In this episode of Climate Positive, Gil Jenkins speaks with Malcolm Woolf, President and CEO of the National Hydropower Association (NHA). They discuss the current state of the U.S. hydropower industry, its role in providing carbon-free electricity, and the challenges and opportunities facing the sector. A central focus of the conversation is the hydropower relicensing process -- how it works, where projects can stall, and how lengthy reviews can delay investment, upgrades, and in some cases lead facilities to shut down.

Malcolm shares real-world examples to illustrate what’s at stake, while also exploring the potential to add generation to non-powered dams, the role of pumped storage in supporting grid reliability, and emerging marine energy technologies.

Links:

• NHA Website
• Malcom Woolf LinkedIn
• NHA on LinkedIn
• Press Release: The Hydropower Foundation and NHA Align to Strengthen Workforce Development Efforts
• Article: US hydropower is at a make-or-break moment
• Article: Google to buy up to 3 GW of hydro power from Brookfield
• Video: Whooshh Innovations' "Salmon Cannon" Gives Fish A Boost Over Dams

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

The trucking industry operates on razor-thin margins and highly optimized schedules. Think free delivery from click to your door in 4 hours. Decarbonizing that kind of industry requires more than green intentions—it requires a highly reliable solution that drives real economic value. 

In the push to electrify large trucks, we often focus on the vehicles. But this rollout requires industrial-scale access to electricity in the context of an often-challenged distribution grid.

My guest today is Patrick Sullivan, CEO of EV Realty.  Building on decades of renewable energy development experience, navigating electricity grid constraints, Patrick and team are enabling the EV semi-truck rollout today.

We discuss the coming wave of EV trucks, the realities of the freight supply chain, and how EV Realty is building a network that works for the bottom line, local communities, and the broader climate.

Links:

• EV Realty Website
• Patrick Sullivan – CEO of EV Realty

Episode recorded 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode, Guy Van Syckle connects with the CEO of Mad Capital Brandon Welch who is proving that financing regenerative agriculture can scale—and it can do so profitably.  Brandon reviews the significant challenges posed by current agricultural practices and how Mad Capital is helping farmers and ranchers build a more sustainable food system through innovative financing.  He shares insights on farmers economic incentives, the steps involved in transitioning farming practices, and his company's growing impact as a leading investor in regenerative agriculture.  Most importantly he shares the stories of how farmers economic outlooks are being improved through these investments.

Links:

• MadCapital Website
• Brandon Welch - CEO of Mad Capital

Episode recorded November 12, 2025 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode of Climate Positive, Gil Jenkins speaks with Bill McKibben: author, educator, and one of the most acclaimed environmental voices of our time. His latest book, Here Comes the Sun, traces the rise of abundant, inexpensive solar power and argues that if we keep accelerating, we have a real chance not only to limit climate damage, but also to reorder the world on saner and more humane grounds. We dig into the data, the politics, and the people driving the global shift to solar, and Bill also opens up about the role of faith in his work and how he views the environmental movement’s trajectory today.

Links:

• Bill McKibben Website
• Purchase Bill’s Book - Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization
• Book Excerpt: 4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment – The New Yorker, July 9, 2025
• Substack: The Crucial Years - Bill’s ongoing essays on climate, energy, and activism
• Sun Day Website
• Third Act Website
• Article: Sunday Was Also Sun Day - The New York Times, Sept. 20, 2025

Episode recorded on October 20, 2025 

About Bill:

Bill McKibben is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament. Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers. McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign, which has become the biggest anti-corporate campaign in history, with endowments worth more than $40 trillion stepping back from oil, gas and coal. He stepped down as board chair of 350 in 2015, and left the board and stepped down from his volunteer role as senior adviser in 2020, accepting emeritus status. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors. In 2014, biologists credited his career by naming a new species of woodland gnat—Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.

Book Blurb:

From the acclaimed environmentalist, a call to harness the power of the sun and rewrite our scientific, economic, and political future. Our climate, and our democracy, are melting down. But Bill McKibben, one of the first to sound the alarm about the climate crisis, insists the moment is also full of possibility. Energy from the sun and wind is suddenly the cheapest power on the planet and growing faster than any energy source in history—if we can keep accelerating the pace, we have a chance. Here Comes the Sun tells the story of the sudden spike in power from the sun and wind—and the desperate fight of the fossil fuel industry and their politicians to hold this new power at bay. From the everyday citizens who installed solar panels equal to a third of Pakistan’s electric grid in a year to the world’s sixth-largest economy—California—nearly halving its use of natural gas in the last two years, Bill McKibben traces the arrival of plentiful, inexpensive solar energy. And he shows how solar power is more than just a path out of the climate crisis: it is a chance to reorder the world on saner and more humane grounds. You can’t hoard solar energy or hold it in reserves—it’s available to all.

There’s no guarantee we can make this change in time, but there is a hope—in McKibben’s eyes, our best hope for a new civilization: one that looks up to the sun, every day, as the star that fuels our world.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode of Climate Positive, Guy Van Syckle and Gil Jenkins sit down with Caroline Spears, Executive Director of Climate Cabinet, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting clean energy and climate policy leaders at state and local levels. These often-forgotten races are sometimes decided by a couple hundred votes and can also decide the fate of billions of dollars of decarbonization investment. Caroline explains how Climate Cabinet strategically identifies target candidates through data science and political expertise, aiming to elect climate champions with the highest potential ability to shape positive change. Through real-world examples, she demonstrates the organization's effectiveness in close political races and the tangible difference their support can make.

Links

• Climate Cabinet Website 
• Sign up for a monthly donation to help Climate Cabinet find and elect the highest ROI clean energy champions in state and local elections across the U.S. 
• Caroline Spears on LinkedIn

Episode recorded on October 2, 2025  

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode of Climate Positive, Gil Jenkins and Kenny Gayles speak with Heikki Pöntynen, CEO of Norsepower, about how rotor sails are helping the maritime industry cut fuel use and emissions. By harnessing the Magnus effect with spinning cylinders mounted on cargo ships, Norsepower is delivering 5–25% fuel savings today—sometimes even more. Heikki discusses the company’s rapid growh, including a new factory in China to scale production, the evolving policy landscape at the IMO and EU, and why ship owners are increasingly open to wind propulsion. 

Links

• Norsepower Website
• Norsepower on LinkedIn
• Video: How do Norsepower Rotor Sails work?
• Press Release: COSCO Shipping partners with Norsepower to enable a step change in the global rotor sail market
• Article: How wind tech could help decarbonize cargo shipping | MIT Tech Review |January 2, 2025
• Article: These 150-foot-high sails could help solve shipping’s climate problem | The Washington Post | April 22, 2024

Episode recorded on September 3, 2025 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode of Climate Positive, hosts Guy Van Syckle and Gil Jenkins are joined by Matt Traldi, co-founder and CEO of Greenlight America, to discuss how local dynamics are driving—or delaying—clean energy progress in the United States. Drawing on Matt’s background in grassroots advocacy and his transition to targeted climate action, the conversation explores how data-driven insights, strategic engagement, and community partnerships can accelerate renewable energy deployment. Matt shares practical examples of how Greenlight America is mapping local decisions, empowering advocates, and reducing friction in the permitting process.

Links:

• Greenlight America Website
• Matt Traldi on LinkedIn

Episode recorded June 10, 2025 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode of Climate Positive, host Hilary Langer speaks with Aadith Moorthy, founder and CEO of Boomitra, a global soil carbon marketplace that pays farmers for adopting regenerative agriculture. Boomitra’s AI-powered platform uses satellite data to measure and verify carbon sequestration, turning healthier soil into long-term income for farmers. 

Aadith shares how attending a farmer’s funeral in India sparked the idea for Boomitra, how their marketplace is already increasing farm revenues, and when they expect to reach gigaton-scale carbon removal. A winner of the Earthshot Prize and a Time100 Next inductee, Aadith is helping redefine how we fight climate change—from the soil to the sky.

Links:

• Boomitra website
• Aadith Moorthy on LinkedIn
• Earthshot Prize | Boomitra
• Time100 Next 2024
• Boomitra’s South America Grassland Restoration Project Achieves Verra Registration

Episode recorded February 19, 2025

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In this episode of Climate Positive, host Gil Jenkins sits down with Mike Berners-Lee—author, professor, and leading expert on sustainability—to explore the central message of his latest book, "A Climate of Truth." In a world spiraling deeper into climate, ecological, and social crises, Mike argues that the most powerful lever we have isn’t new technology—it’s honesty. The conversation unpacks why truth in politics, media, and business is essential to breaking the deadlock on climate action and building a livable future.

Links:

• Purchase “A Climate of Truth: Why We Need It and How To Get It” (Published April 2025)
• Mike Berners-Lee on LinkedIn
• Mike Berners-Lee Website

Episode recorded March 26, 2025

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Marshall Cox, co-founder and CEO of Kelvin, a national leader in intelligent HVAC solutions for legacy buildings in major cities. Marshall shares the origin story of Kelvin (formerly Radiator Labs) and discusses the company’s flagship product—the Cozy—an insulated radiator cover that maximizes efficiency and eliminates waste in steam-heated buildings. He also outlines Kelvin’s growth plans and explains how New York’s Local Law 97 is accelerating the push for building efficiency and decarbonization. The conversation explores Kelvin’s hybrid electrification strategy and its broader implications for cost-effective, resource-efficient building decarbonization. Additional topics include market expansion, Kelvin’s innovative financing model, and the importance of partnerships with HVAC contractors and other key stakeholders.

Bio:
Dr. Marshall Cox is the co-founder and CEO of Kelvin, a pioneer in sustainable building decarbonization and innovative HVAC solutions. He earned his M.S. in materials science and engineering from Cornell University in May 2004 and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Columbia University in 2013. Marshall holds over 10 U.S. patents and has published eight peer-reviewed papers in semiconductor devices, processing, and inorganic synthetic chemistry. He has received numerous awards through his work at Kelvin, including the MIT Clean Energy Prize, the Verizon Powerful Answers Award, and the Popular Science Innovation Award.

Links:

• Kelvin Website
• Kelvin on LinkedIn
• Marshall on LinkedIn

Episode recorded February 7, 2025

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].