Go Green Radio

Cleantech San Diego is a nonprofit member organization that positions the greater San Diego region, including Imperial County, as a global leader in the cleantech economy. Cleantech San Diego’s members include more than 100 local businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits committed to advancing sustainable solutions for the benefit of the economy and the environment. Today we will be joined by Jason Anderson, President and CEO of Cleantech San Diego, who will discuss how his organization works to create a sustainable, resilient city of the 21st century.

This new book describes how the food you eat can reverse climate change, heal your body, and ultimately, save our world. Throughout this revolutionary book, Tickell teaches how to become an agent in humanity’s single most important and time sensitive mission and how to save the world through the choices you make. He also highlights tangible, real world examples of people and landscapes that are becoming healthier together. KISS THE GROUND, the book, concludes with a point-by-point “how-to” for transforming your grocery list, your kitchen, your diet and ultimately the planet. Tune in as we talk with Josh about this fantastic must-read!

The 2017 Guide to Greener Electronics (the Guide) was recently released by Greenpeace USA, with rankings of seventeen of the world's leading consumer electronics companies on sustainable manufacturing and design of IT products. Companies were evaluated based on their transparency, commitment, performance and advocacy efforts in three critical areas: reduction of greenhouse gases through renewable energy; use of recycled materials; and elimination of hazardous chemicals. Tune in as we talk with Gary Cook, Senior IT Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, about how the electronics companies you support ranked.

Our guest today is Faber Dewar, the CEO of Drink Up, a California-based company that offers a new option in clean, healthy drinking water. Tune in to learn how Drink Up’s proprietary system not only purifies tap water, but can add vitamin boosts at a fraction of the cost of bottled water. Drink Up also partners with water.org, and you will learn why Faber and the whole Drink Up team are committed to pure, affordable drinking water for everyone.

Millennials are less likely to recycle than other generations, but more likely to buy from companies making a positive impact on the world, a new survey finds. The reason, according to the new survey and report from The Shelton Group: Millennials believe corporations have more power to solve global problems than individuals. Millennials are pushing companies to make a positive impact on the world because they believe global problems are too big for individuals to solve, said Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of The Shelton Group, a marketing and research firm focused on energy and the environment. Millennials will reward corporations that take action and address problems for them. Tune in as we talk with Virginia Vowell, Senior Research Analyst at Shelton Group, about this revealing new report!

Ted Genoways – award-winning author of The Chain (2014) – follows a family through a year in the life of their farm. Genoways catalogs the day-to-day struggles of the Hammond farm in a pivotal time frame: in 2014-2015, mild weather and heavy rainfall led to higher-than-expected yields, depressing crop prices and lowering profits, while encroaching pipelines, groundwater depletion, climate change, and shifting trade policies added to the threats facing the Hammond farm. Genoways demonstrates that family farms are far from an isolated refuge beyond the reach of global events; the family farm is increasingly at the crossroads of emerging technologies and international détente.

Did you know what we put on our plates has a major impact on our planet's health? The kinds of foods we grow, produce, and eat have the biggest environmental impact of any human activity. Tune in today as we talk with Meg Donahue, co-founder of MamaSezz, as we discuss the environmental and human health benefits of a plant-based diet.

This summer, two Granite Gear sponsored Minnesotan adventurers, Paul Twedt and Michael Anderson, aim to remove trash from 1200 miles of Minnesota rivers: the Namekagon/St. Croix, Minnesota and Mississippi. Twedt and Anderson founded Adventure Stewardship Alliance and represent the organization’s mission of acting as stewards of our public waterways, inspiring a deeper sense of connection and care for natural environments and public waterways. They believe litter isn’t one person’s problem, it’s everyone’s problem, and they aim to make an impact on that issue. The team is currently paddling the Minnesota River, the second river clean-up of their Three Rivers Expedition. Since beginning on July 3rd near Ortonville, Minnesota at Big Stone Lake, the duo has paddled more than 65 miles and removed over 350 pounds of trash. The expedition will conclude in October as the team paddles and cleans up the Mississippi river along its first 600 miles in Minnesota.

Sometimes the most heated debates are among people who almost agree. That seems to be the case with the recent Jacobson-Clack controversy, in which two groups of well-intentioned, renewable energy advocates bitterly spar over differing paths to a 100% renewable energy future. But as PCI Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg points out in his latest essay, neither side is considering one of the most crucial aspects to successfully reaching that future. Tune in to hear Richard's take on the controversy and decide for yourself who offers the clearest path forward.

Coral reefs are the nursery for all life in the oceans, a remarkable ecosystem that sustains us. Yet with carbon emissions warming the seas, a phenomenon called “coral bleaching”—a sign of mass coral death—has been accelerating around the world, and the public has no idea of the scale or implication of the catastrophe silently raging underwater. Directed by Jeff Orlowski, CHASING CORAL taps into the collective will and wisdom of an ad man, a self-proclaimed coral nerd, top-notch camera designers, and renowned marine biologists as they invent the first time-lapse camera to record bleaching events as they happen. The effort is anything but simple, and the team battles technical malfunctions and the force of nature in pursuit of their golden fleece: documenting the indisputable and tragic transformation below the waves. With its breathtaking photography, nail-biting suspense, and startling emotion, CHASING CORAL is a dramatic revelation that won’t have audiences sitting idle for long.

From National Geographic Documentary Films, From the Ashes captures Americans in communities across the country as they wrestle with the legacy of the coal industry and what its future should be under the Trump Administration. From Appalachia to the West’s Powder River Basin, the film goes beyond the rhetoric of the “war on coal” to present compelling and often heartbreaking stories about what’s at stake for our economy, health, and climate. The film invites audiences to learn more about an industry on the edge and what it means for their lives.

Globally acclaimed teacher Stephen Ritz shows readers how, in one of the nation’s poorest communities, his students thrive in school and in life by growing, cooking, eating, and sharing the bounty of their green classroom. His innovative program began by accident. When a flower broke up a brawl among burly teenagers at a tough South Bronx high school, Stephen saw a teachable moment to connect students with nature. By using plants as an entry point for all learning, he witnessed nothing short of a transformation. Attendance soared from 40 to 93 percent. Disciplinary issues plummeted. In a school with a 17 percent graduation rate and high crime rate, every one of his students finished school and stayed out of jail. More than 50,000 pounds of vegetables later, he has figured out how to bring the magic of gardening into the heart of the school day for students of all ages.Join us as Stephen shares his practical solutions for growing his favorite crop: organically grown citizens.

With summer on the way, it’s time to take steps to make homes and businesses are comfortable without wasting energy—or overheating anyone's wallet—as the temperature rises. The Natural Resources Defense Council is working to make sure that the government’s energy efficiency standards developed or updated over the past year for many types of products that help keep you cool, including ceiling fans and portable air conditioners, take effect on schedule. Updating national efficiency standards on a regular basis means that when it's time to purchase new cooling equipment, you can be assured it meets at least minimum energy-saving performance criteria while saving money and energy. But in the meantime, we've got some tips to keep your cool in the warmer months: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lauren-urbanek/keep-your-cool-summer-energy-efficiency. Join us as we speak with NRDC senior energy policy advocate, Lauren Urbanek.

Can profit and sustainability go hand in hand? A new report by The Conference Board proves they can. Released today, Business Transformation and The Circular Economy details how companies are moving from the linear economy to the circular economy. This increasingly popular model centers on the reuse of materials, to ensure they retain their highest value at all times. The research spotlights seven companies at the forefront of the circular economy: Dell, DuPont, Interface, Kimberly-Clark, Philips, Waste Management, and Hewlett-Packard. The report also features practical recommendations for how other businesses can follow suit. Tune in as we talk with the author of the report, Thomas Singer.

By 2050, $40 trillion will change hands in North America alone. The largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history is underway and the ramifications will remake the world. The dirty money of business as usual is on the brink, wedged between catastrophic climate change and the demographic tidal wave of Millennials pounding the consumer table for real change. These forces are transforming the very nature of capitalism into something different and powerful— towards a clean money revolution. Joel Solomon, pioneering clean money investor and change agent, lays it on the line. The revolution is underway, the opportunities are everywhere, and the challenges and rewards are immense. The Clean Money Revolution explores this massive economic shift, and how you can ride the $40 trillion wave to create the new, ethical, and sustainable businesses that power local economies, restore ecosystems, and build social and financial equity. The Clean Money Revolution is underway. Join it!

The Vegetarian’s Guide to Eating Meat chronicles a young woman’s journey from vegetarian PETA activist to blood-and-guts-eating omnivore. Marissa Landrigan, journalist, professor and author, discovered that eating ethically was far from simple—and cutting out meat was not the answer. As she criss-crossed the U.S. to get closer to the source of her food, eventually even visiting a slaughterhouse and hunting elk, Landrigan realized that the most ethical way of eating was to know her food—whether meat or vegetable—and prepare it herself, on her own terms, to eat with family and friends.

Lauded by Booklist as “an essential guidebook for anyone who wants to make a difference,” Sustainability Made Simple: Small Changes for Big Impact (April 2017, Rowman & Littlefield) walks readers through small, actionable steps anyone can make at home, school, work, and on the road to reduce their environmental footprint. With an emphasis on science, facts and practicality, environmental experts, Rosaly Bird and Lauren DeMates, introduce readers to the concept of sustainability and humanity’s growing impact on the environment, why it’s harmful, what steps the government and other institutions are taking to help, and finally what individuals and families can do to make a difference. Tune in as we talk to Byrd and DeMates about their book, and the small, specific changes we can make in all aspects of our lives.

NATURE's, Yosemite, premieres Wed., March 29 at 8/7c on PBS. Yosemite is a land forged in wildfire and sculpted by water, but with climate change, water is scarcer and fire more common. Shot in 4K by filmmaker Joseph Pontecorvo, the program follows scientists and adventurers as they investigate how these global changes are affecting one of America's greatest wildernesses. Tune in as we talk with Joe and one of the geologists featured in the film, Roger Putnam.

Alan Bell was a star prosecutor for mob trials in Florida in the 80's. When he began getting severely ill many believed he was being poisoned by the mob. It turned out that that it was exposure to hidden toxic chemicals in his office building that made him so sick that he was forced to spend nearly a decade living in a sterile “bubble” in the remote Arizona desert. When his health improved, he teamed up with other lawyers (including those featured in the films Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action) to avenge hundreds of environmental victims in court. Bell discovered that his plight was just the tip of the iceberg. Millions of people get sick and die each year because of toxic chemical exposures—without knowing they're at risk. His new book offers a view of one of the most important global health issues of our time. Robert F Kennedy Jr. called the book: “a riveting memoir with serious health implications for us all”.

Growing your own food, even in a small space, is now much easier thanks to GrowOya. Their porous clay irrigation vessels are an ingenious, modern method of watering your garden borrowed from the ancient wisdom of South America. Tune in to learn how these water-saving devices can be used year after year, and are revolutionizing the access to healthy, local food – even in drought areas. Our guests today are Brant Cheetham, co-founder of GrowOya, and Justin Cutter, with the Compass Green Project, who uses Oyas in school gardens.