Pioneers of Possibility

Inside the Future of Trucking: Hydrogen, Megawatt Charging & Autonomous Freight | PoP Ep. 29

In this episode, Kareem takes you onto the floor of the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Las Vegas; 360 exhibitors building the future of green and electric mobility, all in one room. This is a field report from the front lines of how the world moves its goods, and how that’s about to change completely. The transportation sector is one of the most polluted corners of the global economy; heavy trucks, port equipment, freight, refrigeration. The ACT Expo is where the companies trying to fix that show their hand. Kareem walks the floor from the smallest vehicles to the largest, following the entire energy chain from the molecule up: how landfill gas becomes clean hydrogen, how that hydrogen powers an 80,000-pound truck, and how you actually charge a fleet of electric semis without taking all afternoon to do it. Along the way, you’ll hear about: * Utility Global, a startup turning landfill and waste-treatment gas into clean hydrogen and biogenic CO2; one of the only paths to genuinely negative carbon intensity hydrogen available today * Indigo Tech’s ride-hailing and final-mile delivery EVs, featuring a two-minute automated battery swap, a four-passenger cockpit, and FedEx as an investor * Kenworth’s 650 kWh battery-electric truck built for cement and dump operations; and their philosophy of having a truck for every application and drivetrain * Toyota’s sprawling hydrogen ecosystem: the Nikola joint venture hauling parts across California, an 80,000-pound fuel cell truck on a Kenworth chassis, fuel cell generators, and megawatt-scale stationary power * A deep-dive interview with Jed Routh of Kempower on their megawatt charging system; 1.2 megawatts capable of charging a Tesla Semi in a little over half an hour, with a flexible cable setup for trucks that aren’t there yet * Volvo’s “towards zero” vision; zero emissions and zero accidents' - across everything from mining haulers to autonomous vehicles * Why autonomous freight is the holy grail of logistics, and what it looks like up close This is an episode for anyone curious about where transportation is actually headed. The future of how the world moves is quieter, cleaner, and closer than you think. Listen to Pioneers of Possibility on Apple Podcasts: Listen on Spotify: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod [https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod] #ACTExpo #CleanTransportation #HydrogenMobility #ElectricTrucks #EVCharging #HeavyDutyTrucks #FuelCell #Hydrogen #Decarbonization #ZeroEmissions #Trucking #Kempower #MegawattCharging #AutonomousFreight #CleanEnergy #FutureOfMobility #GreenTransport #Sustainability #Logistics #PioneersOfPossibility This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pioneerspod.substack.com [https://pioneerspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

She Started Running at 38. Now She Runs 250 Miles. | Michelle Goldberg | PoP Ep. 28

In this episode, Kareem sits down with Michelle Goldberg, a two-time finisher of the Cocodona 250 — a 250-plus mile point-to-point ultramarathon through the Arizona desert from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff. Michelle didn't run at all growing up. She was athletic — gymnastics, dance, mountain biking — but running wasn't part of it. At 38, with two young kids and a demanding career as a psychologist managing disability services for standardized testing companies, running found her almost by accident: a mud run with friends, then an impulsive 5K during a work trip to Hawaii, where she remembers thinking, for the first time, I think I could be a runner. What followed was not a plan. It was a slow accumulation of small permissions. Early morning runs became sanctuary time — the one part of the day that belonged to her alone. A Thanksgiving 15K she didn't think she could finish. A marathon in Philadelphia in 2019 where a friend had to tell her she'd qualified for Boston, because she had no idea what a BQ even was. Then, in April 2020, her first 50K — a virtual ultra she'd signed up for before the pandemic, run in loops from her own house while the world shut down around her. That summer, a virtual relay across America: 2,300 miles, six people, just over a month. Eventually that path led to Cocodona — one of the most demanding ultramarathons in the country, crossing desert, pine forest, ghost towns, and three mountains over 8,000 feet, with a brutal first 38 miles of exposed, rocky climbing before the course even begins to ease. Listeners will hear what it's actually like to run through the night in the Sonoran Desert, how huge temperature swings between scorching days and dangerously cold nights have to be managed, and what it means to hallucinate faces in the rocks by the second night of a multi-day race. This year, Michelle went back with a different approach. Instead of a time goal, her only goals were to eat as much as possible, stay present, and enjoy her crew. She talks about her mantra — "low mood, eat food" — and about a training run before the race where she climbed the course's final brutal mountain in advance, just to make peace with it. The result was a 117-hour finish, a personal best, and a finish line crossed at 2:27 in the morning. She closes with something that has nothing to do with running and everything to do with it: the idea of self-limiting beliefs, and the image of a swan gliding across a pond while paddling furiously underneath. Nobody is built for this. Everybody is capable of more discomfort than they think. It's a choice, and it's always available, no matter where you're starting from. Listen on Spotify: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod #Cocodona250 #UltraRunning #TrailRunning #UltraMarathon #WomensRunning #MidlifeTransformation #EnduranceSports #ArizonaDesert #SelfBelief #RunningJourney #MentalToughness #Flagstaff #TrailRunner #PersonalGrowth #PioneersOfPossibility This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pioneerspod.substack.com [https://pioneerspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Everyone Said the Hydrogen Industry Was in a Valley. He Said Look Again. | Frank Wolak | PoP Ep. 27

The conventional wisdom about hydrogen energy right now is that the industry has hit a wall. Funding pulled back, political headwinds from a new administration, momentum stalled. Frank Wolak, President and CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, has a different read. He doesn’t see a valley. He sees a high elevation plateau — built on twenty years of rising momentum, solid technological foundations, and bipartisan roots in Congress that run deeper than the current moment. And he thinks the path back up is clearer than most people realize. In this short but sharp conversation recorded at a recent industry convening, Kareem sits down with Frank to take stock of where hydrogen energy stands — and where it’s going. The FCHEA, now 35 years old, represents the full cross-section of everyone involved in the production, distribution, and use of hydrogen across the United States. Frank has spent years walking the halls of Congress making the case that hydrogen isn’t a partisan issue — it’s an evolutionary one. The episode covers: * Why hydrogen sits at the intersection of both fossil fuel and renewable energy worlds — and why that’s actually a political advantage right now * The difference between a valley and a high elevation plateau, and why the framing matters for how the industry moves forward * How hydrogen hubs — five of seven still intact — can drive the scale needed to bring costs down to market viability * Why energy dominance and hydrogen aren’t in conflict: hydrogen is additive, not disruptive, to existing resources * The bipartisan case for hydrogen, and why support in Congress cuts across party lines when the conversation shifts to jobs, competitiveness, and energy security The story of hydrogen is the story of a technology that keeps arriving just ahead of the world’s readiness for it. Frank Wolak is one of the people making sure the world catches up. Listen to Pioneers of Possibility on Apple Podcasts: Listen on Spotify: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod [https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod] #FrankWolak #FCHEA #HydrogenEnergy #FuelCell #CleanEnergy #EnergyPolicy #HydrogenFuel #Sustainability #EnergyTransition #GreenHydrogen #CleanTech #EnergyInnovation #PioneersOfPossibility #PioneersPodcast #EnergyDominance This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pioneerspod.substack.com [https://pioneerspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

We Are Eating the Earth. Reimagining the Future of Our Food. | PoP. Ep. 26, Mike Grunwald

Buy We Are Eating The Earth: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Are-Eating-the-Earth/Michael-Grunwald/9781982160074 More Mike: https://michaelgrunwaldbooks.com/ Mike Grunwald has a simple, uncomfortable truth for you: agriculture is eating the planet. Humanity has already cleared a landmass the size of Asia and Europe combined just to grow food, and our food systems contribute a massive one-third of global carbon emissions. But while most environmental narratives focus on the evils of modern factory farming, Mike argues that the real ecological tragedy occurs the exact moment we transform wild nature into picturesque, pasture-raised farms. To save what is left of our biodiversity and climate, agriculture cannot continue to expand—it must become more intensive, not more extensive. A veteran journalist with over 30 years of reporting experience, Mike initially knew next to nothing about the food system. His journey into the subject began through a long-standing source and friend, Tim Searchinger, a self-taught world authority on the intersection of food and the environment. Tim’s meticulous research exposed a glaring flaw in the early green energy movement: lawmakers were completely ignoring the opportunity cost of land. By demonstrating that growing fuel instead of food triggers massive global deforestation, Tim proved that corn ethanol wasn’t a climate savior—it was actually twice as bad as burning standard gasoline. The problem only compounds when you look at the global demand for meat. More than three-quarters of all agricultural land on Earth is currently dedicated to livestock pasture or growing animal feed. Because cows require ten times more land and emit ten times more greenhouse gases than chickens, our appetite for beef is driving the relentless destruction of tropical forests and critical savannahs. Combine that with the fact that humanity effectively uses a landmass the size of China to grow food that ends up directly in the garbage, and it becomes clear that our current trajectory is entirely unsustainable. So, what is the path forward? While Mike remains agnostic about the specific labels of farming, he emphasizes that high crop yields are non-negotiable. He walks readers through an array of cutting-edge tech solutions: alternative proteins that match the taste and cost of real meat, bio-pesticides that targetedly eliminate pests using RNA technology, and artificial intelligence models being used to radically re-engineer the inefficiencies of photosynthesis. The blueprint for systemic policy change already exists in countries like Denmark, which recently passed sweeping agricultural reforms that tax emissions and promote plant-based alternatives while simultaneously scaling up total food production through sheer efficiency. In this episode, Kareem and Mike discuss: * How traditional climate models completely missed the devastating environmental math behind biofuels * The stark resource differences between chicken and beef production, and how a rising global middle class impacts the planet * Why organic farming’s 20% to 40% yield penalty actually drives greater global deforestation * How an editor’s blunt, narrative feedback led Mike to frame the global food crisis through the personal journey of a singular scientist * Why consumers are remarkably bad at making personal sacrifices for the planet but exceptional at inventing technological workarounds * How New York City hospitals successfully flipped patient meals to 51% plant-based with sky-high satisfaction rates * How scientists are using big data and gene editing to fix a 3-billion-year-old biological process and boost crop yields by 50% * How Denmark is leading the world by taxing agricultural emissions and rewilding marginal farmland without cutting food production Mike Grunwald’s latest book, We Are Eating the Earth, forces us to confront the deep systemic inefficiencies of how we feed ourselves. It is a call to move past agricultural dogmas, look plainly at the data, and accelerate the technological and policy revolutions required to stop our march into the natural world. This episode of The Pioneers of Possibility was produced and edited by Danny Vagnoni. Listen on Apple Podcasts: Listen on Spotify: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod #MikeGrunwald #WeAreEatingTheEarth #Agriculture #ClimateChange #Biofuels #AlternativeProtein #Sustainability #BigAg #FoodSystems #PioneersOfPossibility #KareemAfzal #EnvironmentalJournalism This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pioneerspod.substack.com [https://pioneerspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

He Spent 30 Years Building Races. What He Actually Built Was a Community. | PoP. Ep. 25, Ron Horn

Ron Horn will tell you himself: he doesn’t like running. Never has. From the first step to the last, it has never felt natural. He’s done it for almost fifty years. He’s run thirteen marathons, eight ultramarathons, and directed or timed more races than he can easily count. He cried at the finish line of every major race he’s ever done. Five of the seven people at his wedding were runners. His wife has worked every Pretzel City Sports race for thirty years. So when Ron says he doesn’t like running, you have to understand what he means — because what he likes, and what he’s spent half a century building, is something else entirely. Ron grew up in York, Pennsylvania, playing football, baseball, and softball. He was a decent athlete with a big frame and a love of food he has never once apologized for. In 1980, a teammate named Jerry Smith went to Houston for two years and came back looking, in Ron’s words, like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. When Ron asked what happened, the answer was simple: I took up running. Ron started jogging after softball games. Weight dropped off. Two miles felt like an achievement. Then a 10K, then a marathon. Then another, then another. He ran his first at the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, missed four hours by eight minutes, and was too stubborn to accept that. He ran five marathons before he broke it. What really hooked him, though, wasn’t running — it was the community. He joined the Pagoda Pacers, the smallest and friendliest of the three running clubs in Reading at the time, became its president, and started directing races for the March of Dimes when he was on their board in 1987. He had a background in corporate marketing — nearly thirty years in senior positions — and he knew how to read what motivated people to show up. By 1996, Pretzel City Sports was officially a company. This July will mark thirty years. Today, Pretzel City Sports times roughly 250 races a year across southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond. Ron’s signature events include Labor Pain, a twelve-hour endurance race on Labor Day that sends every finisher a custom sweatshirt printed with their exact finishing distance weeks after the race — something no other race he knows of does; March Madness, a ten-hour timed loop event; the Dirty Bird trail race; the night run series Ghouls & Fools; the summer Thirsty Thursday series; and, notably, two clothing optional races at nudist camps, which Ron describes as his two happiest days of the year. Labor Pain is his favorite — a race that functions more like a festival, where people show up not knowing what distance they’ll run and leave with a number that belongs to them alone. There are runners who haven’t missed it in seventeen or eighteen years. In this episode, Kareem and Ron discuss: * How a transformed softball teammate became the unlikely catalyst for a fifty-year running career * The galvanizing moment of being beaten in a 10K by a 67-year-old woman — and what it lit in him * Why running is one of the few honest measures of progress in life * How Pretzel City Sports was born from a March of Dimes board meeting and a race that was about to disappear * The art of the race application — and why Ron’s read more like essays than entry forms * Labor Pain: the twelve-hour race where your sweatshirt is waiting for you six weeks later, with your exact distance on the sleeve * Why the trail running community will stop and carry an injured stranger on their back * The business of remembering names — and what it means to a runner at mile 18 Ron Horn built something people come back to for two decades. Not because it’s the toughest, or the fastest, or the most prestigious — but because it’s fun, and because he never forgot that’s why people lace up in the first place. Listen on Spotify: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pioneersofpossibilitypod #RonHorn #PretzelCitySports #TrailRunning #RunningCommunity #RaceDirector #LaborPain #Ultrarunning #PennsylvaniaRunning #MarathonTraining #ReadingPA #PioneersOfPossibility #PioneersPodcast #EnduranceRunning #LocalLegend #Running This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pioneerspod.substack.com [https://pioneerspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]