Skip to main content

GreenBiz 350 Podcast

Episode 180: Moonshots and a new operating manual for spaceship Earth, a redesign for circular jeans

Featuring chats with Francois Souchet, the CircularFibres Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and Amanda Ravenhill, executive director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute.

Week in Review

Tune in around 7:23  for commentary

  1. Shareable scooters may seem sustainable, but are they really?
  2. Why directors are in the crosshairs of corporate climate litigation
  3. How Stanley Black & Decker is using the SDGs to grow a "new-collar" workforce

Features

The Buckminster Fuller Institute's Amanda Ravenhill on planetary boundaries (17:23)

Amanda Ravenhill previously held the role of executive director of Project Drawdown, a comprehensive plan to reverse global warming, and now serves as executive director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute. She came to the podcast to talk about the work that must be done to make sure that the "Spaceship Earth" we're all riding is on the correct course. As climate change and overconsumption threaten the world as we know it, we must ensure that we keep our resource use within planetary boundaries.

Are circular jeans in our genes? (29:07)

In 2018, the international jeans market ballooned to $57 billion, with almost 2 billion pairs sold per year. How do we ensure that market is sustainable? The Jeans Redesign Guidelines are a new set of guidelines put out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the pioneering organization of the circular economy. On the podcast this week is Francois Souchet, who leads the "Make Fashion Circular" Initiative there, and came to talk about the project. The new set of guidelines focuses on garment durability, material health, recyclability and traceability.

The Emerging Leaders scholarship for GreenBiz events (35:29)

The Emerging Leaders scholarship program brought to students and young professionals by GreenBiz Group is in its third year. The program is the opportunity for young people passionate about sustainability to attend GreenBiz's conferences, all-expenses-paid, and to engage with the corporate sustainability community. Tune in for a conversation with associate editor Holly Secon, who runs the scholarship, to hear more about it; she says: "Students that wouldn’t otherwise be able to meet up with those deep in the corporate sustainability network are able to meet, including having some one-on-one time, to foster career connections and opportunities."

*All music in this episode by Lee Rosevere: "Try Anything Once," "Wandering," "Evening Glow," "Start the Day" and "Credit Roll."

What's new at GreenBiz?

Know someone on the cutting edge? Nominations are officially open for the second VERGE Vanguard feature. If you know an individual who has demonstrated particular leadership in catalyzing the clean economy or a cleantech sector, nominate them! We're looking for 20 individuals who are: 

  • inspiring an equitable, inclusive transition to a clean power grid;
  • laying the roadmap for a zero-emissions transportation system;
  • enabling communities and companies around the world to draw down levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide; and (of course!)
  • creating the framework for a more circular economy.

Do we have a newsletter for you! We produce five weekly newsletters: GreenBuzz by Executive Editor Joel Makower (Monday), Transport Weekly by Senior Writer and Analyst Katie Fehrenbacher (Tuesday), VERGE Weekly by Executive Director Shana Rappaport and Editorial Director Heather Clancy (Wednesday), Energy Weekly by Senior Energy Analyst Sarah Golden (Thursday) and Circular Weekly by Director and Senior Analyst Lauren Phipps (Friday). You must subscribe to each newsletter in order to receive it. Please visit this page to choose the newsletters you want to receive.

Check out our Center Stage podcast, which features the best of live interviews on sustainable business and clean technology, conducted on stage at GreenBiz and VERGE conferences.

The GreenBiz Intelligence Panel is the survey body we poll regularly throughout the year on key trends and developments in sustainability. To become part of the panel, click here. Enrolling is free and should take two minutes.

Stay connected

To make sure you don't miss the newest episodes of GreenBiz 350, subscribe on iTunes. Have a question or suggestion for a future segment? E-mail us at [email protected].

More on this topic