Ch. 40 Building a Regenerative World

 "The likelihood of us being able to reshape the everything that we do in a short period of time, seems nearly impossible. And it might be. But the opportunities for innovation are everywhere."
- Jonah Goldman, Managing Director at Breakthrough Energy

What will it take for us to build a regenerative world?

Let's start by looking at the title of this book...

The Courage to Build a Better World

Our Greatest Challenge - Our Greatest Opportunity

What do we mean by that? What challenge, what opportunity?

Take a second to look around you. Everything you see, the furniture, the appliances, the flooring, the air conditioner... everything. They all contribute to global warming. Think about all of your day to day activities. Driving to and from work, the work you do, your hobbies, your entertainment, the food you eat. All of that stuff contributes to global warming as well. 

Don't take it personally. It's not just you, it's all of us. It's the way our entire socio-economic system is designed, we are literally plugged into a Global Warming Machine.

Which means if we want to have a shot at reversing global warming and establishing a stable climate, we are going to have to change the way we do nearly everything. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and there is no scenario for doing this, that does not require your participation. 

THAT is our greatest challenge. 

Now, we know there are solutions, and we discussed those solutions in Ch. 36 Project Drawdown. 

Yes, those solutions mean that we will have to change the way we do nearly everything, but think about what that means. 

First, it's a 30 year plan, which means that we don't have to make these changes overnight. The more of these changes we make early on, the less painful things will get when these changes are forced upon us as the planet continues to warm. 

Second, climate change (much like modernity) will change every area of our lives. It will render markets obsolete, and millions of jobs will be lost. There is no market for the horse and buggy, and soon there will be no market for the internal combustion engine, cement, plastic and thousands of other products that we use every day. Those changes will be forced on us. Before long, we will recognize that we have no choice in the matter. We change or we die. 

But climate change will also create new markets and millions of new jobs. We have to change the way we do everything. But if we take the initiative, we get to say how those changes are made, and who profits from those changes. We can make this world a little bit better every day, for everyone, not just the 1%.

THIS is our greatest opportunity. 

This is the real "opportunity economy." The Third Industrial Revolution (Ch. 26) that will will transform the way we power, move and organize our entire economy. 

So, let's go back over what we've covered in Part 4: Ecology. This is our roadmap for moving forward and building that better world. 

Ch.31- The Purpose of Life

The purpose of life boils down to wanting to stay alive. But as humans, we feel a desire to learn and grow. 

We owe all our comforts in life to those who discovered or invented them, yet we have to admit that we have abdicated our own duty to do the same to the next generation. Do we not have an ethical and moral obligation to our children? To leave them a better world?

The notion of human greatness and immortality is not guaranteed. Compelling evidence says that we are moving towards a 6th mass extinction event. But even if something as drastic as a mass extinction does not happen, the next few generations are going to experience a serious decrease in their quality of life, and not because they did anything to deserve it but because we didn’t want to be inconvenienced.

Global warming is the biggest threat to life on earth, and the only way to build a better world is to combat and reverse its effects.

Ch.32- What is Global Warming?

Global warming became a buzzword in the 1990s, and for many people, this is where awareness of climate change first began.

“Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide and other air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the Earth’s surface.” (NRDC) While a natural function of Earth’s atmosphere is to provide a warming layer of gasses, human activity is adding gasses to the atmosphere at such an accelerated rate that it is overheating the planet. 

There are many types of greenhouse gasses, each staying in the atmosphere for varying amounts of time. Most come from many natural sources, but the main source is human activity.

As early as the 1970s, fossil fuel companies were aware of the problem of global warming, and covered it up with disinformation campaigns. In the 1980s, Reagan was dismissive of climate change, gutted funding to the EPA, and even removed the solar panels from the White House roof. 

In the 1990s, the IPCC made astonishingly accurate predictions on climate change (Scherer, 2021).

Some effects of global warming include the warmer temperatures, sea levels rising, and wildfires. Things are going to get worse, not better, unless we take decisive action as a species.

Ch. 33- Uninhabitable?

At our current rate of warming, the Earth will probably become uninhabitable to humans. The good news is that there are solutions, but it is important to come to grips with what is at stake.

The Bad Stuff will impact individuals in certain parts of the world. The warmer it gets, the more and more parts of the world will be affected. The Bad Stuff includes heat death, wet bulb temperatures, and a lack of oxygen in the atmosphere.

The Really Bad Stuff will impact large groups of people and have long ranging implications. The Really Bad Stuff includes “natural” disasters, sea level rise, a lack of water, huge numbers of climate refugees, food shortages, disease, war, and economic collapse.

The Horrific Stuff will impact everyone, everywhere. The Horrific Stuff includes dead oceans and poison oceans.

A cascading effect is an adverse effect of global warming that in turn causes another effect, which in turn causes another, and so on. 

A feedback is a process that can work as part of a loop to either lessen or add to the effects of a change in one part of the system (scied.ucar.edu). 

The tipping point is the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable event or change takes place” (Merriam-webster.com).

Ch.34- It’s Already Happening

In the previous chapter, we talked about some of the devastating consequences of global warming. Using snapshots of headlines from the last few years, we can see that every single one of these things is happening as we speak. This is no longer something we can pretend isn’t happening, because it is. 

Every one of these impacts of global warming listed above will get worse, as we actively accelerate the amount of greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere.

Ch.35- Why You Should Be a Single Issue Voter

When you vote, you likely have some concern in mind. No matter what it is, global warming is going to adversely impact any and every issue that you’re concerned about, with no exceptions. 

Whether you’re pro-life, want lower taxes, or have family values, then you should be a single issue voter from now on. Even though you might not be around to see global warming exacerbate all of these issues, that doesn’t mean future generations won’t experience every bit of suffering that results from your inaction.

But the good news is, there are solutions, and it is not too late to reverse the effects of global warming. This is our opportunity to build a better world.

Ch.36- Project Drawdown

Project Drawdown is currently the most comprehensive plan for reversing global warming. They are a nonprofit organization whose only stated goal is to reverse climate change. 

Project Drawdown has a three-tier strategy for dealing with the crisis:

1. Advance Effective, Science-Based Climate Solutions and Strategies.
2. Foster Bold, New Climate Leadership
3. Promote New Narratives and New Voices

Project Drawdown has identified 100 solutions to the climate crisis, ranked in order of efficacy. Some of particular interest are:

#1. Refrigerant management

#3. Reduced food waste

#4. Adoption of a plant-rich diet

#6. Educating girls

#7. Family planning

#9. Silvopasture

#11. Regenerative agriculture

Almost every number on the list has something in common. They not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they also make the world a better place.

Project Drawdown is a long plan that will take about 30 years to implement. And it is expensive, costing about $1 trillion per year. But calculations show that Project Drawdown will also save us $74 trillion over the same amount of time.

Ch.37- Communicating Hope and Strategy

The majority of young people are feeling anxious and sad, alone and overlooked. They are feeling left out and excluded from the conversations and efforts to address the biggest existential threat of their lives.

These young people need hope. We all do, but real hope comes from a workable strategic plan. What step can we take? Where do we start?

Strategic action begins with a single person. Look for an action that has a relatively high impact. Look for something that you have an interest for. Look for an action that is small enough to succeed, but big enough to make a difference. And be committed.

Ch.38- The Changemaker Movement

“A changemaker is someone who has found the self-permission to advance change for the good of all” (Sandiego. Edu Changemaker HUB).

Not everyone has the desire to be a changemaker. But for those of us already committed to taking action and making changes happen, it is a matter of finding a place to start, then finding the “self-permission” to move forward.

Building a better world also depends largely on our ability to change our culture and economy over time. Culture is already changing, albeit slowly. But what about the economy? Remember that the Changemaker Movement is one of the three movements that make up a new Collaborative Economy (Ch. 30). Changemakers expand existing markets, as well as creating new ones.

Building a better world is up to us, but we have to admit as leaders and parents that we are lost. What is desperately needed is a whole new generation of young people willing to make change happen.

Ch. 39- Better Every Day

We can imagine a much better world. 

But to get there, we have to go through the tedious, time-consuming process that is progress. An example of this is Team Sky, the British cycling team that won the Tour de France after decades of losing. And they won it through a simple 1% improvement in almost everything the team did. 

In terms of our progress towards a better world, the same thing can be applied. Each thing on the Project Drawdown list has little, cascading benefits. And this is how we make the world better, small and consequential actions, getting 1% better each and every day.

What's next?

So far we have talked about Economy, Energy and Ecology. 

Now let's move on to Part 5: Equality.

Equality through democracy is the one thing that ties all of this narrative together.