Solving for Climate: the podcast is back
And a recap of books I've been reading recently.
Late last year, Rob Stewart and I trialled a season of a new podcast: Solving for Climate. We wanted to speak with interview scientists, engineers, innovators building solutions to climate change.
People liked it. So it’s coming back.
Today we launched Season 2. Our first episode is with Lauren Eatwell, Head of Engineering at BAR Technologies. She’s trying to make shipping more sustainable (not easy in a fairly stubborn and traditional industry). She was on the TIME100 Climate list in 2023.
We plan to release 20 episodes across the year. So, subscribe if you’re looking for wide-ranging conversations about ways we might reduce emissions and tackle climate change.
What I’ve been reading
In other news, I thought I’d share what I’ve been reading recently.
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl — Timothy Egan
Not a new book, so I was very late to the game on this. Admittedly I was only 12 when it was published, and it’s far from a light-hearted read. It’s a grim — but important — retelling of an awful period. Another reminder of how vulnerable agriculture — and our food supplies — is to unpredictable weather (and unsustainable farming practices).
Source Code — Bill Gates
I love reading biographies (or autobiographies, in this case) of scientists and innovators. I went through an obsessive scientist-bio-reading phase in my teens when I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. It helped a lot.
So I was excited to read about Bill Gates’s early life. I thought it was surprisingly honest and vulnerable. It was nice to hear about all of the characters that were behind-the-scenes, but crucial parts of his journey. Strong recommend.
The Generation Divide: Why We Can’t Agree and Why We Should — Bobby Duffy
I’m just about to start this, so can’t give a glowing review yet. Despite the title, I think Bobby’s main argument is that there are fewer differences between the generations than we think.
This rings true to me when it comes to climate change. A lot of discussions seem to centre around pointing the blame across generations. “Young people are only in this mess because older generations don’t care.” Or the opposite: “young people are too lazy / self-righteous / immature to understand”. I think these differences are often exaggerated. Maybe I’ll take a look at the data in a future post.
OK. I don't want to be *that guy*, but if a wind sail can add addition propulsion to a ship, why wouldn't I just use it to sail faster. Lauren even quoted this with the captain who out-ran a storm.
The link missing is the incentive for the shipping company to actually reduce their emissions, even if the technology is freely available. I guess this should be a form of carbon taxation. Beware of the Jevons paradox ... as we've seen in air travel.
Thank you for these recommendations. Although this is just circumstantial, in the neighborhood I live in, the most outspoken progressive citizens, the ones who show up to the city council and climate action meetings to talk about climate change, plastic waste, protecting immigrants, or whatever, are all older people- above 60. I rarely see younger people. Of course, that may just be the demographics of the city, or the fact that retired people have more time for these things, but it's certainly not the case that older people don't care about climate change/sustainability/environmental issues.