Episode 192

From Random Sustainability Riffs to A New Umbrella Business Blueprint

Episode Summary: In this engaging episode, we let the conversation flow organically, leading us into discussions on various aspects of sustainability.  

 Topics range from paper recycling to the proliferation of thick plastic cups in markets and the visual impact of disposable coffee cups in cafes.  

 We also examine the environmental footprint of disposable water bottles versus reusable cups and bags, questioning the overproduction of popular items like the colorful Stanley cups.  

 Additionally, we brainstorm innovative business models for umbrellas, exploring ideas around recirculation and sponsorship.  

 Tune in as we navigate the complexities of sustainable consumption. 

 For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac (one of Amazon best-selling books of the year!), visit  thecarbonalmanac.org 

 

Want to join in the conversation? 

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives. 

 

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up! 

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang, Brian Tormey, Jenn Swanson, Rob Slater, and Kristina Horning  

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert, and podcaster from Paris, France.  

Brian is a Real Estate Title Insurance Professional and Goat Farmer in the US.  

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer, and community Connector, helping people help themselves.  

Rob is from Birmingham in the UK, he is an orthodontist, triathlete, coach, and podcaster. 

Kristina has a background in architecture and engineering. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base is US. 

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater. 

Transcript
Speaker:

Hi, I'm Christina.

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I'm from Prague.

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Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

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Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

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Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

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Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

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Welcome to Carbon Sessions.

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A podcast with Carbon Conversations

for every day with everyone

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from everywhere in the world.

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In our conversations, we share ideas,

perspectives, questions, and things we

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can actually do to make a difference.

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So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions because it's not too late.

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The thing I was going to share was I

watched, it was sort of a documentary,

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it was a short little YouTube video,

like 20 minutes put on by a paper

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company called a Weyerhaeuser paper,

which is where it's just a big.

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manufacturer.

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It's a big timber company here in the U.

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S.

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with lots of land holdings, but they make,

among many things, lots of paper towels,

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printing paper, all those kind of things.

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And it was a deconstruction of the paper

recycling and cardboard recycling process.

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And they just really like talk through

like how they do it, how it all comes

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in, like all the process, right?

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And one of the things I found really

interesting that was just a learning

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moment for me, which was contrary

to like wisdom I'd been given, was

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there's a person here who's in charge

of, you know, this woman's in charge

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of this huge paper recycling plant.

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And she says into the camera, she

says, please give us all of your paper.

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We don't care if it

has pizza grease on it.

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We don't care if it has this.

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We don't.

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And she like named and

listed all these things.

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And she said, we want it.

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And here's why.

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And she like talked back a little bit

about some of like, because those fibers

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that are in that pizza box, are actually

still long format fibers, and we need

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more of those to make printing paper.

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And then when printing paper is a

little bit less fiber, but then that

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gets broken down, then we make paper

towels or toilet, but you know, like,

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and, but it was this not admonishment,

but it was this reminder moments.

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That she was like, don't not put

something into your paper or cardboard

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recycling bin because it's messy or dirty.

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She was like, we're really good at this.

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We've got all the systems and things

that will pull out plastic and staples

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and pizza grease and food tidbits.

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Like we will solve for all that.

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We're good at this.

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Just give us your stuff because I

routinely, I don't know about you all,

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but I routinely will find myself with,

you know, where people will put things not

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in the recycle bin because it's greasy,

messy, has staples, has tape on it.

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I, you know, myself, I take the time and

tear every piece of tape, you know, like

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the plastic y tape off my, you know.

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Harbor recycling things.

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And so that almost just feels like this

lesson, similar to, you know, these

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other lessons we were talking about.

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I don't, Rob, I think we're gonna

have to leave it to you to change

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the outcome of the Invisalign.

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You and your industry, I don't think the

average consumer will change the outcome.

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Although maybe the consumers

will say, I want a seaweed one,

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you know, like maybe they will.

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Anyway, just a thought, just a

little thing that I was intrigued

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by, that it feels like the

listeners could be like, Oh, really?

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I didn't know that.

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I think with, um, the, uh, the, the

Invisalign thing, it's, uh, I've

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spoken to my colleagues and when

I talked to 'em about it, I think

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the, the thing that I wanna get

across is that the important thing,

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thing is that we're honest about it.

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And the, when I gave the the

talk recently, the person who

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was talking in front of me was

talking about their experience

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with a particular aligner system.

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And I knew that a big part of my talk

was going to be about aligners, and so I

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didn't want to embarrass him by standing

up and saying all about the aligners.

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So when I started to talk about the

aligners, there was a bit of an elephant

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in the room here, and I said, Now, I

don't want to be seen as a hypocrite

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because I use aligners, I do use them.

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Um, and the most important thing

is that we're honest about it, that

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we are using aligners, and there is

all this plastic that we're using.

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Because if we're honest about it, then

that's fine, but if we're not, and we

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try to hide it, then we become complicit.

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At least if we talk about it,

then it gives us the opportunity.

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Um, to create the situation where industry

can change at the end of the talk, there

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were people who are actually saying, I'm

actually going to bring up sustainability

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as part of our audit processes.

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So, the Royal London Hospital, one

of the guys there is actually going

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to bring that up at the Royal London.

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And that was, that was really, uh,

I thought things like that coming

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outta that talk, um, were, were

hopefully gonna be quite helpful.

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Yeah.

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I think there are things

changing, uh, in, uh, the markets.

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I go to Saturday markets in Prague,

and I would say 2, 2, 3 years ago,

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they changed the law that in the

market, when they serve hot wine.

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or coffee or any kind of drinks.

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They have these plastic cups you guys were

talking about before from thick plastic.

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And so you buy the cup and you can

bring it back either dirty or clean,

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doesn't matter, but you can bring

it back and, uh, uh, get the either

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refund or new drink in a clean cup.

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And I was worried when they

started that people won't do it.

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They'll just take the cup home and don't

bring it back or, uh, throw it out.

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But in two years, it's

almost ingrained habit.

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When my friends go automatically,

when they go to the market, they

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already bring their coffee cup

with a lid and all that stuff.

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So.

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I think I love when people develop

habits in bigger numbers than, than

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just, uh, separate, one by one.

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There's a coffee shop in Kent

that's actually stopped giving,

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uh, cups to its customers now.

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So it won't serve you unless you

bring your own, your own cup.

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And as part of the campaign, they filled

the floor of their coffee shop up.

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So, so it was waste deep,

pretty much, with all the cups.

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They kind of saved up all those,

these cups which had been wasted, and

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they filled the store up with these

things, and took a photograph of it.

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So that, um, they could just make this

point about how much waste was going on.

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And, uh, yeah, I refuse to say that.

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What about if you really want to have

a cup of coffee, but you're not walking

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around with your cup in your bag or

in your pocket, uh, can you buy a mug

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or something and then make it yours?

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Yes.

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That's, that's good.

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But they don't make a big film about that.

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Can I ask a question on that?

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So, um, at least here in the U.

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S., many states, not every state, but

many states have outlawed the use of

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those really thin film, uh, grocery bags.

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Like the really, like, just

almost, Thinner than paper.

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Most grocery stores, they

no longer can give this out.

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Um, and you can only do reusable.

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But many of the reusables,

they're also made of plastic.

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They're just a much sturdier

plastic that it's made out of.

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It's like a very stiff and it's

like it's technically reusable.

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But it's actually just like, you

know, a tenth of a gram of plastic

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versus twenty grams of plastic, right?

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And I might be getting the measurements

wrong, but like, it's, it's a, it's

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a 20x amount of plastic in weight.

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between the two.

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And so you go and they have you buy

those reusables, but you're actually

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consuming a lot more resources to do so.

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And then in all likelihood,

invariably, what I think happens

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is you have too many of those.

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And then some of those just

get thrown away as well.

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Like, it's actually like a worse

version of the problem than before.

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Um, not all those reusables get reused.

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At all.

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And, and I wonder, Rob, I'm curious

about sort of like the mugs and things,

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because I've seen things similar to that,

where they like cause you to buy a thing.

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But then you just end up with all

these like leftover things that you

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don't need because you had to buy one

in the effort to avoid a disposable

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thing and like it becomes a question

like is there is that I don't and I

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don't know that I know the answer.

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Is there a better outcome?

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Leaky has the answer.

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Her hand is up.

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Yeah, I have my hands.

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It's up.

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I work with fashion designers,

you know, and I help them, um,

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transition to what's more sustainable.

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Designs and, uh, there's one saying that

is the most sustainable piece of clothing,

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is that the one that you already own.

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You don't need to buy a new one.

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This is the most sustainable

one, whether it's made of, um,

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plastic or cotton or whatever.

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If it's.

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Already yours.

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It's already, it's the

most sustainable one.

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So any new piece of clothing, and

it's also works with bags and, um, and

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shopping bags or, or mugs or whatever,

any new items will be less sustainable

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than the ones you already own.

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You know, it, it just, I don't know.

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Um, I see it over on social

media, the Stanley cup.

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This is crazy.

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It's crazy.

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You know, um, oh yeah.

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One of these, these like

one of these kind of cups.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Not the Stanley Cup, the hockey prize.

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No, no.

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The, no, no, no.

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One of these cup, um, the,

the cup you're showing.

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Yeah.

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Like an insulated, uh, an insulated for

a podcast listeners insulated cup mug.

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Yes.

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To be the kind of mug you

can take and go to Rob's.

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coffee shop, but then there are

people that are, that start collecting

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like in all colors and the company,

the brand makes it in all colors.

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So there are people that start collecting

and this is just getting insane.

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Really.

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It defeats the purpose of

it, of the whole thing.

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Well, I will say in my house,

I have a shelf of all of these

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mugs that I've been gifted.

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I have so many and I keep them

and they're like un, unused.

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And I regift them, including

plenty of them have like, these

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are stickers from, um, from Oregon,

where I'm from, uh, on here.

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And, but like, I keep them even if

they have like logos on them that

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are from some company that gifted

me a branded item, I regift them.

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But I will say, it's actually hard to

now find someone who doesn't have one

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of these that I could give it to that

wants one, you know, that has any use

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for one that they don't already have.

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And so there is that.

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It's an interesting,

it's almost like this.

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meme, this like pattern that gains

momentum, and then it gets so much

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momentum that it overproduces itself.

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Like there's so much more of

it than anyone needs, but it

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is now, it's a wonderful gift.

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If someone gives me one of these, they

spent 20, and it's, you know, like I

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appreciate the sentiment, but it's 20

for a thing that I don't need in my life.

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And there's lots of them

in the thrift stores.

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I was in a thrift store recently and,

uh, I noticed a whole shelf of reusable

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cups in the thrift store, water cups.

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And cause people like a particular kind or

they want it to do certain things or yeah.

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I like in the market that it's a long

market, so you buy coffee on one end

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and return the cup at the other end.

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So you don't take it home a lot of times.

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Well, so that, I want to,

Christina, I want to go to that.

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Like, is there a way for a coffee house?

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To like, so I'm going to back up.

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There was a company that

I almost invested in.

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It was on a television

show called Shark Tank.

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I don't know if any of you have seen

the like television show Shark Tank.

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And it was a company.

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I thought it was a really wonderful idea.

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So I reached out to the

founder and started having

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some conversations with him.

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some dialogue with them and possibly, uh,

engaging and investing in the company.

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And what the company made was a, like a

vending stand for umbrellas, and then they

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produced really nice, they had very nice

umbrellas, like sturdy, good umbrellas

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that could, like, withstand even, you

know, even a Cornwall bluries, uh, or,

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or whatever we'd say there in Cornwall.

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Um, and instead of, I don't know if

it's in your cities, but when the

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rain comes out, like, there's just

all these, drugstore, you know, 6

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umbrellas that break in, I mean, like,

they're not even good for the one

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storm you're in, let alone five storms.

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And so the idea was, okay, you come

up and you swipe your credit card,

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you get an umbrella, it pops out

an umbrella, and it charges you 5.

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If you don't return the umbrella to

another one of the stands within like

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a week or two, it was like a period

of time, then it charges you for the

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full value of the umbrella and you

get to keep it and it's a nice, it's

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a really well made umbrella, but then

you get to keep it and it was 28.

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I'm getting the numbers wrong, I'm sure.

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And so the theory was, and then

they had marketing on the umbrella.

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So someone was sponsoring the

umbrella itself and then you walked

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around as a little billboard, right?

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Um, but it discouraged.

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waste, it encouraged use

and reuse of the umbrellas.

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And, and an umbrella is a, is probably

one of the least easy to use and then

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put back and like turn back into a

coffee cup, Christina, to your point,

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or to sort of, you know, the thing.

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There's so many places if I want went

to my local coffee store this morning,

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and I didn't have my thermos cup with

me and my sort of reusable cup, They

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could say, great, here is, we're scanning

the QR code, we've got a mug for you,

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it's got our brand and logo on it, for

today's use, it costs you nothing, you

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buy your cup of coffee, and here you go.

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If it's not scanned back in at

the store, in you know, in a week.

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If you haven't come and dropped it back

off the next time you come in with your

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cup of coffee, then we charge you the 20

that this insulated mug is worth, right?

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Then you've bought it.

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Is that, is that, like, is there

a viable way to do something?

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So the trick, how they solved it, that

all the cups have Logo Prague logo on it,

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so all the vendors have the same cups.

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So you take the cup and buy it from

one vendor and return it to another

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vendor because they're all the same.

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So you don't have to come

back to the original vendor.

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So basically the city is the one

who has the advertisement on the

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So, I thought that was clever.

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And it reduces their trash bins

being full, which reduces their

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staffing costs and their garbage.

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Like, for the city, there's

actually some municipal savings.

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Exactly.

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Yeah, yeah.

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That's brilliant.

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The German markets, uh, they give,

um, these, they're, they're, um,

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uh, quite nice, um, either Stein,

uh, glasses, uh, for, for beer.

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Yeah.

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And there's mulled wine, um, ones as well,

which are all ceramic, but you have to

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pay the full price for that, um, right

from the word go and then they charge you

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for the beer or whatever you're having

and then you can keep that and just if

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you can pit all evening and drink all

evening then You just Pay for the beer

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that you get poured into it, and then

if you give it them back at the end of

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the evening, they pay you the full price

back, and, um, if, um, if you keep it, you

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just keep it, and walk away with it, so.

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Yeah, that's, that's a variation.

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Yeah, and it's, uh, it reduces

litter in the, in the area.

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I don't think they did it straight

away, but they were, I think

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they were using plastic, um,

plastic pint glasses at first.

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And it was a lot of work, so yeah,

it saves a lot for the council

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as well as for the vendors.

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I wonder if there are any companies

out here, out there, helping

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create a system around that.

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Other than, so Rob, yours and Christina,

yours are sort of like self solved, right?

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The city, in your case, Christina,

and the beer hall, I guess, in

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your case, Rob, are self solved.

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They've said, okay, we've just

come up with a methodology

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for doing this ourselves.

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Thanks.

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But I wonder if there are any companies

that are like trying to, trying to

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help solve this in some fashion, like

into as, as the mission of the company.

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I've always thought that,

um, the umbrella problem.

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is, uh, needs to be solved.

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It's a real, really, really big problem

because nobody wants to carry an umbrella.

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I mean, I don't, I

never carry an umbrella.

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It's, it's just, it's bulky.

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And, uh, and when you carry an

umbrella, there's a rule it never rains.

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So, so it's, it's, it's useless

when, unless, uh, you really need it.

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And, um, and once you've used

it, it's just bulky again, it's,

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it becomes troublesome again.

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So it's.

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It's really, we really

need to rethink of them.

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Ownership of the umbrella, because I

think that the umbrella shouldn't be

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something that's, that is owned by

people, but it should be owned by like,

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you know, um, the city or companies,

as you said, because this idea, this, I

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had this idea, uh, when I was living in

Singapore, because, um, in Singapore,

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there's a rule in the rainy season.

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It always ran when at lunchtime

in the morning at lunchtime.

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And when you go home, Apart

from that, it never rains.

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And, and I hate umbrellas.

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I don't carry an umbrella.

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So it was just really, really bugged me.

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And so I don't know that, yeah, the

umbrella shouldn't be owned by people.

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Umbrella should be owned by a higher body.

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Umbrella shop owners are, you know,

I live in Vancouver where Right.

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It's a lot.

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And there are fancy

umbrella shops everywhere.

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But I think if the umbrellas

that were sort of like the, the

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scooters and the bikes, you can

pick up here and drop off there.

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If they were branded and really

ugly, no one would want to keep them.

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And so, but Jen, so here's this,

this company, I'm forgetting

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the name of the thing.

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Part of what, part of what we got.

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I got interested in and

excited about was right.

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So, and I'm in New York city.

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So when you walk around with an

umbrella, a lot of people see it, right?

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Like it, it is a billboard that

has a lot of eyeball impressions.

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And so, so the idea of having a branded

umbrella that like for my company, the

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value, if that umbrella costs 28 to,

to, you know, retail and they rent the

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umbrella for 5, Every time that umbrella

gets rented and used, maybe for brand

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exposure, my company might be willing to

basically pay 1 of that 5 for just our

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brand getting walked around by someone.

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And then if they keep it, that

means that they're gonna keep

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using it, presumably, right?

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And so maybe I even contribute 5

towards The retail value keeping it

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cost and that was part of the, you

know, I was interested in investing in

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the business cause I, I really liked

the potential impact they could have

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and the thoughtfulness of a shared.

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I mean, it's, it's like you just

said, like someone at a higher

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level should own these umbrellas.

345

:

That's what this business idea was.

346

:

You go install these at college

campuses and in more dense urban

347

:

environments, not so much the spread out.

348

:

So there's always a nearby one.

349

:

You can pick one up and drop one off at.

350

:

But Jen, I think it's, they don't

have, you don't have to make them ugly.

351

:

Let people enjoy them and like,

let the marketing be marketing.

352

:

Let them be beautiful.

353

:

Um, I'm interested in company, uh,

that you saw on Shark Tank because

354

:

you said you nearly invested in it.

355

:

I didn't, don't know why you didn't

invest in it, but I think that the

356

:

key to success for this company is to

partner or to have access to a very

357

:

extensive network because, uh, for this.

358

:

Project for this product to work, it needs

to be available and, uh, wherever you go.

359

:

So it has to, to have access or

partner with a very wide, uh, not

360

:

wide, a very dense retail network.

361

:

So in that case, that's.

362

:

So it's to be very, very interesting.

363

:

I think it's called the

Brella box, looking to see

364

:

if they're still in business.

365

:

What happened to the umbrella?

366

:

One of the things our transit system does

that I, and I, they used to do it and I

367

:

don't know if they still do, but I always

thought it was fun is, um, they collect

368

:

all the lost umbrellas over the year.

369

:

And once a year.

370

:

They have an umbrella sale, and you can

go and find the most amazing umbrellas

371

:

for one or two dollars, maybe up to five.

372

:

But people go and get the umbrellas,

and that's sort of a way of recycling,

373

:

because I think the money gets donated

to a charity, and then all these lost

374

:

items that haven't been claimed in a

year get put back into the recycling bin.

375

:

use, and then a charity gets

benefits from some of the money.

376

:

We used to, when we were having, uh,

years ago, a church garage sale, they

377

:

used to give us 50 umbrellas every

year to sell at our church sale.

378

:

They'd just give them to us

and we would sell them again.

379

:

And people looked forward to the

umbrella table because there was

380

:

always interesting things there.

381

:

But it was a good way to recirculate and,

uh, raise funds for not for profits, so.

382

:

Yeah.

383

:

The, the umbrella is not owned by anyone.

384

:

Well, and now I've just looked

up BrellaBox and they, it looks

385

:

like they have stopped taking

orders and aren't in business.

386

:

Yeah.

387

:

But I still think it

was a really good idea.

388

:

Maybe now is the time for us to, maybe

this is a carbon almanac, TCA community,

389

:

uh, will buy the rights to the business.

390

:

Thanks.

391

:

It's like our blue label with, um, Hank

Rogers, Blue Alliance, Hank Rogers, yes.

392

:

And our fashion brand idea that we came

up with during the podcast recording.

393

:

I think it was after, not part of the

episode re aired, but it was after

394

:

that we recorded this wonderful part.

395

:

Yeah.

396

:

You remember that?

397

:

Yeah, I remember that.

398

:

Yeah.

399

:

I'm still thinking about it, but I

think one thing, one action we can start

400

:

doing for this project, this umbrella

project is to start collecting umbrellas

401

:

and then find a way to brand them.

402

:

This idea came to, because I've

just signed up for, um, uh, to

403

:

be a member of the green runners.

404

:

I just paid my membership.

405

:

And, um, this, the green runners is an

organization that, uh, advocate for.

406

:

have a more sustainable practices.

407

:

And so one of the pillars is, is to,

is based on the way we, uh, we hit up.

408

:

And so one of the pillar is to refuse

new items or items that you don't need.

409

:

And when you are a member of

this association, you, uh,

410

:

what you're, you can pledge.

411

:

And one of the pledge is to say,

okay, I pledged to, uh, to revisit

412

:

the way I get up and refuse new

items like, you know, because when

413

:

you run, you have a lot of t shirts.

414

:

And so when you are part of this

organization, um, they don't send

415

:

you any t shirts obviously, but

they will send you just a badge.

416

:

And you can just sew it

on your existing t shirts.

417

:

And so, and so what we could do is

to, for the umbrella project, we

418

:

could start collecting the umbrellas

and then start thinking of, you know,

419

:

maybe a badge or like, you know,

create big thing for the umbrellas.

420

:

And then, um, and then like find a

smart way to brand these umbrellas.

421

:

And so startup cost is,

it's not that expensive.

422

:

I mean, the most difficult

thing is to find, uh, to partner

423

:

with retail, a retail network.

424

:

And Leaky, that's the, that idea comes

back to that sort of conversation with

425

:

Hank and really that idea of like, just

applying, like take an item and this

426

:

goes to your adage from before of like,

The most sustainable item, but the

427

:

least impact is the one that you already

have or the one that already exists.

428

:

It existed.

429

:

It's not new.

430

:

It's you could say vintage, but not

necessarily vintage and, and making

431

:

that something that people are proud of.

432

:

They're proud to not have a new t shirt.

433

:

They're proud to have this

badge on an old t shirt, right?

434

:

Um, on t shirts they already had because

they're saying, hey, I pledged, this

435

:

is my running shirt, but I pledged I'm

not accepting all these new, because

436

:

I've done 5k's things and yes, every

single one of them comes with a t shirt

437

:

and a headband, you know, like all

these different items promoting it up.

438

:

Um, That is interesting.

439

:

It comes back to this idea of

creating pride in wearing a badge,

440

:

so in its sense, its own logo

branding, that the badge itself says,

441

:

I didn't buy a new thing, right?

442

:

That's what the badge is signifying

and symbolizing to the viewer

443

:

is, I didn't take a new thing.

444

:

I've kept this old thing,

but it's with intent.

445

:

And because you're showing

it, it starts a conversation.

446

:

Mm hmm.

447

:

Mm hmm.

448

:

And you, and that could be

not on clothing, but as you

449

:

said, on an umbrella, yeah.

450

:

Green Brill.

451

:

We could call it green Brella.

452

:

Well, and Hank actually offered,

he was like, I own the rights

453

:

to the blue planet brand.

454

:

I think that was like a,

he had the trademark rights

455

:

that he's licensed to people.

456

:

He offered this up in our call, right.

457

:

Um, as part of it.

458

:

Yes.

459

:

I don't know.

460

:

Maybe this is a business to go back to,

or at least an idea, because it doesn't

461

:

even have to be that logo itself, some

way of just signifying that you've

462

:

chose, you've chosen that choice, right?

463

:

I don't know, very interesting.

464

:

Are there other ways that you all have

friends or colleagues who, do something

465

:

in this way that is like choosing not

to buy something new, that they, that

466

:

there's an outward signal of it, right?

467

:

Like for a while here in the US,

it was very common that people were

468

:

started drinking out of mason jars,

like canning jars and ball jars.

469

:

And it became a trendy thing.

470

:

But then it wasn't in the beginning,

it was reused old mason jars.

471

:

And then it became You go into a

store and there's 400 mason jars

472

:

for sale, all brand new, right?

473

:

Like it got inverted, you know,

the original source intent.

474

:

So I'm curious if there are like

other little habits or trends

475

:

in your life with people using

intentionally choosing to reuse a thing.

476

:

versus buy a new thing.

477

:

There's a restaurant, a coffee shop

that I go to sometimes near my work,

478

:

and they make mason jar salads.

479

:

And so you can buy a salad

to take away in a mason jar.

480

:

And if you bring it back, you get a

percentage off of the next thing you buy.

481

:

So there's incentive

to bring the jar back.

482

:

Um, but Yeah, they're, you know, and

of course, they're really nice salads

483

:

made in these jars and they do a

lot of that, you know, real dishes.

484

:

I, you know, I'm always the one going

in and saying, can I have that in a

485

:

real cup instead of in a plastic cup?

486

:

Sometimes they look at

you and, but I don't know.

487

:

I see people walking around with their

reusable mugs and water, especially

488

:

water, um, water bottles a lot.

489

:

But I'm still finding it's hard, like

we're doing a concert, we're putting on a

490

:

big music concert at our church coming up,

and again, it's the conversation, let's

491

:

please have jugs of water and glasses

out instead of selling bottled water.

492

:

You know, you're still having, I'm

still having to have that conversation.

493

:

Not bad.

494

:

The rest of you, any other

examples in your local life?

495

:

I just attended, um, an

event, a three days event.

496

:

Okay.

497

:

It's, it's totally biased.

498

:

It's, um, it's called changed now.

499

:

Um, the event, uh, of

solutions for the planet.

500

:

Um, there were paper cup for coffee

and then all drinks are very healthy.

501

:

There's a fountain.

502

:

, um, on the website, they say, okay,

bring, please bring your own bottle

503

:

because we don't sell any water.

504

:

And so bring, you can refill.

505

:

It's a free day events.

506

:

But if you don't have your.

507

:

Bottle.

508

:

You don't have any cup.

509

:

They have, um, they have plastic

cups, big, very thick plastic cups.

510

:

So you use them.

511

:

And then once it's used, it says,

okay, keep yours for the duration

512

:

of the, uh, of the day or something.

513

:

And then once it's used, it goes in a

bin and they, and they just wash it.

514

:

That was brilliant.

515

:

But it's solely biased because

it's, it's, uh, it's biased because

516

:

it's a theme of the, of the summit.

517

:

Yeah.

518

:

I just.

519

:

Feel very, very not feel bad, but

it feel, I just, I feel very awkward

520

:

because as I said, I just finished a

race last weekend and I counted the

521

:

number plastic bottles I used, which

I never, usually I never use plastic

522

:

bottles because it's just, I hate that.

523

:

I think I had eight or nine bottles

multiplied by the number of.

524

:

runners, which was probably 60, 000.

525

:

So, and I, I think I, I, I'm

not the one who had the, the

526

:

biggest number of bottles.

527

:

So it was like, just, I'm not

good at math, but just multiply,

528

:

like, let's say eight to 60, 000.

529

:

It just, Incredible.

530

:

And I feel bad.

531

:

Yeah, I mean, that's

almost half a million.

532

:

You're talking about like sort of a

disposable water, you know, just a

533

:

plastic where you buy a bottle of water.

534

:

Plastic bottles, the thing that

you I don't buy anymore, you

535

:

know, yeah, disposable ones.

536

:

I just watched a really

interesting interview by a

537

:

YouTube character that I watch.

538

:

It's all about ultralight hiking.

539

:

And he interviewed the founder

of a company called, um, Stoyer.

540

:

and they're water filtration devices.

541

:

I don't know if anyone

has seen these before.

542

:

They're little like blue, they're like

three inches long with a stem on each end.

543

:

And they are, it's a water filter that is

very, it's the sort of one become almost

544

:

the de facto, if you're out hiking for

many days in a row, it's, it's one of

545

:

the main things you use to take you know,

water you find and filter it so that

546

:

you can consume it and you're safe from

bacteria and viruses and these things.

547

:

And the founder of the company

shared something very interesting.

548

:

He said that they respond to global

emergencies, everything from earthquakes

549

:

in North Africa to, to hurricanes

in the Caribbean to all over.

550

:

And they send, they just put a

person on a plane with a duffel

551

:

bag of their water filters.

552

:

and send them there and just one little

carry on suitcase bag, uh, can serve.

553

:

He said we are consistently first on site

delivering clean water to the impacted

554

:

people, the emergency impacted people.

555

:

And at many of these emergencies, we

deliver more volume of clean water Then

556

:

any of the large charities, the Red

Cross, like any of these other large

557

:

global charities, fly in water in, in

plastic bottles by the like truckload or

558

:

truck or train and huge amounts of water.

559

:

And he said, our one little duffel bag

can service a million people, clean

560

:

water, or the million might be slightly

wrong, I don't remember the number,

561

:

but it was this very large number.

562

:

And And I was thinking, he wasn't

bragging about it from a, he wasn't

563

:

focused on the sustainability part of it.

564

:

He was focused on the speed

and the impact to the, to the

565

:

people impacted by the emergency.

566

:

But my brain got going on the

sustainability aspect of it.

567

:

And the reduced amount of, like,

I don't know, flying a plane full

568

:

of water, or driving a truck full

of water in plastic bottles has a

569

:

very, there's a lot of impact there.

570

:

Versus The tool that takes existing

local water and makes it clean.

571

:

Anyway, I just found a very

interesting shout out to Sawyer.

572

:

That's that's very interesting.

573

:

It goes back again to the, um,

something that is dear to Jen.

574

:

I know it's, um, it's the

question of a liquid soap.

575

:

What do you use for the detergent thing?

576

:

Because it's, yeah, when you think about

it, it's just silly, you know, it's

577

:

the same problem because you paying for

the transportation of something that is

578

:

liquid, whereas the active thing, it's.

579

:

It's dry.

580

:

It's dry.

581

:

It's dry.

582

:

So the whole thing is silly.

583

:

It's, yeah.

584

:

Yeah.

585

:

I mean, I will say, I'm, uh, I actually

just got my next box of, um, uh, uh, dry

586

:

deter washing machine detergent sheets.

587

:

Which I, I ordered during one of

our podcast recordings when Jen,

588

:

you were telling us about this.

589

:

I like was like, I'd never heard of that.

590

:

Let me go do it and found it in order.

591

:

And I just got my newest box because

we've continued to be, that's our only,

592

:

that's the product we buy in our house.

593

:

Yeah, and they've, they've now made it so

that you can, you can, there, there are

594

:

hand soap companies that it's a tablet

and you put it into a thing of water and

595

:

it's hand soap and there's dishwashing

liquid and dishwasher blocks and yeah,

596

:

there's a lot of things now that are

going in that direction of making the

597

:

shipping so much more efficient and

the packaging, you know, cardboard and.

598

:

and not needing all the liquid and the

carbon that it takes to transport it.

599

:

So that's a good thing.

600

:

Yeah, we've got TED talk

by, there's a South African.

601

:

Um, he was, I think he won some kind of

global award, um, and it all became, came

602

:

from the idea that he just didn't want

to have a bath and, um, because he didn't

603

:

want to have a bath, he wanted to better

clean himself without having a bath.

604

:

And so he developed a product that, um,

once he started thinking about it, he

605

:

could produce it, um, the low price point,

but, um, if he sold it to rich people who

606

:

were lazy and didn't want to buy, Then,

um, he could sell it at a much higher

607

:

price point and make enough profit from

that to actually be able to sell it at a

608

:

really, really low price point in Africa,

where people were going blind because

609

:

they couldn't wash themselves because

of the lack of water or sanitation.

610

:

And so this whole project.

611

:

sort of snowballed from that.

612

:

And so there were people in Africa

who, um, uh, NGOs that were able to

613

:

buy this product at a very low price,

uh, and actually create a situation

614

:

that was much better for people

in areas where there was no water.

615

:

kind of a win win thing.

616

:

I think there are lots of solutions.

617

:

This, this is, there's so, so, so

many solutions, but the problem

618

:

is making the solutions available.

619

:

And, um, to many people, to most people,

and also changing habits because the

620

:

detergent thing, I don't wash the clothes

in my house, in my household, and I

621

:

have not been able to convince people.

622

:

my husband to switch to the detergent,

uh, the, you know, the detergent shit.

623

:

I think there's two problems

is one is to make it available.

624

:

And then the second problem

is, uh, changing habits.

625

:

I really believe the solutions are here.

626

:

You've been listening to carbon

sessions, a podcast with carbon

627

:

conversations for every day with

everyone from everywhere in the world.

628

:

We'd love you to join the Carbon

Sessions so you too can share your

629

:

perspectives from wherever you are.

630

:

This is a great way for our community

to learn from your ideas and

631

:

experiences, connect and take action.

632

:

If you want to add your voice to the

conversation, go to thecarbonalmanac.

633

:

org slash podcast.

634

:

And sign up to be part

of a future episode.

635

:

This podcast is also part of

the Carbon Almanac Network.

636

:

For more information, to sign up for

the emails, to join the movement,

637

:

and to order your copy of the Carbon

Almanac, go to thecarbonalmanac.

638

:

org.

639

:

Be sure to subscribe and join

us here again, as together

640

:

we can change the world.

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Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.