Climate Change Solutions That Improve Modern Life (#24)

Feb 25, 2020

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“Climate change solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, bring down our environmental impact, improve modern life, and create delight, point towards a future we can be excited about.” – Josh Dorfman

This week I’m doing a solo show to share how this climate change podcast is evolving. After long reflection, I’ve decided to shift the emphasis towards climate change solutions that improve modern life. I believe it’s possible to eliminate carbon emissions in ways that create delight and elevate the human experience. As Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of The International Living Future Institute, said recently on the show, it’s time to start talking more about what we can have than what we can’t when contending with climate change.

This approach is not how The Last Environmentalist began. Last year, coming off of my experience running The Collider, the world’s first innovation and entrepreneurship center for climate adaptation and resilience, I felt urgency to create a climate change conversation focused on hope. We increasingly live in the age of climate anxiety. I thought this podcast could function as an antidote. I thought it could instill a sense of possibility, even optimism, that humanity will rise to the occasion in time to reign in global warming and preserve our way of life.

However, after interviewing a number of amazing guests for the podcast’s release (folks like Jigar Shah, Tom Szaky, Erin Meezan, and Katherine Wilkinson), my perspective shifted. I began to doubt my initial assumption that hope could be cultivated by listening to a hopeful podcast. Hope, I began thinking, comes from action. You could listen to my podcast all day long (please do) and hear amazing innovators discussing climate solutions. You might be inspired, perhaps even become momentarily hopeful. But will that feeling last? For some listeners, the answer is yes (though I suspect those listeners are already predisposed to be hopeful). For most listeners, the answer is no.

That’s because hope is a byproduct of action. Not passive action, like listening to a podcast. But active action, like doing something concrete to be part of the solution. Some actions are small, like switching to a reusable water bottle. Others are bigger, like lobbying elected officials. When you take action, you feel better. You feel a little bit hopeful. You think, well, geez, if I can do it others can too.

Want to know when hopefulness really kicks in? When others start taking action because they’re following your lead. That’s a huge shot of cortisol and good-feelies straight to your climate anxiety brain lobe. It’s an antidote. You can’t help but smile because you feel like your personal actions make a difference.

So, I thought, okay, I’ll shift the show to focus on actions we can take as consumers, citizens, and activists to contend with climate change. I wrote about it. I focused on it in podcast episode 12. I thought I was onto something big and differentiated because I didn’t see anyone else focusing on how we combat climate change comprehensively in our personal lives across the many roles we play.

I also didn’t see another podcast emphasizing the fact that entrepreneurs, politicians, and activists are all working their tails off for precisely the same end game – a clean economy. I thought, aha, I’ve got unique insights into what it takes to solve climate change. Here we go.

But a few episodes later, I felt adrift. I enjoy speaking to a diverse set of climate experts. But, honestly, I didn’t love the new approach.

I felt like I had insights that I was now obligated to pursue because they could make my podcast stand out. Inside though, I didn’t want to do it. I’m excited about the Sunrise Movement and the youth-led climate protest movement, but I don’t want to interview its leaders. I believe we must have climate legislation, but I don’t want to interview politicians. It’s just not who I am, nor what I’m about.

I took more time to reflect. I kept asking myself – what lights me up? What would I want to talk about even if a thousand other podcasters were talking about it too?

The answer is – the future.

Not just any old future. But a delightful future where carbon emissions are in retreat and our enjoyment of life is on the rise. A wondrous future that exists in balance with and deep connection to nature. A future in which hospitals are healthier because they’re built green and schools are higher-performing because they’re built green, and humans ditch their cars for walking shoes because the sidewalks are well-kept and the streetscapes are pleasing to the eye.

Such a future is dependent upon climate change solutions that are both high tech and low tech. It’s both Teslas and clearly demarcated, easily navigable bike paths. It’s Impossible Whoppers and Kitchen-to-Table grown food. It’s solutions that stir something in our souls and make us feel all tingly and alive because they embody and point towards the realization of our human potential.

This will be the focus of the podcast from here onward –  forming a vision of the future that both solves climate change and improves modern life.

We lack a positive, kick-ass vision of a world that has kicked its addiction to fossil fuels. We mostly have a vague notion that we must suffer if we enact plans and policies to solve climate change – that somehow life will be dimmer, burn less bright. But there’s no fundamental principle of the universe – that I know of – that decrees it must be so. I believe the future can burn clean and bright.

 

This week on The Last Environmentalist Podcast:

  • Why climate-friendly products need stunning design
  • Why entrepreneurs, policymakers, and environmental activists should work in tandem to solve climate change
  • Examples of win-win climate change solutions
  • Normalizing environmental lifestyle choices
  • Companies and designers making an impact on eco-friendly consumer products
  • Single-use aluminum cans and low recycling numbers
  • How architecture can turn cities into walkable cities

Resources Mentioned:

 

This episode is sponsored by Simbly Furniture

Simbly Furniture is the maker of modern, environmentally responsible, American-made furniture. Simbly’s sleek tables, benches, and desks are made of FSC-certified sustainable wood and shipped directly to customers from a family-owned near Asheville, NC.

To learn more about the beautiful, environmentally friendly contemporary furniture at Simbly, visit Simbly.com.

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