Recap: My climate fellowship
I spent the last 3 months in a climate fellowship program. Here are my favorite resources and personal next steps.
Hello, again! Sorry for the long delay since my last post – I’ve been busy these last 3 months in my Terra.do Learning for Action Fellowship. This program organized my climate exploration into bi-weekly courses, optional live classes and group assignments alongside a diverse global community. We covered everything from planetary science and renewable energy to international policy and climate finance.
Here are a few of my favorite resources from Terra and my other research these past few months:
On climate science
- Graphic: The carbon cycle is a crucial concept in understanding climate change. Here's a quick design I put together as part of our first group project.
On the challenge ahead
- Article: The Climate Change Executive Summary provides a brief, visual overview of the triple challenge ahead – climate change, air pollution and energy poverty. These compounding threats are imminent, but not insurmountable.
- Podcast: How to Save a Planet serves as a great primer on all things climate.
- Chart: This data rich chart illustrates the fascinating story of historical emissions.
On climate policy
A core concept I learned was the "global carbon budget." Many industrialized countries have already pushed over their fair share, while other countries deserve to industrialize and raise quality of life for citizens.
- Video: The video below shows trends in emissions and demonstrates the challenges ahead.
- Tool: As we consider the future, tools like En-ROADs and C-ROADs enable anyone to explore climate policy scenarios. I found myself running through many scenarios to see how we might meet 1.5°C or 2°C thresholds.
- Newsletter: Volts by David Roberts offers great reading (or listening!) on green infrastructure and goes deep on U.S. policy.
On green energy in the US
- Article: This map-based interactive guide explains why The U.S. Will Need a Lot of Land for a Zero-Carbon Economy. This will require smart policy and planning – and makes a strong case for valuing farmland by solar and wind potential.
- Deck: While the US is a decade behind the EU in wind power, it reached a big milestone for offshore wind with the approval of Vineyard Wind. I put together a research brief, which you can find here.
On climate technology
- Article: Climate Tech Primer for Founders provides a great overview of investment trends in the climate fight.
- Newsletter: Climate Tech VC has been a great way to keep up with the latest solutions coming to market, funding rounds and overall trends in the climate tech world.
On climate fintech
- Article: Big banks are part of the problem - check out Banking on Climate Chaos to see how much your bank is part of the problem.
- Article: The good news? A new wave of Climate Fintech is Coming.
On climate justice
- Article: This NYT story on air pollution (paywall) illustrates the disparities of the crisis in human terms.
- Article: The Climate Justice 101 guide from Work on Climate is a great summary on equity and climate change. The maps below really stood out to me:
On climate reporting and communications
- Article: This story called Overselling Sustainability Reporting by the former COO of Timberland highlights the many challenges and pitfalls in the corporate social responsibility world.
- Interview: Vox put together an interview with an expert on how Big Oil is pushing disinformation campaigns. Fun fact: Big Oil was the first to discover climate change and has been spreading lies for decades.
On volunteering and personal choice
This fight requires big government and big corporations to make big decisions – it doesn't just fall on us. That said, we can all do our part to get politically active!
- List: A few organizations are Climate Changemakers, Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, 350.org - all of which have local chapters.
And of course, do your best to make informed choices in our day to day.
- Blog: Finch is helping people to review climate-friendly products that last. I've enjoyed their entertaining Wise Guides.
- Article: Carbon Brief put together this awesome interactive guide on how various diets impact the climate. Hint below...
My next steps
While it can be difficult to prioritize continuing education, it’s essential to personal growth. Success in the 21st century will go to lifelong learners who can build a network and create solutions to the challenges of our time.
A big emphasis in the Terra program is to put your knowledge into action. My "climate work plan" is a “now, next, later” roadmap:
If you're interested in this space, I'd recommend Terra.do or another more specific program like AirMiners Bootup or Linear to Circular. The Terra.do Learning for Action cohorts run every few months, and they've learned a few new courses recently (reach out to me for a promo code!). I’d be happy to talk about my climate learning experience and learn from you, too.