TreeHugger Radio

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For many people, Paul Hawken is a man who needs no introduction at all. As an author, a speaker, a theorist, and a business person, Paul Hawken has shaped the discussion of what sustainability is, and how it can be achieved. His Ecology of Commerce was an eye opener for many people (including Ray Anderson, last week’s interviewee), and Natural Capitalism, that he wrote with Amory and Hunter Lovins, can often be seen in the hands of Bill Clinton, brandished as a wakeup call to industry. Paul’s new book, Blessed Unrest (and its sister web community, Wiser Earth), is something different altogether: an exploration of what he says is the largest movement in human history. ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Special thanks go to CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview.

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TreeHugger Radio

Interface sells carpet to the tune of $1,100,000,000 each year. That is just one reason why the business world listens up when Ray Anderson speaks. Ray describes his ecological awakening as “a spear in the chest,” a wound he has used to both his company’s advantage, and the planet’s. Giving rebirth to 133 million pounds of carpet is just the beginning. Anderson and his design teams are hard at work studying nature’s delicate technologies—like the sticky feet of geckos—to make products better, cleaner, and more beautiful. Here, the founder of Interface shares his insights on biomimicry, right-brain thinking, cradle-to-cradle design, and our innate “biophilia.” ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Special thanks go to CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview.

Also, check out part one of our Ray Anderson interview. (Full text after the jump)

TreeHugger Radio

Ray Anderson started his company, Interface, back in the 1970s to make carpet. Like any business man, he wanted to shake up the market and make a healthy profit, which he’s done, and Interface now has 17 manufacturing locations on four continents. But this is not business as usual. Not anymore. Since having a sustainability epiphany, as he calls it, Ray has starting steering Interface toward one hell of a goal: zero negative effects on the planetary ecosystem by the year 2020, a goal he admits no corporation has yet reached. TreeHugger has long found inspiration in Interface’s elegant design solutions—products like modular carpet and FLOR—and in Anderson’s own sagely words. ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. For Part Two of this interview, click here.

Special thanks go to CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview.

(Full text after the jump)

TreeHugger Radio

In the second half of our face-to-face with Austin's mayor, Will Wynn talks about his part in the race to be America's greenest city, the decoupling of profits and pollution, and his vision for America getting it right (after we've exhausted every other option). ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Click here for Part One.

Image courtesy of Kim Lemaire.

TreeHugger Radio

Austin Texas is a direct challenge to typical stereotypes about the American South. As the capital of the most polluting state, Austin has decided to flip the script and become one of the most progressive cities in the nation. Mayor Will Wynn has been instrumental in this, and he’s the perfect man for the job. Born and raised in West Texas and graduating Texas A&M with a degree in environmental design, he speaks about climate change in the same twangy matter-of-fact way as another southern man with a fondness for cowboy boots, Mr. Al Gore.
Wynn has helped Austin become a national leader in wind power, biodiesel, plug-in hybrid cars, and more. He was a keynote speaker at the this year’s Sustainable Operations Summit in Monterey, California, which is where TreeHugger Radio caught up with him. ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Special thanks go to CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview. Image credit: Caleb Miller.

Also check out: The TH Interview: Roger Duncan, Plug-in Partners

TreeHugger Radio

Like Angelina Jolie, the Tesla Roadster looks smaller in person. Notwithstanding all the hype and speed-geek obsession around the electric car, it is a stunning thing to behold; truly elegant. Tesla’s San Carlos engineering facility is where the masterpiece is crafted, and TreeHugger Radio got a nice deep look inside. VP of Marketing Darryl Siry gave us the latest on the delivery of the Roadster, the star-studded waiting list, and even let us snag some exclusive shots (below the jump). ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to this podcast via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Special thanks to Calabash Music for the soundtrack.

TreeHugger Radio

As the world’s largest investment bank, Goldman Sachs raised some bushy eyebrows when it began putting its weight behind green investments. Spearheading the bank’s Environmental Markets Initiative was Mark Tercek, a managing director and longtime veteran of the bank. But now Goldman’s green golden boy is packing his bags to take the top seat at The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest environmental NGOs. Here, Mark speaks about crisis at the Conservancy, his two decades at Goldman, the green bubble, and the end of greenwashing. ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Also see: The TH Interview: Stephanie Meeks of the Nature Conservancy

Special thanks to Calabash Music for the soundtrack.

TreeHugger Radio

“How can the planting of trees threaten presidents and ministers and people in authority? It’s not the act of planting trees, it is the act of exposing the injustices…that people in office carry out.” Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai empowers people around the world through the simple act of putting roots into soil. But she has been beaten, tear-gassed and imprisoned for her work. Telling truth to power is also the reason she recently declined the honor of being an Olympic torch bearer. In the second part of our in-depth interview, Dr. Maathai also tells TreeHugger how she greens up her own remarkable life. ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

For Part One of our interview with Wangari, click here.