HAPPY PLANET

Abigail Carroll

Can innovation, entrepreneurship and investment make the planet happier and healthier? Entrepreneur and investor Abigail Carroll thinks so. Through conversations with founders, investors, and thought leaders, in over a dozen countries and counting, Abigail shares this thought-provoking and hope-promoting world with her audience. And always with a little humour.

  1. Is Biomimicry the key to sustainable industrial design? Sidney Rostan, Founder and CEO, BIOXEGY

    12/03/2025

    Is Biomimicry the key to sustainable industrial design? Sidney Rostan, Founder and CEO, BIOXEGY

    Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday!  If you've ever drawn inspiration from nature, this is the podcast for you.  Our guest this week is Sidney Rostan, a Paris-based entrepreneur and biomimicry expert. If you remember from one of our first podcasts, biomimicry is the design and production of solutions that are modeled on biological entities and processes.  Sidney's engineering firm, BIOXEGY, proposes industrial engineering solutions that are uniquely designed to mimic nature. He says solutions modeled after nature have many advantages, including better sustainability, and the benefit of thousands of years of nature's fine-tuning.  To listen, tune into Happy Planet on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts.    Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    45 min
  2. Can we have a regenerative planet within a decade? Rob Avis, Co-Founder 5th Generation

    11/19/2025

    Can we have a regenerative planet within a decade? Rob Avis, Co-Founder 5th Generation

    Send us a text Welcome to the 70th episode of Happy Planet podcast. This is the podcast where we celebrate innovation for a happy planet. This week we are traveling to Alberta, Canada to speak with Rob Avis, co-founder of 5th World, a Canadian startup focused on regenerative living.  5th World  designs and builds  self-sufficient homesteads, greenhouses and combined food, water, and energy systems we can live and work more synergistically with nature. Rob has powerful backers and big ambitions. Their end goal? Planetary regeneration within a generation.  https://5thworld.com/ Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    49 min
  3. Can we have our coffee and our happy planet too? Etelle Higonnet, COFFEE WATCH

    11/05/2025

    Can we have our coffee and our happy planet too? Etelle Higonnet, COFFEE WATCH

    Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! You might want to listen to this podcast before you pour yourself that cherished morning cup of coffee.... Our guest today is Etelle Higonnet, a French-born, Yale Law School graduate, living in Denmark, who set out to make coffee more environmentally friendly through her organization COFFEE WATCH.  What she discovered was that environmental degradation was just the tip of the iceberg. The coffee industry is fraught with human injustices as well including human trafficking, child labor, and slavery.  Despite these horrors, Etelle is confident that she can make a difference by getting all of us to vote with our pocketbooks and put pressure on our local governments.  Can we have our coffee and our happy planet too? Tune in to hear it from Etelle. Coffee Watch Etelle Higonnet Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    51 min
  4. Seafood Industry Masterclass: Bill Gerencer, Author of Working Waterfront

    10/22/2025

    Seafood Industry Masterclass: Bill Gerencer, Author of Working Waterfront

    Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! If you have ever wanted to lift the veil on New England's mysterious working waterfront, this is the podcast for you. Our guest today is Bill Gerencer, a veteran of 40+ years on the New England Working Waterfront.  Bill served as lobsterman commercial fisherman, fish buyer, salesperson, corporate trainer, fisheries management advisor, and in retirement, a part-time oyster farmer. I have known Bill for years as he used to buy oysters from me on behalf of Boston-based Foley Fish, when it was still a century-old, family-run business. Bill has recently written a candid memoir titled, Working Waterfront, a Fish Tale. With humour and insight, it dives into everything from near-death experiences on fishing boats to Seaport bar brawls to regulating the fisheries. The tone is Hemmingway-esque, straightforward but soulful. Each chapter ends with a fittingly rough-and-ready seafood recipe. Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    53 min
  5. The Comeback Kelp - Can Maine's Atlantic Sea Farms be turned around?

    10/08/2025

    The Comeback Kelp - Can Maine's Atlantic Sea Farms be turned around?

    Send us a text There's nothing we like more than a comeback kid. While 98% of total farm seaweed in the world comes from Asia, over the past decade, entrepreneurs in the US, Europe and Africa have been trying to change that by producing locally-grown, high-quality seaweed for their domestic markets. I've met a number of these entrepreneurs and it's not easy. Once you master aquaculture, you have to find a market, and that is proving to be a challenge. Some of these companies have gone bottom up. A few months ago, we thought Maine-based, Atlantic Sea Farms, commonly referred to as ASF, was going to live a similar fate. Right out of the gate, it seemed like nothing could hold it back. ASF raised millions of dollars and made an incredible splash in the national media, but they just couldn't become profitable. ASF shareholders, however, refused to shutter the company. They opted to restructure and brought in turnaround specialist Barrett Wood.  Barrett joins us today to tell us how he is breathing new life into the company and paving a way to profitability.  Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    36 min
  6. The Environmental Impact of War

    10/01/2025

    The Environmental Impact of War

    Send us a text Every day we see more devastating news coming out of on the wars in Gaza and the Ukraine. We see photos of cities and towns turned into piles of rubble and people who have lost their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods. But there are other insidious ramifications of these wars that we seldom discuss. And those are the effects on the environment. To discuss this, ellie Kinney joins us this week from the UK based organization, conflict and Environment Observatory. This organization was launched in 2018 with the primary goal of increasing awareness and understanding of the environmental and derived humanitarian consequences of conflicts and military activities. https://ceobs.org/ Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    31 min
  7. When innovating for health and circularity involves navigating  global affairs.  Alison Cove, Founder, USEFULL

    07/16/2025

    When innovating for health and circularity involves navigating global affairs. Alison Cove, Founder, USEFULL

    Send us a text Our guest today is Alison Cove, founder of USEFULL, a circular reuse solution that partners with college campuses to make student takeout meals a zero-waste and microplastic-free experience.  With a business focused on domestic health and circularity, Alison never thought she’d be so affected by global affairs. She has navigated her burgeoning business through disruptions caused by a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the constantly changing tariff schedules. Alison has shown resilience at every impact....  Alison Cove Usefull Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    39 min
  8. Building an Ocean Community. Paul Holthus, Founding President, World Ocean Council

    07/07/2025

    Building an Ocean Community. Paul Holthus, Founding President, World Ocean Council

    Send us a text  Today's guest is Paul Holthus. Paul is a blue economy visionary. He is the founding president and CEO Emirati of the World Ocean Council, affectionately called the WOC. Founded in 2008, long before anyone was talking about the blue economy, WOC's aim is to unite ocean industries in order to support cooperative corporate ocean responsibility.  Paul discusses his path to founding the WOC, the organization's role and priorities, where are the big ocean opportunities, and the new challenges presented by a challenging political landscape.  https://worldoceancouncil.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-holthus-81b10b8/ Support the show Listen on Apple , Spotify, our website, or pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts! I'd like to thank our sponsors: Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Bold Ocean Ventures have partnered to create a mission-driven venture capital fund, supporting the growth of innovative, sustainable ocean-related businesses. Startup Marin Skincare has rocketed thanks to products made with Maine-lobster-derived glycoprotein that work on eczema and dry skin. Former guest on our show and co-Founder Patrick Breeding is offering listeners a 20% discount on their skincare products. Type HAPPYPLANET into the coupon code field! Spark No. 9, ensures that companies - and startups - have successful product launches by testing their products online. Remove the guesswork before you launch! Promotional and program partners include ...

    47 min

Trailer

5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Can innovation, entrepreneurship and investment make the planet happier and healthier? Entrepreneur and investor Abigail Carroll thinks so. Through conversations with founders, investors, and thought leaders, in over a dozen countries and counting, Abigail shares this thought-provoking and hope-promoting world with her audience. And always with a little humour.