People Places Planet Podcast

Last October, policymakers, lawmakers, technologists, NGOs, and leaders from some of the world’s most innovative companies joined ELI in Seattle, Washington, at its inaugural GreenTech conference to explore environmental protection in an era of transformative technological change. In this episode, Kasantha Moodley, ELI’s Manager of Innovation and Governance, and ELI President Scott Fulton, discuss the conference’s origins, highlights from the event, and plans for GreenTech 2020. Learn more at https://www.greentechconference.org/.

Extreme heat kills more people than any other natural disaster, and heat waves are growing longer, hotter, and more frequent, due to climate change. Cities are particularly impacted because of the urban heat island effect. A climate scientist, a legal expert, and a local elected official weigh in on one possible tool local governments can bring to bear on this public health crisis: air conditioning mandates.

In this third in a series of conversations with former EPA General Counsels, Kevin Minoli, a partner at Alston & Bird who worked within EPA’s Office of General Counsel for 18 years, talks to former EPA General Counsel Roger Martella, current Director and General Counsel for General Electric’s Environment, Health and Safety operations worldwide.

Local governments often require developers to bear the costs of new infrastructure, termed “exactions.” But Professors Rossi and Serkin from Vanderbilt University Law School proposed imposing “energy exactions” to address the energy impacts of new residential or commercial growth. In this episode, students talk to the professors to learn more about this novel idea.

In this second in a series of conversations with former EPA General Counsels, Kevin Minoli, a partner at Alston & Bird who worked within EPA’s Office of General Counsel for 18 years, talks to former EPA General Counsel Scott Fulton, who now serves as President of ELI.

In this episode, Kevin Minoli, a partner at Alston & Bird, talks to former EPA General Counsel Avi Garbow, the longest serving General Counsel in EPA’s history. This episode is the first in a year-long series of conversations with former EPA General Counsels.

The Amazon Rainforest is a hotbed of biodiversity and—perhaps most crucial to our current climate crisis—stores approximately 120 billion tons of carbon. But deforestation is threatening the Amazon at an alarming rate. Given the vast size and numerous stakeholders that rely on the rainforest, innovative and cooperative methods are needed to combat deforestation. In this episode, we talk to Professor Mark Ungar to learn more.

By 2050, the amount of plastic in the ocean is expected to outweigh the amount of fish, making plastic waste diversion from oceans a global priority. In this episode, we talk to Fidan Karimova, the co-founder and CEO of Global Water Girls, www.globalwatergirls.com, an all-female owned and operated company of water professionals dedicated to circular economy solutions to promote environmental sustainability and improve global quality of life.

Do-It-Yourself biology, 3D printing, and the sharing economy are equipping ordinary people with new powers to shape their biological, physical, and social environments. This phenomenon of distributed innovation is yielding new goods and services, greater economic productivity, and new opportunities for fulfillment. But it also brings new environmental, health, and security risks that demand oversight. In this episode, Linda Breggin, Director of ELI’s Center for State, Tribal, and Local Environmental Programs, and Anna Beeman, Research Associate, sit down with Prof. Albert C. Lin to discuss some of the responses to the challenges raised by distributed innovation.

In this episode of People Places Planet Podcast, we listen in on a casual conversation between Special Agent Andrea Abat, a criminal investigator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tracy Hester, a Professor at the University of Houston Law Center, on the field of environmental enforcement. Andrea Abat discusses her illustrious career investigating oils spills on the North Slopes of Alaska and anthrax in Washington D.C. She also provides valuable career advice for those looking to enter the environmental enforcement field. Professor Hester discusses advancements in environmental enforcement and the best advice he has received as a lawyer looking to enter the environmental field.

For more than a century, energy rate setting has been used to promote public good and redistributive goals, akin to general financial taxation. Various non-tax subsidies in customer energy rates have enormous untapped potential for promoting low-carbon sources of energy, while also balancing broader economic and social welfare goals. In this episode, Linda Breggin, Director of ELI’s Center for State, Tribal, and Local Environmental Programs, and Elizabeth Holden, a student at Vanderbilt University School of Law, sit down with Prof. Jim Rossi who explains that even though a carbon tax remains politically elusive, “carbon taxation by regulation” has begun to flourish as a way of financing carbon reduction.

Corporate pledges to rely exclusively on renewable energy can boost a company’s environmental image and can have a significant impact on the amount of generated renewable energy. But there are many different ways to get to 100% renewable power, all of which differ in impact. In this episode, we learn what it really means when a company pledges to go 100% renewable.

When it comes to the 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States, agriculture represents not just a source of food security, but an opportunity to express tribal sovereignty, drive economic development, and reclaim the cultivation of plants and animals central to a tribe’s culture across generations. Join Cynthia R. Harris, ELI’s Director of Tribal Programs, as she explores how tribes are taking on challenges, reclaiming traditional practices, and innovating in agriculture and food production.

In the latest episode from People Places Planet Podcast, Azi Akpan of ELI’s Innovation Lab chats with Elzelinde van Doleweerd and Vita Broeken, co-Founders of Upprinting Food, based in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Founded in November 2018, Upprinting Food reduces food waste by transforming it into beautiful, edible art using 3-D printing technology.

Brewing a single gallon of beer uses about seven gallons of water. In this episode, we talk to Erin Cox, the Quality Management Systems Supervisor at Great Divide Brewing Company, to hear how this craft brewery is tackling this environmental challenge. We also hear from Kaitlin Urso, an official of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, who shares her knowledge of the environmental impact of the industry.