The Solar Spill by SunCommon

Solar Spill Solutions Season Finale! In the final episode of the Solar Spill solutions season, we review and provide updates on each of the solutions we discussed throughout the season, and give a preview of our next season that kicks off in the fall. As well, stay tuned for a special episode in September, where we'll do a deep dive into the Inflation Reduction Act!

Solar In this episode of the Solar Spill, we're finally turning our lens onto SunCommon's own solution, solar! We'll discuss the impact, timing, and cost of photovoltaic energy as a scalable solution to climate change, and we promise that we're coming into this with an objective perspective. Note: One of our mics encountered an error during the recording so we had to use a backup track for Tavit's channel. Please excuse the drop in quality.

Transportation Transportation is how we move through our lives. We commute to work, take regular trips to the store, and visit our friends and family. And, these individual modes of transportation are typically powered by non-renewable fuels... But what if we experienced rapid electrification of our personal vehicles? Could transportation be a key component in the fight against climate change?

Special Episode - Climate Action Film Festival: Jane Fonda As we prepare for the 3rd annual Climate Action Film Festival, we’re taking a quick break from the "Solutions Season" of the Solar Spill to bring you some of our favorite content from last year’s festival. We were honored to be joined by the inspiring actor and lifelong activist, Jane Fonda who gave a stirring keynote address about civil disobedience in the climate movement. Check out the conversation, and join us virtually on March 16th and 17th for the Climate Action Film Festival.

Special Episode - Climate Action Film Festival: Bill McKibben As we prepare for the 3rd annual Climate Action Film Festival, we’re taking a quick break from the "Solutions Season" of the Solar Spill to bring you some of our favorite content from last year’s festival. We were honored to be joined by the iconic environmentalist, author, and leader of the climate group 350.org, Bill McKibben. Check out the conversation, and join us virtually on March 16th and 17th for the Climate Action Film Festival.

Special Episode - Climate Action Film Festival: Strong Winds As we prepare for the 3rd annual Climate Action Film Festival, we’re taking a quick break from the "Solutions Season" of the Solar Spill to bring you some of our favorite content from last year’s festival. Check out Matagi Mālohi: Strong Winds, the film that is the subject of this episode’s conversation, and join us virtually on March 16th and 17th for the Climate Action Film Festival.

Carbon Capture And Storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process that claims to remove, transport, and store CO2 from industrial processes such as power plants that burn fossil fuels. Is CCS a realistic component of the fight against climate change, or is this technological approach creating more problems than it solves?

Solar Spill Solutions - Regenerative Agriculture Conventional agriculture is depleting; mono-cropping and factory farming are taking essential nutrients out of the soil, creating less nutritious foods, and contributing to climate change. What if older practices of land stewardship - now being called Regenerative Agriculture - could grow more sustaining and sustainable foods while fighting climate change by capturing gigatons of carbon?

Solar Spill Solutions - The Fed Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, The US Federal Reserve has been propping up the oil industry with emergency funding. But could The Fed actually be an important component of the fight against climate change? Note: we had some internet issues during the recording and Susannah had to switch to her phone. Apologies for the change in audio quality during the episode.

Solar Spill Solutions - Sail Freight Global shipping emits over 1 billion tons of carbon per year, making it the sixth-largest emitter in the world after China, U.S., India, Russia, and Japan. But what if shipping went back to its roots by powering our global fleets with wind power? Could Sail Freight be a viable component of the solution to climate change?

Introducing, The Solutions Season! Susannah and Tavit are back for a themed season that puts proposed solutions to the climate crisis under the microscope. In each episode, we'll be examining a solution to an element of climate change for its impact, timing, cost, and any other unique factors, then assigning the solution a letter grade. Tune in to this episode to understand how each solution will be measured.

Coming Soon: Solar Spill Solutions As 2021 draws to a close, we're winding down Season 3 of The Solar Spill. However, today's episode will give you a sneak peek at Season 4, which is shaping up to include some of our most exciting content yet... Beginning in January, we'll be analyzing proposed solutions to climate change to see if they're viable and scalable. We'll also discuss whether the solution should become a priority in the fight against climate change. Lastly, dear listeners, we've created an email address for the show: solarspill@suncommon.com Please feel free to suggest any solutions YOU think we should include in the coming season — We'd love to hear from you!

Eco-Friendly Holiday Shopping Guide WAIT! Don't touch that "Add To Cart" button, there's still plenty of time to find awesome holiday gifts for your friends and family, WITHOUT the terrible impact of fast shipping. In today's episode, we'll share sustainable gift ideas that will brighten up the holidays without a smidge of guilt. Source Articles: https://www.wbur.org/npr/1060989079/looking-for-holiday-shopping-sales-theres-a-low-impact-option Amazon commits to zero-carbon shipping by 2040 https://www.etsy.com/impact https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/climate-emergency-calgary-city-gondek-1.6250308https://www.popsci.com/story/diy/quit-wrapping-paper/ https://www.therealreal.com/ https://www.thredup.com/

Gratitude Is Our Attitude! Ever since we started the Solar Spill we've covered a seemingly endless news cycle of alarming news about the climate crisis. This week, we want to center on gratitude and talk about some of the recent things - big, and small - that make us feel gratitude when it comes to the fight against climate change. Source Articles: https://grist.org/article/google-maps-now-shows-the-lowest-carbon-route-for-car-journeys/ https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/politics-global-warming-september-2021/toc/2/ https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/all/climate-change-american-mind-september-2021/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/climate-emergency-calgary-city-gondek-1.6250308 https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/when-movements-work

What Happened At COP26? A few episodes ago, we provided a quick primer to COP26, where we laid out key themes that would act as a bellwether of the overall success of the conference. In today’s episode, we’re checking in on those areas of focus to determine if COP26 was a big step forward for the fight against climate change, or if it was all just one big "COP" out. Source Articles: https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/un-climate-negotiators-go-into-overtime-save-15-celsius-goal-2021-11-13/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/12/the-good-bad-irn-bru-how-cop26-played-out https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/13/22778646/glasgow-global-climate-summit-cop26-adaptation-finance-loss-damage

Solar Panel Recycling All recycling faces the same problem - how do we recover usable material, and what do we do with it once it has been recovered? Is there a market for it? Who wants it? And once we’ve figured that out, are there enough facilities around to scale these processes and make them financially viable? As we look ahead to a decade of repowering America with renewable energy, its critical that we get ahead of the challenge of recycling solar panels before they hit a landfill. In this week's episode, we talk to SunCommon's Warehouse Lead Neil Henderson, about the emerging space of recycling solar panels, and how he and his colleagues on our B-Team are trying to keep us ahead of the curve. Source Article: How the recycling industry is preparing to tackle solar panels

The Purpose-Driven Business As the world awakens to the reality of the climate crisis, we're seeing that there are so many interlocking systems that empower and incentivize extractive, polluting, and profit-motivated behaviors. In our first-ever interview on the show, we talk to Jason Nachamie and Colin Healey, from the Sustainable MBA program at the University of Vermont Grossman School of Business to help us unpack how the B-Corp movement is a crucial component to addressing the climate crisis. Source Article #1: https://climate-xchange.org/2021/10/14/mastering-an-impactful-esg-program-in-the-new-normal-of-business/ Source Article #2: https://www.multicapitalscorecard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Reinvigorating-PBC-Statute-in-Vermont.pdf B Local NYC: https://www.blocalnyc.com/ B Lab: https://bcorporation.net/about-b-lab VBSR: https://vbsr.org/

A Quick Primer For COP26 In just a few days, thousands of people will convene in Glasgow, Scotland for COP26, a conference centered on the goals set out by the Paris Climate Agreement. In this quick episode, Tavit gives you a primer on everything you need to know about COP26, and what developments you should look for in the weeks to come. Source Article #1: https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/10/13/what-to-look-out-for-at-cop26 Source Article #2: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-nations-cop26-climate-change-summit/ Solar Spill Episode on the latest UN Climate Report: https://thesolarspill.podbean.com/e/s3e5-the-ipcc-report-and-societal-collapse/

...A Brighter Future "SunCommon believes that everyone has the right to a healthy environment and brighter future – and renewable energy is where it starts." As a company, we rally around that statement of purpose every day, and in today's quick episode, we explore how that statement is actually 100% verified by science! Source Articles: https://www.space.com/climate-change-dimming-earth

Budget Reconciliation & Biden's Climate Agenda Much of President Biden’s agenda to fight climate change is riding on an ambitious 3.5 trillion dollar budget reconciliation to fund some truly transformative programs. On this episode of The Solar Spill, we're covering what’s in the proposal and why Biden’s own party is trying to have some parts of the proposal removed. Source Articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/climate/arizona-senator-sinema.html