Are you thinking about shopping with home delivery during the lockdown? You need to know Loop, the home grocery delivery service that picks up and recycles what you buy when you are done. Earth911 talks with Benjamin Weir, North American business development manager at Loop. Launched by Terracycle, the innovative recycling company, Loopstore.com offers 173 food and personal care products to customers in the U.S. Northeast and in France. Like the traditional milkman, Loop drops off and picks up p...
Apr 20, 2020•20 min
The Earth911 team gathers, again, from the far corners of this isolated country to talk about the opportunities to improve our lives and reduce our impact on the planet in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown. Join Mitch Ratcliffe and Sarah Lozanova for a conversation about keeping sane and adding sustainability education for your kids while stuck at home. We also talk more about the phenomenal evidence from the pandemic that many individual actions, such as reducing driving and closing ports, hav...
Apr 13, 2020•40 min
Begin building resilient communities based on a thorough awareness of nature, Aris Popadopoulos, founder of the Resilience Action Fund, a non-profit that provides information, educational information, and research to communities. As rising sea levels threaten coastal communities and extreme weather increases inland, Popadopoulos advises homeowners and renters to become more aware of the at-risk locations near them to avoid direct damage due to climate change. Popadopoulos, who is active in Miami...
Apr 06, 2020•27 min
Companies face growing demands from consumers, government, and NGOs to reduce their carbon footprint, decrease their overall environmental impact, and to provide just work conditions. Ramprate.com, an innovative sourcing advisory firm that pioneered data services based on renewable energy, has launched a scoring system to track the impacts at every step in a company's supply chain, Syzygy Sourcing Impact. As Ramprate explains it, the world is in the midst of a statistical revolution that will he...
Mar 30, 2020•30 min
The Earth911 gang assembles in a time of crisis. Maybe we aren't The Avengers, but we have proof from the pandemic that many individual changes in behavior can add up to massive changes in environmental impact. The coronavirus has halted life in many parts of the world, driving down pollution levels and raising sustainability red flags as oil prices drop, plastic has come back in vogue, and the plans for Earth Day 50 on April 22nd go virtual. Dive into this week's conversation about green COVID-...
Mar 23, 2020•43 min
New York City's Earth Day celebrations are among the largest in the world. Earth911 talks with John Oppermann, executive director of Earth Day Initiative, which produces the annual events. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day physical events have been canceled, but Oppermann's team has set up a virtual event, including speeches, interactive presentations, and booths that you can stroll from home. Learn about climate change and the steps you can take to reduce your impact, then find organizations to...
Mar 22, 2020•20 min
The Earth is our shared home, and that insight can help save the world, Dr. Anita Sanchez explains in this thoughtful conversation with Earth911. The author of The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times shares her lifelong investigation of our interconnectedness, traversing Mohican, Hopi, and Buddhist thought to suggest four key actions for making climate change personal. She links four essential indigenous ideas, our power to forgive the unforgivable, to heal, our essential unity...
Mar 18, 2020•21 min
The annual challenge of keeping walkways and drives clear of snow has a terrible environmental impact. In colder regions, a single household will use between 200 lb.s and 800 lbs. of salt each year, which leads to chloride contamination in lakes, streams, and groundwater. PlaySafe Ice Blocker is a new chloride-free anti-icing liquid that is safe for the environment, pets, and your children. Earth911 talks with Mitch Vestal, founder of PlaySafe about how to de-ice safely the rest of this Winter a...
Mar 16, 2020•16 min
The Earth911 team is talking about the household decisions and projects to think about if you have some extra coronavirus-isolation time on your hands. We look at four kinds of laundry detergent, including powdered, liquid, pod, and sheet detergents that are easier on your clothes and the environment. Thinking about a Mother's Day or Father's Day gift you can make yourself this year? Take a look at our guide to making an eco-friendly shaving kit or eight ways to reuse aluminum cans in DIY projec...
Mar 09, 2020•35 min
Plastic recycling in the U.S. has declined so much since the China ban on contaminated recyclable materials that it is no longer legally "recyclable" according to Federal Trade Commission rules. How2Recycle.org, the organization that labels products has downgraded plastic from "recyclable" to "check locally" for available programs. You can use Earth911's recycling search to find local plastic recyclers. We've arrived at the plastic recycling crisis Americans have been worrying about, and the Ear...
Feb 24, 2020•49 min
The Earth911 team is back at the microphone to talk about plastic, sustainability, and the actions we can all take around the house to reduce, reuse, and recycle. This week, learn how to recycle disposable contact lenses and how to create a zero-waste kitchen. We also talk through the many problems with bottled water in plastic packaging, from the reliance on virgin petroleum resources to micro-plastics in bottled and tap water. Finally, you have probably purchased a dozen things this year that ...
Feb 10, 2020•34 min
Dvele's Brandon Weiss has a vision for durable Net-zero housing. As Chief Innovation Officer at Dvele, a San Diego-based manufacturer of sustainably made passive homes, Weiss is creating an array of home styles that buyers can customize and see built within six months. The company is working in Ventura and Sonoma Counties in California to help provide new homes for wildfire victims. Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Weiss about the future of housing, Dvele's hardy construction standards, and...
Jan 20, 2020•19 min
Happy New Year, Earthlings! Join the Earth911 team as they talk about the green choices and important trends of 2020. Evelyn Fielding-Lopez, Sarah Lozanova, and Mitch Ratcliffe are on the air to discuss minimalist living and how it fits with frugal choices, the important trends in solar power and environmentally friendly living that we expect to see take hold in 202o, as well as the growing range of choices of electric vehicles and charging options for green travel. Our Earthling Questions answe...
Jan 13, 2020•54 min
Serenbe is an ecologically responsible 1,000-acre community in the Chattahoochee Hill Country just outside Atlanta. With more than 700 residents living around four village centers, Serenbe maintains more than 70 percent of its land as green space, offering a lovely combination of environmental living with culture, food, and shopping designed for local consumption. Former restauranteur Steve Nygren, the founder of Serenbe, joins Earth911 to discuss his vision and progress toward a new model for c...
Dec 30, 2019•27 min
The Earth911 team has a lot to celebrate this year. We're live on Google Assistant, where you can now ask how and where to recycle materials with a simple "Hey, Google!" Evelyn Fielding-Lopez and Mitch Ratcliffe sit down to talk about the last year and where sustainability is going. Learn how to be environmentally friendly at college -- the lessons there will affect a lifetime and can be applied by anyone. We have a lot of confidence that youth will live in greater harmony with the planet. Check...
Dec 23, 2019•47 min
Jason Pelz, vice president of the Carton Council, joins Earth911 to talk about progress in beverage carton recycling, which is up more than 280 percent over the last decade. Founded in 2009, when carton recycling rates were stuck at six percent, the Carton Council is an alliance of beverage packaging manufacturing companies. Pelz, who is also the director of circular economy projects at TetraPak, shares the group's goals for 2025 and beyond. He also takes a pop-quiz on how cartons can be recycle...
Dec 16, 2019•16 min
Tony Juniper spent a lifetime traveling the world’s rainforests and raising awareness about environmental threats. Now, he chairman of the United Kingdom’s Natural England, the national conservation agency — by contrast the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is headed by a former coal industry lobbyist. He joins Earth911 to talk about his new book, Rainforest: Dispatches From the Earth’s Most Vital Frontlines. It is an exploration of the role rainforests play in the global environment and Juni...
Dec 09, 2019•32 min
Humans began their journey on this planet by learning to survive, then to steward the Earth, but they have forgotten that they live in a great system. Author Tom Brown Jr., renowned tracker, and teacher talks with Earth911 about his latest book, Tom Brown's Guide to Healing the Earth. Brown, who was taught by an Apache elder he met as a boy to live in harmony with nature, shares how small steps taken each day can create vast change in the world. He and co-author Randy Walker Jr. recently shared ...
Dec 02, 2019•23 min
Wishcycling, tossing something that can't be recycled into the blue bin, is the bane of recycling programs because it can contaminate other materials in the system. Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Lauren Olson, Zero Waste Manager at compostable tableware maker World Centric in Rohnert Park, California, about building simple habits that prevent wishcycling. Simply keeping up with your local recycling program's rules is the best step you can take, but with rules changing so often consumers n...
Nov 28, 2019•14 min
The Earth911 gang gathers at the microphone to talk about how to lower CO2 emissions and save money in your commute and heating bills. We start with the savings from switching to an electric vehicle. Earth911 recently published an EV article and worksheet that helps you understand the potential CO2 reductions and cash savings an EV delivers by state. Because different states generate more or less electricity from fossil fuels, your results will vary. If you have already installed solar on your h...
Nov 24, 2019•50 min
Planet-friendly shopping is a new skill for many consumers. Making the right environmental choice takes information and coaching. Giki, a British mobile app for iPhone and Android, is helping U.K. shoppers make responsible decisions. Earth911 talks with Jo Hand, co-founder of Giki, about the path to a sustainable life. Giki users simply scan a barcode on the product to get a quick environmental and social responsibility report about the product and the company that made it. While the app is avai...
Nov 22, 2019•18 min
In an important new book about the climate challenges faced by U.S. cities, Alice Hill, Senior Fellow for Climate Change Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, the Global Director, Sustainable Finance Center of the World Resources Institute, lay out the issues that will define our lives and public policy for the next century. We talk with Alice Hill about Building A Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption. Hill explains how Norfolk, V...
Nov 18, 2019•27 min
eevie is a new mobile app for the iPhone and Android that helps people identify their carbon impact when shopping and making daily decisions about travel and diet. Earth911 talks with the founders of eevie, Tono Willms, Lenni Paar, and Raphi Ferretti. eevie suggests personal carbon reduction goals and tracks your location to coach you toward those goals based on an "Impact Score" it calculates as you make choices in your life. It's a smart assistant and mentor for carbon-conscious consumers. The...
Nov 15, 2019•22 min
Rockay makes socks from ocean plastic with anti-odor characteristics that reduce the need to wash by five to 10 times. It's a remarkable combination of recycling and water-use reduction that can make a big impact on an athlete's environmental impact. Earth911 talks with Daniel Chabert, founder and CEO of Rockay. The company produces organic wool and other socks, but Chabert's addition of recycled ocean plastics has transformed his perspective on sustainability. Rockay's ocean plastics come mostl...
Nov 11, 2019•13 min
What's the path to a career in recycling? Sean Daoud, Treasurer of PNW Metal Recycling Inc. in Portland, Oregon, talks with Earth911 about how he got involved recycling, what his job involves, and the work environment. If you want to help to save the world for a living, this episode is for you. Daoud was born into a recycling family, starting out in the scrap yard running equipment after high school. After completing internships and sales and his degree in human resources, he returned to the fam...
Nov 08, 2019•18 min
The Earth911 team sits down to talk about how dumps differ from landfills, how incinerators work, and the limits of landfill expansion. Join Evelyn Fileding-Lopez, Sarah Lozanova, and Mitch Ratcliffe for this week's But first, we explore natural ways to remove stains, including grease, blood, and wine in recent infographic from Tommy John that we published. Do you know how to dispose of plastic bags responsibly? In one of our most popular postings of the last month, Patti Roth explained how disp...
Nov 04, 2019•48 min
Baru seeds are a sustainable superfood from the Brazilian Cerrado, the highland savannah that feeds South America's major rivers. Harvested by indigenous peoples who previously cut down the Baru (Dupteryx alata), the seeds contain more antioxidants than any domesticated nut -- seven times the amount in peanuts -- and have created good jobs that prevent illegal logging. In this Earth911 Innovator Interview, Ally Mamalider, director of business strategy at Organic Traditions, shares the story of h...
Nov 01, 2019•14 min
How will climate change impact many people first? Through stress, our response to increasingly uncertain weather conditions and the increasing pace of climate disasters, Dr. Reggie Ferreira, Associate Director of the Traumatology Institute at Tulane University's School of Social Work. Having worked as part of New Orleans' recovery after Hurricane Katrina and in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, Dr. Ferreira has advice for cities and citizens who are facing climate change: Prepare by plannin...
Oct 28, 2019•18 min
Project Repat, founded by Ross Lohr and Nathan Rothstein, has prevented more than 11 million t-shirts from landfills while bringing some sewing work back to the United States. Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Rothstein about the inspiration behind Project Repat and the massive changes in U.S. t-shirt manufacturing over the past 30 years. After migrating to Mexico, t-shirt printing jobs have gone overseas and few American companies still make them. Project Repat has a better idea: turn old s...
Oct 25, 2019•13 min
A spooky Halloween doesn't have to be a horror show for the planet. Join the Earth911 team as we talk through how to reduce the waste and garbage produced by the scariest holiday of the year. First off, a green Halloween can be a budget Halloween with these ideas about making, renting, and recycling costumes for kids and adults. Cosplay enthusiasts out there can bring the environmental ideal to your fun, too. Making your own Halloween decorations is another way to take the old and make it new th...
Oct 21, 2019•43 min
