The groundbreaking three-part documentary series shows how scaling climate innovations can unlock unprecedented environmental impact

TIME Studios and Project Management Institute (PMI), the world's leading authority for project professionals, have teamed up to co-produce a new documentary series called The Solutionaries, highlighting three innovators driving scalable transformation to address the climate crisis. Cyrill Gutsch, Rebecca Hu-Thrams, and Lisa Dyson are The Solutionaries making bold moves to tackle the world’s most urgent challenges and expanding their impact through project management.

United by a shared mission to drive cultural and social impact through storytelling, each innovator’s work is featured in an episode, the first of which premieres Wednesday, October 8^th on time.com/PMI/thesolutionaries. Further episodes go live on Tuesday, October 28^th and Monday, November 10^th.

“The Solutionaries demonstrate that the answers to our greatest challenges often come from individuals with the courage to build the world they imagine,” said Menaka Gopinath, Chief Marketing Officer at PMI. “To deliver real-world impact and address the urgent climate crisis, these innovations need to be unleashed – the world can’t afford to keep them in experimental labs. That's where the power of project management to scale innovation makes all the difference and The Solutionaries are doing just that.”

“TIME Studios is proud to partner with Project Management Institute and Good is the New Cool to bring the first season of The Solutionaries to our passionate and engaged audience,” said Jeff Smith, Head of Formats & Specials at TIME Studios. “TIME Studios is dedicated to producing stories that move the world, and these Solutionaries are not just moving the world, they are leading the way to a brighter and more sustainable future through measurable action and scalable solutions.”

Episode #1: Parley for the Oceans – October 8

Episode one introduces viewers to Cyrill Gutsch, a German-born designer and founder of Parley for the Oceans, a global environmental organization that brings together creators, thinkers, and leaders to raise awareness about the fragility of our oceans and collaborate to end their destruction. Through Parley Future Material® they are introducing natural materials, biofabrication and green chemistry as alternatives to conventional and often harmful and toxic material standards, disrupting the status quo of the fashion and design industries and driving a material revolution.

• In 2024, Parley intercepted 1,609,979 kg of debris from the environment, cleaning a 16,028,161 m² area.
• In partnership with Dior, Parley launched their third Beachwear Capsule collection, crafted entirely from innovative materials, including 30% made with Parley Ocean Plastic^®, a bold step toward an eco-innovative future and a ‘Symbol of Change’ for fashion.

Episode #2: Glacier – October 28

The second episode spotlights Rebecca Hu-Thrams, co-founder of Glacier, a next-generation robotics company reinventing recycling to reduce landfilling and unlock a circular economy at scale. Today, Glacier’s robots process recycling streams for 1 in 10 Americans, a sign of how quickly material recovery facilities in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix, and San Francisco are adopting the technology.

Glacier designs custom-built robots powered by proprietary AI models to trace and recover more recyclables from the waste stream. Their compact units install directly into recycling facilities, where robots extract valuable materials and computer vision captures real-time footage of every item, using AI to classify each one. The result: more materials recovered, higher-quality feedstock for manufacturers, and verified evidence for brands seeking accountability.

• Physical AI meets recycling: Glacier’s models already identify and sort more than 50 categories of materials—including plastics, fiber, metals, cartons, glass, and branded packaging—at industrial scale.
• From waste to feedstock: A single Glacier robot can recover over 10 million items per year, preventing 2,000 tons of CO₂ emissions (the equivalent of removing 500 cars from the road!)
• Circular manufacturing + brand intelligence: At full scale, Glacier could divert 200 million tons of recyclables annually and eliminate over 260 million tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions, while delivering the item-level data brands need to design more responsibly.

Episode #3: Air Protein – November 10

Episode three features Dr. Lisa Dyson, a physicist turned entrepreneur whose work was inspired by witnessing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She is the founder and CEO of Air Protein, a company that is pioneering AirFermentation™, a NASA-inspired process that transforms elements of the air (CO₂, oxygen, nitrogen, and water) into complete, highly nutritious protein. The result is a flour rich in essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that can function as a drop-in alternative to egg, dairy, and soy.

Air Protein’s technology is patent-protected and backed by leading partners including ADM and DARPA. By producing nutrition anywhere on Earth without relying on fragile agricultural supply chains, the company is creating what it calls the “Air Chain™”, a new category of ingredients designed for resilience, reliability, and scalability. For governments, food producers, and humanitarian organizations, it offers a stable, future-proof way to secure supply with efficiency and climate benefits built in.

• Air Protein is rich in vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, with all 20 amino acids, including all 9 essential amino acids and 2x the amino acids of soybeans. It contains more protein per kg than most other proteins and is free from GMOs, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics.

Menaka Gopinath adds: “More often than not, the barrier to implementing solutions tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges is just figuring out where to start, and having the tools and mindset to move from idea to action. The project profession is a critical element to enabling action. At Project Management Institute, we’re redefining how the world tackles environmental challenges, championing for every project to be designed with sustainability at its core. Our research shows projects with sustainability baked in are nearly twice as likely to deliver successfully. Our mission is to inspire project professionals to use their skills to shape a more sustainable future to drive meaningful change.”

Directed by Academy Award nominee Edward Buckles Jr., whose film Katrina Babies demonstrated his ability to find hope and humanity within complex challenges, The Solutionaries brings emotional depth and visual artistry to the climate conversation. The Solutionaries is Executive Produced by Afdhel Aziz and Bobby Jones and is based on an original concept from Good is the New Cool, their creative studio dedicated to telling stories that fill the Hope Gap. Learn more about the Solutionaries and how their innovative work building a better future for people and the planet is powered by the critical role of project management here.

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

PMI is the leading authority in project management, dedicated to guiding the way to project success. Since 1969, PMI has shone a light on the power of project management and the people behind the projects. With a global community, gold-standard professional certifications, and career-long learning opportunities, PMI empowers current and aspiring project professionals, as well as organizations, with knowledge and resources to lead effectively and create an impact in the communities they serve. Join PMI in elevating our world – one project at a time. Connect with us at www.pmi.org, linkedin.com/company/projectmanagementinstitute, on Instagram @pmi_org, and on TikTok @PMInstitute.

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About TIME Studios

From one of the most globally iconic brands, TIME Studios is an Emmy Award®-winning television and film studio as well as an award-winning immersive and branded content studio, focused on the development, production, and distribution of premium unscripted and scripted storytelling that moves the world. With technical innovation and a brand defining visual language that dates back 102 years, TIME Studios aims to impact communities and the world at large with ideas that forge true progress. Combining the industry’s leading creators with TIME, one of the most trusted brands that reaches an audience of over 120 million people globally, TIME Studios is uniquely positioned to bring massive audiences to the world’s most impactful stories.

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