Podcasts about Natural Capitalism

Meghan Weinman joined Carrix and SSA Marine in 2024 as Vice President of Sustainability. She is an industry leader across the sustainability, transportation, and environment sectors and has worked throughout North America and internationally, including Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  Prior to joining Carrix and SSA Marine, Ms. Weinman was a Managing Director at Edison Energy, leading the Transportation Electrification and Clean Energy Practice. She has also served in roles in management, engineering, and consulting across sustainability and built infrastructure. Ms. Weinman has served as a mentor for the Clean Tech Alliance, an industry advisor at Kellogg School of Management, and is also a frequent speaker on topics relating to sustainability, transportation, clean energy transition, climate, and women in leadership. Meghan Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: The scope of sustainability at SSA Marine and 2030 targets Decarbonization strategies including renewable energy sourcing Renewable diesel and hydrogen fuel options Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals Meghan's Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give to other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Taking on different roles that strengthen understanding of the overall business is always something that would benefit sustainability. I started out in engineering, I went to business school, I'm now in my role today. That has been hugely helpful to understand different parts and wearing different hats and really being able to think cross functionally. With that, networking with other professionals not only in your industry, but adjacent industries. I always learn things when I talk to others in their roles. I had lunch with one of my colleagues who's at Alaska Airlines and we got to swap stories about how they're handling waste management. That was really helpful. Lastly, being a collaborative partner and really looking at how you can solve problems for stakeholders internally always is a way that can benefit not only sustainability, but the business overall.  What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?  I'll go back to the answer that I gave around doing things that are really good for the business, but that can be sustainability initiatives. I get really excited about doing things that can be mutual wins across an organization. I've been working in electric vehicles now for almost 10 years through a couple of different roles, and there's been so much progress that's been made in terms of technological advancement. The commitment from automakers and equipment makers and increasingly the technology is becoming more and more of a mainstay, and that makes it easier and easier to incorporate into operations. It also brings about cost parity. Those are the things that I'm really getting excited about because it really is at a tipping point.  What is one book you'd recommend sustainability leaders read?  I'll give one book in two different categories. One that jump started my interest in sustainability over 20 years ago, and I'm sure this is probably known to most readers, was Natural Capitalism. That really helped me think about sustainability in a different way and really put into perspective the work that we're doing. But more recently I'm enjoying books that are at the intersection of business and can really help in a sustainability role, and so they're actually negotiation books, and you might wonder why negotiation. It's about coming up with solutions that may benefit many stakeholders across an organization and finding solutions that benefit potentially both sides. If you're thinking about how to convince your CFO or your commercial team, really think about it from a perspective of: how do I get what I want in sustainability, and also the finance team gets what they want. I'm going to give two books here, but one of them is Negotiate Without Fear by Victoria Medvec, and the other one is Getting to Yes, which is a classic by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Those are two that I would recommend any sustainability professional think about in terms of their own organization.  What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?  I really do like getting newsletters. I love reading and finding out what's happening across the industry. A couple that I like is ESG Dive from Industry Dive. That one I find to be really great information about what's happening across different companies, a blend of news and initiatives. I also really like Fortune's newsletters. Fortune has a number of newsletters, but one that has a lot of sustainability topics in there is the Trust Factor. They talk a lot about how sustainability and ESG is really paramount to businesses. But they also have other great newsletters too, like CEO Daily and CFO Daily, and they dabble into sustainability in those newsletters, too.  Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at SSA Marine?  You can connect with me on my LinkedIn, Megan Weinman. You can also go to SSA Marine's LinkedIn page or visit our website, ssamarine.com to learn more about our work. Our sustainability report is on there. You can read more stories about things that we've been doing across the company, and our 2024 report will be in there too later on in 2025. 

Jeff Yorzyk has over 20 years of experience in sustainability across a broad range of sectors, and has held leadership roles in both commercial and consulting companies spanning program development, strategic management systems, product sustainability and life cycle assessment. Based in Berlin, Germany, HelloFresh is the leading meal kit provider in the world, operating in 14 markets. As director of sustainability for HelloFresh US, Jeff oversees packaging lifecycle management, operational and supply chain sustainability and regulatory compliance and permitting. Jeff also has participated in building the profession of sustainability, leading sustainability nonprofits such as the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) in the development of the first professional credential for sustainability practitioners, and strategic partnering with GBCI for its independent delivery. Jeff Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: How HelloFresh addresses packaging impacts Life cycle emissions of HelloFresh compare to restaurant or supermarket trips Addressing food waste in production Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals Jeff's Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?  I have two here. Number one is be ready to do anything, get dirty. In my own professional journey, I found that if I took the tasks or the projects that people didn't want to do because they looked boring or hard or just not exciting to people, they led me to some of the most exciting work that I ever did. So sometimes something that looks boring or just kind of a grind at the beginning actually turns into something really incredible. Never be afraid to take those things and, in fact, seek them out. Number two is keep a journal and ask yourself if you're making the impact you want through your career. It's a really broad field, and that's a good question to be asking ourselves regularly. I started my career in environmental consulting in the 1990s. That's really what we had available to us. We didn't have this thing called sustainability, but as I moved forward in my career, I noticed this thing called sustainability evolving and really was able to direct myself into it. So pay attention, keep a journal, and then take the jobs that people don't want because they don't have to be dirty jobs.Those things will usually lead you to some of your greatest successes.  What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?  In a word, it's mainstream. To put a little more color behind that, we're in a fascinating period right now where companies are being asked to make ambitious goals, and they're also being really held accountable to achieve them. We've moved beyond this period of lofty goals and even, to some extent, talking about moonshots. I think for some of us in the field that has been a little bit confusing because the moonshot was this inspiring thing that we were looking to gather people around, and I think there's still room for that. But we're being held accountable as companies to have realistic plans underneath them and to convince people that they're achievable. These high expectations are coming together with these enhanced greenwashing laws to really create this interesting space for companies. I know this has created side effects like what they call green hushing and companies talking less about what they're doing, but I think it's pushing us in the right direction for us to really be a lot more realistic, but still quite ambitious.  What is one book you'd recommend sustainability leaders read?  I'm currently reading a book called the Customer is the Planet. It's quite new and really it has a nice mapping of environmental and social issues against the European ESRs standards. Anything that makes the European ESRs easier to digest and actually put in my brain is welcome to me. If you haven't read Natural Capitalism or The Natural Step or even Our Stolen Future, which are books from a previous century, they're fantastic and they're really great foundational reading.  What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?  I got my MBA in 2002 and that was my pivot from environmental consulting into sustainability. Right about that time, this guy named Joel Makower was starting up this website called GreenBiz. It's now called Trellis. They pivoted into a really network based approach. That has always been one of the key sources that I turn to. That newsletter has been very useful for me to observe things. You watch these things over time, you start to see trends, patterns, you see how things transform. It's really been a fantastic resource. Then LinkedIn. It took me a while to get the algorithm working for me, but it feeds a lot of really good content to me these days. I highly recommend both of those.  Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at HelloFresh?  The HelloFresh website has a sustainability section. You can also go to our Instagram site @hellofresh. They really are great at putting some fun videos and reels in there and TikTok. They've done a great job, it actually gets quite funny. Then of course you can find me on LinkedIn under Jeff Yorzyk.

Erik Distler is responsible for overseeing AEG Sustainability, the organization's corporate sustainability program. In this capacity, he focuses on global strategies and tactics that address operational impacts and capture and measure data across key environmental metrics, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and waste reduction. He also supports AEG's global business units in the implementation and execution of sustainability initiatives, manages external partnerships related to sustainability, facilitates the sharing of best practices, and ensures that sustainability is a source of value across the company. Distler has worked at the intersection of environmental and social responsibility in sports and entertainment for more than ten years. Before joining AEG, he built and led the sports-focused sustainability strategy and program at Nike. Prior to Nike, he was with the Green Sports Alliance where he oversaw relationships with corporate partners, live entertainment events, professional sports leagues and clubs, sports governing bodies, and collegiate schools and conferences, as well as working extensively with ESPN. He also spent time as a sustainability consultant with PwC. Distler began his career in accounting and finance, where he worked for Deloitte and The Siegfried Group LLP for the first seven years of his career. He received his Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Iowa State University, graduating with Honors and High Distinction.. Erik Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: How AEG manages sustainability at large events like music festivals Piloting initiatives at smaller events to apply learnings and replicate at larger events Incorporating reusable materials at events in partnership with Our World Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals Erik's Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? I would say have as many conversations as you can. Sustainability departments are often departments and functions that are in service to the business. We tend to operate as internal consultants. So how can we be everywhere at the same time? How can we ensure that every part of the business has the opportunity to build sustainability into their work? How do we consult to provide subject matter expertise to the business? The work we do within the department is measurement and data and setting sustainability targets and all that kind of exists within our function. But it all starts with having conversations. I wouldn't be afraid to sit down with someone and ask them more questions than provide statements on how they feel, how they perceive sustainability, where they feel as though it's working, where it's not working, what can we do more of that really helped build out our sustainability strategy. Do a little bit of a needs assessment on what stakeholders and partners value. The only other thing I'd say too secondary is, don't be afraid to start somewhere. I think we often feel as though the challenges we're up against are audacious and global and all encompassing, and they are. It can sometimes feel like we're out at sea against a massive challenge on our own  when we think of climate issues. That can freeze one up. It can stifle movement. You can feel like, "well, what can I do? I can't possibly make a difference." It's amazing what just taking one small step can lead to. There's been this kind of backlash against incrementalism in the space, like we need big changes, not incremental changes, but I don't know that I agree with that. I think an incremental quick change that you can grow on and iterate from can turn into something very big. So don't be afraid to start somewhere. Start with something that you can measure, for sure. But have those conversations and turn those small steps into big steps. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? There's a lot to be excited about. When realizing the gravity of the issue that we're facing, I think it's important to find sources of encouragement and hopefulness. There's really no other way. There's a line by Walt Kelly from his pogo comic strip many years ago that says, “we are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.” I use that and refer to that a lot. Try to figure out what is the opportunity in front of us and be optimistic about it. I think there's an excitement around the external forces. They're becoming louder and more influential, and that's encouraging. Our fans, our partners, our sponsors, our artists and entertainers. There's more of a voice and more influence that is being laid upon us and expected from us. I think collaboration is increasing cross-sector research companies that are competitive coming together in a pre-competitive way. Higher education institutions are pulling us in to do research that will help us in our business. We're seeing a lot of that. There's also a healthy kind of push, pull and engagement among our partners and sponsors. There's that untapped space with partnerships and sponsorships where it's determining inventory and the assets and how sustainability can be valued and monetized, but the conversations that we're having with partners or potential partners around shared goals, targets, aspirations, and what we can do together to help achieve our individual sustainability goals, kind of matches up. There's a lot of energy and excitement around that. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? One is Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows. It's a book that'll retrain your brain to consider the interconnectedness of literally everything around you. And then Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins. It's that seminal book on environmental economics. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? I read Green Bizz, 3BL and Triple Pundit. We get a lot of resources from our longtime partner, Schneider Electric. We've worked with them for many years and they have webinars and lots of sessions and thought leadership that we use a lot. I also keep up on the guidance from the GHG protocol, the EPA, the UN. In our space in particular, there are two organizations that are co- holding up the movement, Green Sports Alliance on the sports side and a more newly formed music sustainability alliance on the music side. We look to these two entities to hold and convene us, and there's a lot of good research and thinking coming out of those orgs as well. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at AEG? Our website, aegworldwide.com. There's an About Us dropdown at the top, and we have a somewhat newly revamped sustainability page and more changes coming. We're building out a microsite off that page when we have our next generation sustainability goals finalized. We'll have all that good stuff up there. We also have case studies or what we call sustainability stories up on that page. Also under About Us, you can read about our social impact and DEI functions as well. We have a Twitter account, we recently rebranded it from AEG One Earth to the handle, @AEGSustain or the account name, AEG sustainability. We're trying to get information up there. And of course, LinkedIn is a great place to reach out to myself or anyone from our sustainability team.

Hunter Lovins is an environmentalist and author, the co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, president of Natural Capitalism Solutions, and managing partner of NOW Partners. For decades, she has worked with communities and companies to encourage them to implement regenerative solutions that are not only sustainable but profitable. She is the author of many books, including Factor 4: Doubling Wealth - Halving Resource Use and Least Cost Energy, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, and A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life.Show host Neal and Hunter discuss her family upbringing, which brought her into close and casual contact with legendary activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez. They talked about her career journey, including her time in law school and extensive studies of economics, which set the stage for her influential ideas about the pitfalls of capitalism. They also discussed how citizens and government can shape our economic system into one that is better for people and the planet, today and into the future. For more information about Hunter's work, visit the websites for NOW Partners and Natural Capitalism Solutions.

In this episode of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Hunter Lovins, founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS). NCS helps companies, communities, and countries implement more regenerative practices profitably.Hunter is a consultant to scores of industries and governments worldwide, and has briefed heads of state and leaders of hundreds of governments. Hunter is also the author of 16 books and hundreds of articles. She has won dozens of awards, including the Right Livelihood Award. Time Magazine recognized her as a Millennium Hero for the Planet, and Newsweek called her the Green Business Icon. Her most recent book, A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life won a Nautilus Award. Her areas of expertise include climate solutions, energy policy, regenerative agriculture, social enterprise, economic development, and sustainability.She and Ted discuss ranching in Colorado, small-holder farming, and the circular economy of the soil. She notes that to feed a growing population, we need to restore soil quality, and ultimately reconcile farming systems with natural cycles. She then delves into the concepts of "Natural Capitalism" and "Regenerative Economics," highlighting that the future of capitalism will be built on intact community and adaptive values, with energy efficiency and renewable resources already driving prosperity.

Our guest this week on the pod is Graham Hill. Graham is the Founder and CEO of The Carbonauts which hosts live, vitual workshops that helps people optimize their lifestyles so that we can build a greener future.  And a special thanks to members of the Awarepreneurs Community for sponsoring this episode! Resources mentioned in this episode include: The Beak of the Finch book Natural Capitalism book The Carbonauts site The Carbonauts workshops Treehugger site Paul's coaching services Awarepreneurs Community

Physicist Amory Lovins is Cofounder and Chairman Emeritus of Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization working to transform the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future.He has written more than 800 papers and 31 books, including Natural Capitalism, Reinventing Fire, and Winning the Oil Endgame. For the past 45 years, he's advised major firms and governments in over 70 countries on clean energy—including the US Departments of Energy and Defense and a 7-year stint on the National Petroleum Council—as well as leading integrative design for superefficient buildings, factories, and vehicles. Time has named him one of the world's 100 Most Influential People and Foreign Policy, one of the 100 Top Global Thinkers.A Harvard and Oxford dropout, he's taught at 10 universities, and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Scholar of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University. He teaches only topics he's never formally studied, so as to retain Beginner's Mind—a concept we'll get into in today's conversation. This is a much different side of Amory Lovins than you'll find in other public interviews.In this conversation, we talk about early childhood influences and illnesses, the 15 summers he spent guiding trips in the White Mountains of New Hampshire—a place that sparked his life-long interest in landscape photography and utter devotion to the natural world. I ask him what it's been like to be a pioneer in the clean energy space, facing the almost mythical powers of the fossil fuel industries, the impending threats of climate change, and decades of scrutiny from critics and those with vested interest in the status quo.We discuss biomimicry, natural capital, and integrative design, and the laws of nature that can help us build and live much more efficiently and harmoniously—concepts he discusses using the example of his own home office in Old Snowmass, Colorado, complete with a 900-square-foot tropical passive-solar banana farm inside. Amory quotes environmentalists, writers, spiritual leaders, sacred texts, and the Taoist outlook that keeps him centered and focused in order to carry out his work in the world.RMI.orgSupport the show (https://featheredpipe.com/gratitude/)

Profits should come not from creating the world's problems but from solving them. Companies must ask themselves: Is the world better off because your business is in it? These are just a few of the urgent and inspiring lessons offered by the globally renowned sustainable business author and advisor Andrew Winston in his recent book, “Net Positive: Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take,” co-authored with Paul Polman, the visionary former CEO of Unilever.In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Andrew about the principles and practices of net positive companies that are outlined elegantly and colorfully in his seminal new book. Gil and Andrew talked at length about the growth of clean energy and sustainable businesses, what ultimately convinced Andrew to write his fourth book on the subject, and what makes his co-author's journey so compelling and instructive for others. They also discussed the Golden Rule, why corporate climate advocacy is so important, the failure of shareholder primacy, and a whole lot more. We hope you enjoy this spirited conversation on how businesses can prosper while also helping to confront the massive dual challenges of climate change and rampant inequality. Links:Andrew's Website Book: Net Positive Andrew on TwitterAndrew on LinkedInArticle: Sustainable Business Went Mainstream in 2021 (Andrew Winston, December 27, 2021)Article: Companies Must Find the Courage to Back Up Statements on Climate Action (Andrew Winston and Paul Polman, September 7, 2021)Episode recorded: December 15, 2021

We do not have to sacrifice investment returns for the sake of doing social good. Millennial investors already are starting to understand that we can reduce our negative impact on the environment, and practice social good while receiving solid investment returns.Welcome to the concept of "Natural Capitalism" introduced by Hunter Lovins. On my next episode of the WWDK Podcast, I talk about this concept, and how on the back of Bidens Infrastructure and Net Zero-emission pledge you need to tap in.#sustainability, #sustainabilitymatters, #sustainabilitytips, #sustainabilityeducation, #environmentalsustainability, #sustainabilityinstyle, #sustainabilityblogger, #sustainabilitygoals#regeneration, #regeneratiøn, #urbanregeneration, #regenerationmovement#cleanenergy,

As we rededicate ourselves this Earth Week, here's my 2017 conversation with PAUL HAWKEN (The Ecology of Commerce; Natural Capitalism; Blessed Unrest) about DRAWDOWN: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, which ranks the 80 most impactful solutions - plus 20 others for which there isn’t yet enough data to rank them. This has become a movement with Drawdown groups advocating for solutions, locally and beyond.

Today is an episode of TSP Rewind, commercial free versions of past podcast episodes. Today's episode was originally Episode-2433- Understanding Systemic vs. Natural Capitalism and was originally and first published on May 7th, 2019. The following are the original show … Continue reading →

Today is an episode of TSP Rewind, commercial free versions of past podcast episodes. Today’s episode was originally Episode-2433- Understanding Systemic vs. Natural Capitalism and was originally and first published on May 7th, 2019. The following are the original show … Continue reading →

I feel compelled to post one last extract from the very end of my conversation with the legendary Hunter Lovins - for those who might prefer to listen in ‘chapters', for those who might not have made it all the way through on first listening, and for those who might be particularly interested in the themes covered here. And because I'm still deeply moved by how our conversation culminated. This extract segues directly from extract 2, where Hunter left off talking about trying to figure out how the rest of the world recovers from COVID-19. We explore her brilliant stories and current views of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, Wellbeing Governments Coalition, Regenerative Communities Network, the Club of Rome, Doughnut Economics Action Lab, and how Dana Meadows' famous piece ‘Places to Intervene in a System' was born. Hunter Lovins is a best-selling author, including of the seminal Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. She's also founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions, founding Professor of Sustainable Management at the Bard MBA, a pioneering rancher, and Chief of Impact at Change Finance. Hunter consults for companies and countries around the world, has been named Millennium TIME Magazine Hero of the Planet, and was awarded the 2008 Sustainability Pioneer Prize by the European financial community for her decades of pioneering work. Get more:
 Listen to our conversation in full wherever you get your podcasts, or at our website https://www.regennarration.com/episodes/061-were-gonna-reinvent-everything-hunter-lovins Music: The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra Title slide: Hunter Lovins, sourced at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/naturalcapitalism/finer-future-creating-an-economy-in-service-to-lif Thanks to our generous supporters for making this podcast possible. If you too value what you hear, and have the capacity at this time, please consider joining them, by heading to our website at https://www.regennarration.com/support Thanks for listening!

This is a second brief extract from towards the end of my conversation with the legendary Hunter Lovins. It opens by looking at the tectonic shift that is apparently underway in the capital flows that will back in regenerative economies. Where banks are already looking at the stranded fossil fuel assets they're reclaiming and wondering what to do with them. And where the opportunities on the other side of the ledger grow. I heard Hunter say not long ago that the regenerative economy was already bigger than the extractive one in her home state of Colorado. But that nobody knows. So we talk about how they found out, how they engaged with 90% of the economy on it, and where else this might be true. Along with what to look out for. So much has changed in just the last couple of months, in the world at large and in Hunter's thinking. “Things are shifting,” she says. And “you can see the shape of the future.” Hunter is a best-selling author, including of the seminal Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. She's also founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions, founding Professor of Sustainable Management at the Bard MBA, a pioneering rancher, and Chief of Impact at Change Finance. Hunter consults for companies and countries around the world, has been named Millennium TIME Magazine Hero of the Planet, and was awarded the 2008 Sustainability Pioneer Prize by the European financial community for her decades of pioneering work. Get more: 
Listen to our conversation in full wherever you get your podcasts, or at our website https://www.regennarration.com/episodes/061-were-gonna-reinvent-everything-hunter-lovins Title slide: Hunter Lovins, sourced at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Lovins#/media/File:Hunter_Lovins.jpg Thanks to our generous supporters for making this podcast possible. If you too value what you hear, and have the capacity at this time, please consider joining them, by heading to our website at https://www.regennarration.com/support Thanks for listening!

"We can roll back climate change." - L. Hunter Lovins This is a brief extract from episode 61 with the legendary Hunter Lovins, on the importance of the bio-regional scale – place and community - in creating regenerative economies. Especially now. There are a couple of great stories in this short clip, including more of her own. Hunter is a best-selling author, including of the seminal Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. She's also founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions, founding Professor of Sustainable Management at the Bard MBA, a pioneering rancher, and Chief of Impact at Change Finance. Hunter consults for companies and countries around the world, has been named Millennium TIME Magazine Hero of the Planet, and was awarded the 2008 Sustainability Pioneer Prize by the European financial community for her decades of pioneering work. She also recently took out the Humungous Fungus Award – which is where we start this part of our conversation! Get more:
 Listen to our conversation in full wherever you get your podcasts, or at our website https://www.regennarration.com/episodes/061-were-gonna-reinvent-everything-hunter-lovins Title slide: Hunter Lovins, by West Coast Green sourced from - https://rachelsnetwork.org/hunter/ Thanks to our generous supporters for making this podcast possible. If you too value what you hear, and have the capacity at this time, please consider joining them, by heading to our website at https://www.regennarration.com/support Thanks for listening!

Hunter Lovins has been a highly influential figure for many decades in the regenerative economies movement. She is another guest that I struggle to describe in a brief intro. To give you a little idea, she's a best-selling author, including of the seminal Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. She's also founder and President of Natural Capitalism Solutions, founding Professor of Sustainable Management at the Bard MBA, a pioneering rancher, and Chief of Impact at Change Finance. Hunter consults for companies and countries around the world, has been named Millennium TIME Magazine Hero of the Planet, and was awarded the 2008 Sustainability Pioneer Prize by the European financial community for her decades of pioneering work. I could go on. Oh, she also recently took out the Humungous Fungus Award – and we will talk about that! I heard Hunter say not long ago, before the pandemic, that her research suggests the regenerative economy is already bigger than the extractive one in her home state of Colorado. But that nobody knows! So I asked Hunter if she'd join me to talk about it, along with how things are changing right now, and of course some of her brilliant life story. Like my other extensive conversations with legendary figures in this space, like Hazel Henderson and Paul Hawken, this one drifted into ever more meaningful and heart felt exchanges as we went. I hope you enjoy this journey through Hunter's life, these transforming times, and where we can go from here. Our conversation includes why she ditched being a lawyer and accidentally became a regenerative rancher, her retrospective view on change and approaches to it over the decades (spoiler alert – where were the stories?), and the growing number of calls she's receiving asking how to build a regenerative economy out of the COVID collapse. So much of her thinking, she says, has changed in just the last couple of months - from what's needed to transition towards renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and the finance to back it in, to how she goes about her own life and work. Hunter's is a trans-partisan vision where we're all in for societies that are better for people and planet – genuine prosperity. She's helped set up so much of the world's work to this end – including more recently the Wellbeing Economy Alliance and the Regenerative Communities Network. Dana Meadows' famous leverage points piece – Places to Intervene in a System – was seeded on Hunter's whiteboard. This prompts a moving conclusion to our conversation reflecting on some of Dana's profound insight. We're up against it, but we can still make something good of this situation, Hunter believes. Tectonic shifts are upon us. So where and how do we go from here? This episode was recorded online on 7 May 2020. Get more: Hunter's organisation, Natural Capitalism Solutions - https://natcapsolutions.org/ Her most recent book ‘A Finer Future: Creating an economy in service to life' - http://ourfinerfuture.com/ John Fullerton's 8 principles (or qualities, as he's currently speaking of them) of a regenerative economy - https://capitalinstitute.org/8-principles-regenerative-economy/ Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) - https://wellbeingeconomy.org/ Regenerative Communities Network - http://fieldguide.capitalinstitute.org/regenerative-communities-network.html Music: The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra. Thanks to you, our generous supporters, for making this podcast possible. If you too value what you hear, and you have the capacity at this time, please consider joining them, by heading to our website at https://www.regennarration.com/support. And get in touch any time by text or audio at https://www.regennarration.com/story Thanks for listening!

面對即將枯竭的天然資源，我們期待「綠色資本主義」（Natural Capitalism）帶來下一個工業革命。從更有效率、循環回收、處理、充分運用天然資源，轉化使用、儲存大自然的熱能與動能，調整畜牧、農業的生產與自然環境共生、共存的關係，將為我們帶來雙贏結果，讓我們的經濟蓬勃，生活更舒適，環境也變得更乾淨、更安全、更美麗。

面對即將枯竭的天然資源，我們期待「綠色資本主義」（Natural Capitalism）帶來下一個工業革命。從更有效率、循環回收、處理、充分運用天然資源，轉化使用、儲存大自然的熱能與動能，調整畜牧、農業的生產與自然環境共生、共存的關係，將為我們帶來雙贏結果，讓我們的經濟蓬勃，生活更舒適，環境也變得更乾淨、更安全、更美麗。

We could use some good news. According to the four scholars who wrote A Finer Future, we are already experiencing some of the dramatic changes our system must undertake in order for our planet to meet the needs of future generations. This episode features a conversation with L. Hunter Lovins about the wellbeing economy and how sustainable behavior makes good business sense. Interestingly, this book grew out of a homework assignment from the King of Bhutan. Please think of us in your year-end giving. GrowthBusters is a non-profit project funded by YOU. DONATE HERE Hunter Lovins is President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions. She co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute, and co-authored (with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins) the landmark book, Natural Capitalism. Lovins consults on sustainability for corporate giants and world leaders. She also finds time to serve as professor of sustainable business at Bard MBA. This conversation was recorded in February of 2019, with introduction and close recorded in December of 2019.   LINKS: A Finer Future – book, blog, resources Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY): Modeling Inequality and Use of Resources in the Collapse or Sustainability of Societies - Study Wellbeing Economy Alliance Capital Institute Club of Rome The Limits to Growth The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update A Finer Future report for/by Club of Rome Happy Planet Index Global Alliance for Banking on Values Business End of Climate Change - Study Green Illusions by Ozzie Zehner Planet of the Humans - film Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter   Subscribe (free) so you don't miss an episode:

Frank has spent over 27 years working with residuals management and composting both in operations management as well as sales and marketing. In 1993, he started North Carolina’s first source separated organics composting facility. As past principal of Akkadia Consulting, Frank provided professional consulting services on projects of animal waste management, biosolids management, coal ash residuals, composting of industrial residuals, product development and marketing. He has facilitated the turnkey start-up of award winning composting facilities, taking them from concept to feasibility to operational, overseeing permitting, equipment selection, hiring and training of personnel, as well as the development and execution of the product marketing plan. Frank also managed the Novozymes’ Nature’s GREEN-RELEAF™ composting facility from 2003-2015. In 2014, Frank was the recipient of the Hi Kellogg Award for displaying outstanding service to the US composting industry over a period of many years. He has a BS in Plant and Soil Sciences from West Virginia University. Frank Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: The work of the US Composting Council The state of composting in the US Roadblocks and challenges to composting Getting composting started in your community Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Frank's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Build on your knowledge base. Each job should get you the next job. In your first job, you should learn and network to your second job, third job and so on. Go to seminars and conferences based on your job or your topic of interest. When you go there, find a mentor. I've found a lot of mentors over the course of my career. I really didn't know a lot about composting. I did a lot of reading and networking/talking to mentors. Once you become fluid in your subject topic, book speaking engagements and get certified in your subject area. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? The millennials and the young professionals. We have a young professionals group at the US Composting Council. I just think that they're interested in making our world more sustainable. I'm impressed by their passion and their drive. I'm also excited about how big brand companies are really starting to embrace sustainability at the corporate level and also within their products. I'm seeing more and more of the big brand names worry about their packaging and their processes. A lot of that has to do obviously with shareholders and those kinds of issues. I think we're getting there. It's a slow turn, but we're getting there. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? The one that really impressed me the most is Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken in 2008. If you go back and read that book, he's predicting stuff in 2008 that's happening now. I've read Cradle to Cradle and Upcycle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. I'm now reading Drawdown, which is coauthored by Paul Hawken and Katharine Wilkinson. Katharine will be our keynote speaker at our conference in Charleston in January. What are some of your favorite resources or tools it really help you in your work? There's a group called the American Society of Association of Executives, or ASAE. They're a great resource for me because I don't have a lot of experience managing associations, so I use them a lot. They've got a great resource and reference area to go to. We just got a new association management system called Your Membership. That's exciting because it has a learning management system in there. It helps us manage our information a lot easier. Google docs, Google sheets and we use Basecamp a lot for external resources as well as working with our committees. Where can people go to learn more about you and your work? I'm on LinkedIn so please link in to me. The Composting Council's website is www.compostingcouncil.org. Our foundation is www.compostfoundation.org. If you're interested in our conference it's www.compostconference.com. If you go to our website, we have YouTube. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram, and we're on LinkedIn, both the foundation as well as the council. About Sustridge Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

You know the story: there’s a bright college student who drops out of an Ivy League school to embark upon an entrepreneurial journey, founding his own company and building it into a major success along the way. No, we’re not talking about Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates here.  Instead, we’re talking about Tom Szaky, an immigrant whose family fled Hungary after the Chernobyl disaster, eventually sending him to Princeton, where he dropped out to launch his startup called TerraCycle. Their goal, as the company touts, is to make “recycling the unrecyclable not only feasible but desirable and profitable!” The basic idea is to take trash that no else is going to recycle and find ways to profitably reuse or recycle it.  While Tom founded TerraCycle as a teenager, the company is now partnered on such trash repurposing projects with major brands like Coke, Pepsi, Proctor & Gamble, and more. As a result, TerraCycle now has more than 300 staff and brings in nearly $50 million in annual revenue. Hear their story in this latest episode! Mentioned in this episode HBO’s Chernobyl series Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken The Future of Packaging by Tom Szaky  Birds using cigarette butts to line their nests to prevent mites TerraCycle’s Loop program

Tom Szaky is founder and CEO of TerraCycle Inc., a leader in eco-capitalism and upcycling. In 2001, Tom left Princeton University as a freshman to launch a worm-poop-based fertilizer company. In 2007, the company expanded to start collecting difficult-to-recycle consumer packaging. Today the company collects more than 50 different waste streams in 20 countries. Born in Budapest, Hungary, his family emigrated to Holland and then to Toronto. In TerraCycle’s quest to make sustainability accessible, they created Loop—a never-before-seen venture to combat single-use waste. For the first time ever, consumers can receive their favorite products from trusted brands in durable, reusable packaging. By creating this circular, durable model, we’ve closed the Loop on e-commerce shopping. Tom Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: The evolution of TerraCycle from a vermicompost company to a global leader in circular economy innovation The development and launch of Loop Engaging some of the world's largest consumer brands and retailers in the Loop program Challenges to overcome for a truly circular economy Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Interview Highlights: I know a lot of our listeners have heard about the new program that's being launched called Loop, led by TerraCycle and a number of corporations that you've partnered with. Can you just give us a little overview of what Loop is and how that came about? You can find out more at loopstore.com. Loop is an engine. The simplification of it, it's like trying to bring the milkman back in a very modern way where you're packaging isn't a disposable single use, but it's a durable multi-use, and it's something that the manufacturer will take back. Loop came about a few years ago when we were debating whether recycling and making things from recycled materials is the solution to waste. We realized that recycling is critically important and we need to do it. We need to do in a big way. But it's solving waste at the symptom level, not at the root cause. So, while it is important to do that, we also need to in parallel come up with ideas that can help shut off the idea of waste all together. That's really how Loop was born. We took a big journey to think about, "What is the root cause of waste?" We landed on the practice of using something once. Then the question became, "Why are we so addicted to using something once?" We understood that it was because of its unparalleled convenience and affordability, which is why disposability really won in everything from clothing to consumer products to almost everything. So, Loop had a thesis question. The question to answer was, "How do we solve for the unintended consequences of disposability, which is the waste crisis, but also a decrease in the quality of packaging and the performance of packaging while maintaining the virtues of disposability, which is affordability and convenience?" The big breakthrough came in simply asking the question, "Why do we want to own things that we don't really want to own the moment they're empty?" Do we want to own our coffee cup the moment we finished drinking our coffee? Do we want to own the candy wrapper at the moment there's no candy left to eat? With Loop, which just launched two weeks ago in Paris and then a week ago in the northeast of the US, we're working with most of the world's biggest manufacturers to create durable, multi-use versions of their products, from your Tide laundry detergent to your Tropicana orange juice and so on. Those products then become available through major retailers in the US like Walgreens, Kroger and Tesco in Europe and many others that we'll be announcing throughout the coming months, With purchasing through the loop program, they may not be paying for packaging, but of course there's the distribution aspect that might add some costs. Is there a higher cost for similar products or a lower cost? What is the difference in cost look like? So, it's yes and no. As I mentioned at the beginning Loop is an engine. It's an engine for brands to create durable versions of their products. That's pretty intuitive. Now, the apples to apples comparison from a cost point of view is that in a normal shampoo bottle, in the price of your shampoo is the entire plastic bottle. As a consumer, you pay for 100% of it as a cost of good. In Loop, what you pay for is the depreciation of your durable bottle plus the cost of cleaning. In some cases that's more and in some cases it's less. Obviously with volume it gets closer to the latter than the former. That's on the product. On the distribution side, Loop is an engine for retailers. So, today in the United States, Walgreens and Kroger are our founding retail partners and they have started the model with what's called the standalone Loop model, where basically they promote Loop on their websites and send traffic to loopstore.com where we act as the retailer. It's called standalone because it stands alone from the retailer's operations. Here there is a little bit more distribution cost because we have to ship all the packaging to you and then of course pick it up so that it can be cleaned and then sent for refill. This is still about 75% better for the environment because you avoid the entire waste management system and having to create products from scratch, but there is a little bit more distribution costs. Now, the key for scale up and to avoid those costs is to move to what we call the integrated models. We will be moving there with Carrefour which is a major French retailer from mid September to mid October, where they start doing what retailers do, which is buy the products and distribute them. They even do the pickups of the dirties through their own fleet, which means no new trucks on the road. We then do what no one does today, which is pick up the dirties, sort them, store them, clean them and then provide them back to the manufacturing companies. Here you're actually avoiding transportation and then when it starts moving in-store, the consumer is really the one picking up the full packages and then returning the empties to the store. So, the lesson here is we're really trying with Loop to not do anything anyone does today and instead leverage what people are already good at. We let vendors do what they're good at, which is making product, getting them to a distribution center and marketing them, and have retailers do what they're really good at, which is take it from a distribution center and get it into a consumer's hand at a great price. Then, we do what we're good at, which is effectively managing that platform as well doing the waste management function, but instead of recycling it would be cleaning. What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? I think that I would recommend framing whatever activity that you're going to bring to your company in the lens of the person paying the bill. Not In sustainability, because it's almost never sustainability, but framing it in the way the person who is funding it will understand and appreciate. Then, show them that they can win in their normal KPIs through sustainability, and not doing it just because it's the right thing to do. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? Well, I'm excited for companies being open to completely new ideas and new ways of thinking and really challenging foundational business models. I think we're at a time where there's more reception to that than I've ever seen in the past decade and a half. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? I think a really important thing to think about is how to collaborate and how do you motivate, not just your organization, but competitors and other stakeholders. I think that's one of the biggest sort of functions sustainability folks need to be very good at and making sure that the outcome is not just discussion but action. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work that you're doing at TerraCycle and Loop? If they're interested in TerraCycle, which is all about the collection and recycling of hard to recycle materials and the integration of those materials back in the consumer products, you can visit TerraCycle.com. If you're interested in Loop, which is a division of TerraCycle, which is all about reuse, then you'd visit loopstore.com. About Sustridge Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

I had to think a bit about the title of today’s show.  It was spawned by this quite anti capitalist article at The Exiled.  Let me say I feel the author Yasha Levine is coming at things from a leftist … Continue reading →

Today my guest is Paul Hawken. Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, and activist. Paul is the author of at least eight books, many articles, blog posts. President Bill Clinton called his book, Natural Capitalism, one of the five most important books today. Paul’s latest book is called Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed … Continue reading "Paul Hawken: Live Fearlessly"

Historically, civilizations collapse when there are high levels of inequality and depleted resources. Hunter Lovins argues that we either solve the climate crisis now, or we lose everything we care about. But the good news is, we CAN build an economy in service to life, one that reverses climate change—at a profit. Hunter is the President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, a nonprofit dedicated to the development of innovative climate change and sustainability solutions for companies, countries and communities. A renowned author and champion of sustainable development, Hunter has 35-plus years of consulting experience in the realm of sustainable agriculture, energy, business, water, security and climate policy. She lectures regularly to audiences around the globe and serves as a professor of Sustainable Management at Bard MBA. Time Magazine recognized Hunter as a Millennium Hero for the Planet, and Newsweek referred to her as the Green Business Icon. Today, Hunter joins Ross, Christophe and Paul to discuss her work helping to design MBA programs in sustainability and walk us through the fundamentals of the Bard program in New York City. She share the impetus for her new book, A Finer Future, explaining how we can solve climate change quickly AND at a profit. Listen in for Hunter’s insight on the eight principles of regenerative capitalism, the role of human dignity in Gross National Wellbeing, and what YOU can do to support a regenerative economy in your local community.   Connect with Nori  Nori Nori’s Republic Campaign Nori on Facebook Nori on Twitter Nori on Medium Nori on YouTube Email hello@nori.com Nori White Paper Subscribe on iTunes   Resources Natural Capitalism Solutions A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life by Hunter Lovins, Stewart Wallis, Anders Wijkman and John Fullerton Bard MBA in Sustainability John Lewis David Brower Earth Island Institute Rocky Mountain Institute Richard Gray Presidio Graduate School Conference of the Parties on Climate Change Laura Gitman Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index IPCC Report on Climate Change HANDY Thought Experiment Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity Dr. Robert Costanza Jacqueline McGlade Richard Wilkinson Kate Pickett The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett Chris Laszlo Andrew Winston   Key Takeaways [1:35] Hunter’s path to reversing climate change Mother worked in coal fields with John Lewis Father mentored Chavez and King Worked with David Brower in 1960’s Created Rocky Mountain Institute, Natural Capitalism  [4:28] Hunter’s work creating MBA programs in sustainability San Francisco in 2002, first accredited program Idea to bake sustainability into all classes (vs. add-on) Eventually created own business school in Bard [7:08] The fundamentals of the Bard program Diversity of students (Wall Street, entrepreneurs, NGOs) Teaches to drive change in world Use city as living lab (i.e.: sustainability consulting)  [9:15] The impetus for Hunter’s book, A Finer Future Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness High levels of inequality + overrun resources = collapse Tasked with reinventing global economy Global team of scholars build economy in service to life Solve climate crisis at profit (better business) [15:28] How to solve climate change quickly at a profit Fall in cost of solar, storage (e.g.: batteries) Electric and driverless cars Carbon storage through regenerative agriculture Apply science of holistic grazing to grasslands [30:53] Hunter’s take on the appeal to greed Neoliberal narrative of ‘greedy bastards’ is wrong Pre-human species that survived cared for good of whole Move toward genuine equity, safe and just space for all [33:19] Nori’s aim to blend economics with meaning Humans drives to acquire, defend, bond + make meaning ‘Global weirding’ of weather (i.e.: hurricanes, draught) Solve climate crisis OR lose everything we care about [36:31] Hunter’s insight on the original neoliberals Good intentions to fight what had trashed planet Missed individual human dignity core to sense of happiness [38:58] John Fullerton’s eight principles of regenerative capitalism Right relationship Holism Empowered participation Edge effect abundance Circularity Seeks balance Ability to entrepreneur Honors place [45:02] Hunter’s call to action for listeners Join WEAll, build own regenerative economy locally More interconnected = more resilient

Hunter Lovins On Our Finer Future Hunter Lovins, President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, believes that citizens, communities and companies, working together within the market context, are the most dynamic problem solving force on the planet. A champion of sustainable development for over 35 years, Lovins has consulted on business, economic development, sustainable agriculture, energy, water, security, and climate policies for scores of governments, communities, and companies worldwide. Time Magazine recognized her as a Millennium Hero for the Planet, and she has won the Rachel Carson and Right Livelihood awards, among dozens of others. Lovins has co‐authored fifteen books and hundreds of articles. Her best known book, Natural Capitalism, won the Shingo Prize. It has been translated into a more than three dozen languages and summarized in the Harvard Business Review. Bard MBA Director Eban Goodstein spoke with Lovins about her trailblazing work in sustainability and her latest book, A Finer Future, which was released in September. impactreportpodcast.com

Paul Hawken is an author, entrepreneur, and environmentalist whose books include Natural Capitalism, The Ecology of Commerce, and the New York Times bestselling Drawdown. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Paul about the spiritual origins of his lifelong devotion to the natural environment. They talk about Project Drawdown—Paul's far-reaching plan to reverse global warming—and the fact that climate change is an alarm bell telling humanity it needs to transform itself. Paul explains that dealing successfully with climate change won't just involve phasing out fossil fuels, but also reorganizing the systems of labor, culture, and economics that led us to this point. Finally, Paul and Tami discuss why life regenerates life and how we as a species can rise to the challenge of our present crises. (73 minutes) Tami's Takeaway Most of the time, when I hear people talk about climate change, I feel some combination of fear, helplessness, and resignation. Listening to Paul Hawken, I felt activated and turned on. As he says, it's not about "game over" for the human race, but "game on" . . . and how this is a time when we are called to step forward into our greatest human capacities and possibilities. Paul Hawken transmits the beauty, flow, and regenerative power of the natural world in a way that is contagious. When the interview was over, I felt like everything around me was in a shimmering fluid state, in unstoppable regenerative flow.

This weekend when folks in communities around the world take part in a Global Day of Climate Action, you'll hear my October 2017 conversation with PAUL HAWKEN (The Ecology of Commerce; Natural Capitalism; Blessed Unrest) about his research project and best-selling book: DRAWDOWN: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, which ranks the 80 most impactful solutions - plus 20 others for which there isn't enough data yet to rank them.

As Director of Sustainability at Las Vegas Sands Corp., Pranav Jampani is part of an all-star team of leaders and responsible for leading the Sands ECO360 Global Sustainability program. Sands ECO360 encompasses four pillars: Green Buildings, Environmentally Responsible Operations, Green Meetings, and Stakeholder Engagement. Pranav Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: Sustainability leadership in the Las Vegas resort industry Leading large facilities towards zero waste Smart water management for operating in the desert Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Pranav's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? We have talked about sustainability in length, and I'm sure you and I agree that without any doubt sustainable businesses are more profitable, productive, and better equipped to face future challenges. So one piece of advice I would give is to position sustainability as a driver for innovation. We are seeing so many new startup companies whose main business model, or at least one of the primary guiding principles, is focused around sustainability and they're able to generate significant economic value and also receiving huge amounts VC funding. And similarly, I think innovation also plays a wider role in maximizing the value of sustainability, be it promoting this responsible production and consumption, cost rationalization, operational efficiency, nurturing and rewarding employees, ensuring ethical and sustainable sourcing, generating economic value or reducing environmental impact. So I truly believe that innovation and sustainability go hand in hand and both must be at the heart of any organization and must be happening in all friends and touching every part of the business. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I think sustainable business continues to be exciting and inspiring to watch as corporate leaders continue to push the barriers of what's possible, including transforming themselves into net positive and regenerative enterprises. Obviously we see more and more companies continuing to ratchet up their commitments and achievements when it comes to renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable supply chains, water stewardship, the circular economy and other aspects of a sustainable enterprise. But I would say that one thing I'm most excited about is the circular economy and applying those concepts and principles at our organization. I think there's a growing awareness in the business community that the circular economy is not only here to stay, but it will continue to gain traction in the coming years. And clearly companies are moving away from the traditional cradle to grave, make-use-dispose economic model to a more circular strategy. So, I'm most about circular economy. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? That's a really difficult question because I have a lot of favorite books, but I am really a fan of Paul Hawken. I truly think he's a great visionary and a brilliant voice for finding real solutions for our problems. His books including The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism are, in my opinion, really beautiful, inspiring and deeply satisfying reads. I recently read his new book called Project Drawdown. The book actually describes the hundred most substantive solutions to global warming based on some of the great research done by leading scientists and policy makers around the world. For each solution the book actually describes its history, the carbon impact it provides, the relative cost and savings, the path to adoption and how exactly each of the solution works. I would recommend Project Drawdown to anyone who wants to get an understanding of what they can do to make an impact.  What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in the work that you do? There are tons of really invaluable resources out there. Some of my favorite resources include the US Green Building Council, who administers the LEED certification programs. I also really like the Department of Energy, as they do tons of energy efficiency and renewable energy research and are continually developing innovative cost effective energy saving solutions. On the sustainable procurement side of things, I like the Sustainable Procurement Leadership Council as they have comprehensive literature on sustainable purchasing guidelines, training tools to help organizations to implement strategic, sustainable procurement programs. For the emerging sustainability leaders or seasoned professionals who are looking for any leadership programs, I would recommend Harvards Sustainability Leadership Program. I've went through this program and the program is for senior leaders who are or trying to integrate sustainability their core businesses as a driver of innovation and growth.  So really the leaders can learn powerful new strategies for enacting high impact sustainability leadership that positions sustainability is a driver of organizational engagement in authenticity, innovation, and also change capability. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work that you're leading at Sands Corporation? The best place to look up information about me would be my LinkedIn profile. I also have a twitter account which is @pranav_jampani. And if anyone wants to get in touch with me, they can email me on LinkedIn, and also if anybody is interested in learning more about the ECO360 sustainability program they can always go to sands.com.

Today we have a special episode of Sustainable Nation. We're talking sustainability in sports and the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference. Consistent with its reputation as the conference of champions, the PAC-12 is the first collegiate sports conference to convene a high level symposium focused entirely on integrating sustainability into college athletics and across college campuses. All of the PAC-12 athletic departments have committed to measuring their environmental performance, developing strategies and goals to reduce their impact and monitoring their progress in engaging fans and communities in greener practices. The PAC-12 sustainability conference signals in elevated approach to enhancing sustainability efforts within collegiate athletics departments, designing new collective initiatives and sharing best practices to transform college sports into a platform for environmental progress. Today we're interviewing two members of the PAC-12 sustainability conference committee, Dave Newport and Jamie Zaninovich. Jamie Zaninovich - Jamie joined the PAC-12 Conference as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer in July of 2014. He's responsible for all aspects of the PAC-12's administrative operations, including television administration, sports management, championships, football bowl relationships, PAC-12 global, compliance and officiating. During his first two years at the PAC-12, Jamie helped guide the conference through unprecedented governance changes, major increases in its international efforts, and continued high level success of its 23 sponsored sports. Dave Newport - Dave launched the first US college sports sustainability activation with corporate partnership for the Florida Gators when he was the University of Florida's director of sustainability in 2002. Later he became director of the University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center and founded the nation's first comprehensive NCAA Division One sports sustainability program, Ralphie's Green Stampede. Dave is also secretary of the Green Sports Alliance board of directors, former board secretary of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, an award winning publisher and editor and a former elected county commission board chairman. Jamie Zaninovich Jamie Zaninovich. Welcome to Sustainable Nation. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Josh. Looking forward to it. I gave the listeners some background on your professional life but tell us a little bit about your personal life and what led you to be doing the work you're doing today. College sports has been a passion of mine since my early days in Eugene, Oregon where I was a faculty brat, son of a faculty member who played basketball in college back in the day and used to take me to all the games at the old historic Matt Court and Autzen Stadium in Eugene as a kid. So that's really where my passion for collegiate athletics started, and I was not a good enough to be a collegiate student athlete, so of course, decided to be an administrator instead. That's how it works. I've spent the last 25 years working both on campus and in college athletic conferences starting at Stanford and then Princeton University, and now here at the PAC-12 for the past four years. Like I said, it's a passion of mine as is sustainability, so we're really excited that we're at least making some progress in putting those two things together here at the PAC-12. And now the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference coming up in July. Really the first sustainability focused conference put on by a collegiate sports conference, the PAC-12. Tell us a little bit about how that came about and what people can expect at this year's PAC-12 Sustainability Conference. It's really a reflection of our 12 schools who have taken a leadership position in sustainability, and sports sustainability more specifically, in the collegiate space. So when I came to the PAC-12 four years ago, Dave Newport is the sustainability director at Colorado, showed up on our doorstep and said, "Hey, I'm not sure if you knew this, but all 12 of our PAC-12 schools are members of the Green Sports Alliance. That's the only conference in the country that that's the case and you guys should really look at doing something in this space." So, we said, "Yeah, this is interesting." Myself and Gloria Nevarez, who formerly worked at the PAC-12, both have a passion for sustainability having grown up on the west coast. We sort of took Dave's lead. The PAC-12 at that point joined the Green Sports Alliance and started looking at what a plan could be for us to take a leadership position, really reflecting what our schools have already done. So we created an informal working group within our schools of sustainability officers and athletics department reps. They suggested having a first of its kind conference, so we did that last year in Sacramento at the LEED platinum Golden One Arena just ahead of the GSA annual conference, and that went very well. From there we started thinking about do we do this again and what could come next? So we'll have our second event this year in Boulder, July 12th. It's going to be a great group of on campus athletics reps, sustainability professionals and industry folks. We have some really great panels lined up including two former NBA players, in Jason Richardson and Earl Watson, two former gold medalists, in Arielle Gold who just won gold in snowboarding at the Olympics - he's a Colorado grad. And Mary Harvey, who's a former goalkeeper for the University of California, who's an Olympic gold medalist for the USA. She has also headed up, which is now a successful, 2026 World Cup North America endeavor, and she's heading up their sustainability areas. So, we're going to have some awesome panels. The folks that I mentioned will be augmented by programmers on our campuses that have submitted proposals in the areas of fan engagement, student athlete engagement in sustainability, and it's going to be a full day of great best practice sharing, networking and hopefully a lot of learning to move forward what is an important initiative. That's very exciting. Jamie, this is bringing together my two greatest passions in life, the environment and sports. So, I love what you guys are doing and really excited to be there on July 12th. Why have these professional athletes and gold medalists speak? What do you think that sustainability professionals or campus leaders can learn from these accomplished athletes? I think the philosophy of purpose plus sport, and the power of that, has never been more relevant than today with some of the societal challenges that we face. I think those in the sports industry, college or professional, understand that with privilege comes responsibility, right? And if you have the opportunity to make a positive difference, such as those that have had made their living in doing something like sports, then there is a kind of an obligation to find a way to give back. And I think the environment is very front and center. In a lot of respects, it's almost a bulletproof cause and those are sort of hard to find these days. It's one of those causes were there may be some people on the other side, but in general everybody's for a sustainable future. So I think those are the elements that sort of have gotten this into it and I think are there reasons why we're getting at least some attention, still very early days for us, but some attention from folks that want to be involved in it as an endeavor. At last year's conference you had basketball legend, Bill Walton, speaking at the event. If anybody has seen him speak, Bill is very passionate person. At the conference last year, Bill said, "Sustainability is good policy, good economics, and it's good for all of us." From a chief operating officer perspective, can you tell us why sustainability is good for business in the PAC-12? I'm very much a believer in this notion of both doing good and doing well. I think for a long time, issues of social based programs, whether it's sustainability or otherwise, have sort of been perceived as cost centers. Right? Here's something you spend money on and you measure it in the value of maybe the positive PR you get. But what I'm learning, and I think we'll have some interesting news around this at our conference, just to tease that a little bit, is the commercial value around this space in sustainability and purpose based sponsorship and engagement more broadly is robust. And so if you could find the right partners that align with your values, you can drive great commercial value to them and to you, whether that's endemic partners that might be specifically involved in sustainability, or just the DNA of some larger corporations that understand that this is important for the future. I think this has never been more relevant. And what we're seeing in our campuses is this is really market driven. There are students coming to our campuses are not saying, "Oh great, there's a recycling banner. Oh cool, we have solar panels." They are saying, "Hey, where are the solar panels? Where are the recycling bins. We expect this. This is our generation speaking." So part of this is really serving that market as well and aligning interest that way. Absolutely great points. And I think you can kind of see that happening in professional sports. Some of these leagues like the NHL a NASCAR are really stepping out and leading in sustainability. It's pretty clear that they understand the long-term business benefits of sustainability and visible sustainability programs. Is the PAC-12 conference looking towards those professional sports leagues and learning from what they're doing? I think certainly. I think they've taken the lead with their green platforms. I think we want to learn from what they've done and put it in the appropriate context for collegiate, which is similar yet different. But I think one of the advantages we have, honestly, is we have these great institutions that are leaders in research and thought leadership. And it's really about leveraging the power of our campuses around this because they tend to be where great ideas start. In our case we happen to have 12 elite research institutions all in the western part of the United States, in centers of innovation. We want to align what we do with their DNA. So we see that as a real opportunity, If anyone is interested in learning more or attending the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference, where can they go check that out? So just go a PAC-12sustainabilityconference.com or put it in Google and the website will come up. You'll get the full program there. You can register online. We have hotel partnerships in Boulder that are available and we hope to see everybody there. I think this is a really unique space and it's going to be another great conversation. Last year we had an oversubscribed room and Bill wowed them last year. He's a great ambassador. Bill won't be there this year, we're giving them a year off. But we do have some exciting speakers as I mentioned before, and look for a reasonably big announcement in the sustainability space at the conference as well. So I'll tease that up. That's exciting. Jamie, we like to end the interview with a final five questions. What is one piece of advice you would give sustainability leaders? Think big and expand who your partners could be. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I think this notion that we can create a commercially viable platforms that bring together sustainability partners and athletics leagues and teams and schools. How about a book recommendation? Do you have one book you could recommend for sustainability professionals or other professionals? Well, this is a little bit off the radar and it's probably been read by most, but Cadillac Desert is one of my favorite books related to sustainability and the history of water in the western US. So that's a must read. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that you use that really help you in your work? I think it's just people. I'll go back to finding the right partners. Our best resources are our best thinkers and our best people, and that's why our campuses are so valuable to us. Whether it's student athletes, sustainability professionals, university athletic directors etc. And finally, we mentioned where people can go to learn about the conference, anywhere else you'd like to send people where they can learn more about you and the work that you're leading the PAC-12, We have a PAC-12.com website and I'd also encourage people to tune into our PAC-12 networks, which is linked from there. We have a lot of great stuff in terms of what we're involved in, including soon, a link to our sustainability platform. Jamie, I'm very much looking forward to the conference in July and that big announcement. I think everyone's excited about that now. It's so great to hear about the wonderful things the PAC-12 Conference is leading in sustainability. It's just so important to have that top-level support when committing to sustainability, so it's great to hear from you and hear about your passion. Thank you for making the world a better place, Jamie. Well, thank you. And thanks to people like yourself and Sustainable Nation for making this publicly available. We really need that contagion to catch on in this area even more to do well this way. Dave Newport Our next guest is Dave Newport. Dave launched the first US college sports sustainability activation with corporate partnership for the Florida Gators when he was the University of Florida's director of sustainability in 2002. Later he became director of the University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center and founded the nation's first comprehensive NCAA Division One sports sustainability program, Ralphie's Green Stampede. Dave is also secretary of the Green Sports Alliance board of directors, former board secretary of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, an award winning publisher and editor and a former elected county commission board chairman. Dave Newport, thank you for joining us. It's great to have you on to chat about the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference, which we'll get to in a second, but first tell us a little bit about you. I gave an introduction on your professional life but tell us a little bit about your personal life and what led you to be doing the work you're doing today. Well, I guess most people in sustainability come from very diverse backgrounds in terms of their career and their interests, and I'm certainly no exception. I've been a little bit in the environmental arena, one way, shape or form, for a long time. I think personally, what led me to sports sustainability is the inevitable search for leverage. That is, what's the multiplier effect of the work you do? How many people does it affect? How many people can it potentially effect? And of course, sports, there's no bigger platform on the planet then sports. So moving into sustainability in sports was natural from that analytical point of view for me personally and professionally, but like yourself, Josh, I grew up playing sports. I love sports and love sustainability, so let's combine fun with work and boom, here we are. That's what got me here. That's great. And I understand it all kind of started down in Florida when you were at the University of Florida, director of sustainability, you launched the first US college sports sustainability activation with a corporate partnership for the Florida Gators. Tell us how that came about and how it all started for you. Yeah, that was cool. It was 2002, and I was getting the sustainability program running on the giant University of Florida campus. Had lot of support and a great president to work with, and one day said, "Hey, let's see what we can do in The Swamp, the Florida field. I mean, there's no bigger icon of American College football, then Florida Field and Florida Gators, and we can make a statement that would be great." I went to see the athletic director, Jeremy Foley, a legendary AD for Florida, and he liked it. He didn't see any downside to it, but what we'll do is due diligence as smart guys do. And so he pulled a lot of people and talked it all through. He said, "Yep, let’s go with it and we're going to reach out to our fanbase well in advance and let them know what's going on." So he put in place a great communications effort. The corporate partner at the time was a petroleum marketer. So talk about our odd bedfellows, but it was a petroleum marketing company that has a series of stores across the Southeast and the Midwest, and as far as Texas, called Kangaroo stores. They had a very progressive CEO who was trying to move basically out of the oil business and into the renewable energy business, believe it or not. So they wanted to do build some stores in the Gainesville area that were the first LEED certified convenience stores in the United States. They put in bio diesel, and things like that. They were promoting their greenness so it was a good fit. We pitched them and they liked it. We did a pilot on homecoming, at the homecoming banquet, which was huge, and then in the clubs and suites of Florida Field during the homecoming game. I walked around with the AD there and we just visited with the fans, alumni of the Gators, and asked them how they felt about all this stuff. We got 500 comments back and 499 of them were like, this is really cool. The grumpiest comment we got back was from this one old alumni gentlemen who said, "Yeah this is great. How come we haven't been doing this all along?" So that was the worst comment we got back, and after that everything was golden because athletics figured out, hey, there's no downside of this. People intuitively like it and once you get past the inevitable startup problems in implementation and all the operational stuff, which we solved, the fans like it. And so fan engagement is key and has been part of why we've done this right along, is that fan engagement element is very strong. Sure, that's great. Especially the college level it's mostly young folks and these are the people that are really passionate about the environment and that's great. And then eventually you left and now you're the director of the University of Colorado Boulder Environmental Center. And you founded the nation's first comprehensive NCAA Division One sports sustainability program - Ralphie's Green Stampede. Tell us a little bit about that program. So, at Florida we started the first zero waste program in the NCAA, and then when we got to Colorado we came first comprehensive one. So we do it in all sports, and it's not just a zero waste, it's zero carbon, zero water, zero net energy in new buildings, no pesticides, local food and a few other things I can't remember. We've got four LEED Platinum athletics facilities, which is half of the number of LEED platinum buildings on the entire campus. And we've got the lion's share, like 90 plus percent, of all of the installed solar on athletics facilities. So, the University of Colorado Athletic Department is the most sustainable department on campus, a fact that bugs the heck out of the environmental science people, but it is what it is. When I got to Colorado and told them both to the Florida story, it got me a meeting with the AD at the time, Mike Bohn.  He listened to what I had to say and he said, "Okay, we can do that here." It was about that easy. So I said, "Hey, you know, this was awful easy. How come you said yes so fast." And this I will carry with me the rest of my career. His response to me was, "Dave, what you don't understand is people don't come here on Saturday for football. They come here for community. And sustainability is all about community. So this will work." I will tell you that that is a lesson in how to engage fans and what is really going on in sports, that I now see everywhere. I checked it out, I worked on it and we've done research on it. And indeed, sports is a bonding moment for our fans. That's why you come. That's why everybody's singing the same songs, wear's the same shirts, looks at the same environments and all that kind of stuff. Because we are communal species and we want to be part of the community. So, that added to my repertoire of ways to approach this thing and leverage that fan engagement we were speaking of. That's great. And so now we have the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference coming up July 12th and that's going to be at the University of Colorado Boulder, is that right? Correct, and come on down. Absolutely. So, tell us about that conference. How did it come about and what can we expect? From the time when I started working at Florida and then Colorado in sports, many sports organizations have moved into this space, especially at the pro level and increasingly at the college level. I'm seeing the value of: A) Saving money through operational sustainability and B) Engaging your fans through this leadership. However, no athletic conference or sports network has moved into the space of promoting it as sort of a behavior and a lifestyle, as a conference and as a league, until the PAC-12 showed up. And Jamie's great leadership with PAC-12, and Larry Scott the commissioner, I've met with both of them, and Larry is 100 percent behind this because they get everything I just said. They get the savings, they get the leadership and the fan engagement. And so, they're now talking about this in game. They're talking about it as a conference. They're talking about it as a leadership position, as consistent with the Conference of Champions and other people have taken notice now. So, their leadership is really a game changer in terms of taking it to the next level and using the sports platform to engage fans to be more sustainable at home, work and play. That is the mission. Running a recycling system in your stadium is great. Using that as an influencer to influence those fans that show up for that community every Saturday, as part of being a good fan of their favorite team, to live the life and to embody that as part of their fandom. That's the strategy. That's what the sustainability conference is all about - How do we do our operational stuff better and how do we use it to influence fans? You guys have some famous accomplished athletes who are going to be there speaking as well. Professional athletes and Olympic athletes. Tell us a little bit about who will be there. It's a really good group. We have Arielle Gold, a professional snowboarder and one of our students AT UC Boulder, and part of our Protect Our Winters, and is touring the hallways of Capitol Hill and other places to talk about climate change and how it affects our lives and our sports. So she's obviously our millennial target athlete. Mary Harvey, who I have the pleasure of working alongside of the board of the Green Sports Alliance. She is just fabulous in terms of her overall acumen. She's won gold medals, World Cups, she played with Mia Hamm, she's worked for FIFA back in the day and now she's working with the World Cup, a group here for the United States that successfully landed the World Cup bid for North America in 2026. There's some other great athletes as well. Obviously Steve Lavin, a fabulous coach, ESPN commentator and a spokesman for UCLA. Jason Richardson, another NCAA Championship basketball player and retired from the NBA. Last year you may recall we had Bill Walton show up and give us a keynote and some life lessons, and that was entertaining. I think I've missed a couple, but there's obviously more detail at the PAC-12sustainabilityconference.com. And Jason Richardson retired and left the Golden State Warriors a little bit too early. He kind of missed out on all the fun. Oh boy, those guys are something else. So, Dave, some people may not see the connection, but I actually think there's a strong parallel between sports and leading sustainability, having passion and perseverance, cooperation, teamwork, team building and strategy. What do you think sustainability professionals who were leading sustainability can learn from these accomplished professional athletes? Yeah, I think you said it well, Josh. I think that's exactly right. One of the things that sustainability professionals do is basically giving credit away for everything, and being all about teamwork and not really trying to be a showboat or anything. They're much like hockey players. Where do you hear of an arrogant hockey player? Most of them were like, "Oh man, my team is so great," and all this stuff because they know it's all about teamwork. I think likewise, as you said, in sustainability it's the same thing. We want everyone to be part of it. And so when you do it inclusively and you bring people together to have a conversation about moving forward sustainably, then you bring in people that wouldn't normally be part of that team, and that's the key. That's how you grow the scope of what you're doing, by getting beyond the usual suspects and getting into folks where this may not be what they get out of bed thinking about every morning. But it's important to them when they have the opportunity to be influential in it. And so allowing for that influence, allowing for people who are doing other things, to be part of this and really bringing them in and getting those ideas, that's how you grow the team. That's how you move towards sustainability. And that is all a process. It is not an end game. Sustainability is not an end game. It's a process. The process is the product. And the process is inclusion and teamwork. Very well said, Dave. For any of our listeners who would like to attend the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference, where can they go to find out more and to sign up. So, PAC-12sustainabilityconference.com, or just Google it and it'll take you there. The website is up and running and accepting your reservations. Come on down. We've got all kinds of fun things to do in Boulder on the 11th and 12th of July. And then that weekend, the Grateful Dead are going to be in our stadium playing. So, come for a conference and stay for the concert. Sounds great. Dave, before we let you go we're going to end on our Final Five Questions. Are you ready? Five Questions. Who used to do that? It was the original Daily Show guy. Craig Kilborn. Funny thing about Craig Kilborn, who was actually a great athlete himself and played some college basketball. He's from Hastings, Minnesota, which is the same small town that I'm from. His mom was my middle school English teacher. I remember the first day of class I had with her, she had a picture of Craig on the back of the classroom and said, "That's my son. He's in radio and learn from him. He's a great communicator." Then about a year later I saw him on Sports Center for the first time and I was like, "I know that name somewhere." And it was him, Craig Kilborn. So, he's one of the few famous people to come out of my small town. He's funny and he was really good at it too. And when he left I thought, "he's going to be a hard act to follow." Yeah, he was great. So, what is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Don't think of anything. Have other people think about it and have it be their idea. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? How fast it's growing. I'm old, so I've observed the beginning and there was nobody. There was five of us doing this job when I started at Florida back in the nineties, and now I've lost count. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? If you don't read any other book in your entire life? You have to read Natural Capitalism. Excellent. And we had Hunter Lovins on as a guest a few weeks ago, so everyone can check out that episode of Sustainable Nation. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in the work that you do? Being a member of AASHE and using their website and their member community is a daily thing. I'm looking at their email right now. I think AASHE, again, didn't exist when we started. Now it's booming and all the many people that I've never even heard of are now offering information and gaining information through their website, aashe.org. And finally, where can people go to learn more about you and the work that you're leading at the University of Colorado Boulder, Green Sports Alliance and/or the PAC-12 Sustainability Conference? I'm on LinkedIn. Let's just go with LinkedIn. They will find you on LinkedIn. Excellent. Dave, it's so great to learn about all the work you've been doing and how this sustainability in sports movement really got started all the way back in 2002. I very much look forward to seeing you in Boulder in July. Thank you so much for joining and thank you for making the world a better place. And thank you for hosting us today, Josh. Look forward to seeing you in boulder.  

As Senior Director of Green Innovation at NASCAR, Catherine directs development, adoption, and implementation of sustainability strategies across the number one spectator sport in the United States.  She integrates ESG initiatives across the industry with a program that in just under a decade has grown into one of the most visible sustainability programs in all of sports. Working with partners from the business sector, government and non-profit organizations, she also develops and coordinates programs with NASCAR sponsors and industry that advance sustainability objectives including food donation, recycling, clean water protection and the offsetting of carbon emissions for all of NASCAR's national series racing, employee air travel and quarterly partner summits. The Green Innovation platform provides both societal and business value, but also operates as a brand enhancing business. Catherine Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: Sustainability in professional sports NASCAR's commitment to GHG, energy and waste reduction Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Catherine's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? ​I would say be bold. That's commonly said, but I think it's important in sustainability. Be passionate, but be aware. And what I mean by being aware is ensure that you know who you're speaking to when you're speaking to them. Know your audience. When you're going in to pitch these ideas, know what drives them, what's going to result in them making an operational change or a culture change or whatever that may be. Just make sure that you're aware and you're humble in that approach. That is huge. I would also say that keeping the big picture in mind, always, has proven to be really helpful for me and taking one bite at a time. Do that well. Take that one bite. Make sure that you are crushing that one bite. Own it. Do your best to not spread yourself too thin because there's so much to be done, but identify where you can make the most impact and do it. ​What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? ​Materials innovation, biomimicry, that all interests me a tremendously. More specifically though, how it can be advanced through sport. I'm excited to see how that rolls out. I'm excited to see how sport can be the catalyst for these new innovations, for these new technologies or these new mindsets, quite frankly. The opportunity to use sport to drive all of it. I think it's fascinating and I really feel like we're on the cusp of something so tremendous. The leagues are beginning to rally together. I worked directly with Omar Mitchell at the NHL and with Paul Hamlin at MLB, and those programs, they are doing amazing work as well. Coming together to look at how we can drive this impact, and we're so much more powerful if we all row in the same direction. I am probably most excited about how those relationships will continue to develop over time and what that will mean from an impact standpoint across the board when we look at these issues, whether it be social issues or environmental issues, economic issues, whatever that may be. That's really compelling and that's what gets me excited when I walk into this office everyday. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? I've thought about that one and actually spent probably more time than I should have looking at my bookcase. You can take it back to Silent Spring to know the foundation of why we're here. I think that is really, really important. Natural Capitalism, Hunter Lovins, and Amory's Reinventing Fire. I mean those are staples as well, but I gotta be honest. I find myself being more of a podcast person these days. So Greenbiz 350, How I Built This, not necessarily a sustainability podcast, but one that I just think from a business perspective is crazy inspiring for me. And then the Rachel Hollis podcast is one that I also listened to. As a female in the sports world, I think it's super important to continue to push yourself and inspire yourself and to surround yourself by other individuals like minded females specifically that are also doing the same thing. So yeah, this is probably the hardest question that you've asked me. I just have so many thoughts on things that folks should read and dive into. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in the work that you do? I've been fortunate to have a network of individuals that are just crazy knowledgeable in this space. I mentioned Allen Hershkowitz who has been a mentor for me for quite some time now. Joel Makower and the Greenbiz Executive Network, we are members of that organization. The Green Sports Alliance is doing tremendous work. Sport and Sustainability International is just kind of the global version of the Green Sports Alliance. Again, the networks that you have and learning from others that are also doing and have done this work for years and years and years. I find those to be the most valuable resources out there, and just taking the opportunity to stop and to listen and to learn and to be willing to take criticism and advice and suggestions, and raising your hand when you don't know because those networks are there to lift you up. That's been just a really amazing tool for me personally. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work that you're leading at NASCAR? ​So my LinkedIn page has a plethora of different information on the program and work that I personally am doing outside of the organization that kind of tie back to overall sustainability efforts. You could also check out a NASCAR.comgreen, which is the website for all things NASCAR green. And then follow us on the Twitter at NASCAR Green or feel free to give me a follow up at Catherine Kummer. I definitely do my best and fore warn you that you'll probably get pictures of my kids too.

Lourdes Salinas es una empresaria mexicana de 31 años, que fundó Three Consultoría Medioambiental, empresa que se dedica al diseño e ingeniería sustentable. Identificando una brecha en México, donde existe una falta de educación y análisis técnico alrededor de la arquitectura ambiental, su compañía ayuda a los arquitectos a cuantificar y evaluar el impacto ecológico de sus proyectos. Escucha cómo el análisis cuantitativo genera ahorros para sus clientes y por qué ella considera que EO ha formado una parte vital para incrementar la eficiencia de su compañía, mientras le ha ayudado personalmente a tener un mejor balance de trabajo y vida. ¡Escucha el podcast hoy!   Notas 1:35 Lourdes Salinas platica por qué decidió ser emprendedora. 2:48 Lourdes encuentra una brecha en el mercado. Ella se da cuenta que en México había mucho trabajo por hacer en el área de educación o arquitectura ecológica, normatividad y análisis técnicos. 3:28 Lourdes nos habla de su trayectoria profesional. 4:27 Ella habla sobre un proyecto típico de consultoría medioambiental. 5:50 Lourdes nos cuenta de cómo se enteró de EO y por qué decidió entrar. 7:40 En EO, Lourdes ha aprendido metodologías que la han hecho incrementar la eficiencia de su negocio. A través del networking con otros miembros, ha conocido soluciones que otros empresarios han implementado en sus negocios. 8:15 Lourdes también ha podido tener un mejor entendimiento de cómo lograr un balance de vida y carrera. 9:55 Las personas que invierten para estar en EO, no invierten solo en sus negocios, invierten también en sí mismos. 10:15 Lourdes nos habla sobre cómo se prepara en la mañana para tener un gran día. 11:15 Los tres libros que han ayudado a Lourdes a escalar su negocio son: Grit, de Angela Duckworth, The Servant de James C. Hunter y Natural Capitalism de Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins y Hunter Lovins. 14:02 Lourdes nos dice qué es lo que más le gusta de ser emprendedora y también lo más duro. 17:20 Lourdes lleva unos meses desarrollando su propósito de empresa. Quiere inspirar pasión y servicio por la sustentabilidad y la calidad de vida de las personas. 18:35 Ella se considera del tipo de persona que se quiere comer al mundo. Se dio cuenta de que a veces es necesario hacer pausas. Sin embargo, agrega un matiz, diciendo que una cosa es tener pausas y otra es dejar de soñar. 20:25 Agradecimientos.   Recursos mencionados Libros: Angela Duckworth, Grit. The Power of Passion and Perseverance. James C. Hunter. The Servant: A Simple Story about the True Essence of Leadership. Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins y Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. Bill Bryson. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Mike Michaelowicz. Profit First. Recursos para miembros de EOEntrevista a Mike Michaelowicz sobre su libro Profit First. https://goo.gl/wd4WeM

L. Hunter Lovins is an author and the President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS), a  non-profit formed in 2002 in Longmont, CO. A renowned author and  champion of sustainable development for over 35 years, Hunter has  consulted on sustainable agriculture, energy, water, security, and climate policies for scores of governments, communities, and companies worldwide. Within the United States, she has consulted for the Presidential Cabinet, Department of Defense, EPA, Department of Energy and numerous state and local agencies. Hunter Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: What has changed since writing Natural Capitalism in 2000 Sustainability as a competitive advantage Regenerative economies Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals Hunter's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? This comes from my friend Kate Wolf, the folk singer who said, "Find what you really care about and live a life that shows it." There is so much important work that needs to be done. Whether in early childhood education or cleaning fossil fuels and carbon emissions out of our economy or getting plastic single use plastics out of our lives. Whatever it is that you're passionate about, commit to it and commit to adopt. Do one thing. Every day, what's your dot? At the end of the day look back and say, "Did I do my dot?" If every day you do a dot, you will move the world. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability and regenerative development? With a group from around the world, we created a new organization called We-All( Wellbeing Economy Alliance). There's so many groups around the world. What we did was take a number of them and combine them. There are now about dozens of new economy groups literally from all over the world who are committing to work together to spread this concept of an economy that works in service to life. An economy that works for a 100% of humanity. Watch this space. We've just launched the website at the moment it's just a landing page, but in the coming days we're going to be flushing it out. I'm also pretty thrilled about my new book, A Finer Future. We're going to be launching a website for that, where I will be having an ongoing discussion, posting all the cool new things that keep happening. I put the book to bed the end of January, and since then, so much stuff has happened and continues to happen. That is good news. Things that individuals can do that we can all make a difference with. We're going to make it a living website for the book. It'll be www.ourfinerfuture.org. Then the work of Natural Capitalism Solutions. My little NGO, which is part of We-All, part of Fullerton's Regenerative hubs. We're working with groups like the Savory Institute on Regenerative Agriculture. We're resurrecting work. We did a few years back for small businesses to teach students how to go out into their community with a set of tools we develop that enable small businesses to cut their carbon footprint profitably. We're just going to give it away. Watch this space. Watch the Natural Capitalism website. Watch for my book A Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? I believe it's called A Finer Future coming out in September. If you don't want to wait for that one, Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics and Freya Williams' Green Giant's. Freya lays out a whole set of principles that the next billion dollar companies are following to build their profitability. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in the work that you do? SASB - Sustainability Accounting Standards Board should hit the streets this year. This is a effort by Bob Eccles at Harvard to transform accounting so that sustainability practices that are material, which is to say a reasonable investor would want to know about them, will now have to be accounted for as part of financial accounting. When this hits the streets, it's going to transform everything. The Savory Institute's ecological outcome verification. How do you know if a product is regenerative? Savory Ins. is developing this with scientists to enable ranchers, farmers to be able to demonstrate year on year that what they're doing is increasing the carbon in the soil, is increasing biodiversity, increasing a whole range of ecosystem indicators, and then certifying it so that when you go to a grocery store, when you buy a fashion brand, there'll be a little label on it. This is regenerative. If you as a consumer preferentially buy products that are certified regenerative, you'll be part of the solution. Where can our listeners go to follow you and learn more about the work that you do and learn about all these exciting things you're working on? Keep listening to your podcast. Our website is www.napcapsolutions.org Natural Capitalism. The Finer Future website is www.finerfuture.org. Also, www.wellbeingeconomy.org. I'm on Twitter @hlovins. I'm on Facebook and come September, I'll have a new book out.

Bob Willard is a leading expert on quantifying the business value of sustainability strategies. He has given over a thousand presentations, has authored six books, and provides extensive resources for sustainability champions. He serves on the boards of Forum for the Future U.S. and the Future-Fit Foundation.  Bob joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: Selling the business case for sustainability Communicating sustainability benefits The B Corp movement Learning from decades of experience in corporate sustainability Tips and advice for sustainability professionals What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Find an issue that you really care about and find an organization that you can partner with to have a lot of leverage on doing something about that issue but start with something that you really care about. It could be a social issue, it could be an environmental issue. You've got to have some energy around that at a personal level or you'll just get worn down and you need to be able to recharge your batteries by recommitting to something that you really care about for whatever reason. And then don't try to do it yourself. Partner with other people and increase your ability to make things happen. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability and regenerative development? The point that gives me hope is amazingly simple. It's the dramatic plummet in the cost of renewable energy where it's in many jurisdictions on a par with fossil fuels. So that's fantastic. It makes this transition off fossil fuels much more attractive than it was five or 10 years ago. And combined with that is the requirement for companies to be more transparent about their carbon footprint, led by investors and bankers who say that they need to know that in order to make a more informed decision about whether they want to put their money into a company, and it's not only the companies footprint, but it's supply chain or value chain footprint as well. So it's those two things, the drop in renewable energy and the demand for more transparency from investors and bankers, and they have a lot of influence on the mindset of businesses. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? I need to pick one that's not mine. Andrew Winston is an incredible author on the subject of the business relevance of sustainability. His original book, Green to Gold that he coauthored. I'd put at the top of my list. There are a couple that are a bit older, the Ecology of Commerce, that Paul Hawken wrote many years ago. His prose is as close to poetry as you can imagine. And he's just so good at expressing the obvious in terms of trying to get your attention. So those two books, Natural Capitalism is a bible for me. The one that Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken wrote there. I've got a library surrounding me right now that are just phenomenal books. So, I'll stop there, but there's no lack of really, really good stuff in it there. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in the work that you do? I subscribed to a bunch of news clip services, Triple Pundit and Green Bizz, whole bunch of those. And that to me is a daily window into what's moving and shaking out there on the sustainability and business front. So, I use them as a lens as to what reports I want to drill down into what a book I want to take another look at what websites I want to track down. So, to me it's that window that's the most important resource. It's the news clips that gives you a nice little soundbite as to what's going on and then you can decide which of those are most relevant to the projects that you're working on at the time, Sustainable Brands, Environmental Leader, all excellent resources that give daily emails and all that great information on what's happening. I think there were about a dozen, I should probably check this out before this call, but there's a better, doesn't that I subscribed to and it doesn't take long. Just take a quick look at them, see which ones are of interest to you and it's a great reminder of how much is going on out there. It's very energizing. Yeah. And finally, where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work? That's pretty straight forward the website to help people do that. So sustainabilityadvantage.com is my website. That gives a brief overview of the six books that I've written gives you a sense of some of the other resources that are available, some of the spreadsheets, some of the dashboards, some of the videos, most of which are free, uh, cause I really do think we need to be able to make it easier for people to access tools that are going to hopefully be useful to them. and, um, uh, yeah, that's a, that's a pretty good window into who I am, what I do, um, and resources that may be useful to people in, uh, in the work that they're doing.  

The circular economy is a fascinating concept: it is a way to reorganise our society in a more sustainable way that creates a win-win-win situation for consumers, producers and the environment. I’m a huge fan myself and believe that everyone interested on sustainability topics should know something about the circular transformation. And that's why this episode is dedicated to circularity! So what is this circular economy? As it’s name suggests, the circular economy reorganises our economic system in continuous circles, or loops. It is built on Michael Braungart and William McDonough’s principle of “cradle to cradle”, the understanding that all resources shall be used and reused over and over again. By seeing waste as food for new things, the circular economy eliminates the idea of trash as we know it, and sees every component as valuable even after the life cycle of its original use is over. And of course, the circualr economy uses renewable energy sources of greener production, too. The circular ecocnomy uses a methodology called biomimicry, which basically means imitating nature. Think about it: in nature, waste simply doesnt exist, everyhing is one ecosystem. If a tree produces an apple, it gets eaten and digested by an animal, then pooped out somewhere else where a new plant can grow. Each leave that falls down or animal that dies will naturally decompose into healthy soil. Landfills, and the accumulation of resources that find no further use are a fairly stupid invention of human beings that have never before existed in the natural environment. Why do we need a circular system? There is a strong connection between globalization, our spike in consumption and climate change: In the last century, the world population has quadrupled and our economic output was multiplied by twenty, and we’re now stretching far beyond what our planet can naturally provide. Last year, human production and consumption already needed 1.7 earths to recover all the resources we used - this means we are irreversibly damaging the natural ecosystem. On top, our waste generation is getting out of hand, household trash alone is expected to double and reach 3,000 million tons per year in 2030. And as the population keeps rising, so does the amount of people entering the middle class and aspriring the western lifestyle - so increasing the demand for cars, meat, devices, clothes and so on, or to put it simply: stretching our resource extraction and waste generation even more. It's not only the amount of resources and products we consume and the trash we generate, it is also the way we do it. We buy, use, and throw away, we make, take and dispose. Every few months, it seems, we need a new cellphone, every few weeks new clothes. And what happens with our stuff after we use it is something we barely think about - all that matters is to be always up to date. Global supply chains make us forget where our products even come from, how they work and how we could repair them. On top, products are often engineered in a way that is neither made to last nor to repair, a strategy called built-in obsolescence. The cost for the environment of our linear economy is huge: Just the electronic waste we produce in Europe per year amount to 1.500 million tons of co2, as much as the energy production in Germany, the UK and Poland together, as the European Environmental Buerau calculates.As Ken Webster, one of the leading economists of the Ellen McArthur foundation, points out, the linear "take, make dispose" model is based on on short-term profitability and dependent on the abundance of materials, easy credit, low-priced energy and cheap labour. However, all of these factors are becoming more and more expensive due to legislations, economic development, increasing labour right awareness and learnings from the global financial crisis.Changing the way we make thingsThe circular economy on the other hand frees itself from the dependency of such factors by redesigning production and consumption. As Hawken, Lovens and Lovens describe in their book Natural Capitalism, increasing natural productivity and moving from a product- to a service based economy are some ways to realise the circular economy. It provides us with an opportunity to source from materials that are already available and engage in new sorts of innovation. This way, we can alleviate many of the previously mentioned pressures on the natural environment: it reduces virgin resource usage, carbon emissions, waste creation and the release of toxins.Creating a win-win-win situationhe fantastic news is that the circular economy can provide a win-win-win situation: companies can grow their profits, customers save costs and the environment become more sustainable. McKinsey has calculated that circular economy has the potential to generate annual economic benefits of €1.8 trillion by 2030 in Europe alone. Even though you might think that we Europeans are not doing not such a bad job in recycling, research shows that we currently capture only 5% of raw materials this way - that leaves a 95% opportunity for improvement and value creation! Also, the circular economy can provide new jobs and improve the overall wellbeing of everyone in society. They further estimate that each of us Europeans could save 60-80% in mobility expenses, reduce our food spending by 25-40% and also decrease our housing costs by 25-35%. In this way, fighting climate change could not only improve the water and air around us, but also give us more money to spend on things we really like. Isn’t that good news? How to make it happenOne of the main barriers of implementing the circular economy are high economic investments from the public sector to guarantee necessary research, design, subsidies, asset investment as well as digital and physical infrastructure. The British government has calculated that on a european level, a fully efficient reuse and recycling system would require costs of €108 billion. Reality looks different: the European Commission only commits to around 6 billion euro for this program. And apart from sufficient financing, both business and policy leaders must adopt a different mentality to think about production, product lifecycles and material usage and shift their focus from short-term profitability (or election periods) to sustainability and success in the long term. We as customers must understand and demand circular products, make switches and refuse the comfort of their current disposable lifestyle . Furthermore, business and policy must show willingness to collaborate rather than compete, as knowledge sharing is one of the key elements of the circular economy: there needs to be an active exchange of skills, technologies and research in order to create system-wide loops and facilitate the composition, decomposition and new assembly of a variety of products. I’ve spoken about the benefits of an open source circular economy with economist and artist Lars Zimmerman, in an earlier episode of Impact Revolution. Also, states must provide necessary infrastructure to facilitate the flow of materials, such as recycling facilities, sorting and collection systems and give access to all actors along the supply chain, including the end-user. That means that it should become easy for you as a consumer to get rid of the things you no longer use and disassemble them into their reusable components. Circular solutions already existLet me give you some examples of circular solutions that area already out there!1) Recycle and recoverThese are business models based on recyclable materials which we usually see as waste. Its a very important step for greener production, as the extraction of raw resources can take around 75% of the whole energy necessary in the manufacturing process. Examples here are streets built out of plastic waste and a British brewery that uses old bread to make delicious beer. What a solution to food waste! 2) Replace materialsThe Circular supply chain tries to find alternatives for rare or environmentally harmful resources, such as smartphone components or water-intense cotton and replace them with renewable, reusable materials. These are companies that make rain jackets out of pet bottles or grow vegan leather out of mushrooms.3) Make it last Here it is imporatant to increase the lifetime of each product. We usually throw things away becasue they break, they become out of fashion or we simply do’t need them anymore. In each of those cases, there is still some value in the product, so we need to find ways to make it easier to reuse, repair, sell second hand and update products that are already there. Secondly, companies should take the end of the product life into account by making decomposion of products as easy as possible. 4) Share Sharing platforms are a big deal in the circular economy - and something our generation loves! I probably won’t have to tell anyone how airbnb or carsharing works and in which way it improves our resource consumption, but have you ever heard of a library of things where you can rent electric drills or lawnmowers? The digitalisation makes it so much easier to connect and share with others, especially since we use 80% of the things we own less than once a month. 5) Services, not productsConnected to the sharing economy are models where the producers remain the owner of what they make, and merely rent it out to the end users. Philips now sells light as service to buildings instead of light bulbs, which drastically shifts the objectives of their engineers and sales people. Instead of focusing at high quantity and lower quality, engineers now have to create the best and most durable bulbs, and suddenly energy efficiency of their products reflects directly on the company’s balance sheet. And even if a product fails, it goes back directly to the producer, becomes his responsibility and available for repair or reuse. See the difference?There is hopeThis podcast episode should be able to give you the basics of the circular economy, make you learn why it makes so much sense and in which way it would be possible to realise. One of the most powerful characteristics of this model is the win-win-win situation it describes, and to me the fact that both governments and corporations, as well as many entrepreneurs are already working on creating circular products and processes is a clear symbol that we're on the right way. Let's use the power we have through our purchasing decisions and support anyone in transition to this model!If you have any further questions on this, please get in touch! You can reach me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/theimpactrevolution/) and Instagram (instagram.com/impact_revolution/) - I'm excited to read your messages. Folge direkt herunterladen

PAUL HAWKEN (The Ecology of Commerce; Natural Capitalism; Blessed Unrest) has a new research project and a new best-selling book - DRAWDOWN. Based on rigorous scientific and economic analysis and review, it ranks the 80 most impactful solutions with which Hawken is confident we can reverse global warming. Plus it offers 20 additional very promising solutions for which there isn’t yet enough data to rank them. (drawdown.org, paulhawken.com)

Our ecosystems contribute tens of trillions of dollars to our economy every year, but – as L. Hunter Lovins notes, “At present we’re losing every major ecosystem on the planet…What are we doing to ourselves?...We have the…intelligence…to make different choices.” Hunter Lovins co-authored the best-selling book, Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. In this interview, she outlines those choices and shares how they benefit businesses and the planet. One of the biggest challenges to living sustainably, says Lovins, is our belief we can meet non-material needs through the purchase of material things. “We keep spending all this money, and we aren’t getting any happier.” Wouldn’t you rather have more time than more stuff? She observes that we all have a profound hunger for authenticy, human connection, love. We recorded this interview in 2004, but offer it here because the concepts are as relevant today. Please visit zhttp://www.tinyurl.com/ceseason3 and let us know you want another season of Conversation Earth. Learn more about Hunter Lovins, find links to her work, and subscribe to get a weekly email announcing the next podcast - at http://www.conversationearth.org

100 real-world actions happening now have the potential to bring greenhouse gases back down to a level that won’t cause humans to join the ranks of the dodo and other extinct species. They just need to be scaled up. That’s the conclusion of environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken and the team of researchers, scientists, business people and political leaders he assembled for Project Drawdown. The team spent several years cataloging and modeling feasible, real-world carbon-reducing actions. They analyzed existing technological, ecological, and behavioral solutions for their potential to reduce and drawdown greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The results were published in April of 2017 in a book edited by Hawken, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. In this May 2017 interview, Hawken shares details of the project, a few surprises, and his perspective on making use of this information. Paul Hawken has previously authored Ecology of Commerce and co-authored Natural Capitalism. Links and more at http://www.conversationearth.org

This session with Marshall Clemens will take a broad look at a map of the economy to provide a context for what our current capitalist system looks like today.

Paul Hawken is a visionary social entrepreneur, the award-winning author of multiple landmark books including Blessed Unrest, The Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism (co-author), and the Co-Founder of OneSun, a radically innovative solar energy technology company. In this speech, Hawken discusses his younger days, how and why he started a health food store in Boston in the 1970s, and our connection with nature and each other. "We have invented an economic system - then and now - that doesn't just kill life, it depends on killing life." This speech was presented at the 2012 National Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA. Learn more at http://www.bioneers.orgSince 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year. For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

Our ecosystems contribute tens of trillions of dollars to our economy every year, but – as L. Hunter Lovins notes, “At present we’re losing every major ecosystem on the planet…What are we doing to ourselves?...We have the…intelligence…to make different choices.” Hunter Lovins co-authored the best-selling book, Natural Capitalism, with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. In this interview, she outlines those choices and shares how they benefit businesses and the planet.

Emmanuel DELANNPOY, consultant, Inspire

Emmanuel DELANNPOY, consultant, Inspire

From Sustainable Business to Sustainable Capitalism Seminar 1: The Big Picture Featuring Hunter Lovins, President and founder of Natural Capital Solutions and co-author of the acclaimed Natural Capitalism. NCS educates business, government and civil society leaders to restore and enhance the natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of life. In 1982 Lovins co-founded Rocky Mountain Institute, an internationally recognized research center well known for its innovative thinking in energy and resource issues. Lovins has consulted for dozens of industries and governments worldwide, including the International Finance Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell, Interface, Clif Bar, Wal-Mart, Pentagon, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the governments of Jamaica, Australia, and Afghanistan. Moderator: George T. Scharffenberger, Executive Director of Blum Center for Developing Economies Seminar details: Can capitalism as a system be truly sustainable and just? From global climate change and resource depletion to widening inequality and social unrest, current economic and political models are proving unsustainable. Yet businesses, social entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments are collaborating like never before to address these problems. Can these solutions scale? This interdisciplinary seminar series will examine the changes necessary within the free market system — including law and public policy, consumer behavior, science and technology, the design of products and cities, and faith — for a fundamental shift towards a truly sustainable future. Presented by the Berkeley Net Impact Club, Sustainable Products and Solutions Program and the Blum Center for Developing Economies.  

From Sustainable Business to Sustainable Capitalism Seminar 1: The Big Picture Featuring Hunter Lovins, President and founder of Natural Capital Solutions and co-author of the acclaimed Natural Capitalism. NCS educates business, government and civil society leaders to restore and enhance the natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of life. In 1982 Lovins co-founded Rocky Mountain Institute, an internationally recognized research center well known for its innovative thinking in energy and resource issues. Lovins has consulted for dozens of industries and governments worldwide, including the International Finance Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell, Interface, Clif Bar, Wal-Mart, Pentagon, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the governments of Jamaica, Australia, and Afghanistan. Moderator: George T. Scharffenberger, Executive Director of Blum Center for Developing Economies Seminar details: Can capitalism as a system be truly sustainable and just? From global climate change and resource depletion to widening inequality and social unrest, current economic and political models are proving unsustainable. Yet businesses, social entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments are collaborating like never before to address these problems. Can these solutions scale? This interdisciplinary seminar series will examine the changes necessary within the free market system — including law and public policy, consumer behavior, science and technology, the design of products and cities, and faith — for a fundamental shift towards a truly sustainable future. Presented by the Berkeley Net Impact Club, Sustainable Products and Solutions Program and the Blum Center for Developing Economies.  

Aired 08/12/08 Hunter Lovins is the founder and President of Natural Capitalism, Inc. and Natural Capitalism Solutions, a non-profit in Eldorado Springs, Colorado. A professor at Presidio School of Management's MBA in Sustainable Management program, she has co-authored several books including NATURAL CAPITALISM: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution and 2006 CLIMATE PROTECTION MANUAL FOR CITIES. Trained as a sociologist and lawyer, Hunter co-founded the California Conservation Project (Tree People), and Rocky Mountain Institute, which she led for 20 years. Named millennium Hero for the Planet by Time Magazine, she received the Right Livelihood Award, and the Leadership in Business Award.

"I now believe there are over one million organizations working toward ecological sustainability and social justice. This is the largest social movement in all of history, no one knows its scope, and how it functions is more mysterious than what meets the eye. What binds it together is ideas, not ideologies. The promise of this unnamed movement is to offer solutions to what appear to be insoluble dilemmas: poverty, global climate change, terrorism, ecological degradation, polarization of income, loss of culture." Paul Hawken is the author of Blessed Unrest and co-author of Natural Capitalism.

Stranova Interview Series Vol. 27, published January 7, 2007. As business gets involved in dealing with both the tremendous environmental challenges facing the world today, and elects to “go green” on a level we've never seen before, business also is learning that partnering and learning from nature is also a pretty good economic “bet”. In this week’s episode of Stranova, Hunter Lovins, the founder and President of Natural Capitalism, Inc., explains how embracing a new partnership with nature is not only the right thing to do, it’s “good business” as well.

Launched in April 2006, a new DVD and CD set produced by bestselling author Jeffrey Smith (Seeds of Deception) shows that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) put our health and environment at risk. The release of The GMO Trilogy was in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) and International GMOpposition Day (April 8)- a coordinated 30-nation campaign to raise awareness about genetically modified (GM) food. Organizations will be asking hundreds of thousands of their members to buy the Trilogy to show at house parties and several manufacturers have sponsored the 3-disc set to keep it affordable. Deconstructing Dinner will be featuring the 3-part series in audio format. Part 3 - Hidden Dangers in Kids Meals: Genetically Modifed Foods Shocking research results, inadequate regulations and warnings from eminent scientists explain why GM foods are dangerous and should be removed from kids' meals. The dramatic story of how student behavior in a Wisconsin school was transformed with a healthy diet provides added motivation to make a change. It features Jeffrey Smith and more than a dozen scientists and experts. "Hidden Dangers pierces the myth that our government is protecting our food supply" - John Robbins, Diet for a New America "It will change the way you look at food forever." - Howard Lyman, Mad Cowboy "The revelations in Hidden Dangers make our choice clear - take needless risks with genetically engineered food or just say no to this madness." - Frances Moore Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet "Watch this video and start educating yourself." - Candace Pert, PhD, Molecules of Emotion "Play this video for parents! It's powerful, moving, and will shake people awake to how crazy it is to feed genetically engineered foods to children. It will change what parents and schools buy, which will change what manufacturers use in their products." - Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association "When parents watch scientist after scientist describe the dangers of GM foods, I wouldn't want to be a stubborn food service director trying to stand in their way." - Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism