Green Buildings with Robert Politzer

Robert Politzer, Founder and CEO of GreenStreet Global, joins us to discuss navigating the complexities of green building and energy efficiency. He shares his expertise on reducing operating expenses and increasing net operating income for commercial real estate, with a focus on decarbonization regulations like NYC Local Law 97. Robert, NYC's first green building contractor, brings decades of experience in clean energy and smart building projects to the conversation.

In this episode, we dive into the innovative world of sustainable toys with Kate Reiman, founder and CEO of RogueWave Toys. Kate shares her journey of transforming beach toys from environmental hazards to eco-friendly alternatives through plant-based materials and compostable design. Learn how RogueWave Toys is tackling plastic pollution, the challenges of sustainable manufacturing, and the future of eco-conscious play. Kate offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs in the sustainability space and discusses emerging trends in sustainable materials. A must-listen for anyone interested in environmental innovation and the future of sustainable consumer products.

In this episode, we speak with Sarah Currie-Halpern from Think Zero LLC. Sarah and her team help businesses transform waste into valuable resources, exceeding environmental regulations and driving the circular economy. We'll discuss the challenges of waste management, the importance of strategic planning and implementation, and how Sarah's expertise as a TRUE Zero Waste Advisor guides their work towards a more sustainable future.

Eugene Kirpichov left his job at Google to focus on climate solutions and co-founded Work on Climate, a community for people who want to transition into climate jobs. The community offers resources, events, and job listings to help people find work in climate tech, clean energy, and other sustainability-focused fields. Work on Climate aims to make climate jobs more mainstream and connect employers with skilled professionals who are passionate about solving climate change.

Clean Energy for America (CE4A) is a leading network of business leaders, workers, and advocates driven by a common goal: decarbonize our economy and protect our planet. We’re committed to clean energy action by engaging and catalyzing our base, advocating on behalf of the industry, holding elected officials accountable, and amplifying worker stories.

Kristy Drutman, otherwise known as “Browngirl Green” is a speaker, consultant, media producer, and environmental educator passionate about working at the intersections between media, diversity, and environmentalism. As a young entrepreneur, Kristy has educated hundreds of thousands of people across the globe about modern-day environmental issues through speeches and media content as well as facilitates workshops centered around environmental media and storytelling in cities across the United States. Kristy is also the Co-Founder of the Green Jobs Board, a climate tech start-up bridging the equity and inclusion gap within the green economy through conversations, resources, and pathways to bring more diverse talent into the environmental field.

Walden (1854) defined American environmentalism. A Sand County Almanac (1949) reinvented the field of conservation. Silent Spring (1962) alerted the world to persistent environmental toxins. The Ecology of Commerce (1994) offered a new vision for sustainable economies. Into this lineage, and at the eleventh hour of global environmental struggle, comes TERRIBLE BEAUTY: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul, an expose on the failure of modern environmental movement and a roadmap for a new environmentalism in a world headed towards catastrophe. But TERRIBLE BEAUTY is less a climate polemic or environmental history and more a love letter to the world, an homage to beauty and fun, and a tribute to human aspiration and potential. Harvard Professor Naomi Oreskes called it “weirdly fun and compelling.” Perhaps the world’s leading environmentalist, Bill McKibben, said that “nobody has more credibility” on the topic of sustainable business than author Auden Schendler. Obama’s climate czar and former EPA head said that reading TERRIBLE BEAUTY was like “picking the lock on someone’s personal diary.” This isn’t your standard climate book. It starts with friends in the Utah desert chasing a dust devil, trying to get inside it. The first chapter is partly about the art of wood chopping—though it also covers topics as varied as garden gnomes, Kurt Vonnegut, and the Arab Spring. There are many Springsteen quotes, references to Jack Kerouac, and at least once mention of the band “Florence and the Machine.” Buckle up—this is a wholly different animal than any environmental book you’ve ever read. TERRIBLE BEAUTY posits that the modern environmental movement—which in recent decades has been based in free market ideologies—has failed abjectly. Carbon emissions—and their associated superstorms, fires, and droughts—increase ever year. Yet the environmental community continues to pursue token solutions and half measures— performative actions like setting carbon targets or buying offsets—that don’t come close to a fix. They—and the “green” corporations that pledge climate salvation—are following a playbook that could have been written by the fossil fuel industry. The hard truth is that environmentalists themselves have become complicit with a carbon economy, and unless something changes, our future includes more than 4C warming over preindustrial times. Schendler tells the story of environmentalism’s failure and America’s way out more in stories than in facts, though the book is replete with those. But, as it makes clear, the way to understand what we have to lose, and the opportunity ahead, is to understand what makes us human: teenagers playing baseball above the Lincoln tunnel in the polluted 70s; a “turtle boil” on Hatteras Island with family; or floating down the Green River with a friend twenty years your senior. We’ve badly failed in the climate fight using technical means; our politics have lacked ambition and been co-opted by the enemy. What we need to solve climate change is a movement of people, like revolutions through the ages. The only way to get to massive social change is through the heart. TERRIBLE BEAUTY asks and answers the famous questions posed by French painter Gauguin: “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” in deeply human, inspiring, and often hilarious ways. Readers will never look at their lives the same again.

Join Carly Peters, the visionary founder of Patchwork with Purpose. Discover how this inspiring organization is empowering young people to take action on climate change. Learn about their innovative approach to environmental sustainability that not only benefits the planet but also strengthens local communities. Tune in to hear about the passion and dedication driving this youth-led movement.

Aniya Butler is a 18 year old spoken word poet, published author, and youth organizer with Youth Vs. Apocalypse (YVA) from Oakland, California. Within YVA, she leads the Hip Hop & Climate Justice Team, writing workshops, and organizes community events that mobilizes youth throughout the Bay Area to learn creative writing skills and use their creative writing skills to target power holders and demand action. Through her poetry and organizing, she demands immediate and radical action to dismantle the foundational systems of oppression that are responsible for the climate crisis. Aniya believes through unity, resistance, and creativity we can rebuild a world where every living thing is allowed to thrive.

Aishani Garg is a senior in high school and the co-chair of environmental youth organization BAYCS. She is passionate about youth organizing and bringing people together to fight for a common cause. Aishani is also the host of an environmental career podcast and launched a green career curriculum at her school, and hopes to encourage more high school students to pursue green careers after college. Listen to her podcast here: https://www.theclimatecareerkit.com