Cimate solutions are here. Now what?

Can we actually fix climate change? And if so -- how?

This week, I handed Talking Climate over to climate scientist and Project Drawdown executive director Jonathan Foley.

His message is simple: yes, we can.

🥗 Good News: From cutting food waste to protecting forests to improving how we farm, many of the solutions already exist. They just have to be scaled.

‼️ Not-So-Good News: Political leadership is faltering, corporate momentum is slowing, and climate journalism continues to shrink. Yet clean tech from solar to heat pumps are becoming cheaper and more competitive every year.

💡 What YOU Can Do: Don't just focus on your carbon footprint—focus on your climate superpowers. Need help finding them? Project Drawdown's SHIFT platform, developed with Kimberly Nicholas, helps individuals identify actions that can create the biggest ripple effects.

Thank you to Anne Cloud with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Voice Over for the Planet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for narrating this edition of Talking Climate. 

Music by Bradley Myer.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.talkingclimate.ca

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Talking Climate with Katherine Haeho. Each episode, we explore how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things we love, and what we can do to make a difference. From science to solutions and stories that inspire, you're in the right place for real talk about real change. If you've ever wondered, can we actually fix this and how? Then this week's edition is for you. I'm turning this edition of Talking Climate over to Dr. Jonathan Foley, one of the most compelling voices working on climate solutions today. John is a climate scientist, sustainability expert, science communicator, and executive director of Project Drawdown, the world's leading resource for climate solutions. The work John and his team do at Project Drawdown is so valuable that I recommend it to someone at least once every single week. They have an exhaustive library of the many ways we can fix climate change while also rebuilding and restoring nature and investing in people's health. In fact, if you're looking for detailed information about climate solutions, Project Drawdown should be your first stop. Take it away, John. Good news. I've been thinking a lot about the role the world's food system plays in climate change and how we can fix it. Most people are surprised to learn that food, agriculture, and land use contribute a whopping 22 to 33% of our greenhouse gas emissions, and that share is still growing. Nothing else humans do comes close to the sheer geographic size of the global food system. Together, croplands and grazing lands cover 38% of the Earth's land surface. To put this in perspective, all the world's cities and suburbs cover less than 1% of Earth's land. So we can't fully address climate change unless we deal with this crucial sector. But solutions to the problem are abundant. We can curb food waste, shift our diets, protect rainforests from being cleared, farm better, and clean up the rest of the food system. We can also remove carbon by rewilding lands currently used for agriculture today, and practicing regenerative agriculture on our working lands. Not so good news. Clearly, this is a challenging time in the climate community. Political leadership on climate, particularly in the United States, is falling backward. Corporate leadership is stalling in many areas, and even media coverage focused on climate is rolling backward, as Catherine described in this newsletter last week. But there are some areas where we are making progress, particularly thanks to better climate solutions hitting the market. Solar PVs, wind power, heat pumps, EVs, batteries, LED lighting systems are getting cheaper, faster, and better all the time. That means they can beat fossil fuels in the open market. And for the first time, they are. Thanks to these forces, we are finally starting to invest in climate solutions, which is great news. In fact, they are helping to drive down emissions in many advanced economies, starting with the electricity sector. But sadly, we aren't always putting our money in the best possible places or using the most effective solutions. Too often we follow fads, profits, or political payback, not carbon, when investing in climate solutions. We need to do much better with our limited time and money and ensure we make the best possible use of our resources. We can find solutions that are effective, large, inexpensive, and fast. We can also find solutions that offer other benefits to humanity, including clean air, improved health, and greater equity and well-being. What you can do. When it comes to taking personal actions on climate change, I'm a huge fan. I've been working to reduce my personal emissions on and off since the late 1990s. I think shrinking your own carbon footprint is a great way to make a small difference. And talking about these changes is a wonderful way to engage and inspire many others to act themselves. Each individual action we take can create unseen ripples that influence the larger systems of which we are a part. And we will need systemic change to ultimately solve this problem. When you switch to an electric vehicle or install solar panels, you reduce your own carbon footprint while also encouraging those around you to make similar choices. This also signals to politicians and the market that what's good for the planet is also good for their politics or their bottom line. We each have the power to do more. As consumers, citizens, employees, and members of our communities. In terms of what others can do, find your own paths and not just look at a top 10 list. The best choice for you depends on who you are, how you live, and what you are willing and able to do. To help guide people to their own climate actions, I want to showcase the new Shift platform, co-produced by Professor Kim Nicholas and Project Drawdown, which helps people find their own climate superpowers as consumers, voters, investors, and more. Shift meets you where you are, your country, your lifestyle, your circumstances, and offers concrete, science-based actions that actually fit your life. Thank you, John, for reminding us that while climate change is a complex challenge, we already have so many of the solutions we need. And often what's missing is just the will to change, which in turn is fueled by knowing that what we do can make a difference. If you're looking for more inspiration this week, Drawdown has fantastic resources for everyone working on climate. Whether you're a teacher looking for free, engaging videos through Drawdown Learn, a policy wonk who wants to sift through the latest data on countless climate solutions on Drawdown Explorer, or someone who just needs a reminder that hopeful, real-world climate action is already happening. That's what Drawdown Stories is for. You can find John on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Blue Sky. Learn more about Project Drawdown by visiting drawdown.org. You can also sign up for their newsletter and follow them on social media at Project Drawdown. Whether you're looking for the latest research, practical climate solutions, inspiring stories, or tools like Shift to help you find your own climate superpowers, it's one of the best resources I know. Thanks for listening to Talking Climate, narrated by Ann Cloud. For more resources, links, and actions you can take, check out the full newsletter at www.talkingclimate.ca. Until next time, keep talking climate.