Sustainability Weekly: Recent Episodes
Samarth Sheth
Apart from the 17 SDGs, through these podcasts, I wish to engage, enlighten, learn from a varied audience/ guest speakers on different aspects of Sustainability and sustainable living. This will also entail things like Entrepreneurship, Child Development, Family Businesses, etc.
Approx. 73 mn MT is the solid waste that India generates, most of this unfortunately lands up in the landfill to generate methane gas which is 21 times more hazardous than Carbon Dioxide! One of the ways we as citizens can contribute is by segregating our waste, now more than ever before - the risk of contamination through our waste increases many fold if not appropriately segregated.
Here's a conversation with Mr. Goutham Reddy, MD and CEO of one of the largest professionally run waste management company Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd - REEL. The company has proved that, while there is money to be made in waste, while treating it appropriately to reduce environmental impact. Mr. Reddy vide this podcast has shared information on the Macro Landscape of the country, how the pandemic has increased the need for segregating our waste at source and what to do with the hazardous waste we generate - pre, during and post pandemic.
Cleanliness begins at home and this 73 mn MT Mammoth too will reduce, mainly from our very own kitchens!
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Having your degree in place, you now wish to go change the world with that idea you have been working on; however, neither do you have the bank balance to start a business nor the mentors or the team in place. What do you do? Either park the idea and get a job or approach one of the Start-up Studios. Satgana is a new Start-up Studio which is focused on "For Profit" ventures which have one or more of the SDGs as a focus area. In conversation with the Founder and CEO Romain Diaz, this episode gives insights on what one can expect being a part of a Start-up Studio.
You could look up Romain Diaz on LinkedIn or look him up on https://satgana.com/
Following are links to the few ventures/ companies Romain referred to in this Episode:
Successful Start-up Studio based in France : https://www.efounders.com/
Some of the companies successful now after having gone through a Start-up studio:
https://twitter.com/
https://frontapp.com/
https://medium.com/
https://aircall.io/
https://slack.com/
https://trello.com/
https://dollarshaveclub.com/
Following are a few Venture Studios existing in India:
https://t9l.com/
https://www.appriffylabs.com/
http://digicita.com/
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Contamination of the ground water through various components of E-Waste in landfills has been predicted to have carcinogenic impact on human and animal life. While studies are on and we as a nation slowly inch towards increasing our Electronic usage, it becomes our paramount responsibility to ensure our E-Waste is disposed appropriately. This episode talks about ways to dispose your E-Waste and why the need to dispose correctly with Karan Thakkar from THRECO - The Recycling Company : https://www.threco.com/ Just a day post recording this episode, news of mercury leaks causing diseases and health disorders amongst thousands in Tamil Nadu emerged, here is the article: bit.ly/3lrKmwt
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"We have not inherited Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children - Anonymous." WCS-India is making efforts to improve the wildlife habitat namely forests of the country and their Director Prakriti Srivastava who is an IFS from the Kerala Cadre passionately has been promoting and working towards the concept of Wildlife Corridors in the country, in effect "Life on Land." The podcast took me down memory lane, into the wilderness and urged me to act, make a difference and hence spread the word.
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"VC Money is Jet-fuel and should not be used in a Maruti Swift or even a Lamborgini" in laymen terms, not to use this route for traditional businesses., as successful as they may be. Mark Kahn, a citizen of the US, Germany and Canada choose to call India home and made a career in the social impact space. This podcast is about his journey and the Social Impact Investments in the Agriculture space. Following are a few links to further reading/ information on what Mark mentioned in this episode:
Agriculture Exports from India : https://bit.ly/30Wyiem
Omnivore : https://www.omnivore.vc/
socialimpact #investing #sustainability #agriculture #agritech #aquaculture #export #india #asia #vietnam #UAE
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Give her fish and you have fed her for a day; teach her to fish and you have fed her for a lifetime! That's precisely what Pipal Tree Foundation does, in Conversation with a media & camera shy Shailendra Ghaste [was a task to get the profile picture from him as well!], who requested not to name his other for profit ventures as he wishes to dedicate the podcast to only the social cause! Without you and me knowing much about his ventures, Pipal Tree Foundation and Ventures has been responsible to place over 80,000 people over the past decade! Following are a few links to the websites Shailendra refers to in the Podcast:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/covid19-lockdn-migrant-construction-worker-crisis/
www.Pipaltreefoundation.com
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A call for climate action is needed with immediate effect; the urgency to act to ensure "Life Below Water" is well taken care of, to start with cannot be emphasized more. One of the reasons for starting the podcast is from my last snorkel and scuba trip to the Maldives. Hope every listener in their own way is able to contribute to make a difference, be it either by volunteering or providing funds or guidance to any of the organisations listed below :
Michelle Forney - Acoustic Ecologist at Cornell University is the lady Gabriella referred to who did the research on Whale songs; here's a podcast in which Michelle describes the experiment : https://open.spotify.com/episode/0K0KS3ZBSNM7oN6z3lkPl9?si=hMbJi7QESk2vynXG3bsJeg
The Good Ocean : https://www.instagram.com/thegoodocean/
Marine Life of Mumbai : https://www.marinelifeofmumbai.in/
Terra Concious [Save the turtle project] : https://www.terraconscious.com/
Know your Fish : http://knowyourfish.org.in/
Reef Watch : http://reefwatchindia.org/
Society for Marine Research and Conservation : http://smrcindia.in/
Coastal Impact : https://coastalimpact.in/
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Dr. Ruth Shapiro is the Founder and CEO of the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society [CAPS]. She and her team have been instrumental in coming up with a "Doing Good Index" report which is a league table of sorts of the 18 Asian Economies. Many a governments and large corporates across these 18 economies have reached out to them for advisory on framing their policies on "doing good". Dr. Shapiro shares with us her journey so far, the future of CAPS and certain economies.
https://caps.org/
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Sustainability Weekly Season 2, bringing on many more subject experts to talk about social impact and sustainability issues. What's the "Good, Bad and Ugly" of the business and process of sustainability. People in the field of Philanthropy, Social Impact Investing, Companies making sustainable products, Organisations working towards wildlife, water and soil conservation, etc. will all form the lineup in Season 2.
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Waste is no longer someone else's responsibility! We have examples of expats getting back to the country to "get their hands dirty" and make a difference. Nupur Tandon one such noble soul, Founder of ProWaste Concepts has a vision of a "Future Without Landfills", is marching one community/ campus at a time towards achieving the same.
Website : www.prowaste.org
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Zero Hunger, Zero Poverty, Reduced In-equiality and Quality Education - 4/17 SDGs of UN is what CSA caters to. Dukaan figuratively because, CSA works towards providing skills for survival as well as provides the kids with a family. Quiet an emotional chat on how Catalyst for Social Action has managed to reach out to 3600 kids across 67 centres in 4 states. Vinayak Kamath is a seasoned financial services expert who is currently the Treasurer at one of the foremost NGOs working on the adoption cause.........and the care of the kids before and after that. Here's a podcast about the efforts they have been putting in and their future plans.
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Being a new business around the block, here is a startup which did not cut corners not only while making the product, but also while the customer has to dispose off the packaging of the product. Here's the story of a Profitable, Clean, Ethical and Environmentally Friendly Startup - Disguise Cosmetics.
www.disguisecosmetics.com
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Simple definition of upcycling, how from cottage industry upcycling has become almost a norm globally. This has also seen some fairly large businesses. The episode is in conversation with Hemal Damani, a waste management expert running THRECO and pushing corporates to upcycle. Hemal throws light from his industry experience and expertise. Refer to the following for more information on THRECO: www.threco.com
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We have always wanted to make our contribution to the environment; but struggled to comply beyond a point. Here are 10 Habits I have inculcated in my life and I believe a cumulative push in this direction will go a long way to make a larger environmental impact. Moreover, these methods save you costs at various steps and give you the feel good factor to have contributed in your own little way.
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Talking from my own mistakes at the Flexible Packaging family business. Will give listeners an insight into what 8 things to avoid/ change in their entrepreneurial journey. While there were several more, correcting/ changing course on the mentioned will go a long way to build a strong foundation of a venture. This is part of the UN Goal #8 of Sustainability : Decent Work and Economic Growth.
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Sustainability means many things to different people, in addition to SDGs, via this podcast I would like to engage with a varied set of audience on topics like Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Child Development, Family Business etc.
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