Podcasts about sustainability institute

RTN is coming to Washington DC on May 29! Join us for a night of stories of murder and mayhem with guests Major Garrett, Margaret Talev, and Doug Heye at the Hamilton Live! You can get tickets and details at RTNpod.me/liveindc – hope to see you there!   The “Amazon economy” seems like something new, but it rests on the physical and intellectual infrastructure built by those who came long before the age of the internet and leaves many of the same marks on the environment. Prominent in this story are five companies- Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, Bank of America, and FexEx-  all of which have global reach and southern roots. In this episode, Bart Elmore joins us to talk about his new book Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade our Economy and the Planet (UNC Press, 2023), and how understanding the history of American business can help us address the environmental challenges that are undeniably facing humanity today.   Dr. Bartow Elmore is Associate Professor of History and a core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at The Ohio State University. In addition to Country Capitalism, he is also the author of  Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism (W. W. Norton, 2015) and Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future (W. W. Norton, 2021). You can hear his discuss these books in RTN episode 140 and episode 208 respectively. Bart is also a 2022 winner of the Dan David Prize.   This episode originally aired as episode #272 on May 15, 2023. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.  

Guest Neil Chue Hong Panelists Richard Littauer | Justin Dorfman Show Notes In this episode of Sustain, hosts Richard Littauer and Justin Dorfman talk with Neil Chue Hong, Director of the Software Sustainability Institute (SSI). They discuss the SSI's mission to sustain software used in research, the institute's history and funding, the role of research software engineers, and the newly launched Research Software Maintenance Fund (RSMF) with £4.8 million dedicated to supporting research software. Neil shares insights into the collaboration, training initiatives, and policy work done by the SSI to promote sustainability in software development. The episode also touches on the impact of large funding initiatives like those from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the evolving role of software development in the age of large language models (LLMs). Hit the download button now! [00:01:44] Neil explains SSI's mission and purpose. [00:02:27] Richard inquires about SSI's funding model and how long SSI has existed. Neil explains SSI is a government funded collaboration via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and it was founded in 2010 and is funded through 2028. [00:05:03] Richard highlights SSI's impact and Neil discusses how SSI helped establish “Research Software Engineer (RSE)' as a recognized role. [00:08:20] SSI's annual Collaborations Workshop (May 13-15 in Stirling, UK) is mentioned, and Neil recalls a pivotal collaboration with Greg Wilson (Software Carpentry), which expanded training programs. [00:11:16] Neil explains that the SSI has evolved from consultancy to training, community initiatives, and policy advocacy to scale its impact and ensure long-term sustainability in research software. [00:13:57] Richard introduces SSI's new £4.8M Research Software Maintenance Fund (RSMF). Neil explains it supports maintaining existing research software and it's funded by the UK's Digital Research Infrastructure Programme (UKRI). [00:16:54] A question comes up about the geopolitical impact of this funding and Neil states the UK is maintaining leadership in research software sustainability, not just focusing on national capability. [00:20:54] Neil defines research software products being targeted by the RSMF as software used beyond its original development team. [00:22:54] Richard asks if £4.8M is a significant investment and Neil explains this is comparable to past UK research software grants.. [00:25:10] Neil acknowledges Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) for improving funding models for research software. [00:29:45] Justin asks how LLMs are changing research software engineering. Neil compares LLMs' impact on software development to smartphones revolutionizing photography. [00:34:05] Find out where you can connect with UKRI, SSI, and with Neil on the web. Quotes [00:02:07] “We've got this motto: Better Software, Better Research.” [00:29:03] “You can define what is clearly sci-fi, you can define what is clearly research software, but making an arbitrary cut-off point is really hard.” Spotlight [00:35:13] Justin's spotlight is ghostty. [00:35:40] Richard's spotlight is Olympus Tough cameras. [00:36:34] Neil's spotlight is The Carpentries and Cinema For All. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/) podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) richard@sustainoss.org (mailto:richard@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Open Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute) (https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials (https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Justin Dorfman X (https://twitter.com/jdorfman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) Neil Chue Hong LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilchuehong/) Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) (https://www.software.ac.uk/) Save the date for Collaborations Workshop 2025 (CW25)-SSI (https://www.software.ac.uk/news/save-date-collaborations-workshop-2025-cw25) UKRI awards the Software Sustainability Institute £4.8m to strengthen research software maintenance in the UK (SSI) (https://www.software.ac.uk/news/ukri-awards-software-sustainability-institute-ps48m-strengthen-research-software-maintenance) Digital Research Infrastructure Programme (UKRI) (https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/creating-world-class-research-and-innovation-infrastructure/digital-research-infrastructure/) Sustain Podcast- Episode 43: Investing in Open Infrastructure with Kaitlin Thaney (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/kaitlin-thaney) Sustain Podcast- Episode 230: Kari L. Jordan on The Carpentries (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/kari-jordan) Sustain Podcast- Episode 235: The State of Open Infrastructure 2024, from IOI with Emmy Tsang (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/emmy-tsang) Open Source in Academia Map (https://sustainoss.org/academic-map/) ghostty (https://ghostty.org/) Olympus Tough camera (https://explore.omsystem.com/us/en/tough) The Carpentries (https://carpentries.org/) Cinema For All (https://cinemaforall.org.uk/) Credits Produced by Richard Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest: Neil Chue Hong.

In this episode of ESG Talk, Mandi McReynolds is onsite in Baku at COP29 with Linda-Eling Lee, head of the Sustainability Institute at MSCI, to explore the evolving role of businesses in tackling global climate challenges. Listen in as they discuss key themes from COP29, including the rise of transition finance, the complexities of operating in a global economy, and the integration of AI into sustainability strategies. Read more about the Sustainability Institute's research here: https://www.msci-institute.com/.

We started our climate month by asking listeners if they were voting for the climate this November.  In what may be the most historic election in my lifetime, we need everyone to use their voice and get out to the polls.  I saw a post on Instagram from Protect Our Winters, and the photos said, "Vote like your home mountain is on fire" – swipe a couple of times, "Vote like your backyard is underwater." Their caption stated that 8 million environmental voters didn't show up in 2020, but if we are not standing up for the planet, who will?  We need everyone to get to the polls this year more than ever. It is crunch time for the climate, so let's vote like it. So, to close out our first climate month, we will bring things home and see how climate change impacts activities that we love. That's why I sat down with Rick Crawford this week to learn how climate change affects our favorite fishing spots and how anglers can advocate for cleaner waters and a more stable climate.  Rick is the President of Emerger Strategies, a sustainable business consultancy whose mission is to measure and improve your company's sustainability performance, all while boosting profits. Emerger Strategies assesses the environmental and social impact of your company's operations, products and packaging; and helps your company make the business case for sustainability.  After graduating with an MBA in Sustainable Business from Marylhurst University in 2011, and spending several years in the renewable energy and green building industries, Rick decided to marry his passion for fly fishing and sustainability by launching Emerger Strategies in 2016, and today Emerger Strategies works with companies of all sizes in a variety of industries. Rick is also the host of the award-winning podcast, The Sustainable Angler, and is also the founder of the Fly Fishing Climate Alliance.  Rick was named one of the "fifteen people, places, and ideas forging the South of tomorrow" by Garden & Gun Magazine, has been featured in the Patagonia film DROP, and named one of "Charleston's 50 Most Influential People" by Charleston Business Magazine. Rick proudly serves on the board of The Sustainability Institute and enjoys spending time with his family on the water. INSTAGRAM: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/outdoor.minimalist.book/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ WEBSITE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theoutdoorminimalist.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@theoutdoorminimalist ORDER THE BOOK: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theoutdoorminimalist.com/book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LISTENER SURVEY: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/jd8UCN2LL3AQst976⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----------------- Emerger Strategies Website: https://emergerstrategies.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emerger-strategies/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmergerStrategies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emergerstrategies/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emergerstrategies/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/outdoor-minimalist/support

The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in a quarter of a century has killed at least seven people and injured over 700. Study finds vaping causes substantial increase in risk of heart failure.Dr Thomas O'Shea-Wheller from the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter explains how his team developed VespAI - which uses artificial intelligence to detect invasive Asian hornets. Also in this episode:Tesla suffers sales slump in 'unmitigated disaster' for billionaireBillie Eilish and Nicki Minaj want stop to 'predatory' music AIGalaxies become more chaotic as they ageWomen with a lower heart rate could be more likely to commit crimesFollow us on X or on Threads. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have been reporting on board's gender diversity since 2009, and while progress has undoubtedly been made, the road ahead is still long. Linda-Eling Lee from MSCI's Sustainability Institute tells us why we started compiling this report in the first place, and how it has managed to remain relevant in 2024. Then, our colleague Christina Milhomem tells us what the numbers say- what has or hasn't changed, which regulations are coming our way- and why investors should think of diversity as an indicator of management oversight.  Host: Gabriela de la Serna, MSCI ESG ResearchGuest: Linda-Eling Lee, MSCI Sustainability Institute; Christina Milhomem, MSCI ESG Research

If light is in a simulation, how does it know what is reality? Okay, obviously light isn't self-aware. But Dr. Morrell and his team at University of Exeter in the U.K. are creating computational models that predict the characteristics of artificial light at night. These models can show everything from how street lights will affect animals, plants, and humans. It'll show what the glare will be like on a particular road. But most importantly, it can demonstrate how to improve the lighting before spending one pound or dollar on a light fixture. Dr. Morrell is a postdoc researcher working between the Environment and Sustainability Institute and the Astrophysics group at the University of Exeter. He received his PhD in astrophysics from Exeter in 2020, where he researched techniques for measuring the properties of stars. Since then, he has been working on combining measurement techniques with computational models to predict the characteristics of artificial light at night at and just above ground level, in locations and at scales that humans and animals experience it. He is working to develop quantitative models to better predict the ecological impacts of our rapidly evolving urban lightscapes. Connect with Dr. Morrell: Twitter - @smorrell Mastodon - @smorrell@mastodon.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammorrell/ Personal website: https://sammorrell.co.uk/ Project website: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/esi/research/projects/artificial-light/ 

~Co-presented with Commonweal's Collaborative for Health and the Environment~ We're now in the dangerous, uncharted territory climate scientists have been warning about for decades. Meanwhile, biologists and toxicologists are sounding the alarm about surpassing the “planetary boundary” for chemical pollution, beyond which both ecosystems and our health are endangered. We know climate change and chemical pollution are related in ways that can accelerate both crises, but does their interlinked nature also offer opportunities? Join Host Kristin Schafer with biologist and systems thinker Dr. Elizabeth Sawin and chemicals expert and clean production advocate Beverley Thorpe as they explore opportunities to prioritize solutions that concurrently address climate change and the global crisis of chemical contamination — while also improving public health, equity and economic vitality. Multisolving Institute a think-do tank that helps people implement solutions that protect the climate while improving, equity, health, biodiversity, economic vitality, and well-being. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leadership in complex systems for both national and international audiences. Her work has been published widely, including in Non-Profit Quarterly, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, U.S. News, The Daily Climate, and System Dynamics Review. In 2010, Beth co-founded Climate Interactive, which she co-directed until 2021. Since 2014, Beth has participated in the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, a continuing dialogue on issues of climate change and sustainability. She is a biologist with a PhD from MIT who has been analyzing complex systems related to climate change for 25 years. Beth trained in system dynamics and sustainability with Donella Meadows and worked at Sustainability Institute, the research institute founded by Meadows, for 13 years. Beth has two adult daughters and lives in rural Vermont where she and her husband grow as much of their own food as they can manage. Beverley Thorpe Beverley is Co-Founder of Clean Production Action, and has researched and promoted clean production strategies to advance a non-toxic economy internationally since 1986. She was the first clean production technical expert for Greenpeace International on chemical and waste issues. Bev's work on alternatives to PVC, organohalogens and hazardous waste incineration helped drive momentum for safer substitution practices in company practices. As the NGO representative in the first United Nations Environment Programme for Cleaner Production, she promoted the value of public participation in industrial policies. Bev received her degree in Geography from Leicester University, UK and is an annual lecturer at Lund University in Sweden on chemicals policy and corporate practices. She is a past Director of Greenpeace International and a founding board member of the Story of Stuff in the US. She lives in Toronto, Canada. Host Kristin Shafer Kristin is director of Commonweal's Collaborative for Health and the Environment, and three decades of experience in the field of environmental health and justice. After working as a Communications Specialist at EPA and with World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, she moved back to Northern California where she held various roles—including executive director—over her 25-year tenure at Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America. Kristin holds a Masters in Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She lives with her husband in downtown San Jose where she loves to bike ride and garden, and currently serves as board co-chair for the community-building urban farm, Veggielution. Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.

In this episode of Flanigan's Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Andrew Jones, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Climate Interactive, and a Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan. Climate Interactive is rooted in the fields of system dynamics modelling and systems thinking. His team creates and share tools that help people see connections and drive effective and equitable climate action.He and Ted discuss how climate modelling is an important step towards mitigating carbon emissions and making the right policy and personal choices to drive down emissionsAndrew was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and trained in environmental engineering and system dynamics modelling through a B.A. at Dartmouth College and a M.S. in Technology and Policy at MIT. At Dartmouth College, he became a student of Dana Meadows, who introduced him to the world of both systems thinking and global models as ways for citizens and top decision makers to test their thinking about what it is really going to take to create a sustainable world.He then worked with Ted at Rocky Mountain Institute in the 1990s and in the 2000s with Dana Meadows at Sustainability Institute. At Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan, he and his team developed C-ROADS and En-ROADS, two user-friendly climate simulations in use by analysts around the world. His interviews have appeared in multiple media, including The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, and NPR's Morning Edition. Andrew has also written two op-eds in the Sunday New York Times — one on building grounded hope and another in the form of an interactive simulation.He co-accepted the ASysT Applied Systems Thinking Prize for “a significant accomplishment achieved through the application of systems thinking to a problem of U.S. national significance” and the System Dynamics Society's Applications Award for the best real-world application of modelling. He is the 1990 recipient of Dartmouth College's Ray W. Smith Award for the most significant contribution to the status of the College.Andrew is based in Asheville, North Carolina, and teaches system dynamics at MIT Sloan and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The rural roads that led to our planet-changing global economy ran through the American South. Acclaimed scholar Bart Elmore explores that region's impact on the interconnected histories of business and ecological change. He uses the histories of five southern firms—Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx and Bank of America—to investigate the environmental impact of our have-it-now, fly-by-night, buy-on-credit global economy. Drawing on exclusive interviews with company executives, corporate archives and other records, Elmore explores the historical, economic, and ecological conditions that gave rise to these five trailblazing corporations. He then considers what each has become: an essential presence in the daily workings of the global economy and an unmistakable contributor to the reshaping of the world's ecosystems. Even as businesses invest in sustainability initiatives and respond to new calls for corporate responsibility, Elmore shows the limits of their efforts to “green” their operations and offers insights on how governments and activists can push corporations to do better. Bart Elmore is Professor of Environmental History and Core Faculty, Sustainability Institute, The Ohio State University. Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), is Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University. If you'd like to learn more about Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet or to purchase the book, please visit https://uncpress.org/book/9781469673332/country-capitalism/

Chairman and CEO of Toronto's Institute Without Boundaries and now the Brookfield Sustainability Institute Luigi Ferrara dives deep into how cities are being rebuilt and redesigned for sustainability and why Europe and Asia lead North American communities in this important area.

Have you enjoyed a cold Coca-Cola yet this summer? Bart Elmore, professor of environmental history and core faculty member of the sustainability institute at The Ohio State University, explores the environmental toll of doing so. Bart Elmore is associate professor of history and a core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State University. […]

In our seventh episode, Mark Lee talks to Julie Moorad, Senior Manager, Global Climate Action at Salesforce, and Caitlin Brown, Senior Consultant at ERM, about how businesses can better assess and respond to their nature-related risks and opportunities. Their conversation covers:Creating a nature positive business strategyIntegrating nature into corporate climate actionHow to apply the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework to understand business risk and opportunityRelated links: Salesforce Nature Positive StrategyPrepare to LEAP: Updates to the TNFD framework and planning for the future - SustainAbility Institute by ERM briefing 

The “Amazon economy” seems like something new, but it rests on the physical and intellectual infrastructure built by those who came long before the age of the internet and leaves many of the same marks on the environment. Prominent in this story are five companies- Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, Bank of America, and FexEx-  all of which have global reach and southern roots. In this episode, Bart Elmore joins us to talk about his new book Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade our Economy and the Planet (UNC Press, 2023), and how understanding the history of American business can help us address the environmental challenges that are undeniably facing humanity today. Dr. Bartow Elmore is Associate Professor of History and a core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at The Ohio State University. In addition to Country Capitalism, he is also the author of  Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism (W. W. Norton, 2015) and Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future (W. W. Norton, 2021). You can hear his discuss these books in RTN episode 140 and episode 208 respectively. Bart is also a 2022 winner of the Dan David Prize. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.  

Across human history and throughout this very diverse planet, water has defined every aspect of human life: from the molecular, biological and ecological to the cultural, religious, economic and political. Water stands at the foundation of most of what we do as humans. At the same time, water resources — the need for clean and accessible water supplies for drinking, agriculture and power production — will likely represent one of the most complicated dilemmas of the twenty-first century. In this presentation, Nicholas Breyfogle, Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at Ohio State University speaks on the history of water. The talk is moderated by Bart Elmore, Associate Professor of Environmental History and Core Faculty, Sustainability Institute, Ohio State University.

Rhonesha Byng (@neshasagenda) made time on her agenda to sit with the Non-Corporate Girls. We spoke about what it takes to scale and business and the lessons learned along the way. Rhonesha has been a CEO for almost a decade allowing her the opportunity to pour into her community and highlight women who are trailblazing their paths. She is passionate about equity and most recently launched the Black Owned Media Equity and Sustainability Institute which helps unite and advance Black-owned media businesses. Ayanna (@the_aya_brand) and Delaila (@missdelailac) dive deeper into learning what has continued to ignite Rhonesa's passion and how her purpose was seeded so early on in life. This episode is for those who have a vision set on their hearts from a young age and answer to bringing it to fruition.Download, Follow and Share on your favorite streaming platforms! Follow, Like, Comment and Watch us on social: Youtube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

What will it take to keep global warming below dangerous thresholds? Thanks to Andrew Jones and his team at Climate Interactive, we have answers to that question. They developed the climate simulators, C-ROADS and En-ROADS, that make it easy for users to see how combinations of various solutions will affect global temperatures. As Citizens' Climate Lobby explores legislation to address climate change, these simulators can show us how to get the biggest bang for our buck. (Spoiler alert: Pricing carbon has the greatest impact.) In addition to being the director and co-founder of Climate Interactive, Andrew has worked at the Rocky Mountain Institute and Sustainability Institute. He currently teaches system dynamics at MIT Sloan and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In our inaugural podcast episode, Mark Lee sits down with Giulia Carbone, Director of the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance at WBCSD, and Jessica Christianson, Head of sustainability at Bayer Crop Science. Their conversation covers:Natural Climate Solutions and the C-Suite guide recently launched with The Sustainability Institute by ERM;the connection between nature, biodiversity and climate agendas; What quality natural climate solutions look like and the challenges in the vetting process; andHow collaboration is key to the necessary action on climate change and reversing the loss of biodiversity.Mark also speaks with Aiste Brackley, Associate Director of the SustainAbility Institute by ERM, on the the key takeaways from the C-Suite guide and the partnerships that help make the Institute's work possible.

In this episode we speak to Shoaib Sufi and Rachael Ainsworth from the Software Sustainability Institute's Community team about their Event Organisation Guide and some upcoming SSI events.The Event Organisation Guide brings together years of experience of the SSI in organising events. It covers different stages of the event organisation process from idea through feasibility, sign off, running your event project and closing down. The guide can be tailored to your needs, giving hints and tips on varied subjects such as venue, catering, budget, agenda, publicity and more. Read the Event Organisation Guide on Read the Docs.If you'd like to raise any issues, offer suggestions or get involved, you can use the GitHub project associated with the guide. Read how SSI Communications Manager Selina Aragon used the guide to plan the first Research Software Camp in this blog post and find out more about our upcoming Research Software Camp on supporting mental health in research.Read Shoaib's blog post on Behind the scenes: SSI Event Organisation Guide which explores the how and why of the guide.Find out more about Collaborations Workshop 2023 (CW23). Support the Show.Thank you for listening and your ongoing support. It means the world to us! Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/codeforthought Get in touch: Email mailto:code4thought@proton.me UK RSE Slack (ukrse.slack.com): @code4thought or @piddie US RSE Slack (usrse.slack.com): @Peter Schmidt Mastadon: https://fosstodon.org/@code4thought or @code4thought@fosstodon.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pweschmidt/ (personal Profile)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/codeforthought/ (Code for Thought Profile) This podcast is licensed under the Creative Commons Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

This week, we are digging deep on the relationship between humans, plants, animals and profit with Bart Elmore, who explains the necessity of a fundamental respect for nature. Bart is an associate professor of environmental history and core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at the Ohio State University. He's also an award-winning writer who investigates the impact of big business on our environment. His most recent book Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future traces the path from Agent Orange to Roundup and the impact it has had on public health, the environment and more. Bart is also the author of Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism. In this episode, Bart shares about the false starts and the forces that shaped his professional path including basketball, electronic music and a failed attempt at a cross-country cycling trip. You can find out more about Bart at www.bartelmore.com. In This Episode: Bart Elmore Website | Twitter | Books Andrew Vontz LinkedIn Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher

Did you know that Monsanto knew PCBs were harmful to public health, but continued to profit from their sale? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Bart Elmore, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental History, core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at the Ohio State University, and award-winning author of  Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism (W. W. Norton, 2015) and Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future(W. W. Norton, 2021). Elmore describes how he gained access to archival documents showing how Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) profited by exploiting labor and natural resources, and continues to do so today with GMO crops designed to sell an increasing number of damaging herbicides. Related website:   https://www.bartelmore.com/ 

The AMI Talk of 31 August 2022 with Nicolina Montesano Montessori and Yoliswa Mahobe focused on the laws of life and the role of nature in humankind's true well-being. Nicolina Montesano Montessori, a researcher with a background in discourse analysis, reflects on the importance of connecting to nature. With her special interest in eco-literacy and social justice, she also uncovers some of the “policy speak” of leaders when referring to the protection of nature. Yoliswa Mahobe is attached to the Sustainability Institute, Stellenbosch, S.A. where she is the training coordinator for the Living Soils Community Learning Farm; here she supports community engagement work around food security. She also facilitates experiential garden lessons with the Lynedoch Small School, Lynedoch Children's House and Youth programme.

In this week's episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Jennifer Eaglin, an associate professor of history and faculty member in the Sustainability Institute at the Ohio State University. Eaglin discusses the evolution of sugar-based ethanol as a fuel source for transportation and the lessons that governments can draw from that evolution for their own development of alternative energy sources. Eaglin and Raimi also talk about how the ethanol industry came to prominence in Brazil and how its use improved air quality while damaging water quality, ecosystems, and certain Brazilian communities. References and recommendations: “Sweet Fuel” by Jennifer Eaglin; https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sweet-fuel-9780197510681 (offer code “AAFLYG6” provides a discount) “The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River” by Richard White; https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809015832/theorganicmachine “Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water” by Mark Reisner; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/323685/cadillac-desert-by-marc-reisner/ “Before the Flood: Destruction, Community, and Survival in the Drowned Towns of the Quabbin” by Elisabeth C. Rosenberg; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Before-the-Flood/Elisabeth-C-Rosenberg/9781643136448 “Dammed Indians” by Michael L. Lawson; https://www.sdhspress.com/books/dammed-indians-revisited-the-continuing-history-of-the-pick-sloan-plan-and-the-missouri-river-sioux

What are the key ESG factors that businesses in Southeast Asia should be focussing on? In the third and concluding episode of the ESG Perspectives series with abrdn, Partners Tom Reynolds and Elias Moubarak finish their discussion with Danielle Welch-Rose, ESG Investment Director for abrdn in the APAC region by addressing whether there is a war for talent amidst the ever increasing importance of ESG matters and Danielle's work as head of abrdn's Sustainability Institute.

This week on Stop, Look & Listen we catch up with De'Von Johnson & Rhonesha Byng.  CEO's of their individual black owned media brands, they came together to form BOMESI (Black-Owned Media Equity and Sustainability Institute).  BOMESI's goal is to increase visibility and resources allocated to black media platforms in order to maintain and advance these companies in the black community. BOMESI's website: www.blackownedmedia.org De'Von's BleuLife Media Group: www.bleulife.com Rhonesha's Her Agenda: www.heragenda.com

A Roadmap for Communicating ESG and Avoiding Greenwashing Claims Environmental, Social, and Governance Topics discussed: The Sustainable Business Handbook (TSBH) Co-authored with two colleagues: Mark Lee and Chris Coulter TSBH is a step by step guide — 13 chapters of key elements to sustainability as a business TSBH how-to manual — Previous book "All In" was tracking the evolution of biz over 20 years Embedding sustainability in the core of the business — one chapter dedicated to communications The power of storytelling — it can only come after identifying a strategy — Board oversight — and leadership buy-in Transparency and accountability are fundamental  Critical to a company's success is working through environmental, social, and economic impacts: positive and negative  Embedding sustainability is critical for people and the planet  Greenwashing and Purposewashing  How companies, funds, and investors can avoid greenwashing claims ESG claims must have substance How to build a sustainable business culture  Materiality exercise as a tool to improve ESG For reporting ESG, should include carbon and water TCFD and TNFD  Collaborations of standards and sustainability reporting and international accounting standard Boards Trends between ESG and investment  Top talent will be attracted to companies that align with a responsible way of doing business and shared values What role does the CMO play in the success of a sustainable business? Unilever is an example of embedding sustainability; even before Paul Polman  Unilever's “brands with purpose” Suzano, an example of a responsible company  Board oversight The Tata Group   About David Grayson David Grayson is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. He is also chair of the Institute of Business Ethics and of the international disability charity Leonard Cheshire. He has advised businesses and Corporate Responsibility coalitions around the world.

This week Beyond the Rig welcomes Derval Barzey and Brendon James! Our guests shared insights on: - Life after graduation! Are the qualifications gained relevant for the current energy and climate environment? - How do they see things unfolding in the next 5 years? and, - What's on their Wishlist for accelerating the local energy transition? Guests Bio Ms. Derval Barzey Derval is an Environmental Sustainability Professional with over 10 years of experience working in the Energy and Climate space and is the host of the Climate Conscious Podcast. Derval holds an MBA in Sustainable Energy Management, and a BSc in Environmental and Natural Resources Management, and Agribusiness, from the University of the West Indies. She is also trained in Energy Efficiency Management and Solar Electric Design. Mr. Brendon James Brendon James is an experienced Energy and Risk Management Specialist with over 20+ years of experience in Strategic and Operational matters. He is the Director of Green Intelligence Business Solutions Limited, Vice President of the Sustainability Institute of Trinidad and Tobago and a co-host of Inquizitive Mindz the podcast Climate Conscious Podcast Show - https://theclimateconscious.buzzsprout.com/ Inquizitive Mindz Podcast Show - https://open.spotify.com/show/5teUZ9wcZRvdLv78oM5dYm Mia Mottley Speech COP26 Day 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN6THYZ4ngM&t=3s #Thereisroom4all!

Three of the globe's heavy weights in sustainable business and social impact pioneers join together to share how sustainable business can be done. David Grayson CBE is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield School of Management and Chair of the Institute of Business Ethics, in the UK. Mark Lee is the Director of the SustainAbility Institute by ERM, based in Berkeley, California. And Chris Coulter is the CEO of GlobeScan, from Toronto, Canada. Each has devoted and dedicated their lives to creating positive social and environmental impact, particularly with business. Listen in to hear three fascinating stories of careers that have woven together to deliver impact. David, Mark and Chris provide us with frank updates on where business social and environmental impacts have gotten to. And together they share their insight into how we can all help businesses to take impact. David, Mark and Chris have recently launched ‘The Sustainable Business Handbook' – they join us to provide insights from the research that went into it. Providing strong business arguments as to why to take action and then unpick how you too can take action from within your organisation. They stress that this practical, step-by-step guidance isn't just for businesses leading the sustainability journey, but are vital for organisations at every level. So whatever stage your business sis at – this podcast is for you. If the reviews of their Handbook are anything to go be ready for an important conversation: Siddharth Sharma, Group Chief Sustainability Officer – Tata Sons, India says "The Sustainable Business Handbook is required reading for executives who are looking to better understand and respond to one of the most important issues facing business today, sustainability (or ESG)." Whilst Mark Cutifani, most recent Chief Executive of Anglo American states the book provides practical measures for companies of all sizes and from all geographies. And Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever plc calls the book a “comprehensive, step-by-step guide has the answers, skilfully navigating business through the big questions of our time." Links: The Sustainable Business Handbook; A Guide to Becoming More Innovative, Resilient and Successful: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Sustainable_Business_Handbook/qeFZEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 David Grayson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-grayson-039a67/ Chris Coulter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriscoulter1/ Mark Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpeterlee/ All In; The Future of Sustainable Leadership: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/All_In/ov1cDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 The All In podcast on Sustainable Business – https://www.sustainability.com/thinking/all-in-podcast/

As the hazards of carbon emissions increase and governments around the world seek to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, the search for clean and affordable alternate energies has become an increasing priority in the twenty-first century. However, one nation has already been producing such a fuel for almost a century: Brazil. Its sugarcane-based ethanol is the most efficient biofuel on the global fuel market, and the South American nation is the largest biofuel exporter in the world. In this talk, Jennifer Eaglin discusses her new book and offers a historical account of the industry's origins. The Brazilian government mandated a mixture of ethanol in the national fuel supply in the 1930s, and the success of the program led the military dictatorship to expand the industry and create the national program Proálcool in 1975. Private businessmen, politicians, and national and international automobile manufacturers together leveraged national interests to support this program. By 1985, over 95% of all new cars in the country ran exclusively on ethanol, and, after consumers turned away from them when oil was cheap, the government successfully promoted flex fuel cars instead. Yet, as she shows, the growth of this “green energy” came with associated environmental and social costs in the form of water pollution from liquid waste generated during ethanol distillation and exploitative rural labor practices that reshaped Brazil's countryside. Speakers: Jennifer Eaglin, Assistant Professor of History and Sustainability Institute Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), Associate Professor of History, Director, Goldberg Center Co-sponsors of this episode: The Center for Latin American Studies, https://clas.osu.edu/ The Sustainability Institute, https://si.osu.edu/ Connect with us! Email: Origins@osu.eduTwitter: @OriginsOSU Instagram: @OriginsOSU Facebook: @OriginsOSU Find transcripts, background reading, and more at origins.osu.edu

Bart Elmore is associate professor of environmental history and core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at the Ohio State University. His first book, Citizen Coke, uncovered the untold environmental history of Coca-Cola, a firm founded in his hometown that became a universally recognized symbol of American capitalism around the world. Then his second book Seed Money is a deeply researched and eye-opening exposé, detailing how Monsanto came to have outsized influence over our food system. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/out-of-the-blank-podcast/support

When I first moved to Charleston I was looking for a way to get plugged in to the sustainability scene and I was introduced to The Sustainability Institute (SI) and have been a fan and supporter of their work ever since then. Bryan Cordell is SI's leader and Executive Director who has been at the forefront of sustainability in Charleston for a couple of decades now. The Sustainability Institute is a nonprofit that promotes resilient & equitable communities while building the next level of conservation leaders. SI is able to accomplish their mission through three major programs, including: Charleston RISES, which is a green building/high performance building certification; weatherization projects for low-income families; and the Environmental Conservation Corps, which is an innovative and award-winning program affiliated with AmeriCorps (The Corps Network) that provides individuals the opportunity to serve their communities while learning new skills and gaining new experience in the field of environmental conservation.

Hi, I'm Sukhraj Singh from SikhArchive and welcome to the 38th episode of our Podcast series of conversations with historians, authors, academics, researchers, and activists on topics related to their areas of expertise on Sikh or Panjabi history. In this episode we are joined by Bartow Elmore, who is an award-winning professor and writer who investigates the impact of big business on our environment. He teaches as an associate professor of environmental history and is a core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at the Ohio State University. We discuss his latest book, Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future, which explores the history of Monsanto, how they influence our food system, their role in the industry of agro-chemicals, as well as genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto has had a huge impact on Punjab such as the debt crisis farmers are facing, the cotton industry and the alarmingly high rates fertilizer use, to name but a few. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Sue Adams, Founder of The Education for Sustainability Institute, Jessica Dunne, Student climate activist from Dublin, and Theresa Rose Sebastian, Indian-Irish climate activist from Cork, the teenage climate change activists who are heading to COP26

Bart Elmore is the associate professor of environmental history and core faculty member of the Sustainability Institute at the Ohio State University. He's the author of "Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future."

This week on “Newsmakers,” we learn about a new mobile preschool program rolled out by the La Crosse School District, with initial costs funded by Federal Covid relief funds. Host Ezra Wall speaks with school district staff about the program. We then hear folks with La Crosse's Sustainability Institute describe the “Drawdown Challenge" taking place this month, and how you can participate to reduce carbon and track impact. (Due to a technical issue with last week's program, this sustainability segment is a repeat from Oct. 1).

Today on “Newsmakers,” we discuss the Compass Now 2021 report with folks involved in this community needs assessment reference tool. Host Ezra Wall speaks with folks involved in the effort, including the Great Rivers United Way, Gundersen Health Systems, and the Monroe County Health Dept. We then learn about the Sustainability Institute of La Crosse's Drawdown Challenge and how you can participate to reduce carbon and track impact over the coming weeks.

Our guest on this episode of Construction Disruption is Dr. Jordan Clark from the Ohio State University where he has a majority appointment in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering and a minority appointment in the  Construction Systems Management program.  He is also a core faculty of the  Sustainability Institute at Ohio State, an interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at answering the challenges of a quickly changing world; and has PhD advising status in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program.Dr. Clark shares with us details on things he has worked on in the past with Lawrence Berkeley and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and how those things are impact construction today. He also discusses some of the key areas of changes he sees coming up.Dr. Clark can be contacted at clark.1217@osu.edu.Construction Disruption is sponsored and produced by Isaiah Industries, manufacturer of specialty metal roofing systems and other building materials. You can learn more about our products at https://isaiahindustries.com

In this interview with Dr. Elizabeth Sawin, we talk about systems change, Climate Interactive's influence on UN climate conference negotiations, multisolving, the importance of building relationships and networks, the emissions gap, cultural narratives & paradigms, and lots of advice for folks on their climate journeys!Beth is the Co-founder and co-director at Climate Interactive which is a non profit think tank that specializes in making science-based tools to help people understand what actions are best for addressing the biggest challenges we face - like the climate crisis. Before Climate Interactive, Beth was a Program Director at the Sustainability Institute where she worked at the intersection of system dynamics and sustainability for 13 years. Timeline:0:00 Intro.1:30 Beth's climate journey.6:40 How much the climate space has changed over the decades.11:00 What Climate Interactive is, how it got started, and their pivotal role at the UN climate conferences. 15:40 What it's like to be at/play a crucial role at COP, influencing government leaders.23:15 How framing, short-term thinking, & not seeing the full picture has held back action. 28:00 Multisolving, solidarity, and core benefits vs. co-benefits.34:00 Climate movement needs a strategy around funding a broad, diverse, and interconnected movement - this starts with building relationships.38:45 Advice on how to accelerate multisolving where you live and work.43:40 What the emissions gap is and how to start closing it faster. And why Beth is dedicating the rest of her career to strengthening relationships and building networks. 52:40 Systems thinking: climate change is a symptom of a giant misunderstanding about who we are and what we're a part of. Partnership vs. domination paradigms.57:45 Society's narrative & human nature. Who is "we"?1:02:00 Advice for people who are just starting their climate journeys.1:05:35 Advice on how to find a mentor.1:08:40 How Beth takes care of herself and where she finds strength.1:12:10 Thoughts on building networks and strengthening relationships.1:17:10 Defining systems change, systems dynamics, and why they matter.1:20:40 Beth's book recommendation and final message to listeners. (every investment decision is a moment of opportunity).Follow Beth, Climate Interactive, and check out the resources she mentioned here:- Follow Beth on Twitter  - Website & ENROADS - Beth's Multisolving Ted Talk - Climate Interactive's Systems Thinking training- Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows - Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System- Climate puppet show Crowdsourcing Sustainability links:- Sign up for the Crowdsourcing Sustainability newsletter! - Crowdsourcing Sustainability's website And a huge thank you to Diego Rentsch for editing as always!!Support the show (https://crowdsourcingsustainability.org/donate/)

August 31, 2021--Loreto Rojas and Cal Winslow, hosts of “Talking about California,” interview Susanna Hecht, Professor of Geography at UCLA's Environment and Sustainability Institute. In a conversation that ranges from the redwood forests of northern California to the heart of the Amazon in Brazil, Professor Hecht discusses human “management” of the earth's forests from Paleo-Indian times to the present. The program is part of a series of in-depth interviews that examine the fate of the California redwood forests, focusing on Mendocino County.

In episode 66 of the Close Knit podcast, I spoke to Masego Morgan and Stella Hertantyo of cncs_ (pronounced “conscious”). I so cherished this conversation with these two - it felt like a wonderful space to sit in our uncertainty and be candid about no knowing what is next. Masego is a sustainable fashion advocate, residing in the suburbs of Cape Town. Currently doing her postgrad in Sustainable Development, while working as a creative strategist for a local South African brand called Good Good Good - this may change by the time the episode is out since she's finding it difficult to balance the two and have a personal life. She's terrible at following instructions, whether it's a recipe or a design pattern.At the end of last year, Stella completed her B.A. in Multimedia Journalism and she is currently doing her Postgraduate Diploma at the Sustainability Institute in Cape Town. Stella is a slow living enthusiast and a lover of low-impact fashion. She is passionate about encouraging an approach to sustainability that is inclusive, accessible, fun and locally-centred, as we try to figure out how to create a regenerative future. When I'm not in front of my laptop doing uni work, you'll probably find me reading, writing, illustrating or baking/cooking. A dip in the ocean, or a walk in the mountains, are the two things that bring me the most peace. At the beginning of 2020, Masego and Stella created an online platform together, called cnscs_. They created cnscs_, because they wanted to create an online community where knowledge, ideas, and resources around sustainable living (especially in a local context) could be shared. They see cnscs_ as a space to introduce people to sustainable living and apply it to their lives in a way that's sustainable to them. Their focus is on telling and sharing African stories and decolonising the current sustainability narrative. They share interviews with lots of change-making people, resource-based articles that inspire positive action and spark thought in our sustainability school section, wish lists, moodboards, musings, and tips and tricks that we have learnt along the way. They talk loads about personal style and slow fashion, but also sprinkle in content that discusses other aspects of sustainability.

This week we welcome Dr. Jennifer Sahmel and Kirk Phillips to explore the concepts of Total Exposure Health (TEH) and Total Worker Health (TWH). TWH's primary goal is to improve the well-being of the U.S. workforce by protecting their safety and enhancing their health and productivity. Total Exposure Health is a strategy to evaluate individuals' exposures to hazards at work, from the environment, and lifestyle choices, integrating these evaluations with health promotions initiatives to better ensure the long-term health of the individual. TEH and TWH take a more holistic approach to health, safety and well being. The concepts are gaining traction and this week we have two of the leading proponents joining us.   Dr. Jennifer Sahmel is a Managing Principal Scientist with Insight Exposure and Risk Sciences in Boulder, Colorado. She is a Certified Industrial Hygienist and a Certified Safety Professional with 25 years of experience in exposure assessment science and workplace health and safety. She has worked in a variety of public and private sector positions including the U.S. EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics the National Park Service and Comprehensive Health Services at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She earned her MPH degree in Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene from the University of California at Berkeley and her PhD in Environmental Health at the University of Minnesota. She is a Research Fellow with the University of Minnesota's Exposure Science and Sustainability Institute. She is also active in the American Industrial Hygiene Association and is a past member of their national board of directors.   Colonel (ret) Kirk A. Phillips currently holds the position of Director, Air Force Office of Energy Assurance (OEA), Washington DC. Prior to his current position Kirk was the Health Safety and Environmental Practice Leader and Vice President at LJB Inc. In 2018, he retired as the BSC Associate Chief for Bioenvironmental Engineering (BE) in the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General. In 2014 he developed Total Exposure Health as a strategic initiative to institutionalize primary prevention in work, environmental and lifestyle exposures. Prior to his current assignment, Col Phillips was the Director of Policy and Programs for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health, Pentagon, Washington DC. Mr. Phillips entered the Air Force from a four-year AF ROTC scholarship in 1985. He obtained his BS in Aerospace Engineering and his MS in Engineering and Environmental Management. Colonel Phillips has held a broad range of leadership positions throughout the Air Force.

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

In this third edition of the #AllInPodcast, Chris Coulter from GlobeScan, David Grayson from the Cranfield School of Management, and Mark Lee of the SustainAbility Institute by ERM talk about geopolitics and the sustainability agenda, the launch of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the shifting consumer marketplace. Val Smith, Chief Sustainability Officer at Citi, is their special guest in this episode.

In this second edition of their new #AllInPodcast, Chris Coulter from GlobeScan, David Grayson from Cranfield School of Management and Mark Lee of the SustainAbility Institute by ERM, talk about the triple whammy inflicted by activists on Big Oil recently; the launch of The Valuable500 business coalition on disability Phase 2 and wider issues on Diversity, Inclusion & Equality +++Their guest in this edition is Pia Heidenmark Cook - the Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA.

This week on The Pet Buzz, Petrendologist Charlotte Reed and Michael Fleck, DVM, talk with professor Dr. Robbie McDonald, Chair at the Natural, Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter about reducing feline predatory behavior; with veterinarian Dr. Marcie Logsdon from Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine about raccoons; and with veterinarian Dr. Rosslyn Biggs from Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine about flea and tick prevention.

Kol Peterson: [00:02:02] it's the man of the hour. I'm just going to quickly introduce Robert Liberty a colleague and friend and we've been working and strategizing on ADU stuff together for a long time. More closely in the last few years. Robert was the head of the Portland State University's Institute for Sustainable Solutions and he focused that Institute's efforts on ADU related activities, which we'll be talking about momentarily. More recently Robert built an ADU in his house, so we're going to be talking about that, too. And also some of his previous experiences related to land use legislation or land use law in Oregon, which is a really fascinating topic in its own right. We'll be talking a little bit about the connection between the urban growth boundary policies. He's also a former elected official with Metro. So welcome Robert any opening remarks before we launch into some questions? Robert Liberty: [00:02:54] No, launch!. Kol Peterson: [00:02:56] All right. So we're going to start off by talking about the history of the urban [00:03:00] growth boundary a little bit, which I just alluded to. It's referred to colloquially locally as the UGB. So we'll, that's what we'll call it.A lot of people on the call might know what the UGB is, but in essence, every city in Oregon regardless of size has a urban growth boundary. And we're going to show off what that looks like in practice, but the regulation of housing is also part of the Oregon land use program. Can you tell us something about that, Robert?Robert Liberty: [00:03:24] Yeah, I think people don't know about the program other than we have urban growth boundaries, limit growth, somehow think that was going to limit the amount of housing production, but from the very beginning, one of the problems that was tackled by these laws starting 40 years ago was the zoning that limited housing choice to single family homes on large lots and often big homes.So right from the beginning, there was an understanding that if you're going to be more compact in your growth patterns you should also increase housing choices. And the supply of land was much less of a factor in the cost of housing than the regulations of [00:04:00] housing. So the same time urban growth boundaries were drawn starting at the state level, we went through every city and every urban part of every County and said look, "you've got a rezone land for apartments, for smaller lots, for duplexes, for townhomes, and that was accomplished largely in the 1980s. And it's made a huge difference. Kol Peterson: [00:04:17] So given that no other state in the nation has an urban growth boundary, does this concept even matter in this conversation about infill housing? Or is it kind of pointless to even talk about it because no other state has anything like it.Robert Liberty: [00:04:32] Well, actually, it's not true that no other state has anything like it. The state of Washington has urban growth areas and scattered across the country in places as varied as South Dakota and Kentucky, in Colorado, you find urban growth boundaries, even though a little town and township in Michigan called Frankenmuth. And Lexington, Kentucky, and they won't call it this, but Sioux Falls, South Dakota has virtually the same thing. Ventura County Northern California. So there's, I don't [00:05:00] know, maybe 15 million people living in communities with urban growth boundaries. What I've found is all of them end up having the same elements and one of them is to change the regulation and zoning to allow more housing to be produced. Kol Peterson: [00:05:15] So it has some political relevance, at least in those areas. Robert Liberty: [00:05:20] Well, it has political relevance and I think there's real concern now and understanding about what housing regulations done to limited people's housing choices.And I think that can be a starting point for talking about, "well, how do we grow generally?" And how does this connect to climate change? And maybe we can talk about that later. So it's a different political world than it was in the 1980s. We all know that, it's a different world than it was 20 years ago, but there may be an opportunity for change accelerated by the pandemic actually.Kol Peterson: [00:05:48] Yeah, actually, I'm going to do a quick thing here and share two slides that show and what an urban growth boundary looks like just as a really quick illustration of [00:06:00] what the urban growth boundary does. Robert can you just briefly talk about these two slides here. Robert Liberty: [00:06:04] Yeah. These are what are called figure grounds which are actually the black is the structure.And they were done by the New York times. They weren't done by anyone here in Oregon and this shows Portland metropolitan region. And the urban growth boundary is really obvious in this. It's not drawn in. It just shows how development has been made contiguous and more efficient.If you go to the next slide, this is the same kind of map from Charlotte, North Carolina, which is virtually identical metropolitan population, and a very similar growth rate. So you can see there's a huge difference. And this makes a big difference to the economy, to society, and to greenhouse gases and yes, it does connect accessory dwelling units. And we'll talk about that. Kol Peterson: [00:06:49] Great. Thanks. So one of the things that I've observed as a resident of Portland for roughly a decade is that my perception [00:07:00] is that there's kind of a cultural, I want to actually have you check me on this, but my perception is there's this cultural acceptance towards infill housing and density as a result in part of the influence of the UGB, which was established in '73, and that's kind of inculcated itself into the culture and the ethos of Portlanders at least.Is that accurate? Do you think, do you think that's accurate in terms of understanding the mentality of acceptance towards infill housing? Robert Liberty: [00:07:28] I think it is part of it because the arguments have been made for 40 years. We've had seven ballot measures at the state level dealing with the planning program, for and against, and by and large, the public has reinforced it.And I want to clarify something because people get confused to hear about urban growth boundary for Portland. It's not an urban boundary for Portland is for the entire metropolitan region for 24 cities. And every city in Oregon has one. Antelope has a population of 50, it has an urban growth boundary. So this is widely understood as a basic strategy [00:08:00] of saving lands we need for farm and forest production and natural resources and being more efficient with taxpayer dollars as well. So yes, it has become, you know, I've back in the day when I took taxis home from the airport, I'm not making this up, taxi driver brought up urban growth boundary. So yes, it is part of the thinking, but I think the other part of that thinking is.There's some benefits about growing efficiently and using the structures and land we have that have nothing to do with saving farm and forest land, that are good in themselves. If our landscape looked like the moon, there would still be good reasons to do what we've done and to make it easier for people to have housing choices and reduce regulations.So, yes, I think there is a culture, but this is what I utterly reject, because I often do presentations and I show a picture of Oz and the characters from Oz and the background is Portland under these green towers. [00:09:00] So this is just wrong. We were so much like every other state in 1973. I mean, we were basically, Columbus, Ohio with fruit trees and bracket fungus or sagebrush, depending what part of the state.And we became different by working on it. And it was very contentious, Kol, as you know, it's still very contentious in Portland. It wasn't easy and it's actually the fight over these things that helps people understand them. So other places say, "Oh, we couldn't do that it'd be too controversial." The answer is, "Yes, you can do it, yes it will be controversial and overcoming the controversy is part of the education process." So for those interested in ADU design so far, this. It was a bomb. So we get into the ADUs more, but you and I are both interested in the big policy setting for ADUs. Kol Peterson: [00:09:50] That's largely what I wanted to talk about with you is these policy aspects. You bring a lot to the table with these policy discussions. You have a rarefied set of skills and experience, [00:10:00] so we're going to focus on that. For several years you orchestrated a Sustainability Institute housed within PSU and focusing the institutes efforts on ADU production.Can you tell us about the initial goals of that program and whether it was successful? Robert Liberty: [00:10:13] Yeah. The Institute for Sustainable Solutions work on a variety of topics, but this was one and we picked it because it had a high profile. Thanks, in large part, to the work of you and colleagues of yours, like Eli Spevak and making this a big issue, even though ADUs had been authorized in Portland for 30 years, actually, and regionally for 30 years, not much production.So the idea was, can we look at all the barriers to production other than regulation and what can we do about cost financing, permit processing, site suitability designs and so on. So we commissioned some work and one set of projects were five standard designs for ADUs to serve different markets from smaller to larger.In fact, the center for Public Interest Design at Portland [00:11:00] State had a studio on that. And one of the designs is likely to be built now. That was one project, another was a survey of hundreds of ADU owners and tenants, and all the prior surveys that we were aware of interviewed only the owners and not the tenants.Another was some research into site suitability in the city of Portland, and then we convened people in finance to talk about how to increase access to financing for people that didn't have a lot of equity and savings. We talked about a wide variety of topics.How successful? Well, this is part of a conversation you and I have been here having for while, which is people want this to go to scale, but so far, except in a few places, scale has been pretty modest. And why is that? And can you do this at scale and what is the role of government? But I would say that we don't know yet. It's a little too soon to tell what the results might be. Some of the work is clearly helpful. Some of it has not been helpful. [00:12:00] Kol Peterson: [00:12:00] Yeah. I have a general mentality of urgency around ADU production. I'm tired of dilly dallying, and I want to see success. I want to highlight programs that have worked as opposed to spending political capital and money and effort on things that might work, but haven't proven to work. And so that's kind of the underlying skepticism I have around some of these really good sounding programs that I see a lot of municipalities and institutions trying to promote.And I'll give an example of this, standardized plans. Obviously that sounds like an easy win. It sounds like a good idea. A lot of jurisdictions are putting effort into design contests, have standardized plans, but we've seen a standardized set of plans in Santa Cruz in 2003 and those were not used even once, ever. And now we see that same thing happening in Seattle and San Diego, and a lot of other jurisdictions are trying to [00:13:00] standardize plans. And that doesn't have any impact, or at least hasn't, now it could potentially, but I don't want to have, I don't want to see governments spinning their wheels on things that haven't proven to be successful.I'd rather have them focus on things that we know can actually help. Robert Liberty: [00:13:16] Well, I think that this particular topic is an interesting one because when we started our work, you were very polite in our big collaborative meetings. By the way, I do recommend those, bringing all these different people together to talk about it generated a lot of activity and interest. But you were very skeptical, and so was Eli. I remember going up to Vancouver and talking to Jake, who you had on your program, I think on Wednesday and on his wall, he had a series of very beautiful renderings of different designs, and I think he mentioned them briefly. I said, how many of those have you built? And he said, "none". So, that's very important but one of the things that I have questions about is, is it because we're talking a very early [00:14:00] pioneering market in the limited place. So the house I'm in is a 1945 house. It's 1100 square feet, including the attic. And it was one of about 40 built in our neighborhood all at once. So those were standardized designs and those were middle-class homes. So it may be that the people who build ADU is now tend to be more affluent, have disposable income care, more about design, and maybe people who earn $60,000 dollars a year and have a big backyard say, "Well, fine, Model B with the brown countertops is fine." So I don't know, yet, but this is part of the bigger question, too. The idea of standardized designs was to reduce the time required to do it, and maybe the cost. I think the cost issue is a big one and the design part is not necessarily a big part of the cost.You know, it might be 10%. So I would say, if we want to have large scale production, then we ought to be looking at settings where this might work and markets where [00:15:00] that might work and you have to have the financing and the outreach, and then standardized designs. The percentage of Americans who live in single-family homes designed by architects must be a fraction of a percent. Most of them are some variation of standardized design. So as I recall, and I'm going to send this question back to you. One of the issues though, that's for detached units is the backyards have too many variations in them. And that's one reason, but how do you feel about why standardized designs don't work? Kol Peterson: [00:15:31] I'm asked this question a lot by every pre-fab company in the world that wants to start doing standardized designs. And I always like to caveat my response with it could work. In fact, there's three companies in the whole United States where it is working, but there's a hundred companies for whom it's not working and they go out of business. So I don't want to say it can't work, but I will say that the only companies that for whom it has worked are coming in at really inexpensive price points, that seems to be the common theme [00:16:00] amongst them, and they are standardized plans. So it can theoretically work based on those few examples, but for most companies it doesn't seem to be working.And there's a whole bunch of reasons why not the least of which is, "Hey, I'm spending at least a $100,000, if not $200,000 on this unit. I want to have some say over some architectural aspects of how it's gonna look and how it's gonna lay out on my property and what the orientation of the doors and windows and electrical and utility connections from the primary house will be in my particular property."So I think that's a reasonable thing for any homeowner to anticipate being able to have some control over. PrefabADU.Com is the most successful in terms of market rate adoption they've built several hundred ADUs in the U S, most of which are prefab, predesigned, standardized plans.Robert Liberty: [00:16:43] And obviously in an expensive market. So even compared to the regular homes here are quite affordable. The other thing I would say is that the idea that you can have a design that fits all the backyards for detached units, that isn't the point. The point is that [00:17:00] maybe out of a hundred thousand sites or 200,000 sites, maybe there's 5% that would fit one of the designs. That's what I think is the opportunity. A flat site without a bunch of trees , maybe an alley, or on a corner, or something. If we could map those and say, "Look, your site actually has a low cost potential." I made a reference to an internal standardized unit, that was something that the Center for Public Interest Design did. You can see some of these components already exist, the kitchen and bathroom and the wall, and have that so that you can slide in and connect up, and that might save a chunk of money. So that's a standalone possibility it could be used in new houses too. Kol Peterson: [00:17:39] I want to talk a little bit about the Institute for Sustainable Solutions survey that was done, and just share some of the highlights from that survey.Robert Liberty: [00:17:44] So this was a survey done in 2017, 18, I think, and it was a good database, there were hundreds of people interviewed. We paid $10 for every response, and we got a good response. The numbers don't look very [00:18:00] impressive here, but high quality. The main point of this is that things really took off in 2013. These are all Portland city only. I think the waiver, the $15,000 benefit of not paying system development charges had a lot to do with it, but this also was ,concurrent with Portland, becoming a tourist destination we had never been before, around food.And a lot of the ADUs are built to the neighborhoods where food tourism is pretty prominent and it also coincides with a massive run-up in home costs and rental costs. So the returns on building an ADU, or renting out part of your existing house as a short-term rental, changed dramatically right as we came out of the recession, as well as regulatory reforms and the SDC waiver. So I think, Kol, maybe you can comment on what you see nationally, but I think this distribution had changed a little bit from the prior case. But you can see it's detached new structure is 40%, [00:19:00] but garage and basement renovations together are 43%.And my impression is that's continuing 'cause I can see a lot of them being built. There is a big difference, potentially, I should say there's a big difference in cost, especially in the basement renovation. What's not in there, by the way, and you've comment on this, is attic renovations.Kol Peterson: [00:19:23] Yeah, attic renovations represent I think 2% of all permitted ADUs in Portland, so it's really marginal. Another weird thing, Robert, this is kind of a fascinating side point here, but if you look at the actual data of real life permits that have been issued in Portland, there's not a lot of internal carved out ADUs aside from basement conversions, just in general, whether it's at a conversions or other portions of the primary level. The reason that's important is because California has a state law now that's like junior ADUs and it's for internal carve-outs of existing structures, which is another one of these things that sounds obvious. Of course, that's a great idea, we have all these oversized [00:20:00] homes, but the data doesn't actually bear out that a lot of people are doing that aside from taking a basement and converting that, which maybe has some architectural rationale that other internal carved out ADUs do not. Robert Liberty: [00:20:12] I think it's interesting question. One of the things I have observed, if you look at the map or accessory dwelling and it's been built in the region, not just important, but in the region, they're overwhelmingly clustered at inner neighborhoods in Portland.Those are areas where your market return is really high, but there are also areas that have older homes and small lots. And this is why I think the opportunity in mid-century suburbs is so great because these are places which have mature trees, small often awkward home designs from 50 or a hundred years ago to adapt.So that's one of my questions is, would we see something different if we were looking at a blossoming of ADUs in a mid century ranch home suburbs? Kol Peterson: [00:20:55] Well, I think the the form of ADUs does follow regulations, and I'll [00:21:00] speak to that in a second, but to your point, I think over time, we might see that there's different forms of ADUs that happen as a result of the year that the housing stock was developed in a given area. For example, snout house suburb subdivisions that were built in the fifties to seventies in cul-de-sacs. If, and when in California, ADUs take off in those areas, we're going to see a lot of snout house conversions.Whereas right now that's not a really prominent form of ADU, but it's, it's obvious. It's really easy low-hanging fruit for a lot of areas within California, I would say. Robert Liberty: [00:21:35] Projects that we didn't get done, that I'm still interested in getting done, is to look at mid century homes and which ones would be most easily, cheaply, but effectively converted to include an ADU.So my parents moved in 1962 from inner neighborhood of Portland to what was then an outer suburb, it's not anymore, and they bought a ranch style home, with their three kids. And [00:22:00] it's got a complete daylight basement with what was a wet bar, a bathroom and separate entrance.I look at that, I think, you know, pretty nice apartment, pretty large, basically a rec room, so it's big, and that would be a very easy conversion, I think. That home design, even though that actually was designed by an architect, it looks like a lot of other homes. And so that's kind of thing that's interesting. Plus a lot is big. So, I think there are a lot of potentials. Pioneers tend to be in the inner neighborhoods for a variety of reasons. Now we look at neighborhoods about 50 years ago for opprortunities. Kol Peterson: [00:22:38] Let's go through a couple more of these findings from the survey.Robert Liberty: [00:22:41] Some of this was a big change, short-term housing less than one month, 26%. This had gone up dramatically from the survey that was done several years before. And I think that's a reflection of what I mentioned before, which is a big spike in rent and tourism coming to Portland.You can also see that [00:23:00] 16%, interestingly, it's the owner's primary residence and the ADU is currently occupied, meaning the owner is living on the property. Now that's one of the things that Portland has done is it doesn't require the owner to live in the primary residence.And on one of your tours, we visited one of those properties. The fears that people had are completely unjustified because you can rent your house out anyway. So it's hard for me to understand the fear is about what we don't want to have the ADU as a renter, unless the owner of the home lives in the primary residence, you can already rent out the home..Kol Peterson: [00:23:34] Robert, since you've teed up this short-term housing thing, we don't want to dwell on this. This is a big topic. I have some really strong talking points about this, but what's your talking point about the conflation of, or the concept of short-term rental opportunities, options within ADUs?Robert Liberty: [00:23:53] Well, it's a mixed bag and I have some new information as a result of work in the Columbia [00:24:00] Gorge, is that in small markets, you can have a lot of the housing stock converted short term if you're in a resort area, that's not us, in a city is very different. And as you and others have said, a lot of the short-term rentals are in their primary residence.So confusing an ADU with a short-term rental, it's kind of a mistake. Short-term rentals could be anything. I think the other thing is that the short-term rentals, the rapid return, is often the trigger that allows people to go ahead and build an ADU. And the survey results show that people often plan to get out of the short term rental business 'cause it's pretty taxing and go to a long-term rental after they'd paid down their debt. Also, there's an equity component during the testimony before the city council on whether to continue the waiver of system development charges, the city said, okay, we'll do it, but you have to agree not to use the accessory dwelling unit as a short-term rental, one of the people testified said, "That was going to be my retirement the only way you [00:25:00] can stay in my home." So. I wouldn't say that unlimited short-term rentals is good, particularly if you're in a resort area that you're actually changing your housing market way, that's bad for people, but I think it's a lot more nuanced and complicated and conflating ADUs with short-term rentals it's a mistake just factually. That that income stream may be essential trigger. Kol Peterson: [00:25:24] Yeah. Well, this is really big topic and we could have a whole show on this at some point. Robert Liberty: [00:25:29] The people were not receiving any rent are often using it themselves, living in the primary residence, or it's a relative or a friend.And actually it's significant that the percentage of people, who it's a friend, it's not a relative, it's not a child, it's a friend who needs it. Also, below market value, I think people said, "well, how would they know?" But the answer is in fact, people are pretty careful. They do check, there's lots of information online about what other people are getting for their rents. In fact, when there was a cost increase in our ADU, I said, well, I'm [00:26:00] not too concerned, but what kind of rent can I get from this relative to what this extra cost. I was so horrified, it was so high. So I certainly knew what the market rents were. And people were choosing to do this. They're choosing not to charge market rents. They're not trying to maximize their income, so they're more flexible. So I think this is pretty important. Kol Peterson: [00:26:24] I'm going to go rapid fire through four or five more questions, Robert. So you developed an ADU. Tell us about the development process and what you've learned about providing an affordable ADU rental from a homeowner's point of view?Robert Liberty: [00:26:40] I started the process by saying I wanted to learn about the difficulties. By the time it was done, I realized that I was wrong. And it was because I found someone, architect and developer, Nicholas Papa efthimiou an expert. I'm a land use attorney, but after a while, he really knew the ropes.So really my job [00:27:00] was to give some advice. We talked about the design and this is a 391 square foot converted tuck under garage. It has retaining walls into a private patio, it's South facing, which is very important Portland, and we had a budget of originally $60,000, turned out to be 75,000. So I learned, it actually wasn't that hard for me. I had to make some decisions. My sweat equity was pretty modest, mostly the exterior landscaping work. And I did learn about the challenges of different interpretations of the same code by different reviewers and building codes. Some of the stuff did drive me a little nuts, but fortunately Nicholas really was write checks, give us some advice. So that's what can happen elsewhere. Kol Peterson: [00:27:48] Now that you've had some experience with this, what roles do you see ADUs playing in terms of affordability and equity?Robert Liberty: [00:27:56] Well, what we know from the survey is that there's an overlap between the rents [00:28:00] charge for ADUs and people earning between 60 and 80% of median household income. So market provided, small housing can be affordable people at 60 to 80%, but, one of the questions is that people in those units maybe earning 120%. That's a question about, can we, I find that people really need these rents. So I think it could be pretty significant. The other thing we could have done, or can do, in Portland is we have a $15,000 value in the waiver system development charges, the city. And I know you're not a fan of this, but the city could say, we're going to turn that into a rent reduction.And it doesn't have to be dramatic, but we'd like you to shave off $200 a month. So I'm charging significantly below market. But because I had savings I used, my return is, this is gross, 1% a month. There's nothing, especially now, there's nothing I can get in the market, as someone who doesn't have a lot of money, like that. So, [00:29:00] I think this combination of great opportunity and need and kind of minor Incentives could do a lot. It's not going to solve the problem. There's no silver bullet, but this is a piece of silver buckshot that I think can help with that housing market. Kol Peterson: [00:29:13] Robert, this is an important point, can you just explain that in lay terms, when you say your return is 1% a month, explain what that means, dollar value? Robert Liberty: [00:29:22] So the rent I'm charging is $760 a month. The cost of the ADU was about $75,000-$76,000. And the $76,000 is not construction costs, it's everything. Permits everything including I think I threw in and finally the money has been a building and planter boxes and the fence and stuff. So that means I'm getting 1% back on my money.Now, if I had borrowed that money, I wouldn't get that kind of return. But if I'd put that money into some sort of investments, I'd be getting a negative return right now. So, [00:30:00] there were a couple of things that made that possible. One is I had help. Second thing is I had a home with a tuck on her garage and I didn't have to provide parking, if I'd had to provide parking, that would make a big difference.So this combination of regulations, existing structure, and not getting too obsessed about fancy touches, made it , I mean, there's nothing like that I could get. Kol Peterson: [00:30:23] Yeah. Let's dive into a different topic here. Let's talk about the greenhouse gas emission reduction potential of ADUs and middle housing for cities and states that have greenhouse gas emission reduction laws or policies in place. Can you talk about that a little bit? Robert Liberty: [00:30:39] Yeah. So since we're changing topics so dramatically, I'm going to change my tie. Greenhouse gas production, about quarter, but typically, certainly in this state, 27% is from transportation, another big share is from the structures themselves. And by having ADUs as a strategy around infill and redevelopment, you [00:31:00] reduce driving. People are closer to things, especially if they're built in neighborhoods like the ones we live in, where there are stores nearby and walk to, and the conveniences of excellent transit, bike proximity. ADUs as strategy around infill and redevelopment makes a big difference in the amount of travel.So that's one part. The other part is small houses just generally don't take as much energy to heat, dramatically different. I know this from personal experience, we had an energy audit and there was a threshold of savings they had to meet and then you'd get a benefit.Well, we couldn't really meet it and our walls are not insulated. So why is that possible? It's because the house is a appropriate size, 800 square foot main floor. We shut the doors to the attic, it's just really efficient. And so those two things, the small unit and the infill together actually have a big impact.And California has made compact growth, a major part of its effort [00:32:00] to address climate change. And I worked on that project for a couple of years as well. Kol Peterson: [00:32:05] We're going to close out with one question here about your experience as an elected official in Metro many moons ago. What are some strategies that you'd recommend for advocates and elected officials that are confronting common concerns around the impact of off street parking or owner-occupancy or any of the other arguments that are put out there against infill housing and residential zones?Robert Liberty: [00:32:29] Well I think the most important thing is organized education coming from the residents themselves. We've had, I want to repeat this with very important, all the stuff we've done in Oregon, around planning and changing how we grow and develop around housing has been contentious. It always has been, but there's always been a lot of grassroots advocacy coming from individuals and organizations.I'm amazed at the level of distributed sophistication we have [00:33:00] here from these challenges. It's something universities can contribute to. But the most important thing is, and I serve on the Columbia Gorge commission now, is to have people coming in and say, I want this in my neighborhood.And to do that it's best if there's an organization or YIMBY, "Yes In My Back Yard" organization, but it can come from designers, it can come from faculty members, can come from people in faith communities who say, "You know, if those people were good enough to take out our garbage or teach our kids, they are good enough to live here."So this is, again, an experience that's many places have had, but I think that's what has to happen. And then the elected officials get more comfortable. The other thing you can do is, speaking bluntly is, make someone lose an election from being on the wrong side of an issue and that will get everyone's attention immediately.Kol Peterson: [00:33:52] Good closing piece of wisdom, throw your electeds under the bus! Kelcy King: [00:33:59] That wraps [00:34:00] up the interview portion of this episode of the ADU hour. As a reminder, these episodes are the edited audio version of interviews that we conducted via a webinar series. Good news. You can access the full video series via Kol's website, BuildinganADU.com. Now for the second half of the show I curate questions from the audience that gives our guests the opportunity to dive deeper into a topic or address new ideas and questions. So Jeff Barber is asking , and I'm curious about this too, about comparing the urban growth boundaries from out West to the Compact Context Areas in the Midwest. Is that something that you can address? Robert Liberty: [00:34:44] I'm not sure I know what that is but I can guess a little bit, one thing I'd say is Urban Growth Boundary is a tool that will help supply over a big area because of separates city and country.And if you don't limit what happens outside the boundary, it's worthless. So in [00:35:00] Oregon, about 96% of the private land is zoned for farm or forest use. And you're not necessarily entitled even build a house. So you can't just densify and allow sprawl across the countryside, you have to have a system that covers a state or a whole region. And it is also not true that encouraging density and cities are allowing that some cities will save the countryside. It doesn't work that way, you have to have something that applies across the whole landscape. Thank you.Kelcy King: [00:35:30] What could specifically, this questions asks California, but I think anywhere, learn from Oregon in regards to land use and zoning instead of purchasing open space. Robert Liberty: [00:35:42] Several years ago, I did a study of what all 50 States were doing to curtail sprawl. And I looked at a bunch of regions. It's an 800 page report.I'll send a signed copy to someone if they promise to read it all. But when I was done, I had a kind of, instead of "eureka moment", a "well duh" moment. So [00:36:00] one thing is you have to change your land, use regulations in a fundamental way. You have to have oversight, you have to have enforcement.We have actually citizen forcement in Oregon, and you have to stick with it. So, it's not just a little bit of tinkering, you'd have to really think about your entire landscape. In California actually has huge amount of planning legislation. A lot of it's not enforced and a lot of it is advisory and that just doesn't work if you mean it, you have to require it.So it's politically difficult, but I think it will be essential, both for equity and sustainability. Kol Peterson: [00:36:35] Robert, there's a couple of questions I had for you that I didn't get to ask and I'm curious if you could get into it a little bit. So what, just in general, what roles do you think ads and missing middle housing play in terms of meeting a state's housing production goals? Oregon and California, I'm sure other states have goals that they're trying to meet. Can you give us some insight into how middle housing can help those goals? Robert Liberty: [00:36:58] Well, I think it could help [00:37:00] significantly, but just the ADU productions we had before the pandemic. I remember talking about this and whether it was regarded as a niche with a regional government, and one of the planners there said we were looking at, I think three or 4% of the housing production going on during that high growth period was taking the form of ADUs. That is not a niche. Three or 4%. Right. So I think we don't know what it could play. If there was a requirement that new housing that was built, something discussed in Portland and the region, had to include an ADU, then we could really talk about a significant increase in production.So, I think the potential, even if it's one or 2%, it's significant because ADUs are unlike apartments and they're unlike single family homes, they really are in different locations or different scales, they're in opportunity areas often. So I think they can play a very important role.I think the trick is can we get that to go from hundreds to thousands? And how do you do that? So the answer [00:38:00] is yes, it can. But we'll have to see. Oh, one other thing I should add is that when, as part of the planning effort here in the region, we wanted to encourage growth along corridors and in centers and not sprawl.We've had an explosion of mid rise apartments along transit quarters, simply by eliminating parking requirements because it's $15,000 to $40,000 per unit extra. And all of a sudden things now work. So that has been dramatic in last five years. I think there is big potential. Kol Peterson: [00:38:34] I always give a lot of credence to people who put their money where their mouth is. And by that, I mean people who build an ADU for themself because I think there's so much to be gained in terms of understanding the market by going through the process yourself.So can you just talk a little bit about now that you've been through the ADU development process yourself, how has that changed your understanding of the ADU market and policy interventions [00:39:00] that are out there? Robert Liberty: [00:39:01] Well, it's sort of a emphasis in some points I made earlier. One is there are situations like mine where the cost of the ADU can be low and the return is high.That's a combination of the home, and the site, and the regulation, and available capital. A lot of Americans have no savings, so this doesn't work for them, but they may have value in their property. Finding the place where there's really a high return, I think I was kind of shocked at how important this has been for my financial future. Other people know that, there's nothing particularly unique about our situation. I think sharing that can make a big difference. On the other side, I looked at the possibility of building a detached unit talking about that with Nicholas again. And I looked at that return. I was going to have to borrow some of the money and it wasn't great. It was pretty weak.So what that shows is you have to find the right situation, the regulations, the right setting for the remodel and so on. And then I think it has big [00:40:00] potential, big potential. Kelcy King: [00:40:01] There was one more that I think can be adapted to any city or any municipality experiencing growth.Danny asked, "I've been asked by my local real estate investor group. What types of development does Portland need most? What do you think the best answer to this question is? Robert Liberty: [00:40:15] Housing development or development generally?Kelcy King: [00:40:17] I would say housing. Robert Liberty: [00:40:20] Lower costs, and I think that is going to be a mixture of apartments, but I also think we need innovations to test markets and the work that Kol and others did actually did that and demonstrated there was a market that's actually a role for government is to test markets.So I think there are some things around design. So for example can we get the science where people have a small backyard and some privacy, but it's part of a multifamily development. Is that a big market? What can we do with adaptive reuse of existing structures, both homes and not. So I would say we need more housing, more variety of housing we don't need more trophy housing. You [00:41:00] know, we don't need to worry about the upper end of the market except in so far as it's using up the land and the taxpayer required financing required for other people. Kol Peterson: [00:41:09] Thanks, Robert. I noticed how you slipped adaptive reuse that was pretty slick. All right. So thanks so much for joining us today, Robert. And we are gonna wrap up today's show thanks again so much for being our guest today.Robert Liberty: [00:41:23] My pleasure and thank you for doing this, Kol, it's very important.

Is it possible that blockchain solutions are starting to reach what gartner refers to as the slope of enlightenment?Their practical uses in supply chain management are becoming more evident.And then there's smart contracts, which give the ability to track ownership of an asset and create generational wealth.The changes we're starting to see are what's being referred to as Web 3.0, and today I talk with Dr Justin Goldston to find out more. Dr. Justin Goldston is a Professor of Project and Supply Chain Management at Penn State University where his research is focused on blending the practices of supply chain management, emerging technologies, and sustainability to create positive global change. A research facility affiliate at the Center for the Business of Sustainability at the Smeal College of Business at Penn State, D. Goldston is also as an active contributing faculty member to The Sustainability Institute at Penn State. Outside of the institution, Goldston is an Executive on the International Supply Chain Education Alliance's (ISCEA's) International Standards Board (IISB) and is the author of the forthcoming book AI for Good: Achieving Sustainability Through Citizen Science and Organizational Citizenship.

In this episode I talk again to Léna Prouchet about doing her PhD between the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter, and the NGO Cool Earth. You can find out more about Léna and her research on twitter and on her University of Exeter profile. Music credit: Happy Boy Theme Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/    Podcast transcript 1 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Hello and welcome, R, D And the in betweens, I'm your host, Kelly Preece, 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:32,000 and every fortnight I talk to a different guest about researchers development and everything in between. 3 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Hello and welcome to this special mini episode of R D and the In Betweens. 4 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000 So one of the projects I'm working on at the moment at work is really trying to gather information 5 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000 about how people's research projects have had to change due to COVID and how they manage that. 6 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:54,000 And when I spoke to Lena last week, she talked a little bit about how actually. 7 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:01,000 She started two weeks before the start of the pandemic, and that changed the nature and scope of her project quite substantially. 8 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:11,000 So I wanted to take some of these conversations and make just a little special mini episode about how Lena adapted her project. 9 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:22,000 Yes. So I guess at the beginning we took a really inductive approach to this project. 10 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,000 And I mean, the pandemic happened two weeks after I started the project. 11 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Yes. So the plan at the beginning was to collaborate with Cool Eartch 12 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:39,000 So from the beginning, I was supposed to work in their offices two days a week so I could get to know them and get to know their projects. 13 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,000 And after the plan was to go to Peru because they have a project there. 14 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,000 So the Latin American project they have are in Peru. 15 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:54,000 So I was supposed to do this exploratory trip where I would meet with the communities cool earth partner with. 16 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,000 And we would come up with a research topic that would match everybody's interests. 17 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Unfortunately, this was not possible because travelling to Peru was not an option. 18 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:17,000 So what I did was very much to tighten my links with Cool Earths so trying to understand their project 19 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:25,000 through Cool Earth itself and not the communities with the plan of going to Peru in the next few months. 20 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:34,000 So kind of know adapting my approach. And this was made by me attending most of their team meetings. 21 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:40,000 They have we also have meetings where we only talk about my research and I 22 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:47,000 also present my research project and how it evolves quite regularly to them, 23 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:56,000 to their team in the UK. So the team I was talking about are based in Penryn, but also to the country team they have in Peru. 24 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:04,000 That's really great and it does sound like you've had. A lot of freedom to shape the project. 25 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,000 Whilst I appreciate you know, it in organisational sense, 26 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:20,000 whilst at the same time being quite directed by not being able to go to Peru and the impact of COVID19, 27 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,000 I wondered if you could say a little bit about that experience, 28 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:31,000 about coming in with a kind of really clear understanding of what you were gonna do, 29 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:42,000 go and work and research these communities and then having to kind of really early on shift the focus of the project because of the pandemic. 30 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 Yeah. So that was that was a tough experience, especially. 31 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:51,000 I think it depends on people. And some people, they can adapt very easily. 32 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:58,000 But I'm a person who really likes to plan things. So I had applied to thisPhDposition. 33 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:04,000 The research proposal was already written. There was already the research question and the different steps of the research. 34 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:14,000 And for me, it was very reassuring because I would never have applied to a PhD and come up with a research proposal myself, 35 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,000 because I thought that I was ensured that my topic would be relevant. 36 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 So I thought if someone in academia identifies those gaps, it means they're expert on that. 37 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,000 So, I mean, it's it's helpful to do research in this area. 38 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:33,000 So this was very much my approach or I was only applying to project that were already super defined. 39 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:43,000 So I arrive and I have all this list. But like a to do list and it's very reassuring, especially since you don't know where to start. 40 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:52,000 And then two weeks after everything changes. Not only as a result of the pandemic, I think my project would have changed anyways. 41 00:04:52,000 --> 00:05:00,000 As I told you, because I needed you to take more of a business and management approach to it 42 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,000 And so eventually now when I would look at my research proposal, I think that I. 43 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,000 I did it myself. Like I really transformed it. 44 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,000 The only thing that remains from the beginning is the partnership with Cool Earth 45 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:23,000 And I think that that's the most important part. And I think I feel proud about it because I feel this is something. 46 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:28,000 Yeah. That was the result of months of work and collaboration and discussions. 47 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:37,000 And it's actually I have this sense of ownership that I wouldn't have had with the initial proposal. 48 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,000 So in the process of it, it was very hard. 49 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:48,000 I had months where I was coming up with a research question every week because I was stressing out a lot about it and thinking, 50 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,000 okay, I'm never going to find a relevant topic. It's never gonna happen. 51 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,000 I had those phases during the summer, but eventually it worked out. 52 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 So the process was tough. It was definitely worth it. 53 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And now, yes, I'm happy. 54 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Although I know it's going to change a lot when I start fieldwork and the approach is going to be totally different in the final work. 55 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:19,000 But for now, I'm I'm pleased with. With the topic and the approach. 56 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:26,000 Yeah. And I think there's a number of things that you said in that which I think are really important, which. 57 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:35,000 What I've been discussing a lot with colleagues, and it's not to in any way downplay the impact of COVID on people's research projects on it, 58 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:41,000 and it has had varying degrees of impact where kind of people have had to, 59 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,000 you know, shift to doing things, you know, doing interviews or whatever on line to completely, 60 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:54,000 you know, in in a lot of the ways that you don't like completely redesigning the project. 61 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:01,000 But it's interesting to hear you talk about that kind of flexibility and adaptability and the importance of that and the 62 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:10,000 also the kind of slightly philosophical recognition that research is about change fundamentally. 63 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:16,000 And, you know, when you talk to any researcher, but certainly any, you know, postgraduate researcher like yourself, 64 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:27,000 where they start when they come in with a proposal and where they leave when they, you know, submit their thesis. 65 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:32,000 Are always two incredibly different places. 66 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:41,000 I'm not. And I think that's that's reassuring because, I mean, when you start to feel work is you're not open to what you're seeing, 67 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:48,000 what people tell you in you have your agenda in mind, in your just telling people, I'm going to do this and this and this. 68 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:54,000 I mean, it's I don't think that's a very constructive nor ethical approach. 69 00:07:54,000 --> 00:08:04,000 So I think it's good to. It's even necessary to to remain open minded during the entire project, especially in my case, 70 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:12,000 where I work with indigenous communities, where communities who have been over researched. 71 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:19,000 And it's interesting because I had the opportunity to talk with an anthropologist that work with Cool Earth last summer. 72 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:25,000 And she told me about her experience of going to the communities and during the community assembly. 73 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:32,000 So members of the communities telling her, yeah, but what ways should we take part in this? 74 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:39,000 It's always the same process of you Western researchers coming on taking our knowledge and leaving and we never hear from you again. 75 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:50,000 So what are the benefits from Forest? Right. So if you take a more participatory approach and saying, OK, we're gonna remain open, 76 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:58,000 we're going to construct this research together and we're going to identify your needs and see how the research projects can benefit, 77 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:05,000 can benefit you, then I think that's that's the best way of doing it. 78 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:12,000 Yeah. And I think. I think that's really interesting and the issue of of of ethics. 79 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:18,000 I think that was really interesting and I'll come back to that in a moment. But. 80 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:24,000 As you were saying that I was thinking about, well, actually, when you do get to do fieldwork now, 81 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:29,000 the framing and the approach of that field work will be very different. 82 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Having worked within within the organisation in the U.K. for, you know, a year or plus and actually the kind of the way in which that will. 83 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:54,000 Inform. The way the way that your approach that and I guess the additional context and knowledge and skills and all those sorts of things that you've gained from. 84 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Taking that step back and spending time with the organisation. Yes, I think it also there are some pros and cons. 85 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,000 So, of course, the pros is that. I know. 86 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:15,000 I know more about what's happening in the community, the relationship between Cool Earth and the communities with UK and also Peruvian team. 87 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,000 So it's very good that I have this communication with Peruvian teams because they are the ones who go to the community more often. 88 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:27,000 They also have technicians that live with the communities. So I have this insight. 89 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Well, on the other hand, then it gives me a certain perspective and a certain vision. 90 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:38,000 I don't think that's bad. And I think any researcher has has biases. 91 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,000 You just have to acknowledge that. 92 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:50,000 And you I mean, from the recommendation that I had in the various articles, I could read about that when you arrive, 93 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,000 even though you're in embedded research within your organisation, 94 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,000 when you arrive to fieldwork in the communities, you're not working for the organisation. 95 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:04,000 You have to make this clear to community members. Of course, because you have to tell them that you're independent and what they're going to tell you, 96 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:12,000 you're not going to going to report it in any way. So it's it's important for the trust and the relationships you're you're building with them. 97 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:20,000 But you also have to try to put aside what you've seen before and really take 98 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:26,000 this new approach and trying to understand from scratch what's happening there. 99 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:34,000 And this is very challenging. So the way now I see I'm going to try to to address this is to spend an initial 100 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:43,000 phase of one month in the communities doing only participant observation to. 101 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:51,000 Yes, to try to understand how he works there. Also to prove that I'm there, too, to work with them, 102 00:11:51,000 --> 00:12:00,000 but not to to steal anything in terms of of knowledge or practises, really to to build those those trust relationships. 103 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:07,000 And then from there, from what I've seen during the past, leaving the reservation and from my previous learnings with Cool Earth and the interviews, 104 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:14,000 I'm going to you then deciding on on follow up methods such as, I don't know, interview or focus groups. 105 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:27,000 But this will come in second time. So can you say a little bit about how you approached or went about thinking about how to change the project? 106 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:35,000 So, yes, after I think what mattered for me that I tried to get in touch with other PhD students 107 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:42,000 or postdocs to ask them about this process of reshaping their research topics, 108 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,000 because I know this is something that happens a lot for PhD programmes. 109 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:55,000 And I thought it was interesting to have the to the experience of my peers and some of them and told me, well, 110 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:01,000 first of all, think about yourself, because you're going to live with this project for the next now three. 111 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,000 But it was four years at the beginning. 112 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:11,000 So if you don't like it, if you're not happy to to read about it, write about it every morning, then it's not going to work out. 113 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:18,000 And this is something I had kind of forgotten at the beginning because I really wanted to comply. 114 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:25,000 And to be sure, I was ticking the boxes. But then, yes, as the months came along, I thought, okay. 115 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:33,000 I have to find this balance and I have to find this topic that also pleases me in something I'm passionate about. 116 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:42,000 So this took really a long time. I started in March and they came up with the final idea in November. 117 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,000 And my supervisor, they had reassured me from the beginning that it was normal. 118 00:13:46,000 --> 00:14:00,000 It was going to take a long time. So you had to be to get lost in the the literature jungle and then see which angle you wanted to to adopt. 119 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:09,000 Thanks, Lena, for that insight into the reorganisation of PPhD project. 120 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Two weeks in, I'd be really interested to talk to other people who've had to change their projects due to COVID. 121 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,000 So please, if you're interested in sharing your experience, good. 122 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:24,000 The bad, the ugly. Please do get in touch. And that's it for this episode. 123 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Don't forget to, like, rate and subscribe and join me. 124 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:54,505 Next time we'll be talking to somebody else about researchers development and everything in between.   1 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Hello and welcome to R, D and the in betweens, I'm your host, Kelly Preece, 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:32,000 and every fortnight I talk to a different guest about researchers development and everything in between. 3 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of R, D and the In Betweens. 4 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,000 It's Kelly Preece here. And today I'm gonna be talking to one of our PGRs Lena. 5 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:48,000 Now, Lena started her PhD at a really odd time just a couple of weeks before the start of the pandemic. 6 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:57,000 But the reason that I wanted to talk to her is actually because her PhD is a collaboration between the university and an external partner. 7 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 This is a common thing in these days in terms of funding, 8 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:09,000 but it presents particular situations and challenges for the student in working between two very different organisations. 9 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000 And I was delighted that Lena was happy to speak to me about this. 10 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:18,000 So, Lena, are you happy to introduce yourself? Yeah. Hi. 11 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:24,000 Good morning. Thank you for for having me in your podcast, Kelly. So my name is Lena. 12 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:32,000 I'm finishing the first year of my PhD in the business school that I'm based in the ESI 13 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:41,000 So the Environmental and Sustainability Institute in Penryn and my PhD looks at how indigenous intrapreneurship, 14 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:50,000 so more specifically cocoa and coffee growing, can empower forest communities who perform these activities. 15 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:56,000 And more specifically, I'm interested in how these activities are supported by external organisations 16 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:05,000 such as NGOs and how these organisations play a role in the empowerment processes. 17 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:11,000 So, yeah, I work in directly in collaboration with an NGO called Cool Earth 18 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:16,000 So they are based on the penryn campus as well. 19 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:27,000 And they're a conservation NGO whose founding principle is that people who live in the rainforest should determine their own future. 20 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,000 So Cool Earth creates projects for sustainable livelihood creation, 21 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:38,000 and those projects can contribute to forest preservation and climate change mitigation. 22 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 That's great. Thank you. 23 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:49,000 So actually, the thing we're going to talk about today is the experience for you of working between the university and the NGO. 24 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 So I guess it's a good place to start is. How how did that come about? 25 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:59,000 So how I guess, how did the  collaboration between the NGO and the university came about? 26 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:05,000 And then what kind of led you to become interested and apply for the project? 27 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:13,000 Yeah. So I applied for this PhD position in July twenty nineteen, so it's been quite a long time ago now. 28 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,000 And on the project description, there was no direct mention. 29 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:27,000 Of Cool Earth, the project was only talking about food security issues within indigenous communities in Latin America. 30 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:36,000 And this was a topic I was very interested in because at that time I was doing a masters degree in food policy. 31 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,000 And previous to that, I had done a master's in international development. 32 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:47,000 And I had looked for my thesis, the question of the preservation of indigenous intellectual property. 33 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,000 So it was very in line with my interests. 34 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:56,000 So then I emailed the main supervisor to ask for more information. 35 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:01,000 I got in touch with the main supervisor of the project, who is Stefano Pascucci 36 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:06,000 and he explained to me that this project will be a collaboration with Cool Earth 37 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 So this was already decided. 38 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:16,000 And actually, when I took the interview, there were two people from the University of Exeter and two people from Cool Earth. 39 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:22,000 So, okay, so the the relationship and the NGO were really embedded from the beginning then. 40 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:35,000 They're part of the interview process as well. Yes. So I guess at the beginning we took a really inductive approach to this project. 41 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:41,000 And I mean, the pandemic happened two weeks after I started the project. 42 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Yes. So the plan at the beginning was to collaborate with Cool Earth. 43 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:53,000 So from the beginning, I was supposed to work in their offices two days a week so I could get to know them and get to know their projects. 44 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,000 And after the plan was to go to Peru because they have a project there. 45 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 So the Latin American project they have are in Peru. 46 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:07,000 So I was supposed to do this exploratory trip where I would meet with the communities cool earth partner with. 47 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:14,000 And we would have come up with a research topic that would match everybody's interests. 48 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Unfortunately, this was not possible because travelling to Peru was not an option. 49 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:31,000 So what I did was very much to tighten my links with Cool Earth so trying to understand their project 50 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:38,000 through Cool Earth itself and not the communities with the plan of going to Peru in the next few months. 51 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:47,000 So kind of, you know, adapting my approach. And this was made by me attending most of their team meetings. 52 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:53,000 They have we also have meetings where we only talk about my research and I 53 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:00,000 also present my research project and how it evolves quite regularly to them, 54 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 to their team in the UK. So the team I was talking about based in Penryn, but also to the in country. 55 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,000 team they have in Peru Think the the shift in the project. 56 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:16,000 That was really interesting. So I can I can sort of imagine that the dynamic and the relationship between you, 57 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:22,000 the research and the research project and the organisation had to shift quite considerably if you're 58 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:30,000 going from kind of researching the projects and the communities that they work with to actually. 59 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Researching the organiser. Yes. So that's a very interesting point, so. 60 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:41,000 So at the beginning, my unit of analysis was supposed to be the communities themselves. 61 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:51,000 But since I I have this embedded approach. As you said that I came to really try to understand how Cool Earth worked and 62 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,000 why was their theory of change and why were the challenges they were facing. 63 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:06,000 I shifted my approach and now the units of analysis is more the network that cool earth created in these creating with its partners. 64 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 So it really influenced my approach. It also changed the topic of my research. 65 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000 So as I told you at the beginning, it was very much so food security related. 66 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:24,000 And more specifically, was alluding to sustainable agriculture and agroecology. 67 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:31,000 But early on, I realised that there were issues with this this topic. 68 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,000 And first of all, in the sense that I couldn't go to Peru, as I said before. 69 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:39,000 So it was very hard for me to understand what was happening there exactly on the ground. 70 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:47,000 Although cool earth gave me very interesting insights on what was happening there. 71 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:52,000 But the second problem I had is that I'm PhD student in the business school. 72 00:07:52,000 --> 00:08:03,000 And it was made clear to me by my supervisors from the beginning that I had to bring a contribution to the business or the management literature. 73 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:09,000 So I tried to to shift the topic so that it would please both. 74 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:19,000 Cool earth and the business school, my supervisor, and most importantly, that it would be a topic that I would be passionate about. 75 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:25,000 I mean, simple as that. Yeah. So it took a long time. 76 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:30,000 A lot of it was a very iterative process, a lot of conversation. 77 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:36,000 What was great was that there was always a connection between my supervisors and cool earth as well. 78 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:42,000 So we had a meeting where we would all talk together about my projects or communication. 79 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:51,000 I think it was very important in this process. And I mean this I think this is part of the hD research that you have to constantly adapt. 80 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:57,000 And I consider myself lucky because, I mean, I started the PhD really two weeks before lockdown. 81 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,000 So nothing was set in stone yet. I could really adapt. 82 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:08,000 It's not like I had planned already. I had my tickets for Peru and I had to change everything, which would have been way more complicated. 83 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Of course, there's a couple of things I want to pick up, pick up on that in terms of relationship. 84 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:19,000 So the first one to kind of sort of, you know, 85 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:25,000 focussed more on the kind of topic for the minute is about your relationship, therefore, with the organisation. 86 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:32,000 So. You know, you talked about being kind of embedded in it and, you know, the idea was that you'd spend time in their offices. 87 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Obviously, that has happened, I imagine, in a in a very different way during the pandemic. 88 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:45,000 But I wondered if you could talk about kind of being embedded or being part of the organisation, 89 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:51,000 but also researching the organisation and what's that what that's like for you as a researcher, 90 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:59,000 but also what how that kind of how that affects your relationships with the people in the organisation, how you navigate that? 91 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:09,000 Does that make sense? Yeah, sure. So it's funny because this concept of embedded research I actually found about it quite recently when 92 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:16,000 I was so I was working on my upgrades and I was having a conversation with one of my supervisor, 93 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:22,000 one of my supervisors, sorry, and she told me what actually what you're doing is is embedded research, 94 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:31,000 because usually what a researcher does is preparing and having this phase of literature review and then going to the to the field. 95 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:41,000 But what happened for me was I dived into the field from day one and I hadn't really realised that for me it was something natural about had happened. 96 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:51,000 And actually this position has a lot of consequences on the approach towards the research project, and it has benefits and challenges. 97 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,000 So I would say that. 98 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:03,000 So the main benefit that you have is that you're really able to build those trust based relationships with the other members of the team. 99 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:09,000 So you understand what the work is, but also who they are as a person. 100 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:19,000 So you can really bond with them. And I think it's a very important element of research, of building this, what is called the raport. 101 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,000 You can also gain deep knowledge on the organisation. 102 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:28,000 It's not like you look at their Web site. You really understand how they work from an internal point of view. 103 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:33,000 And they think this is also very valuable. 104 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:44,000 And this allows you to build a project that I called action oriented in the sense that I really endeavour to ensure that my research priorities 105 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:54,000 were in line with Cool earth's interests and that I was I was coming up with a project that could really inform their future strategies. 106 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:02,000 I mean, also, it is going to be an academic work, but I really wanted to be Demand-Driven. 107 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:11,000 We also had the opportunity to to work on a variety of projects that are not necessarily related to my to my research group. 108 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:18,000 We're working, for example, on a crowdfunding application together or on a conference abstract 109 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:24,000 So we have though those side projects are very also interesting for me. 110 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:31,000 And I would say that it's also super nice to meet with people during the pandemic because otherwise I don't have a research group. 111 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,000 So it would be very much me, myself and I. 112 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:43,000 I'm in meetings with my supervisors, of course, but those weekly meetings I have with Cool earth have been very important for my mental health as well. 113 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:48,000 this also comes with some challenges so like you were 114 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:58,000 mentioning my relationship with the organisation and how I can manage that because I'm researching them at the same time, which can be quite tricky. 115 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:06,000 So in terms of ethics, approach, first avoids very hard to to manage that, because in the end, 116 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:13,000 when you're going through the ethical review process, you don't have to start that correction before having the approval. 117 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:20,000 So all the information I gathered until now, I'm not going to do for in my research is data. 118 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,000 I'm going to just use it as a way of building my research project. 119 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,000 But then I'm going to do formal interviews with cool Earth members. 120 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:35,000 And I already told them that everything they had disclosed with me previously, I wouldn't use it for. 121 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,000 For ethics purposes. 122 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:45,000 So you have also to be aware that there might be the temptation of  thinking, oh, I heard this amazing thing during a meeting. 123 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:52,000 That would be great if I can use it. But no, you can't. So this is something you really have to be careful about. 124 00:13:52,000 --> 00:14:01,000 As I was saying, I also tend to very much focus on trying to come up with a project that's helpful for Cool Earth. 125 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:07,000 And since I have those very tight links with them, sometimes I tend to forget. 126 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:12,000 But I also am a PhD student and I have to bring a contribution to specific literature. 127 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:16,000 So it's kind of hard to be in the middle sometimes. 128 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:23,000 So I try to remind myself and my supervisors are here for that as well. 129 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:32,000 And also, I would say that the last element is. I really feel that Cool earth's members, they trust me and they value my opinion. 130 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:40,000 So sometimes, yes, I share with them my thoughts or some notes on academic reading I had. 131 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:50,000 But I feel I lack the legitimacy to really be able to provide any advice, because, I mean, there they have been there for a long time. 132 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:56,000 They know the topic. They know your communities. They have relationship with those communities. 133 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:02,000 And I'm on the I have only been there for 12 months and working from home. 134 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,000 So, yeah, sometimes it's I feel a little bit like that. 135 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,000 But otherwise, it has been a great experience. Sounds really fruitful. 136 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:17,000 And I think it's really interesting to hear you talk about the sense of connection with people that working in this way has given you, 137 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:24,000 particularly during the kind of the UK lockdowns and the corona virus pandemic, because. 138 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:30,000 Yeah, the impact on your mental health. I think that that's a really interesting facet and kind of had extra of this. 139 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:38,000 So you've talked a little bit about kind of making sure that the research project is useful to the organisation, 140 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,000 making sure that it makes an academic contribution. 141 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:50,000 So sort of satisfying your supervisors at the university, but also making sure that it's interesting to you as a researcher and. 142 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:56,000 I sort of glibly commented when you mentioned that oh it's as simple as that. But of course, we know that it's it's nothing like. 143 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:05,000 So I wondered if you could talk a little bit about how how you negotiate that kind of almost a triad of expectations, 144 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:11,000 but also kind of triad of what people want out of the project and how what the 145 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:15,000 challenges are with that and maybe a little bit about how you've been negotiating it. 146 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:19,000 Yes, sure. So I as I mentioned before, 147 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:30,000 I think one of the key points was to have this communication with both my supervisors and my academic team and cool earth and even between then, 148 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,000 they can communicate. So it's not just me telling to the other. 149 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:38,000 Oh, they have told me that in doing this back and forth thing, we have really a group. 150 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,000 I feel it. So we're a group and we we all have a common goal. 151 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:48,000 And we wanted to create a project that is interesting for all of us. 152 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:54,000 So I think it's important then that we are on the same line also from the beginning. 153 00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:02,000 Cool earth's members told me that they were really open on their research topic as long as it was relevant to their projects. 154 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:12,000 So they really gave me this freedom and they did an imposing list of topic I should focus on. 155 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:20,000 So, yes, after I think what mattered for me that I tried to get in touch with other PhD students 156 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:27,000 or postdocs to ask them about this process of reshaping their research topics, 157 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:32,000 because I know this is something that happens a lot for PhD programmes. 158 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:40,000 And I thought it was interesting to have to the experience of my peers and a lot of them told me, well, 159 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:46,000 first of all, think about yourself, because you're going to live with this project for the next now three. 160 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000 But it was four years at the beginning. 161 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:56,000 So if you don't like it, if you're not happy to to read about it, write about it every morning, then it's not going to work out. 162 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:06,000 And this is something I had. Kind of forgotten at the beginning because I really wanted to comply and to be sure, I was ticking the boxes. 163 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,000 But then, yes, as the months came along, I thought, okay. 164 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:18,000 I have to find this balance and I have to find this topic that also pleases me in something I'm passionate about. 165 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:27,000 So this took really a long time. I started in March and they came up with the final idea in November. 166 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,000 And my supervisor, they had reassured me from the beginning that it was normal. 167 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:44,000 It was going to take a long time. So you had to be to get lost in the literature jungle and then and see which angle you wanted to to adopt. 168 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:52,000 I wanted to talk to close by asking you if that's another potential PGR out there, 169 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:59,000 who is looking at doing a piece of research that is working between a university and external organisation. 170 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:05,000 What advice would you give them? What would you sort of tell them to consider? 171 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:12,000 Mm hmm. Yeah. So how to be a good embedded researcher? 172 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:23,000 Well, first of all, that that's an approach I would definitely encourage as often as possible when it's relevant to the research topic. 173 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:34,000 I think what's important is to be clear from the beginning of what the collaboration entails and what it does not entail. 174 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:43,000 Even to have it's written down. So it's it's clear between the researcher and the organisation, but also the supervisory team. 175 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:54,000 And I think what makes for me this collaboration very fruitful is the communication between the organisation and my supervisory team. 176 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000 I think it's very good to have this contact. So to ensure we are on the same line. 177 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:03,000 And there are no there are not two agendas growing side to side. 178 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:09,000 And because I think this is the one thing that can be very challenging for for researchers. 179 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:16,000 Thank you so much to Lena for sharing her experience with us of working between the university and 180 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:24,000 Cool Earth and the unique challenges there are between working between the university and industry partner, 181 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:29,000 but also doing that and starting that during COVID 182 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:35,000 And that's it for this episode. Don't forget to like rate and subscribe and join me next time. 183 00:20:35,000 --> 00:21:01,149 where i'll be talking to somebody else about researchers development and everything in between.  

Elizabeth Sawin is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Climate Interactive and an expert on solutions that address climate change while also improving health, well-being, equity, and economic vitality, and she is the originator of the term ‘multisolving’ to describe such win-win-win solutions. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leadership based on systems thinking to local, national, and international audiences. Her work has been published in Non-Profit Quarterly, The Sandford Social Innovation Review, U. S. News, The Daily Climate, System Dynamics Review, and more. She has trained and mentored global sustainability leaders in the Donella Meadows Fellows Program and provided systems thinking training to both Ashoka and Dalai Lama Fellows. A biologist with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Beth trained in system dynamics and sustainability with Donella Meadows and worked at Sustainability Institute, the research institute founded by Meadows, for 13 years. https://www.climateinteractive.org/ https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/climate-ambassadors/ http://www.cobbhill.org/ https://nexuspmg.com/

About Maurie: Maurie Kelly has more than thirty years of professional experience working with, and developing solutions for, a wide range of organizations from government to industry to NGOs. Her work includes initiatives with the US Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the US Department of State, the National Institutes of Health, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Administration, the City of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, and others. She holds a PhD in organizational development, a masters of information science, and a degree in history and serves as an instructor at Harvard University Extension School and Penn State University. Her work at Penn State includes teaching in the Smeal College of Business, as well as serving as an associate faculty member with the Sustainability Institute, the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, and the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. Her teaching experience includes courses in international business, negotiation, conflict resolution, strategic management, leadership, and sustainability. Maurie also teaches executive seminars in negotiation and advanced negotiation for the Harvard Professional Development Program. In 2019, she received the Harvard University Joanne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award. In addition to her work, Maurie is involved with numerous advisory boards, nonprofits, and humanitarian organizations internationally and locally. She is on the board of advisors for Good Sun, an organization that engages with communities to develop and deploy energy solutions in the US and countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya and serves as a board member and volunteer for several animal rescues. In addition, she has served on numerous government advisory boards and committees across multiple administrations. She is currently writing about women, negotiation, and leadership and the impact on recent political and social events.

With the urgency of our climate crisis increasing by the day, many scientists and climate leaders are calling for global action on the scale of World-War II mobilizations. Yet in the face of this daunting task and the existential threat of climate disruption (both present and future) many find themselves paralyzed by fear, hopelessness or cynicism.Luckily, there are steps we can all take to overcome despair and start contributing to solutions. This episode outlines 4 basic strategies to beat the climate blues and become an agent of change. "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”- The TalmudWritten and narrated by Jennifer AtkinsonMusic by Roberto David RusconiProduced by Intrasonus UKSupported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council EnglandDr. Jennifer Atkinson is a professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, where she leads seminars that help students cope with the despair, anger, and anxiety that arise from environmental loss and mass extinction. Her teaching and research have helped activists, scientists, and students build resilience to stay engaged in climate solutions and avoid burnout. She has also spoken to audiences across the U.S. about the global mental health crisis arising from climate disruption, and advocated for addressing emotional impacts in the fight for environmental justice. This episode introduces some of the experiences and insights behind that work, and explores how we can move the public to action by addressing the psychological roots of our unprecedented ecological loss.References and Further Reading:Mike Pearl. 'Climate Despair' Is Making People Give Up on Life. Vice. Jul 11, 2019Zhiwa Woodbury. "Climate Trauma: Toward a New Taxonomy of Trauma." Ecopsychology. January 2019Emily Johnston. Loving a vanishing world. Medium. May 9, 2019."Columbia University experiment": J. M. Darley & B. Latané. "Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 8: 377–383 (1968)Julia Rosen. "Feeling distressed about climate change? Here’s how to manage it." Los Angeles Times. Jan. 11, 2020Leslie Davenport, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017.Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Climate Change in the American Mind: April 2020. May 19, 2020George Marshall. Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change. Bloomsbury, 2015Reene Lertzman. How Can We Talk About Global Warming? Sierra, Jul 19 2017Florence Williams. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. 2017Nutsford, Pearson, and Kingham. An Ecological Study Investigating the Association Between Access to Urban Green Space and Mental Health. Public Health. Vol 127; 11 (2013)Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light. 1988Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy. 2012Vaclav Havel. Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala. Vintage, 1991.Donatella Meadows. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. The Sustainability Institute, 1999. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the urgency of our climate crisis increasing by the day, many scientists and climate leaders are calling for global action on the scale of World-War II mobilizations. Yet in the face of this daunting task and the existential threat of climate disruption (both present and future) many find themselves paralyzed by fear, hopelessness or cynicism.Luckily, there are steps we can all take to overcome despair and start contributing to solutions. This episode outlines 4 basic strategies to beat the climate blues and become an agent of change. "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”- The TalmudWritten and narrated by Jennifer AtkinsonMusic by Roberto David RusconiProduced by Intrasonus UKSupported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council EnglandDr. Jennifer Atkinson is a professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, where she leads seminars that help students cope with the despair, anger, and anxiety that arise from environmental loss and mass extinction. Her teaching and research have helped activists, scientists, and students build resilience to stay engaged in climate solutions and avoid burnout. She has also spoken to audiences across the U.S. about the global mental health crisis arising from climate disruption, and advocated for addressing emotional impacts in the fight for environmental justice. This episode introduces some of the experiences and insights behind that work, and explores how we can move the public to action by addressing the psychological roots of our unprecedented ecological loss.References and Further Reading:Mike Pearl. 'Climate Despair' Is Making People Give Up on Life. Vice. Jul 11, 2019Zhiwa Woodbury. "Climate Trauma: Toward a New Taxonomy of Trauma." Ecopsychology. January 2019Emily Johnston. Loving a vanishing world. Medium. May 9, 2019."Columbia University experiment": J. M. Darley & B. Latané. "Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 8: 377–383 (1968)Julia Rosen. "Feeling distressed about climate change? Here’s how to manage it." Los Angeles Times. Jan. 11, 2020Leslie Davenport, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017.Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Climate Change in the American Mind: April 2020. May 19, 2020George Marshall. Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change. Bloomsbury, 2015Reene Lertzman. How Can We Talk About Global Warming? Sierra, Jul 19 2017Florence Williams. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. 2017Nutsford, Pearson, and Kingham. An Ecological Study Investigating the Association Between Access to Urban Green Space and Mental Health. Public Health. Vol 127; 11 (2013)Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light. 1988Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy. 2012Vaclav Havel. Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala. Vintage, 1991.Donatella Meadows. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. The Sustainability Institute, 1999. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“There's a trust issue. When I heard a Nobel Laureate, in his acceptance speech say, we need to figure out how to clarify what truth is in our society, it really hit me hard. Through our politics and media outlets, the truth has become extremely clouded.” Paul Quaiser This is the Thinking Boundless podcast. We are broadcasting daily to share insights from international Thought Leaders about how technologies, ideas and research will change business and change lives. This episode is with Paul Quaiser. Paul is the Founder of the Human Sustainability Institute. His focus in on integrating contemporary principles from Biophysics, Neuroscience and Biomimicry with Ancient Wisdoms. In this episode, Paul talks about the challenges we have with truth and trust in society and towards businesses.

Taking some downtime away from the office during the coronavirus outbreak and thinking about your next startup? Well you came to the right place. Learn how to apply to MTI from Lou Simms, who serves as a Senior Investment Officer at Maine Technology Institute. Lou joined MTI in 2015 and truly relishes the opportunities to work with Maine's aspiring entrepreneurs – dedicated to supporting the growth of Maine's innovation economy on a daily basis. Lou joined MTI after finishing his Master's work at the University of New Hampshire's Sustainability Institute and Organic Dairy Research Farm – and Lou has prior experience running small businesses in Portland, ranging from rocking bowling alleys to financial literacy counseling. Originally from Kentucky, Lou is inspired by the natural beauty and unique sense of community here in Southern Maine – and he can think of no better place for he & his wife to raise their young son!

In the 8th Episode of the EsF Assembly 2018 Podcasts Jess Schulschenk, Director of the Sustainability Institute, introduces us to the Lynedoch Eco-village concept. It was established in 1999 to set up a community for indigent farmworkers in the area of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Lynedoch Eco-village has partnered with Indaba Montessori Institute to provide quality training for teachers and a holistic environment for the youngest children. It is a place where everyone becomes connected through work and care for the community. In conclusion, Jess explains how the wetland works and how solar energy has become part of the housing in Lynedoch. The presentation is followed by a vivid discussion with the assembly participants. Music: "Raro Bueno" by Chuzausen From the Free Music Archive BY NC SA

Peter Buckland is a musician, an activist, and a sustainability and environmental researcher and communicator. For the past decade, his work has addressed issues of major social risk including climate change and how people communicate about it. He works at Penn State's Sustainability Institute. WATCH Peter's TEDx Talk HERE. READ Peter's Blog HERE. BeTheTalk is a 7 day a week podcast where Nathan Eckel chats with talkers from TEDx and other branded events. Learn the tips tools and techniques that can help you give the talk to change the world at www.BeTheTalk.com !

Peter Buckland is a musician, an activist, and a sustainability and environmental researcher and communicator. For the past decade, his work has addressed issues of major social risk including climate change and how people communicate about it. He works at Penn State’s Sustainability Institute. WATCH Peter's TEDx Talk HERE. READ Peter's Blog HERE. BeTheTalk is a 7 day a week podcast where Nathan Eckel chats with talkers from TEDx and other branded events. Learn the tips tools and techniques that can help you give the talk to change the world at www.BeTheTalk.com !

Sofia Rodriguez '19 joined the studio this week to talk about new rules on recycling and what it's like to work with the Sustainability Institute on campus.

In the 8th Episode of the EsF Assembly 2018 Podcasts Jess Schulschenk, Director of the Sustainability Institute, introduces us to the Lynedoch Eco-village concept. It was established in 1999 to set up a community for indigent farmworkers in the area of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Lynedoch Eco-village has partnered with Indaba Montessori Institute to provide quality training for teachers and a holistic environment for the youngest children. It is a place where everyone becomes connected through work and care for the community. In conclusion, Jess explains how the wetland works and how solar energy has become part of the housing in Lynedoch. The presentation is followed by a vivid discussion with the assembly participants. Music: "Raro Bueno" by Chuzausen From the Free Music Archive BY NC SA

Sam Anawalt, Student Sustainability Coordinator for the Sustainability Institute at Penn State and former President of the Beekeeper's Club and UPUA Director of Sustainability, joins the pod to talk about sustainability and environmentalism at Penn State and several initiatives working to improve the eco-friendly nature on campus. Sam also comments on the national state of environmentalism.

[spp-playlist] Peter Buckland is a musician, an activist, and a sustainability and environmental researcher and communicator. For the past decade, his work has addressed issues of major social risk including climate change and how people communicate about it. He works at Penn State's Sustainability Institute. WATCH Peter's TEDx Talk HERE. READ Peter's Blog HERE. BeTheTalk is a 7 day a week podcast where Nathan Eckel chats with talkers from TEDx and other branded events. Learn the tips tools and techniques that can help you give the talk to change the world at www.BeTheTalk.com !

[spp-playlist] Peter Buckland is a musician, an activist, and a sustainability and environmental researcher and communicator. For the past decade, his work has addressed issues of major social risk including climate change and how people communicate about it. He works at Penn State’s Sustainability Institute. WATCH Peter's TEDx Talk HERE. READ Peter's Blog HERE. BeTheTalk is a 7 day a week podcast where Nathan Eckel chats with talkers from TEDx and other branded events. Learn the tips tools and techniques that can help you give the talk to change the world at www.BeTheTalk.com !

Senior Outreach & Engagement Intern Whitman Constantineau '18 at the UNH Sustainability Institute sat down with us to discuss sustainability, his internship, his future career and why he is passionate about being green.

Fine Music Radio — Those of us lucky enough to have electricity in our homes probably still have strong memories of the winter of 2015 when the country experienced regular load-shedding. Rushing home to fill a few flasks with hot water, children trying to get schoolwork done by candlelight, or figuring out at which local take-away you might still be able to buy some warm dinner. But for many, life without electricity is a daily reality. Those living in informal settlements can wait up to 10 years before they get access to an electrical connection. In this edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to Damian Conway, director of the Sustainability Institute Innovation Lab. It runs a project called iShack which provides individual solar energy to over 1,300 households in the township of Enkanini near Stellenbosch. iShack Project · The Sustainability Institute

Nature's positive impact on mood is easily understood on an intuitive level, but a more fine-grain analysis reveals quantifiable effects with potentially serious implications for human well-being. For this episode of BioScience Talks, we are joined by Dr. Daniel Cox of the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter, in Penryn, United Kingdom. Writing for BioScience, Cox and his colleagues described recent work that found strong correlations between nature exposure and positive markers of mental health. In addition, the authors used dose–response modeling to uncover threshold effects that may help guide urban planning, with the ultimate goal of reducing the societal burdens of mental illness. Read the article discussed on the show. Subscribe on iTunes. Subscribe on Stitcher.

This episode of Silicon Harbor Radio features Bryan Cordell and Katherine Richards of the Sustainability Institute of South Carolina and the Charleston Upper Peninsula Initiative.   Bryan and Katherine discuss the programs they are sponsoring to instill sustainable practices and help guide the transition that Charleston is experiencing due, in large part, to the rapid growth of the local technology industry. The Tech Life with host Rich Conte together with Silicon Harbor Magazine bring you Silicon Harbor Radio; news and interviews from the Technology, Creative and Entrepreneur communities in Charleston, SC.

Katrina Brown is a social scientist based at the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter. She has written widely on resilience, so as part of our month on "The Impact Transition is Having", we thought it would be good to hear her thoughts.

New Tools for Assessing GHG Reduction Policies As negotiations towards a post-Kyoto agreement on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions intensify, there is a pressing need for flexible, user-friendly analytical tools to quickly yet reliably assess the impacts of the rapidly evolving policy proposals for emissions of greenhouse gases and their impact on the global climate. Such tools would enable negotiators, policymakers and other stakeholders, including the general public, to understand the relationships among proposals for emissions reductions, concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere, and the resulting changes in climate. The new Climate-Rapid Overview And Decision Support Simulator (C-ROADS) developed by MIT, the Sustainability Institute, and Ventana Systems, in partnership with the Heinz Center, is just such a tool. C-ROADS is a user-friendly, interactive computer model of the climate system consistent with the best available science, data and observations. An international scientific review panel, headed by Dr. Robert Watson, former chair of the IPCC, finds that the C-ROADS model “reproduces the response properties of state-of- the-art three dimensional climate models very well” and concludes “Given the model’s capabilities and its close alignment with a range of scenarios published in the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC we support its widespread use among policy makers and the general public.” Biographies Dr. John D. Sterman is the Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Professor of Engineering Systems and Director of MIT's System Dynamics Group. He is an expert on nonlinear dynamics particularly as applied in economic and socio-technical systems including energy, the environment and climate policy. Prof. Sterman's research centers on improving managerial decision making in complex systems. He has pioneered the development of "management flight simulators" of economic, environmental, and organizational systems. These flight simulators are now used by corporations and universities around the world. His recent research includes studies assessing public understanding of global climate change, the development of management flight simulators to assist climate policy design, and the development of markets for alternative fuel vehicles that are sustainable not only ecologically but economically. Dr. Robert W. Corell, Vice President of Programs for The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment’s Global Change Director is also a Council Member for the Global Energy Assessment and a Senior Policy Fellow at the Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Corell also shared in the Nobel Peace Prize Award in 2007 for his extensive work with the IPCC assessments. In 2005, he completed an appointment as a Senior Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of the Kennedy School for Government at Harvard University. Dr. Corell is actively engaged in research concerned with both the science of global change and with the interface between science and public policy, particularly research activities that are focused on global and regional climate change and related environmental issues. He currently chairs an international initiative, the overall goal of which is to strengthening the negotiating framework intended to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, central to which is the development and use of analytical tools that employ real-time climate simulations. Dr. Corell also chairs the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment as well as an 18-country international planning effort to outline the major Arctic-region research challenges for the decade or so ahead. He recently led an international strategic planning group that developed strategies and programs designed to merge science, technology and innovation in the service of sustainable development.

New Tools for Assessing GHG Reduction Policies As negotiations towards a post-Kyoto agreement on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions intensify, there is a pressing need for flexible, user-friendly analytical tools to quickly yet reliably assess the impacts of the rapidly evolving policy proposals for emissions of greenhouse gases and their impact on the global climate. Such tools would enable negotiators, policymakers and other stakeholders, including the general public, to understand the relationships among proposals for emissions reductions, concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere, and the resulting changes in climate. The new Climate-Rapid Overview And Decision Support Simulator (C-ROADS) developed by MIT, the Sustainability Institute, and Ventana Systems, in partnership with the Heinz Center, is just such a tool. C-ROADS is a user-friendly, interactive computer model of the climate system consistent with the best available science, data and observations. An international scientific review panel, headed by Dr. Robert Watson, former chair of the IPCC, finds that the C-ROADS model “reproduces the response properties of state-of- the-art three dimensional climate models very well” and concludes “Given the model’s capabilities and its close alignment with a range of scenarios published in the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC we support its widespread use among policy makers and the general public.” Biographies Dr. John D. Sterman is the Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Professor of Engineering Systems and Director of MIT's System Dynamics Group. He is an expert on nonlinear dynamics particularly as applied in economic and socio-technical systems including energy, the environment and climate policy. Prof. Sterman's research centers on improving managerial decision making in complex systems. He has pioneered the development of "management flight simulators" of economic, environmental, and organizational systems. These flight simulators are now used by corporations and universities around the world. His recent research includes studies assessing public understanding of global climate change, the development of management flight simulators to assist climate policy design, and the development of markets for alternative fuel vehicles that are sustainable not only ecologically but economically. Dr. Robert W. Corell, Vice President of Programs for The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment’s Global Change Director is also a Council Member for the Global Energy Assessment and a Senior Policy Fellow at the Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Corell also shared in the Nobel Peace Prize Award in 2007 for his extensive work with the IPCC assessments. In 2005, he completed an appointment as a Senior Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of the Kennedy School for Government at Harvard University. Dr. Corell is actively engaged in research concerned with both the science of global change and with the interface between science and public policy, particularly research activities that are focused on global and regional climate change and related environmental issues. He currently chairs an international initiative, the overall goal of which is to strengthening the negotiating framework intended to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, central to which is the development and use of analytical tools that employ real-time climate simulations. Dr. Corell also chairs the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment as well as an 18-country international planning effort to outline the major Arctic-region research challenges for the decade or so ahead. He recently led an international strategic planning group that developed strategies and programs designed to merge science, technology and innovation in the service of sustainable development.

Sustainability, food, agriculture, climate change, UC Davis. Dr. Thomas Tomich was principal economist for the World Agroforestry Centre from 1994-2006. He led long-term collaborative partnerships at sites in the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia aiming to raise productivity and income of rural households without increasing deforestation or undermining essential environmental services. Previously, Dr. Tomich spent 10 years as a policy advisor and institute associate with the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Sustainability, food, agriculture, climate change, UC Davis. Dr. Thomas Tomich was principal economist for the World Agroforestry Centre from 1994-2006. He led long-term collaborative partnerships at sites in the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia aiming to raise productivity and income of rural households without increasing deforestation or undermining essential environmental services. Previously, Dr. Tomich spent 10 years as a policy advisor and institute associate with the Harvard Institute for International Development.