Podcast: Mindful Businesses

85: Sagent – Know What Your Network Knows

Repairing an item is an achievable and straightforward path to achieve sustainability goals. This “concept” is becoming more and more apparent with Right to Repair legislations being passed as laws in some states in the US and countries worldwide. In January 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Digital Fair Repair Act, a law that will increase the consumers ability to repair some electronics and reduce the e-wastes that end up in the landfills. In this context, we wanted to share an episode that we had aired earlier to showcase this business that in their CEO Gordon Smith’s words “we don’t manufacture – we re-manufacture.” Learn more in this episode.
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We talked with Sagent’s CEO Gordon Smith about how Sagent works to reduce the environmental impact by lowering emissions, pollution, and energy investment. They do it a) by repairing and refurbishing networks they extend the useful equipment life with telecom repair services b) by maintaining an industry-leading network test, repair, and maintenance facility. They have expert technicians who perform network repair services, system-level testing and component-level repairs and extend the life of telecom equipment. They repair more than 850,000 devices annually, across 100,000 SKUs, from over 100 manufacturers – all with a 96% yield rate and standard repair cycle time of two weeks.

They deliver equipment repair services that give insight into your network to help reduce avoidable repairs. For each repair, they capture and report on the root cause of each failure and can pinpoint the means to avoid it in the future. Their software developed specifically for network operators tracks failure data at both macro and micro levels. It monitors data failure trends by geography, site location, technician responsibility, OEM platform and specific part numbers to deliver actionable data to help prevent future incidents. Rather than recycle network assets, Sagent Insights can develop a systematic program to reuse network assets and delay additions to the e-waste stream, by recycling and disposing of components only after they have achieved maximum service life. Learn more in this episode of Mindful Businesses. This episode is a re-air from December 7, 2021.

https://sagent.net/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

#digitalfairrepairact #ewaste #landfill #mindfulbusinesses #repairability #righttorepair #sagent

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85: Sagent - Know What Your Network Knows
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109: Re – Air Pass the Honey – It’s Absurdly Good

“No Mow May…” in Buffalo and Western New York was a cooperative effort by neighbors, municipalities, and counties to stop residents from mowing their lawns for a month to help pollinators such as bees survive and help their population grow. Pollinators are an integral part of the global food supply. This episode delves into how the bee population has been affected by commercial and large scale farming practices. This summer, as we work in our gardens and pesky bee buzzes around you, if possible, take a pause to think about the role they play in our environment and food supply. Learn more about bees and beekeeping practices in this episode.
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Next time we grab a packet of honey to add to our tea – we should stop and think how a commodity so valuable and nutritionally dense is given for free. According to Douglas Raggio, founder of Pass The Honey, 70% of all honey is not pure. There is rampant fraud and honey is adulterated by blending with sugar syrups or many other methods of adulteration. In order to address this level of fraud in the industry, Pass the Honey establishes trusting partnerships directly with beekeeper suppliers so we know how our honeycomb was produced and have full traceability and transparency from beekeeper to consumer.

Fake honey, deceives consumers and floods markets with a cheap product, driving honey prices so low beekeepers are having a hard time staying in business. The beekeepers have had to find alternate sources of livelihood, such as pollination services, that require them to travel far and wide to help farmers pollinate their crops. This further causes stress to the bees and they lose 45% of their bee population every year because of this movement. Why do the farmers require this service? Learn more about this and the importance of bees in our food systems in this episode of Mindful Businesses.

https://passthehoney.com/pages/about-us
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/
#regenerativeagriculture
#beekeeping
#sustainbleagriculture
#passthehoney
#nomowmay

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109: Re - Air Pass the Honey - It's Absurdly Good
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113: Re- Air Trustrace – ​​Platform For Product Traceability

We talk with Shameek Ghosh, co-founder of Trustrace a platform that brings traceability and transparency to the fashion brands such as #Adidas, #Decathalon, and #FjällRaven. It all started when one of his coworkers/friend decided to return to India from Sweden to take over his ancestral property. His friend was dismayed at the destruction that the fashion industry had caused to the lands owned by his family for three generations in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, India. When they started to talk to leading sustainable brands in Sweden to see if they collaborate with factories in India, they were hesitant to work with companies 1000s of miles away as they wouldn’t be able to control the products and quality. After talking to these brands they developed a B2B SaaS platform that empowers fashion and textile brands to fully understand and take responsibility for the social and environmental impact of their supply chains. The company is the one-stop platform for brands aiming to solve major challenges of sustainability, compliance, and transparency in the supply chains. They track transactions and scope certificates in a standardized, digital format using an AI-driven platform. Brands can get granular visibility into the chain of custody and gather evidence needed to meet compliance requirements. And furthermore they can see the status of the materials and goods as they move through the supply chain. Learn more about this fascinating AI driven platform on this episode of Mindful Businesses.
https://trustrace.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/
#Mindfulbusinesses #Saas #Traceability #trustrace #supplychain

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113: Re- Air Trustrace - ​​Platform For Product Traceability
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5: eAgronom- Transforming Voluntary Carbon Offset Markets

Carbon cycle occurs naturally in nature during photosynthesis. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen and when animals consume the plants they release the carbon dioxide that is again absorbed by the plants. Human activities put out more carbon than nature can handle. We have to use every possible way to absorb this excess carbon from the atmosphere. Soil is an excellent source to capture and sequester carbon.

In this episode we talk with the son of a generational farmer, Robin Saluoks of eAgronom, who uses technology to provide solutions that encourage farmers to operate smarter and sustainably. eAgronom helps farmers monitor and verify sustainable practices, generate carbon credits, increase agricultural efficiency, and gain better access to financing in the future. They use data and technology to inform the farmers about the soil conditions and help them get financing to adopt sustainable farming practices. They then help the farmers sell their carbon credits in the carbon market thus helping them off set some of the costs of changing to sustainable farming. Learn more about this win-win solution from the Founder and CEO of Eagronom Robin Salouks.

https://www.eagronom.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

#carboncapture
#sustainablefarming
#Carboncredit
#humous
#carbonfarming
#Carbonsequestration
#mindfulbusinessespodcast
#eagronom

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5: eAgronom- Transforming Voluntary Carbon Offset Markets
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107: FabScrap – Recycling and Reusing Textile Waste

Today we revisit a conversation with FabScrap about the textile waste that ends up in landfills and how they try to reduce this phenomenon. This episode is a re-air from May 17, 2023
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Majority of the conversation around fashion waste revolves around finished products that end up in the landfill. But around 12 % that is around 6.3 million tonnes per year is sent by brands to the landfill in the design and development stage. These would be sample booklets with swatches and unused fabric rolls and prior to Fabscrap they ended up in the landfill. We talk with Jessica Schreiber CEO and founder of FabScrap, a non-profit whose 80% of earned income comes from service fees and fabric sales. They receive service fees from brands to Fabscrap to pick up their textile waste, similar to when they pay for recycling or trash pickup. They do this with an army of volunteers, almost 100 unique ones per month and their staff in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Their staff take extra precautions to assure brands that their copyrighted materials are shredded and don’t reenter the market. Fabscrap also sells the fabrics to quilters, sewing enthusiasts, fashion students and assuring nothing that is picked up by Fabscrap goes to the landfill. With the long-term goal to influence habit and policy they create impact reports that they share back with their brands – how much and what fabric they picked and how was it sorted and if reused or not. Jessica believes that this makes the brands internalize the cost of their waste and may help them reevaluate and optimize their design and planning process. Learn more about this first of its kind initiative and organization on this episode of Mindful businesses.

#textilewaste
#mindfulbusinesses
#sustainablefashion
#fabricwaste
#fabscrap
#sustainablefashion

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107: FabScrap - Recycling and Reusing Textile Waste
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119: RheEnergise – High Density Hydro

Energy systems need to decarbonise to prevent climate change. There are many solutions to generate energy without using fossil-fuels, but renewable sources of energy are intermittent, depending on how long the sun shines, number of windy days per week – leading to a mismatch between supply and consumer demand. Energy needs to be stored to match the demand with the supply. Presently energy produced is stored in hydroelectric pumps by pumping it up and releasing it as demanded. RheEnergise is bringing innovation to pumped energy storage, with a solution called High-Density Hydro®. They use a fluid with 2.5x the density of water, that means they can generate 2.5 times the energy generated by water and they can be installed on small hills instead of mountains. This opens up a number of feasible locations to store this energy – sites where you are not dependent on rainfall or a water source and hills instead of mountains. Learn more of this fascinating invention that will help us decarbonize energy production from Stephen Crosher, CEO of RheEnergise.

This episode is a re-air from November 29, 2022

#energystorage, #decarbonising, #sustainablenergy, #renewableenergy, #mindfulbusinessses
https://www.rheenergise.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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77: Black Earth Compost

As a way of welcoming Spring let’s learn about composting, specially curbside composting. The result – a beautiful rich soil ready for your spring planting. Let’s hear more in this episode. This episode is a re-air from October 4, 2021
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Black Earth Compost was founded in January 2011, in Gloucester, MA. Originally a one man, one truck, Cape Ann company, it has steadily grown to become the leading full-service compost company in New England. With over 25 trucks, they are dedicated to collecting food scraps from residents, schools, supermarkets, colleges, and more, all across eastern MA and RI. They are also the only vertically integrated company that composts the material too, returning it to customers and selling it in garden centers across Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. They are your one-stop-shop for all your organic waste collection or garden soil needs.

In this episode, we talk with Conor Miller, Partner, CEO of Black Earth Composting as he shares his journey and how the business had to pivot during the pandemic to moving from commercial pick-ups to residential pick-ups and compost delivery. Learn more in this episode.

#garden #eco friendly #sustainability #greenliving #sustainablecooking #soil #dirt #rhodeisland #foodwaste×#newengland #composting #compost #gardening #zero waste #sustainable #planting #gloucestermassachussetts #organicwaste×

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77: Black Earth Compost
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120: The Barefoot College Tilonia – Grassroots Community Organization

We just heard that “the Delhi High Court has granted an injunction in favor of Barefoot College restraining Barefoot College International (BCI) from using “Barefoot College” (and the two-feet logo) for any purpose whatsoever. More specifically, the Court has restrained BCI from continued use of the domain name www.barefootcollege.org. Further, the Court has also forbidden BCI from using “Barefoot College” as part of their company name.” We are happy for our guests who feel vindicated. On this occasion, we would like to re-air this very thought provoking and powerful episode.
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In the winter of 2012, I had the good fortune of visiting Barefoot College Tilonia – located in Tilonia, Rajasthan, India. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that visit was indeed life-transforming. The Barefoot College founded by Mr. Bunker Roy in 1972, is a community-based grassroots organization working to make marginalized communities sustainable and self-sufficient. He believes in the Gandhian philosophy that knowledge, skills and wisdom found in the villages should be used for their own development.
Though he went to the prestigious Doon School and St. Stephens College, he realized the wealth of wisdom in rural India (Bharath) needs to be harnessed and showcased.. The Barefoot College’s one program in particular – Solar Mamas is filled with inspiring stories. Of women from around the globe who come to an unfamiliar country, where they don’t understand the language, culture or food. These women come to become solar engineers. They come as mothers and grandmothers, and return back as tigers electrifying their villages with solar lamps. How do these illiterate women who have never left their villages become solar engineers? Listen to learn more in our latest episode. This episode is a re-air from January 24, 2023
https://www.barefootcollegetilonia.org/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/
#barefootcollegetilonia, #ruralpower, #culturalpreservation, #rajasthan, #tilonia, #Barefoot, #BarefootCollege, #barefootcollegetilonia,

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83: Rebel Nell – One of No Other Kind

We decided to re-air this episode on Valentine’s Day. A gift that keeps giving – maybe order a unique piece of jewelry for someone you care. This episode is a re-air from November 23, 2021
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This episode has two parts – in part one, we talk with Amy Peterson, the co-founder of Rebel Nell about her inspiration and motivation to start Rebel Nell. While living next to a homeless shelter in Detroit, MI, she got to learn up-close the women who lived there and their challenges. One day out on a jog she finds a piece of graffiti that she envisioned could be repurposed into meaningful wearable art. A fusion of these two ideas gave birth to Rebel Nell. Amy with her co-founder Diana Roginson started Rebel Nell in 2013 with the mission to provide employment, equitable opportunity, and wraparound support for women with barriers to employment. They seek to embolden women, to embrace their infinite strength, and to define their own future.

They partner with local organizations to seek out women who have struggled to find and retain employment. Their goal is to help the women move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance, overcoming barriers to employment through the fruits of their own labor. Rebel Nell’s product line starts with repurposing graffiti, after it has fallen off the walls.

These are women who when hired have no background in jewelry become creative designers who make incredibly intricate and unique piece each one more beautiful than the next. In the part two we chat with one such woman – Ethel Rucker, Production Lead at Rebel Nell.

In addition to on-the-job training and guidance on how to make jewelry, Rebel Nell also provides them with life management, financial training and business education to make sure they have the confidence and knowledge that will enable them to leave homelessness/dependence behind permanently and move forward as strong independent women. Listen to this powerful story in this episode.

https://www.rebelnell.com/
To hire Ethel Rucker for your next photoshoot contact her via her website https://harteclectic.com/

https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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104: Dr. Raghuram Rajan, The 23rd Governor of Reserve Bank Of India – Global Carbon Reduction Incentive

In honor of the 60th birthday of one of the world’s top economists we re-air episode of Mindful Businesses podcast, featuring Raghuram Rajan. He shares his thoughts on balancing economic growth with social responsibility. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights from a leader in the field. This episode is a re-air from April 26, 2022
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The Nobel prize winning economist Dr. Milton Friedman, said the business of a business is making money – but within the acceptable social norms. Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth School and he was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, looks into how “social norms” have changed and how the businesses need to adapt to adopt sustainable practices. May it be their impact on the planet, how they treat their employees and or make their products. He talks about how there needs to be regulations to guide and help the corporations to achieve these goals.

Further, with countries setting goals for netzero, how can we actually have a plan that is accountable and works. Dr. Rajan proposes a global incentive scheme to reduce carbon emissions. On April 19th, 2022 he presented this solution to The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action that required countries who exceed the per capita global country average for carbon emissions, estimated at 5 tons, will pay to a global carbon incentive fund. He calls this payment Global Carbon Incentives (GCI). He further explains – “this annual payment would be calculated by multiplying the excess emissions per capita by the country’s population and a dollar amount called the Global Carbon Incentive. So if the country’s population is 30 million, its per capita emission in 17 tons, and the GCI is set at $10, it would pay $30 million*(17-5)*10= $3.6 billion. Countries below the global per capita average would receive a payout commensurate with their “under-emission”.

This fund could be managed by a quasi government agency like the World Bank. Mindful Businesses is one of the first media outlets to share Dr. Rajan’s solution. Listen to it in our latest episode.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghuram_Rajan

https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Mentions:

Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action.

Angad Daryani – Founder – Praan

Ram Palaniappan – Founder of Earnin

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www.facebook.com/Mindfulbusinesses

#raghuramrajan, #globalcarbonincentive, #carbonemmissions, #greenhousegases, #SDGs

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104: Dr. Raghuram Rajan, The 23rd Governor of Reserve Bank Of India - Global Carbon Reduction Incentive
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