Episodes

  • Encore The Problem with Palm Oil

    Encore The Problem with Palm Oil
    Nov 29 2024
    Palm oil is included in a broad range of products that many of us purchase on a routine basis: food, cosmetics, paints, pills, and even hand sanitizer. With over 200 different names, palm oil is tough for the average consumer to spot in the ingredients lists of common consumer goods, but there is good reason to try. Palm oil has been linked to environmental devastation and human rights abuses. Tune in today as we talk with David Bass, co-founder of Peet Bros., about the problem with palm oil, and some steps you can take to ensure your purchases are not supporting the palm oil industry.
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    1 hr
  • Encore EcoMetrics – The Business Case for Investments in Nature

    Encore EcoMetrics – The Business Case for Investments in Nature
    Nov 22 2024
    EcoMetrics is a methodology that captures the Full Value of a project’s environmental, social and economic impacts in a format that is fully documented, verified, and ready for audit. Originally developed by Restore the Earth Foundation to document the value created by their restoration initiatives, EcoMetrics, a cloud based technology and methodology, is now a stand-alone offering. It captures the Full Value of a project’s environmental, social and economic impacts, all fully documented, 3rd party verified, and ready for audit. EcoMetrics applied to a variety of project and activity types, and is a reporting framework that companies of all kinds can use. Tune in today as we speak with the President of EcoMetrics LLC, Edwin Piñero, about how today’s visionary corporations and communities understand that there’s a strong business case to be made that investments in nature based solutions as part of sustainability initiatives.
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    1 hr
  • Encore Camden City School District: Sustainability-Minded School Meals

    Encore Camden City School District: Sustainability-Minded School Meals
    Nov 15 2024
    Sustainability in schools includes school meals! Tune in today as we speak with the Senior Director of School Nutrition for the Camden City School District (CCSD) in NJ, Arlethia Brown, MBA, CPFM. She will discuss the many ways she has incorporated sustainability principles into the healthy, appetizing food she and her staff serve the children in Camden, NJ. We will also discuss CCSD’s sustainability work beyond school nutrition in areas like energy conservation and facilities management.
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    1 hr
  • Encore Disposable Single-Use Plastics are Done in a Decade in CA

    Encore Disposable Single-Use Plastics are Done in a Decade in CA
    Nov 8 2024
    California’s new Plastic Pollution Producer Responsibility Act (SB 54) may be the most consequential Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation in a generation. By 2032, the law requires a 25% reduction of single-use plastic packaging and foodservice products; all single-use packaging and foodware (including non-plastic items) be recyclable or compostable; and a 65% recycling rate for plastics. Today we’ll talk with one of a handful of people “in the room where it happened” about how plastic producers agreed to come to help enact this legislation. Heidi Sanborn is the founding Executive Director of the National Stewardship Action Council, and she will also discuss how EPR and managing waste are finally being considered important to addressing climate change.
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    1 hr
  • Encore How to Protect Your Family From PFAS Chemicals in Your Water

    Encore How to Protect Your Family From PFAS Chemicals in Your Water
    Nov 1 2024
    New laboratory tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group found four water filters that reduce the detected “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in sampled drinking water by nearly 100 percent. The results come as the U.S. Geological Survey announced alarming findings that almost half of the nation’s tap water has been contaminated by one or more of the 32 individual PFAS for which the agency tested. The pervasiveness of these hazardous substances in our drinking water highlights the urgent need for effective filtration solutions. Tune in as we talk with Sydney Evans, a science analyst at Environmental Working Group (EWG) who led the water filter testing project.
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    1 hr
  • Encore Millions at Risk from Vinyl Chloride on American Railways

    Encore Millions at Risk from Vinyl Chloride on American Railways
    Oct 25 2024
    On February 3, 2023, five train cars containing 887,400 pounds (115,000 gallons) of vinyl chloride¹ ² ?, the key building block for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, derailed and were subsequently burned, setting off a major environmental health disaster that sickened area residents and first responders³, killed wildlife4, and contaminated East Palestine, Ohio and surrounding communities.5 A similar disaster struck Paulsboro, New Jersey in 2012. In both cases, the train cars carrying cancer-causing vinyl chloride were on their way to plastics manufacturing plants in New Jersey owned by OxyVinyls (a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum)¹ 6, where factories make PVC plastic for flooring and other building materials sold at major retailers like The Home Depot. OxyVinyls is responsible for the transport of rail cars filled with vinyl chloride across an enormous distance and through a number of major and minor population centers, putting communities across the country at risk. A new report quantifies that risk, and today we will talk with one of the authors, Mike Schade, as well as Jess Conard, a resident of East Palestine turned activist after the disaster near her home.
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    1 hr
  • Encore Boston Public Schools: Leader in the Green Schools Movement

    Encore Boston Public Schools: Leader in the Green Schools Movement
    Oct 18 2024
    Boston Public Schools (BPS) has a robust, comprehensive sustainability program that encompasses all aspects of a green, healthy school environment. Our guest today is Katherine Walsh, Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Program Director for BPS. She will discuss BPS’s approach to school sustainability and how other school districts can replicate their methodology.
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    1 hr
  • Encore Potable Reuse – The Science and Value of Recycled Water

    Encore Potable Reuse – The Science and Value of Recycled Water
    Oct 11 2024
    Though we live on a planet comprised primarily of water, the amount of freshwater available for human consumption and industrial purposes continues to dwindle due to pollution and freshwater runoff into the ocean. Water is embedded in every product we buy and the energy we use to power our lives. Water agencies in many parts of the United States struggle to find an adequate supply of clean water to meet the needs of the people and businesses they serve. Recycling water is becoming a necessity, and today we will talk with Patrick Sheilds, General Manager of the West Basin Water District in Southern CA, and Stephen Katz, Market Development Manager at SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions, about the many varieties and applications of recycled water they are deploying to meet the needs of Los Angeles and neighboring communities like Malibu and Beverly Hills.
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    1 hr