Fighting Climate Change: the Drawdown Project

I was watching a few TED talks over the weekend and came across one I found particularly interesting about 100 solutions that would reverse global warming.  After watching the talk (my favourite bit is when he describes Regenerative Agriculture as a win, win, win, win, win solution) I decided to have a look at this organization.

Drawdown Project is a non-profit organization and coalition of scholars, scientists, entrepreneurs and advocates from across the globe with a mission to present the best available information on solutions against climate change.  For each solution they describe the impact they will have financially, socially, and environmentally over the next thirty years.  The goal of the organization is produce the outcome of drawdown, which they describe as being the 'point in time when the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases begins to decline on a year-to-year basis'. 

80 of the solutions they show are not new solutions that would need to be set up, but solutions that are already being carried out by people around the world.  They look at what results these solutions could produce if they were scaled up over the next thirty years and it's pretty interesting reading.  You can find the already existing solutions published on their website and I can guarantee that the order of the solutions will not be what you were expecting.  The top ten are:

1. Refrigerant Management - this looks at the HFCs that have replaced the CFCs and HCFCs in refrigerators and air conditioners to protect the ozone, but which have a 1000 to 9000 times capacity to warm the atmosphere then carbon dioxide.  These are in the process of being phased out.
2. Wind Turbines (onshore) - this is pretty self-explanatory, but the drop in prices of wind farm construction makes this a very viable and clean option, though the constant changing in region wind sources means this definitely needs to be part of an integrated system.
3. Reduced Food Waste - this is also self-explanatory and, at the moment, contributes to around 8% of the worlds carbon emissions.  The solutions differs for low income communities, where it's about improving infrastructure, and high incomes communities, where it's about reducing waste at the retailers and consumers side.  Here the solution would not only reduce carbon emissions but help meet future food demands.
4. Plant-Rich Diet - this is a subject that has gained momentum in the last few years based on the fact that the Western meat-based diet is responsible for a fifth of global emissions.  There would also be a reduce in cost due to a reduction in health issues and the stopping of government subsidies, which also distort the true price of meat.
5. Tropical Forests - tropical forest restoration is gaining momentum at the moment and could not only capture carbon but also support the water cycle, conserve the soil, supply of source of food and medicine, give people a home, and protect ecosystems. 
6. Educating Girls - the impact of educating girls is very large.  Not only will it help curb populations growth, but it also helps improve the health of those children who are born.  It also contributes to economic growth, reduces the chance of mortality for both mother and baby, reduced the number of child brides, lowers incidence of HIV/AIDS and malaria, increases agriculture productivity, and increases resilience to the impacts of climate change.
7. Family Planning - this not only empowers women across the global but also increases the health and life expectancy of both the woman and the child.  The added benefit is to the planet, with a reduced population leading to a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted. 
8. Solar Farms - these operate like conventional power plants with the amount of electricity they produce, but with much lower emissions production and a price that never changes.  With initial costs dropping and a better infrastructure, this is practically unlimited and clean energy source.
9. Silvopasture - I have to admit I had never heard of this before but it is a ancient farming technique where trees and pasture are integrated into a single way of raising livestock.  Silvopasture is a very effective way of storing carbon with pastures with trees sequestering five to ten times more carbon then treeless pastures.  There is also the long financial benefit with the land and animals being healthier, and the additional production of nuts, fruits, and mushrooms.
10. Rooftop Solar - this is also pretty self explanatory, but with costs dropping and improvements in technology making them much more light weight and durable the number of rooftop solar installations is increasing.  It could also play a key role in the elimination of poverty in rural parts of low income countries.

Refrigerant Management was definitely a revelation to me, but the most surprising thing was that there were two solutions from the Women and Girls sector (6 and 7) so high up on the table as these are normally ignored when people talk about global warming solutions.  I also think it's good that family planning is there as this is normally the 'elephant in the room' when you discuss climate change with people.  It's made out to be such a sacred thing and no one likes to talk about the number of children people should be aiming for.

None of these solutions are meant to be done on their own, but instead used to help inform the decisions made as to which combination of solutions can be used in a given area.  In fact all really need to be implemented as all play their part and have more then just environmental benefits.  They also challenge social inequality, loss of biodiversity, and food insecurity.  

It might also look like this is just something to be used by businesses and governments, but I think that this could easily be used by individuals like you and me when making decisions about where to put our efforts and money when fighting global warming.  The information provided here shows that the best things we could do individually is reduce our food waste, have a more plant based diet, support those in the agricultural industry whose activities support the climate, and change our electricity providers to one that supports the wind and solar industries (in fact a look at the whole 80 shows that the decisions we make about the food we eat has the biggest impact overall).  If you have the money (and own your own property with a roof - not me at the moment unfortunately) then it would make sense to invest in rooftop solar before buying an electric car (though both is obviously better).  And finally, when looking at which charities to support, it's worth also looking at those which support educating girls and family planning as these will actually have a significant impact on climate change - an interesting factor I will definitely take into account when next looking at who I should next give money to.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is the little sting it puts into the reason we are usually given as to why we can't make changes that will be more environmentally friendly in the long run, and that is that it would have a long-term cost to our economy.  But Drawdown Project have shown that whilst it will cost a large $29,609.30 trillion to scale up these solutions we will make a savings of $74,362.37 trillion.  A savings of around $44,754 trillion!  Incentives all round really.