A Positive Climate

Today’s episode with Sam Elsom from Sea Forest continues our discussion on sustainable protein - can we have our steak and eat it too? 

We all know that our obsession with meat is not sustainable. The livestock sector accounts for around 15% of all emissions and in Australia alone we eat 120kg of meat per person per annum (the equivalent of eating Dwayne the Rock Johnson in steaks and sausages)! 

So far we’ve discussed plant based meat with Nick Hazell from V2Foods and cultured meat with the co-founders of Vow but what about carbon neutral steaks? 

Sam Elsom from Sea Forest grows a unique type of seaweed called asparagopsis. It’s native to Australia and an Australian researcher, Professor Rocky De Nys discovered that when you feed it to ruminants (i.e. cows, sheep and even giraffes!) it eliminates the methane they emit when burping. 

In this episode we cover: 

• How we discovered that seaweed can actually stop cows burping
• How the seaweed supplement is fed to the cows, do they like it and does it have any impacts on their health? 
• How asparagopsis could result in a carbon neutral steak future
• Why Sam went from working in fashion for some leading brands to now running a seaweed business in beautiful Tasmania, Australia 

Sam is super passionate about this sector and rightly so - if just 10% of the world’s livestock producers adopted the technology we’ll be talking about today, that would be like taking 100 million cars off the road. 

If you enjoy the show, subscribe! You can also follow us: on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or say hi at [email protected]

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Music by the late, great Nick Weaver

Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media

Socials by the legend Rebecca Sather Jenkins

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If you’re interested in the topic

• If you loved this episode check out our previous episodes with plant based meat company V2Foods and cultured meat company Vow

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About the podcast

A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An inspiring look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. Hosted by Australian climate technology experts Alex McIntosh and Nick Zeltzer, two friends on a mission to find the solutions to keep our existential crises at bay.

We cover it all on the show while keeping things optimistic and accessible: electric planes, waste eating maggots, plant-based meats, hydrogen made from beer, the solar revolution, the coolest new sustainable products and much much more.

If you’re passionate about the environment, the latest clean technology or just want to know how to get involved in the movement, this podcast is for you!  

Say hi on Instagram, Twitter or our website. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julia Kay, co-founder of Great Wrap chats to us about how we can make cling wrap GREAT again! 

Great Wrap has created Australia's first certified compostable cling wrap - it’s not only made from food waste but it also contains zero plastic. Great Wrap makes residential wrap (the sandwich wrapping kind), catering wrap and pallet wrap (the stuff heaps of things get wrapped in for transport). 

You might think cling wrap is a niche issue but we use 150,000 tonnes of cling wrap per year in Australia alone - which is crazy when you think about how light cling wrap is. Soon the technology will be expanded to replace other plastics so we can stop adding to the 9 billion tonnes of the stuff that’s been created throughout history, which is sadly all still here on earth!   

Julia, together with her husband Jordy Kay, have created a business that cleverly blends their respective backgrounds, a strong passion for design and an even bigger passion for creating a sustainable product. 

In this episode we cover:

• The plastic problem: how one of our most convenient creations is also one of our most harmful
• The Great Wrap production method and how they create cling wrap from food waste
• Julia and Jordy’s future plans for Great Wrap - which include expanding into the US and ultimately looking to expand into replacing other plastic items in our grocery stores
• Inspiring innovations happening all across the world to reduce our reliance on plastic

We left this conversation feeling uplifted and positive about the future of cling wrap and we hope you do too! 

If you enjoy the show, subscribe! You can also follow us: on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or say hi at [email protected]

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Music by the late, great Nick Weaver

Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media

Socials by the legend Rebecca Sather Jenkins

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Some more reading if you’re interested in the topic

• You can learn more about the history of plastic via this video

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About the podcast

A Positive Climate is an uplifting podcast about tackling climate change. An inspiring look at the products, people and technologies making a real difference. Hosted by Australian climate technology experts Alex McIntosh and Nick Zeltzer, two friends on a mission to find the solutions to keep our existential crises at bay.

We cover it all on the show while keeping things optimistic and accessible: electric planes, waste eating maggots, plant-based meats, hydrogen made from beer, the solar revolution, the coolest new sustainable products and much much more.

If you’re passionate about the environment, the latest clean technology or just want to know how to get involved in the movement, this podcast is for you!  

Say hi on Instagram, Twitter or our website. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cameron Van Der Berg from Infravision explains how can drones help us tackle climate change. 

As the world transitions to 100% renewable energy we are going to need a whole lot more electricity transmission. Historically fossil fuel generators have always been located in centralised locations closer to central loads or cities. However, if our grid is 100% clean the generation mix is likely to be far more dispersed. While you’ll ideally have solar on your roof, the large solar farms will be located in the places with the best sun and the large wind farms will be in the windiest places in the country (sometimes even offshore). 

In this week's episode we chat to Cameron Van Der Berg from Infravision, who have developed drone technology that can help install the influx of new electricity transmission lines in a safer, greener, more efficient way. 

Chris Cox and Cameron, co-founders of Infravision, have been kicking goals securing contracts to assist with transmission for some of the biggest energy projects in Australia including Snowy Hydro 2.0 and the EnergyConnect interconnector. Infravision was dreamt up after Cameron was working as a transmission engineer and seeing the many inefficiencies and meanwhile Chris was working in the airforce on drone technology. 

The boys are down to earth, super smart and employ their “get after it” attitude to everything at Infravision.  

This episode covers: 

• How Chris and Cameron met in a barrier reef dive shop and originally launched a gym software startup before deciding they had bigger fish to fry
• The benefit of having ex-defence force personnel in a startup 
• How transmission lines are typically strung and why it hasn’t been innovated upon in a number of years 
• How Infravision’s technology can string power lines faster, safer and with less environmental impact
• The weirdest things they’ve carried with a drone

If you enjoy the show, subscribe! You can also follow us: on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or say hi at [email protected]

Music by the late, great Nick Weaver

Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media

Socials by the legend Rebecca Sather Jenkins

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Some more reading if you’re interested in the topic

• The basics on transmission’s role in Australia’s clean energy future

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About the podcast

Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity. The consequences are so dire that the media usually focuses on the negative and many of us have no idea where to begin.

To flip the script, clean energy experts Alex McIntosh and Nick Zeltzer host A Positive Climate, an uplifting podcast focused on ways to tackle climate change.

If you want to be inspired by interviews with some of Australia’s most innovative people, if you want to learn a lot (and laugh a little) and if you want a way to leave your climate related existential crises at bay, this podcast is for you.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim Noakesmith and George Peppou of Vow explain the carbon free revolution soon to come to our dinner plates - cultured meat.

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Welcome back to Season 2 of A Positive Climate! We’re thrilled to be bringing you another ten episodes EVERY TUESDAY covering everything from sustainable plastics, seaweed to stop cows burping methane and Australia’s potential mega role in the battery revolution.

Today’s episode continues our investigation of alternative proteins with the absolute rock-stars Tim Noakesmith and George Peppou, the co-founders of Vow. Vow is a leading Australian company in the global race to create cultured meat (often called cell-based or lab grown meat). Cultured meat has the potential to give us the protein from the animals we’re used to and from some animals we’re not - without the carbon emissions, with minimal land use and with zero animal cruelty.

This episode ties in well to our very first episode featuring plant based meat company V2Food with Nick Hazell - we also learnt that Nick was the reason Tim and George actually met! We cover a whole lot in this episode

• Why did humans end up consuming the five main animals we eat today?
• What on earth is cultured meat?
• Is creating cultured meat similar to a beer homebrewing operation?
• How critical will cultured meat be to address the climate challenge? 
• What is the future of the dinner plate?
• How does Vow intend to market its products when available within the next 18 months?
• What is Tim and George’s common bond over slow release laxatives?

Not only are Tim and George a regular entry on various 30 under 30 lists, they are also a great chat. We hope you enjoy the episode!

If you enjoy the show, subscribe! You can also follow us: on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or say hi at [email protected]

Music by the late, great Nick Weaver

Production by our hero Mark Spencer from Here.Media

Socials by the legend Rebecca Sather Jenkins

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Some more reading if you’re interested in the topic

• Tim’s TED talk - Why eating Tortoise could save the planet
• The Good Food Institute - just a wealth of knowledge and handy primers of the world of plant based and cultured meat

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About the podcast

Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity. The consequences are so dire that the media usually focuses on the negative and many of us have no idea where to begin.

To flip the script, clean energy experts Alex McIntosh and Nick Zeltzer host A Positive Climate, an uplifting podcast focused on ways to tackle climate change.

If you want to be inspired by interviews with some of Australia’s most innovative people, if you want to learn a lot (and laugh a little) and if you want a way to leave your climate related existential crises at bay, this podcast is for you.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim Washington from JET Charge answers the question: why should we care about electric vehicles?

They’re a better driving experience, they’re quieter, they’re better for air quality (especially important for when kids are walking by at exhaust pipe height), they’re soon to be cheaper, they are actually MORE convenient to charge and finally, unlike petrol vehicles, they can give the world what it needs: zero carbon transport! 

We cover it all on this episode - why we should care about EVs, whether they are greener, some charging basics and at the end we bust a whole lot of listener submitted EV myths. 

Thanks to all our listeners for going on the journey for season one with us! Looking forward to coming back with some fresh topics very soon!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Moore, co-founder and CEO of AMSL Aero chats to us about the future of transportation and how soon we might all be able to get around in flying taxis or eVTOLs (electric vertical take off and landing) as the industry calls them. 

AMSL Aero is an Australian company that's creating a flying air taxi which is powered by batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell which means it is completely emissions free. Air taxis could revolutionise the future of transport allowing us all to get to destinations faster and safer. It could also change freight and postal services allowing for those online shopping purchases to get to your door even faster!

Follow us on instagram and twitter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Nolet is the CEO and a founding partner of Tenacious Ventures, Australia's first and only dedicated agrifood venture capital firm. Sarah chats to us about all the innovative and exciting agricultural technologies or as they say in the industry “agtech”. 

We cover the current sources of emissions within our food supply chain and some fantastic solutions including farming robotics, improved pest management and alternative proteins (hello, plant based nuggets). 

Follow us on twitter and instagram. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to our new podcast series The Positive Press by A Positive Climate! We'll be bringing you 5-ish minute episodes on good climate news. Bite sized, informative and a bit tongue in cheek, tune in to hear from Alex and Nick about the most uplifting stories of the week. 

This week we're covering NUGGS by SIMULATE - a plant based chicken nugget company with some pretty cheeky branding. Apparently they are "The Tesla of Chicken".

The founder is 21 year old Aussie Ben Pasternak - who moved to NYC at age 16 to become a entrepreneur (as you do!). He's just raised $50m from celebrity investors and what better excuse to chat about the exploding plant based meat sector, which has the chance to put a dent in carbon emissions and involve no animal suffering while also using less land and less water. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Solar energy is changing the world and 5B Solar has created an innovative solution for large scale sites - the MAVERICK. It's prefabricated, modular, rapidly-deployable and enables projects to be delivered more safely, three times faster and using half the land vs conventional technology. 

Chris McGrath shares the story of how he and his mate Eden came up with the idea, didn’t sleep for three days and then hashed out their business plan over a bottle of whisky. He also shares some insights into the solar industry, we discuss the “bat shit crazy” Sun Cable project and then how 5B assisted with bushfire recovery.

We also touch on the debate about the number of jobs created in the solar industry versus fossil fuels. The winner? Well its game, set, match - because Chris is hiring here! 

Follow us on instagram and twitter for more info. 

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Music by Nick Weaver

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rob Bartrop has a great story, he’s an Aussie who was part of the development of the first large scale solar farms in Australia and has now found his way over to Arizona working for a company that's created the world's first renewable drinking water system - Source Global. 

The system includes a solar panel that doesn’t create electricity but instead creates clean drinking water. On a global scale access to water is a real problem - Rob notes, 40% of the global population doesn’t currently have access to water! Ultimately we can’t survive without water so it's definitely a problem worth solving - we hope you enjoy this chat with Rob from Source Global. 

Follow us on instagram and twitter for more information. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.