Make A Difference Where You Are – Laur Hesse Fisher, MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative
Release Date: 08/04/2026
Make A Difference Where You Are – Laur Hesse Fisher, MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“There are those individual actions that we can take. But if I can work with my community or work inside of my company, or if I can work inside of my house of worship and we can build some community and some action that way, it will have a much bigger impact than anything that I can do as an individual… The communities that they're already a part of, whether they're residential, like in their neighborhoods, or it's the nonprofits that they're a part of, or the places where they have other kinds of communities like religious communities, and start conversations there. What could we do as a...
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Climate Modeling, Weather & Money – Maria Caffrey, Principal Scientist, UK’s National Physical Laboratory
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“(Climate modelling)…it's being used in things like insurance companies. It's being used by companies for their ESG assessments. So, when you get your insurance premium at the end of the year, there is some kind of climate model that has said something about the risk of your house to flood. It has said something about your risk to fire. And so that might be driving up your insurance premium…And so it's being involved in your lives in many different ways. The food you consume, those grocery bills, there's prices behind it that are being driven by people using climate models saying...
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Plastic Bottles & Summer Vacations – Ann Marie (Canela) Chock, Head of Niagara Cares, the Philanthropic Arm of Niagara Water, America's Largest Water Bottler
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
Plastic Bottles & Summer Vacations – Ann Marie (Canela) Chock, Head of Niagara Cares, the Philanthropic Arm of Niagara Water, America's Largest Water Bottler “We were the first to lightweight our bottles. So, if you think about a typical bottle of soda, it's about 27 grams of plastic. Our bottles, this year, I think they're coming in at 6.6 grams …We've created label-less bottles so they're easier to recycle. …We're now running lines that are entirely recycled content. So we are very committed to creating bottles that that do not harm the planet, and also that allow for the...
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Get Out of Your Comfort Zone - Career Advice From 5 Women At The Top Of Their Game
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“The first one is own it…Your career…I'm constantly, even today having meetings with people that I don't know, requesting mentorship, reaching out through LinkedIn, going to events. I try to stay very connected and not just people in my close industry or even work type …Every single person you meet is a connection and could have an impact on your life and vice versa….When you meet somebody, keep the conversation going. …So one day if they need something or you need something, you have a connection….My second piece of advice is… you should always have a list of things that you...
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How Can Tech Reduce Housing Costs? – Nikki Greenberg, Real Estate of the Future, from Smart City Expo World Congress 2025
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
"There's a housing shortage crisis in places all around the world. And for me, as somebody that is from architecture, from urban design, from property development, especially for residential buildings, I believe that technology is …an avenue to be able to facilitate lower cost development…One of the things that (an expert from Los Angeles) told me about, which was a great example of being able to speed up construction and affordability, is just around the recent fires that happened. And one of the things that they're doing is that they are using artificial intelligence to help speed up...
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Climate Is A Security Emergency – From A Top Climate Scientist & A Geopolitical Expert, From The Earth Day Women's Summit®
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“The climate crisis has roots in fossil fuels, but at the same time, fossil fuels fund this Russian inversion to Ukraine. So it means this is a fossil fuel war. If we will actually fight against our overall actually dependency on fossil fuels in the same way we will fight against climate change." Svitlana Krakovska, Ph.D. on Electric Ladies Podcast With so much geopolitical chaos and dangerous heat waves and other extreme weather, we have vivid reminders that climate change is a security “threat multiplier,” as former Defense Undersecretary Sherri Goodman says. How? Listen to...
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Critical Minerals, Energy and A.I. – Liv Carroll, Critical Minerals Expert, former Managing Director - EMEA Mining Lead and Global Natural Resources Lead for Data & A.I. at Accenture
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
Critical Minerals, Energy and A.I. – Liv Carroll, Critical Minerals Expert, former Managing Director - EMEA Mining Lead and Global Natural Resources Lead for Data & A.I. at Accenture “The energy transition is certainly where critical minerals started, but now we're obviously supporting all of the digital technology and the AI infrastructure such as data centers and others…now, there are conversations addressing the minerals required to feed this ginormous population of over 8 billion that we have because that is actually not possible without mining certain minerals that then...
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What's Sustainable Fish & Seafood? – Amanda Leland, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Author of "Sea Change: Unlikely Allies and a Success Story of Oceanic Proportions"
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Sustainable aquaculture needs to be part of the solution set for health, for feeding a growing population, and it increasingly can be done well, that's the thing. There's been a lot of innovation in that field over the last few decades….There are different types of aquaculture. So the gold standard, if you're offered an oyster or a mussel or a clam, you can always feel good about those choices because they are a net benefit to the planet…What I think is important is a lot of chefs and a lot of startup aquaculture companies are getting in the game and looking to make the industry more...
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Innovative Climate Finance – Kanika Singh, Milken Institute, Director of Catalytic Capital
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“We're seeing hurricanes, four of the 10 most damaging hurricanes in the United States happened in the last 10 years. Recovery and rebuild continues in many cases. Last year we had the world's most expensive wildfire on record in Los Angeles. These are market failures. Why are these things happening? Something is misaligned. Is it we're not taking care of the natural environment? Is it that our built environment, our buildings and our structures are not able to cope? Where are the policies? Where are the updated building codes?...Now these storms are happening more frequently and with...
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How Stories Can Shift Culture – Melissa Jun Rowley, Author of "Beyond The Mic Drop: How Stories Can Shift Culture, Power & Policy"
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“What are the stories that people can participate in and see themselves in? I think that's one of the keys that we can unlock when it comes to the whole climate narrative is telling stories that build the scaffolding blocks to a larger narrative that people want to be a part of, and we need to make it feel inevitable….The way that justice prevails, whether it's environmental justice or any kind of justice, I think it's that the leaders make it feel inevitable. And that's the climate movement's job. And I think we have every opportunity and ability to do that." Melissa Jun Rowley on...
info_outline“There are those individual actions that we can take. But if I can work with my community or work inside of my company, or if I can work inside of my house of worship and we can build some community and some action that way, it will have a much bigger impact than anything that I can do as an individual… The communities that they're already a part of, whether they're residential, like in their neighborhoods, or it's the nonprofits that they're a part of, or the places where they have other kinds of communities like religious communities, and start conversations there. What could we do as a community? What could we do as an organization?” Laur Hesse Fisher on Electric Ladies Podcast
Feeling unsure you can make a difference? In this overwhelming time when big forces seem to be pushing and shoving, financially and sometimes literally, it’s easy to feel powerless. But you do have power in your own world - your choices matter. Like what?
Listen to Laur Hesse Fisher of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative and TIL Climate podcast, in this discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson that aired last year and is more relevant than ever. Laur explains how we can leverage the things we do now, the places we already go, and people we currently talk to and make a difference that way.
You’ll hear about:
- Why reaching people outside the climate-tuned bubble is critical.
- How we can leverage the relationships we already have, the local media, and local events to make a bigger difference than we can make on our own.
- Why voting is so crucial this year – and not for the reasons you might have heard
- Plus, insightful career advice, such as…
“My advice would be, as you're thinking about where you want to go, talk to people about that. So you might not know where you want to go, in which case I recommend informational interviews. Those are great for learning about other people's career paths, what it took for them to get there, what did they learn along the way? I mean, people are really open to having a half an hour conversation.”
Laur Hesse Fisher on Electric Ladies Podcast
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You'll also like:
· Mobilizing Women's Power & Influence - with Paula Noble Fellingham, author, coach, speaker
· Most Americans Want Climate Action, Study Says. How To Bridge The Political Divide, ELP Host Joan Michelson’s Forbes article that includes Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan.
· Plastic Water Bottles Revisited - with Ann Marie (Canela) Chock, head of Niagara Cares, Philanthropic arm of Niagara Water
· How Stories Can Shift Culture & Power - with Melissa Jun Rowley, Author, "Beyond the Mic Drop," Communications Leader
· How To Talk Climate To Keep People Safe - with Allison Agsten, USC Center for Climate Journalism & Communications
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