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Sustainability In Your Ear

Sustainability In Your Ear

By: Mitch Ratcliffe
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 Mitch Ratcliffe interviews activists, authors, entrepreneurs and changemakers working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, post-carbon society. You have more power to improve the world than you know! Listen in to learn and be inspired to give your best to restoring the climate and regenerating nature.Copyright 2025 Internet Media Strategies Inc. Biological Sciences Earth Sciences Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Science
Episodes
  • Sustainability In Your Ear: Culligan CEO Scott Clawson Maps The Future Of Water

    Sustainability In Your Ear: Culligan CEO Scott Clawson Maps The Future Of Water
    Oct 6 2025
    Read a transcript of this episode. Subscribe to receive transcripts.

    Turn on any faucet in America, and chances are the water meets federal safety standards. Yet Americans buy 50 billion single-use plastic water bottles annually—enough to circle the Earth 200 times if laid end to end. The bottles take 450 years to decompose, and recent research found that a single liter of bottled water can shed up to 240,000 pieces of microplastic that we ultimately consume. Meanwhile, 37% of global drinking water remains contaminated, with PFAS "forever chemicals" and lead appearing even in neighboring homes on the same street. Meet Scott Clawson, Chairman and CEO of Culligan International, the nearly 90-year-old company that's become the global leader in water services by making filtered water more accessible than single-use plastic. Under Clawson's leadership, Culligan serves 170 million people worldwide, and the company's filtration systems have helped avoid the use of 45 billion plastic bottles annually.

    The company has set ambitious targets: achieving net positive water impact by 2050 and cutting scope one and two emissions intensity by 40% before 2035. After completing WAVE water stewardship verification, Culligan discovered that even testing filtration equipment was wasteful, leading the company to develop dry-testing methods that eliminate water waste before machines reach consumers. The company has electrified 25% of its fleet and donated 9 million liters of water to communities in need in 2024 alone. Clawson's approach to sustainability isn't just operational—it's personal.

    A decade ago, while vacationing in the Bahamas, he encountered a beach covered in plastic waste. "That's when my inner balance was sparked to make sure we do more than just use our planet to make money, but let's use our planet to help it be a better place to live," he recalls. As water scarcity intensifies globally, Clawson believes the consumer holds the power: "Every time you pick something up off the shelf, you are voting. You're sending a signal to a company." His message is clear—test your water, understand what's in it, and invest in point-of-use filtration rather than contributing to the plastic crisis.You can learn more about Culligan International at culliganinternational.com.
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    35 mins
  • Terracycle Founder Tom Szaky On Building A Service-Centered Circular Economy

    Terracycle Founder Tom Szaky On Building A Service-Centered Circular Economy
    Sep 29 2025
    Read a transcript of this episode. Subscribe to receive transcripts.For decades, our relationship with waste has been defined by disposability and denial. The disposability of everything from coffee cups and cigarette butts to smartphones, and the denial about where it all goes when we're done with it, means that humans generate over 2 billion tons of waste globally each year, with Americans alone throwing away 290 million tons of waste annually. The convenient fiction is that recycling solves the problem. But the reality is starkly at odds with that comforting idea, and today we explore the challenge with a recycling innovator. Meet Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, who has spent over 20 years proving that what is considered impossible to recycle is really just unprofitable to recycle—by making the hard-to-recycle profitable. Terracycle has tackled some of the world's most challenging waste streams, like dirty diapers, cigarette butts, chewing gum, and composite packaging that municipal recyclers cannot handle profitably. TerraCycle now operates in over 20 countries.Even as TerraCycle proves that many materials can be recycled with the right economic model, Tom has concluded that recycling alone won't solve waste at its root cause, which led to the launch of the reusable packaging-based consumer good service Loop, which offers reusable packaging at stores in the U.S., Britain, and France. This realization led Tom to the conclusion that the waste crisis isn't just about recycling better, it's about redesigning our consumption. Historically, humans have made a mess. Every archaeological site has found waste piles, or what are called middens, alongside human settlements. However, other social species also pile up waste, as well as their dead, in middens. But we needn't bury ourselves in waste just because humans have always produced trash, as Tom explains, the economics of recycling have limited its success and at a time when we could not track and manage materials, such as during the explosion of trash during the consumer revolution of the 1950s we didn't have the logistical technology to address the many different materials in our garbage cans, but now we do from scannable codes to optical scanners that sort materials on high speed conveyor belts at materials recovery facilities (MRFs). Terracycle's pricing today reflects the cost of recycling a material when collection and sorting services, along with localized processing capacity, are not widespread. Now's the time to take that step towards circularity, a process that needs to start with companies that make what we buy. Tom shares his belief that the most powerful influence is each person's decisions at the store, which sends a vote to companies; you can send a message by opting for recyclable and reusable packaging. Learn more about TerraCycle and Loop by visiting https://terracycle.comSubscribe to Sustainability In Your Ear on iTunesFollow Sustainability In Your Ear on Spreaker, iHeartRadio, or YouTube
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    36 mins
  • Sustainability In Your Ear: Heather Terry's Regenerative Journey At GOODSam Foods

    Sustainability In Your Ear: Heather Terry's Regenerative Journey At GOODSam Foods
    Sep 22 2025
    The global food system stands at a crossroads. Climate change is reshaping where crops can grow, trade disputes threaten supply chains, and smallholder farmers who produce much of our food often have the least power in the system. Meet Heather Terry, founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods, and discover how the company is transforming the traditional smallhold farm model by putting people and regenerative agriculture at the heart of a growing food company. GoodSAM Foods sources 90% of its ingredients directly from smallholder farms in Latin America and Africa, eliminating middlemen and reinvesting profits into farming communities. Terry's approach is both principled and pragmatic: as climate volatility reduces crop yields globally, the companies that have built genuine relationships with farmers will have access to limited harvests. "When I'm a farmer and I suddenly have leverage, who am I going to sell that product to?" Terry asks. "It's relationships."[

    Terry's journey to raise $9 million in Series A funding over 18 months illustrates the disconnect between traditional investors and regenerative business models. After facing skepticism from conventional CPG investors, she found success with impact investors who understood that sustainable food systems represent the future of the industry. While GoodSAM maintains USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project verification, Terry takes a critical stance on regenerative certification labels, arguing that current systems impose Global North standards on farmers who have practiced regenerative techniques for generations. Instead, GoodSAM focuses on direct relationships and on-ground verification. Her proactive approach protected both the company and its farming partners from sudden economic shocks at a time when the U.S. food system faces mounting pressures from climate impacts and trade policy changes. "Every time you pick something up off the shelf, you are voting," Terry said. "You're sending a signal to a company."

    You can learn more about GoodSAM Foods at goodsamfoods.com.
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    45 mins
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