The Kurty D Show

008 - Environmental Avengers with Jonathan Shieber

Episode Summary

Welcome to The Kurty D Show, a podcast presenting unique perspectives shaping the world. In this episode, Kurt welcomes to the show Jonathan Shieber. Jonathan Shieber is the chief editor and a venture partner at Footprint Coalition. He previously worked as the Climate Editor, Contributors Editor, Senior Editor at TechCrunch, as well as a journalist for Dow Jones. In episode 08 of The Kurty D Show, Kurt and Jonathan discuss the critical work he’s doing at FootPrint Coalition. Jonathan gets specific and talks about the climate crisis and why there’s still hope to reverse course. They speak about the importance of not losing the nuance or complexity of other countries and cultures. Finally, Jonathan shares a difficult challenge he had to overcome and turns the tables on Kurt by asking him a few questions at the end of the show.

Episode Notes

What we covered:

02:07 – Kurt welcomes to the show, Jonathan Shieber, who speaks to the critical work he’s doing at Footprint Coalition

09:15 – Why there’s hope for us to reverse course on the Climate Crisis

15:07 – What it was like growing up in Louisiana and enduring endless hurricanes and natural disasters

19:31 – Jonathan opens up about a major challenge he’s had to overcome

23:53 – The decision to live abroad and what Jonathan learned about China

28:09 – An unknown fact about Jonathan and the one band Jonathan would go see play live if he could

31:14 – Kurt thanks Jonathan for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with him and how they can be of service to Jonathan

33:18 – Jonathan turns the tables on Kurt and asks him some interview questions

 

Episode Sponsor:

 

Hunt Club

 

Tweetable Quotes:

 

“Even before I joined, I’d been covering climate innovations for a while. And despite the seriousness of the threat and the catastrophes that we’re all seeing unfold around us that are directly related to the changes that humanity has wrought on the climate, there is hope. There’s an opportunity to reverse course. We do have a window wherein we can mobilize the levers of industry that we have to create a more sustainable society and reimagine what the world looks like.”

“Nothing good happens when you lose the sense of nuance or the complexity of a place. And a place (like China) with over a billion people is a very complicated place. The same is true about the United States.”

“I try to supplement the work that all of the great storytellers that were already on staff at Footprint Coalition or working with the team from the production studio that they run on Team Downey (Robert Downey Jr's Production Company) trying to help support them in any way that I can.”

“There’s a lot of benefits to localized generation resources that can really help sustain communities and individuals in the event of a catastrophe.”

“The entire Gulf Coast is one of the places that’s Ground Zero for climate change to impact those communities. And, unfortunately, most of the Gulf Coast is not wealthy enough to develop the kinds of systems that are necessary to protect the residents from that.”

 

Links Mentioned:

 

Kurt’s Twitter

Kurt’s Instagram 

Kurt’s LinkedIn 

Jonathan’s LinkedIn 

Jonathan’s Email 

Jonathan’s Twitter 

Footprint Coalition Website

Invest in Footprint Coalition