consumer. One of the things that I got to really thinking about years ago was just like all the embodied carbon that flows through us. Every time I need to mate become certified carbon or neutral or climate neutral like no one's asking me about the products that flows through our business right? This has turned into a years long long process. But I started thinking about, extended producer responsibility, and labeling and there was and as retailers like what is our responsibility in that right? Because we're not the end user and we're not the manufacturer so I'm curious to know a little bit maybe about how you think about that. And then if you have any upcoming labeling efforts or initiatives that you guys are thinking about we either within Grove or or within your working group. 27:00.12 Stuart Landesberg It's a great question, it's a really interesting thing and I think fundamentally there's this interesting dynamic where does consumerism and does the way that we live as modern humans. Fundamentally have to make the planet worse right? That's to me the question and when I think about when when we created our vision statement at Grove. The reason we said we need consumer products to be a positive force for human and environmental health not just less good but actually. Sorry, not just less bad but actually more good is because consumerism is just like if you looked at consumerism like is it is it going away I think the answer is no right? You have to find a way to make our existence as modern citizens modern people. Compatible with a long-term future for our species on the planet right? not to sound like overly but I believe that and so as we look at sort of like the things that that we can label and that we can do you know I think first you can start at a corporate level. We're certified carbon neutral. Um, we have like a clear path to getting all the way through our scope 3 emissions using science based targets by 2030. We're like doing all of that stuff at a corporate level that you can do and we don't just track carbon. We also track plastic and a number of our other negative externalities. And it's interesting. You know when you get into sort of the carbon stuff and you're in scope 3 and you're like okay who's responsibility really is it is carbon but like the fact is it's getting created and so somebody has to be held to account to it and anyway and so I think you start with that and then the next piece is can you break it down on a unit basis. So that the organization profiting from the unit is also paying for the environmental cost of that unit and so when we became plastic neutral in 2020 that program was really about how do we charge ourselves and our partners for any plastic waste that they were creating. Create a real financial incentive to get out of plastic because it's interesting. You know if you think about the glass packaging that we use a hundred percent of it is more expensive than plastic the aluminum packaging we use a hundred percent of it is more expensive than plastic and it's not like a little more expensive. It's like 20 or 30 or a hundred times more expensive plastic's almost free. But the end of life of plastic is so expensive and so what we started doing was saying okay, we're going to pay for sustainable end of life basically pulling ocean bound plastic and paying for the recycling of that plastic which is fairly expensive to do but you put that into your cost of goods and so. Creating a different structure where the consumer can know that every time they buy from Grove a hundred percent of those products are not contributing on a net basis to the problem and we because we profit from selling those products we should bear the cost of those externalities and not push it onto consumers. And not push it onto the federal government which is really just another way of pushing it back onto consumers right? who pay for it through taxes we make the money we should pay and so that's how I think about it and you know from a labeling perspective I think the carbon one is probably the one where the industry is farthest along but in our particular category. The carbon footprint of the plastic that goes into it is far and away the biggest contributor and so we we wanted to sort of start there at the biggest problem for our industry. 30:35.25 Seth Cysewski No I mean that makes sense. Yeah, we've thought about that a lot we we run LCAs on there all the products we sell and then and and we yeah we include end of life because I just Don think that if you're unless you're going to grave it just doesn't matter right? You can't just like decide. It doesn't exist like you know push that problem off right? and then. And we then we we offset set all of that through direct solar investments in you know the dirtiest parts of the us grid and I I just think it's like it was really important for us to yeah to to own that and put that in our own cogs right? just because someone has to take accountability. It's it's really hard. Um. So I anyway, thank thank you for answering that I I I don't know what the right? The right way to do it is but I you know, um, it's and it's encouraging that that we're having these conversations and and we're looking at all of this stuff. Um, all right. Last year or so you entered physical retail which has been kind of a trend you know among a lot of the early direct-to-consumer brands I think of like Casper or even Amazon um, what role or assistance. Do you see your physical or your retail presence playing towards your your bigger mission or how has it. 31:51.15 Stuart Landesberg Yeah, so in our category home care. Our most important category in home and personal care about 90% of the category is still shopped in traditional retail a little less than 10 percent is direct consumer in home care. It's only 3% direct to consumer. So if we want to achieve our broad mission then we need to be approachable and accessible to 100% right? And so we're we're lucky to have gotten to scale and the direct to consumer channel has amazing benefits super close to your customer you can test and learn really quickly. You can create the perfect customer experience and you can get the data directly back to an amazing place to innovate but to really scale and really change the problem you have to be broadly accessible and so that was why we went into retail and the role we've seen it play. Is both in accelerating our mission and accelerating our awareness. It's interesting. We've only been in target for Nine ish months now but it's already a number 3 source of brand awareness for us because so many folks see the product on shelf and it's interesting because it's the only one without plastic in the category. And so it's quite intuitive to the consumer. Why we're different and that benefit as we're trying to build our brand as the clear market leader I should say we are the clear market leader to try to stay the clear market leader in zero plastic is so valuable to us. And so we think of it going in both directions right? The brand that we've built online is part of the reason that we've been so successful in brick and mortar right? Millions of people have tried and like the product but also the awareness we get in brick and mortar. Helps drive our overall business. But I think if you start with the end in mind and work backwards. You know how do we solve this problem. It's not by proving. Okay, we can yeah the online 3% is fast growing. It's not by saying cool. We can take that 3% to 5% no we can change the 97% 33:54.74 Seth Cysewski I like that. What's the biggest challenge you're facing right now in your business for Grove and how are you guys tackling it? 34:02.20 Stuart Landesberg So I think yeah yeah I mean the biggest question I think is it challenges focus mean if you look at our categories and you believe as I do that. All of them have to change where do you go first right? I mean. You know, do you want to start with the plastic bottles that you know all the supplements come in. Do you want to start with the deodorant cases right? impossible to recycle. Do you want to start with you know some of the like interesting accessory categories right? Like. Why are we? We sell compostable sponges. Why are people using non-compostable sponges right? but sponges basically made out of petroleum put on your dishes every day like why are people doing that right? So where do you go first and were you know, much bigger than we were ten years ago when it was basically just me and my two co-founders but were still you know? ah. Ah, speck of dust relative to the size of the industry and so making sure we are laser focused on the places that create the most value for the consumer where we have the most differentiated product and where we have the most sort of credibility from a capability perspective to deliver. So we know those best will pay off That's the hardest thing. There's a great quote that I love which is organizations don't die of starvation. They die of indigestion and I think that's always that's always my fear. 35:30.93 Seth Cysewski It's good I just heard I just reheard a quote from Steve Jobs either day talking about the value of saying no for for for strategy you know and like to to to stay focused. Um, no, that's true I mean really because there's a million things you could do. Probably all at once. But but if you're if you're trying to do it all. It's just not gonna work. Um as we wind down here I be a cut conscientious of your of your time and I appreciate your time today. This has just been fantastic. Um, so. You're small in the industry but you're you're not a small company anymore. And you're definitely intertwined and you know in in your industry I would say you know it as as well as anyone when when you're looking into your crystal ball. What what does the future look like for consumer goods and let's say the next 5 and then the next ten years 36:30.87 Stuart Landesberg So I think the next five years will be a gradual transition that looks massive in retrospect right? I think you know the supply chain issues of the last couple of years have really pulled people's focus away from the long term trends. Into dealing with short-term short- term emergencies and I think that we're going to see a real reversion back to the trend that's been happening all along which is that as consumers become more educated. They consistently want products that are better for them and better for the planet right? Education goes up like the internet people listen to podcasts like this. They're like. Oh my gosh I didn't know that plastic was created by the petrochemical industry I didn't realize that recycling was just a myth which is basically a marketing shtick to allow Exxon to sell more oil to whatever chemical company is like turning it into plastic right? Most people don't realize that I didn't realize that for a long time people will learn that and they'll big now. Look at all of this plastic a little differently right now I understand ah so I think that type of education will continue to grow and as it grows adoption of natural products and sustainable packaging will increase and I think a lot of people are focused in our industry right now on supply chain issues and. Those are all real issues with their short term and so I think with a 5 year viewer we're going to see those consumer trends reemerge then with a 10 year view I look at you know some of the legacy solutions the way I think people look at Folger's coffee now, it's not going to go away but most people prefer Starbucks or whatever like you know, fancy coffee chain people go to now right? like that very few people are making the like you know pour the pour the mix in and then pour hot water on and that's your that's your thing right? That's like kind of old school and I think single use plastic packaging in our industry will look that way in Maybe it's a decade. Maybe it's two decades. And I think people will start to think about circularity then the way people think about you know people like I me are thinking about single use plastic now because aluminum is better. For example, right? like 1 of the closest things we are to circularity is aluminum recycling is really good right?  I send you an aluminum bottle it gets recycled I can turn it into another aluminum bottle right? It's actually pretty efficient. But I think real circularity in our industry is going to get a lot closer. Um from sort of like year 7 through 15 than even years 1 through 7 because I think we gotta get. Prove the demand for sustainability first. But I think it's manifest destiny will just take some time. 39:11.92 Seth Cysewski Yeah, it's always interesting I Just think back like because plastic is still kind of a relatively new phenomenon and it was really ah, created to be just disposable and so we're just talking about adding waste to our lives and but there was a time not that long ago like our grandparents were like. They didn't have plastic and everything was fine like you know life wasn't significantly worse for them. But we've just been led down this path and and now we're now we're having to undo it so but seeing single use plastics become obsolete would be Fantastic. I Hope it's 10 and not 20 But I I'm glad to see that that we're heading that way. Um all right? So I kind of will finish off this interview and I guess you know my last question for you would be like what it would be. You're single or you know or a couple if you if you have a few takeaways that you would want other business leaders to know. 40:19.50 Stuart Landesberg I think my my number 1 takeaway from the last decade of my life and I should say I mean now it looks like oh my gosh this has been a big success but like 5 years in we hadn't raised any institutional capital. Everyone's like why did you leave your good job to go like sell toilet paper on the internet you're insane and this didn't work. Right? So like yeah, those were the hardest 5 years of my life and I just want to say like feels obvious now like I was probably a great journey you know messier in truth but I will say that I I look back and you moment like company I feel'll give you a minute to reflect. There's never been a time where I said gosh I wish I was in a more lucrative industry I've never like never I'm just so grateful to get to go in every day and work with an amazing group of people who share my passion. For having our actions hour every day. Our presence have changed the course on some issue that matters to us and I think should matter to everyone and I've never regretted sort of pushing hard for purpose and. Yeah, you can't control all the things right? some businesses fail some businesses don't purpose driven businesses fail purpose driven businesses succeed but I never regret having pushed hard to put purpose at the top of the agenda. 41:46.59 Seth Cysewski That's awesome. Well Stu, thank you again so much for joining us today I really enjoyed our conversation I love all the work you guys are doing I think it's so important as we talked about earlier. I mean this is this is really urgent and you know and it's becoming more and more apparent every every single day and so I love seeing you guys are taking the lead and I'm rooting for you? Um, we're gonna go ahead and you know I'll put all the links in in the show notes and and. You know, including to you know your most recent op-ed about the plastic crisis because I think that that's really important. Um, you know there's really no such thing as too much education around this stuff as it just kind of ripples out. So thank you thank you for being here. 42:32.12 Stuart Landesberg Ah, such a pleasure. Thank you for having me. It's It's always fun. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today on the podcast - I'm joined by Kent Mahoney, the North American Executive Vice President at Proxima, a supply chain and procurement consulting firm. We discuss how sustainability is central to procurement, the current challenges for businesses today to meet their targets and pledges, decarbonization, and the top things businesses should be looking at right now.  At Proxima, Kent is responsible for leading the North American business, ensuring its services align closely with clients' most critical needs. Kent has driven client procurement transformation on behalf of several major providers in the procurement services space.  The most rewarding part of his day is spending time with client CPOs and CFOs, advising them on how to turn Procurement into a cost-optimizing competitive edge. When Kent's not working with clients, he spends most of his time with his family – a wife and four young boys – and enjoys cooking, traveling, and fitness. Show Notes:Be sure to visit: Proxima Social Media: LinkedIn Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today on the podcast we are pleased to have join us, Eddy Badrina of the vertical gardening company, Eden Green. Eddie and I discuss the challenges in food production, redefining “locally grown”, and leadership directed at making an impact among other things.  Over the past 20 years, his career has encompassed entrepreneurial, corporate, and government roles. In 2019, Eddy took over as CEO of Eden Green, which, through its vertical farming technology stack, is changing the way we farm our produce, and feed our communities. Prior to Eden Green, Eddy co-founded and led BuzzShift, a digital growth agency for mid-sized brands and organizations. Eddy's leadership, strategic planning, marketing, and management experience have also been honed through roles at the US Department of State, the White House, and two other technology startups. Eddy, a graduate of Texas A&M University, and the Bush School of Government and Public Service, volunteers his time at Watermark Church; is on the board of directors of Seed Effect, an economic development non-profit; Igniter Media, a media production company; and is a past board member of the Great Investors' Best Ideas Foundation Investment Symposium. Show Notes:Be sure to visit: Eden Green Technology Social Media: Personal Website LinkedIn Twitter Instagram Medium Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today on the podcast we're joined by Jonathan Hanson, the co-founder of the purpose-led strategic creative & production agency Unconquered. They work with some of the top brands in the U.S. including New Balance, Crocs, Lululemon, and more.  We discuss supporting brands in their sustainable journey, greenwashing, the power of Gen Z, the ‘attention economy, and more. Jonathan lives in NYC, has a serious love affair with pizza and finds it difficult to write in the third person despite having dual degrees in Creative Writing and Journalism from Drake (college, not the rapper). Jonathan leads the creative team after spending 10 years as a commercial photographer, director, and creative director. He is most happy when spending time with loved ones and making things. Jonathan is the host and co-producer of Unconquered's podcast, Conquer the Noise, which features founders & leaders from brands including OXO, Avocado Mattress, Getty, Stasher and Boxed Water. He is a member of The Humanity Lab, a contributor to the Forbes Agency Council and leads Unconquered's relationship with 1% for the Planet.  Show Notes:Be sure to visit: Unconquered Social Media: Personal Website LinkedIn Twitter Agency Link Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode we speak Dr. Leonardo Bonanni about supply chain transparency, the growing need to better understand it, how companies are starting to embrace it, and the reality of where we're at right now.  Dr. Leonardo Bonanni is the founder and CEO of Sourcemap. Sourcemap is the first technology company dedicated to supply chain transparency. Their platform is used by businesses and governments to track the supply chains of more than 50 raw materials and manage programs aimed at eradicating forced labor, deforestation and extreme poverty, among other issues. Dr. Leonardo Bonanni has testified before the US Senate's Finance Committee on forced labor enforcement; he hold a PhD from the MIT Media Lab; he has been named among America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs by Bloomberg Businessweek and the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics by Ethisphere. Show Notes:Be sure to visit: Sourcemap.com Social Media: Personal Website LinkedIn Twitter Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode, we talk with Leesa about the Captain Planet Foundation, including its work, initiatives, mission, and the future of the youth in scaling sustainability.  Leesa Carter is the president and CEO of the Captain Planet foundation which she has led since 2012. Under her leadership, the organization has successfully launched the Project Learning Garden, Project Hero, co-founded the Ocean Heroes program to help activate youth, run effective campaigns against the plastic pollution and climate crises, and much more.   She has over 25 years of executive-level experience in sustainability-focused organizations. Prior to joining CPF, Leesa served as Executive Director for the U.S. Green Building Council – Georgia Chapter as a leading advocate and educator for sustainable communities, green jobs and green building.  Leesa is a recognized and respected speaker in the fields of sustainability, environmental stewardship, and youth education programs. Leesa, thank you so much for joining us today! Show Notes:Be sure to visit the Captain Planet Foundation website. Donate to the foundation in several ways: here. Social Media: Twitter LinkedIn Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. Technical Podcast Support by: Jon Keur at Wayfare Recording Co. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Jason Delambre is a Certified Energy Manager based in the Midwest who works with clients to maximize profitability through effective utilization of natural resources and the development of ground-breaking efficiency and energy generation solutions.  Throughout his career, Jason has developed an extensive knowledge of architecture, construction, urban planning, energy, sustainability, and greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies.  During his professional work, spanning more than 350 projects, Jason has developed a unique vision of the greenhouse gas reduction strategies and energy efficiency synergies possible through innovative business, infrastructural, financial, policy, and community organizing strategies.  Show Notes: Be sure to visit: Interdependent Energies, LLC. Social Media: Twitter LinkedIn Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Eleanor Turner has designed for several iconic American brands, such as, Tommy Hilfiger, and J. Crew, to name a few. In 2015, she co-founded an apparel company aimed at empowering working women through stylish and functional clothing, named, Argent. During her tenure at Argent, she assisted in dressing trailblazing women; Hillary Client, Kamala Harris, Emily Weiss and Awkwafina. Now, she is bringing those years of experience to her latest project, The Big Favorite. The Big Favorite has been featured in Vogue, Fast Company, and Marie Claire, amongst many others. Thank you so much for joining us, Eleanor.   Show Notes:Be sure to visit The Big Favorite. Social Media: Blog Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Francis is a sustainability consultant passionate about the magnitude of the climate crisis. He has over 10 years of experience in sustainability research, education, and consulting. Francis' quantitative research skills began when he was 17 when he had his first research positions at Washington University in St. Louis. Later he would continue numerous research positions at the University of Missouri and the University of New Hampshire's Sustainability Institute. Over the years Hellebusch has fine-tuned his techniques for data collection, data analysis, environmental literacy education, public speaking, carbon accounting, and Life Cycle Assessment. In his free time, Francis likes to hike, cook, handline, drink piña coladas and watch the sunset. You can find him on a beach or in a jungle in Central America. Show Notes:Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

This week we're speaking with a former McKinsey consultant, and now founder and CEO of PlantJammer,  Michael Haase. Plant Jammer is a 5-year old Food tech startup that uses AI to help people cook and eat more sustainably. They are a team of 15 data scientists and chefs, based in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Michael and I have a great conversation about food waste, artificial intelligence, and cooking. We may disagree that creating food is art, but he did inspire me to make a zucchini and banana salad with a cilantro lime dressing topped with toasted almonds.  Show Notes:Be sure to visit Plant Jammer. Get in contact with Plant Jammer: Here. Social Media: Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today on the show we have a great guest who I had a really fantastic conversation with. Our guest is Bob Hinkle, Bob is the President & CEO of Metrus Energy, which he founded in 2009. He has over 20 years of energy efficiency and clean energy finance experience and was previously with MMA Renewable Ventures, Bechtel (BEK-TEL), Booz Allen & Hamilton and the California Clean Energy Fund. He has developed and financed over $500 million of energy efficiency projects and programs in the U.S. and overseas. We discuss carbon pricing, carbon offsets, how carbon reduction is intertwined with cost savings and more. Enjoy the interview. Show Notes: Be sure to visit Metrus Energy. Get in contact with Metrus: Here. Don't forget to view Metrus' case study for all of the information. Social Media: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Sam is a mechanical engineer from Montreal, Canada, who has pursued a wide range of engineering work experiences in over five different industries thus far, including working with rockets at SpaceX, energy storage at Tesla, and electric flying cars at Lilium Aviation. Currently, he is just launching his newest project, a board game he has developed a board game surrounding climate solutions based on Project Drawdown, called Solutions. You'll find out more about Solutions in the details below, or by listening in on the conversation in this episode. Show Notes:Visit Sam Levac-Levey's LinkedIn account: LinkedIn Pre-order Solutions by visiting the game's website: SOLUTIONS Inquire with Solution's team: info@solutionsthegame.com Solution's Social Media: Facebook Instagram Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don't forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®'s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Kailey is a certified holistic health practitioner who spent the last 10 years traveling the world over in search of Mother Nature’s most potent cures to modern-day ailments. Her journeys led to her path to becoming an entrepreneur, starting a vegan ice cream company, and creating the first 100% compostable ice cream packaging.  Show Notes:Shop at Sacred Serve: SHOP Check out of Sacred Serve’s recipes: RECIPE For media inquiries: nikki@knackpr.com For wholesale inquiries: sales@sacredserve.com For anything else: kailey@sacredserve.com Social Media: Facebook Instagram Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx®   Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

For those, in the sustainability sector, who keep up on your morning reading, our guest today is one you may be familiar with. Heather Clancy joins us today on Scaling Sustainability. Heather is an award-winning journalist who specializes in reporting on transformative technology and innovation. She’s appeared on Entrepreneur, Fortune, The International Herald Tribune, and The New York Times. As Editorial Director for greenbiz.com, Heather chronicles the role of technology in enabling sustainable business strategy and the low carbon economy. When Heather isn’t writing, you can find her either digging in her garden or possibly scuba-diving with her husband. Heather, thank you for joining us today. Show Notes:Be sure to visit GreenBiz. Subscribe to GreenBiz’s Newsletter. Find out more of what Heather is up to on GreenBiz: about. Check out Heather Clancy’s book, “Niche Down, How to Become Legendary By Being Different.” Social Media: Twitter LinkedIn Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

One of the best parts about hosting this podcast is meeting diverse people with different life experiences that form unique perspectives about sustainability, the world, and life. It is truly a pleasure to meet them and hear their stories.  Today, I have on the John Pabon to discuss his new book and topics ranging from Asia’s sustainability leadership, barriers to growth, and cautious optimism for the future.  A life-long pragmatic altruist, John Pabon’s work has focused on the fields of sustainability, geopolitics, and strategic communications. For the past 15 years, he has advised governments, corporations, and organizations of all sizes. When he’s not working or writing, John is an avid dragon boater, out-of-shape Muay Thai fighter, reiki healer, and proud dad to the world's best Shiba Inu. He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia. Show Notes:Check out John’s webpage Get in contact with John, directly: here Social Media: Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode, we have plenty to talk about. Our guest today is Ian Rosenberger. Ian is the founder of Work, First Mile and Day Owl. Each business has their own unique way of bettering communities, and sustainability is at each’s core, which we plan to go well into within the episode. His biggest focus right is getting Ian’s consumer product off the ground, Day Owl. Day Owl is a consumer backpack created from landfill and ocean plastic, the material collected through First Mile, Ian’s other business. A truly circular backpack of exceptional quality. It turns out they actually originally developed the proprietary recycled canvas material for Timberland boots! Ian Rosenberger is the founder of WORK, First Mile and Day Owl. WORK places the poor into jobs in landfill communities. First Mile has redirected over 100 million plastic bottles from landfills and the ocean and transformed them into consumer goods for global brands trying to find value in authenticity, transparency and responsibility. Day Owl is a direct-to-consumer brand that has created a backpack out of First Mile materials the team hopes will help everybody feel ready to take on the world. Show Notes: Check out Ian’s LinkedIn page Look more into what Ian and the team are doing by visiting their page, here. You can find your own Day Owl backpack by shopping here. Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today we will be talking with Lou Cysewski again! This time though, it’ll be over Lou’s newest venture into YouTube and also Clubhouse, a newer social media platform where like-minded individuals can talk and explore any particular topic you may be interested in.  The show hosted on YouTube is called, Talking Trash. It is a show that explores sustainable efforts businesses are making, highlighting business that are making valuable and responsible products while providing easy ways to incorporate sustainability into everyday life.  Lou is an entrepreneur and activist. She’s also a veteran of the US Army, a wife, and mom among many of the hats she wears all while building a mission-based business. She’s on a mission to show that putting people and planet first can greatly improve your quality of life and save the Earth. She has been featured in 425 Business magazine, The Economist, MoneyGeek, and Forbes and was listed as one of the top 100 trailblazing entrepreneurs of 2021. Show Notes:Please subscribe to Talking Trash on Youtube! Youtube For any further business inquires, please reach out via Coolperx! Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Today we will be diving into the coffee industry, including transparency, labor practices, direct trade, and much more through the eyes and initiatives of one of the sustainability leaders in the coffee industry, Oliver Stormshak. As as you’ll hear soon, he travels all over the world for our morning coffee and to improve the lives of others.  Oliver is Co-Owner, President and Green Coffee Buyer for Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. He has worked in the specialty coffee industry for over 20 years. Studying Food Science in Academia, he was inspired to approach Coffee Roasting in a unique way, looking at the chemical reactions during the roasting process, Oliver invented a new process of roasting process, dubbed, “Caramelization Roast.” He is passionate about improving lives around the world through quality coffee, equitable trading, and global transparency. Olympia Coffee is known for their direct trade partnerships, which allows control over the flavors of their coffee. From varietal selection, to day lot separation, to even experimental processing, Olympia has had great success with finding the flavors they want out of their coffee. Located in the greater Seattle, Washington area, Olympia Coffee is a retailer, wholesaler, and Roastery.    Show Notes: Visit Olympia Coffee’s website: Homepage Read Olympia Coffee’s full story: Our Story Check out Olympia Coffee’s blog to find out what they’re up to next: Blog Follow Olympia’s social platforms: Facebook Instagram Twitter Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

For episode 15 of Scaling Sustainability, our guest today is William Paddock of WAP Sustainability. William’s experience as a sustainability manager lead him to create a consulting firm that provided sustainability leaders and company leaders a one-stop-shop for all things carbon. This is important as more an more companies, and governments are making pledges to get to “net-zero”.    As managing director, William is responsible for day to day management, business development, strategic partnerships and client delivery. His straight forward approach to sustainability offers business leaders a pragmatic, unbiased, third-party opinion that is designed to broaden and accelerate sustainability initiatives. Thank you for joining us, William! Show Notes:Visit WAP Sustainability’s website: Here Get in contact with WAP by: Email Phone: 1 (855) 452-2522 Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

For episode 15 of Scaling Sustainability, we have with us Kate Bratskeir. Kate is a journalist who covers food, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared on several outlets like Fast Company, Huffington Post, and more. Her first book, “A Pocket Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping,” has just recently published. We go over her book, talk about greenwashing and… Corn ice cream?? Show Notes:Visit Kate’s website: Homepage Order her book: A Pocket Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping Follow Kate Bratskeir on her Social Platforms: Twitter Instagram Email Kate Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

On episode 14 of the podcast, we are taking a looking into the financial side of agriculture and farming. Our guest on the podcast for this episode is Chris Rawley of Harvest Returns. Chris is the founder and CEO of Harvest Return, a start-up fintech company for investing in agriculture. His background is a navel officer, and is still serving while running Harvest Return, as a captain in the U. S. Navy Reserve. Show Notes:Visit Harvest Returns’ home page: Harvest Returns Follow Harvest Returns on their social media: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Email Harvest Returns Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2021 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Throughout the series of this show, Real Life Sustainability, we originally set our goals to see how we as individuals, and consumers, can make better choices in our daily lives. As each episode progressed, we have found ourselves more and more delving into the businesses that are making the impact in creating sustainability. Because of this, instead of looking at the consumer perspective, we are shifting our goal to the perspective of businesses and how they are scaling sustainability. So with that, we are changing the name of our podcast as well, from, “Real Life Sustainability” to, “Scaling Sustainability.” We are just at the beginning of this journey and we are really excited to bring you along with us as we venture into this.   Show Notes:Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

Spending time with Trent is always an experience and even after spending just a little bit of time with him, when we met out in Tennessee for the first time, I knew we had to have him as a guest on our show. Before Trent’s current work with Cabriejo Ranch, he had a dairy farm producing award-winning cheeses and he is on board of directors for the American Grass Fed Society. I am really excited for you to hear what he’s doing now. Thank you Trent for jointing us today on Real Life Sustainability. Show Notes:Visit Cabriejo Ranch’s website: here. Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

With over 100 employees and 7 restaurants, and growing, the restaurant group, Toscana Divino Hospitality Group, have found themselves pivoting a little bit more these days. They have always found ways to be sustainable, but now they’ve made sustainability the core of their business. Today, we are speaking with Tommaso Morelato. He is an entrepreneur, and also the founder of Toscana Divino in Miami, Florida. Thank you for joining us Tommaso! Show Notes:Learn more about Toscana Divino’s sustainability mission here. Find out how Toscana Divino is being resourceful by clicking here. Visit Toscana Divino’s website to see what they’re up to: Toscana Divino Get in direct contact with Toscana Divino: Contact Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

“Turning every day purchases into clean energy” is the tagline of today’s guest, Clearloop. Today we’re talking with one of their partners, Laura Zapata, to discuss who Clearloop is, what they’re all about, and how they’re turning around the carbon emissions and getting your carbon footprint back. We are really excited to talk with them today, especially after Coolperx® just announced our partnership with Clearloop. Thank you Laura for joining us today on Real Life Sustainability. Show Notes:Keep up with Clearloop by visiting their news page and signing up for their newsletter: Here Visit Clearloop’s website to see what they’re up to: https://clearloop.us Get in direct contact with clearloop: Contact Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

The products Coolperx sources for companies to give to their stakeholders as corporate gifts have to align with our values. We have high standards for environmental sustainability, ethical business practices, and covetability. When I first found Refresh Glass, their products checked all of those boxes right away. But oddly enough, I can’t recall when I first discovered them. The earliest would be when I was in Charleston with my family, at the restaurant, Husk, and my daughter pointed out how she though the glasses were cool… Sure enough, they were Refresh Glasses. So without further ado, Ray, thank you for joining us! Show Notes:Keep up with Refresh Glass on their blog: Here Visit Refresh Glass’ website to stay up to date: https://refreshglass.com Get in direct contact with Refresh Glass: Contact Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

As the west coast of the United States grows ever more of smoke, debris, and damage from the wild fires, we are finding more and more housing and overall real estate developments deteriorate in a variety of ways. In terms of long term sustainability, we wonder, what is a way to continue development in a responsible and sustainable way? That’s where Blokable comes in. Today we are talking to Aaron Holm, founder and Co-CEO of Blokable. At Blokable, they build housing that solves a myriad of economic, cultural and environmental issues, while creating comfortable, inspiring places that people can call home. They design, manufacture, and deliver fully-functional modular structures that can be configured, connected, and stacked. Their approach to housing removes many drawbacks that hamper traditional housing development, namely lengthy construction time, high material, and labor costs, and production waste and just plain uninspiring antiquated design. Aaron, thank you for joining us! Show Notes:See Aaron Holm on LinkedIn: Here Visit Blokable’s website to stay up to date: https://blokable.com Blokable’s Social Media: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Vimeo Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.

For episode 7 on Seth shares some insight on what he has learned  from his past experiences. Seth dives into what he’s learned from a past project, Vspin, and brings from that lessons he brought into Coolperx® and shares them with us. This is the top 5 things for entrepreneurs to think about with their startups to make them more sustainable.    Show Notes:Visit Coolperx® home page: Coolperx® Reach out to Coolperx®: Phone: 1 (855) 429-0455 email: hello@coolperx.com Check out Coolperx® blog: blog Plus, don’t forget to follow or sign up for my newsletter here: PODCAST WEBSITE Support Coolperx®’s podcast by subscribing and reviewing! Music is considered “royalty-free” and discovered on Audio Blocks. © 2020 Coolperx®. All Rights Reserved.