sustainable world

In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Bill Browning, Founding Partner of Terrapin Bright Green, a sustainability consulting firm that helps governments, corporations, and complex real estate projects meet sustainability goals that lead to the improved health and wellbeing of employees and ecosystems, as well as the enhanced performance of their products and systems.

Bill is one of the green building and real estate industry’s foremost thinkers and strategists, and an advocate for sustainable design solutions at all levels of business, government, and civil society. His expertise has been sought out by organizations as diverse as Fortune 500 companies, leading universities, non-profit organizations, the U.S. military, and foreign governments.

He and Ted worked together at Rocky Mountain Institute, where he founded Green Development Services, an entrepreneurial, non-profit “Think and Do Tank." He later went on to co-found Terrapin Bright Green, created out of the Partners’ shared sense of urgency to transition to a sustainable development model that could only be achieved by working with developers, communities, and companies around the world. Their mission has become an imperative to not only create a sustainable world but one that is aligned with natural processes and supports human health and wellbeing at all levels.

He defines biophilic design and shares case studies that demonstrate the effects that  harmonizing the built environment and natural world have on cognitive growth, health and wellbeing, and profitability and productivity within the business sector. Terrapin's work is reflective of both the culture of the community and the environmental features of a given ecosystem.

In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Andrew Jones, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Climate Interactive, and a Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan. Climate Interactive is rooted in the fields of system dynamics modelling and systems thinking. His team creates and share tools that help people see connections and drive effective and equitable climate action.

He and Ted discuss how climate modelling is an important step towards mitigating carbon emissions and making the right policy and personal choices to drive down emissions

Andrew was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and trained in environmental engineering and system dynamics modelling through a B.A. at Dartmouth College and a M.S. in Technology and Policy at MIT. At Dartmouth College, he became a student of Dana Meadows, who introduced him to the world of both systems thinking and global models as ways for citizens and top decision makers to test their thinking about what it is really going to take to create a sustainable world.

He then worked with Ted at Rocky Mountain Institute in the 1990s and in the 2000s with Dana Meadows at Sustainability Institute. At Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan, he and his team developed C-ROADS and En-ROADS, two user-friendly climate simulations in use by analysts around the world. 

His interviews have appeared in multiple media, including The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, and NPR’s Morning Edition. Andrew has also written two op-eds in the Sunday New York Times — one on building grounded hope and another in the form of an interactive simulation.

He co-accepted the ASysT Applied Systems Thinking Prize for “a significant accomplishment achieved through the application of systems thinking to a problem of U.S. national significance” and the System Dynamics Society’s Applications Award for the best real-world application of modelling. He is the 1990 recipient of Dartmouth College’s Ray W. Smith Award for the most significant contribution to the status of the College.

Andrew is based in Asheville, North Carolina, and teaches system dynamics at MIT Sloan and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano speaks to Dr. Christian Leitz, Managing Director, Secretary of Corporate Culture and Responsibility Committee, and Group Historian and Lead for Long-Term Archives at UBS. During the course of their conversation they cover the challenges to achieving sustainability from all aspects—from historical lessons to providing financial impetus to invest in sustainability.

Christian Leitz

Dr. Christian Leitz is Managing Director, Secretary of Corporate Culture and Responsibility Committee, and Group Historian and Lead for Long-Term Archives at UBS. He is the firm's first corporate historian. He coordinates UBS's sustainability reporting and regularly gives workshops and presentations on the topic of sustainability, both at UBS and the broader world. He also serves as a center of competence for questions relating to historical concerns at the firm. Before joining UBS in 2003, Christian taught history at universities in the UK and New Zealand. He has written and edited a large number of articles and essays, as well as six books. 

Host Zannat Reza and Dr. Trevor Hancock, co-founder of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, retired University of Victoria professor, and activist, as they delve into climate change through the lenses of planetary health and older adults. Trevor introduces the concept of a Well-being Society and the essential economic & mindset shifts that are required to move towards it. This includes innovative policy recommendations, like taxing robots and implementing wealth taxation,and the important changes that can be made locally and municipally. 

Zannat and Trevor explore the ways that older and younger generations can be engaged and come together to create these changes, and his real-life work to make this happen in his own community. The episode concludes with a discussion on global awareness, future perspectives, and the potential for older adults to be agents of change. Listeners will be inspired to reassess their values, and join the movement towards a sustainable and thriving society.

Chapter Time Stamps: 

(00:00:00) Introduction to Climate Change and Aging 

Zannat Reza introduces the episode, and today’s guest, Dr. Trevor Hancock. They discuss climate change as a part of planetary health crisis, and its particular impact on older adults. 

(00:04:18) Building a Well-being Society and Reshaping the Economy 

Trevor explains the concept of a Well-being Society & describes the five areas of action set out by the World Health Assembly in the Geneva Charter.  

(00:05:54) Calling for a Well-being Society 

Zannat asks about the government response to a call for a well-being society, and Trevor outlines actions that are and can be taken by health organizations, everyday people, and municipalities. 

(00:08:42) Restructuring Economics to Create Change 

Trevor outlines economic policy changes necessary to move towards planetary health, and to build age-friendly communities, cities, and societies. 

(00:10:05) How to Shift Mindsets and Foster Intergenerational Collaboration 

How do we change our society’s core values from the economy to the ecological? Trevor delves into this, and explores how young and older people can come together to build a more sustainable future. 

(00:14:09) Using Impact Networks to Create a Social Movement 

Zannat introduces the concept of impact networks,and Trevor talks about the importance of creating change locally, and how Conversations for One Planet Region is engaging communities and working to create an inclusive social movement. 

(00:17:35) Global Awareness and Future Perspectives 

Trevor highlights other countries around the world that have well-being budgets. He goes on to explore policy recommendations for funding, such as taxing robots and implementing wealth taxation. 

(00:20:56) Older Adults as Agents of Change 

Zannat asks Trevor to highlight some Canadian groups of older activists. They go on to emphasize the importance of working intergenerationally and particularly, with Indigenous elders to drive meaningful change. 

(00:22:42) Future of Aging: The Final 2 Questions   

Trevor answers the final 2 future of aging questions we ask all our guests.

• (00:00) - Introduction to Climate Change and Aging
• (04:18) - Building a Well-being Society and Reshaping the Economy
• (05:54) - Calling for a Well-being Society
• (08:42) - Restructuring Economics to create change
• (10:05) - How to Shift Mindsets and Foster Intergenerational Collaboration
• (14:09) - Using Impact Networks to Create a Social Movement
• (17:35) - Global Awareness and Future Perspectives
• (20:56) - Older Adults as Agents of Change
• (22:42) - Future of Aging: The Final 2 Questions