By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 2 Nov 21
Over 100 world leaders have pledged to end, and even reverse, deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 UN climate summit. And over 30 of the world’s biggest financial companies have promised to end investment linked to deforestation. But in 2014, a similar ‘landmark’ agreement was reached – and this didn’t slow deforestation at all. Part of the problem is that decision-makers are locked into trying to solve problems within the framework of the incumbent paradigm. But this paradigm is about to be dramatically transformed, opening up entirely new ways of thinking about forests. Far from focusing purely on ‘band aid’
Over 100 world leaders have pledged to end, and even reverse, deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 UN climate summit. And over 30 of the world’s biggest financial companies have promised to end investment linked to deforestation. But in 2014, a similar ‘landmark’ agreement was reached – and this didn’t slow deforestation at all. Part of the problem is that
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 28 Oct 21
A sign from the No Planet B global climate strike in September 02019. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash The following essay was written by Lucienne Bacon and Lucas Kopinski, senior year students at Avenues: The World School. Bacon and Kopinski spent the previous school year engaging with Long Now ideas, such as the pace layers model, while they pursued an independent project reflecting on the importance and fallibility of metrics when it comes to balancing long-term environmental and societal health. The essay crystallizes their learnings and proposes a long-term index that combines social, environmental, present, and future considerations. Authors’
A sign from the No Planet B global climate strike in September 02019. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash The following essay was written by Lucienne Bacon and Lucas Kopinski, senior year students at Avenues: The World School. Bacon and Kopinski spent the previous school year engaging with Long Now ideas, such as the pace layers model, while they pursued
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 28 Oct 21
A sign from the No Planet B global climate strike in September 02019. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash The following essay was written by Lucienne Bacon and Lucas Kopinski, senior year students at Avenues: The World School. Bacon and Kopinski spent the previous school year engaging with Long Now ideas, such as the pace layers model, while they pursued an independent project reflecting on the importance and fallibility of metrics when it comes to balancing long-term environmental and societal health. The essay crystallizes their learnings and proposes a long-term index that combines social, environmental, present, and future considerations. Authors’
A sign from the No Planet B global climate strike in September 02019. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash The following essay was written by Lucienne Bacon and Lucas Kopinski, senior year students at Avenues: The World School. Bacon and Kopinski spent the previous school year engaging with Long Now ideas, such as the pace layers model, while they pursued
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 27 Oct 21
Technology disruptions already underway in the energy, transportation, and food sectors have extraordinary implications for climate change. These three disruptions alone, driven by just eight technologies, can directly eliminate over 90% of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide within 15 years. Our previous research has shown that these disruptions are inevitable. Solar, wind, and batteries (SWB) will disrupt coal, oil, and gas. Autonomous electric vehicles (A-EVs) providing transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) will disrupt internal combustion engines and private vehicle ownership. And precision fermentation and cellular agriculture (PFCA) will disrupt meat, milk, and other animal products. The three disruptions are already unfolding simultaneously,
Technology disruptions already underway in the energy, transportation, and food sectors have extraordinary implications for climate change. These three disruptions alone, driven by just eight technologies, can directly eliminate over 90% of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide within 15 years. Our previous research has shown that these disruptions are inevitable. Solar, wind, and batteries (SWB) will disrupt coal, oil,
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 26 Oct 21
Despite all of the doom and gloom that surrounds climate change today, there has never been greater cause for optimism about the future of the environment. The reason why is that we already have the tools we need to meet this formidable challenge. But some tools are better than others, and if we get distracted by the wrong ones we could lose trillions while failing to solve the problem, so it is crucial that we stay focused and use the right tools for the job. Climate change represents a genuine existential threat to our civilization that is rivaled in magnitude
Despite all of the doom and gloom that surrounds climate change today, there has never been greater cause for optimism about the future of the environment. The reason why is that we already have the tools we need to meet this formidable challenge. But some tools are better than others, and if we get distracted by the wrong ones we
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 4 Oct 21
It’s often believed that the clean energy disruption could be fundamentally constrained by resource scarcity in the form of insurmountable raw materials and mineral bottlenecks. Increasingly, some argue that it entails a net decrease in the energy available to societies, and therefore warn of an unavoidable decline in material prosperity in coming decades. In the following two-part series, we will address some of the most notable perspectives that uphold this mythology. Doing so, we will show that if societies make the right choices – and that’s a big ‘if’ – the clean energy disruption can represent a fundamental break with
It’s often believed that the clean energy disruption could be fundamentally constrained by resource scarcity in the form of insurmountable raw materials and mineral bottlenecks. Increasingly, some argue that it entails a net decrease in the energy available to societies, and therefore warn of an unavoidable decline in material prosperity in coming decades. In the following two-part series, we will
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 27 Sep 21
Decarbonizing the global economy at first glance looks like an overwhelming task, given that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from everywhere – every product, technology, industry, service, and sub-sector. But at RethinkX, based on our insights into the interface between societal change and technology disruptions, we have found that this challenge can be met rapidly and effectively with a focused approach. That’s because the bulk of emissions – over 90% – can actually be grouped around 3 major sectors: energy, food, and transportation. This insight is crucial: it means that rather than a ‘whack-a-mole’ or ‘all of the above’ strategy
Decarbonizing the global economy at first glance looks like an overwhelming task, given that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from everywhere – every product, technology, industry, service, and sub-sector. But at RethinkX, based on our insights into the interface between societal change and technology disruptions, we have found that this challenge can be met rapidly and effectively with a focused
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 20 Sep 21
As our world leaders prepare to gather at the UN climate conference (COP26) this fall to discuss future action on climate change, there is one major question on the table. Will we as a global society come together to take control of the situation and prevent catastrophic climate change, or are we too far gone? At RethinkX, we believe the former. The report presents three scenarios for how societal choices would determine future pathways for global carbon emissions: the Core Disruption Scenario (‘Be Sensible’), the Accelerated Disruption Scenario (‘Get Serious’), and the Delayed Disruption Scenario (‘Get Stuck’). This blog presents
As our world leaders prepare to gather at the UN climate conference (COP26) this fall to discuss future action on climate change, there is one major question on the table. Will we as a global society come together to take control of the situation and prevent catastrophic climate change, or are we too far gone? At RethinkX, we believe the
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 14 Sep 21
North Atlantic right whales face an increasing risk of extinction due to climate change. According to a new study by scientists at Cornell University, warming oceans have driven the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population from its traditional and protected habitat in the Gulf of Maine into cooler waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they have been exposed to more lethal ship strikes, disastrous commercial fishing entanglements and greatly reduced calving rates. The study in the journal Oceanography, warns that if this continues the right whale populations will decline and potentially become extinct in coming decades. The
North Atlantic right whales face an increasing risk of extinction due to climate change. According to a new study by scientists at Cornell University, warming oceans have driven the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population from its traditional and protected habitat in the Gulf of Maine into cooler waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they have been
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 2 Sep 21
Sediment cores like these can help uncover the deep climatological history of the earth and provide insight into our climate futures. Courtesy of Hannes Grobe AWI/CRP The 02021 Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, widely known as the 02021 IPCC report, is a massive document. Drawing on more than 14,000 studies, the report synthesizes the state of contemporary climate science. It paints a dire picture of the possible futures for earth’s climate, predicting warming of at least 2.5 degrees celsius by 02100 barring a rapid drawdown in carbon dioxide emissions
Sediment cores like these can help uncover the deep climatological history of the earth and provide insight into our climate futures. Courtesy of Hannes Grobe AWI/CRP The 02021 Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, widely known as the 02021 IPCC report, is a massive document. Drawing on more than 14,000