Reducing single-use waste with Sierra Brodleit @ ChicoBags

In ending Season 4 of the Eco-Warriors Podcast, we wanted to bring you an update from the guests we spoke to during the early days of the show. We're so excited to bring you updates from Ecosia with Katharina Spethmann, Head of Social and Economic Sustainability. Ecosia is the search engine that plants trees. Using revenue from their ads engine and through investing in climate solutions with the launch of a 350 million euro venture capital fund, Ecosia aims to tackle issues around climate change. Katharina visits the locations where Ecosia funded tree projects exist and enlightens us on how Ecosia has built an app to track the trees and build economic viability for the people in these areas.

Being able to incentivize companies and businesses like Royal Sands and Corona to become more sustainable takes lots of small steps - from single-use plastic reduction to the installation of filtered water stations with refillable bottles. Creating a way to raise awareness and recognition for these efforts is one way that we can use our system for good. The Blue Standard by Oceanic Global was designed to help consult businesses through these changes and then award them for their work. We're joined by Cassia Patel, who has been a Program Director at Oceanic Global, for nearly 4 years to hear more.

In her Design Class, Qiting Fang was challenged to come up for a solution to food waste. The problem she thought to pursue was figuring out a useful solution to all of the tea that is drank in her homeland China. The solution: tea desiccants. Desiccants are those little packets, usually filled with silicone gel beads, that are put into products to help absorb moisture and prevent and damage to the product cause by moisture. You've probably not thought a lot about desiccants but they are ubiquitous in the food and drug industry and makes up a multi-million dollar industry.

Following a stint on an integrated farm, Anna Sacks changed her career from investment banking to working on helping to solve our economy's big waste problems - products that are like new are thrown out by business to make room for more products. Anna posts on social as @thetrashwalker and shares her finds. Some of what we talk about may be incredibly shocking and not for the faint of heart. Anna has found items from pads to live animals that have been "discarded" by various big box businesses. The point that Anna makes is that we should stop over producing and find ways to direct "waste" to different places they can be used.

After a near-death accident, Anastasia Allison quit her job as a railroad police officer and created her own company, Kula Cloth. Kula Cloth are reusable pee cloths that are functional and environmentally friendly for anyone who spends time on the trails or wants to find an alternative to toilet paper. As strange as they sound, they’re incredibly utilitarian and hygienic for the wilderness and leaving no trace behind.