The Young Ike Project

Upwing Media, Griffith Pugh
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Nature
  • Updated Semimonthly

Building a new environmental majority through honest conversation. A podcast and participatory dialogue initiative exploring the defining environmental challenges and tradeoffs shaping our shared future.

  1. 6d ago

    Future Makers: Biochar & Turning Waste Into Climate Solutions ft. Jason Dodier

    Climate Future Makers is a monthly series from The Young Ike Project spotlighting people actively building real-world climate solutions. The goal is to move beyond the doom-and-denial cycle that often defines environmental discourse and instead tell the stories of builders, innovators, and leaders shaping a more sustainable future right now. Our second guest is Jason Dodier, co-founder of Grain Ecosystem, a company working at the intersection of carbon removal, waste management, and regenerative agriculture. After spending more than a decade in the global energy and infrastructure sector, Dodier turned his attention to one of climate's most overlooked opportunities: transforming waste streams into valuable environmental and economic assets. In this episode, we explore Dodier's journey from international business and energy infrastructure to climate entrepreneurship. Along the way, he shares how experiences working across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the United States shaped his understanding of energy systems, economic development, and the growing need for scalable climate solutions. We also dive into the emerging world of biochar—a carbon-rich material created from agricultural and forestry waste that can improve soil health, reduce pollution, generate renewable energy, and permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere. Dodier explains how Grain Ecosystem helps connect project developers, investors, waste producers, and carbon markets to accelerate the deployment of these technologies across communities around the world. Finally, we discuss the challenges of building a climate startup, the importance of storytelling in driving innovation, and why Dodier believes many of the most important climate solutions will emerge from local communities willing to rethink their relationship with waste, energy, and land.

    41 min

  2. Apr 28

    Future Makers: Fixing Farming’s Fertilizer Problem ft. Bill Brady

    Climate Future Makers is a new monthly series from The Young Ike Project spotlighting people actively building real-world climate solutions. The goal is to move beyond the doom-and-denial cycle that often defines environmental discourse and instead tell the stories of builders, innovators, and leaders shaping a more sustainable future right now. Our first guest is Bill Brady, a veteran industrial executive turned climate entrepreneur. After decades leading global chemical businesses, Brady shifted his career toward solving large-scale environmental problems and has since helped launch ventures in clean fuels, low-carbon cement, and sustainable agriculture. In this episode, we explore Brady’s latest venture, Kula Bio, which is developing biologically based nitrogen fertilizer as an alternative to the century-old Haber-Bosch process. We discuss how synthetic fertilizer helped feed the modern world, but also contributes heavily to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and soil degradation. Brady explains how Kula’s technology uses naturally occurring microbes to deliver nitrogen in a cleaner, more regenerative way. We also dive into the realities of climate entrepreneurship—breaking into markets long controlled by established industry players. Brady closes with a broader vision for the future: that the nexus between energy and technology will define the next century and beyond.

    34 min

  3. Mar 17

    AI, Hype, and the History of Tech Bubbles: What Past Manias Can Teach Us About the Data Center Buildout ft. Dr. Andrew Odlyzko

    Andrew Odlyzko is a mathematician, technology historian, and professor at the University of Minnesota who has spent decades studying the relationship between innovation, finance, and technological manias. His research spans everything from the railway booms of the 19th century to the dot-com bubble—and what those earlier episodes can teach us about the AI buildout happening today. In this episode, we zoom out from the day-to-day politics of data centers to ask a bigger historical question: what happens when a transformative technology collides with hype, speculation, and the promise of world-changing progress? Odlyzko explains why AI fits into a much longer story of technological booms, why bubbles often form around real breakthroughs, and how past manias sometimes left society with useful infrastructure even when investors got burned. We also talk about why he believes the current AI moment is becoming more dangerous. As improvements in large language models begin to look more incremental, the scale of spending on chips, data centers, and infrastructure keeps rising. Odlyzko argues that the real warning sign is financial: once the buildout moves beyond hyperscalers spending their own profits and starts drawing in outside investors through increasingly creative financing, the broader risks grow. This is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubThis is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubFollow us on Social Media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyoungike/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Young-IKE-61579184976598/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-young-ike/

    49 min

  4. Mar 2

    A “Small City” of Water Demand: Why Data Centers Are a Water Governance Stress Test ft. Carrie Jennings

    Carrie Jennings is the Research and Policy Director at the Freshwater Society and a geologist by training. She’s one of Minnesota’s leading voices on groundwater and water policy. A past guest from last season, we’re thrilled to have her back on the podcast. In this episode, we talk about the rise of hyperscale data centers and what they could mean for water in Minnesota and across the Great Lakes region. Jennings explains why groundwater is often misunderstood as “infinite,” how data centers can function like adding a new small city’s worth of demand to the edge of a metro-center. We also dig into the governance problem: non-disclosure agreements, limited public data on actual water use, and how municipal hookups can effectively let data centers “jump the line” during scarcity—despite statutory water-use priorities. Jennings closes by outlining where Minnesota’s system is breaking down and what it would take to build clearer rules before the next wave of high-volume water users arrives. This is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubThis is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubFollow us on Social Media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyoungike/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Young-IKE-61579184976598/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-young-ike/

    55 min

  5. Feb 8

    Who Decides What Gets Built? Data Centers, Democracy, and Environmental Law ft. Kathryn Hoffman

    Kathryn Hoffman is the CEO of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), where she leads legal and policy efforts to protect Minnesota’s water, air, and natural resources. In this episode, we talk about the rapid expansion of data centers and AI infrastructure — and the growing tension between economic development, environmental protection, and democratic transparency. Hoffman explains how data centers are currently reviewed and approved in Minnesota, why MCEA is challenging opaque environmental reviews and non-disclosure agreements, and what stronger guardrails could look like to ensure communities understand the water, energy, and environmental tradeoffs before these projects move forward. This is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubThis is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubFollow us on Social Media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyoungike/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Young-IKE-61579184976598/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-young-ike/

    46 min

  6. Feb 1

    One Year In: The Boundary Waters under Trump 2.0 ft. Becky Rom

    This episode is a special break from our current season on data centers and the environmental trade-offs of the AI infrastructure buildout. Instead, we return to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for a clear-eyed, one-year-in assessment of what has actually changed under the second Trump administration. When I first spoke with Becky Rom just before the 2024 election, much of the conversation was shaped by uncertainty. A year later, a lot has changed. Or has it? Recorded on January 21st—the morning the House voted on H.J. Res. 140—this conversation walks through the concrete policy mechanics behind the fight to undo federal protections for the Boundary Waters: the 20-year mining withdrawal, the Congressional Review Act, and what’s at stake if Congress succeeds. Rom, National Chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, explains what change is tangible versus symbolic, how federal and state protections intersect, and why this moment feels both like a culmination of the past year—and another critical chapter in the decades-long battle over America’s most visited wilderness.Articles Mentioned: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/02/11/an-ely-group-agrees-on-the-value-of-the-boundary-waters-but-they-cant-agree-on-mining?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.themeateater.com/conservation/public-lands-and-waters/protecting-the-boundary-waters-is-a-test-of-leadership-for-americas-publicLearn more about SAVE at: savetheboundarywaters.orgFollow us on Social Media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyoungike/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Young-IKE-61579184976598/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-young-ike/

    35 min

  7. Jan 22

    The Politics of Data Centers—and Whether Minnesota’s Landmark 2040 Clean Energy Law Will Hold ft. Nick Frentz

    Minnesota State Senator Nick Frentz chairs the Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate Committee and authored Minnesota’s landmark 2023 law requiring 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040. He represents Senate District 18 in the Mankato area. In this episode, we talk about the rapid growth of data centers and AI infrastructure — and the real tension between economic development and environmental limits. Frentz walks through what Minnesota’s data center law actually does (including water-use reporting, permitting guardrails, and protections for ratepayers), why some communities see data centers as transformational for local tax bases, and why he draws a hard line on ensuring data centers can’t undermine the state’s 2040 clean energy target.This is apart of The Young Ike’s Live Series. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclubFollow us on Social Media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyoungike/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Young-IKE-61579184976598/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-young-ike/

    45 min

  8. Jan 19

    Introducing: Data Centers, AI, and the Environment

    Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we live, work, and communicate—but the digital world runs on physical infrastructure. This season of The Young Ike explores the rapid expansion of data centers across the United States and the environmental, economic, and civic trade-offs that come with them. As demand for AI and cloud computing explodes, data centers are popping up in communities large and small, reshaping local energy grids, water systems, and land use plans. They bring investment, tax revenue, and jobs—but also raise serious questions about sustainability, transparency, and long-term environmental goals. This season is not about AI chatbots themselves, but about the infrastructure underneath them—and how communities, policymakers, environmental advocates, and industry are responding. Featured Voices This Season: Across this season, Griffith speaks with five guests approaching the data center buildout from different perspectives: - Kathryn Hoffman, CEO of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, on legal and regulatory challenges surrounding data center development - Carrie Jennings, Research and Policy Director at Freshwater, on groundwater use, water governance gaps, and the hidden risks of data center development. - Senator Nick Frentz, Chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate Committee, on balancing economic development, energy policy, and climate goals in the data center boom - Gary Brown, grassroots organizer and Izaak Walton League member, on local resistance movements and community-level organizing - Andrew Odlyzko, technology historian at the University of Minnesota, on financial manias, infrastructure booms, and historical parallels to today’s data center surge An industry perspective was actively sought for this season but could not be secured. That commitment—to engaging all sides of complex environmental issues—remains central to The Young Ike and will continue in future seasons. How This Season Works: Episodes will be released weekly over the next four to five weeks. Listeners are encouraged to follow along and participate in Podclubs—community-led discussion groups modeled after book clubs—designed to take these conversations off podcasts, off algorithms, and into the real world. To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit: theyoungike.org/podclub

    7 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Building a new environmental majority through honest conversation. A podcast and participatory dialogue initiative exploring the defining environmental challenges and tradeoffs shaping our shared future.

Information

  • Creator
    Upwing Media, Griffith Pugh
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Upwing Media. All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Young Ike Project