Our Eternal Optimist

Jon spends time spitballing with Ren DeCherney, of Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. We talk about the value of re--use and try to wrestle with the question of whether or not labels have helped us with this or not. Is there an easy button? Should we even be looking for an easy button?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this, our fifth episode, I finally get to catch up with long time friend, Doug Shapiro! Doug offers some valuable insight into simplifying our attitudes and expectations when it comes to planet health. How about this for simple? Just ask where the material is from. Are you looking at a chair? Just ask some simple questions. Where is the frame made? Where is the wood sourced? These sound like simple questions, but you'd be surprised at some of the answers! Join us as we talk about everything from chair frames to pet racoons!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dianne Murata joins Jon on today's episode, where we talk about making that unexpected pivot in our work. Dianne hit the crossroad where she could ignore her customers and stay in her lane, or figure things out. She chose to roll up her sleeves and figure things out. This is an insightful conversation around ignoring the voices in your head that tell you you're not the expert and forging ahead to make change. Dianne Murata is a change maker we need to start listening to.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Jon dives into the design world of Carl Gustav Magnusson. Carl is a design icon, a thinker and truly someone who's work has changed our planet. We talk about some of his work and discover that good design, by its definition, is good for the planet. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Architect Eric Cory Freed joins Jon Strassner in an episode dedicated to communication and the art of re-framing the conversation around climate so that people don't run away from it. Reading a room, understanding your audiance and delivering information and entertainment in a language your audiance can understand. Eric and Jon actually have fun talking about our planet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the season's first episode, Jon Strassner talks with industrial designer Brian Graham. We talk about doing the best we can and learning how to operate in the messy middle, where our expectations of perfection are often left unmet. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Designers and architects face a complex matrix of requirements to meet modern requirements for building performance, appearance and overall impact on people and the planet. On this episode, key team members from Rockfon and ROCKWOOL, part of ROCKWOOL Group, discuss strategies and trends to meet these needs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this continued episode of Break Some Dishes, Jon ventures to Los Angeles to podcast from the floor of Greenbuild 2025. For a second day, a bunch of different guests stepped into Jon’s podcast booth during the conference to talk about everything from the gender gap in raising capital to bringing better storytelling to climate activism. Great sponsors and wonderful guests made this Greenbuild episode a very special one!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Break Some Dishes, Jon ventures to Los Angeles to podcast from the floor of Greenbuild 2025. Eight different guests slipped into Jon’s podcast booth during the conference to talk about everything from the gender gap in raising capital to bringing better story telling to climate activism. Great sponsors and wonderful guests made this Greenbuild episode a very special one!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For the season finale of Break Some Dishes, Jon and Verda wrap up a challenging but rewarding season about women; women in design, in leadership, and in the climate movement. Why do women still hold far fewer leadership positions, even as they are earning more college degrees than men? What happens when we define the world through the rigid binaries of masculine versus feminine, and does that framing ultimately limit everyone? In this episode, Jon and Verda revisit some of the season’s most thought-provoking conversations to examine what true equity could look like in design and beyond.Referenced Work:Mismeasure of Woman: Why Women are not the Better Sex, the Inferior Sex, or the Opposite Sex by Carol TavrisAnd for the last time, the book Jon and Verda have mentioned in almost every episode:  Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado PerezSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.