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TFCI Podcast Episode 033 | Geoff Smith: Forget About Hope, It’s Time to Do Something!

January 21, 2022

Craig Applegath, DIALOG Partner, hosts the podcast Twenty-First Century Imperative, where he interviews guests that are making a difference in the race to save our planet from environmental degradation.

Episode 033 | Geoff Smith: Forget About Hope, It’s Time to Do Something!

“In this podcast I talk with Geoff Smith, CEO and President of EllisDon, an employee-owned, $5 billion-a-year construction services and technology company. In the world of Climate Change mitigation, Geoff Smith is probably best known for his leadership of the Carbon Impact Initiative – A Building Industry-Led Action Plan in Support of Canada’s International Climate Change Commitments.

In our conversation, Geoff and I talk about how climate change and carbon emissions came to be such an important concern for Geoff, and what EllisDon is trying to do about it; what the construction industry can do to make a difference in moving the needle on carbon emissions; the big efforts EllisDon is making to tackle the opportunities and challenges associated with Mass Timber given its potential to significantly reduce embodied carbon and lock up carbon; and what will be required to actually meet our commitments to the Paris agreement and reduce carbon emissions before it is too late. We also talk about losing hope and what we need to do about it.

I have known and worked with Geoff for many years and have come to admire him as both one of the Construction Industry’s most respected leaders, but also as a great guy. He is one of those rare people, who is successful, intelligent, and incredibly competent, while also having a real sense of humility, and a wonderful sense of humour. These are the qualities that have made him such an effective industry leader and innovator and why I wanted to interview him for this podcast.

I hope you enjoy our conversation!”

 

About the TFCI Podcast

The Twenty First-Century Imperative podcast series was created to explore how we as a species will meet the critical challenges of Twenty-First Century Imperative – those being:

  1. How will we continue to live on our planet without destroying our biosphere?
  2. How will we repair and regenerate the environmental damage we have already caused?
  3. How will we adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change?

Craig interviews scientists, designers, planners, engineers, business entrepreneurs, politicians, and other successful change-makers, who are looking for and finding smart, effective ways to answer these three critical challenges.