{"id":9268,"date":"2017-05-12T21:58:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T02:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=9268"},"modified":"2021-06-10T08:55:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T13:55:29","slug":"mapping-climate-change-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2017\/05\/12\/mapping-climate-change-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping climate change solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the parallel universe where good news remains possible…<\/em><\/p>\n

A team or 70 researchers from 22 countries and led by Paul Hawken has\u00a0produced a very interesting analysis of potential climate change solutions.\u00a0The analysis, released last month as a book called\u00a0Drawdown: <\/em>T<\/em>he <\/em>M<\/em>ost <\/em>C<\/em>omprehensive <\/em>P<\/em>lan <\/em>E<\/em>ver\u00a0<\/em>P<\/em>roposed to <\/em>R<\/em>everse <\/em>G<\/em>lobal <\/em>W<\/em>arming<\/em><\/a>, “maps, measures, models, and describes the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

With challenges as vast\u00a0and seemingly unbounded\u00a0as climate change (or, even more, “the Anthropocene”), I generally find the\u00a0language of “problems” and “solutions” to be inadequate. These are, after all, not just technical questions to which we only need to crunch some data to find the answers.\u00a0They are ambiguously defined, multi-scalar sets of\u00a0conditions — conundra\u00a0that put into question not only what we know, but how\u00a0we know it — how to ask questions and how to answer them — as well as who “we” even are. What do these conditions even mean for us? What are our capabilities for acting collectively so as to change them? How might we transform\u00a0those capabilities?<\/p>\n

That said, focusing on what people can do — and therefore on solutions we might work toward — is a way of\u00a0overcoming what Natalie Jeremijenko has called\u00a0the “crisis of agency.<\/a>” So the language of “solutions” need not detract from the fact that we need to have options. Hawken’s study presents a mapping of a hugely diverse range of options that should be discussed and attempted (even if it\u00a0doesn’t cover all the possible options).<\/p>\n

In an informative\u00a0interview at Vox<\/a>, Hawken — whose 2008 book\u00a0Blessed Unrest<\/em><\/a> tried to do something similar with social change organizations around the world — discusses the project as well as some of its limitations.\u00a0Among those limitations is a lack of data — for instance, for measuring the carbon benefits of peace as opposed to war and militarism.<\/p>\n

The solutions, ranked<\/a> according to the “Plausible Scenario” (as opposed to the less plausible “Drawdown” and “Optimal” scenarios), are surprising, to say the least. The top five are<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Refrigerant Management<\/li>\n
  2. Onshore Wind Turbines<\/li>\n
  3. Reduced Food Waste<\/li>\n
  4. Plant-Rich Diet<\/li>\n
  5. Tropical Forests<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Perhaps more significantly, the next two if combined would create the “number one solution, in terms of potential impact.” Specifically,\u00a0a\u00a0“combination of educating girls<\/a>\u00a0and family planning<\/a>…\u00a0together could reduce 120 gigatons of CO2-equivalent by 2050 \u2014 more than on-<\/a> and offshore<\/a> wind power combined (99 GT).”<\/p>\n

    Putting all this into the perspective of this (Trumpian perverse news) universe, the interview ends with Hawken’s thoughts on the US, which\u00a0he says (correctly) “has never led in this area”:<\/p>\n

    \n

    “I don\u2019t want to in any way whistle past the graveyard of the enormous damage and harm President Trump can do, in terms of security and war and suffering. It\u2019s just that people in the United States think that they\u2019re the leaders on this stuff. They\u2019re not. It\u2019s Germany, China, France, Denmark.<\/p>\n

    “They\u2019re not cueing off the Trump administration. The rest of the world doesn\u2019t take him seriously on this stuff.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    Suggestion to students, who are going off for the summer as I write this: Find one of the solutions that appeals to you and see how you can contribute to it. (With your life.)<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the parallel universe where good news remains possible… A team or 70 researchers from 22 countries and led by Paul Hawken has\u00a0produced a very interesting analysis of potential climate change solutions.\u00a0The analysis, released last month as a book called\u00a0Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever\u00a0Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, “maps, measures, models, and describes the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[520594,196],"tags":[274578,455015,455017],"class_list":["post-9268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-politics","category-ecoculture","tag-agency","tag-climate-solutions","tag-paul-hawken"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-2pu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9548,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2017\/12\/14\/rant-for-the-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":9268,"position":0},"title":"Rant for the day","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Let\u2019s face facts: Life in such cold climates as the one I live in (it was 8\u00b0F\/-14\u00b0C here this morning) would hardly be possible, for us in such numbers as we are, without fossil fuels. The harnessing of fossil fuel energy has enabled tremendous innovation -- innovation that, if managed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/godsofadvertising.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/04\/homer_angry2.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10233,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2019\/09\/16\/climate-action-week-what-to-watch-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":9268,"position":1},"title":"Climate Action Week: What to watch for","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"As people around the world prepare for Global Climate Strike Week (Sept. 20-27) and for the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City on Sept. 23, here are some thoughts and sources to help us think about what's at stake, what's possible, and what we can do. This blog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9894,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2018\/10\/28\/time-for-eco-revolution-a-manifesto\/","url_meta":{"origin":9268,"position":2},"title":"Time for eco-revolution (a manifesto)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"October 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspired by the daily litany of depressing news (and by reading Latour's Down to Earth), I've succumbed to the temptation of writing a manifesto. Manifestos are cheap, I know, but we have to start somewhere. 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This recent post at her blog Climate Etc. repeatedly resorts to metaphors like \"'Alice down the rabbit hole' moments\" and \"bucket[s] of cold water being poured over my head\" to describe her experiences\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"house-of-cards.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2010\/10\/house-of-cards.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7269,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/02\/03\/climate-denials-dark-money-smoke-machine\/","url_meta":{"origin":9268,"position":4},"title":"Climate denial’s “dark money” smoke machine","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I was traveling at the time, I failed to note an interesting story that got covered in the science press about the organizational support and funding behind the climate denial movement. 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