Diana Kapp – Modern-Day Female Role Models, The Climate Crisis, and the Problem with Our Current Rate of Consumption

Diana Kapp Climate Crisis

Diana Kapp
Modern-Day Female Role Models, The Climate Crisis, and the Problem with Our Current Rate of Consumption

Diana Kapp is a journalist with an MBA from Stanford University. She has criss-crossed this country writing for and about empowered girls… girls who expect to be leaders, founders and inventors. Diana’s first book, Girls Who Run the World, was published in 2019, and was endorsed by Madeline Albright(!) and featured in Forbes and on NPR’s Marketplace. On April 5th, 2022, in time for Earth Day, her second book, Girls Who Green the World, was released and covers 34 of the most revolutionary environmental change makers, fighting the climate crisis head on.

In addition to her books, Diana’s work has appeared in most major media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, ELLE, Marie Claire, O the Oprah Magazine, California Sunday Magazine, Sunset, Outside.com.

For more info about Diana, check out her website, and follow along on Instagram.

Activists, Entrepreneurs, and Books mentioned in the episode: 

05:25  Diana’s newest book, Girls Who Green the World, was just released in April, 2022
06:35  The pervasive sense of gloom and doom taking over the climate crisis conversation is making young people feel a lack of motivation, but Diana calls her new book an “oasis of positivity”
07:25  Diana wasn’t an expert on the environment when she started researching for the book but felt compelled after seeing her teenagers sad and angry about the state of the environment and older generations lack of action
10:05  Diana found some of the women in her book by talking to her social impact investor friends; Robin Donahoe (Draper, Richards, Kaplan)
11:50  The Grist List was another good source for learning about women making an impact
12:10  Diana’s first book, Girls Who Run the World, featured many women that didn’t set out to be entrepreneurs, but rather set out to solve a problem; Gregg Renfrew of Beautycounter
14:20  Kaitlin Mogentale founder of Pulp Pantry saw the great amount of waste in the juicing industry in LA and decided to found a company that could use what would be waste, the pulp
17:10  In many cases, coming at a problem with fresh eyes and little experience in the field can be a competitive advantage
18:45  The problem with fast fashion and it’s role in the climate crisis
20:53  The whole theme of the book is ‘consumption’
22:35  Approaches to combating fast fashion: renewed lines; prAna; The North Face; Pareto; AG Jeans
26:30  The Zero Waste Teen
29:10  We often talk at length about the problems, but less about the solutions; Daniela Fernandez (Sustainable Ocean Alliance)
30:40  Girls Who Green the World opens with the story scientist Susan Soloman and her research on the ozone layer which led to the Montreal Protocol to regulate and phase down man-made ozone depleting chemicals including CFCs
32:35  Making change is far easier when there is a practical replacement or solution
33:50  Diana has been greatly impacted by this latest book project especially when it comes to consumption and shifting toward re-use and repair before waste and new purchases
36:09  There are tradeoffs for every action, but thinking about solutions that have a lighter impact on the planet is the shift we have to make; Ministry for the Future
38:45  Girls Who Run the World was an attempt to highlight modern day role models for young people
39:25  Just before the release of Girls Who Run the World, Forbes came out with their ‘America’s 100 Most Innovative Leaders’ list which was 99 men and just 1 woman
43:20  One of the women from Girls Who Run the World, Natasha Case (Coolhaus) has gone from a person who runs the world into a person that greens the world
45:04  “You can’t be what you can’t see” so the more that we hold up women doing interesting and innovative jobs, the more it will influence our young girls in what they chose to do
47:05  The Starrett’s daughter was inspired after hearing the CEO of Strauss Creamery talk about their regenerative farming practices and now only buys Strauss milk
47:57  It is critical that we all get politically active because need government policies to change
48:35  The Sunrise Movement is now the world’s largest youth movement fighting for environmental health
49:30  Both of Diana’s books are inspirational and appropriate for any age, not just young adults
50:10  The existential angst and climate anxiety is becoming very real for young people, as an example, 40% of young people that answered a 2021 Lancet study said they would consider not having kids because of their fears about the future of the planet
52:30  Girls Who Green the World is available everywhere, but buy locally if you can!
53:20  Diana has a section on her website for resources including “Things Teens Can Do”

Full Transcript

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