Podcast: Womenled

9: Ehlers Estate – Sustainable Winemaking

With summer fast approaching, sipping a glass of wine, we wondered about the practices of vineyards – a highly competitive and commercialized industry. Around the same time we were pitched by Ehlers Estate for an interview with their General Manager and Winemaker. In our conversation with several of the mindful business leaders, we sought insights into the economics of running a sustainable and profitable business. The strategies that they use to achieve sustainability goals and still be profitable.

In this episode we talk with Laura Diaz Munoz, Winemaker and GM of Ehlers Estate about her journey from a food scientist to a winemaker and a sustainable one at that. Ehlers Estate is one of the oldest wineries in North America established in 1886 by a German immigrant Bernard Ehlers. On July 1, 2008, after three years of verifiable organic farming, Ehlers Estate was awarded organic certification from the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). But that was not enough – they went on to implement steps to include regenerative farming practices. Using nature to help solve nature’s problems with minimal or no intervention. Interventions whether it be in the yeast or sulphurs in their heritage wine, use of fungicide or pesticides. They employ innovative techniques to reduce water consumption during irrigation and reuse the water used in the wine making process. In addition, with the use of technology, such as sensors in the soil they can determine accurately how much to irrigate the vines, further conserving water, a scarce resource. In this enjoyable conversation with Laura Díaz Muñoz, her passion for saving the heritage vines and artistically creating wine blends that bring out the flavor and aroma of each fruit in the blend. But for me, the cherry on the top of this business is that this for – profit business is part of Leducq Charitable Trust – an international grant making organization to support research in cardiovascular disease and stroke. Learn more about this mindful business on this episode of Mindful Business.

#sustainablewines #sustainablefarming #wines #wineplague #delucqfoundation #delucq #mindfulbusinesses

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Agriculture & Farming
9: Ehlers Estate - Sustainable Winemaking
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8: Circular Design Consultants – Net Zero Homes

When Jodi Bakst and Cor Rademaker, co – founders of Circular Design Consultants had the opportunity to develop oa piece of land in North Carolina, they had the vision to make it North Carolina’s first net-zero neighborhood. They put this vision to pen and paper to create Array Sustainable Design and bring to market a twelve lot neighborhood on 60 acres, in picturesque Orange County, North Carolina. In this episode they share how their homes are energy efficient and the challenges that they faced in creating this project. They sell individual lots to buyers who can build custom homes abiding by the neighborhood’s covenants. They believe developments like their net-zero neighborhoods will be the neighborhood of the future and they are excited to be the first of its kind in North Carolina. Listen to this lively and passionate couple on this episode of Mindful Businesses.

Mentions:
Array Sustainable Living
GAF Energy
Timberline Solar
Eric Corey Freed

#netzero, #mindfulbusinesses, #solar, #GAF, #sustainabledesign, #aarayliving
https://arraysustainableliving.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Architecture
8: Circular Design Consultants - Net Zero Homes
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7: Loop And Tie – Gifting That Gives Back

Receiving a gift makes people happy, incentivizes and motivates employees, and builds corporate morale. Businesses give gifts for various reasons – a promotion, to say thank you, reaching a milestone or even”just because”. The businesses try their level best to match the gift to the employees tastes. That can be a daunting task for the gifter. Loop and Tie aims at making corporate gifting intentional, sustainable and an opt-in gift experience. They have observed that with the opt-in gifting, the receiver can choose the gift of their liking. It helps businesses send unique, elevated gifts that help your brand stand out — and make a difference doing it. Loop and Tie are the first and only carbon regenerative gifting platform. For every gift shipped, through their land restoration and regenerative agriculture initiatives make a net positive carbon impact. Their gifts are thoughtfully sourced from independent creators, makers, and artisans. They even have a gift-it-forward capabilities that allow the receiver to support charities, non-profits, or causes that matter most to them. Learn more about giving sustainable from the Founder and CEO of Loop and Tie, Sara Rodell on the latest episode of Mindful Businesses.
https://www.loopandtie.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

#sustainablegifting, #mindfulbusinesses, #loopandtie, #Carbonpositive, #corporategifting, #gifting #employeemorale

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USA
7: Loop And Tie - Gifting That Gives Back
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6: Our Sustainable Home – Eric Corey Freed; Foundation and Windows

The cement industry puts out 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions, but having said that, it is very durable and technically made with natural materials. As we go along this journey to build a sustainable home, we look into options to reduce the consumption of cement and therefore concrete in our home. We delve into the techniques to build a strong and dry foundation or basement that can withstand the upward ground water pressure and the thrust from the ground on the side walls with minimal cement consumption. A sustainable house begins with a good system to envelop the home to minimize heat loss and energy consumption. Besides insulation and construction techniques we look to windows and how they can help us in creating a tightly sealed home. A well-designed and thought-through window placement design can also help us with solar gain and create desired airflows in the home reducing costs of heating and cooling the home. What are the factors to consider when selecting a foundation or window technology? We learn more from our expert Eric Corey Freed, LEED Fellow Principal, Director of Sustainability at Cannon Design on this episode of Mindful Businesses.

https://www.cannondesign.com/people/eric-corey-freed
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

#sustainablehome #oursustainablehome #mindfulbusinesses #U-Values #Rvalues #superiorwalls #triplepanewindows #tiltandturn #cementindustry #greenhome

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Architecture
6: Our Sustainable Home - Eric Corey Freed; Foundation and Windows
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123: Honnold Foundation – Expand Solar Energy Access to Marginalized Communities

The risk assessments that governments and corporations make to encourage marginalized communities and uplift them, have themselves become a hurdle to the assistance that they wish to provide. Honnold foundations wishes to fill that gap by partnering closely with nonprofits in a space where their needs are too small for governments and not profitable enough for businesses. The Honnold Foundation was founded by professional rock climber Alex Honnold in 2012. After a rock climbing expedition around the world, he decided to focus his giving on solar energy – as it was so tangible.

They engage and collaborate with these communities to expand equitable solar access. The Honnold Foundation is a proud partner with community-based organizations all over the world who are using solar energy to improve lives and reduce environmental impact. They partner with communities in Africa, Americas, Asia and in the Native American communities in North America. Native Renewables empowers Native American families to achieve energy independence by growing renewable energy capacity and affordable access to off-grid power. To learn more about this truly mindful and giving philanthropy listen to Emily Teitsworth, Executive Director of Honnold foundation, in our latest episode.

https://www.honnoldfoundation.org/
www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com

#solarenergy #marginalizedcommunities #mindfulbusinesses #honnoldfoundation

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Energy
123: Honnold Foundation - Expand Solar Energy Access to Marginalized Communities
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122: Reactive Surfaces – Bringing Surfaces To Life

Most US elementary school students learn about photosynthesis in their science class. The process is very simple – chlorophyll in the leaves and green stems absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. It is nature’s elegant way of capturing carbon dioxide. Carbon cycle is where humans and human activities put out carbon dioxide and processes such as photosynthesis absorb it. But when the NET carbon dioxide into the atmosphere exceeds what is absorbed – that to the extent of 30 – 50 gigatons of carbon dioxide, then we have a problem on our hands. Observing and learning from nature our guests Beth McDaniel, President and Dr. Steve McDaniel, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of Reactive Surfaces try to replicate the carbon capture process in nature in their solution. They have created coatings that can be applied to surfaces to capture carbon – just like nature does it with leaves and stems. Using polymeric materials thinly spread on a surface, adhere to the surface and then cured. These surfaces when exposed to sunlight, will photosynthesise, capturing and fixing carbon, using the photosynthetic process to carbohydrate. To learn more about this truly fascinating solution listen to our latest episode of Mindful Businesses.

Mentions:
Embassy Row Project – Envirotech Pre – accelerator
Xprize
Musk Foundation

#climatechange #carboncapture #carbonsequestration #mindfulbusinesses #reactivesurfaces #photosythesis #learnfromnature #sustainablematerials
https://reactivesurfaces.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Sustainable Materials
122: Reactive Surfaces - Bringing Surfaces To Life
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116: Rebellyous Foods – No Harm, No Fowl

The question we ask – why was meat production industrialized instead plant-based meat production. Plant based meat is far more eco-friendly that meat production. We speak with Christie Lagally, CEO of Rebellyous Foods, who states that most plant-based meat until now were primarily using processes and methods that were an extension of how we would make them in a kitchen. She got to rethink the chicken nugget from the ground up – and build a better one. This means tackling the insanely hard work of rethinking the way our food is made. Christie, an aerospace engineer and her team of talented engineers are developed the Mock Two – the most advanced plant-based meat manufacturing system on the planet, to make the best tasting nugget. Listen to her passion making a great tasting product along with her compassion for the planet and people.

https://www.rebellyous.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/
#fortheplanet, #innovativematerials, #mindfulbusinesses, #planbasedfoods, #rebellyousfoods, #sustianablefoodproduction, #vegan, #vegetarian,

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Food
116: Rebellyous Foods - No Harm, No Fowl
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115: Moonlight Technologies – Power of Nature for a Sustainable World

Nature is the best teacher. Imagine we use the power power of nature to create a more sustainable, safer, and healthier world. Imagine there existed a fabric that repels bugs, dirt, viruses, eliminates bad odors, self-cleans, and repels stains naturally. That is what Moonlight Technologies strives to create. 100% natural, sustainable, and carbon negative technologies for fabrics, surfaces, and hardgoods that protect and enhance people’s lives worldwide. In this episode we talk with Allie Sutton, CEO and Dr. Phyllis Levine, Global Medical Director of Moonlight Technologies who share their vision and passion of using plant extracts to improve lives by empowering humans to live more freely using nature’s innate abilities, Moonlight Technologies consists of an experienced team of doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs focused on providing sustainable innovation to the world. Together they have created:
1) EcoArmor – kills 99% of all bacteria, viruses, mold and fungus
2) Inspectproof – 100% plant based insect and pest repellent technology that repel mosquitos, fleas, ants, ticks, and mites
3) Ordorsafe – plant based odor eliminating and antimicrobial technology that permanently destroys all types of bad odors on fabrics
4) Mindfully Clean – self-cleaning technology that keeps the treated articles fresh and regardless of use
5) Natural and organic dyes – naturally derived, sustainable color-fast natural dyes.
Learn more about this fascinating invention and how it may change our lives forever.
https://www.moonlighttech.co/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Sustainable Materials
115: Moonlight Technologies - Power of Nature for a Sustainable World
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114: Wespire – Build A Better Working World

As a corporate leader what if you were told you could increase employee retention by over 30% by using behavioral and attitudinal nudges to bring improvement in both their commitment to ESG and their own company ecosystem, while keeping their most valuable asset – their people – engaged. With more than a decade of experience, WeSpire employee engagement consultants partner with organizations to create purpose-centric engagement strategies that help turn ambitious impact goals into reality. Each solution is customized to the organizations needs by first having a conversation to helps understand what they would like to achieve as well as your strategy and goals.They uncover and analyze not just the existing initiatives, but also the prevailing attitudes and behaviors that exist in the workplace that may accelerate or hinder success. These transformative behavioral and attitudinal insights help companies by shedding light on the standards and frameworks, and provide strategies for engaging employees around ESG. Learn more in our conversation with Susan Hunt Stevens  founder and CEO of Wespire.

https://www.wespire.com/

https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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IT for sustainability
114: Wespire - Build A Better Working World
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110: Junobie -Eco-friendly Reusable Breast Milk Storage Bags

As formula companies’ productions are limping back to normal, after the recall, a question some people ask is why can’t mother “just” switch to breastfeeding their infants. As most mothers know that it is not that easy to make that switch. Breastfeeding a baby can be hard – it needs support from the family, spouse, pediatrician and most importantly the medical community. Breast milk can be stored up to four days in the refrigerator giving the mothers some flexibility to return to work or even sometimes even share some of their milk with other mothers. This breast milk needs to be stored in a safe, convenient, and long-use product. Our guest in this episode, Nickey Ramsey, Founder & CEO of Junobie does just that, empowering women with a convenient pouch made of silicon. Learn more in this episode of Mindful Businesses.

https://www.junobie.com/
https://mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Sustainable Materials
110: Junobie -Eco-friendly Reusable Breast Milk Storage Bags
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