Airrows on Air

Today I finally interview Tomorrow’s Air co-founder Nim de Swardt on the show. Nim is a social entrepreneur, audio storyteller, founder, board director, strategic advisor, “lifestorian”, and champion of co-generational connections. She was also the world’s first Chief Next Generation Officer when she co-founded NEXT GEN; a global intrapreneurship program in a company operating across 20 countries with 6,500 employees.

Nim’s connection to the natural world began in her childhood in Queensland, Australia where she was raised in a treehouse in a tropical beach community. Later she would leave the nest and become a world traveler and a climate action champion.

Nim and I met in Antarctica while she was in the “valley” chapter of her life and seeking more meaning and purpose. It was there, and together with Robert Swan, that Tomorrow’s Air was born. We discuss Nim’s impressive career that led to where she is now, her focus on intergenerational collaborations, her passion for gathering others’ stories, the one song that she would have to include on her playlist, and much more.

Today I’m chatting with Senior Preparator, Becky Desjardins, from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands.  Among other accolades, this museum earned the prestigious award of the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) in 2021. Becky may have one of the most interesting, and definitely the most unusual, jobs of anyone I've had on the show.

After majoring in Geology, Becky began her 20-year career traveling from Boston to the swamps of North Carolina to the Netherlands. She has an infectious imagination and passion for science that is unmatched. Becky has the unique ability to collect scientific information and data, break it down, and present it as an engaging story with endless possibilities.

We have a fun conversation where we talk a lot about scientific collections, but also roller derby, the difference between life/work balance in the US vs. the Netherlands, why Becky has dead birds in her freezer, eco-restoration camping, what museum collections tell us about climate change, and how Becky thinks they are going to save the world.

I am so pleased to welcome Joyce Bergsma to the podcast today. Joyce is a registered nutritional therapist who has been practicing orthomolecular and functional medicine since 2010. Joyce was born in Canada and soon became a world citizen and traveler who now resides in Amsterdam. While conscious about the impact travel has on climate change, Joyce shares my belief in the many benefits and opportunities it also provides.

My conversation with Joyce highlights the parallels between regenerative farming and travel, as well as the undeniable connection our eating habits as a society have on climate. With the world’s food system responsible for about ¼ of the annual planet-warming greenhouse gases, the work Joyce does to focus on individual nutrition is an important source of climate action we can all readily access.

We chat about hobby farming, the impact generational farming had on her path in nutrition, the far-reaching benefits of regenerative agriculture, principles of permaculture, food sovereignty, victory gardens, what it was like working inside Patagonia with the sustainable foods team, and about a new series of online courses she’s launching.

In today’s episode, I sit down with a true renaissance woman who always inspires and challenges my way of thinking. Lorelei Kelly is an expert on inclusive and informed democratic systems and her work explores how data, technology, and new participation methods can increase civic voice in the lawmaking process. She is the founder of the Resilient Democracy Coalition (RDC) based at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University where she leads research on modernizing the US Congress.

Lorelei got her start in Washington DC as a nuclear weapons expert and now turns her attention to how to better incorporate local expertise and voices in the political process. She attended Grinnell College, Stanford University and the Air Command and Staff College of the US Air Force.  She has co-authored two books, both free and available online.

We talk about the problems of climate change, how an engaged and inclusive political process can help, the power people have in organizing and banding together, and why we have to act now. We also talk about her many diverse experiences including transitioning from high school in Berkeley, CA to the desert in New Mexico to an underground library in Berlin during a historical revolution. We also talk about the shift the pandemic has had on thinking and actions for so many. Lorelei’s diverse experiences lead the way to an open dialogue and give an intimate, informed look at the impact of climate change on local, federal, and international levels.

Today I am joined by a kindred spirit in developing applicable climate solutions. Nicole Cocolas is a scholar of climate change by way of researching tourism and consumer attitudes and behaviors within the industry. She is Australian-born, currently based in San Francisco where we met, and soon to be moving to the UK to work as a lecturer in Transport Management. As a world traveler, she has now dedicated her life to helping others travel responsibly and sustainably.

We discuss how Nicole first came to the US by “winning the lottery”, her continuous and impactful research on consumer behavior in tourism, the relationship between air travel and climate change, how she sees the aviation industry’s role, thoughts on climate calculators, the importance of carbon removal, and more. Nicole’s research has shown that people often have binary extremes to travel attitudes, and she hopes through climate communication we can empower consumers on what they can do as opposed to guilting them into what is going wrong.

Today I’m talking with someone I’ve been so impressed with for a while, Anna Ahn, who is on the Communications Staff at Climeworks. Climeworks is Tomorrow’s Air’s first carbon removal supply partner. Climeworks uses direct air capture carbon removal technology to clean up carbon from the atmosphere and store it permanently, and is Tomorrow’s Air’s first carbon removal supply partner. Anna and I met while pitching Airbnb to host our online experience called “Pull Carbon Dioxide from the Air” which included a virtual tour of the Climeworks plant in Hinwil. Now I’m lucky to call her a friend.

Originally from Germany, Anna now lives in Switzerland and has spent time in Korea, Iceland, and traveling to other parts of the world. Anna is passionate, curious, and acting now professionally on a long held interest and passion for sustainability and environment. We discuss our mutual love of hiking and backpacking, knitting, the properties of volcanic stone in Iceland, a beautiful summarization on the difference between direct air capture and carbon capture and storage, giving a direct air capture plant tour to employees from Google, the ways in which current social trends influence climate communications, and Momo – a German fantasy story about the concept of time.

Tomorrow’s Air

Climeworks

Momo by Michael Ende

Nick Mulvey

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Today I am joined by the awe-inspiring Genevieve Hathaway. She is a travel and documentary photographer and entrepreneur who is passionate about telling stories that empower women and local communities. She hopes to inspire the world, especially adventurer travelers, through images and influence conservation efforts. Her work has been featured in Innovation Norway, National Geographic Traveler India, Lonely Planet, The Seattle Times and many more. Genevieve is the recipient of the SmartVentures Grant and the Seattle Artist Fund Grant, a member of Equal Lens nonprofit, and an Artist for Air with Tomorrow’s Air.

Genevieve splits her personal time between Seattle and Peru, and her assignments have taken her across the globe to places like the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and beyond. She is one of the rare people who turned her childhood dream into an actual career that marries her passion for climbing and archaeology into a creative endeavor. I love her philosophy of “connection first, pictures second”—reminding us that relationships truly are the foundation for everything.

We talk about the many people and stories she’s encountered in her travels, her commitment to authenticity, photographing Moroccan adventurer Bouchra Baibanou, and more. We also get an intimate look at the thoughtful process behind her candid, positive, and bright imagery.

Mentioned:

Tomorrow’s Air

Genevieve Hathaway

Genevieve Hathaway on Instagram

Adventure Travel Trade Association

AFER: Helping Women in Rural Morocco

Equal Lens

Bouchra Baibanou

Al Ma’wa Wildlife Reserve

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Today I finally sat down with a guest I’ve been wanting to have on the podcast for a long time. Matt Eggers is a seasoned expert in climate tech with more than 20 years of experience. He is an investor at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a coalition of private investors formed in 2015 by Bill Gates, funding the brightest hopes for leading the world to net-zero emissions. His extensive career has garnered him in-depth knowledge of solar, electric vehicles, clean energy, fuel cells, the colors of hydrogen, and more, in the fight against climate change.

Matt grew up in Iowa on a farm and his work today proves his heart never left. He now lives in Northern California, but he shares my love of traveling the world. We also share a passion for science, the arts, meditation, and hiking. Matt is a true steward for the environment, consistently making career choices to align with his core values. Lots more on that in this episode that will truly inspire you, as Matt has inspired so many others, to take action!

Mentioned:

Tomorrow’s Air

Adventure Travel Trade Association

Matt Eggers on Twitter

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Sam Harris

Alan Wallace

On today’s episode I continue my conversation with Adventure Travel Trade Association’s CEO Shannon Stowell. I had to have Shannon back to share some inspiring and hilarious personal anecdotes about stepping into, and owning, unfamiliar places - in this case an economic conference in New York City.

“The friends I enjoyed being with the most are the YES people.” – Shannon

Mentioned:

Tomorrow’s Air

Adventure Travel Trade Association

Email us at [email protected] to give us feedback on the podcast!

In today’s episode I’m talking with Adventure Travel Trade Association CEO, Shannon Stowell, who shares my hope for more sustainable and responsible tourism. Shannon brings to the conversation more than 25 years of business experience in adventure travel, e-commerce, outdoor retail, and environmental science.

“The friends I enjoyed being with the most are YES people.” – Shannon

Mentioned: