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Jeff Coleman woke up one morning and realized he was running a different kind of company than he started. What began as a software platform to help homeowners access clean energy incentives became a product with a much harder problem to tackle: a fintech company speeding up the rebate turnaround between utilities, governments, and contractors.

In this conversation, Eli’s founder shares the truth about scaling a company rooted in clean energy through a political reversal, why the path to energy upgrades is paved with paperwork for contractors, and why he believes leaning into the “boring” parts of climate tech is crucial to expanding clean energy access.

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On this episode of Future in Bloom, Steph Speirs speaks with Etosha Cave, co-founder and Chief Science Advisor at Twelve. Twelve is discovering new ways to recycle CO2 and transform it into the things we use in our everyday lives. Etosha discusses her journey from grad school, realizing nature doesn’t treat CO2 as waste, so why should we? She dives deep into the story of how she helped build a company that mimics photosynthesis to turn captured carbon and water into fuels and everyday products.

Along the way, they discuss why CO₂ is such a “stubborn molecule,” how Twelve chose what to make from sixteen possible options, the role the Inflation Reduction Act played in their pivot to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and why the company can now produce jet fuel almost anywhere in the world. It’s a conversation about science, commercialization, and the belief that waste and pollution are design choices we can make differently.

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In this episode of Future in Bloom, host Steph talks with Dr. Lea Winter, a chemical and environmental engineering professor at Yale, to explore how we can redesign the basic chemistry of our economy and actually reuse CO2. Lea breaks down why carbon isn’t just a pollutant to get rid of but an essential building block of our everyday lives. Her lab is developing ways to take CO2 from the atmosphere or industrial emissions and convert it into fuels, chemicals, and materials using reactions that could one day replace fossil-fuel-based manufacturing.

Lea also explains how synthetic fertilizer enabled the population boom of the 20th century, but at a steep cost: massive fossil fuel dependence, significant CO2 emissions, and widespread nitrogen contamination of groundwater and ecosystems. Her lab is pursuing green ammonia pathways that use only air, water, and renewable electricity.

Together, Lea and Steph discuss her work on transforming wastewater into a resource recovery opportunity, converting nitrogen contaminants into ammonia for fertilizer. Lea shares her vision of a truly circular chemical economy, one designed to eliminate waste, increase resilience, and expand access to essential resources for communities around the world.

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What if the best thing a foundation could do was plan its own ending? In this episode of Future in Bloom, Steph Speirs sits down with Santhosh Ramdoss, President & CEO of Gary Community Ventures, to explore a radical idea that could reshape philanthropy: Impermanence.

By 2035, Gary will have spent every dollar of its assets in service of Colorado kids and families, which intentionally departs from how most foundations operate.

Santhosh shares the founding vision behind Gary’s sunset, why traditional endowments behave more like dams than rivers, and how his team is working to transform institutional wealth into community well-being. He also opens up about his own journey, what nature can teach all of us about letting go, and how to leave the world better than we found it.