The Optimist Circuit

AI, Technology, Nature, and Human Ingenuity: Building a Better Future

• Ellen • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Season 1, Episode 2 – Informed Optimism: Harnessing AI for Sustainability and Social Good

Ellen Spooner and Francesca Fernandez welcome you to The Optimist Circuit podcast, where they explore the powerful intersection of technology, sustainability, and social impact. This episode takes you behind the scenes of their vision for the podcast and introduces the co-hosts' impressive backgrounds.

Ellen shares how Francesca has shaped environmental and community development programs for organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 tech companies, including her work with innovation competitions like XPRIZE. Francesca reveals her journey from humanitarian work to sustainability, realizing that community prosperity depends fundamentally on healthy ecosystems. In turn, Francesca highlights Ellen's eight-year career in strategic communications, from leading ocean conservation campaigns in the South Pacific to her recent work exploring AI and sustainability.

What makes The Optimist Circuit unique is its deliberate focus on solutions rather than dwelling exclusively on problems. While acknowledging the real challenges of AI—from energy consumption to potential social disruptions—Ellen and Francesca are committed to showcasing concrete examples of technology driving positive change. They spotlight innovations like Citrineio, which uses AI to invent new materials that solve specific sustainability challenges, and explore how major tech companies’ demand for energy could accelerate renewable infrastructure at unprecedented scale.

The hosts embrace what they call "informed optimism"—acknowledging difficulties while actively highlighting pathways forward. As they explain, we're at a pivotal moment in the AI revolution where there's still time to shape how these powerful technologies evolve.

Subscribe now and join a growing community that believes technology and nature can—and must—work together to create a brighter, more sustainable future for everyone.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Optimist Circuit podcast, where we are building the circuit. Technology and nature can work together to create a brighter future.

Speaker 2:

I'm Ellen Spooner and I'm Francesca Fernandez, and on today's episode, we wanted to bring you a little bit behind the curtain of why we started this podcast and everything you can expect to hear from it. Started this podcast and everything you can expect to hear from it. We also wanted to make sure that you feel like you know us your co-hosts, ellen and Francesca, and so wanted to introduce ourselves a bit about our backgrounds and, rather than do so about ourselves, we thought we would introduce each other. So, ellen, do you want to kick us off?

Speaker 1:

I would love to. Francesca is quite the impressive woman. Let me just start off with that. She has spent the past decade working as both a consultant and in-house expert in sustainability and social impact. She has played a pivotal role in shaping environmental and community development programs for a diverse range of organizations, all the way from startups to Fortune 500 companies, including some of the world's largest tech firms that are currently driving the AI revolution. She's established and supported multiple innovation competitions, which I think is truly inspiring, and one of them even includes the world-renowned XPRIZE, where groundbreaking startups have competed and secured funding, mentorship and strategic partnerships, ultimately allowing them to scale so that they can drive social and environmental impact. Currently, francesca helps businesses decarbonize, integrate nature and biodiversity, transition to a circular economy and enhance their social impact through innovative sustainability solutions. So, as you can see all around, francesca is an incredible individual, and I'm so excited to have you as the co-host and co-founder of this podcast. Is there anything that I missed that we should know about you?

Speaker 2:

Thank you, ellen. That is super kind, you're spot on. I have done all those things, but maybe something that you might not have known previously was that I actually came to this work as a humanitarian originally.

Speaker 2:

So I studied international relations at university and was pretty focused on anti-corruption and livelihoods development, and the more I dug into that, the more it became clear to me that whatever prospering that you are able to achieve in a community, whatever quality that you're able to achieve, it's all for naught If the ecosystem that that is built on isn't thriving, is not healthy, and so that's when I shifted gears and began to focus on ensuring that there is a healthy planet for all of us.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that's so cool. I feel like I could do a whole episode just asking you about your background in humanitarian work and how you came to that realization to sustainability.

Speaker 2:

We'll have plenty of time to explore that with each other and with our guests, whom I'm very excited to bring to each episode. But before we move on to that, I want to make sure that we were separate and that people know all about you. Let me see if I can do you as much justice. Separate date and then people know all about you. Let me see if I can do you as much justice. So Ellen Spooner has had an illustrious eight-year career in strategic communications. These days you'll find her focused on AI and tech, but she originally started out specializing in sustainability and ocean conservation. She's led nationwide campaigns in Fiji, vanuatu and Samoa, and she spearheaded communications efforts for the largest coral reef surveys ever done in Fiji and Vanuatu. During her time at the Smithsonian and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, her public engagement programs reached millions of visitors and contributed to national efforts to sustainably manage US marine environments. If you look up her most recent thought leadership publications, you'll find her increasingly exploring emerging technologies, ai and sustainability. Is that about?

Speaker 1:

right. Is there anything I missed? You don't realize how much you've done until you hear it all in one sitting. So yeah, thank you so much. I think one thing that I'm getting really excited about is I've recently been attending a lot more of San Diego's tech conferences. I recently went to TechCon, socal and helped them out with their media relations, and from that I've realized how much of a tech hub San Diego is becoming. You know, we're coming for you, san Francisco, because I realized that actually, google Analytics was founded in San Diego. It was originally a startup called Urchin, and Google realized the incredible opportunity that they had with analyzing people's data on their websites and such and acquired them, and so our very own San Diego has a crucial tool that many people in the tech industry use.

Speaker 2:

It's great to wrap the home turf for sure, and it's great that we have so much opportunity and so much talent in this newly emerging space so close to home.

Speaker 1:

I know, and that's exactly why I reached out to you and asked you to get dinner with me to talk about this idea of the Optimist Circuit podcast. And so what did you think when I initially brought this podcast to you? What were you envisioning for it?

Speaker 2:

When we first started talking about it, I was already excited to be hearing that you were going to launch another podcast, because I had loved the podcast that you did previously on ocean optimism, and I was even more excited to be able to contribute to something that is at the intersection of so much of the work that I have done.

Speaker 2:

As you mentioned, I've worked for, I've worked for and with a lot of tech companies, and in the decade that I've been in the sustainability field, it has changed so drastically, and especially right now it is changing again by necessity, due to public policy and due to new developments and regulations and due to new technology, and I think this is going to be a really pivotal moment for every industry for sure, but I would really love to explore how this is going to be a pivotal moment for the work that really needs doing in social impact and in sustainability. And so if we can do that in a visible way, if we can share our experiences of that pivot with others, then I think we'll have more people along for the journey and we'll have more collaborators coming together to really amplify what AI and technology and various emerging technologies can do for this space where the need is really not getting any less. We're only needing these solutions more and more, so that's why I've been really excited to collaborate with you on this.

Speaker 1:

Your expertise and your background.

Speaker 1:

I was so excited to collaborate on this because I also am seeing the changes and the pivot and trying to figure out how we can best harness that for good and to make our environment and our communities have a better future. Because I feel it's so easy to see, especially like it's obvious everybody knows right now we're in an AI revolution that is like going to drastically transform the way we exist on this planet and that can be scary and if you follow that down a path, you could see it go to a dark place. But if you know anything about me, you know I like to remain optimistic. I like to remain optimistic and I think that because we're in such this pivotal moment we're still in the early phases, even though some people have been working on this for decades I still feel like there's an opportunity to step in the ring and take action and lead where this goes.

Speaker 1:

And that's exactly why I wanted to launch this podcast, because it's so easy to sit on the sidelines and think, oh, this is going to be terrible, people are going to lose their jobs, what are we going to do? But I want to be solutions oriented and I want to focus on what are the actions that people are already doing to harness the power of AI to fight climate change. Help, you know, level up people throughout our diverse society, and you know I just want to really help shape that future, and so for that reason, I'm so excited to be having these conversations with you and all of our upcoming guests. We have an incredible list of speakers that I am excited to talk to and learn from really and come up with solutions.

Speaker 2:

I know that one of the most powerful things that we heard and not to tease you know one of the future episodes too much, but it is.

Speaker 2:

There's something so powerful about being an active participant in the future that you want to see, to steal the words from one of our guests so I'm excited to be stepping into that role a little bit by at least helping uncover so much of the amazing work that people are doing.

Speaker 2:

I think one thing that I know that we both gravitated towards in terms of the concept for this was and is the focus on what can be done, focus on action, because I think, especially with AI being in everyone's mouth, a lot of the discussion, at least from where I sit, from where we sit, has been around the challenges, right. So, ai driving emissions, ai driving divisions, ai driving disinformation and misinformation potentially, I think one of the focus areas we want to keep central is how we overcome all of those, what the solutions are to addressing them and then some Right. So also talk about what the opportunities are, um, and you know, I think, the opportunities that AI brings intrinsically in terms of how it's going to help increase efficiencies for all industries again, including, including in our space, but also some of the more novel ways in which it's getting applied. Um, do you have any favorite uh cases or do you have any favorite examples of that that you're already seeing?

Speaker 1:

one of the biggest things that everybody talks about specifically with chat gpt is, if you do a query in chat gpt, it uses something like 20 times the emissions as a simple google search. So obviously energy and energy efficiency is, I think, at the forefront of anyone's mind who's thinking about the intersection of AI and sustainability. But on the flip side of things, what I'm really excited about is I see that this push for the need for more energy is also pushing for more renewable energy and, very specifically, nuclear energy, and I have seen a lot of research about how we can increase the push for nuclear fusion, which you know there's that like old accolade of like. We're always a decade away from figuring it out, but I think with AI, there has to be a way that we can close that gap, because once we achieve that, I think that will truly be a massive part of the solution for addressing climate change and the demand, the increase in demand for energy with all these new AI data centers. So that's an area that I'm definitely keeping my eye out for.

Speaker 2:

The science intersect is so exciting it's, I mean, one of my favorite case studies as well is around how AI is being used to reimagine how we conduct physics and how we conduct chemistry. There's this one startup that I saw present at the Trellis Network Circularity Conference last year. Their name is Citrineio. What they do is basically invent entirely new elements and materials and matter using AI and machine learning. So, as opposed to previously, we would discover a new element or discover a new material property and we would then try to find a relevant use case for it, like how can this help society, humanity in some way?

Speaker 2:

They are now taking in data, they're taking in specs Effectively. They're taking in what we need certain medical materials, packaging materials, apparel materials. They're taking those specs in and then, using machine learning and AI, they're calibrating new chemicals and particles and materials that have not ever previously existed to spec in order to to address that need, and so it's a game changer for how we can solve some of the very real problems that we have in sustainability, but also in healthcare and also in consumer products. Really excited to be turning so many other things on their heads as well and seeing what we can be doing differently.

Speaker 1:

The fact that they are using AI to build materials that have literally never existed before to solve real world problems is like would have been unthinkable even just a year ago. You know, like, like you said, like, for example, for me what comes to mind is the mining of lithium for EV cars, and you know we need electric vehicles as part of the transition to fight climate change, but one of the biggest setbacks of that is the need for lithium to develop those batteries, and so if we can use AI to come up with an alternative material that allows us to still have electric vehicles without you know, over harvesting from our planet like that was never even thought of as a solution before, and so I'm also equally excited to see where that goes.

Speaker 2:

I think there's one recognition that we have as well that there's a lot of work needed in this space. I'm excited to speak with some of our guests about in terms of how we do that responsibly.

Speaker 1:

You and I have been in the industries long enough to know that. You know we're not naive to the many problems that new and emerging technologies can bring, especially if they're they go unchecked. You know, like what social media has done for generations. We're still uncovering and unraveling those impacts. But, yeah, I think there is a need in the discourse and that's why I'm excited to this podcast with you to focus on the solutions and to elevate the voices of the people that are working to achieve those solutions so that others can hear and learn from them and spread that message. So it's definitely a form of optimism that's not naive, it's informed optimism.

Speaker 2:

That's not naive. It's informed optimism seeking, talking about how it can be applied in sustainability and social impact. It might be experts in sustainability and social impact talking about opportunities that they see AI supercharging the work that they do. So, dear listener, just know that we're going to have a very diverse range of speakers and hopefully you will find a good interplay between them and some really useful, tangible, applicable ways that you can then apply it into the work that you do.

Speaker 1:

And we also welcome you listeners to share your ideas. If you yourself are an expert who is working to use AI and technology to solve some of society's problems, whether it be through sustainability or social impact, we welcome you to reach out to us and let us know if you would like to come on the podcast or if you recommend somebody to come on the podcast.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and if there are topics that you want us to explore.

Speaker 1:

And with that I want to ask you, Francesca, one of my favorite questions, to ask everybody what makes you optimistic about the future, given all of these challenges?

Speaker 2:

I think what is keeping me optimistic is we are at the precipice of something new. We have also been at the precipice of new things several times in the past. You know it's trite to even say that technology has evolved faster in our lifetimes than at any time before, but that's true and we've, you know, been navigating that. We've been figuring that out and we've, you know, been navigating that We've been figuring that out At the same time as I was saying earlier. For many people, the outlook for sustainability and the outlook for environmental policy in very recent months is suddenly looking like it might be regressing. But hey, we've been here before. We know what it takes to navigate these kinds of headwinds. We've been Trojan horses before and being chameleons making the good work that needs doing seem very palatable to people who are perhaps less interested in that, maybe more interested in bottom lines or more interested in other drivers. So what's keeping me optimistic is that it is a brave new world, but also not the first brave new world that we're entering.

Speaker 1:

I think that's a really great point, as one of our future speakers suggested. You know, talk to your elders and your ancestors to see that we as a society have been through issues and made it through in the past as well, some issues that, depending on your viewpoint and your aspect, are worse than what we're facing now, and we've made it through those.

Speaker 2:

So I definitely think that that's a great reason to be optimistic about the future, and I'm optimistic that you and I get to collaborate on this together. I know me too. Me too, ellen. What is keeping you optimistic these days?

Speaker 1:

I'm optimistic about the future for multiple reasons. One of them is, of course, from the sustainability aspect. As I mentioned earlier, there's a huge demand for energy and with these large tech companies, I think they can put their efforts towards building our renewable energy infrastructure at a pace that we actually need to fight climate change. And now they have the funding and the will to back behind it. And so their push for, like reopening nuclear power plants by power purchase agreements with solar and wind, and there they have the money and the in, the will and the political will to build the infrastructure that our country needs to move into a renewable energy first source country, and I feel like that will have ripple positive impacts. You know, I kind of think of also how we had that push to go to the moon and the technology that was developed to help us get to the moon then had trickle positive impacts in society, like Velcro. Nasa invented Velcro to help the astronauts go to the moon, and now you know Velcro is used in many different circumstances in the healthcare field, lots of places to help people who may not be able to more easily do other things.

Speaker 1:

So that's one thing that keeps me optimistic about the future and another is I feel like we have this really unique opportunity because of AI, to not only get ahead, but to leap bounds forward that were not accessible to your average person before.

Speaker 1:

Now, anybody can be a software engineer like not necessarily be a software engineer, but you can build tools that were completely inaccessible to you before. The barriers to start your own business now are lower than ever before, with with social media allowing you to access millions of people, with AI tools allowing you to build products and services and tools that help people. You know, I think I see it as an opportunity for people who may not have access to traditional education through universities, be more, have more access and opportunities to build a business for themselves, maybe, or to go into an industry that may be more lucrative to help lift up their economic situation and to lift up the people around them's economic situation. So, obviously, there are still a lot of challenges that we have to overcome and barriers, but those are the things that keep me optimistic about the future.

Speaker 2:

That's so interesting. So you see it as a great equalizer based on the segment you said. And then also and I think this is a real flip in perspective, but maybe that hasn't occurred I mean, it hasn't occurred as quite so crisply to me until you put it this way but it's also the great ignition. So, if I'm interpreting correctly, what you were saying is that so many folks are rightly focused on the huge energy expenditure required by AI, but with that being now such a great competitive advantage to companies, it's also creating the biggest motivator for them to actually solve the renewable energy problem. So, yeah, I love that as a perspective shift that we can hopefully hold on to and hold those companies accountable to Exactly. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to subscribe to the Optimist Circuit on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode and let's keep the conversation going.

Speaker 1:

Follow us on LinkedIn, youtube and Instagram at the Optimist Circuit for more insights and inspiration.

Speaker 2:

Until next time, stay optimistic, stay curious and stay inspired.