The Sustainable Carolina Podcast
We bring you to the center of the sustainability conversation at UNC-Chapel Hill as we explore the technologies, partners, and exciting happenings that make our campus sustainable. From the North Carolina Piedmont to around the world, we seek out and discuss the latest in sustainability.
Episodes
22 episodes
Nathan Halsey | Cultivating a Beekeeping Business
"Anyone who thinks they're too small to make a difference has never met the honey bee." Nathan Halsey, co-president of the Carolina Beekeeping Club lives by this quote. As a high school student during the pandemic, he picked up bee...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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19:07
Research Out in the Real World
On the fourth and final bonus episode, we learn about applying research out in the real world and engaging students in the process. First, UNC Department of Earth Marine and Environmental Sciences Assistant Professor Antonia Sebast...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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15:10
Water, Pipes and Satellites
This third bonus episode explores water. First, we take to the skies with UNC Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences Professor Tamlin Pavelsky. Pavelsky, who serves as the freshwater science lead for NASA's Surface ...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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16:03
Food Policies in Latin America and Crisis Response in South India
This episode explores two topics in global public health, presented at our spring Sustainability Research Symposium. Both researchers begin their conversations by sharing how our changing climate impacts their research and respective fields of ...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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17:23
Blue Carbon Storage on the Coast & Microplastics in Mountain Streams
In the first of four bonus episodes this season, we have Mike Piehler and Chloe Hall's talks from our April 2024 Sustainability Research Symposium. The research presented in this episode takes place at two of the UNC Institute for the Environme...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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17:01
Ileana Fenwick | Opening Doors and Data in Marine Science
Ileana Fenwick is both a marine scientist and a data scientist. Pursuing her doctorate in the UNC Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences, she searches for patterns in fisheries ecology data. Because she strongly believes that gr...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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27:44
Ella Feathers | Showing up for local climate action
Ella Feathers, a senior at Carolina, wears many hats in the sustainability space at Carolina. She has served on the Carolina Sustainability Council and currently co-chairs the UNC Student Government Department of Environmental Affairs. She also...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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25:36
An Earth Day message from Carolina's Chief Sustainability Officer.
On Earth Day 2024, Chief Sustainability Officer Mike Piehler gives an update on the University's sustainability initiative, Sustainable Carolina. He walks through Carolina's Climate Action Plan, Water Plan and progress made from 2020 - 2024. Th...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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2:38
Will Freund | Exploring the Natural World and Accessible Science
Between his day job and his passion projects, Will Freund gets the best of both worlds. As the community engagement specialist for Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, he leads programs for adults, teens and our youngest North Carolinians. ...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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30:12
Greening health care, generating change
Julie Jacobson Vann made her way down to North Carolina to pursue her passion — and Ph.D. — in public health. She grew up in Wisconsin knowing the importance of water quality and recycling. So when she began her career at the UNC School of Nurs...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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25:42
Bonus Episode 4 | Surface Waters and Underground Elements
In this episode, Assistant Professor and Voit Gilmore Fellow Amanda DelVecchia talks about her lab's work in understanding greenhouse gas flux — the natural release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere — in rivers and streams. T...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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14:27
Bonus Episode 3 | Protecting Water Quality, Improving Air Quality
In the third of four bonus episodes, we bring you a conversation about water and air quality from two centers based out of UNC Institute for the Environment. First, Megan Lane talks about the work the Ce...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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15:28
Bonus Episode | Urban Heat Island Effect & Climate Resilience
In the second of four summer bonus episodes, we talk with Xuewei Wang of Data Driven EnviroLab and Noah Kittner of Gillings School of Global Public Health. The ...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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16:21
Bonus Episode | Infrastructure, Sustainability and Affordability
This is the first of our four summer bonus episodes. In this episode we hear from experts at the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems (CoFiRES) and the Environmental Finance Center (EFC). With two different lenses, they talk about ...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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14:39
John Richardson | Building Town-Gown Partnerships
John Richardson isn't sure his career path existed when he was in college. Inspired by his parents, who coupled environmental stewardship with municipal service in their careers, Richardson earned a master's degree in urban and regional p...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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25:52
Alex Hopkins | Engaging Through the Energy Transition Initiative
In 2022, UNC Institute for the Environment and UNC School of Law's Center for Climate, Energy, Envir...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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23:27
Melanie Elliott | Powering Carolina's Energy Transition
When Melanie Elliott graduated from Carolina, she had no idea she'd be playing a big role in one of the University's greatest challenges: achieving carbon neutrality by 2040. In this episode, she talks about tracking campus emissions, understan...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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21:22
Carolina Drone Lab | Flying for Fieldwork
Green roofs enhance sustainability by slowing rainwater runoff, reducing energy consumption, and more. The Carolina Drone Lab (CARDNL), housed within the UNC Institute fo...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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20:33
David Gorelick | Finding Your Research Interests
In this episode, we sit down with David Gorelick, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems (CoFiRES). Gorelick ...
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20:12
UNC Eco-Concern Study Team | Understanding Climate Change Concerns & Eating Behaviors
*Please note: This episode contains discussions around anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.Some individuals are making food choices based on carbon footprint, according to Melissa Munn-Chernoff, assistant professor for th...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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18:31
Mike Piehler | Pursuing Sustainability Goals as a Collective
In the first episode of the new season, Chief Sustainability Officer Mike Piehler talks about the collaborations and partnerships that make campus sustainability work possible. Piehler discusses the significance of the team's two recently publi...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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22:06
Spring 2021 Sustainability News with Chief Sustainability Officer Mike Piehler
I’m Vik Agabekov, the Program Manager for Sustainable Carolina and this week I am joined by our Chief Sustainability Officer and Director of the UNC Institute for the Environment, Mike Piehler. We are going in depth on the flurry of...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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32:52