Eco-Logic Podcasts – 2025

Heather White is the founder and director of the non-profit OneGreenThing. She and her colleagues are focused on helping people of all ages overcome eco-anxiety. She has developed a philosophy of empowerment as well as an on-line test that measures and identifies each of our unique powers to make a positive contribution to climate sanity.

Andrew Rothman is pleased to report that just this morning, the U.S. Congress approved an extension to the pilot program that has funded 35 wildlife crossings projects in America. The six-year extension will bring $1.2 million through the Department of Transportation to local planning efforts and infrastructure to protect wildlife and motorists. This additional funding will support all manner of crossing forms, be they smaller structures, or modifications to existing bridges and underpasses, or culvert widening for terrestrial and aquatic species.

Kari Hamerschlag is Deputy Director for Food and Agricultural Policy at Friends of the Earth (FOE). She's been advocating for healthy farming practices and working with schools and institutions to serve healthy food. She notes that 60 - 70 chemicals used by U.S. farms today are banned in the countries where they are manufactured, makes clear the connection between agriculture and climate change and warns that we are up against "corporate controlled food."

Ralph Bianculli's company, Emerald Ecovations, manufacturers and sells 370+ products... all of which are made from natural, organic materials, and all of which are easily composted. His company can boast about it's significant environmental impacts.... avoiding the use of 43 million pounds of plastics, keeping 7.7 million kg of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere, and he has saved over a half million trees... not to mention 74 million pounds of landfill waste.

Tom Szaky's firm, TerraCycle, recycles ~400 different products and materials. Ted asks right off the bat, "Do you really recycle soiled diapers, cigarette butts, shoes, juice pouches, and chewing gum?" Tom quickly makes clear that everything can be recycled... at a cost. He spun off the TerraCycle Foundation to support ocean clean-ups, working in Thailand on upstream waste collection... in rivers and canals before the waste washes into the oceans.

Chance Claxton is a serial entrepreneur, a brand builder. Her most recent works involves axial flux motors, known as pancake motors. They are lighter weight, lower cost, and highly efficient electric motors. Her company, Orbis Elecric, has been working with the VW Group and other automotive OEMs to put these motors inside wheels. They can be positioned in two rear wheels or in all four wheels for high torque and high horsepower applications.

Georges Dyer is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) which insights and negative screening tools to weed out investments that run counter to an institution's mission and goals, while highlighting positive investment opportunities to reduce risk and steer institutions towards profitable investments in the green economy.

Joyce Coffee heads up a firm called Climate Resilience Consulting, advising cities and states and others on resilience to climate change. After 750 souls there lost their lives in Chicago during a heat wave, mostly black and brown citizens, she knew that she was going to focus on adaptation, and making people more resilient to the ravages of climate change.

Henk's career in mining began in Canada, and then led him to extensive works in Argentina, Chile, and other South American countries. He discusses the process of developing mine sites... noting his style and business model of working collaboratively with indigenous populations, making them part of the process which ultimately led to longer term successes. The conversation then shifts to lithium mining using DLE or Direct Lithium Extraction.

Clean Power Alliance is in its eighth year serving cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, providing power to over one million electric meters in 35 cities and county areas with a generating capacity of 3,400 MW. CPA is offering a suite of programs that enhance its services. CPA offers programs for its member agencies that feature resilience for critical facilities as well as up to $250,000 grants for building electrification. CPA also offers a suite of customer programs... things like incentives for advanced battery energy storage and EV charger incentives.

Robert Fortunato runs ForStrategy Consulting, a firm that coaches leadership and innovation. He notes that he likes to "coach clients out of dark places!" In addition to playing his drums, being a band leader, and continuing his passion for music.. he provides green home and building decarbonization consulting for Southern California Edison and others.

Geoff Stapleton is considered "a force" in the solar industry, particularly in Australia and the Pacific Islands. So far, he has worked in 39 countries supporting solar... introducing standards and training to validate and shore up the solar industry. His work has been widely recognized, culminating recently in his recognition and award of the "Order of Australia" title.

In this Crash Course, hosted by Sierra Flanigan, she and her father, Ted Flanigan, dig into the key issue related to the combustion of green hydrogen in peaker power plants. Ted learned of the adverse impact of burning hydrgoen last year from his friend and colleague, Jonathan Parfrey, Executive Director of Climate Resolve. Together they wrote a white paper to clarify the issue... the basis of this Crash Course.

Cecily DeAngelo read an article in the New York Times about wildlife crossings, and ever since, she has been laser-focused on developing wildlife crossings in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. She grew up there and has witnessed first hand the carnage along Pitkin County's roadways... dead bears, deer, elk, rabbits, and more and more moose. These vehicle wildlife accidents decimate wildlife in the Roaring Fork Valley and are responsible for 30% of vehicle accidents there.

Grant Gunnison is the founder and CEO of Zero Homes, a Denver-based firm that specializes in electrification of homes in Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, and California. Grant gave up his post-MIT work at NASA and returned to Colorado to run his family's construction business, shifting its focus to tackle climate change. He recognized the need to decarbonize some 60 million American homes, with 4 - 5 measures per home. What he did then was revolutionize the retrofit process, uncovering efficiencies to drive down costs and to boost the customer experience. Grant, an enthusiastic soul, has clearly been a beneficial disruptor!

Ted interviews Stephan Crawford, the founder and executive producer of ClimateMusic. Stephan is a San Francisco-based fine artist who in 2014 developed ClimateMusic. Frustrated by the lack of action to combat the very real threat of the climate emergency, Stephan brought together musicians with science experts to develop musical messages to educate and inspire action.

Bernadette makes clear the benefits of local, distributed solar and storage. It saves everyone money, not just those that have panels on their roofs. It creates local jobs. It helps the State meet our climate protection goals. And all ratepayers save money as our utilities do not have to build new power plants. They also do not need to spend billions of dollars on new transmission and distribution lines.

Flanigan's Eco-Logic features Steve Lewis for the third time... this time delving into his own deeply disturbing experience, as his neighborhood was ravaged by the Eaton Fire in early January. Since the fire, Steve explains how he has been focused on working with others to rebuild the community, not just its built environment, but its culture.

Ted speaks with Josh Dorfman, CEO at Supercool, a media company covering climate solutions that raise profits and quality of life. Josh is also the host of the Supercool Podcast, and co-founder of Plantd, a company that manufactures carbon-negative building materials. He is best known as creator and host of The Lazy Environmentalist, an award-winning reality TV show on Sundance Channel, radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio, book series, and e-commerce business.

Ted speaks with Jim Gromer, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Thermal Banc/TESS Energy Solutions, a collaborative effort of companies building thermal energy storage solutions - turning waste heat into clean energy. The technology is revolutionizing energy efficiency by capturing, storing, and reusing waste heat, significantly reducing industrial and commercial energy consumption.

In this Convo of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Mark Swanson. He and Ted discuss Aeromine's breakthrough technology, which is harvesting the flow of wind over a building. The scalable renewable energy solution harnesses the power of wind in an efficient system, with motionless, vibration-less, and noise-less units.

In this Convo of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Kate Reimann, Founder and CEO of Rogue Wave Toys and Rogue Wave Materials. Rogue Wave Toys are made of compostable plastic based on biopolymers and plant based materials. She and Ted discuss the inspiration for Rogue Wave, which all started with her kids and their beach toys that were swept out into the ocean by a wave.

Ted speaks with Dr. Jennifer Bousselot, Assistant Professor at Colorado State University (CSU) in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Jennifer is exploring new and innovative ways to improve the productivity and aesthetics of modern urban spaces by harnessing the twin powers of the sun and plantlife.

In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, father-daughter duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan host the clean energy crash course focusing on energy resilience, specifically on electricity, highlighting the importance of durability and reliability in the face of changing climate conditions and extreme weather events.

In this Convo of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Dr. Missy Stults, Sustainability and Innovations Director at City of Ann Arbor, working with all city operations, residents, businesses, the University of Michigan, nonprofits, and others to make Ann Arbor one of the most sustainable and equitable cities in America.