Everybody in the Pool

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re kicking off Earth Month with a month of action! Our choices matter, and one of the choices I’ve been avoiding is how to replace coffee — which contributes to deforestation, is energy intensive to produce, and isn’t good news for the coffee farmers, either. This week, we’re talking with Andy Kleitsch, founder of Atomo Coffee, about their sustainable coffee blends, the road to adoption and th...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, bummer news: your bank deposits could be funding the climate crisis? But we’d never give you bummer news without a solution! This week, Molly Wood speaks with Paul Moinester, founder of Topofinance, who reveals the shocking climate impact of conventional banking. Discover how just $10,000 in a major bank generates emissions equivalent to driving 10,000 miles yearly, and why moving your money to c...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, Molly Wood talks with Brad Hartwig, co-founder and CEO of Arbor Energy. Brad shares his remarkable journey from SpaceX rocket engineer to climate tech entrepreneur, developing technology that transforms waste biomass into carbon-negative energy using rocket propulsion principles. Yep, you read that right. A guy who used to want to be an astronaut woke up one day and realized this planet was the p...

In this episode of Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood speaks with Mat Dos Santos, co-executive director of Our Children's Trust, about how his organization is using the legal system to fight climate change on behalf of youth plaintiffs — the kids who have the most to lose if we get this wrong. Learn how landmark victories in Montana and Hawaii are creating precedents that could reshape climate policy across America.

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This week on Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood talks with Eliot Brooks, founder and CEO of Cocoon Carbon, about an unexpected climate tech challenge: how decarbonizing steel production is disrupting concrete's path to net zero. Brooks explains how his startup transforms problematic steel slag from modern electric arc furnaces into valuable materials that reduce concrete's carbon footprint while cutting costs.

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This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re exploring what might be the most overlooked tool in our climate toolkit: nature itself. Yes, we like to geek out about purely technological solutions like fusion or direct-air carbon capture or electric vehicles or consumer compost devices, but there's a whole world of climate solutions that nature has already perfected over millions of years. But how does the financial world think about th...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going to keep talking about tech and climate innovation with a longtime technologist turned climate tech investor. Mike Schroepfer runs the investment fund Gigascale Capital, which has invested in some of the biggest names in climate tech: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Mill, Form Energy, and a couple other names that will be appearing soon on this very show. Schrep, as he’s known, is also th...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the last official episode of our miniseries, Feeding the Matrix, all about AI, energy use, and data center design. To cap off this series, Molly spoke with JoAnn Garbin, a longtime technologist, sustainability advocate, and innovator, about her work reimagining data center design at Microsoft. It turns out, the company realized years ago that communities might start rejecting new data center...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re continuing our series on AI and energy use, exploring how to expand data centers and computing without sacrificing sustainability goals or, you know, a livable planet. This week, we’re turning toward some innovations that could make that seemingly impossible goal a reality. Realta Fusion is a fusion energy company that spun out of the University of Wisconsin. It’s one of many startups worki...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the second episode in our special series on AI and energy use. When it comes to making data centers more energy efficient, few have a larger burden than Amazon’s AWS — the world’s largest cloud provider by market share. Molly talks with Chris Walker, head of sustainability for AWS, about how the company’s customers are pushing it to be as energy efficient as possible, for reasons of economic...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the first episode in our special series on AI and energy use. We’re starting at the foundational layer of AI computing: the chips. Nvidia is the undisputed leader when it comes to providing the processors (and networking equipment and cards and servers and racks) and the software platform that lets companies use those chips to train AI models. But what’s the company’s responsibility when it ...

Welcome back to the third season of Everybody in the Pool! Well, almost. We’re busy preparing an exciting way to kick off the new year: with a four-part series on everybody’s favorite topic, AI and energy use. We’ve already been worried about data centers and their global electricity consumption, but training new AI models (and answering our inane questions and writing emails for us) are pushing that demand potentially exponentiall...

This week, we are leaning into a powerful tool in the fight against climate change: storytelling. Molly talks with Greg Jacobs, co-director of The Here Now Project, about the innovative documentary, which presents climate change through the eyes of ordinary people worldwide. The film aims to evoke a sense of urgency and community around climate action, By demonstrating a series of climate shocks over the course of a single year, fr...

In this conversation, GL Genco, founder of Generation Conscious, talks about how his company has created vending machines for dehydrated laundry detergent sheets. The goal is to promote sustainability and reduce waste, yes, but also to change the way we think about how we shop for hygiene products overall. He shares his personal journey, the environmental impact of traditional packaging, and the importance of making eco-friendly pr...

In this episode of Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood explores an overlooked climate solution hiding in plain sight: leaky air ducts and building envelopes. She speaks with Amit Gupta, CEO of Aeroseal, about an innovative technology that uses "pixie dust" physics to seal energy-wasting leaks in buildings. Learn how up to 40% of your heating and cooling could be escaping through poorly sealed ducts, and discover a solution that'...

This week on Everybody in the Pool, we are re-visiting a favorite episode from season 1, and maybe it’ll inspire you and your friends and family toward a fun holiday activity! Obviously, global warming and the climate crisis are intimidating topics. But this week’s guest has built an entire career out of play. Jenny Gottstein is a game-maker, previously of Go Games and IDEO, and a few years ago, she created a game called Beat! That...

In this conversation, Chris Dickerson, co-founder of Players for the Planet, discusses his journey from being a professional athlete to becoming an advocate for environmental awareness in sports. He shares insights on the impact of sports on the environment, the importance of community engagement, and the need for systemic change in how sports organizations handle waste and sustainability. The conversation highlights the evolution ...

Usually on the show we talk about carbon-emitting sectors, but today we’re talking about one of the planet’s most precious resources: water. Specifically, industrial water, which is used in staggering amounts, horribly contaminated, and sometimes just put right back into the environment. Anurag Bajpayee, CEO of Gradiant, discusses the company's technology-driven end-to-end water solutions and their goal to conserve water for future...

Installing climate-friendly home upgrades is expensive—lots of new tax rebates and incentives can help make it cheaper, but only if you can actually get them. Sealed is a company that focuses on residential energy efficiency and electrification and recently pivoted to helping contractors find new customers and take advantage of those all-important subsidies.

LINKS:

• Sealed: https://www.sealed.com/
• All episodes: https:/...