John Shegerian: Welcome to another edition of Green Is Good. This is the Green Sports Alliance edition of Green Is Good, and we’re here in beautiful downtown Chicago, and we’ve got my friend with me, Nick Aster. He is the founder and CEO of TriplePundit, and you can find TriplePundit at www.TriplePundit.com. It’s a great blog that shares everything about sustainability with the world at large, and if you don’t subscribe to it now, subscribe to it. www.TriplePundit.com. Go on and fill out the newsletter section. You’ll get the – daily blog, is it? Nick Aster: Daily and weekly. John Shegerian: Daily and weekly. Nick Aster: Two different ones. John Shegerian: I mean, I get it. I have subscribed for years. It’s amazing. Nick, welcome to Green Is Good. Nick Aster: Thanks for having me. John Shegerian: Now, you’ve been on the show before, but now we have you, as my producer, Jessica, said, “in the flesh.” Nick Aster: Yeah. Looks good. John Shegerian: So we’re here at the GSA together. Tell me and tell our listeners and audience what you’re doing here at GSA. Nick Aster: Yeah. So in a nutshell, we cover all aspects of sustainability as they pertain to business. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: Sports is a big business, so we came here because we think that sports has a particularly important role to play in terms of greening their own operations but also in terms of the social impact that sports has. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: And, I mean, the big picture here is not just about – there are important things that we’ve got to deal with, energy and food and all of the nuts and bolts of how a great big stadium works and so on. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: But the big deal here in sports is second to only perhaps religion as a vector for communicating anything to humanity. John Shegerian: Good point. Nick Aster: So we look at it in that big picture way, and we think that there’s just a tremendous opportunity here to use sports to really bring humanity at large together. John Shegerian: With regards to TriplePundit have you been to the GSA events before, Nick? Nick Aster: Yeah. We came last year and then one of my colleagues was here the year before that. John Shegerian: Got you. So you’ve covered it for three years. What is your big takeaway from this summit? Nick Aster: The big takeaway is that this is bigger than ever. It’s obviously being taken very seriously. There has been a huge amount of progress. We have teams and stadiums and leagues worldwide that are finally starting to wake up to talking about the issue of sustainability – be it environmental, social or both. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: And so in other words, much like the business world at large, this is becoming more and more mainstream. It used to be met with indifference or even hostility and now a lot of teams have somebody who is responsible for it as an official job. John Shegerian: You know, Nick, you’re not only a journalist, but you’re also an entrepreneur and ecopreneur with TriplePundit. How many years ago did you found Triple Pundit, again? Nick Aster: Just over 10 years now. John Shegerian: So 10 years. And if a business lifecycle is a baseball game, where are we with TriplePundit? Where are you? Are you the top of the second inning? The bottom of the third? Where are you in the lifecycle? Nick Aster: That’s an interesting point. I think we’re actually still kind of at the beginning to tell you the truth. There is a long way to go. John Shegerian: Yeah. Nick Aster: We’re making some solid effort. We’ve grown tremendously over the years, but as this whole movement becomes more and more mainstream suddenly, it’s obvious that there’s a long way to go. John Shegerian: And what is your vision for the next five years for TriplePundit? Nick Aster: Yeah, good question. Well, we’re going to continue to grow. Another thing that we’re going to be doing is focusing more specifically on different verticals – sports being one of them, apparel being another. There are various different industries and subjects so we’re going to be building out our coverage on those specific topics. John Shegerian: Got you. Nick Aster: So you’ll see the site get kind of categorized a little more formally. And we’ll be doing more things like this – more interviews, more video stuff. John Shegerian: Got you. Nick Aster: A lot more conference presence and perhaps some other kinds of events. John Shegerian: That’s cool. And I know we’re going to see each other again – thankfully – up in Portland. Nick Aster: Yeah. That’s right. John Shegerian: So talk a little bit about what you’re doing up there. Nick Aster: Yeah. Another important vertical – electronics and technology in general – so we’re doing a whole push on green electronics. John Shegerian: And you’re a media partner of that event, right? Nick Aster: That’s correct. Of the green electronics event in October in Portland. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: So we’re going to be doing some things like this – sitting down and talking to people, doing some coverage and interviews. We’re also promoting that event – hoping to get some interesting people to turn up in Portland and keep the conversation going in that industry. John Shegerian: So TriplePundit is also going to become more social in terms of video and even more social opportunities. Nick Aster: Yeah. And a lot more opportunities to really engage with people. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: So sometimes that’s online – Twitter and so on – in particular. John Shegerian: Right. Nick Aster: Lots of Twitter chats we’ve been doing. John Shegerian: But- Nick Aster: But also some in-person events as well. John Shegerian: Talk a little bit about a couple of the brands that you’ve done those Twitter events with recently. Nick Aster: Yeah. We’ve been doing quite a few with SAP. That is primarily about things like- John Shegerian: I’ve seen that on your- Nick Aster: Yeah. Like STEM education technology, as it sort of meets the sort of being more inclusive for folks. Then a few with Levi’s recently on the apparel industry. John Shegerian: Got you. Nick Aster: And we have a bunch more coming up. John Shegerian: That’s a great way for brands to get their word out, using your Twitter chats. Nick Aster: Yeah, it is. A lot of fun. One we just did with UL Environment and a couple smaller brands – MeterHero, a great startup looking to help people save water and energy, so we’ve got a chat coming up with them later this year. John Shegerian: We’re down to the last minute or so, Nick. There are a lot of young people that watch and listen to our show around the world. A lot of them see you and want to be the next Nick Astor. Talk a little bit about how is that? Is it a straight-line journey? Does it have a lot of zigs and zags? And how do they go about their education to do this? Nick Aster: Sure. I mean, at the end of the day it’s a straight-line journey in the sense that you have to simply commit and be patient. John Shegerian: Yeah. Nick Aster: I mean, that’s what most of this has been. We’ve taken a lot of different paths in terms of thinking at the business model and the details and so on, but fundamentally, our goal is to put good conversations out there about sustainability and to keep doing it consistently. So that’s what we’ve been doing. We committed to that and kind of just stuck with it. John Shegerian: Well, we want you to keep coming back on the show and sharing your story. And – like I said – I’ve been a subscriber for at least six years to TriplePundit, so I love the stories that you share and the journeys that you share. You’ve done so much to make the world a better place, Nick, so thank you so much. For our listeners out there, you’ve had Nick Aster and John Shegerian broadcasting from the Green Sports Alliance summit here in downtown Chicago. You can find Green Sports Alliance at www.GreenSportsAlliance.org and you can find Nick Aster at www.TriplePundit.com. Sign up for Triple Pundit – the daily newsletter, the weekly newsletter – at www.TriplePundit.com. Thank you, Nick Aster, for making the world a better place. You are truly living proof that Green Is Good.