Creating a Cooler World Scott Miller

Mallory McDuff has been living on campus at Warren Wilson College for over 20 years. She is a professor who teaches environmental education at the college, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. Living and teaching at the college, and raising two daughters, has given her some unique opportunities to connect with young adults, understand their thoughts and feelings about climate change and the environment, and see how those thoughts and feelings have evolved and co...

Bill Von Novak is helping to put electric vehicle batteries in the Matrix. No, he’s not creating an electric version of the popular Toyota hatchback, as cool as that would be. Think Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus, not, “I can’t believe how much stuff fits in this little car!”Bill earned an electrical engineering degree from MIT and has a few decades of experience working with power systems for electric vehicles and UAVs. These days he works for a California-based company called Smartville. Smartv...

Laura Kits is a singer, songwriter, painter, freelance consultant and business writer. She is a climate activist and spokesperson in a movement called Extinction Rebellion.Extinction rebellion has grown from a small group of people to a competent, powerful and fun social movement with hundreds of local groups in almost sixty countries. They are a diverse group united by a deep concern for life on Earth and how all life will be impacted by the climate and ecological crisis we are currently fac...

At one end of the Lakewood Shopping Center in Durham, North Carolina, a nonprofit organization called The Scrap Exchange is doing its part to promote a circular economy. The Scrap Exchange’s mission is to reduce waste and promote creative reuse.When exactly is the last time that you threw something in the trash? How many things do you throw away each week? It’s not surprising if you don’t exactly remember. On average, Americans throw out almost 5 pounds of trash per person every day (a little...

Janna Starr works as a Project Coordinator at U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) where she has also served as a Certification Program Specialist supporting the LEED Volume Program. Before joining USGBC she managed green events in New York City and was the Facilities & Events Manager and Sustainability Officer at the North Carolina Botanical Garden.In this episode we talk with Janna about LEED, her work managing recycling and composting for parades and festivals in New York City, and simp...

How are scientists using AI to support research and conservation work? If you want hear from someone who is well versed in that field—someone who also understands how we can utilize cutting-edge technology while respecting traditional human knowledge and skills—you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zoë Jewell.Zoë is co-founder of WildTrack, a nonprofit wildlife research organization that develops non-invasive and cost-effective methods to monitor endangered species. WildTrack combines advanced d...