23. Janet Ranganathan, World Resources Institute

Food Lab Talk

Janet Ranganathan is the Managing Director and Executive Vice President for Strategy, Learning and Results at World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization that addresses the urgent sustainability challenges related to food, forests, water, climate, energy, cities and the ocean. She leads the development and execution of WRI’s five-year strategy and oversees WRI’s Research Integrity, Managing for Results, and Data Lab teams.

Janet Ranganathan: “One of the most important lessons I've learned is you can't do anything on your own. You have to do everything together through partnerships and collaborations. You know, if you wanna go far, take many people with you, but don't expect to get there too fast. If you wanna go fast, go alone, but don't expect to get very far. So true.”

00:25 Intro to Janet

01:21 30 years of changemaking

02:02 WRI’s method for impact: Count it. Change it. Scale it.

03:48 Feeding people, addressing climate, protecting land

05:54 Produce, protect, reduce, restore

07:03 A production and consumption problem

07:52 Education to enable change

09:44 Empowering food companies

12:06 Overview of the Shift Wheel

15:32 How the Cool Food Pledge put the Shift Wheel into practice

17:50 From outputs to outcomes to impact

20:40 How WRI connects food and climate change

21:44 Establishing collaborative partnerships for long term success

23:12 Design and act for impact

25:02 Learning from the past to inform the future

27:15 Urgency as a motivator

28:22 Takeaways for changemakers

Links

• WRI Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future
• WRI Shift Wheel Framework
• Cool Food Pledge
• WRI Greenhouse Gas Protocol
• WRI Strategic Plan 2023-27

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*The views expressed by the guests in this podcast don't necessarily represent the host’s views, nor those of his employer.