Alix Lebec is the Founder and CEO of Lebec Consulting. She grew up in Paris, then her family moved to South Korea and China.. she was educated in Paris and in London, and now lives in Miami. Ted notes at the onset, "You are truly a global citizen." She and her colleagues are working on global solutions. Her specialty is innovative finance for sustainable development.

Lebec Consulting's mission is to democratize access to capital, opportunity and knowledge. The women-led team has grown into a platform to mainstream and scale innovative finance. Alix explains that its three pillars are its strategic advisory services, managing its own boutique investment fund, and making funders and non-profits and others aware innovative finance. At its core is blending forms of finance and bringing together different capital tools. Her firm is expert at using philanthropy to catalyze initiatives, to de-risk them, then bringing in institutional and larger investors to scale initiatives.

Alix's work is sector agnostic. She and her colleagues are advising clients and raising funding across sectors including water, energy, agriculture and food, affordable housing, and health. It's all about scaling solutions by using an innovative finance playbook to shape a resilient and healthy economy and climate. For the past five years, Lebec Consulting has worked with families, foundations, corporations, and banks, all looking to put capital to work in more impactful ways. At the other end of the process are recipients: The firm is supporting socially responsible entrepreneurs.

Ted asks for a few examples and Alix presents four: She began developing the innovative financing model working with Water Equity, an organization founded by Gary White and actor Mat Damon. Its mission was to help women and their families get small loans to access drinking water, originally in India and Bangladesh. They began by using private sources of capital to provide micro-financing for water taps into main lines. Based on a track record of consistent repayments, they effectively de-risked larger investments of more conventional grants and loans from major organizations. Ultimately, the initiative secured $5 billion in capital for a range of water infrastructure and sanitation projects scaled up on several continents. Seeing that "financing playbook" work so well encouraged Alix to launch Lebec Consulting.

Other consulting works, included working with a Fortune 500 company that required strong returns for its investments, but that also wanted to have greater societal impact. Alix helped the company mix its financing tools, strategically blending its philanthropic endeavors with more conventional financial instruments. For the Miami Foundation, Alix built an innovative for affordable housing and environmental protection in Florida, using its philanthropic activities to prove the model and then seed conventional financing. Lebec Consulting also works with non-profits and entrepreneurs with sourcing capital and using limited funds for the greatest impact.

The conversation shifts to Alix's assertion that the world is falling short some $5 trillion in funding for the new economy... investments in low-carbon, climate-resilient solutions. "Clean energy is the future," she says, things like scaling solar-powered water pumping. Closing the funding gap is critical to enhancing food production for a growing population. There is also a huge need for health care and education. While some think that foundation grants and program-related investments will be sufficient, Alix believes that philanthropy has to be leveraged to tap into larger sources of financing, like big banks such as JP Morgan. Another key driver, she asserts, is proper valuation of climate risk. As the insurance industry forces us all to get real on these risks, capital will flow to help close the multi-trillion-dollar gap.

Ted closes with asking Alix where she got the passion for her work. She responded that early exposure to different cultures, growing up abroad, and traveling across the Southeast Asia region, opened her eyes. Her first job, working on a documentary in Sudan, reinforced her sense of need and direction. Then working for The World Bank, she saw first-hand the struggles of underserved communities, and the disparity with people who have so much. This rooted her passion and Lebec's important drive to democratize access to capital, opportunities, and wealth.

250. A big number. A lot of podcast episodes! Flanigan's Eco-Logic hit this major milestone in December.

Sierra Flanigan and Skye Flanigan, Ted's daughters host this milestone edition. They draw out the good, the breadth of topics and featured guests... and even some of the biggest blunders!

"So what does this milestone mean to you Dad?" Ted thanks his daughters for urging him to shift from publishing a monthly newsletter -- which he did for 40 years -- and to create a podcast. "After all Dad, you love to talk, you are full of BS, and you know so many professionals in this space! If you can just get to 10 podcasts, you'll be off and running," they said then. No one imagined hitting the 250 mark!

Ted talks about how the podcast has enriched his life. Yes, it takes a lot of work, but how amazing it is to have the privilege to interview and network with so many inspired and inspiring individuals... over 200 great guests with valuable perspectives all.

Skye notes that the podcast has featured quite a number of "big wigs" Yes, notes Ted. It's been an honor to converse with so many chief executive officers, executive directors, a mayor, a U.S. Representative... even a Chinese billionaire. Featured guests include Gina McCarthy, Mary Nichols, Mike Peevey, Denis Hayes, and recently Jon Creyts, the Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Institute where Ted began his career. Ted also discusses his international guests, beaming in from Tahiti, Dubai, Nairobi, Scandinavia, and Australia... covering topics such as ocean health, "slow fashion," and energy access in the developing world. He thanks repeat guests including Jigar Shah, Steve Lewis, Jonathan Parfrey, and Evan Mills.

The informal conversation touches on over 50 guests... from grubstaking with Henk Van Alphen, to recycling the unrecyclable with Tom Szaky, to much more efficient electric transmission lines with Dr. Jason Huang, and watershed health with TreePeople's Amanda Begley. Ted notes Rebecca Tickell's Big Picture Ranch films on the soil and regenerative agriculture, and Jack Gro... the NFL's sustainability officer.

The breadth of issues is what makes the podcast fresh and interesting for listeners. Ted discusses his view of sustainability and the taxonomy he has developed that address what he calls the spheres of sustainability... energy, water, transportation, the built environment, greenhouse gases, waste management, food and agriculture, and health and wellness. Topics covered include climate music, wildlife crossings, oyster farming, sustainable energy utilities, coffee, tea, the Aspen Ski Company's methane capture, and biophilic design with former colleague Bill Browning.

Sierra has hosted Eco-Logic's 17 crash courses in which she interviews Ted, together working to take challenging topics and to relate them in interesting and digestible ways. These include courses on offshore wind, vehicle-to-grid integration, microgrids for energy resilience, net billing, and most recently a course on combusting green hydrogen. More to come! Ted threatens to tackle power factor in an upcoming episode... a complex nuance of power system engineering.

When asked, Ted presents a few key lessons learned. First off, be prepared. Then. like journalism, kick off with the meat of the matter. Not to much chit-chat! Then hang loose. And yes, there will be blunders.... He recounts some of those with a chuckle.

The conversation ends with thanks to all who have been instrumental in making the podcast a success: Sierra Flanigan, Skye Flanigan, Alizeh Siddiqui, and Bill Flanigan, with special recognition to Eco-Logic's podcast coach, Rhys Waters from Podstarter in Nova Scotia. It's a team effort, with lots of parts. Ted laments that recording the conversations is the least of it!

In closing Ted again thanks his wonderful guests and encourages listeners to send nominations for more of them. "We've had so many great guests that we'd never heard of including recent ones like Tom Chi, Ralph Bianculli, Rinaldo Brutaco, John Belizaire, Chance Claxton, and Heather White. Bring 'em on! We're now working on the next 250!"

Andrew Arentowicz is the Co-Founder and CEO of 50:50 Foods, a firm devoted to making healthier burgers. Drew explains that his company's burgers are made up of 50% beef and 50% vegetables. Concerned about the ravages of Amazon rainforest slash and burn practices -- to raise cattle for beef -- Drew and his colleague went to work in their own kitchens to make burgers that taste just as good as their all-beef brethren, but that are healthier both for the planet and for their consumers.

Drew tells his origin story... from early explorations, the realization that consumers are unwilling to completely give up beef, to his early recipes, leading to manufacture at a major burger facility in San Diego. At this point, the burgers are available in 142 retail outlets -- notably at Pavilions and Vons supermarkets, through Thrive on line, and at Disneyland. Clearly 50:50 Foods has come a long way... a bootstrapped start-up that Drew notes "checks all the boxes!" He discusses the dual needs to cut down on beef consumption and to increase vegetable consumption. For parents, his burgers are a form of "stealth health," as they taste better while offering a potential sustainability solution.

While not marketed for their environmental benefits, Both burgers address environmental concerns head on. Fully 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to cows. For every pound of beef production avoided, 100 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided. Cows and cow food production are responsible for nearly half of all fresh water used in America, dwarfing the 12% used in our homes. Every Both burger cuts water use by nearly 2,000 gallons in the switch from all beef to 50:50's recipe. But Drew is not one to "brow-beat" consumers: Fundamentally, he stresses that Both burgers are delicious. And when produced at scale, they will cost less as vegetables cost less than beef on a pound-per-pound basis.

The conversation weaves through Drew's rather fortuitous start-up, some of the challenges of working within FDA and USDA protocols and regulations, the clear benefits of 50:50 Foods, and the entrepreneurial path that Drew and his team have taken in developing their potent niche. What's next? First, scaling the burgers.... then taking a look at other related products like meat balls, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets.