In this episode, Christina welcomes Court Whelan, a conservation biologist and nature guide with a PhD in Ecology and Sustainable Tourism.

They discuss the role of conservation-focused travel in inspiring and educating travelers, the sustainable practices of Court’s company, Natural Habitat Adventures, and how travel can be a powerful tool for conservation when done responsibly. Court shares insights from his recent trip to Greenland, reflecting on the Greenland ice sheet and the urgency it conveys about climate change. He and Christina also explore how companies in the tourism industry can lead with sustainable practices and how individual travelers can make a difference by supporting eco-conscious providers and integrating conservation into their lives.

This week, Christina talks to Eliza Wright from Eion about her background and experience working in the carbon removal industry. Eliza shares her journey from ag tech into joining Eion and explains their simple yet effective process of enhanced natural rock weathering to capture carbon.

Eliza also addresses the challenges of educating different audiences on new climate solutions and the need to work with non-traditional partners to drive further industry growth.

Mentioned

Eion

River Runner Global

Tomorrow's Air

Christina welcomes Kelsey Bumsted, a Washington-based freelance travel photographer and marketing professional. Kelsey talks about how her love of landscape and nature influenced her career path and how she transitioned into photography after originally planning on going into the public health sector. Kelsey shares more about her work at AAA Washington, where she is inspired by leadership's fun and thoughtful rebrand, mixed with her main passion - sustainability efforts. As the episode closes, Kelsey and Christina discuss the importance of a grassroots approach to building relationships and forming a bond with your base community.

Christina welcomes Shivya Nath, a travel storytelling author who has been sharing her experiences since she ditched her corporate job and struck out on her own more than ten years ago. Since then, Shivya has visited more than 60 countries, and has both published her bestselling travel memoir, The Shooting Star, and launched The Shooting Star Academy, a course that teaches people how to tell impactful stories through travel while making a positive impact. In the episode, Christina and Shivya discuss Shivya's work as a travel writer, how her early career stop working with the Singapore Tourism Board helped inform her future career, and how her family has taken time to become accustomed to her chosen lifestyle. She shares her thoughts as someone who travels a lot on climate change, and the role of travel media in helping educate and shed light on solutions. 

In this episode Christina welcomes Shivya Nath, a traveler, storyteller and author who has been sharing her experiences and thoughtful perspective on the world since she ditched her corporate job and struck out on her own more than ten years ago.

Since then, Shivya has visited more than 60 countries, and has both published her bestselling travel memoir, The Shooting Star, and launched The Shooting Star Academy, a course that teaches people how to tell stories through travel that make a positive impact.

In the episode, Shivya - a gentle soul and a wanderer at heart - shares about her work as a travel writer, how an early career stop working with the Singapore Tourism Board helped inform her professional trajectory, and how her family has taken time to become accustomed to her chosen lifestyle.

As someone who travels a lot she also offers frank thoughts on climate change, and the role of travel media in helping educate and shed light on solutions. 

In this episode Christina welcomes Martin Freuimüller and Fiona Mugambi from Octavia Carbon to learn about direct air capture carbon removal technology and how their team is developing it in Kenya. They first talk about the process of direct air capture, then highlight Kenya’s unique environmental features supporting the technology before sharing about their personal journey to working in this field.

They dive more into topics including the importance of overcoming skepticism, the unique features of Octavia’s chemical filter that can be energized with geothermal steam, and the need for support to bring more women into tech and engineering roles. 

Susanne Bouma is the Head of Partnerships and Programs Renewable Aviation at Neste, a leading renewable products company. In this episode, Susanne takes us on a journey through the evolution of sustainable aviation fuel and Neste's pivotal role in its development over the past 75 years.

Susanne talks about Neste's refinery process and innovative partnerships, along with how waste resources are transformed into sustainable aviation fuel, paving the way for a greener future in air travel. She also touches upon the importance of building consumer awareness and fostering a sustainable fuel movement.

Susanne also shares a glimpse into her interesting personal life, from growing up on a houseboat in the Netherlands to the path that led her towards a career in sustainability. Her enthusiasm for future partnerships and growth opportunities is palpable, promising an exciting path forward in the quest for more sustainable air travel.

Ross Kenyon is the Co-Founder and Creative Editor at Nori Carbon Removal Marketplace, a company on a mission to scale the carbon removal industry and combat climate change. In this episode, Ross shares insightful strategies to address hesitancy around climate discussions and climate technology, emphasizing the importance of transparency and backing up claims in the field.

Ross offers a broader perspective on the role of carbon removal within the larger climate action and environmental movements and a different approach to promoting climate-conscious travel and carbon removal that could lead to groundbreaking outcomes. At the end of the episode, Ross shares his perspective on the upcoming trends and predictions in carbon removal, along with the intertwining of policy and politics.

Tomorrow’s Air

Nori Carbon Removal Marketplace

Hauntologies of Carbon Removal with Holly Jean Buck

TED Countdown

In this week's episode, meet Ryan Jones, a young, intelligent, and passionate man at the start of his climate career. Ryan’s work today is focused in the Scale for Climate Tech program at SecondMuse, an organization born out of a global hackathon project called Random Hacks of Kindness in partnership with Google, Microsoft, NASA and the WorldBank. Prior to SecondMuse Ryan worked with Forum For the Future and Electrify Now. He was also the co-director of Hult International Business School’s In-house incubator, managing 31 startups from over 20 countries, helping scale the program to their three other global campuses.

In this conversation Ryan takes us on a fascinating journey through his role at SecondMuse, where he shares about their groundbreaking program supporting climate tech start-ups, funded by New York State. Ryan shares about an unconventional approach he used in the past to gathering insights on current affairs interviewing people in pubs and then discusses an upcoming sabbatical in which he’ll undertake a National Outdoor Leadership School program in in Asia. Finally, Ryan discusses his goals with writing and storytelling, and the ways he finds great stories inspiring others to take charge, harness their agency, and create meaningful action toward a sustainable future. Get ready for an episode brimming with energy, inspiration, and exhilarating plans for a better world.

It’s a super interesting episode this week, as we are joined by Milena Nikolova. Milena is an applied behavioral scientist and entrepreneur with passion to translate knowledge about human behavior into ideas, actions and tools that help make travel more sustainable by design.

Her background combines human psychology, business administration and tourism sustainability. Part of her career is at academic institutions where she has served as researcher and educator. She has also worked as advisor and consultant in tourism competitiveness and sustainability in more than 30 countries across four continents. Today Milena is growing her own startup, BehaviorSMART, that blends insights from behavioural sciences and responsible travel in ways that support the sustainability efforts of destinations and companies. 

In this conversation, Milena shares first about her professional roots in Bulgaria, and how her background in psychology serves her today to apply knowledge about human behavior to connecting people more strongly to environmental stewardship. We talk about how Finland can be used as a model to reduce the carbon footprint and the importance of getting a smart start while we also embark on more complex and expensive solutions. 

Milena also shares her perspective on how we can use social media as a tool to normalize sustainability and carbon footprint considerations in travel, and shares some great advice for those trying to communicate the subject of climate-conscious travel to travelers.