50 Shades of Green: A Climate Group Podcast

dam Lake and Katie Lanegran welcome Sarah Lake—no relation—founder and CEO of Tilt Collective, a philanthropy initiative working to make the most sustainable and healthy foods the most available and affordable.

Recorded as Climate Week NYC approaches, the conversation lands on a topic filling the week’s calendar: food.

Tilt Collective’s mission is a “balanced food system”: more whole foods, more plant-rich meals, fewer ultra-processed products and less overconsumption of animal foods. Sarah argues food is nearly a third of climate emissions yet is still sliced into fertilizer, land, and production debates instead of what we actually eat. The payoff is unusually broad—climate, water, public health, pandemic risk, antimicrobial resistance, and healthcare costs tied to diet-related disease. She traces her path from a childhood love of cows and summers on farms to a PhD on cattle supply chains in Colorado, corporate sustainability work, and a team question that reframed everything: instead of only greening beef, why not eat fewer animal products? That led to Tilt, which now re-grants to groups in nearly nine countries so companies and governments can shift menus in ways that are culturally appropriate.

The episode is not a lecture on going vegan. Americans eat about six times the recommended amount of red meat; bringing intake toward guidelines would move climate and health at once. Sarah’s personal stake is visceral: at 11, her father needed six-way bypass surgery linked to a 1950s meat-and-potatoes diet—while the hospital’s main restaurant was a McDonald’s. Meat’s cheapness, she says, is policy: subsidies for feed and production make burgers cheaper than Brussels sprouts.

Practical levers include blended products (a 60/40 beef-mushroom burger that testers often prefer), school and hospital procurement, chef training, food-service companies, and supermarket promotions that currently push meat. Beans, she notes, are having a moment; quinoa and kale already proved obscure plants can go mainstream. Culture is treated as a constraint and an asset: visit grandma and eat the pork; don’t fight Super Bowl wings head-on; help regions keep traditional beans and modest meat rather than import industrial diets.

Tilt is Climate Week NYC’s lead food partner again and hosts Food Day on Wednesday the 23rd, aiming for alignment rather than plant-based vs. regenerative turf wars. Adam and Katie close on family kitchens, equity, and why choice only exists if healthy options are cheap and nearby.

Find out more at https://tiltcollective.org/

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In this episode of 50 Shades of Green, hosts Adam Lake and Katie Lanegran speak with Christine Egan, CEO of CLASP, about energy-efficient appliances — from household ACs and refrigerators to off-grid fans and lights serving 660 million people without electricity.As extreme heat intensifies, Egan makes the case that cooling is becoming a human right, provided it is highly efficient. She outlines how minimum energy performance standards create a market floor while incentives and bulk buying pull products toward best-available technology. A standout success: leveraging the Minamata Convention on mercury to phase out fluorescent lighting in favor of LEDs, avoiding nearly three gigatons of CO2.Recorded ahead of Climate Week NYC, the discussion links kitchen-table energy bills, indoor air quality, and climate policy, showing why smarter appliances matter for health, livelihoods, and the planet. Tune in for a clear-eyed look at one of climate action’s most practical — and overlooked — tools.

CLASP has a Find CLASP at New York Climate Week 2026 page to find out more, you can also catch them at the following Climate Week NYC events.

Advancing Climate Action through Private Sector Collaboratives (Monday, 21 September, 3:30 - 4:20PM)
Win-Win Policies: Unlocking Investment for a Sustainable Future (Tuesday, 22 September, 8:00 - 10:00AM)
Powering Prosperity: Equitable Policy Design in the Global South (Wednesday, 23 September, 10:30AM - 12:30PM)

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This week Adam and Katie speak to some of the "mega hosts" who make Climate Week NYC the biggest climate event in the world. From fireside chats with Elmo, to bringing together the future of AI technology under one roof, Solitaire Townsend from Futerra - who run Solutions House - and Peter Gilmer from The Nest Campus talk us through what it is like to run some of the biggest events at Climate Week NYC, and how you can get involved. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam and Katie are joined by John Higginson, CEO of Eco Age, moving the needle of sustainable fashion.

Eco Age operates on two fronts. They educate consumers on positive, non-guilt-inducing choices. Separately, the organization funds independent investigative journalism into fashion’s supply chains—work traditional fashion media often avoids due to advertising dependence—while generating revenue as a consultancy for brands, material innovators, and organizations pursuing genuine sustainability.

The conversation highlights fashion’s outsized footprint: roughly 2% of global GDP yet about 10% of climate emissions, plus water pollution from dyeing and widespread labor abuses, often in developing countries where some of the best progressive work is also happening.

Show notes:

Find out more at https://eco-age.com/

Check out their Climate Week NYC event at https://www.climateweeknyc.org/event-search/convening-the-next-gen-materials-transition

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Is it time to bring back Smokey the Bear?

In this episode of 50 Shades of Green, hosts Adam Lake and Katie Lanegran are joined by meteorologist Stephanie Abrams from The Weather Channel to find out just what IS happening with the weather right now.

From heatwaves to wildfires, Katie and Stephanie talk through the reasons why the weather has been so extreme this year and the role that human made emissions have played in making it worse. They also explore what actions people should take to cope with extreme weather and what we can all do to be more resilient in the face of more frequent events.

Asking the big question, what can people do to prevent climate change, Stephanie talks about the small things individuals can do to make a difference, as well as the major systemic changes which need to happen.

Follow Stephanie at https://x.com/StephanieAbrams and https://www.weathergroup.com/shows/amhq

This episode is brought to you by Climate Week NYC.

Climate Week NYC brings together over 1000 events and hundreds of thousands of people for the biggest climate event on the planet.

If you are a non-profit, organization or company doing the right thing who has a story to tell, find out more about how you can be a part of the week.

Find out more at climateweeknyc.org
Partner with us: Partner with us at Climate Week NYC
Delegate tickets for The Hub Live: https://www.climateweeknyc.org/attend-climate-week-nyc
Submit your event here: Host a Climate Week NYC Event 2026 | Register Now

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