Flanigan's Eco-Logic

Ted Flanigan

Flanigan's Eco-Logic, hosted by Ted Flanigan, provides cutting-edge information and insights in sustainability and the clean energy space. Episodes address alternative energy -- featuring solar, storage, microgrids, vehicle grid integration, and energy access. In addition, the podcast covers resources issues -- like water and food issues, and even slow fashion. Flanigan’s enthusiasm, vast experience, and deep network in the energy and environmental arena are palpable as he brings exciting and encouraging green developments to the fore, interviewing and engaging leading policy makers and practitioners throughout the United States and in many countries around the world.

  1. 3d ago

    Human Nature Gets in the Way of Solving Big Problems

    Dr. Barry Davis has had a distinguished career as a physician and bio-statistician. Having begun his academic career at MIT, and getting his MD from University of California at San Diego, and a PhD in applied mathematics at Brown University, he is now a Professor Emeritus at University of Texas School of Public Health. And recently, he has written a book titled, "The Preventioneers: Diseases, Disasters, and the Discoveries that Changed the World."  The book begins with fire prevention. It was Benjamin Franklin who coined to term "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Franklin was referring to fire prevention. He was a historian and struck by the Great Fire of London in 1666. That disaster led to change... building codes were established, as were fire departments, warning systems etc. In addition to his role as an inventor and journalist, Franklin became a firefighter. Dr. Davis is board certified in medical prevention. His career focused on hypertension, on blood pressure, what he calls the silent killer. While there are means to prevent hypertension and its symptoms... heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and more... still 80% of those with high blood pressure are not adequately treated. Despite ample awareness, treatments that work... the numbers of people not taking action are shocking. The conversation digs into responsibility.. the responsibility of individuals, communities, and government action. Clearly, there is  a need to work together, things like traffic laws exemplify this. During the pandemic, clearly there was a need for vaccination and a need for isolation to present the spread of diseases. Some things we got very right... like the lightning speed roll-out of vaccines. But other things were not done well. We used to have a government office of Disease prevention.   He makes the point that climate change is not unique, that adopting a prevention mindset could reshape our response. Climate change follows the same pattern seen in public health crises. There is early resistance, delayed action, and eventual reckoning. There is a broad human tendency related to disasters: Rather than preventing them, even when there is strong evidence and early warnings are available, there is delay and inaction. Dr. Davis laments that climate change is not preventable now. We are past that point. Now we have mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.  The conversation wraps up with solutions. What can each of us do about climate change? First, vote for the right leaders to get government-level action. Take action in our communities... organize and contribute to prevention. Then there is the role of the media. Dr. Davis notes that fires and floods make the news for a few days, and then we move on. There needs to be persistent coverage and stories of climate change in movies and literature, and on social media. There needs to be more education and awareness... persistent messages about this enormous planetary threat to our civilization. Without question, we need to break past human nature, and address this huge threat head on.

    Human Nature Gets in the Way of Solving Big Problems
  2. Jul 6

    Tim Christophersen - The Urgent Need to Fix Our Relationship with Mother Earth

    Tim Christophersen has just released a book titled "Generation Restoration" that provides a roadmap, and conditional optimism, for fixing our relationship crisis with Mother Nature. Its forward by Jane Goodall provides guiding perspectives such as how our global society has shifted from taking resources as we "need" them to "greed" and over use. Goodall also posits that while humans may be the most intellectual creatures on Earth, we are certainly not the most intelligent... as we are destroying our home and sole planet. Tim pushes back on this. He is clear, rational, and hopeful: The current generation on Earth has the tools and the capacity to fix our ills and care for nature and our Earth. Tim and Ted discuss one of the book's themes... shifting baselines. Tim presents a picture of charter boats taking groups fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Same spot, two pictures, and 50 years apart. Today's catch is paltry. Fifty years ago, some of the catch was larger than humans. Tim describes that we have become accustomed to less fish in the sea, less biodiversity, isolated wildlife, more pollution, etc. Over time, we have succumbed to a lessened baseline of expectation: a lessened Mother Earth, nature on the ropes. This has to change, notes Tim.  Generation Restoration is a call to action. It's about solutions. Tim asks for "eco-literacy." Just as we as a global society have become literate with the internet and communications, digital literacy, now is the time for us to understand the language of ecology. We must become eco-engineers to create a tipping point of social change. And, our lives will not be lesser. Our quality of life will improve as we restore on a planetary scale. We must all, or at least many of us, says Tim, become vital ecosystems engineers. We can have a new outlook on life through restoring nature and experiencing its rich bounty of benefits. Tim talks about oysters and eels, how these species were once abundant. New York was once rich with oysters and exported them far and wide. They also cleaned the waters and could have played an ameliorating role buttressing super-storm Sandy's storm surge. New York should have been called The Big Oyster, not The Big Apple! And where Tim grew up in Germany, eels were the dominant fish. Now 90% are gone and with them pieces of the connected fragile ecology. Where to begin, Ted asks? Take stock of what you eat, Tim suggests. We all eat three meals a day. Tune in to where your food comes from.That's a great starting point. No action, and no one, is too small to make a difference. It all adds up Tim says. Everyone can chip in. Everyone can be active. There are so many ways to get involved such as triggering infrastructure investments in sustainability like EVs and microgrids. Major companies are now seeing the light. They must invest in their supply chains' resiliency which are threatened by climate change. Being eco-conscious has become good business, with a wealth of opportunities to be had in bringing forth restorative businesses and services, things that contribute to restoration and regeneration. After 15 years working for the United Nations Environmental Program—including ten years in Nairobi, Kenya—Tim made a career change to take a position as the Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce. From his own regenerative farm in Denmark, he now works with many of the 200,000 companies that are Salesforce clients, teaching them how to modify their supply chains in line with regeneration and restoration. He is excited about his role in triggering change on a major scale while growing trees, harvesting hay, and employing adaptive multi-paddock (rotational) grazing on his own farm. He and his family are doing their bit to restore our relationship with Earth.

    Tim Christophersen - The Urgent Need to Fix Our Relationship with Mother Earth
  3. Jun 29

    Etelle Higonnet - An Ambassador For Better Coffee Production

    Etelle Higonnet is the Founder and Director of Coffee Watch. She was born and raised in France, earned her undergraduate degree and law degree from Yale, worked around the world on human rights issues, before pivoting her focus to environmental issues with Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network, and others. She is currently based on Copenhagen, Denmark.  In this episode Etelle makes it painfully clear that while drinking coffee is a morning ritual for many of us, its production comes with profound social and environmental impacts that must be addressed. Coffee Watch is a non-profit. Its missions is to promote and secure coffee that is grown ethically, sustainably, in dignity for the people who grow it. Some statistics: 180 - 200 million Americans drink an average of three cups per day. There are 800 billion cups consumed each year around the globe. Finland leads the world for the most coffee per person! Americans are more likely to drink coffee than exercise on any given day.  We are all addicted... "We love our coffee, ice cream, tiramisu!"  It is so great and delicious; it makes the world go round. But it comes with huge hidden costs: poverty, child labor, and slave labor... plus deforestation. "If you are drinking coffee, you are definitely drinking poverty," states Etelle. Only a very few coffee companies pay a living income for the world's 125 million coffee growers. Many are paid $2 - 3 a day, well below the World Bank poverty level. "Another dirty, bitter gift is child labor,"... not after-school-appropriate labor, but backbreaking labor, most often with exposure to toxic pesticides. In Brazil, the world's number one coffee producer, cartels control production, and there, "modern slavery" is not uncommon.  Furthermore, Etelle explains that, "you are drinking deforestation." Coffee production is one of the seven largest causes of deforestation: cattle, palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, coca, rubber, and coffee. Cattle - for beef, dog food, and leather - is the largest deforester... and in cases where there is any attention to deforestation, the biggest causes are in the public eye. Coffee production is 1% of the problem and thus gets overlooked despite the scale of its impact: Vietnam has lost forests the size of Luxembourg to coffee; Brazil has lost acreage equivalent to Honduras to deforestation for coffee production. "Your latte every morning could be responsible for cascading impacts, like regional climate change, droughts, and reduced diversity." Etelle makes her point poignantly: "How about an oat milk latte with a side of dead jaguar or dead orangutan? People have no idea that they are drinking mass extinction."  As such, she founded Coffee Watch in 2024. It's dangerous work: Coffee is grown in narco-states, places with civil wars, in countries with repressive dictatorships. Her investigative teams are taking big risks to uncover the state of the industry. Coffee Watch is about taking action, raising consumer awareness through undercover investigations. There are teams working in China, Brazil, Columbia, Uganda, Kenya, and the Chiapas region of Mexico, known for its cartels. Coffee Watch also uses satellite mapping. It produces reports, is in the media, and is active on social media. Coffee Watch also sues the coffee industry for human trafficking and slavery. It has sued Nestle, Starbucks, McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, and others. Companies should not be allowed to get away with this kind of coffee in their supply chains. Etelle believes that consumers would be willing to pay more for coffee that is responsibly grown. And it would cost just a couple cents more per cup to do so. With a cappuccino costing over $3, and specialty coffees at $7... a few cents would assuage a lot of guilt. And if the price goes up, the demand will not. That's been proven. Despite tariffs, everyone still buys their coffee. But fundamentally, people just do not know the truths of coffee production in Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, Columbia, Uganda, and Kenya and other countries. Industry is responsible for the lion's share of the abuse, enabled by the producer governments that have abdicated their duty to care for their citizens. The podcast ends up with a discussion of solutions. Are certification programs effective? Etelle makes clear that they are only partially effective. Most are not delivering real sustainability. Organic is great in that it eliminates pesticides, but does nothing to stem deforestation, to assure women's rights, and eliminate child labor. Most consumers assume that organic and fair trade coffees are ethical and sustainable, but for the most part, they are not. No certifications require producers to pay living-income wages to coffee farmers. So what should our listens do? Etelle encourages listeners to dedicate an hour to figuring out good ethical coffee that are available locally, and that reflect your values. Find it, a good ethical and sustainable coffee. Then buy it. Then spread the word to our spheres of influence... your university, office, mosque, or church, and become an ambassador. Demand better coffee, more sustainable coffee. Follow Coffee Watch to make it easy: https://coffeewatch.org/

    Etelle Higonnet - An Ambassador For Better Coffee Production
  4. Jun 22

    Stuart Jenkins - Great Runners Are Faster Wearing Shoes Made With Recycled Foam

    Stuart Jenkins is the founder and chief executive officer of Blumaka, a company that manufactures insoles and shoes for high performance athletes. As a marathon competitor, Stuart was frustrated not to be able to access high performance running shoes, so he designed and now manufacturers and sells his own line. Blumaka also sells its insole technology to Fleks shoes, one of Oprah's top product picks. The podcast begins with Stuart's story. A farm boy from Nebraska, he won major marathons, finished in the Boston Marathon seven times, and was an Olympic trial runner. All told, he has run nearly 90,000 miles in his life so far, equivalent to circling the globe more than three times. He had first-hand experience with worn out insoles that lost their cushion. The insoles that come with top brand shoes, he states, fail in 30 miles or less. Blumaka guarantees its insoles for 1,000 miles. Ted and Stuart discuss the benefits of running.. lots of time to think and reflect. Running competitively, Stuart reflects, is all about effort. If you work hard, you can be at the front of the pack. The old joke is that the hardest part of running is pulling on your shorts! Running stimulates creativity and thought; you can process information better when not distracted. Stuart stated that he can get more work done on a 30-minute run that being in the office for 4 - 5 hours. As a young runner, he was given shoes by local race sponsors for winning his division. But they did not satisfy him so he took out his mom's butcher's knife and cut away at foam for more flex and better cushion. He punched holes in shoes if they were too hot. At age 17, and after modifying lots of shoes he thought, "I can make them better." The conversation shifts to foam. Blumaka uses leftover foam from manufacturing—soles that would otherwise be buried or burned. Foam is plastic, Stuart explains, the worst kind of plastic. Imagine plastic blown with gas. Once the air is blown into the foam, like a scrambled egg, it cannot be separated and recycled. Stuart buys waste foam from shoe manufacturing and found a way to reconfigure it, granulating it to maintain its cushioning properties. Blumaka's high performance products are popular. There are now 20 NFL teams buying from Blumaka, plus over 1,000 professional athletes. The non-slip insoles help runners run faster as their feet are not sliding inside shoes. They help golfers hit balls farther. Stuart is clear that his products are being bought not because they are sustainable... but for performance. His company's mantra is to sell a product that is sustainable, but it also has to look as good or better, last as long or longer, and cost the same or less.  Blumaka built, owns, and operates a factory in Southern China where it is manufacturing without the cocktail of chemicals used by the major brands and their suppliers... and using a fraction of the water. Now Blumaka produces a line of products, from insoles and running shoes to pickleball shoes, golf shoes, and through its sister brand -- Fleks-- Blumaka sells sandals, flip-flops, and slides. EcoMotion readers are welcome to use the code "ECOL20" at the Blumaka or Fleks website for a 20% discount to buy "the most sustainable souls on the planet."

    Stuart Jenkins - Great Runners Are Faster Wearing Shoes Made With Recycled Foam
  5. Jun 15

    Bryan Hannegan -- U.S. Utility Runs on 100% Renewable Power

    Bryan Hannegan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Holy Cross Energy (HCE), an electric cooperative in the mountains of Colorado. He appeared on the podcast in 2021 talking about how to create the utility of the future. Now he reports on results and the remarkable accomplishment  that HCE operated with 100% renewable power in the month of March 2026. The conversation begins by digging into the 100% clean energy accomplishment, that Bryan describes as an intermediate step toward the goal for delivering clean energy every hour of every day by 2030. That's HCE's goal and it is an ambitious goal. What happened in March is that HCE was able to procure an equal amount of renewable energy to meet the amount demanded by HCE's 60,000 delivery points. The supply included projects under contracts as well as power from wholesale partners. Fully 60% of that power was time matched... generated in the hour that it was consumed.  Bryan described HCE's accomplishment in March like hiking a mountain and reaching a flat spot on the trail up to the summit... there's still a steep vertical face up to the summit. A number of factors made the March milestone possible: HCE is a winter-peaking utility, serving two of Colorado's premier ski resorts and their surrounding communities. Spring is a time of rest... when demand hits an ebb of about 100 MW versus HCE's 300 MW winter peak. March was very sunny and strong winds were constant. Fully 60% of the power delivered was from projects directly contracted by HCE... they serve HCE directly, the transmission in HCE's name. "Those are about as clean a shot as one can get," noted Bryan. The other 40% are bundled market purchases in which HCE buys energy and their renewable energy certificates. The conversation shifts to utility resource planning and to the concept of stacking renewable resources, and the need to do so given the inherent variability of renewables like wind and solar. Diversity is key, noted Bryan. HCE is pleased to get power from different locations... in the mountains and in the eastern plains of Colorado. This resource diversity enables HCE to have something going at all times.  Bryan explains that HCE is "orchestrator of all these different supplies"... while orchestrating all 60,000 meters, influencing members on how and when they use power.  And one of his key goals is encouraging customers to use more power when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. There are many hours when HCE has excess solar and wind. HCE's goals are to store excess renewable power and to sync consumer demand with renewable resources. Ted brings up the notion that Bryan presented in 2021, that utilities such as HCE will coordinate networked microgrids. Bryan this time took it a step further, suggesting that every home and building will likely be a microgrid of its own some day due to risks of wildfire, cybersecurity, and aging infrastructure. Everyone will need a Plan B, to be intentional about resilience due to climate variability and risks to normal utility grid operations. Bryan and his team are working to create regional resources, so that if need be, HCE can operate in pieces rather than as a whole. HCE now has 30 MW customer-owned solar the vast majority of which is residential, thanks in part to Colorado's full retail price net energy metering. To this favorable policy, HCE has added incentives for batteries, and now about half of all new solar is paired with batteries, storage devices that HCE can draw upon making capacity payments to member-owner instead of making capacity payments for resource adequacy in the power markets. HCE is currently paying about $10/kW month for consumers to be partners in this pursuit. HCE offers a number of innovative programs: The PuRE program allows customers that want 100% clean power now. They pay a very small premium for that; their investments accelerate the the pace for all HCE customers. The Peak Time Payback.... for all customers... pay several multiples of what they pay HCE, to not use electricity. HCE just rolled out Time of Use rates for homeowners, sending a signal about the real system costs of using electricity in our homes and businesses all at once. Creating the utility of the future...  Ted asks what's next? Bryan and his team are focused on trimming power delivery costs, optimizing the power system, leaning in on operating a more flexible and resilient electricity grid. HCE needs to continue to get ready for the next challenges... dealing with cybersecurity, aging equipment. HCE needs to be nimble and flexible while staying true to its core mission of providing reliable and affordable power. Bryan envisions a world where every home, building, and vehicle is producing as well as consuming electricity. HCE will manage that every hour and every day.

    Bryan Hannegan -- U.S. Utility Runs on 100% Renewable Power
  6. Jun 8

    Claire Smith -- Vegan Entrepreneur and Fund Manager

    Claire Smith, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is the CEO of Beyond Investing and Chief Innovative Officer for Beyond Impact. These two ventures work in concert, one providing impact investing, the other advancing startups for plant-based and cruelty-free businesses.  Claire describes her journey... how she melded two major aspects of her life: her vegan path with her 30-year career in conventional finance. Bringing them together brought coherence and consistency to her personal and professional life and how she invested her money.  The ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) that she and her colleagues created can be traded through the day with prices moving like stocks. The fund has ~$180 million in traded assets. After years of being a vegetarian, her experience as a mother amplified her empathy for animals, particularly females taken from their offspring. Cows are deprived of their calves so humans can drink their milk. She wanted to stop harming animals -- the worst of which is killing them for their meat. She realized how embedded these patterns are in society while, without question, the health benefits of eating more fruits and veggies are universally known. Beyond our personal health, at a global scale, the production of animal products is major source of greenhouse gases. Only 1-2% of the world's population is vegan, with early roots in ancient India where some strict vegetarians do not eat some root vegetables such as potatoes because of the disturbance of soil and harm to insects that live there. Bees are also discussed and Claire expresses her sentiment that when we harvest honey, we are taking away their winter sustenance. "Let the bees eat their honey!" Ted asks Claire about her diet and its diversity: She says she eats with an "Asian slant," things like tofu and vegetables. She eats whole foods versus "junk food vegan." She loves dark chocolate, but notes that there are vegan milk chocolate products as well as vegan ice cream. Her company is an investor in a vegan cheese producer in France that uses cashews mixed into a paste, then fermented with yeast to create cheese. The cheese is made of only four ingredients, without emulsifiers and other synthetic products. Animal products are used in four broad categories, for nutrition, ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and materials... all part of same supply chain. In each case, Claire notes, replacement products are needed. Leather, for example constitutes up to 10% of animals' carcass value. In addition to killing animals to make leather, its production has nasty environmental consequences. To stop skin from decomposing, harsh chemicals are used for tanning and dyeing  products. These are extremely harmful to workers and then go into our environment. Automobile manufacturers are keen on supporting alternatives to leather as upholstered seats and interiors are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions. Pharmaceuticals have a history of being derived from animals. Drugs such as insulin were originally derived from pigs' pancreases. The change from animal-based insulin production to microbes is a powerful example, the result is a superior version of the product without slaughter of pigs. Animals have been extensively used for preclinical trials and testing. Claire explains that her investment company is supporting businesses whose products are not based on "animal models" for drugs. Clever technologies provide alternative forms of cell replication that are able to provide far more accurate tests than those using animals. Claire discusses the economics of her businesses. The fund is doing well, with strong returns. "Performance this year is gratifying." The ETF allows vegans and environmentalists and well as people concerned about social investing (no investments in oil, tobacco, or weapons), allow investors the ability to sleep at night, not worrying about what their money is profiting. Her ETF, in aggregate over seven years, is ahead of the conventional markets... from its inception in 2019 to the present, almost 3% ahead of the S&P 500. Her final points speak to investments in things that are unsustainable, like oil production. The value of oil companies today is partially based on their proven reserves... reserves that they will not be able to use given their combustions' environmental consequences. These business will be subject to increasing lawsuits, they will have to spend more and more on lobbying to be able to pollute. She states that "they are broken business models" in the long term, with stranded assets... underscoring the value of socially responsible investments that will truly benefit our global society.

    Claire Smith -- Vegan Entrepreneur and Fund Manager
  7. Jun 1

    Gareth Evans - Driving Down Business Energy Costs

    Gareth Evans is the founder and CEO of Veckta, an energy consulting firm that advises businesses on how to take control of their energy costs. Far from taking passive positions, and given rising energy costs, he encourages businesses to explore their options using tools such as onsite energy production, energy efficiency, and energy storage. Veckta develops custom solutions and then employs its platform of ~4,000 vendors to fulfill strategies based on a particular company's needs... be it cost savings, energy resilience, cutting emissions, brand recognition, or prioritizing between locations. What Gareth has realized since founding Veckta in 2019, is that companies need a playbook. While companies are naturally expert in their own lines of business, since energy costs represent up to 40% of operating costs, rather than letting energy costs spiral upward... companies need to be made aware of their opportunities to not only stem costs, but to create new revenue centers. To spread the word, Gareth has recently written the playbook, a book called "Powering Profits." It was released on May 19, 2026 and is available on Amazon. Gareth's career in energy  began in oil and gas. In 2009, and right after the Gulf War, he was dispatched to Iraq to determine the steps required to rebuild the war-ravaged oil and gas infrastructure in Iraq as a precursor for major oil companies restarting operations there. He was stationed at a U.S. Army base in Basra, and describes mortar attacks, his detail of body guards and more. In that very dangerous capacity, he was made painfully aware of the complex and costly infrastructure needed to extract oil and gas, and beyond that, he took stock at how these precious resources were exported to foreign countries, often for inefficient uses.  In Iraq, Gareth also witnessed the gross disparity between the major international, fossil fuel conglomerates, and the people in Iraq who were lacking access to energy... often with very limited electricity, and often without air conditioning in the desert heat of summer there. His experiences shaped his perspectives, that energy is the lifeblood of economies around the world. Too many of us take it for granted. For 15 years Gareth worked for Worley/Parsons, nine years of which he worked for its consulting division -- Advisian -- helping to establish energy infrastructure in countries around the world. His frustration with writing plans and giving presentations, often followed by inaction, led him to form Veckta. Through his own company, he was and continues to be determined to see plans through to action... realizing actual projects to manage energy and its costs most wisely in dynamic markets. This is the gist of Powering Profits: challenging the status quo, adapting purposefully, and empowering co-creation as taking action, Gareth notes, is a team sport. The book makes clear the options that businesses have to control their costs and footprints. It also highlights the cost of inaction, and while fear of failure is understandable and a more powerful emotion than the possibility of victory, how companies can reward action. It's a book for business leaders, a playbook that he hopes will result in hugely positive returns for those companies that take its messages and strategies to heart... and to action.

    Gareth Evans - Driving Down Business Energy Costs
  8. May 25

    Allen Hershkowitz PhD -- Climate and Sports

    Allen Hershkowitz PhD is an environmental scientist who joined Ted for an update conversation. Allen has worked at the confluence of climate and sports for 25 years. He first recorded on Flanigan's Eco-Logic in March of 2022 highlighting his early influences and early career... including 28 years at the Natural Resources Defense Council. There he met the actor Robert Redford who encouraged him to create an alliance of sports leagues and teams to promote efficiency, sustainability, and climate protection. That gave rise to the Green Sports Alliance which Allen ran for years.  The update starts off with the big picture: It is certainly encouraging, Allen acknowledges, that today nearly every major sports league and each venue has a sustainability plan. But Allen points squarely to the current rollback in federal support for greening. This has retarded progress and has made his work more difficult. And while top athletes earn huge salaries, sporting venues are business ventures. They are tight on cash and scrutinize all expenditures carefully. Allen discussed his current work for the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates, overseeing engineering audits of their stadiums, detailing their technical potentials at different returns on investment. Allen noted that many of his colleagues at venues wish that there were federal requirements for efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions... turning CFOs' view from "would be nice" to " must do it." Allen mentions the Trump administration pulling the United States out of the Paris Accord, gutting the EPA and other agencies, and how these actions have deflated some of his American work, while Europe and Australia have maintained strict greening laws. In the early days of the Green Sports Alliance one of Allen's great triumphs was getting Bud Selig, head of the Major League Baseball, to say that climate change is real. A recent success was getting the Yankees management to host the United Nations at its stadium and to pledge its ongoing support for the Paris Accords despite Washington. Next week, Allen is off to the French Open tennis tournament in Paris to see the tournament and to participate in meetings. He recants the story of how he was introduced bo Billie Jean King years ago, and how she had wanted to green the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Allen dreamed of all the tennis grand slams... French Open, Australian Open, Wimbleton... to adhere to the sustainability standards of the USTA. Now they do! Ted and Allen discuss the upcoming Olympics in in Los Angeles... LA 28. Allen states that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sets the gold standard for green events. The two biggest impacts of an Olympic games is building venues and transporting fans to the events. In LA, there will be no new construction. Instead, the games spread around to existing venues. Electric buses and shuttles are planned for Olympians. The IOC is also investing in the legacy of the LA Olympics, funding LA non-profits focused on resilience and working with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) to take lessons learned in greening the Olympics to future events and applications.

    Allen Hershkowitz PhD -- Climate and Sports

About

Flanigan's Eco-Logic, hosted by Ted Flanigan, provides cutting-edge information and insights in sustainability and the clean energy space. Episodes address alternative energy -- featuring solar, storage, microgrids, vehicle grid integration, and energy access. In addition, the podcast covers resources issues -- like water and food issues, and even slow fashion. Flanigan’s enthusiasm, vast experience, and deep network in the energy and environmental arena are palpable as he brings exciting and encouraging green developments to the fore, interviewing and engaging leading policy makers and practitioners throughout the United States and in many countries around the world.