This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re continuing our Earth Month of personal climate action! If your house is anything like mine, it’s a leaky sieve of escaping heat or cool air, your HVAC filters are disgusting, and there are sneaky fluorescent bulbs hanging around the house. It’s costing you money, and it’s wasting energy, meaning it’s contributing to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in a way that’s probably fairly easy to avoid. This week, I’m talking to Evite founder Selina Tobacc...
Apr 10, 2025•25 min•Ep. 84
This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re kicking off Earth Month with a month of action! Our choices matter, and one of the choices I’ve been avoiding is how to replace coffee — which contributes to deforestation, is energy intensive to produce, and isn’t good news for the coffee farmers, either. This week, we’re talking with Andy Kleitsch, founder of Atomo Coffee, about their sustainable coffee blends, the road to adoption and the compromises it sometimes entails, and some surprising trivia re...
Apr 03, 2025•38 min•Ep. 83
This week on Everybody in the Pool, bummer news: your bank deposits could be funding the climate crisis? But we’d never give you bummer news without a solution! This week, Molly Wood speaks with Paul Moinester, founder of Topofinance, who reveals the shocking climate impact of conventional banking. Discover how just $10,000 in a major bank generates emissions equivalent to driving 10,000 miles yearly, and why moving your money to climate-friendly banks might be the easiest climate action you've ...
Mar 27, 2025•34 min•Ep. 82
This week on Everybody in the Pool, Molly Wood talks with Brad Hartwig, co-founder and CEO of Arbor Energy. Brad shares his remarkable journey from SpaceX rocket engineer to climate tech entrepreneur, developing technology that transforms waste biomass into carbon-negative energy using rocket propulsion principles. Yep, you read that right. A guy who used to want to be an astronaut woke up one day and realized this planet was the place to put his energy. Find out how Arbor’s tech could replace f...
Mar 20, 2025•40 min•Ep. 81
In this episode of Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood speaks with Mat Dos Santos, co-executive director of Our Children's Trust, about how his organization is using the legal system to fight climate change on behalf of youth plaintiffs — the kids who have the most to lose if we get this wrong. Learn how landmark victories in Montana and Hawaii are creating precedents that could reshape climate policy across America. Key Takeaways: Constitutional Climate Rights : Our Children's Trust secured ...
Mar 13, 2025•32 min•Ep. 80
This week on Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood talks with Eliot Brooks, founder and CEO of Cocoon Carbon, about an unexpected climate tech challenge: how decarbonizing steel production is disrupting concrete's path to net zero. Brooks explains how his startup transforms problematic steel slag from modern electric arc furnaces into valuable materials that reduce concrete's carbon footprint while cutting costs. Key Takeaways: Learn how steel's shift to cleaner production methods has unintenti...
Mar 06, 2025•34 min•Ep. 79
This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re exploring what might be the most overlooked tool in our climate toolkit: nature itself. Yes, we like to geek out about purely technological solutions like fusion or direct-air carbon capture or electric vehicles or consumer compost devices, but there's a whole world of climate solutions that nature has already perfected over millions of years. But how does the financial world think about these solutions? Siddarth Shrikanth is an investor at Just Climate,...
Feb 27, 2025•32 min•Ep. 78
This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going to keep talking about tech and climate innovation with a longtime technologist turned climate tech investor. Mike Schroepfer runs the investment fund Gigascale Capital, which has invested in some of the biggest names in climate tech: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Mill, Form Energy, and a couple other names that will be appearing soon on this very show. Schrep, as he’s known, is also the former CTO of Facebook, so he’s someone with a long view of how...
Feb 20, 2025•32 min•Ep. 77
This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the last official episode of our miniseries, Feeding the Matrix, all about AI, energy use, and data center design. To cap off this series, Molly spoke with JoAnn Garbin, a longtime technologist, sustainability advocate, and innovator, about her work reimagining data center design at Microsoft. It turns out, the company realized years ago that communities might start rejecting new data center construction if they were too resource-intensive, polluting, or ...
Feb 13, 2025•36 min•Ep. 76
This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re continuing our series on AI and energy use, exploring how to expand data centers and computing without sacrificing sustainability goals or, you know, a livable planet. This week, we’re turning toward some innovations that could make that seemingly impossible goal a reality. Realta Fusion is a fusion energy company that spun out of the University of Wisconsin. It’s one of many startups working toward generating fusion energy—the clean, abundant energy tha...
Feb 06, 2025•31 min•Ep. 75
This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the second episode in our special series on AI and energy use. When it comes to making data centers more energy efficient, few have a larger burden than Amazon’s AWS — the world’s largest cloud provider by market share. Molly talks with Chris Walker, head of sustainability for AWS, about how the company’s customers are pushing it to be as energy efficient as possible, for reasons of economics and the environment. He touches on an Accenture study that says...
Jan 30, 2025•29 min•Ep. 74
This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the first episode in our special series on AI and energy use. We’re starting at the foundational layer of AI computing: the chips. Nvidia is the undisputed leader when it comes to providing the processors (and networking equipment and cards and servers and racks) and the software platform that lets companies use those chips to train AI models. But what’s the company’s responsibility when it comes to enabling more sustainable AI? We spoke with Nvidia’s hea...
Jan 23, 2025•38 min•Ep. 73
Welcome back to the third season of Everybody in the Pool! Well, almost. We’re busy preparing an exciting way to kick off the new year: with a four-part series on everybody’s favorite topic, AI and energy use. We’ve already been worried about data centers and their global electricity consumption, but training new AI models (and answering our inane questions and writing emails for us) are pushing that demand potentially exponentially higher. In this series, we’ll talk to executives from chip gian...
Jan 16, 2025•5 min
This week, we are leaning into a powerful tool in the fight against climate change: storytelling. Molly talks with Greg Jacobs, co-director of The Here Now Project, about the innovative documentary, which presents climate change through the eyes of ordinary people worldwide. The film aims to evoke a sense of urgency and community around climate action, By demonstrating a series of climate shocks over the course of a single year, from a historic deep freeze in Texas to plagues of locusts and sea ...
Dec 19, 2024•35 min•Ep. 72
In this conversation, GL Genco, founder of Generation Conscious, talks about how his company has created vending machines for dehydrated laundry detergent sheets. The goal is to promote sustainability and reduce waste, yes, but also to change the way we think about how we shop for hygiene products overall. He shares his personal journey, the environmental impact of traditional packaging, and the importance of making eco-friendly products accessible to all, particularly in university settings. Th...
Dec 12, 2024•34 min•Ep. 71
In this episode of Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood explores an overlooked climate solution hiding in plain sight: leaky air ducts and building envelopes. She speaks with Amit Gupta, CEO of Aeroseal, about an innovative technology that uses "pixie dust" physics to seal energy-wasting leaks in buildings. Learn how up to 40% of your heating and cooling could be escaping through poorly sealed ducts, and discover a solution that's good for both the planet and your wallet. "Leaking air ducts is...
Dec 06, 2024•35 min•Ep. 70
This week on Everybody in the Pool, we are re-visiting a favorite episode from season 1, and maybe it’ll inspire you and your friends and family toward a fun holiday activity! Obviously, global warming and the climate crisis are intimidating topics. But this week’s guest has built an entire career out of play. Jenny Gottstein is a game-maker, previously of Go Games and IDEO, and a few years ago, she created a game called Beat! That! Heat!, a climate action game show. Molly and Jenny talk about h...
Nov 21, 2024•30 min•Ep. 69
In this conversation, Chris Dickerson, co-founder of Players for the Planet, discusses his journey from being a professional athlete to becoming an advocate for environmental awareness in sports. He shares insights on the impact of sports on the environment, the importance of community engagement, and the need for systemic change in how sports organizations handle waste and sustainability. The conversation highlights the evolution of Players for the Planet, the challenges faced in promoting clim...
Nov 07, 2024•34 min•Ep. 68
Usually on the show we talk about carbon-emitting sectors, but today we’re talking about one of the planet’s most precious resources: water. Specifically, industrial water, which is used in staggering amounts, horribly contaminated, and sometimes just put right back into the environment. Anurag Bajpayee, CEO of Gradiant, discusses the company's technology-driven end-to-end water solutions and their goal to conserve water for future generations and give nature its water back. Gradiant's approach ...
Oct 31, 2024•34 min•Ep. 67
Installing climate-friendly home upgrades is expensive—lots of new tax rebates and incentives can help make it cheaper, but only if you can actually get them. Sealed is a company that focuses on residential energy efficiency and electrification and recently pivoted to helping contractors find new customers and take advantage of those all-important subsidies. LINKS: Sealed: https://www.sealed.com/ All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/ Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter:...
Oct 24, 2024•32 min•Ep. 66
GoodLeap is a technology-first company that aims to be a premier marketplace for all things sustainability in the home. They provide tools and resources for both homeowners and contractors to make sustainable home improvements easier and more accessible. GoodLeap offers a platform for homeowners to explore different sustainability options, connect with vetted contractors, and access financing options. They also provide education and support for contractors, helping them navigate the complex land...
Oct 17, 2024•33 min•Ep. 65
Etosha Cave, co-founder of 12, a carbon transformation company, discusses the origin story of the company and its focus on creating jet fuel from CO2 and water. The company's technology mimics the process of trees, taking in CO2 and water and using electricity to break them down into smaller atomic bits and reforming them into new molecules. The main motivation behind the company's work is the desire to create clean and abundant energy, driven by Cave's personal experience growing up near an aba...
Oct 10, 2024•31 min•Ep. 64
This week on the show, Molly talks with Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, at an event that was held during New York Climate Week. Fusion energy is one of the most promising and biggest swings we can take toward solving the climate crisis and potentially reversing some of the damage we’ve already done. Fusion energy is the same type of energy that powers the sun; if we can generate that kind of energy economically on Earth, we could have a nearly limitless source of energy that em...
Oct 03, 2024•33 min•Ep. 63
Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura, discusses carbon capture and removal, highlighting the importance of these processes in achieving climate goals. He explains that carbon capture aims to turn off the 'taps' of CO2 emissions, while carbon removal directly removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Captura focuses on utilizing the ocean's natural ability to capture CO2 through a process called electrodialysis. Oldham emphasizes that their process is designed to be environmentally friendly and does not harm the ...
Sep 26, 2024•34 min•Ep. 62
Nicole LeBlanc, a partner with Woven Capital, discusses the $800 million growth venture capital fund for Toyota and its investments in sectors that support the growth and future of Toyota. The fund focuses on three core pillars: electrification, intelligence (software), and diversification. LeBlanc highlights two investments: Corvus Energy, a company that provides batteries and hydrogen for zero-emission marine vehicles, and Intuition Robotics, an AI companion for the elderly that helps reduce l...
Sep 12, 2024•35 min•Ep. 61
This week, we’re talking about renewable fuels — specifically cleaner propane. Propane, as it turns out, is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions that not a lot of people are tackling. Dr. Rebecca Boudreaux, President and CEO of Oberon Fuels, talks about the company's work in decarbonizing the global propane sector. Oberon Fuels produces molecules out of bio-waste that can be blended into cleaner propane, and used in various applications, including transportation, industrial, and residentia...
Sep 05, 2024•28 min•Ep. 60
We need battery materials, but we also need to reduce mining and critical minerals extraction and centralizing production outside our borders. So, this week, we’re talking about making batteries from old batteries. Mike O'Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements, discusses the mission of his company to make batteries more sustainable by producing high-performance cathode materials from recycled batteries. The focus is on NMC batteries, which are primarily used in electric vehicles (EVs) and grid storage....
Aug 29, 2024•25 min•Ep. 59
We talk to a lot of startups, but this week’s guest is a platform for inspiring and supporting a whole bunch of startups! Alysia Garmulewicz, co-founder and co-CEO of Materiom, discusses the importance of developing regenerative biomaterials as alternatives to petroleum plastics. Materiom offers an open database of biomaterial recipes, providing entrepreneurs and innovators with the information they need to create new materials. They also integrate generative AI into their platform to help start...
Aug 22, 2024•28 min•Ep. 58
Every thriving ecosystem needs connectors, support systems—pollinators, in fact. This week, Molly is joined by Jon Bonanno, the managing partner of Factor, to talk about building great climate companies with a combination of human skills, networking and introductions, and smarter ways to raise money. Jon pivoted into climate tech after the attacks of 9/11 left him deeply shaken. He emphasizes the violence and centralization of the fossil economy and the need for a transition to a clean economy t...
Jul 25, 2024•26 min•Ep. 57
Agriculture contributes to climate change, sure, but climate change also makes agriculture a whole lot harder. This week, Poornima Parameswaran, co-founder and CEO of Trace Genomics, discusses the company's mission to unlock the hidden potential of soil and empower farmers to make data-driven decisions. By analyzing DNA mapping, data science, and machine learning, Trace Genomics provides farmers with comprehensive insights into their soil's biological and chemical properties. The data is used to...
Jul 18, 2024•32 min•Ep. 56
