Tag Archives: sustainable

Episode 63 Bill Browning

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HOPE!

That’s what we all need in this torrid political climate, or what Bill Browning calls the “tide of stupidity.”

Bill Browning gives me hope. His mind is brilliant and inventive, and his heart and soul care at the core for our sustainable future. Beyond net zero, Bill strives for net “positive” – what we refer to as regenerative and the name of my podcast show – Regen360.

In this week’s podcast, we have the opportunity to be inspired and learn from Bill. He talks about his work with cities and companies that are doubling down and “making loud statements” despite the pushback. He educates us on biophilic and fractal effects and ecosystem biomimicry. We get to learn about “factories of forest.”

I encourage you to join Bill Browning and me in an enthralling dialog. Click here to tune in and be inspired as I was.

Here’s to putting points on the board of Mother Earth and increasing ecosystem profitability.

-David

Episode 60 Dr. Frank Lipman

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The medical industry is at a transition, similar to where the building industry was more than a decade ago when we became more holistic and sustainable. The new field of functional medicine is increasing its reach as we’re empowered to become proactive citizen scientists in our personalized healthcare.

Dr. Frank Lipman has been practicing integrative medicine in his NYC clinic since the beginning of this new field. His books teach us the new tools and methodology through his Be Well programs. He believes “that true health is more than merely the absence of disease, but a total state of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social well-being.”

Dr. Lipman’s background includes traditional Western medicine plus nutrition, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, functional medicine, biofeedback, meditation, and yoga. Please join us in this week’s Regen360 podcast as we explore the medicine of the future and how we each can take responsibility for our long-term health. We’ll also learn about Ubuntu, from Africa and his forthcoming book, How to be Well.

-David

From Hulk to Activist – Mark Ruffalo

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To create a healthier, sustainable future individuals must awaken and embody their beliefs by their everyday choices. It also requires the work of visionaries and activists, like Mark Ruffalo, who use their voices and activism to manifest change and inspire others to answer their own inner-call.

Mark’s story is BIG and STRONG. You may know Mark Ruffalo best as “Hulk” in the movie Avengers I & II, in addition to other leading roles (The Kids are Alright is my favorite). While I love his films, I’m most impressed with how Mark has used Hollywood acclaim as a foundation from which to make the world a better place. In addition to acting and filmmaking – Mark’s a powerful humanitarian, environmentalist and Activist!

I met him years ago through his work trying to green New York by leading the fight against fracking and then his work with the Solutions Project inspired by Stanford, my alma mater, where I got the green bug.

I was excited to interview Mark Ruffalo for my first Regen360 podcast to learn more about him and his realistic plans for making the change to green energy using the technology we have right now and not toxic to our aquifers and health.

You can listen to my full interview with Mark on REGEN360 Podcast Episode 1. Below are some of the highlights.

Mark’s Hears the Call Early

As a boy in 1970s Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mark had a passionate love of nature.

At the time, me and my friends formed a little group called, “The Foresters”…our dream was to…protect the forests. This power plant was [in Kenosha] and I started to notice…how it degraded the vibrancy of the life there. I think that was probably where my environmentalism started.

Mark’s grandmother lived on Lake Michigan, and during visits, he noticed fish and lakeside wildlife had growths and sores that weren’t natural. The more he paid attention he realized environmental pollution was destroying life as we know it.

You Can Effect Change

Through his early participation in movements to reduce pollution, change emissions policies for coal power plants, and clean up Lake Michigan, Mark was struck by the reality, “you could effect change…you could be a steward of your environment…there were things that could be done – and we did a lot.” The Lake Michigan’s clean water and the disappearance of cancer-ridden fish and dead birds were evidence of this.

Eventually, Mark moved his family to New York, had a successful acting career and decided it was time to put his social conscience to work making a difference in the global community.

I had three kids; it wasn’t just me and my wife anymore…and I don’t like the future that’s being promised to us today by continued fossil fuel usage and our mass consumption…I want to change that.

The Solutions Project is a Powerful Movement for Change

The Solutions Project is exactly that – a platform for creating plan-based solutions for the entire US. Their plans for all 50 states include:

  • Take each state to 100% renewable energy by 2050, based on the technology available today.
  • Creating millions of jobs
  • Saving 250,000 lives per year by reducing fossil fuel pollution-related deaths.
  • Saving the country millions (potentially trillions) in healthcare costs by mitigating pollution.

One of the organization’s goals is to create viable plans that acknowledge not everyone is a “tree-hugger,” meaning global solutions need to make good business sense.

Walmart doesn’t put solar on all their stores because they’re tree-huggers. They [do it] because it stabilizes their costs for long-term energy – and that’s good business.

Mark learned this lesson in the midst of the hydro-fracking fight. He realized a significant percentage of the population doesn’t want to sacrifice anything to change the lives they’re living now. Thus, environmental arguments and solutions must be universally viable. This led him to partner up with VP of Tesla, Marco Krapels, Stanford expert, Mark Jacobsen and other visionaries – eventually founding Solutions Project.

True Change Requires Concrete Plans – Not Theories

Mark points out we need a second industrial revolution to clean up the mess of the first, and the unbelievable reality that in the decades of theorizing and talking about it – nobody has broken out with a realistic, do-able, real-life plan – until now.

We can…theorize…all day long…it’s a topic of conversation. But once you have a plan backed by some entity or university, like Stanford, now you have a deep science to…create a debate that has credibility...it actually shows you how you can do it.

With their plan, you don’t bring on new fossil-fuel technologies when the old ones become obsolete – you replace obsolete fossil-fuel technology with green technology.

It’s very gentle, it’s very elegant…it’s not asking anyone to give up anything…just to begin using what’s available.

This can all be done with wind, water and sun – and each state uses its own resource to make the plan a reality. There’s absolutely zero need for fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Best of all, this is all available to us today.

Replace Doom & Gloom with Abundance

I love how Mark wants to transform the doom and gloom approach the environmental movement is known for with a vision of the abundance waiting for us on the other side.

The bottom line is a future including fossil fuels is a brutal and ugly one – but switching to the green energy model right now immediately equals a positive future where many global health issues are obliterated,  Mother Nature is honored and protected, and humanity achieves liberation and abundance.

I’m grateful to the fossil fuel industry for giving us the 70-years that brought us through the…technological revolution. Now we can evolve…

What a treat it was to discuss these and other issues with Mark. It’s time for us to support the plans put forth by the Solutions Project for a completely practical – not to mention kinder and healthier – future.

Don’t forget to check out this (Episode #1) and other inspiring interviews with our world’s leading environmental visionaries at REGEN360’s Podcasts. Are you ready to let REGEN360 help your vision become part of a greener, more sustainable movement? Sign up for my priority waitlist to create your own legacy.

Episode 52 Carter Rubin

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As global population grows towards 8, then even 9 billion, our transportation system will be overwhelmed unless we adopt sustainable methods at increasing proportions.

The car helped accelerate urban sprawl, and create impassable roadways at peak commute times. It changed urban design and disrupted community life. Now things are changing, especially as the automobile is beginning to be viewed as a service, not right of ownership.

Society can’t afford automobile expansion at the same rate as the past 70 or so years, and in this week’s Regen360 podcast show we talk about these issues and how to create great cities of the future that are pedestrian-oriented, dense and much more sustainable.

Please Join me in my conversation with Carter Rubin with the NRDC, one of the world’s largest environmental organizations. Previously he was head of the Great Streets Initiative for Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti.

David Gottfried

PS: If you’re digging my shows, please let me hear from you and leave a review on iTunes. Sign up for my BuildMove pilot course priority waitlist to be the first to learn of the training. 

Episode 46 Mahesh Ramanujam

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The statistics of the U.S. Green Building Council and the global movement that it helped spawn are almost beyond belief, especially for me as its founder and first CEO, going back to October 1992 when I set out to begin working on its start-up in San Francisco.

This week’s Regen360 iTunes podcast features an interview with Mahesh Ramaujam, USGBC’s new President and CEO. He took over late last year from Rick Fedrizzi, who now heads of the Well Building Standard.

In our conversation, we learn of the unprecedented stats of USGBC and about Mahesh’s agenda for continuing to make the organization a global leader and as he says, “relevant.” His three areas for continued excellence include:

  • driving consensus
  • innovative business strategies
  • authentic thought-leadership
  • the business case for a sustainable built environment

During our conversation, I got goose bumps when Mahesh quoted: “If you love something, set it free.” You’ll also learn more about that and how USGBC is now engaging the lowest 20% of buildings to go green.

To boosting triple-bottom-line profitability through our buildings and homes!

David Gottfried

Episode 42 Lewis Perkins

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What is cradle to cradle?

It’s a concept developed by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their bestselling book written in 2010.

Out of the book’s traction, they invented a framework and then certifying standard for manufacturers to use for their products. Then they gifted it to a non-profit organization which is now working with 250 participating companies who are applying the certification to over 6000 products.

In this week’s Regen360 iTunes podcast show, learn about Cradle to Cradle and the good work its Innovation Institute is doing with my interview of its President, Lewis Perkins. Lewis has a deep background in sustainable products and is working collaboratively to grow their certification in the market while personally living a life of passion, purpose, and legacy.

Perhaps you’re running, working or thinking of starting up an organization with a goal of not only growth but sustainable or health transformation. A key component to market viralocity is inventing a credible standard with third party certification and training. This is what USGBC did with its LEED Green Building Rating System.

Regen360 podcast shows seek out credible transformation organizations and leaders and the interviews endeavor to reveal their secret sauce and tools for radical change [and benefit].

To radical transformation!

David

Episode 34 Jason Pearson

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Shopping is fun and purchasing is part of our everyday lives. For major corporations, it’s big business, both on the purchasing and supply sides.

However, if we add up the overall environmental and health impacts of what we buy, it’s monumental. If we’re going to turn the Earth towards more sustainable, it’s imperative that we focus our lens on purchasing. Big companies have entire purchasing departments and some of them are now shifting how they analyze and track purchasing decisions. If they shift their purchasing to embrace attributes of energy and materials efficiency and health impact, huge environmental and economic gains can be achieved and risks lessened.

Since 2013, a new nonprofit organization has been organizing and growing to provide guidance in the field of purchasing. It’s called the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council [SPLC] and many of its members include some of the largest companies in the world.

I’m excited for you to meet Jason Pearson, the President of the SPLC in this week’s Regen360 iTunes podcast show. Join me in learning about the SPLC’s organizational history, its new purchasing benchmark, and other best practices. A huge part of our Regen360 show is revealing the steps that organizations take to not only start-up but how they grow and sustain for the long haul. We exist to help triple-bottom-line organizations to learn from each other as they form and endure.

To lessening the environmental impact of our purchasing decisions!

David