Today, we are hopping over the Atlantic to speak with Louise Skajem and Aura Murillo, two young, UK-based women designers who are innovating in a marine area I never imagined I would discuss on this show: funerary services. These young women are full of life and will challenge everything you have ever come to believe about funeral directors.

Their company, the aptly named Resting Reefs, proposes to use human ashes, mix them with oyster shell powder, which is very high in calcium carbonate and a wonderful ocean anti-acidification agent, and transform them into what they call underwater urns. These are beautiful sculptures used to create artificial living reefs installed along coastlines.

Rather than simply spreading ashes in the ocean, as many people do, creating a resting reef gives family and friends a sense of permanence, a reef to visit where marine life will grow and prosper.

In this podcast, you will hear a reference to aquamation. This is an alternative process to cremation that is preferred by Louise and Aura since it uses five times less energy than fire and reduces a funeral's emissions of greenhouse gases by about thirty-five percent.

While neither Louise nor Aura are originally from the UK, they say it's a great place to start a business right now, and their type of business in particular may be well positioned to benefit from being in the United Kingdom as 75 percent of the UK population opts for cremation. And after two years of keeping ashes at home, people usually look for something special to do with them. These women might just be on to something....

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. 

CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN
Resting Reef
Aura Murillo
Louise Skajem

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You may recognize today’s guest from episode 5. We’re here with Bernard Hidier, the French expat living in Maine who co-founded Finsulate the non-toxic antifouling solution that looks like velvet and mimics a sea urchin. 

Bernard is back with us because somehow he has managed to co-found and co-manage more than one company at the same time. “Kids do not try this at home!” 

If you remember, Bernard is originally from Brittany France and that is where KarrGreen hails from. Karrgreen is a biofuel company transforming agricultural waste into fuel for cars. With a growing footprint of filling stations in France, KarrGreen’s success does make one wonder why we are digging up lithium for batteries when our abundant agricultural waste could be used instead. 

For Bernard, the corporate structure is as important - and innovative - as the fuel itself. KarrGreen focuses on building local communities, making both its clients and suppliers vested stakeholders. 

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation.

KarrGreen
Finsulate
Bernard Hidier
New England Ocean Clusters

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We are going to kick off the fall season with a chat with Dan Watson, the UK-based founder and CEO of a fisheries startup called SafetyNet. I first met Dan through Harry Wright’s accelerator Bright Tide, where I am an advisor. Then I wound up on his mentor team for another accelerator run by Boston-based Sea Ahead. I can’t wait to see where our paths next cross!

One of Dan’s most talked about solutions is designed to prevent bycatch. Bycatch refers to unwanted fish that are inadvertently caught in commercial fishing traps. It’s estimated that $1billion of unwanted fish are thrown away each year. Not to mention disruptions to the marine ecosystems. So solving this problem could provide a great benefit to the planet.

SafetyNet’s bycatch solution is based on research Dan dug up from the 70s and involves simply shining different coloured lights into the water as you fish in order to attract and repel different species. This is just the tip of the iceberg of SafetyNet is up to. 

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. 

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Fashion and smelly seaweed may seem like an odd pair but one company in North Carolina is spinning them together - quite literally!

Our guest is Laura Hayes and she is the Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager at Keel Labs. 

Keel Labs makes a natural silky yarn that is composed of about 70% kelp! While they are not the first to try to make fashion fibers out of seaweed, when it comes to seaweed usage and natural ingredients, I haven't heard of anyone coming close to their success. 

The market seems pretty excited about the product as well. They are VC backed, having raised 13M in a series A and their limited production is already overbooked. Trust that I’ve tried to get my hands on some!

We are going to take a break for the rest of August but we will be back in September with an incredible fall lineup. 

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. 

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. 

As always, thank you for your support! 

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Happy Planet Wednesday !

We are travelling to South America this week !

Our guest, Daniela Allerbon, is CEO of Aquit, a company specializing in natural proteins that can be used to replace antibiotics in fish farming. Aquit was founded by researchers in Chile and Daniela recently joined the team as CEO from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We learn a lot about antibiotics and fish farming in this podcast, but we also get a fascinating window into the startup ecosystem in South America and strategies that  companies outside of the US can use to gain entry into the US market.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship.

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups.

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation.

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Happy Planet Wednesday ! 

Our guest today is Jeremy McKane, Founder of Ocean Currency Network whose mission is to create an ocean map with real-time ocean data. The goal is to map 30% of the ocean by 2030. Sound ambitious? It is. But as Jeremy say in the podcast, if we can’t see the problems, we can’t fix them. Getting real time data will give us the information we need to find solutions.

Jeremy kicks off this interview with a reference to the Tragedy of the Commons. Commons refers to shared resources such as land or the ocean. And the tragedy of the commons is the theory that if people share a finite resource they will tend to over use it, thus ruining it for all. While that might sound depressing - and it is - my conversation with Jeremy is definitely not! So tune in!

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a fast-growing hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. 

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Today we are going to dig into seafood with our guest Jennifer Bushman. She’s going to help us better understand how the bounty of the ocean fits into our diets as well as our national food security plan and a healthier planet. 

Jennifer Bushman is a sustainable seafood expert, communicator, and strategist who has been championing ethical aquaculture for more than two decades. She has been on a mission to transform the food system, preserve the oceans, nourish the world’s ever-growing population, and offset carbon emissions. 

Among her many initiatives, she co-founded Fed by Blue, a science-based communications initiative, designed to provide knowledge and materials to help protect and participate in a responsible blue food system.

In 2024, Fed by Blue will be launching A four-part documentary series called Hope in the Water. Keep your eyes peeled and remember, you heard it here first!

Jennifer Bushman
Fed By Blue

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This podcast marks our 30th episode which seems like something to celebrate! So thank you for tuning in! If you like what we’re doing here, please spread the word. 

We have traveled the world together on this podcast, but today’s guest is located right here where I am, in the great state of Maine!

Stuart Davies joins us today to speak about ORPC or the Ocean Renewable Power Company. ORPC is building modular, eco-friendly hydropower units fit for rivers and oceans.  Unlike wind or sun, hydropower is not dependent on a specific set of circumstances, like sun or wind, to perform. As such it has the advantage of being able to provide a steady stream of power to its users or the grid. And the market is giving ORPC a green light.

It was a real honour to speak to Stuart and hear about this company’s growth trajectory. I think you will enjoy this podcast.

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. They made a huge splash in The Hague last week - and we are very proud to be part of their ecosystem.

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Happy Planet Wednesday ! 

Many of you, especially those who love the Caribbean, are aware of what is now called the sargassum belt, a 5,000 mile long belt of floating sargassum seaweed mass that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico all of the way to Africa, hitting the South East coast of the United States along the way.

In normal doses, sargassum is a healthy macro algae that provides a habitat for sea life and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. But an overabundance began in 2011 and has escalated to an ecological crisis for the affected area. This is a massive blow to the local marine ecosystem not to mention to the human one that depends on tourism and fishing in the area.

Over the past few years I’ve met a number of entrepreneurs who are focused on solving the problem. And today we are going to speak to Edward Shao of ProjectQRSargasso who is in the early stages of building a company that seeks to harvest this seaweed in order to produce three very different products from it: fertilizer for our gardens, a substrate for coral reefs, and hydrogen to fuel our homes.

This ambitious project was born of a simple desire to save the ecosystem. Like many of the entrepreneurs we’ve heard on Happy Planet, with Edward business is mission first.

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

Many thanks to Maine Technology Institute, Maine Venture Fund and Spark No.9 for their sponsorship. 

I’d also like to thank our promotional partners. Investable Oceans is a US-based angel platform specializing in ocean-related startups. 

Oceanovation is a hub for entrepreneurs and investors in blue-tech innovation. Good luck to them in The Hague this week!

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The fashion industry is at odds with the survival of our planet. 

Ten percent of total global carbon emissions derive from the fashion industry, as much as the whole European Union. The industry is polluting our rivers, streams, and oceans. Meanwhile some 80% of our discarded textiles are either incinerated or wind up in trash heaps each year, usually in places like Ghana which are fast becoming dumps for the North. 

But clothes bring us protection, safety, and, well, joy. We can’t live without them and we don’t want to. So what can we do about it? 

Our guest this week is Runa Ray, a Fashion Environmentalist determined to make the fashion industry more sustainable. Runa is a Paris-trained designer who cut her teeth at Dior and John Galliano. She eventually broke off on her own to forge a new path. Today Runa is a well known in the fashion industry. She uses seaweed to create more sustainable fashion designs through her own brand and works with groups like the United Nations to promote sustainable fashion practices. Runa is in high demand and we are very lucky to have her.

Just a reminder, you can listen to Happy Planet pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, or by following one of these links:  Apple , Spotify, Google, or our website.

And a special thanks to Maine Technology Institute and Spark No. 9 for sponsoring our podcast.

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You may recall that in Episode 12 we spoke about hydrogen fuel cell stacks. It was a very popular episode so I wanted to dig into the theme a bit more. As such, today we’re going to dig into green hydrogen itself.

Just a reminder that GREEN hydrogen is hydrogen derived from a renewable-energy powered electrolysis process that splits water molecules, H20, into their components H2, hydrogen and O, oxygen. 

One of the challenges of creating green hydrogen is the water source. Historically, for this to work, a very clean and pure source of water has been required. And this is not just expensive to procure, but it also uses our precious and increasingly scarce fresh water resources that may have a higher use case, like drinking water. This problem has garnered a lot of interest from researchers. 

Our guest today is one such researcher. And he made global news when he discovered a reliable method for creating green hydrogen using a water source that covers 70% of the planet: seawater. 

Nasir Mahmood is the Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University in Australia. We are incredibly lucky to have him here today.

Nasir Mahmood
RMIT University

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As I think you know by now, I believe technology can solve most things - but sometimes the right tech just can’t come fast enough, and in the meantime, the most innovative tool at our disposal may be good old fashioned dialogue. 

Such is the case in Maine where a dwindling population of the large and lumbering North Atlantic Right Whale has pitted lobster fishers and environmentalists against each other. The environmentalists say gear entanglements are largely responsible for the spiralling population which they say risks extinction. The Maine lobster fishers say the numbers show they aren’t to blame for mortalities, and most are loath to adopt current "ropeless" gear citing its expense and lack of proven effectiveness. The polemic threatens Maine’s whole lobster industry which, by the way, contributes 1.5 billion dollars to Maine’s annual economy. 

Both sides have now sued NOAA, the US agency that oversees fisheries management.  One side says the proposed rule changes are overreaching, the other side says they aren’t broad enough.  

NOAA, by law, has to convene all parties and attempt to develop consensus recommendations to save the whales. Our next guest has been mediating the difficult work of that group.

David Plumb of the Consensus Building institute grew up in Maine and  in honour of the recent Mother’s Day holiday,  I should add that he originally learned his mediating craft by taking a class from his mother. Since then he has worked as a professional mediator all around the world.

Today David has the unique, and perhaps unenviable, position of working as the mediator between all of these parties. For us this is an opportunity to better understand what’s at stake and what are the tools available to create both a happier fishery and whale population on the planet.

As you will hear in the podcast, the current congressional ruling pushes changes down the road for several years, while providing for upwards of 50M in annual grant opportunities to innovate solutions. For all of you innovators out there, here are some links about this opportunity:

https://www.maine.gov/dmr/news/fri-12232022-1200-message-commissioner-keliher-federal-budget-package-includes-pause-whale

David Plumb
Consensus Building Institute

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Our guest today is Benjamin Sorkin, Founder of Flux Marine, a Rhode Island-based company innovating electric outboard motors.

I was invited to visit Ben’s shop back in January following a conference organized by the Blue Venture Forum. I was impressed by what I saw. 

Ben and his team have taken electric propulsion technology a long way from when I first looked for an electric outboard for my oyster farm back in 2010. Needless to say at that point, I didn’t find a solution that fit my needs. 

Judging from the clients' boats I saw they have outfitted, Flux Marine seems to be - and pardon the pun - hydroplaning towards the future. 

Benjamin Sorkin
Flux Marine

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Today we’re going to dive into the world of marine research. 

Our guest is Deborah Bronk, President and CEO of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, a Maine-based marine research institute specializing in ocean microbes like algae, plankton, viruses, and bacteria.

Bigelow Laboratory is a relatively small institute but it's growing fast and having a global impact. Under Deborah's leadership,  interdisciplinarity reigns. Deborah believes in removing silos in ocean research and encouraging the interaction and cooperation of researchers from different disciplines.  Even the layout of their laboratory is designed to reflect this operating principle. And science isn't the only discipline Deborah seeks inspiration from for her researchers. Bigelow currently has an art show installed on campus to inspire her team. 

This strategy seems to be paying off as they are commercializing their research and planning for expansion. 

Deborah Bronk
Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences

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A number of listeners have reached out with questions about how to get involved in angel investing.  So in this episode I speak to one of the most experienced and articulate angel investors I know. 

Our guest is Adam de Sola Pool, a Venture Capitalist by trade who now has over $1M in angel investments of his own. I met Adam through a blue technology angel investment group in Boston called BlueAngels, which is part of SeaAhead, Boston’s premier marine accelerator and investment platform.

If you are thinking about getting involved in angel investing, this podcast is a great place to start.  Adam shares many pearls of wisdom. 

See below for some helpful links to get started.

Adam de Sola Pool
SeaAhead
Investable Oceans
Maine Angels
Paris Business Angels
Angel Capital Association

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When you think about GOOGLE, ocean innovation may be the last thing that comes to mind. But Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy have been great friends to the ocean and climate, pouring millions into the sector through their Schmidt Family Foundation. 

Our guest today is Mark Schrope. He is the Director of Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, an offshoot of the Schmidt Family Foundation. Schmidt Marine Technology Partners is dedicated to what they call “venture philanthropy” in the marine sector. In other words, without taking equity, they fill an important funding gap in marine innovation that we’ve heard about in many prior episodes. When traditional VCs and grants aren’t available, they can step in. And they do.

Mark Schrope
Schmidt Family Foundation
Schmidt Marine Technology Partners

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This week’s podcast touches upon two themes that are close to my heart: my college town of New York City and oysters!

Our guest today is Murray Fisher. He is the man behind two fairly recent, but already iconic, NYC institutions. In 2002, Murray founded the New York Harbor School, a public high school revolving around New York City’s river. Then in 2010, he co-founded the Billion Oyster Project, a non-profit offshoot of the Harbor School, which aims to restore a billion oysters to the city’s harbor by 2035.

As a former oyster farmer, getting invited to bring my oysters to the Billion Oyster Project’s annual fundraiser was something of a rite of passage. And if bivalve-loving listeners have a chance to attend you should absolutely do so - literally tens of thousands of oysters are shucked and eaten in a matter of hours! It’s an epic party.

We also mention a book that I love in this podcast, tiled The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky. It tells the history of NYC through the oyster which at one time was one of the city’s economic and dietetic keystones. It’s definitely worth a read.

Murray Fisher
New York Harbor School
Billion Oyster Project

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This week we’re going to address the planet’s plastic problem. These petroleum-based materials only became mass produced after WW2 but as we heard from our very first guest Bill Curtsinger, as early as the 60s micro-plastics were already being identified as a concern in the remote waters of Antartica.

It was about that time that the 1967 movie, The Graduate came out in which a well-meaning Mr. McGuire famously offers career advice to the young, floundering Ben Braddock. “The future is in plastics,” he says. He was not wrong; the 70s and 80s brought a massive and unrelenting surge of consumer and convenience driven plastics that has only continued to grow. And today here we are with massive swaths of plastic waste forming veritable islands in the Pacific ocean.

And while recycling may make us feel better, only 5% to 6% of U.S. plastics are being recycled. According to a recent Greenpeace report, recycling is not economical, it has environmental and health implications, and most plastics are just fundamentally not recyclable. 

Our guest today, Thibaut Monfort-Micheo, hopes to help solve this problem. He is co-founder of FlexSea, a UK-based company aiming to use use sustainable seaweed to make alternative bio-based and biodegradable plastics.

Thibaut Monfort-Micheo
FlexSea

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I am really excited to introduce you all to Steven Fox, a founding Partner of Propeller VC, a new early stage venture fund that invests in and builds ocean-climate companies that use science and technology to address the climate crisis. Propeller is the brainchild of Hubspot Founder Brian Halligan and it was designed to be the venture partner for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution otherwise known as WHOI, one of the foremost ocean research institutes in the world. 

While the blue economy is still a nascent segment, there are a handful of ocean focused funds popping up around Europe and the US. But with over 100M under management and a strategic partnership with WHOI, Propeller promises to be one of the major players in this industry.

Steven Fox
WHOI
Propeller VC

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There are a few things that separate winning startups from those that crash. Some of them are pretty obvious: Good leadership. A Good Market Fit. Sufficient Cash on hand to grow. But you also need a good story. And that’s not always easy for entrepreneurs to formulate, especially in an increasingly crowded field like climate or blue innovation where the big picture corporate missions are often overlapping. They all want to save the planet. Today we are going to speak with Alex Searle, a professional storyteller, about the craft of storytelling, why it matters and what are the elements of a good story.

For more about Alex and his services, check out his website: https://www.alex-searle.com


Alex is also the host of a podcast on this subject called The Humble Pie:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-humble-pie/id1551300372?l=fr

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