14: Using rocks to capture carbon at big scale! Interview with Lithos Co-Founder and CEO, Mary Yap

SustainNOW Podcast - Learn from entrepreneurs & scientists about climate solutions

In todays episode, I am speaking with May Yap, co-founder and CEO of Lithos Carbon. The team's mission is to accelerate mineral weathering at the gigaton scale. They are using volcanic stone basalt to speed up the Earth’s naturally carbon capture process in the soil and ocean. Farmers are spraying individual adapted basalt on their farmland to capture carbon in the soil while improving their yield at the same time. This complex method is very difficult to measure but is seen as one of the most promising technologies to capture CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Mary studied plant biology at The University of Chicago and geology and planetary sciences at Yale University, where she conducted award-winning scientific and urban research on the climate crisis. Mary started her journey in entrepreneurship at the age of 18 and spent 6+ years building early-stage startups before devoting her life to climate solutions.

We are speaking about her passion for stones and geology, why enhanced weathering is so complex to measure but also has a great opportunity to fight the climate crisis. You will learn about the process, the risks and chances for investors and farmers.
In this episode we are addressing the following questions:

• Could you please introduce yourself in a few sentences? 2:07
• What was your motivation in the first place to study geology at Yale? 3:00
• You mentioned that your grandmother also worked in agriculture. Is that something that inspired you as well? 4:38
• Based on the Wikipedia definition of enhanced weathering, is that what you would say it is or would you frame it differently? 8:48
• Can you pull us through the whole cycle of enhanced weather? 9:54
• Do you use probes? 12:31
• How is the chemical reaction working and how does it differ to taking another stone like Limestone? 14:05
• How do you accurately measure the carbon captured? 18:38
• How much percent is getting captured in the soil and how much flows away? 21:59
• Is there a limitation on the types of crops? 23:34
• Are there other methods of enhanced weathering?

Please check out show notes and background information: www.sustainnow.ch
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