30 min listen
What drove a former USA swim team member to tackle the diesel problem
What drove a former USA swim team member to tackle the diesel problem
ratings:
Length:
26 minutes
Released:
Oct 20, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
BJ Johnson is in a hurry—and for good reason. He’s frustrated by the slow pace of change to address the climate crisis. And he’s angry about how air particle pollution endangers everyone, but especially marginalized groups. Black, brown, and poor communities are especially plagued by harmful health outcomes—like asthma, COPD and other lung diseases—from environmental pollutants. Regardless of their state or income, Black residents are exposed to 26% higher levels of soot from heavy-duty diesel trucks than the national average. Once exposed, they are then at a three times higher risk of dying.BJ won’t settle for it taking another two decades to solve the problem. As he tells host Yesh Pavlik Slenk, “This notion of, oh, well it's okay, that five-year-olds in L.A. today have asthma because we'll have electric school buses in 2040—we need to reject that type of thinking and start asking, no—why can't we start making this better today?”Which is exactly what he’s trying to do. BJ talks with Yesh about how he and ClearFlame cofounder Julie Blumreiter are working to transform the dirty fossil-fuel-based trucking industry into a clean one, affordably. Now.But that’s not all—the two founders are also fighting for more diversity, inclusion and equity in academia and in the world of high-tech startups. Johnson is one of a small handful of Black academics who have earned doctorates in engineering. Sadly, that’s not surprising: women and Black people (both men and women) remain underrepresented in STEM degrees and careers, according to the Pew Research Center. Black people are especially underrepresented in engineering, where they make up only 5% of all groups in that field, despite being 11% of the workforce. Blumreiter and Johnson, who is half-Black, call for an end to this inequity. Writing in an open letter on their website, they reference their own experiences as being “consistently underestimated” because of their identities. In their letter, they call for acknowledgment that solving the world’s problems must come from “a diverse range of thought-leaders.”Additional Information:Grist: Grist 50 2021 ClearFlame was named one of Grist’s top 50 “fixers” of issues surrounding climate change in 2021.Techcrunch: ClearFlame Engine Technologies takes aim at cleaning up diesel enginesOEM Off-Highway: ClearFlame Receives DOE Grant to Support R&D of Clean Engine TechnologyNew York Times: Biden Tightens Emissions RulesPew Research Center: STEM Jobs See Uneven Progress in Increasing Gender, Racial and Ethnic DiversityAmerican Lung Association: https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/disparitiesFollow BJ Johnson and ClearFlame Engine Technologies: Twitter: Clear Flame Engine Technologies (@ClearFlameEng)LinkedIn: BJ JohnsonCompany website: ClearFlame Engine TechnologiesFollow EDF:Not yet receiving the Degrees newsletter? Join us here! Twitter: EDF (@EnvDefenseFund)Facebook: Environmental Defense FundInstagram: environmental_defense_fundLinkedIn: Environmental Defense Fund(1) https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/04/01/stem-jobs-see-uneven-progress-in-increasing-gender-racial-and-ethnic-diversity/
Released:
Oct 20, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (60)
How one startup CEO enlisted millions of people around world to clean up trash: Jeff Kirschner is the founder and CEO of Litterati, the crowdsourcing app that has helped people all over the world clean up more than 6 million pieces of litter to date. Litterati isn't just cleaning up the streets though: the data collected by the app is actually transforming the way some companies do business. Jeff has also transformed his own career, from ad exec and screenwriter to green entrepreneur. He's got a lot of heartfelt insights to offer on how to tackle big problems, how to use data, how to tell the story and bring people on board... and how to navigate the joys and sorrows of a purpose-driven career. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers