Business for Good Podcast

Human rights and environmental advocates have tried to reform the diamond mining industry, but what if the answer was as simple as just growing diamonds in a lab? That's what start-ups like Ada Diamonds are betting on. This husband-wife cofounder duo, Lindsay Reinsmith and Jason Payne, sell sell lab-grown diamond jewelry that's molecularly identical to naturally-formed diamonds, but for only two-thirds the price. Learn all about how these diamonds are made, who's buying them, and why the future of the jewelry industry may indeed be more cultured.

Hear from the founder and CEO of Lingrove, Joe Luttwak, in this new interview about his journey from working at Ferrari to founding a guitar company to now founding and running a company whose goal is, just like Dr. Seuss's Lorax, nothing short of saving the trees. And, it's the first interview we've done where a guest plays a musical score live for us, all on a wood-free acoustic guitar, of course. Enjoy!

Toilets drastically improve health, life expectancy, school attendance rates, and more. And this episode, we've got someone who says every trip you make to the toilet can be a feel-good experience--since the company Simon Griffiths started, Who Gives a Crap, was founded for one reason: to give people in the developed world toilets. Hear what Simon learned at a school for social entrepreneurs. And about his experience sitting on a toilet for 50 uninterrupted hours--on livestream--in order to raise money for his kickstarter. And why he holds regular "happiness meetings" with his coworkers.

His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal isn't your typical vegan. A son of the man TIME magazine calls the "Arabian Warren Buffett," he uses his wealth and influence to build a more sustainable world, supporting everything from plant-based and clean meat start-ups to virtual aquariums and clean energy. In this interview, Toni Okamoto and Paul Shapiro go deep with Prince Khaled, covering not just his investment strategy and the role entrepreneurs play in solving social problems, but also a host of other topics. Does he think teens should go to college? What about the status of women in Saudi Arabia? What led him to join JUST's board of directors? What does Islam have to say about the treatment of animals? More info: Meet the vegan Saudi prince who's turning the lights on in Jordan What happened with Grazia sat down the Fresh Prince of Saudi? Discussed in this episode: World's First Animal-Free Leather-Bound Book on Ebay for $10,000

You know that feeling: You've been patiently waiting for your avocado to ripen for days, trying to divine that perfect moment to cut it open and see nothing but lush, gorgeous green fruit. Instead....as you open it up, whatever green you were hoping for is polluted by brown, rotted yuckiness. Letting fruits and vegetables go bad before eating them is part of the massive food waste problem, and Michelle Masek's company, Apeel Sciences, is helping solving it. With $110 million in funding, including from Bill Gates, they've created an invisible, organic, edible spray that farmers or grocers apply to their produce--like avocados--that makes it last at least twice as long. Miraculous? Seemingly, but it's just another example of a company using its business to do good in the world.

Black pollution is the new green in India, as Bharti Singhla points out in this episode. A chemical engineer, Bharti's the executive vice president of strategy for Chakr.in--a start-up founded in 2015 that's innovating a way to clear the air in a nation that according to the WHO has 14 of the 15 most polluted cities on the planet. How are they doing that? Well, Chakr's invented a shield that captures deadly black diesel exhaust and converts that pollution into ink that Chakr then sells. Already some big Indian emitters are capping their diesel pipes, and Chakr is winning all types of grants, awards, investment, and yes, media attention. Even the prestigious World Economic Forum has taken note of the young start-up, profiling them as an innovative environmental problem-solver, and the company founders were named in Forbes' 30 under 30 list of social entrepreneurs.

Seth Goldman started his career three decades ago thinking that if he wanted to make an impact on public health and agricultural sustainability, he'd need to explore a career in nonprofits or public policy. Fast forward to today and Seth's company, Honest Tea, has helped slash billions of sugar calories from the American diet, caused other major drink brands to do the same, and created a sustainable livelihood for organic tea farming families throughout Asia. Despite Coke purchasing Honest Tea in 2011, Seth still lives in the same house as when he cofounded the company in 1998.

You rarely see wildlife advocates protesting window construction. Why not? Windows kill upwards of a billion wild birds in America alone each year. (That's not a typo: billion with a 'b.') It's as if we're primed to think the carnage isn't so bad because there was no malintent; no one went out and purposefully killed a billion birds. Yet the result for the birds is sadly the same: our windows are among the biggest wildlife slaughterers on the planet. Fortunately, we don't have to take out our windows or keep the blinds down all the time. There are now glass brands like Ornilux that to us are transparent to the human eye, but that birds can actually see. And some cities are even requiring new buildings to be constructed with them. Learn more from Ornilux's Lisa Schon as she discusses with Toni and Paul how her business is doing good.

As a student, John Mackey was an idealistic hippie who worked in a vegetarian co-op while studying religion and philosophy. He never took a business class during his whole academic career. In other words, he wasn't exactly the guy people would've placed bets on to become a businessman, let alone one who'd launch a natural foods empire called Whole Foods Market that would get purchased by Amazon for $14 billion. (Note: John long ago stopped taking a salary and even donated all of his Whole Foods stock, so he didn't see a penny of the sale.) Listen to John discuss with Toni and Paul his thoughts on everything from venture capitalists and labor unions to Whole Foods' sale to Amazon and of course how to do good in the world via business. John's Books: Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity More info: Conscious Capitalism, the organization John cofounded