Every year on Earth Day, businesses around the world make commitments, launch campaigns, and announce new sustainability goals.

What happens when the Earth Month celebrations pass?

Because the real test of sustainability isn’t what gets said on April 22nd—it’s what actually gets done on April 23rd, and every day after that.

In this special Earth Day episode of It Shouldn’t Be This Hard, co-hosts Phil White and Heidi Schoeneck sit down with Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet, to unpack one of the most quietly powerful models in climate action today: what happens when businesses commit to just 1% - consistently, transparently, and in community.

Because simple actions. Done repeatedly. In community. isn’t just the 1% For The Planet philosophy, it’s a theory of change that has already driven over $800M in environmental giving.

But this conversation goes deeper than giving.

It’s about the structural barrier holding sustainability back: the intention–action gap.

Why do so many businesses care but still hesitate to act?

Kate breaks down the tension at the heart of the system:

- The pressure to be perfect vs. the need to start

- The fear of criticism vs. the urgency of transparency

- Greenwashing on one side, green-hushing on the other and a growing silence in between

And in that silence, progress stalls.

This episode explores why progress (not perfection) is the only model that scales, and why aggregated small actions are often more powerful than isolated big ones.

Because the economy impacts the planet—full stop. The question is whether businesses are willing to act on that consistently enough for it to matter.

This is not about Earth Day as a moment.

It’s about Earth Day as a practice.

Key Takeaways:

- Why the intention–action gap is now one of the biggest blockers in sustainability execution

- How the 1% model turns incremental commitments into over $800M in verified environmental impact

- Why “progress over perfection” is a strategic advantage, not just a mindset

- How greenwashing fear and green-hushing are slowing down real climate action

- What it takes to build movements that scale beyond awareness into action

- Why consistency—not intensity—is what actually drives systemic change

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction: The intention–action gap in sustainability

01:10 – Why businesses are stuck between intention and execution

03:40 – Kate Williams on the 1% model and $800M in impact

04:10 – The theory of change: simple actions, done repeatedly, in community

04:45 – Greenwashing vs green-hushing: the new sustainability paralysis

05:00 – Why progress over perfection is the only scalable path

06:15 – Building movements through transparency and participation

07:00 – Closing reflection: what actually drives change at scale

About the Show:

It Shouldn’t Be This Hard is the podcast for leaders, founders, and change-makers reimagining what good business looks like—real conversations, radical ideas, and the belief that purpose and profit can—and must—coexist.

Additional Resources:

🤖 Meet Gaia, our sustainability AI: https://grounded.world/gaia/

🌍 Get Grounded: https://grounded.world/

#EarthDay #SustainabilityLeadership #PurposeDrivenBusiness #ClimateAction #ESG #ItShouldntBeThisHard #1PercentForThePlanet #EarthDayEveryDay

Every April 22nd, a billion people across 193 countries do something for the planet. Companies make bold commitments. Partnerships get announced. And then April 23rd arrives.

For businesses building sustainability into how they actually operate (not just how they communicate) that day after is the real test. Because the ROI of Earth Day isn't in the moment. It's in the partnerships that outlast the press release, the operational changes that compound year over year, and the culture that doesn't need a calendar reminder to care.

In this special Earth Day episode of It Shouldn't Be This Hard, co-hosts Phil White and Heidi Schoeneck sit down with Kathleen Rogers, President of EarthDay.org — one of the most recognized environmental platforms on the planet — to ask the question she returns to every single year: What do we do the day after Earth Day?

From the paradox of growing awareness alongside growing powerlessness, to the equity arguments hiding inside the word "environment," to what it actually takes to keep a billion-person movement going — this is a conversation about turning caring into action. Not just on April 22nd. Every day.

Key Takeaways:

• Why awareness and powerlessness are growing at the same time and what that means for anyone trying to drive change
• How redefining "environment" as what surrounds you reframes sustainability as an equity issue, not just an ecological one
• Why the antidote to greenwashing fear isn't a better communications strategy
• How incremental progress beats absolutism when building movements that last
• Why the intention–action gap is as much a strategic problem as a communications one
• What "the day after Earth Day" reveals about the difference between moments and movements

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Introduction: What do we do the day after Earth Day?
• 01:08 – The paradox of awareness: more knowledge, more powerlessness
• 03:50 – What does the ‘environment’ actually mean? And how a simple definition can change everything
• 05:17 – Climate equity: who bears the real burden of environmental harm
• 05:50 – Why companies are afraid to talk about climate change
• 06:30 – Urban tree planting, community tools, and building the tent for the ‘do-gooders’ of the world
• 07:26 –The billion-person challenge: keeping momentum after April 22nd
• 08:15 – Closing wisdom: nature as miracle, protector, and source of hope

About the Show It Shouldn't Be This Hard is the podcast for leaders, founders, and change-makers reimagining what good business looks like: real conversations, radical ideas, and the belief that purpose and profit can — and must — coexist.

Hosted by Phil White and Heidi Schoeneck, the show explores how sustainability can drive business performance, especially under real commercial pressure. Season 2 continues those conversations at the intersection of purpose and performance — because the work matters every day, not just one day a year.

Additional Resources:

🤖 Meet Gaia, our sustainability AI: https://grounded.world/gaia/

🌍 Get Grounded: https://grounded.world/

#EarthDay #Sustainability #ESG #ClimateAction #ItShouldntBeThisHard #EarthDayEveryDay

After a full season of conversations with leaders from Starbucks, Plastic Bank, Earth Day Organization, Philip Morris International, BIGGBY Coffee, Divert, and The Washington Post one theme kept surfacing:

If so many people care about sustainability… why is doing the right thing in business still so hard?

In this special Season 1 reflection episode of It Shouldn’t Be This Hard, co-hosts Phil White and Heidi Schoeneck step back from the individual interviews to connect the patterns behind ESG, systems change, sustainable supply chains, and purpose-driven leadership.

This is a compilation episode revisiting the most powerful insights from across Season 1 and asking what they reveal about the intention–action gap inside modern business.

From corporate accountability to empathetic capitalism, this conversation explores why progress stalls and what actually makes sustainable transformation possible under real commercial pressure.

Key Takeaways:

• Why sustainability struggles are rarely about intention and almost always about systems design
• How shareholder pressure, risk aversion, and legacy operating models create barriers to ESG progress
• Why extractive business models create long-term instability in global supply chains
• How behavior change scales when sustainability is operationalized
• Why shame and cancel culture can slow corporate transformation and curiosity unlocks collaboration
• How small, visible actions rebuild agency and close the intention–action gap

Featured Voices from Season 1:

• David Katz (Founder & CEO of Plastic Bank) on corporate adaptation and risk
• Jenny Morgan (Author of ‘Cancel Culture in Climate’) on cancel culture and “pretty good” sustainability.
• Karimah Hudda (Founder of illumine.earth) on conformity inside large institutions.
• Bob & Michelle Fish (Co-Founders of One BIGG Island in Space) on direct trade and empathetic capitalism.
• Amelia Landers (Former VP of Innovation, Starbucks) on designing convenience into sustainable behavior.
• Jennifer Motles (Chief Sustainability Officer of Philip Morris International) on driving change inside controversial industries.
• Kathy Baird (Former Chief Communications Officer of The Washington Post) on apathy and civic disengagement.
• Hilary (Former CMO of Divert) on food waste and operational sustainability.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Introduction: Why “doing the right thing” still feels hard
• 00:40 – Season 1 patterns and the intention–action gap
• 01:15 – Plastic Bank: Risk, shareholders, and adaptation
• 03:25 – Cancel Culture in Climate: Systems built to punish risk
• 05:10 – Systems change and institutional conformity
• 06:40 – BIGGBY Coffee: Extractive vs empathetic capitalism
• 11:50 – Starbucks: Designing sustainable behavior
• 14:25 – Come into Conversations with Curiosity
• 15:00 – PMI: Courage inside controversial industries
• 16:20 – Overwhelm, apathy, and disengagement
• 17:45 – Divert: Small actions that sustain momentum against climate change
• 19:05 – Closing reflections: It shouldn’t be this hard

Additional Resources:

🤖 Meet Gaia, our sustainability AI: https://grounded.world/gaia/

🌍 Get Grounded: https://grounded.world

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It Shouldn’t Be This Hard is the podcast for leaders, founders, and change-makers reimagining what good business looks like: real conversations, radical ideas, and the belief that purpose and profit can (and must) coexist.

Hosted by Phil and Heidi, the show explores how sustainability can drive business performance especially under real commercial pressure.

Season 1 brought together global brands, social enterprises, and systems thinkers to challenge extractive models and rethink the future of responsible business.