The Aspen National Water Strategy – Prof. Newsha Ajami on water security as a cornerstone of the US economy

The Aspen National Water Strategy – Prof. Newsha Ajami on water security as a cornerstone of the US economy

Closing out this season on water and nature, in this episode, we welcomed Professor Newsha Ajami, the Chief Development Officer for Research at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. After 18 months of collaboration among water leaders, the Aspen National Water Strategy was launched. The ambitious 56-page document explicitly reframes water security as economic infrastructure, tying it to job security, competitiveness and growth – not just environmental protection. Newsha talks through the thinking behind the strategy, who was involved and what it hopes to achieve across the US. It was an honour to welcome Newsha back on to the podcast. We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream. 🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes.  We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream. Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James [https://www.raymondjames.com/]. And our charity partner, Frank Water [https://www.frankwater.com/]. And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, [https://www.britishwater.co.uk/] WWF [https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/water/], Water Alliance [https://wateralliance.nl/en/water-alliance-proud-partner-for-the-stream-podcast-series/], DCU Water Institute [https://dcuwater.ie/], SurplusWater25 [https://surpluswater2025.com/], Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab [https://eesa.lbl.gov/], Water Foundry [https://www.waterfoundry.com/] and Atlantean Media [https://www.atlanteanmedia.com/].

18,000 oysters & counting – Prof. Fiona Regan on restoring nature’s super filters and eDNA

In this episode, Will and Tom welcomed Professor Fiona Regan, founder & director of the DCU Water Institute, which recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of research, innovation and impact in water science. In the episode she speaks about environmental DNA, otherwise known as eDNA, and how this links to water quality around the coastal Ireland. She also speaks about an oyster reef restoration project on the East Coast. Around 18,000 oysters were introduced more than two centuries after they were wiped out. By feeding on nitrates and plankton, they are helping to clear algae to improve coastal biodiversity and marine habitat. It was an honour to welcome Fiona back onto the podcast, especially hearing her inspiration for the institute, including a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses on water – we’re going to share this on our socials so make sure to check it out! 🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes.  We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream. Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James [https://www.raymondjames.com/]. And our charity partner, Frank Water [https://www.frankwater.com/]. And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, [https://www.britishwater.co.uk/] WWF [https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/water/], Water Alliance [https://wateralliance.nl/en/water-alliance-proud-partner-for-the-stream-podcast-series/], DCU Water Institute [https://dcuwater.ie/], SurplusWater25 [https://surpluswater2025.com/], Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab [https://eesa.lbl.gov/], Water Foundry [https://www.waterfoundry.com/] and Atlantean Media [https://www.atlanteanmedia.com/].

Building the world’s first biodiversity venture fund – Tom Quigley, Superorganism

In this episode of The Stream, Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg sit down with Tom Quigley, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Superorganism, the first venture firm dedicated exclusively to biodiversity-focused startups. It’s a timely conversation. Just this week, Tom and his co-founder Kevin Webb announced Superorganism’s first venture fund, exceeding $25 million, marking a major milestone for nature and biodiversity investing. Before launching Superorganism, Tom spent years working in the field across Australia, Madagascar, and the Cayman Islands, earning a reputation as a coral reef conservationist turned start-up operator and investor. That experience now shapes how Superorganism approaches early-stage investing in nature tech. We explore why biodiversity has lagged climate in venture capital, how that is beginning to change, and how Superorganism plans to deploy capital across three core areas: * Industries driving biodiversity loss * The overlap between biodiversity and climate * Enabling technologies that unlock new ways to protect and restore nature It was an honour to speak with Tom about building the fund, the partners, how experience with start-ups will help and the link between biodiversity loss and water. 🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes.  We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream. Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James [https://www.raymondjames.com/]. And our charity partner, Frank Water [https://www.frankwater.com/]. And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, [https://www.britishwater.co.uk/] WWF [https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/water/], Water Alliance [https://wateralliance.nl/en/water-alliance-proud-partner-for-the-stream-podcast-series/], DCU Water Institute [https://dcuwater.ie/], SurplusWater25 [https://surpluswater2025.com/], Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab [https://eesa.lbl.gov/], Water Foundry [https://www.waterfoundry.com/] and Atlantean Media [https://www.atlanteanmedia.com/].

The Latin American iceman - Sebastián Goldschmidt on restoring ice reserves and ecosystems

In this episode of The Stream, Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg are joined by Sebastián Goldschmidt, founder of Nilus, to explore an unexpected climate solution: rebuilding ice to secure water. Named by Forbes as one of Chile’s Sustainable Minds, Sebastián is working with high-altitude communities across Latin America to develop artificial ice reservoirs, a nature-based, engineered approach inspired by ancestral techniques from the Ladakh region, often known as the Guardians of the Himalayas. The idea is simple but powerful: store water in solid form during winter, then release it gradually during the dry season when it’s needed most. While much of the climate narrative focuses on melting glaciers and disappearing ice, this conversation looks at what it might mean to regrow ice reserves, and why doing so could play a critical role in water security, ecosystem resilience, and climate adaptation. Sebastián also shares what it takes to scale a nature-based solution at thousands of metres above sea level, and how Nilus is partnering with organisations including Orica Impact Fund and Coca-Cola as part of the 100+ Accelerator programme. This is a thoughtful discussion on water, climate, Indigenous knowledge, and innovation, and a reminder that some of the most effective solutions are rooted in both ancient wisdom and modern engineering. 🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes.  We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream. Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James [https://www.raymondjames.com/]. And our charity partner, Frank Water [https://www.frankwater.com/]. And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, [https://www.britishwater.co.uk/] WWF [https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/water/], Water Alliance [https://wateralliance.nl/en/water-alliance-proud-partner-for-the-stream-podcast-series/], DCU Water Institute [https://dcuwater.ie/], SurplusWater25 [https://surpluswater2025.com/], Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab [https://eesa.lbl.gov/], Water Foundry [https://www.waterfoundry.com/] and Atlantean Media [https://www.atlanteanmedia.com/].

Taking on PFAS (forever chemicals) with synthetic biology – Nicole Richards

In this episode, we welcomed Nicole Richards, CEO of US firm Allonnia, a company that promises to enzymes and microbes to degrade environmental contaminants. Now the topic of PFAS, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as forever chemicals, is getting a lot of attention. Known for their unbreakable bonds, they’re used in pretty much everything, from non-stick saucepans through to waterproof jackets, and military firefighting foam applications. Following a regulatory limit introduction by the US Environmental Protection Agency, as well as corporate fines to chemical companies responsible for PFAS pollution, there has been almost a space race of start-ups in this space promising destruction techniques. It was great to get Nicole’s perspective because Allonnia is quite unique. It was launched out of Ginkgo Bioworks Ferment Consortium with a $40 million Series A funding round, which was then boosted by another $15 million funding round from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Projects Agency. Now, $55 million for a start-up is ana extremely rare position to be in! Nicole discusses this, as well as making the leap from almost 30 years in chemical engineering over to the start-up world. There’s a lot of discussions on PFAS, the impact on human health, and how technology innovation will help to solve this problem. Nicole comes at it from an interesting perspective of how synthetic biology will play a role. 🔔 We hope you enjoy the episode and make sure to follow and subscribe to our channels to get alerts on the episodes.  We’re delighted you can join us on this voyage of discovery, as we journey down The Stream. Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James [https://www.raymondjames.com/]. And our charity partner, Frank Water [https://www.frankwater.com/]. And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, [https://www.britishwater.co.uk/] WWF [https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/water/], Water Alliance [https://wateralliance.nl/en/water-alliance-proud-partner-for-the-stream-podcast-series/], DCU Water Institute [https://dcuwater.ie/], SurplusWater25 [https://surpluswater2025.com/], Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab [https://eesa.lbl.gov/], Water Foundry [https://www.waterfoundry.com/] and Atlantean Media [https://www.atlanteanmedia.com/].