Engaging ESG with Jennifer Owens and Kati Kallins

Building a Regenerative Future EP 38

Lindsay Baker, CEO of the Living Future Institute, joins Jennifer and Kati to demystify the built environment's role in climate action. With a career that spans LEED's early days, Google's green building team, WeWork's sustainability efforts and climate tech startups, Lindsay brings deep sector expertise to the question: How does sustainability actually happen? She breaks down why passion without understanding is too often misdirected and makes the case for maintaining what we have rather than always building new. Plus: Why "fetch" still isn't happening in sustainability terminology (!), how agricultural waste like straw bale and hemp are revolutionizing building materials, and the important (and unsung) role your building maintenance team plays in reaching climate goals. Have a question for us? Email us today at engagingesg@gmail.com [engagingesg@gmail.com]! Learn more about Engaging ESG at bit.ly/EngagingESGpod [https://bit.ly/EngagingESGpod]. Show links • Learn more about Lindsay Baker [https://living-future.org/staff/lindsay-baker/]. • Living Future Institute [https://living-future.org/about/] • Design the Future podcast [https://www.designthefuturepodcast.com/] • Living Building Challenge [https://living-future.org/lbc/] • Climate Wayfaring [https://www.climatewayfinding.earth/] by Katharine K. Wilkinson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

What's Really Happening Right Now in Sustainability Hiring EP 37

What's Really Happening Right Now in Sustainability Hiring They're back! Catherine Harris and Richard Kent of Acre — the global leader in sustainability recruitment — return for our first-ever repeat interview… and for very good reason. Their Season 3 episode was one of our most popular, and the sustainability job market has shifted dramatically since we last talked. Catherine, Acre's Executive Director of Sustainable Business for the Americas, and Richard, a Principal Consultant specializing in sustainability and technology leadership, share what's really happening behind the hiring headlines and offer advice on how professionals in this space should position themselves. We also discuss why hiring timelines have doubled, how AI is reshaping the talent landscape, and what Catherine and Richard are telling candidates right now about building resumes, rethinking job titles and staying sharp in a tough market. Have a question for us? Email us today at engagingesg@gmail.com [engagingesg@gmail.com]! Learn more about us at https://bit.ly/EngagingESGpod [https://bit.ly/EngagingESGpod]. Show Links Learn more about Catherine Harris [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-harris-0923a66/]. Learn more about Richard Kent [https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-kent-b959192a/]. Learn more about Acre [https://www.acre.com/]. Read Ride the Waves from Futerra [https://futerra-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/RIDE_THE_SUSTAINABILITY_WAVES_1.pdf]. Read LinkedIn Green Skills Report [https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/economicgraph/en-us/PDF/linkedin-global-green-skills-report-v07.pdf].  Read Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson [https://www.amazon.com/Termination-Shock-Novel-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0063028050]. Read New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson. [https://www.amazon.com/New-York-2140-Stanley-Robinson/dp/031626234X] Read Alison Taylor Higher Ground [https://findhigherground.substack.com/].  Read Solitaire Townsend’s Solitaire's Storytelling [https://solitairetownsend.substack.com/].  Read Andrew Winston [http://andrewswinston.substack.com].   Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Seeing Climate Change: Hope, Humanity + Conservation EP 36

National Geographic photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale joins Jennifer and Kati to explore how visual storytelling can transform conservation narratives, from documenting the last northern white rhinos to centering indigenous voices in climate solutions.  After a decade covering global conflicts, Ami discovered environmental breakdown was at the heart of human suffering, leading her to reimagine how we tell nature's stories. Through her nonprofit Vital Impacts, which has raised more than $5 million for conservation, she demonstrates why hope isn't soft but strategic, and why the real question isn't whether local voices are included, but “who's holding the microphone and who's benefiting?’  Learn how Kenya's community-led conservation turned around rhino extinction, why we need to get comfortable with discomfort, and how finding joy in tragedy becomes an act of resistance against apathy. Have a question for us? Email us today at engagingesg@gmail.com [engagingesg@gmail.com]! Learn more about Engaging ESG at bit.ly/EngagingESGpod [bit.ly/EngagingESGpod]. Show Links * Learn more about Ami Vitale [https://www.amivitale.com/]. * Ami's iconic photographs of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino (National Geographic [https://www.amivitale.com/photo-story/goodbye-sudan-the-worlds-last-male-northern-white-rhino/]) * Vital Impacts [https://vitalimpacts.org/] Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Soil, Stories and the Power of Positive Messaging EP 35

Last year, only 9% of Americans spoke to a farmer about their food. Evan Harrison, CEO of Kiss the Ground, is here to change that with an approach to regenerative agriculture designed to bring the concept into the mainstream through strategic storytelling. Its impact is already being felt. This year, Kiss the Ground has produced 400 pieces of content to reach 2 million people monthly, turning farmers into the real rock stars of the movement. In this conversation with Jennifer + Kati, Evan offers his data-driven approach to awareness building, how his music industry background at iHeartRadio and BMG shaped his nonprofit leadership style, and why leading with health instead of climate alarm is the key to resonating more and more.  Have a question for us? Email us today at engagingesg@gmail.com [engagingesg@gmail.com]! Learn more about Engaging ESG at bit.ly/EngagingESGpod [bit.ly/EngagingESGpod]. Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. Show links Learn about: Kiss the Ground [https://kisstheground.com/] Watch: Kiss the Ground documentary [https://kissthegroundmovie.com/] Watch: Stories of Regeneration with Dan Barber  [https://www.instagram.com/p/DRNCdl4kRpl/] Follow: 5 with a Farmer  [https://kisstheground.com/storytelling/5-with-a-farmer/] Read: Project Drawdown [https://drawdown.org/the-book] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Bestest and Worstest of Times for ESG Comms EP 34

This week, Jennifer and Kati sit down with Joel Makower, chairman and co-founder of Trellis Group, for a candid conversation about the current state of sustainability communications after 35+ years in the field. Joel shares why we're living with higher highs and lower lows than ever before. We explore the trust crisis affecting not just sustainability, but business, media, science and government — and what it means for communicators trying to make the case for climate action. Joel also offers his advice for integrating head and heart through storytelling, how to reframe sustainability as "better" rather than sacrifice, and why ESG became a political landmine while the s-word endures. Have a question for us? Email us today at engagingesg@gmail.com [engagingesg@gmail.com]! Learn more about Engaging ESG at bit.ly/EngagingESGpod [https://bit.ly/EngagingESGpod]. Show Links Learn more about Joel Makower [https://www.linkedin.com/in/makower/] Visit Trellis [https://trellis.net/] Watch: Joel Makower: Poetry in Motion [https://youtu.be/LbXXydJbcec?si=-NU0leYl6cTruAul] Listen: Smartless [https://www.smartless.com/] Listen: So Many Steves: Afternoons with Steve Martin [https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ep7Nyddlt15JTC28uSayk] Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]