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GreenBiz 350 Podcast

Episode 200: Biomimicry maven talks Project Positive, Walmart exec chats up Project Gigaton

Featuring interviews with Biomimicry 3.8's co-founder Janine Benyus, and Walmart sustainability specialist Zack Freeze. Plus, Dow's global sustainability director Haley Lowry is passionate about reducing plastic waste.

Week in Review

Commentary of some of this week's stories begins at 7:37.

  1. Why human health must be at the center of climate action
  2. Will the private sector be held liable for climate change?
  3. As the climate crisis grows, Big Oil finds itself over a barrel

Features

Share your voice (21:09)

In the last GreenBiz 350 podcast of December (Dec. 20) and the first podcast of January (Jan. 10), we will feature the voices of the GreenBiz community, responding to the following two questions: What was the most important lesson you learned professionally in 2019? and/or What’s your biggest professional ambition for 2020? If you'd like to submit your thoughts for either, please alert us at [email protected], and we'll send you the recording and submission guidelines. 

Taking stock of Walmart's Project Gigaton (22:27)

More than 1,000 suppliers have signed on to Project Gigaton, Walmart's program to motivate its value chain to remove 1 billion metric tons of emissions from their operations by 2030. So far, it has managed reductions of 93 million metric tons. Zach Freeze, senior director of strategic initiatives for Walmart's sustainability team, chats about the innovations driving progress among suppliers and why interest in the packaging component of the program is growing. 

Dow's quest to reduce plastic waste (34:07)

One of the biggest plastics producers in the world is serious about reducing plastic waste, and it's investing in partnerships to get the job done. Tune in for featured excerpts from the latest Purpose and People column by leadership coach Shannon Houde, featuring Dow global sustainability director Haley Lowry.

Janine Benyus wants you to think positive (38:33)

Can the principles of biomimicry design be applied to buildings? That's the holy grail of Project Positive, a group of "change agents" researching ways their facilities can create positive benefits for the land and local ecosystems they touch. Biomimicry thought leader Janine Benyus chats about the mission.

*Music in this episode by Lee Rosevere: "Southside," "Keeping Stuff Together," "More on That Later," Credit Roll" and "As I Was Saying"

What's new at GreenBiz?

How does ESG measure up? Mainstream investors are asking for more data on corporate climate risks and opportunities — and they're being forced to wade through the sea of metrics and standards used for reporting. Join this interactive webcast at 1 p.m. EST Dec. 17, about how to harmonize disclosure in a way that will speak to the investment community.

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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.

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