Sustainable Planet

By Kimberly Weir

Sustainable Planet is a podcast hosted by Kimberly Weir and Jorden Dye. Kimberly has a PhD in political science and decades of experience as a university professor. Jorden is Director at a Canadian cl... more

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FAQs about Sustainable Planet:

How many episodes does Sustainable Planet have?

The podcast currently has 51 episodes available.

Sustainable Planet episodes:

October 17, 2024Climate Migration: No Longer Just for the Birds
Like the Yellow-Billed Stork that migrates in Africa based on rainfall, more humans are migrating, some permanently abandoning their homes due to environmental circumstances. The world is witnessing an increase in the movement of climate refugees seeking better living conditions, expelled from their homes by factors ranging from rising sea levels and wildfires to droughts and floods. Join Jorden and Kimberly as they reveal where migration is most likely to happen, weigh in on the culpability of GN countries and corporations, and consider how risk might provide the impetus necessary to address climate change.
Key Topics Jorden and Kimberly discuss include:
Why Jorden is stuck in Canada and Kimberly can’t find a new place to live
The top 5 environmental causes for human migration
Why ‘climate refugees’ are now ‘climate migrants’, and they’re not just in developing countries
Why most climate migrants never even leave their own countries...
…but when they do, they’re less likely to be headed to developed countries than seek refuge in neighboring countries
Which countries are most ‘climate secure’ and how this calculation differs from those that promote ‘climate protections’
Recommended Resources
A comprehensive guide to climate migration issues
UNHCR’s Fact Sheet
Climate Secure Countries
Climate Change Performance Index
Kimberly’s Substack newsletter post, available next Thursday, to give you something to look forward to during our off-week : )
...more
41min
October 03, 2024Bags Don’t Litter, People Litter
The ‘complimentary’ bag is such an ingrained part of the shopping experience that most people don’t think about alternatives besides ‘Will it be paper or plastic today?'. Though more supermarket customers are confronted with the notion that they should be responsible for their own reusable shopping bags, lacking government regulations, the majority of people opt for single-use plastic bags to transport their purchases from shop to home. Jorden and Kimberly consider how we became mindlessly addicted to a product whose use time lasts approximately 12 minutes and how long this dependence will continue.
Key Topics
Why the close-ended option of ‘paper’ or ‘plastic’ sets us up for environmental failure
Why retailers stick with single-use bags
Why governments are our best bet for ridding the world of–specifically plastic—shopping bags, though the U.S. might be the last hold-out thanks to the power of lobbyists
Why banning plastic bags won’t solve the bag dilemma and paper bags are even worse
How to redeem ourselves for the piles of bags we’ve sent to the landfill
Check out Kimberly's newsletter next week for her follow-up post on this episode
Recommended Resources
History of the Plastic Shopping Bag
The Global Ban on Plastic Bags (with a map!)
The World Counts says they draw from reliable data sources, though the 1,000-year estimate seems a bit exaggerated
...more
48min
September 19, 2024On the Ground: Kept House's Landfill Diversion Tactics
Since the inception of Sustainable Planet, Kimberly has wanted to include a segment about people pursuing sustainability in their daily lives, such as through the careers they choose. Kimberly’s first guest on ‘On the Ground’ is Greg Pipkins. He and his wife Jamie started Kept House, an estate sales company, after being their own first customers. Since their first sale in 2020, Kept House’s approach to liquidation has been driven by their passion to help people and keep as much out of landfills as possible when emptying a home.
Joe and Kimberly discuss:
That an estate sale is more than just a giant yard sale
What inspired Greg and Jamie to take an eco-friendly business approach
That hiring a dumpster is not the only option
The variety of strategies to ensure that everything that can be reused gets reused
The challenges of sustainably clearing out a house
For more about what happens on the other end, check out Kimberly’s next post about thrifting in her Sustainable Planet newsletter
Resources
Check out Kept House
This wasn’t the article mentioned in the interview, but covers many of the same points
...more
40min
September 05, 2024Our Ambiguous Relationship with Amazon’s Subscribe & Save
Businesses have long been using subscriptions as a strategy to keep customers coming back with regularity. Amazon latched onto this notion to compete with its brick-and-mortar competitors, launching its Subscribe & Save program in 2007. Jorden and Kimberly consider how a home delivery business model sustainably stacks up against in-store shopping.
Key Topics Jorden and Kimberly discuss include:
What newspapers, milkmen, and fruit have in common
To what extent Subscribe & Save can be ‘Set and Forget’ and a whole lot of other considerations about using this service
How the packaging and transportation makes or breaks it
The blessing and curse of Subscribe & Save for small businesses
To buy (and possibly return?) or not to buy: The innovative technologies that help customers better decide
How market-based incentives can encourage corporate sustainability practices and induce ‘coercive memetics’ in industry
Whether Amazon’s business model beats the brick-and-mortar stores on the sustainability bottom line
Recommended Resources
MIT’s Real Estate Innovation Lab 2021 report
Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report
For anyone who isn’t aware of the history of the ice industry in the U.S., it’s quite fascinating (to nerds like Kimberly, anyway)
It wasn’t Subscribe & Save, but it was the first Internet sale ever recorded
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57min
August 22, 2024From Castles to Concrete: Not All Sand is Created Equally
Using sand at a pace far faster than nature can replace it, booming demand for the world’s second most traded commodity has sent us borrowing into the future while sand mafias, pirates, and counterfeiters want to cash in on this lucrative business. Jorden Dye joins Kimberly as her new co-host to discuss the many uses for sand, the problems caused by extraction, and how to decarbonize the cement industry.
Key Topics
The many ways in which we’re surrounded by sand
How the demand for concrete and computer chips is depleting the Earth’s sand reserves
Where there’s demand, someone will find a way to meet it
How to prepare for trivia night by learning the difference between construction and silica sands
Where in the world sand comes from and where it’s going
Identifying sustainable strategies for the world’s voracious sand consumption
More on sand next week in Kimberly’s Substack follow-up post, Building Islands from the Sand
Recommended Resources
World Economic Forum 2023 Report
The NYT article Jorden mentioned in the episode: "How to Steal a River"
India’s sand mafias
All about concrete recycling
Decarbonizing cement
...more
54min
August 08, 2024Pursuing Sustainable Practices in a Capitalist World
Joe joins Kimberly to talk about the difficulties corporations, governments, and consumers face in the capitalist system (that has yet to find a viable competitor). Since consumers are driven by status, corporations are beholden to stakeholders, and governments are inextricably tied to both, meaningful progress toward climate change goals is a long game. The question is whether we’ll be around long enough to win.
Joe and Kimberly discuss:
How ‘three pillars’ seek to balance the capitalist system
How ‘dead nature’ jeopardizes ‘live nature’
Why less expensive electric vehicles (EV) from China imported in developed countries undermine the democratic foundations necessary to pursue green policies
How natural capital is at risk, despite the World Bank’s Comprehensive Wealth Accounting system’s emphasis on sustainable economic development policies
How corporations are caught between satisfying consumers and shareholders while pursuing eco-friendly policies
Why market-based solutions will not save nature, though ESG funds are more than just a publicity stunt

Subscribe to Joe’sRandom Thoughts newsletter on LinkedIn
Subscribe to Kimberly’s Sustainable Planet newsletter, as well!
...more
59min
July 25, 2024Are You a Climate Anxiety Sufferer?
Blowing up in the media in 2021, climate anxiety gained attention from mental health professionals over the last few decades as people’s concerns about climate change increased. Numerous studies have found rising environmental distress among people around the world, but also indicate that increased awareness is more likely to prompt action. Michael and Kimberly consider the underlying factors that propel personal action, government policy, and technological developments, and what combination of these variables might lead to achieving climate goals to reduce the planet’s growing temperatures.
Key Topics
Why Glenn Albrecht coined the term solastalgia that came to be known as climate anxiety
What various factors led to increased concerns of eco-anxiety
Whether climate anxiety is a real disorder or a fabrication of the media
Who’s most affected by climate change
Whose actions will have the biggest impact on curbing climate change
How time factors into what individuals can sanely do to make a difference
Why individuals are only part—but an important part—of the equation
Follow up on Friday with Kimberly’s Substack follow-up post on extreme weather and climate anxiety
Recommended Resources
Lots of studies:
Albrecht, Yale, China, The Lancet, global concerns
Growing media attention to climate anxiety
...more
36min
July 11, 2024Weathering Insurance Premiums
Hurricane Beryl just battered its way through the Caribbean, the most powerful recorded in the Atlantic this early in the season. Extreme weather caused by climate change is worsening, evidenced by stronger and more frequent natural disasters. From thunderstorms to typhoons, dust storms to wildfires, insurance premiums for homes and businesses in high-risk areas are skyrocketing. In some cases, the government's ‘insurer of last resort’ option is the only policy available to homeowners as insurance companies refuse to renew policies. Yet some of the most high-risk locations are the very same that attract people, demonstrated by burgeoning population growth in Florida and Texas. Michael and Kimberly consider the implications of the damage done by storms and where responsibility lies.

Key Topics
Why the most attractive places are more expensive than housing prices let on
What happens when insurance companies refuse to grant policies
What prompted the National Flood Insurance Program to devise Risk Rating 2.0
How often governments should provide relief for people living in high-risk areas
The double-whammy of living in wildfire zones: forest fires and flooding
Whether technology can mitigate the effects of climate change soon enough
Follow up on Friday with Kimberly’s Substack post on extreme weather
Recommended Resources
NOAA’s
Hurricane Fast Facts
NOAA’s map for 2024
For dataheads (like Michael) lots of insurance-weather numbers
For a good summary summary of weather-related insurance issues
For mapheads (like Kimberly) who need to know why the cities ranked as they did, note that the insurance cost list on the map isn’t exclusively due to weather-related coverage- it’s also due to auto insurance rates, as evidenced by Detroit (3) (highest rates in the U.S.), Tulsa (4), and Kansas City, KS (8), which, forgivably, might mistakenly be thought the result of tornados.
...more
33min
June 27, 2024Sustainable Housing in the Sprawl
Worldwide, countries struggle to provide affordable housing, not to mention expanding the market in a way that doesn’t undermine climate change goals. Global North cities in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia have relied on urban sprawl to appease the demand for more—and bigger—houses. Plagued by the poor air quality, forest fires, and water shortages that coincide with urban sprawl, this approach is not sustainable. The Global South lacks the necessary economic dependability to provide sufficient housing in overcrowded cities. But Michael and Kimberly consider the steps governments are taking and technological developments providing businesses and consumers with more sustainable options.

Key Topics Michael and Kimberly discuss include:
Why the “World’s Most Liveable Cities” tend to be the least affordable
How big is big enough for two people
The chasm between housing demand and supply
How double-sized homes mean double-length commutes
The A-to-Z list of how urban sprawl contributes to climate change
Strategies that offer affordable—and maybe even more sustainable—housing
Why this sustainability issue seems more manageable than most others
More information in Kimberly's Substack post (available Friday)
Recommended Resources
Bigger Houses, Smaller Families
Harvard’s The State of the Nation’s Housing Report for 2024
The True Cost of Sprawl
How Sustainable, Liveable, and Resilient Housing Can Help Us Adapt to a Changing Future
Ditch the Bulbs!
...more
35min
June 13, 2024Green Gold or Rotten Fruit: The Avocado Industry
Mexico couldn’t ask for a better cash crop. Referred to as oro verde by farmers and orchard owners in Michoacan (and more recently Jalisco), their standard of living has improved considerably with a global rise in the popularity of avocados. The birth of ‘superfoods’, the, now ubiquitous, ‘avocado toast’ brunch staple, and the love of guacamole are responsible for the huge economic boon for not only Mexico, but also Kenya, which serves the European market. Demand for avocados is also partly due to Chipotle’s popularity. Practically doubling its number over the last decade, closing in on 3,800 restaurants, the chain continues to spread across North America and Europe.But this economic blessing comes at a cost. Cartels quickly moved in to control the Mexican avocado trade, relying on violence to keep people in line. Growers resort to illegal deforestation while overtaxing local water supplies to increase production. The government, meanwhile, faces the precarious situation of dealing with mafia violence without diminishing the huge economic gains reaped by this cash cow. Lovers of avocados, Michael and Kimberly weigh in on the ethical trade-off of the benefits to farmers and Mexico’s economy versus sustainability issues for human welfare and the environment.
Key Topics
How a Mexican staple food turned to gold, and the impact of its success on the locals
The amazing avocado tree
How Mexican avocados broke into the US market
The challenges the Mexican government faces as the world’s biggest avocado producer
Why the probability that the very avocado you’re eating was illegally grown
Chipotle’s dilemma of countering its carbon footprint
Why you might want to try Michael’s smoothie recipe (below), but also this fake guacamole one
Recommended Resources
Check out Kimberly’s Substack post on the challenges of dining out (available Friday)
Avocados in Africa
You decide: Chipotle’s ESG goals
Farmer protests
The greener alternative? Ecovados
Not so green when it comes to the environment
Useful link of fast facts about avocados (note that some of the data does vary from other sources we cited)
...more
30min

FAQs about Sustainable Planet:

How many episodes does Sustainable Planet have?

The podcast currently has 51 episodes available.