The Debut of Pique Behind the Curtain

Pique Behind the Curtain 

Welcome to our first edition of Pique Behind the Curtain, our weekly newsletter debuting new content, highlighting great storytelling, and sharing behind-the-scenes footage from our films. Scroll to the bottom for climate films recommendations and to share your own suggestions.

CarbonCure: Reimagine CO2

 If you're inside right now, there's a pretty good chance that the building you're in is made up of concrete. That's because it's the most abundant building material on the planet. Yet one of the core ingredients to make concrete, cement, is a major driver of climate change. In fact, 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions result from the production of cement. 

But there's a cure - CarbonCure to be exact - which enables the reduction of cement content in concrete mixes while maintaining its strength. Founded 10 years ago by Rob Niven, the company injects CO2 into the mix - making it stronger and sequestering CO2. To date, concrete producers around the world have delivered over 1.7 million truckloads of concrete made with CarbonCure’s technology. In the last year, the company won the Carbon XPRIZE, earned praise (on top of investment) from Bill Gates, and launched a carbon removal credit program. 

We join Niven at his home in British Columbia, Canada where he starts his mornings paddle boarding on the water with his daughters. Watch the film here.

We're looking through selects of a recent shoot with Nitricity, which is producing renewable on-site nitrogen fertilizer. The frame on the left features the company's CEO and co-founder, Nico Pinkowski, as he inspects tomatoes grown on their test site farm.

The talented team at Vox released a pair of deeply researched videos on transmission lines and heat pumps. 

Every week we'll share recommendations from readers about climate films and documentaries to watch. This week the recs come from Betsy and Eric, who are part of ToFu Slack Community for Climate Marketers. Just reply here with your suggestion if you've got one!

• Paris to Pittsburgh - "It's an interesting look at how different cities are tackling climate change (i.e. Orlando's floating solar)" - Betsy Harbison, Bright Power and Green Portfolio

• Who Killed the Electric Car (2006) - An investigation into the death and resurrection of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our country's future. - Eric Van Orden