Recent reports on climate change, like this one published by the International Conference on Climate Change , express a common theme: the causal relationship between human actions coupled with a doomsday foreshadowing of a future as bleak as “The Lorax.” The climate clock in New York City counts down like a ticking bomb until we reach irreversible climate damage. All of this can be pretty overwhelming, and not the most encouraging. After all, if there is so much to change, where does one even start?
Well, it turns out there is a pretty straightforward list giving us all the information we might need to get going. Paul Hawken—an environmental activist and entrepreneur—formally proposed the idea of drawdown in his 2017 book, “Drawdown, The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.” According to Hawken, Earth will be in the state of “drawdown” when greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere begin to decline, or when the greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere exceed the emissions released into the atmosphere. Reaching drawdown is essential to reverse global warming and combat climate change.
Chad Frischman, the Senior Director at Drawdown Solutions, explains that there are 100 solutions that, together, can achieve drawdown. Each solution has been rigorously analyzed and compared to current practices to determine its effect on the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most prominent greenhouse gas. The best part is, 80 of them are already possible and financially feasible—no new technologies required!Â
The list of solutions is quite extensive. There are things we’ve been hearing about nonstop, like generating energy from rooftop solar panels (which causes the tenth greatest impact on CO2 reductions)—and some things that might surprise you, like managing refrigerants (which, by releasing a greenhouse gas that is 10,000 times as potent as CO2, tops the list of problems). There are the things that we can do as individuals, like eating a plant-rich diet (number 4), and those that require big corporations to take action, like setting up onshore wind turbines to generate renewable energy (2). There are even solutions that address social issues that you would never think to connect to climate change, like educating girls (6) and family planning (7). There are so many solutions that can contribute to drawdown, so let’s take a look at just a few that I find particularly interesting.
Number three on our list of the top solutions is reducing food waste. About one-third of food produced around the world is wasted. In developing countries, this tends to be pre-consumer waste, because improper food storage causes crops to go bad before they can reach the consumer. More developed countries have the technology to store and transport food, but are more wasteful once it reaches the market and consumer, allowing food to emit methane in landfills. Reducing food waste then becomes an issue of habit and behavior, not technological innovation.Â
Educating girls and encouraging family planning are also critical components of drawdown. In terms of reducing our carbon footprint, both solutions will decrease average fertility rates in less developed countries and reduce population growth. Fewer people on the planet means a lower need for resources such as electricity and food, all of which require energy. Some people claim that trying to reduce the population is an unethical method of combating global warming. Whatever your opinion, two things remain clear: first, a reduction in the population growth rate will, mathematically, slow global warming. Secondly, even if sending girls to school and providing young women with the healthcare and resources they deserve to make choices about their future had absolutely no impact on global warming, it is still something that we should be doing!
Learning about Project Drawdown and its mission has taught me a lot about the scientific and social aspects of the fight against global warming. Instead of viewing the list of solutions as overwhelmingly extensive, I see it as comprehensive; there is something on that list that everyone can do, as an individual or with an organization they are passionate about. The top 80 solutions are all entirely doable, and while the implementation of every solution over a 30-year interval would cost an estimated 29 trillion dollars, the overall savings in that same time period would be 74 trillion dollars. It’s going to take a lot of work, but the benefits will be astounding.
Let’s get excited, get motivated, because this story about the future of our planet is ending on a high note. Let’s talk about all the things we can do instead of making each other feel guilty about what we’re doing “wrong.” Drawdown is about making the world a better place, from the air we breathe, to the ground we farm, to the health and well-being of each person on this planet. So take a look at the list—the extensive, comprehensive, doable list of solutions—and pick your favorite. We have the solutions to climate change. So what are you waiting for?
