HAPPY PLANET

Mar 05 2025 63 ep. 35 mins 4
HAPPY PLANET Podcast artwork

Can innovation, entrepreneurship and investment make the planet happier and healthier? Entrepreneur and investor Abigail Carroll thinks so. Through conversations with founders, investors, and thought leaders, in over a dozen countries and counting, Abigail shares this thought-provoking and hope-promoting world with her audience. And always with a little humour.

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Ocean surveillance in a fast changing world. Ian Estaphan Owen; Jaia Robotics

Mar 05 2025 44 mins  
Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! Today we travel to Rhode Island, the ocean state, where, fittingly, the blue economy is thriving. Ian Estaphan Owen, Co-Founder of JAIA Robotics didn't grow up in Rhode Island but rather coastal Wales where he became passionate about the ocean. On his road to entrepreneurship, he even did a stint with the British Royal Navy. Now a denizen of B

Restructuring for the Planet. TECO 2030 gets a new life for its fuel cells.

Feb 19 2025 32 mins  
Send us a text I have been at this long enough by now - 61 episodes!- to see some great successes and some disappointing failures. This week's guest tells a story that's a bit of both, but he is not letting failure get in his way. Today we are heading back to Norway to meet again with Tore Enger, Founder of TECO 2030, a company that was looking to build fuel cells for the maritime

Can you have your polar cruise and your healthy climate too? Hugo Hinrichsen and Jenn Bonilla; Positive Polar

Feb 05 2025 51 mins  
Send us a text Today we are traveling to Chile, the birthplace of Positive Polar, a travel startup aiming to combine luxury cruises with academic research and environmental action. Positive Polar’s sustainable expedition cruises will aim to restore the whale population, amplify oceanic food production and implement high-potential climate mitigation strategies. I had the incredibl

When aquaculture is about more than seafood. Proscovia Alando, Founder, Samaky Hub

Jan 22 2025 32 mins  
Send us a text Proscovia is a Kenyan entrepreneur who wears many hats. She is founder of Samaky Hub, an organization that empowers women and youth in Africa's aquaculture sector by offering strategic planning, operational guidance, and marketing support to their ventures. Proscovia is also an African Food Fellow, the Kenyan Program Manager for the Irish aquaculture venture hub, Hat

Building a business strategy based on actions not words. Heather Myers, Spark No. 9.

Jan 08 2025 40 mins  
Send us a text Happy new year to all and welcome back to our first episode of 2025! Our guest this week is an entrepreneur who excels at building market strategies. Heather Myers of Spark Number 9 has created her own methodology for getting the market segment answers entrepreneurs so desperately need. An important distinction is that her method relies on observable behavior, not on

When renewables provide a strategic advantage. Philipp Stratmann, Ocean Power Technologies

Dec 11 2024 38 mins  
Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! This will be our last podcast until 2025 and I want to thank you for tuning in this year! It's been an exceptionally interesting journey for me and I hope you've been enjoying the podcasts. If you have feedback, please do not hesitate to share it. This week we head to New Jersey to speak to Philipp Stratmann, CEO of Ocean Power Technologies. F

Reducing Building's Carbon Footprint: Nick Farmer, Opal Build

Nov 27 2024 37 mins  
Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! And to American followers, Happy Thanksgiving! During the US presidential debates, we heard a lot about the nearly five million unit housing shortage in the US. While this needs to be addressed urgently, it won't be good for the climate. Traditional building activity accounts for up to 40% of the world's carbon emissions. Our guest Nick Farmer

Can Social Change Drive Ocean Conservation? Sea Rangers, Wietse van Der Werf

Nov 13 2024 31 mins  
Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! This week we are hopping across the Atlantic to speak to serial Dutch innovator Wietse van der Werf. Wietse's current venture, Sea Rangers, is a social enterprise that trains youth from underprivileged backgrounds in the maritime trades. Aspiring sea rangers learn while working on ocean conservation missions that are performed from carbon-foot

When things don't go as planned. Shuttering AKUA. Courtney Boyd Rey

Oct 30 2024 39 mins  
Send us a text Happy Planet Wednesday! I was tempted to call this week’s episode “Unhappy Planet” because in it we grapple with what happens when your startup doesn’t go as planned. When I learned that Courtney Boyd Rey shuttered her seaweed startup AKUA, I reached out to see if she would come on the podcast. Given that over 90% of startups fail, and even 75% of those backe

Can 3D Knitting Fix Fashion? Slater McLean, Oliver Charles

Oct 16 2024 35 mins  
Send us a text In this episode of the Happy Planet Podcast, host Abigail Carroll interviews Slater McLean, co-founder of Oliver Charles, a sustainable sweater company. Slater discusses the significant environmental impact of the fashion industry and how Oliver Charles is addressing these issues using natural materials like yak wool and seaweed-based fibers. The company employs an i