This week, I am joined by Environmental Photographer and Visual Storyteller Maren Krings. Maren shares her fascinating story from milking cows on an Alpine Mountain to learning mountain rescue, and now using her photojournalism skills to advocate for the use of hemp in many applications including climate action. Maren also talks about what life was like growing up in Austria, the brilliant idea she had on a cross country bike ride, and how hemp can provide the world with a sustainable, environmentally friendly solution to many current issues.

What You’ll Hear on this Episode:

Mentioned:

Playlist:

“CO2 is a cumulative pollutant. Once it’s released, it effectively is there forever in circulation. The first flight that our grandparents ever took, the first car that was ever driven, that CO2 is still up there.”

In this episode we chat with Eli Mitchell-Larson, a former impact investor and social entrepreneur, currently at the Environmental Change Institute at the  University of Oxford where he focuses on carbon capture and storage, standards for credible carbon offsetting, and pathways for decarbonizing fossil fuels. Eli is a Tomorrow’s Air Supporter and Science Advisor.

In this podcast Eli shares how his travels - from the White House to Antarctica - have inspired him, along with his  perspective on the role of carbon offsets in voluntary carbon markets, and why all offsets are not created equal. And, unexpectedly closes with a song!

Eli’s Musical Influences Song List:

Green Day:  Basket Case

“There’s so much information online, it’s hard to be surprised by a place, but Saudi was a place that really surprised me.”

You’ll learn why grandmas are never to be underestimated and how that food tour you loved actually came to be. Learn about Saudi Arabia’s sustainable tourism development plans and how Greendlanders are adapting to their changing climate.

Highlights:

5:00  How the first Indian to work for British Airways in East Africa in the 1950s handled racist passengers

6:10 From coffee houses to tourism: Natasha’s career path to founding Good Tourism

8:15 Reflections on tourism development in the northeastern state of Assam in India

9:40 Tourism development intersects the Haflong insurgency in Haflong, India and whisky with the National Police

10:56 Sustainability thinking shifts from 2008 to now

13:56 From Newfoundland to Cambodia, deconstructing the tourism experience and behind the scenes on a food tour

18:20 In love with local guides and the pros and cons of devices in travel

20:17 Busting stereotypes in Saudi Arabia and sustainable tourism development in the region

24:45 Hip to climate change yet struggling still to respond to immediate concerns

29:45 Crushing it on capital cities of the world quiz

31:40 Minus 35 and hard won realizations sleeping on the Greenland Ice Cap

35:30 Climate change in everyday life and the Greenlandic approach climate change

38:29 Natasha’s booklist leaves us feeling fishy

“If we always have a trip planned, it’s always something to look forward to - it can be a small or big trip - but the act having something to look forward to drives me.”

In this episode Portland, Oregon based environmental illustrator and teacher Walker Cahall brings us into his creative process as we explore the connection between art, travel and climate change. We learn how a documentary about rivers in Argentina brought Walker to the challenge of bringing the subject of carbon removal to life for Tomorrow’s Air, the world's first collective of passionate travellers who clean up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

A few highlights and links to art discussed in the show:

7:40  General discussion of Walker’s work at waltronic.net

9:58  Why a wayzgoose is like the Formula One of printing with an audience and the magic behind Snake Print

14:19 The connection between art, travel and climate change and the power of art and culture to

to inspire and why the act of visiting places can inherently threaten them

17:30 Direct air capture and the opportunity to build awareness for this method of carbon removal

18:34  How Walker created the Tomorrow’s Air Brand (snowy egrets!)

20:50 Dreams of Ireland and how the phrase ‘always  have a trip planned’ has become a life philosophy

23:30 What the teacher in Walker suggests for bringing carbon removal education to a broader education

30:30    Pop punk and the influence of original hipsters, and how Johnny Cash’s anti-authoritarianism makes him a punk