055: Reframing Sustainability: Discover the Positive, Empowering Way Forward with Charlie Sellars

“To be an effective climate optimist and person who cares about sustainability, you need equal parts of two different ingredients. The first is inspiration, because if you don't believe you can make a difference, and if you don't believe that what you do matters, then you're not going to try. You also need the other ingredient of empowerment. If you are really, really encouraged to try to make a difference, but you're not given the tools or the knowledge, then all that energy dissipates and becomes wasted.” —Charlie Sellars

 

What if sustainability wasn’t a burden, but an invitation? For too long, we’ve been told to shrink our impact and feel guilty for not doing enough. But what if the real power lies in small, positive choices that actually feel good and make a difference? 

Charlie Sellars, the Director of Sustainability at Microsoft and author of What We Can Do: A Climate Optimist's Guide to Sustainable Living, has spent his career turning eco-anxiety into practical, empowering action. His journey proves that you don’t need to be perfect—or even an expert—to make sustainability work for your life, your business, and your happiness.

Tune in as Justine and Charlie break down how to reframe sustainability from a source of stress into a source of strength, sharing real-life stories, actionable tips, and a new way to think about your impact—one that’s positive, empowering, and actually doable.

Meet Charlie: 

Charlie Sellars is a Director of Sustainability at Microsoft, which pledged to become Carbon Negative, Water Positive, Zero Waste, and Protect Ecosystems by 2030. As one of the youngest directors at the company, he has overseen sustainability for both the Windows & Devices and Cloud Operations portions of Microsoft, helping launch several sustainability-forward products ranging from new Windows PCs with repairable and recycled components to the Ocean Plastic Mouse.

Recognized by IM100 as one of 2024’s top 100 most impactful individuals in the digital infrastructure industry, Charlie also serves as a governing body member of the iMasons Climate Accord, an industry coalition united to decarbonize the digital infrastructure that underpins the next generation of cloud and AI services.

Charlie has previously served as a board member and CTO of an impact-focused non-profit, The $100 Solution, which believes that “solutions to big problems start with small steps.” He initially joined this non-profit while studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from Williams College, a small liberal arts school nestled in the Berkshire mountains which helped to grow his love for nature.

Raised outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Charlie is currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Episode Highlights:

01:24 Ingredients for Climate Optimism 

03:27 Challenges and Opportunities in Sustainability 

09:45 Data-Driven Sustainability 

12:12 Reducing Personal Impact and Sustainability in Business

17:08 Empowering Individuals for Sustainability 

20:35 Dietary Impact on Sustainability 

25:20 What We CAN Do

Resources

Book

What We Can Do: A Climate Optimist's Guide to Sustainable Living by Charlie Sellars