Here at Cleaning Up HQ, we’re busy using our break to prepare for the start of Season 13 (new episodes start September 4, mark the date). We have over 170 hours of interviews with climate leaders in our archive for you to digest while we’re on break. Here’s some of our favourites you might have missed.
From Free Solo to Free Solar
Alex Honnold is one of the world’s best rock climbers, famous for his free solo ascents of BIG walls, including his 2017 first free solo of El Capitan in Yosemite. Alex began studies in engineering at the University of California-Berkeley but dropped out to pursue his passion for climbing, living out of his van. In 2008, he became the first climber to free solo Half Dome in Yosemite. In 2012, he established the speed record for the Yosemite Triple Crown, climbing three big walls in under 19 hours. In 2017, he became the first climb to free solo El Capitan, a 3,000-foot granite wall in Yosemite, with no ropes. Free Solo, the film about Alex’s climb, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2019.
He’s not just a climber, in 2012 Alex founded the Honnold Foundation to provide solar power to disadvantaged communities he met during his climbing career. In 2021, the Foundation supported 44 communities across 17 countries with its brand of community-centred innovation catalysed by solar energy.
Not the End
Dr Hannah Ritchie is a data scientist and science communicator and is Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data. Her focus is on the largest problems that shape our world, and how to solve them. Most of her work focuses on environmental sustainability, including climate change, energy, food and agriculture, biodiversity, air pollution and deforestation. Earlier this year, Hannah joined Michael to discuss her new book Not the End of the World, published in January.
Flying Machines Take to the Sky
In February, Bryony interviewed Bonny Simi about the future of flying cars. Bonny is President of Operations at Joby Aviation, where she's working on bringing to market a new civilian electric VTOL (eVTOL) aircraft.
Prior to joining Joby, Bonny held several operational and strategic roles at JetBlue, where she founded and led JetBlue Technology Ventures, investing in improving the travel, hospitality, and transportation industries. As a pilot, Bonny has commanded Boeing, Airbus and Embraer aircraft at both United Airlines and JetBlue Airways. She is also an Emmy-nominated sports reporter and a 3-time Olympian in the sport of Luge.