๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ช๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐๐ก๐ง๐๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฎ?
In episode 80 of Climate+ Podcast, Lincoln sits down with Sifiso Gumbi, the inspiring founder and CEO of Urban Surfer South Africa, to answer a critical question: ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ, ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐?
Johannesburg is currently facing a massive waste crisis, with its landfill space rapidly drying up. Yet, between 7% and 13% of its waste is successfully recycledโalmost entirely due to the tireless, uncoordinated efforts of informal waste pickers.
Sifiso, a former waste picker himself, is changing the narrative. Through Urban Surfer, he is transforming this informal sector into a structured, dignified economic powerhouse by providing:
๐ฆบ Essential Gear: Protective wear (PPE) to safely handle waste.
๐ Custom Equipment: Specially manufactured collection trolleys.
๐๏ธ Recycling Hubs: Dedicated facilities for secure storage, sorting, and processing to maximize income.
๐ผ Corporate Integration: Connecting reclaimers directly with private businesses to stabilize wages and boost ESG metrics.
Itโs time to move past summits and policy red tape and invest in real, ground-level human impact. Discover how Sifiso Gumbi, CEO of Urban Surfer, is transforming informal waste picking into a dignified economic force. Explore how grassroots Innovation tackles Johannesburg's landfill crisis, builds a thriving circular Economy, and creates sustainable livelihoods.
๐ง Listen to the full episode to hear Sifiso's incredible journey from waste picker to social enterprise CEO, and learn how we can better value the human element behind climate resilience. Link in the comments below.
๐ Stream the episode now at climatepluspod.com or find Climate Plus on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube!
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Lincoln Bleveans (lincolnbleveans.com) leads, educates, and inspires people and organizations to seize actionable opportunities to do good and do well in our dynamic, complex and unprecedented world. Long story short, heโs been there and done that -- again and again.
โLincoln has spent his three-decade career as a hands-on executive at the forefront of the global power industry as it has transformed from highly regulated, local and stodgy into one of the most global, complex and competitive arenas in the world.
โA liberal arts graduate in a sea of engineers, financiers, accountants, builders, and operators, he has leveraged his strengths as a voracious learner and outcome-driven strategic leader into a distinctive career portfolio at the forefront of innovation and change. Spanning every continent except Antarctica, he has succeeded in greenfield independent power project development; power plant and energy service company acquisitions, workouts, and divestitures; and utility planning, operations, and executive management.
Lincoln has synthesized this broad, deep, and diverse professional and intellectual journey โ and his intense innate curiosity โ into a unique and uniquely effective perspective on the world, the future, technology, human behavior, and how individuals and organizations can position themselves to thrive today and into the future.
Today he leads Stanford Universityโs mission-essential operations and world-leading innovation in climate action, including sustainability, adaptation, resilience, circularity, and climate justice; electric, thermal, water, and waste utilities; and infrastructure like dams, roads, bridges, and stormwater capture and sewer systems. He also serves on the Projects & Infrastructure Committee of the Board of Oversight for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and on fiduciary and advisory boards for climate technology start-ups in the US, Canada, Italy, Australia, and India.
Throughout his career, Lincoln has communicated his experiences and insights to a diverse global audience of experts and non-experts alike: as a writer in industry publications; as a keynote speaker and expert moderator; as a guest lecturer at Stanford, MIT, UCLA, and other universities, and as a sought-after podcast guest. He has been quoted in general audience publications (Forbes, ABC News, Newsweek, S&P Global Market Intelligence, Los Angeles Times, USA Today) and industry publications (Fast Company, GreenBiz, The Gigaton, PV Magazine International, POWER Magazine), and is featured in the Smithsonian Science Education Centerโs โSustainable Energy Research Guide For Youthโ and Springer's "Nordic Case Collection on Sustainability and Transition to a Circular Economy." He also co-authored a peer-reviewed academic paper on integrating equity, climate resilience, and renewable energy into governance frameworks.
His podcast, Climate+ | Purpose & Prosperity in an Unprecedented World, unpacks our climate-changing world to find the (often surprising) challenges, compromises, and opportunities to do good and do well today. A limited podcast series, Edison Squints, explores the future of our electricity system and how it is itself transforming and how itโs unprecedented impact on our lives, societies, politics, and economies.
Lincoln was educated at Kenyon College, Nanjing University, Northwestern University School of Law, Harvard University, and Stanford University, and has lived in the US, China, and Japan. An enthusiastic and spectacularly untalented surfer, Lincoln lives in Half Moon Bay, California, with his wife of 30 years and their loveably eccentric dog.