REV On Air - Sustainable Stories by Rêve En Vert

In this episode we have a conversation with Nelson ZêPequéno who shares his passion for creativity, community and climate which he channels through his online platform, Black Men With Gardens. Nelson uses his power of communicating and bringing people together to change perspectives and encourage them to live a life more connected to nature and surrounded by greenery. Nelson hosts floral workshops through his creative studio, Sustain and uses his past experience in production to offer creative services designing and installing immersive activations for events using natural materials.

About Black Men With Gardens:

Black Men With Gardens is a digital platform founded by Nelson ZêPequéno in 2017 which highlights the powerful stories of Black men connecting to nature through agriculture and art resulting in a community of over 150,000+ supporters.

With a background in entertainment & event tech, Nelson ZêPequéno has always viewed creative production as an avenue for exploration. Honing his creative practice as a production designer, he now works with companies and nonprofits to design, build and install art, activations and events.

Nelson’s current creative practice weaves together art, culture & community as he facilitates workshops, provides a unique perspective on sustainability through public speaking engagements and project management as a creative producer.

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

Wilder Botanics

Wilder Botanics is inspired by co-founder Rachel Landon’s 20 years of clinical practice as a naturopath and herbalist and her husband Charlie’s deep-rooted curiosity and love of naturally derived formulations. Wilder is unique in intention, using centuries old naturopathic techniques of infusing, macerating, drying, and tincturing, keeping the methods and stories alive for generations. Their products are created from 100% natural, organic and careful wild crafted herbal ingredients. Shop Wilder on Rêve En Vert!

It is currently the middle of July, or as we at REV like to celebrate, Plastic Free July, where we look for solutions and alternatives to this highly polluting material. I could not think of a better or more inspiring guest to bring on to speak to us about how we rid ourselves of fossil fuel derived plastics and into a much more beautiful, cleaner world, than Julia Marsh, co-founder of Sway, which harnesses the power of seaweed to create home compostable replacements for plastic. 

We cannot wait to get into this conversation that spans plastic free innovation, community and creativity with Julia who is truly one of the most articulate speakers on the subject we’ve ever been privileged to chat to, but first I want to say a quick merci to today’s sponsor - Seed. 

Since our collaboration with Zach Bush and Farmer’s Footprint, I have been focusing a lot on the connection of a healthy microbiome as it relates to the food we eat and time spent connecting to the earth, but for extra support in my routine I turn to Seed.

Seed’s DS-01® Daily Synbiotic is a broad-spectrum probiotic and prebiotic for whole-body benefits including gut, skin, and heart health. As I am really focused on my gut health through eating as close to the source and soil as possible, Seed’s additional benefits for digestive and whole body health really complete my routine for a thriving body from the inside out. - Cora Hilts

Learn more about seed’s probiotics and get 25% off your first order with the code REVE25 below:

https://seed.com/daily-synbiotic?utm_source=reveenvert&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=25p&promo_code=REVE25&utm_source=Discount+Email+Feb+2020&utm_campaign=c20baa78e0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_26_01_45_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9758eff4c2-c20baa78e0-107229021&mc_cid=c20baa78e0&mc_eid=198ddb6d27

So now a bit more about our guest today, Julia Marsh of Sway. 

Seaweed is the foundation of all Sway products, which mimic the compelling qualities of plastic without the downsides. Utilizing the natural polymers abundant in seaweed, they are able to optimize and scale the solutions nature has already given us. While traditional plastics contribute to climate change at every step of their toxic existence, Sway materials are made with process in mind.

Sway sources responsibly cultivated, ocean-farmed seaweed grown in harmony with the ocean. They use a diverse set of red and brown seaweeds from around the world as the base of their packaging technology. Sway works exclusively with suppliers who provide dignified employment to farmers, meaning fair wages and good treatment. They are hard at work to support and help scale up suppliers for whom impact is the number one priority, such as supporting the transition to climate-resilient coastal economies with indigenous communities around the world and lobster fishermen here in Maine.

We actually learned of Sway through their work with Atlantic Sea Farms, an incredible female owned cooperative that is helping to mainstream kelp farming as a sustainable solution to food, packaging and beauty issues whilst preserving our oceans and drawing carbon down. More on them to come but for now, I can’t wait to get into this deep dive with Julia in honour of Plastic Free July and we hope you are all as inspired as I am to know that we do have solutions in the world, solutions that can even be regenerative in their nature, if we just believe in our own creativity and have faith in our ideas.

Our co-founder Cora Hilts speaks in person with Lauren Singer, Managing Partner at Overview Capital where she invests in the mitigation of methane and other super pollutants at the pre-seed and seed stages. Lauren shares her purpose of getting to the core of the climate crisis by responding to the biggest issues that often go unnoticed. Lauren is a powerhouse of knowledge when it comes to the climate crisis and aims to uplift others who are also on the forefront of creating genuine change that lasts.

Most recently, Lauren has co-founded and become Managing Partner of Overview, where they invest in businesses mitigating methane and other super pollutants at the earliest stages. Overview is driven by the “overview effect,” coined by author Frank White, which is a profound experience that astronauts have when they see the Earth from space, feeling a sense of awe and interconnectedness with our planet. It inspires a deeper appreciation for the Earth and a desire to protect it. To put it simply, it’s the realization that this is all we’ve got. Overview invest in companies that are creating solutions to address climate change. Their mission is to support and partner with entrepreneurs at the earliest stages who can unlock innovations that have the potential to transform industries, making our future more resilient and equitable for generations to come.

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

Brightmark

Brightmark is a business that is using cutting-edge technology to create solutions for waste through circular innovations, so they could not be more in synergy with a woman who started her career in pursuit of bringing a zero waste lifestyle to consumers.

Brightmark is now providing further technological solutions to some of the world’s most pressing waste challenges, including turning organic waste into clean, renewable energy and closing the loop on plastic waste.They also are tackling the food waste issue, which Lauren and I will discuss a bit more in detail today.

A staggering 54 million tons of food is wasted annually in the U.S.* Food waste globally accounts for approximately 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. However Brightmark are working to divert this waste, break it down sustainably to capture methane and other biogases, then re-distribute it into compost.

Brightmark’s Circularity Centers™ deploy circular solutions for some of the world’s most pressing waste challenges—unlocking the value in waste by transforming them into new products.

Reimagining Waste is more than a mission; it’s a way of life at Brightmark. We encourage you to learn more and explore their resources for participating in a more sustainable and less wasteful lifestyle at brightmark.com!

As we continue our Earth Month conversations, we are so pleased to bring you today’s episode on a topic that has confusion and interest in equal measures around it - that would be the EV industry. Today, Cora Hilts discusses electric cars with a man we truly admire when it comes to his approach to them - Rob Howard, founder of Kindred Motor Works. We get into all the questions we have heard around the topic, and also what makes Kindred so incredibly unique in the automotive space as they are also upcycling vintage cars.

We all know that we need to change the way we drive. Cars and other forms of transportation are the biggest source of planet warming emissions generated within the United States and many other countries, and whilst there are a lot of concerns around the environmental impact of batteries and mining, which Rob and Cora discuss in-depth today, the science is quite clear that EVs are going to be our best option for now as we go into a green energy future.

But this is a discussion that is about much more than just cars, however. It’s about a company that is founded on a dream and made into a reality. A company that truly values the people that work there and is creating good jobs for them. A company that sees the value of technology, but also embraces the best of the old style ways of doing things. And maybe most interesting of all to anyone in the sustainability space, a company that believes that the most ethical option is simply the best one when it comes to the product that they produce.

Learn more here: https://kindredmotorworks.com

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

Homecourt

Homecourt was created by Courtney Cox in the belief that the household products we use each day should not only look and smell beautiful, but also should be safe for people, pets, and the planet.

Homecourt works with all Non-toxic formulas with skincare-grade ingredients that are always vegan and cruelty-free. They use sustainable, plant-derived, and upcycled ingredients across their collection. They develop formulas with responsibly sourced raw materials and skincare-grade ingredients that meet strict industry standards for clean beauty. We love their “absolutely not” list of chemicals and ingredients they do not work with that are listed on their site – they are all things we at REV would never work with either!

And when it comes to packaging, everything from their bottles to their boxes are made with 100% post-consumer recycled materials.

Learn more about this amazing line that has everything from hand creams to candles, and has just launched eco-friendly refills to boot on their site –  homecourt.co!

Today we speak to Leah Thomas, also well-known as @greengirlleah on instagram. Leah is a warrior for all things green and works tirelessly to influence positive change in the world. She recently released her new book ‘The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet’. In this podcast episode we cover topics such as government intervention in climate change & discrimination matters, personal identity, climate anxiety & self care.

Leah founded and launched the non-profit Intersectional Environmentalist, a platform and resource hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice, provide educational resources surrounding intersectional environmentalism, and promote inclusivity and accessibility within environmental education and movements in 2020 - which has since become a leading resource for diverse and accessible climate education.

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

Grass Roots Co-op

Off the back of our collaboration with Zach Bush and Farmer’s Footprint, we have been speaking a lot about regenerative agriculture and healthy, nourishing food systems. Grass Roots co-op fits right into this theme with their incredibly thoughtful approach to farming. Grass Roots is a co-op of farmers in rural America practicing regenerative farming that’s better for the animals, the soil, the environment, and everyone’s health.

One of the ranchers in the Grass Roots co-op describes her greatest title and role as “land-steward.” She’s talking about her work to help heal the ecosystem on the ranch; to foster healthy grasslands and soil that’s alive with roots and microbes continually drawing carbon out of the atmosphere. Like all Grass Roots partners, she  manages the ranch based on principles of regenerative farming.

They have also joined Land to Market, an esteemed organization that verifies raw material production for its positive ecological impacts that is bridging the gap between regeneratively farmed land and consumers.

If you are interested in learning more and sourcing humane and climate positive meats, head to grassrootscoop.com to discover their incredible efforts and products!

In this episode we speak to Willow Defebaugh, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Atmos and author of The Overview. We love this episode as Willow brings a fresh perfective on the climate crisis and the roles we all play in our own personal lives and in the larger collective. Opening us up to ideas of; imperfection over perfection, revolutionising our own fields of work, the importance of storytelling, and the role outdated hierarchies play in preventing change that desperately needs to happen. With the mindset of openness over fear, Willow gives us the hope that we will all be enough to transform our futures for the better.

Atmos is an exploration of climate and culture, a nonprofit biannual magazine and digital platform curated by a global ecosystem of artists, activists, and writers devoted to ecological and social justice through creative storytelling.

Their mission is to re-enchant people with nature and our shared humanity. They inspire cultural transformation and illuminate solutions to heal and protect the planet–now, and for generations to come.

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

Toups & Co

With our skin being our largest organ and the gateway right into our body, our skincare products should be made with wholesome, clean and recognizable ingredients.

Toups & Co’s entire skincare and makeup line is 100% natural and uses only organic ingredients like 100% grass-fed tallow, cold-pressed organic olive oil, and organic essential oils. Each product has been formulated to maximize skin-nourishing benefits and your safety. They never use synthetic chemicals, GMOs, toxins, fillers, artificial colors or fragrances.

They are a husband and wife team that believes it’s not good enough for you until it’s good enough for their own family. They also support small, family owned farms who are sustainable, fair trade, transparent and ethical.

Get 10% off your first order with the discount code: ‘reve+toups10′!

Our co-founder, Cora Hilts, visits Camilla Marcus, founder of the regenerative, carbon-neutral provisions brand west~bourne, at her home in LA to chat all things regenerative food, farming, and finance. The chef, entrepreneur, activist, and mother of three challenges conventional ideas about our food systems and environmental stewardship.

This Podcast episode is brought to you by our friends at ⁠Obakki Skincare⁠!

Camilla brings her wisdom of a lifetime in the restaurant business and growing up in LA surrounded by sustainable living and organic eating influences. Her driven nature comes out in how she runs west~bourne as a business, and her keen understanding of what it means to finance the regenerative movement can inspire us all to consider how we can do our part. She reminds us not to forget to look into the truth of how the world is set up to favour what is easy and what has always been done and to, instead, do differently.

Named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, Camilla Marcus is a chef, entrepreneur, activist, and mother of three who is challenging conventional ideas about our food systems and environmental stewardship. Drawing from her Californian roots, she started west~bourne as New York City’s first zero-waste certified restaurant and has now expanded its mission of eating well and doing better into a collection of regenerative, carbon neutral provisions for the modern home.

Committed to cross-industry innovation, Camilla’s endeavors range from championing regenerative farming to reshaping the hospitality landscape. She co-founded ROAR (Restaurants Organizing Advocating Rebuilding) and is a founding member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC). In addition, her passion extends to crafting a more equitable childcare system for working mothers. Camilla is also a member of the Fast Company Impact Council and part of the invitation-only Google Food Lab think tank.

BRAND NEW: OBAKKI SKINCARE

Obakki Skincare is simple. Our products are formulated with nature’s wisdom in mind we use the purest possible raw ingredients for the best, safest results. Obakki Skincare is highly concentrated in naturally occurring antioxidants and nutrients to optimize and protect your skin’s function-to strengthen and nourish.

We know you want the best for your skin. We trace the origin of each ingredient to ensure that every Obakki Skincare formulation is natural, plant-based and of the highest quality. And, our products will never contain palm oil, artificial fragrances, artificial colourants, parabens, sulfates or animal products.

Single-ingredient concentrations mean that you can personalize your skincare results by hand-selecting and layering a unique combination of formulations that will best nourish your skin, for a simple daily ritual. Obakki Skincare’s full range of products are created with hand-cultivated and wild-harvested ingredients.

Our co-founder Cora Hilts speaks to Reverend Yearwood, President & CEO of the incredible human rights & climate organisation, Hip Hop Caucus! The goal of Hip Hop Caucus is to build a powerful and sustainable organization for the culture’s role in the civic process and empowerment of communities impacted first and worst by injustice. As a non-profit, non-partisan, multi-issue organization, Hip Hop Caucus focuses on addressing core issues impacting underserved and vulnerable communities, with programs and campaigns that support solution-driven community organizing led by today’s young leaders. Cora and Reverend Yearwood dive deep into the interactions between climate, community and politics and how faith can lead the way in supporting positive action and influence necessary change in the world.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is the President & CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, a minister, community activist, U.S. Air Force veteran, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. Rev Yearwood entered the world of Hip Hop Politics as the Political and Grassroots Director for the Hip Hop Summit Action Network in 2003 and 2004, and as a key architect of P. Diddy’s “Vote Or Die!” campaign in a run up to the 2004 Presidential Election.

To carry the energy of the efforts beyond election day, he founded Hip Hop Caucus in September of 2004. The goal of Hip Hop Caucus is to build a powerful and sustainable organization for the culture’s role in the civic process and empowerment of communities impacted first and worst by injustice. As a non-profit, non-partisan, multi-issue organization, Hip Hop Caucus focuses on addressing core issues impacting underserved and vulnerable communities, with programs and campaigns that support solution-driven community organizing led by today’s young leaders.

In 2008, Rev Yearwood led Hip Hop Caucus’ launch of Respect My Vote!, a campaign and coalition that works with Hip Hop artists to engage young people in the electoral process. Since its inception, numerous celebrity partners have joined the campaign during election cycles to reach their fan bases, including T.I., 2 Chainz, Amber Rose, Future, Keyshia Cole, Vic Mensa, Charlamagne tha God, Keke Palmer, Omar Epps, and more. The campaign has registered and mobilized tens of thousands of young voters to the polls and in 2008 set a world record of registering the most voters in one day (32,000 people across 16 U.S. cities). Respect My Vote! is the longest running hip hop oriented voter engagement program, having been active in United States elections for over 10 years.

As a national leader and pacemaker within the Green Movement, Rev Yearwood has been successfully bridging the gap between communities of color and environmental issue advocacy. With a diverse set of celebrity allies, he has raised awareness and action in communities that are often overlooked by traditional environmental campaigns and elected officials. His innovative stance has garnered the Hip Hop Caucus support from several environmental leaders including the Sunrise Movement, League of Conservation Voters, Earthjustice, and Zero Hour.

He has also fought on the frontlines for vulnerable communities, including at the international climate negotiations in Paris and efforts to fight new oil pipeline developments in Maryland and at Standing Rock. He has received numerous awards for his work, including being dubbed as a New Green Hero by Rolling Stone and recognized by the Obama White House as a Champion of Change.

In 2018, he helped launch Think 100%, Hip Hop Caucus’ award-winning climate communications and activism platform. Comprised of podcast, film, music, and activism opportunities, the platform challenges environmental injustices and shares just solutions to the climate crisis, including a transition to 100% renewable energy for all. More at Think 100%.

Our co-founder Cora went to LA speak to Oliver English, co-director of the new environmental documentary on the future of regenerative food and farming, Feeding Tomorrow. From growing up around food with both parents working as chefs in their family run restaurant business, to becoming a chef himself and taking on the world of the restaurant industry, in a pivotal moment, Oliver found his way into his passion for discovering the source of food and making that the key element of a good dish. Exploring this passion, Oliver made his way into filmmaking, and alongside brother and co-director Simon English, he created Feeding Tomorrow, a movie that explores the question 'How can we feed the earth’s population of 8 billion people in a just, sustainable, and environmentally responsible way?'. Oliver is also the Co-Founder & CEO of Common Table Creative, his creative agency for regenerative storytelling through film.

Food influences every part of our lives, yet our national agricultural system is going terribly wrong. From our emphasis on cattle farming and chemical fertilization to wasteful distribution, there is a direct connection between unhealthy soil and unhealthy people. Feeding Tomorrow poses one of the most important questions of our time: How can we feed the earth’s population of 8 billion people in a just, sustainable, and environmentally responsible way?

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

Kiki Milk

Kiki Milk was started in the founders kitchen out of necessity because there was no milk they felt comfortable giving their son. Frustration turned into curiosity, and they turned that into action. Thus Kiki Milk was born! Inspired by the abundant coconuts on the island of Kauai, Kiki Milk is a plant-based milk for kids and adults alike. Delicious, rich in plant-based protein, contains essential fatty acids for brain health, has bioavailable calcium for bone health, and is naturally sweet from organic oats and organic coconut sugar. Kiki Milk works with one of the first Certified Regenerative organic companies to source their coconut sugar for their line. Coconuts are inherently grown regeneratively with multiple other crops being able to be sustained and grown next to and among the coconut trees. Kiki Milk has three different organic and plant-based milks along with a delicious nut butter.

This podcast episode is a part of the REV x Farmer’s Footprint Regenerative Podcast Series!

Today in the thirteenth episode of our regenerative podcast series in collaboration with Farmer’s Footprint, we are speaking to David Leon, co-founder of Farmer’s Footprint and Biome Capital! David shines a light on the side of regenerative agriculture that we often wonder about don’t always get a full understanding of – the economics of regeneration. We are so grateful to be able to talk to David and have him help us understand the truth of how climate change and the cost of living crisis are affecting farmers and how, during these desperate and dire financial times, it is possible to take steps towards regeneration. David speaks of fascinating and debatable concepts such as placing monetary value on ecosystems and animal species in order for insurance companies and large corporations to take notice and account for them. As well as not working against but empathising with conventional farmers to turn what we already have into something positive and generative for all.

So just a little bit more about the work of Biome Capital and David’s role there. Biome invests capital in farmland equity in a model that allows growers to acquire new land or retain both an ownership interest in their land and the ability to manage their operations with relative autonomy. They meet a grower wherever she or he is along the spectrum of transition to regenerative management, and partner in a way that is supportive but not prescriptive.

Biome Capital Partners also invests additional capital outside the farm gate to benefit farmer partners (for example, in processing infrastructure or relevant AgTech). They seek to build regional regenerative ecosystems, and part of our investment mandate is to improve the economic and emotional health of their farmer partners and their community.

Merci To Our Sponsor For This Episode!

EcoCart

The average customer lacks access to information that could help them estimate the carbon footprint of the items they purchase, even though 4 out of 5 consumers say climate impact is a factor in who they decide to purchase with. Dane Baker and Peter Twomey recognized this missing information and created EcoCart as a solution.

EcoCart has already empowered over 2,000 brands to embark on their climate-positive journey. Their innovative carbon-offsetting tool seamlessly integrates with ecommerce brand’s checkout pages to calculate carbon emissions, and then enables either merchants or shoppers (or both!) to pay to offset those emissions, based on the brand’s budget. EcoCart firmly believes that companies should reduce carbon emissions in addition to offsetting, and also provides brands with insightful Life Cycle Analysis to further enhance their environmental impact.

Ecocart exists to lower the barrier to entry for ecommerce brands wanting to become more climate-friendly. We here at REV believe hugely in the power of reducing carbon at every step along a brand’s journey and this is a tool that can help with that whilst helping educate consumers at the same time. EcoCart helps companies transparently tell their sustainability story to align with their customers’ values.

Go to ecocart.io to book a demo and if you hop on a call with EcoCart they’ll cover the cost to offset a day’s worth of carbon emissions from your online store if you mention Rêve En Vert!