The Carbon Conundrum
#1
Climate change is real.
Its astonishing that I still have to say this in these times.
But we do live amongst many climate deniers. So it doesn’t harm to re-iterate the climate change adversity at every available opportunity.
Climate change or global warming is as real as the fact that the earth is round. But just as we have flat-earth believers even today (After more than 2000 years of Pythagoras proving a round earth), we will always have climate deniers.
Without making the debate political, its important to remind ourselves of the facts of climate change. I strongly believe that more fact-based knowledge can clear a lot of fog that arises from the ambiguities of misguided opinions.
With that approach in mind its prudent to educate ourselves about climate science.
This 5 year old video from the guys at ‘Its Okay To Be Smart’ is a good starting point to get your climate science education going.
Climate Science: What You Need To Know
(6 mins)
#2
Once we acknowledge and accept the grave dangers that global warming entails, we can start thinking of ways to learn to live a minimum carbon footprint life.
The more you read about the most carbon efficient ways to live the more you realize that our economic system is rigged against the climate.
We will have to shake the very foundations of our capitalistic economy if we want to make a significant dent to our carbon emissions.
The biggest revelations to me while doing research for this post was how destructive flying airplanes is to the environment, or how much plastic my bathroom actually uses.
There are plenty of ways we can reduce our carbon footprint, but most important is to realize that we will have to fundamentally change the way we live our lives. Being climate conscious is not a weekend project, its a way of life, and not an easy one at that.
In this article The Guardian talks about how people doing climate research, the climate scientists, are living their life. The measures they take to reduce their personal carbon footprint are truly revelatory.
No Flights, a four-day week and living off Grid: What Climate Scientists do at home to save the planet.
(12 mins)
#3
While at an individual level, we can find many examples of people trying to reduce their carbon footprint around the world, we still don’t have sustainable examples of entire countries taking fruitful steps in that direction.
Except for one country.
Yes, and it is one of the ‘happiest’ countries in the world, and also our next door neighbor.
Bhutan is not just carbon neutral, its actually carbon negative.
That means that Bhutan’s ecology consumes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it releases into it. Its the ‘Carbon Sink’ of the world.
Now, that is an achievement the Bhutanese people should be proud of!
Watch this Ted Talk from Bhutan’s former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay where he shares how his country came to be carbon negative, and what steps are they taking to do even better in the future.
#4
Its true that our consumption-centric capitalistic system is the biggest reason for our climate problems.
But perhaps, our way out of these problems can also be paved with the help of capitalism. Because capitalism rides on the back of human innovation, it fuels and funds the R&D necessary for us to survive and thrive as a civilization.
Since the atomic bomb and a few nuclear accidents in the last century, research into nuclear energy has almost halted.
When anyone talks about advancing nuclear knowhow they are looked at with suspicion. The fear of nuclear weapons is so grave that we have just stopped looking at the benefits of nuclear energy.
While in fact, nuclear energy might be our only hope out of this carbon conundrum that we find ourselves in.
Bill Gates may have been the poster boy of capitalism of the last century. But this century he wants to become the champion of innovation to build a better world.
He has put his heart, soul, mind and money into solving the environment problem, and believes that only clean nuclear energy can replace dirty carbon energy in the long run.
Read this post where he talks about his plan for fighting climate change.
Climate change and the 75% problem
The five areas where we need innovation.
(5 mins)
Its interesting to see how Bill Gates thinks about a problem as massive as global warming.
To him, poverty, hunger, diseases and climate change are ‘engineering’ problems. The kind he is used to solving for Microsoft all his life.
These are problems which can solved by more innovation and research by competent scientists, engineers and doctors.
There’s a lot to learn in there.
The 3 part documentary on Netflix - Inside Bill’s Brain is a fascinating account of how the man thinks about such problems. He has not always been a nice guy. I think you can’t make that kind of money by being a nice guy. But its amazing what he is doing with this money.
Checkout the trailer on Youtube.
Netflix:
Inside Bill’s Brain
(107 mins over 3 parts)
#5
As we sign off for the week, here’s a quote worth thinking about.
Knowingly or unknowingly we are testing our environment to its limits.
The last 200 years have caused more harm to the planet than millions before that. Its time to rethink the systems that have helped us prosper in this period. Its time to replace them with more sustainable systems.
And we all have a part to play for this fundamental change.
Think about it.
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Ciao
Aditi & Ayush
Related:
Deal With The Climate — Wisdom Letter #33
This was Wisdom Letter #10. In case you missed last week’s letter, check it out here- #9 its called “A World with a View”.
Here’s letters #8, #7, and #6.
And if you’re wondering why we are doing this project, what is the point of it? checkout the intro post, it might make some sense!