In this episode, Ted interviews Joel Cesare, a longstanding friend,colleague, and sustainability champion, who has just begun a new job at Cambio, a firm that has an AI platform designed for portfolios of real estate. Joel explains how Cambio’s platform supports all manner of data-intensive property management functions, including building decarbonization.

Joel discusses his years at Google where he was on a team of sustainability managers. Their goal was to decarbonize all of Google’s 40 million square feet of real estate by 2030. To do so, they studied hundreds of facilities in many countries… prioritizing projects based on numerous parameters. What Joel realized in that job was the power of AI in sifting through massive amounts of data and developing work plans to decarbonize and advance sustainable practices.

Ted and Joel dig into the fact that the data centers that power AI systems are very energy intensive. Ted queries, “Is the Cambio platform a sustainable solution given the energy intensity of AI?” Joel believes that, yes, this application of AI does provide a net societal benefit as retrofits and new construction activities are flagged that make economic sense… measures and carbon savings that would not have been realized absent the AI platform.

They also recount Joel’s pioneering work for the City of Santa Monica, developing City Hall East, one of the world’s most sustainable buildings. Joel acknowledges the key role played by Denis Hayes in promoting the project’s unique design features at Santa Monica’s City Council. Denis had recently completed the Bullitt Center’s radically sustainable headquarters in Seattle, and had encouraged others to follow suit, pushing the envelope of sustainable buildings.

Joel highlights a few of City Hall East’s greatest challenges: First and foremost was rooftop rainwater collection for potable water. This involved certifying rooftop surfaces — including solar panels — for water that is now used for showering and drinking. Another challenge was the inclusion of composting toilets there… the first ever in a public building of its kind.

In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted welcomes Catherine Sands, Director of Fertile Ground, to the podcast. After years of working in development and promoting special fund-raising concerts for Natural Resources Defense Council, Catherine moved north from New York City to the Berkshires of Massachusetts to raise a family and live closer to the land. There, she became involved with schools and asked a very basic question: Why do local schools have such lousy food?

These questions led Catherine to a career working with schools and communities, linking education and applied learning to food systems. She sought to emulate the edible schoolyard program that Alice Waters created in Berkeley, California. There, students were learning growing food in their schoolyards, gaining an appreciation of healthy food, and developing pathways for lifelong wellness. This inspired Catherine to work with local schools in Massachusetts, working on applied learning, food procurement, and linking local schools to local farms… all to bring healthy, pesticide-free food, and “scatch-made” meals to students. She explains that much of her work involves diligent networking and matchmaking to support food policy councils, school districts’ food procurement professionals, and local farms.

Determined to better understand food systems and food policy, and to undo the food inequity she found distressing, Catherine earned a graduate degree from University of Massachusetts to advance Fertile Ground and its work with schools and communities. Since then, Fertile Ground has provided food system evaluations with recommendations for school districts on how to best tap Farm Bill funds to advance healthy food. Fertile Ground develops approaches and programs and gardens. She then joined the U Mass faculty where she has inspired and guided hundreds of students on a similar mission, work that she continues… driven by passion and fulfillment in her successes.

“What’s in your garden this spring?” Ted asks Catherine in closing. She responds that, yes, “It’s planting time. The greens are going in. Tomatoes too.” And not only in her own garden: She relishes in having fostered and continuing to support hundreds of gardens at schools and within the communities that she serves. Catherine makes clear that providing healthy food at schools and in our communities is challenging, but more so, it is rewarding as it nurtures young minds and healthy souls and organically supports communities.