Q&A ❓
Friends! I wanted to put together a quick Q&A post. First, because I've struggled to get articles finished and out the door. And this is practice doing that. Secondly, the following are questions I've received, and they seem universally relevant. So without further ado:
I want to know a little more, and maybe start engaging. What's an easy thing I could do?
Are you a frustrated scientist? Check out Michael Mann's course. The premise is basically: in order to understand how to engage with the climate, you need to know the science. I don't know if I agree with that premise (seems like a high bar for everyone, everywhere) but the course is great thus far (I'll be sharing notes in future posts.)
Feeling DIY and want to do something simple that will help? Literally change all the lightbulbs in your house to LEDs today. If you like warm light, anything under 2700K won't feel blue at all, and you can get good Edison ones. I bought these. You'll save money and electricity, which is progress.
Work in tech and want to see the how climate change maps to innovation? Jason Jacob's My Climate Journey podcast goes DEEP with brilliant people. New episodes come out every 3 or so days, and is really a who's who of leadership in the field (bias towards entrepreneurship and intellectual leadership.) May not be appealing for activists.
Want to burn (or Bern) it down and rise up!?Sunrise Movement is a youth movement mobilizing in support of the Green New Deal and is focused on direct action, voting, climate strikes etc. Super impressive execution and great reputation. The kids are alright.
Want to contextualize the news and figure out how what you read and hear about interacts with climate change? David Roberts, writer at Vox, is excellent. His writing is here, and his Twitter is a goldmine.
Just the facts, please. I love facts. Also, I have a long attention span. Adam Marblestone's overview is extraordinary.
I feel sad, do you have any good news? Yes, I really do. First, look at this graph. It's wonderful. Then follow Ryan Orbuch and the climate product team at Stripe. They're going carbon negative and dragging the whole industry with them - it's inspiring and exciting.
What's with the name?
Carbon fiber is woven together out of cheap soft things, capable of tremendous strength and terrifying fragility, and made in part of what's warming the planet. Like us. And, my prosthetic leg is made of it, so there is some personal kinship too.
Are you concerned that your lack of expertise will result in mistakes and misunderstandings? Perhaps you should leave this job to someone else with more expertise?
Yes, I am. And perhaps! But, I think recording what I think, describing how it changes over time, and being clear about what I get wrong will be edifying. If you consider this more like a co-learning project, I think we'll be in the right mental space. I'm allowing myself room to make mistakes and not understand things. So you can too, friend. I've so much enjoyed hearing from you all over the last few weeks, and hope that this fight can be something that ties us all together.
What are you reading and where is your information coming from?
Great question. I'm still figuring this out. I was essentially building reading lists from Twitter, but uh, let's say, I'm more clearly aware of the shortcomings of this original "plan" now. So I'm 1) talking to people doing work in the field (put me in touch, y'all!) 2) taking a class on climate that was taught by Michael Mann at Penn, which seems as close as I'm going to get to pure academia and should give me some technical understanding of the issue at a high level, and 3) finding resources referenced by founders or entrepreneurs I respect who are building interesting things in the field today. I'm not sure what to do with current news - there is way too much of it to ingest - and I'm not sure how valuable it is in the motivation-understanding-action Venn diagram I'm trying to stick to. I'll expand on this as I read more.
What are you going to write about next?
I'm going to try to write about divestment from a couple different viewpoints. And since, I'm mostly going to try to convey what I'm learning, I'm not worried too much about sticking to a schedule, or doing things in a particular order. Forgive me, my learning muse is fickle.
Are you a blogger now?
Yes? Yes. I guess "concerned parent" is where I come down, and says the most about my rationale.
Did this used to be a music blog? Because ah, I'd prefer a music blog.
Sorry, and I guess it did change a bit, yeah. Maybe I can revive the music portion of it?