Mini Series Intro: We’re going to Italy?!?

[00:00:10] Dominique: Hello. Welcome to another episode of Green Champions.

[00:00:13] Adam: Thanks for joining us in a conversation with real people making real environmental change in the work that they do. I'm here with Dominique, our sustainability expert.

[00:00:21] Dominique: And I'm so glad to be here alongside Adam, our social enterprise extraordinaire. We bring you guests to sell the potential for impact in their job or community, and did something cool about it.

[00:00:29] Adam: Green Champions is a platform to share sustainability success stories, and plant new ideas. 

[00:00:34] Dominique: So today is a special episode, as I'm sure they're seeing by the title of this episode.  

[00:00:40] Adam: In what way?

[00:00:41] Dominique: Well, Adam, I have some news for you today.

[00:00:44] Adam: What's the news?

[00:00:45] Dominique: We're beginning a mini series.

Oh, cool. A minis series. Where are we going? 

I'm going somewhere.

[00:00:52] Dominique: You? Where are you going? 

I am going to take our listeners and you with me, but in the digital way,

[00:01:02] Adam: Digital? 

[00:01:02] Dominique: To come along with me for some conversations in Italy

[00:01:05] Adam: Ooh.

[00:01:06] Dominique: To attend a sustainability focused conference that brings together young people and the conversations of regeneration and innovation. It does take place in Italy. And I'm gonna be going there to gather some stories from green champions that come tailored to bring a really, really cool event to life.

[00:01:25] Adam: Cool. Can I come? 

[00:01:27] Dominique: So listeners, Adam knows already that he cannot come.

Aw. 

Unfortunately, I think we only have the ability for me to go based on what we know about the conference and limited availability for resources and all that, which is a fun little plug for our listeners if you're sad, Adam can't come on this trip, make sure he can come on the next one. 

[00:01:50] Adam: Please fund me for 2025.

[00:01:52] Dominique: By supporting us maybe it's through sponsorship. If you know anybody who maybe can sponsor this podcast, this is a happy call just for anyone who wants to show us some support, but we are very excited for this mini series.

Don't worry, you'll hear Adam's commentary for every guest. Adam and I will make sure to do a little recap together after each champion that I get to talk to and we'll kind of bring it home that way every day.

[00:02:15] Adam: So what is the conference and where in Italy is it?

[00:02:17] Dominique: Okay, so it's in Valbruna, Italy, 

 the event is called NanoValbruna. It is an international forum that brings together scientists, entrepreneurs, professors, professionals, the list is not over, journalists, science communicators, and most importantly, young people and they bring 'em to the heart of the Julian Alps- talk about beautiful. To talk about innovation, environment, and regeneration.

So just picture kind of the Dolomites, that kind of beautiful scenery. You're in a really adorable Italian town and getting to interact with people doing innovative projects around the environment and regeneration, and they're doing with the support of the United Nations, doing it with some really well acclaimed entrepreneurs and change makers from around the world. And they're doing it with a centered focus on young people and figuring out how to engage next generation into what is going to be really essential when it comes to sustainability.

[00:03:17] Adam: What sort of activities are people engaged in at this conference?

[00:03:20] Dominique: So there's so much going on. 

That's what we'll do in this mini series is we're gonna highlight the different aspects that make NanoValbruna so special. But in short, there's gonna be an innovation contest for entrepreneurs to get their projects funded. There's programming for young people called NanoPičiule, which engages like little kids of all ages in understanding science and sustainability and the ways that climate change shows up in the real world.

There's speakers sharing different topics from how to communicate your ideas, to how to pitch your ideas, to the importance of storytelling. There's so many things, there's so, so many things. And we'll have all the resources linked as mini series goes on with all the different things. So listeners can go find online to read and explore more.

But the people that come together and the foundation that they're centered around for the event, it's a week long conference. And it's called NanoValbruna because Valbruna is a small city in Italy and nano means little. And it's this idea of taking somewhere really small and bring people from all over the world to talk about cutting edge sustainability conversations, innovation in a place that is usually not invested in this space.

[00:04:30] Adam: Wow, now I am, I'm just so jealous. I have this image in my head of you sitting beneath these mountains drinking one Italian coffee after another, having conversations with people from all sorts of different backgrounds on ways of bringing regeneration as a topic to the forefront of people's minds. I can't wait to listen to these episodes. 

[00:04:49] Dominique: it's really incredible. 

I hope we can find some cool stories and nuggets to share with the listeners about what's happening over there And I think that this is just an exciting bridge for green champions to see that progress is happening all over the place and we can learn a lot from each other. And hopefully that's what we're serving to do, is to make that information available and share knowledge.

[00:05:08] Adam: One, I'm really excited that you're sharing that with me as well. But for our listeners as well, I'm glad that you to come along with this journey and share in my misery of not being able to be there in person, but delight in all these awesome stories that are to come.

[00:05:19] Dominique: So with that, we'll return next week with our first guest for this mini series on NanoValbruna. Links to the conference are on the website. You can go and check out and see what happened and get a flavor for what's to come. 

[00:05:30] Adam: The upcoming guests have each found a unique way to champion sustainability. And we're here to put real Italian names and stories behind the idea that no matter your background, career, or interests, you really can contribute in the flight against climate change.

[00:05:41] Dominique: So we'll see you all next week for the beginning of this miniseries, but you can find our episodes and reach us at thegreenchampions.com. If you wanna stay in the loop, give us a review and follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Our music is by Zane Dweik. Thanks for joining us for Green Champions this week and our new update. We'll be digging into our next sustainability success story next week. 

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