This week on The Stream, Will and Tom are joined by the incredible Professor Dragan Savić, a legend when it comes to the intersection of water and digital.He was the UK’s first professor of Hydroinformatics, the former CEO of KWR Water Research Institute, and a chartered civil and water engineer with over 40 years of experience in research, teaching, and consulting.Plus hear about:How Will and Tom had the privilege of working alongside Dragan in recent years on an advisory board, at KWR and e...
It's time to celebrate the ‘Legends’ of water. 🎙️🌊We are delighted to kickstart the season with this first episode, which welcomes Christopher Gasson, the owner and publisher of Global Water Intelligence, or GWI.Christopher is well known analyst, publisher, business owner, and has been called the water industry torchbearer who has been building the GWI empire for over 20 years now. His monthly columns for the magazine are revered universally.In this conversation he talks about the water and c...
In the latest episode of the season, we were delighted to be joined by Baptiste Tellier, the managing director of Fall Line Capital who is focused on farm management, data analysis and deal sourcing.As a trained agronomist, Baptiste previously he oversaw the development and implementation of sustainable farming practices for over 200 potato farmers at Nestle. Before this, he was the former farm operations intern at The Mitchell Farm, conducting agronomic studies on corn yield.As he currently ...
In this second episode of the season we’re joined by Roric Paulman, a Nebraskan farmer and also chair of the Nebraskan Water Balance Alliance, an organisation that catalyses best practices among Nebraska farmers.Roric has nearly 40 years of farming experience, including across the family Paulman Farms, an 8500 acre, rain-fed and irrigated farming operation. It’s located in southwest Nebraska, with land that extends into Lincoln, Keith and Perkins counties.He talks about how the 4th generation...
For the fourth episode of the season, Tom and Will are joined by Noah Zelkind, VP of Business Intelligence, at 80 Acres Farms.Noah talks about his background, moving from finance into the farming markets, reflecting on the journey with his father. He also discusses his love for data science, spotting patterns, and why this will be fundamental to growing nutritious food locally and consistently.Noah also shares the reason for the bright purple lighting in the farms, which is reflected acr...
For the third episode of the season, Tom and Will are joined by Jairo Trad, Co-Founder & CEO of Kilimo.In this episode he talks about how he spent months talking to farmers about their challenges, including on water, to really understand the customers’ paint points.He discusses innovation in business models, and also funding challenges, including climate funds, which he believes should be renamed carbon funds!Jairo also talks about how Kilimo started working with Microsoft, through a part...
In this second episode of the season, we’re joined by Dane Hague, CEO & Co-Founder of MyLand.Dane openly shares his origin story, moving from a successful corporate legal career into co-founding a soil health company that harnesses microalgae.He describes how we got to the stage of unfarmable land, with heavy industrial and commercial farming activity stripping out the life from soil.The co-founder discusses the dire situation of farmland being abandoned at an alarming rate, and the impac...
In this first episode of the season we’re joined by Michael Alexander, head of environment for Diageo, the British multinational alcoholic beverage company.You would have heard of some of its world-famous brands including the stout, Guinness, Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Captain Morgan rum.The organisation has developed a 10-year action plan called Society 2030 – Spirit of Progress. This includes the ambition to replenish more water than is uses across operations in 100% of water...
In the final episode of The Stream season 6, Will and Tom are joined by Jerry Gunderson, a 4th generation rancher and businessman from Colorado.It was great to bring in the voice of agriculture and cattle into the conversation in this episode. Often, it’s a voice that doesn’t get an invite to these types of discussions. Jerry talks openly about life as a rancher, including anticipating water challenges and measures he’s taking to ensure there’s a water reserve available during times of w...
This week Will and Tom are joined by James Eklund, Water & Natural Resources Practice Lead, Sherman & Howard. Known as the architect of Colorado’s first strategic water plan, he was the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.James talks about why involving all stakeholders, effectively democratising input on the future of their supply, was a central to the success of the plan.He discusses his origin story – he’s a fifth generation Coloradan from the Western Slope of Colorad...
In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Newsha Ajami, Chief Development Officer for Research, Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, Berkeley Lab. They talk about the role of water demand reduction to help increase water security across the Colorado River Basin.Newsha discusses what’s needed to move from a centralised, aka the conventional water systems, to the decentralised model and the role of engaging community ambassadors.She believes spurring the first movers is really important i...
In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Aaron Tartakovsky, co-founder and CEO of Epic Cleantec. He talks about the company genesis, and going back to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet challenge.With a background in politics and one of four co-founders of the business, Aaron talks about the challenges of carving out an entirely new market: onsite, water reuse within commercial buildings.Although leading a recycled water beer campaign that went viral, the sc...
In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Dave who gives context on Southern Nevada, providing water in the desert and meeting the needs of a population that booms from tourism and the attraction of Las Vegas.As one of the Leading Utilities of the World, he discusses why they’re sharing lessons with like-minded water companies around the world on their 20-year demand management journey and also the long term, water resource strategy.We also talk about grass, or turf, and the limiting of the...
We've been looking forward to this one...This week, Will and Tom are joined by one of the founders of the sustainability movement, the great John Elkington. A founding partner and chief pollinator at Volans, and also the co-founder of ENDS (Environmental Data Services), John talks about the triple bottom line (people, planet and prosperity) vision, and why this ended up being recalled and revised. Plus, John talks about the joint responsibility of younger and older generations when it comes t...
This week on #TheStream, Will and Tom are joined by Manuela Zoninsine, CEO & Founder of Kadeya, a closed-loop water vending service powered by digitally-connected reusable water bottles and mini bottling stations. Find out about Manuela’s early experience as a journalist, being based in China ahead of the Olympic Games and why this helped to harness her critical thinking.Plus: Manuela talks about the need to rethink hydration, particularly in workplaces around the world and the ...
This week, John Matthews, Executive Director at Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), joins Will Sarni & Tom Freyberg to #TheStream to talk about his origin story as a butterfly biologist, work with the WWF and a life-changing trip to India where he was given a sobering case on the spiritual value of water.Plus: John discusses the founding of AGWA and what water resilience really means – way beyond the hard engineeringThe upcoming UN Water Week in New YorkHow to get a whisky s...
In this week’s episode, Will and Tom were delighted to be joined by Brendan Tierney, Managing Director and Head of Global Water Practice at Raymond James.He talks about his origin story: being attracted to Wall Street as an investment banker, before being made redundant and eventually joining Raymond James in 2016 to build out the water portfolio. Plus, Brendan talks about:The areas where he sees huge potential for further market activity, including digitalisation of water and water qual...
This week, Will and Tom, are delighted to be joined by Meena Sankaran, Founder & CEO Ketos, a vertically integrated water quality and monitoring platform. Meena talks about the importance of crafting a culture in this episode and the importance of maintaining the attitude of a start-up. Plus hear about:Meena's journey from humble beginnings in India where she learned the value of water before taking a one-way flight to the US to move up the ranks as an engineerThe challenges of ...
Episode four of the Stream is now live! This week Will and Tom are delighted to be joined by one and only Joel Makower, chairman and founder of GreenBiz Group.Joel has been called the “guru of green business practices” by the Associated Press and has spent over 3 decades writing, speaking, advising and influencing companies to align pressing environmental and social issues with business success.Listen to them chat about:Joel's origin story and journey to setting up GreenBiz Group, a medi...
This week, Melissa Meeker, CEO of The Water Tower, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about her 25 years of experience in water resources management. Plus hear about: How Mellissa previously served as the CEO of The Water Research Foundation, helping it to merge with two other associations, as well as serving as the executive director of the South Florida Water Management DistrictThe latest updates on The Water Tower and the “living laboratory”How Melissa's journey led her to become th...