Climate is for Everyone

Climate science is kind-of the new rocket science. Complex, academically dense and across disciplines. Combined with an ever increasing firehose of information that it’s impossible to consume. I’ve tried, oh I’ve tried.

A lot of it’s reports. There’s a truckload of amazing data from inspiring people doing incredible work. There’s terminology wrapped in acronyms a-plenty.

A bunch of it supposes you already know about it. When I started I very much didn’t. And I’m still learning.

It doesn’t have to be this way. My pandemic side project has been to dig deep into climate related stuff. To try to look at the full picture so I can make more informed choices and also understand how we collectively make progress at a scale that makes a dent.

This is an old pattern for me. I binge a subject to the point I feel good about connecting the dots.

Before this I’ve binged a range of topics and stored it away, never to see the light of day again. Not this time.

Instead of keeping it all in my head this time around and considering the importance of the subject I wanted to share it with you.

My climate backstory is that over the last 4 years I’ve been trying to reduce my carbon footprint. Depending on which estimation calculator — using my pre-pandemic behavior s— I’d cut it to about 1/2 to 1/3 national average. Which was great.

A big improvement and something to feel good about, right?

But I got stuck and it didn’t feel like enough. Besides that I didn’t have a high confidence that it was accurate.

So I went on an adventure. Full of hope — plus a heap of pragmatic naivety — that we can do what lies ahead.

I’m not here to say that everyone should do what I did. A bunch of the time we don’t have an active role in the emissions that are created just by living in the modern world. It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s the way things have always worked…until now.

I’m always keen to avoid to the doom. There’s plenty of that going about. It’s said that fear is a good motivator. Maybe that’s why it’s so often used. On this particular subject it has its uses, although I don’t think it will get us all the way to where we need to be. Likewise it doesn’t feel like awareness of the science gets us there all on it’s own either. This is a “yes…and” situation.

After exploring it a lot I’m still full of hope. I see what we’re going to need to do. Whether that’s governments, companies and, yes, us individuals. We can get into a happier place with this most pressing of challenges.

Solving this is something we can all play a role in. It’s for all of us.

A crazy thing is that there aren’t any long term downsides to putting our full intention into it from here on out. We’re making progress already, even if the pace isn’t where it needs to be. Yet.

Zopeful is my attempt to compact some of what I’ve learnt about the scale of the challenge. To then translate it into something human sized that we can all play a role in. Every day. And to do it with hope.

We believe the best way to build a zero carbon world is together.

We’ve started by making an Intro to Climate email mini-series to get you warmed up. It compacts everything you need to know into 5–10 minute easy-to-read bursts.

There’s 3 parts:

• Pt1 = “Climate Science for All” breaks down how we got here, what’s happening and how we’re starting to work our way out of it together; as well as the roles of governments, companies and individuals on what’s next.
• Pt2 = “Carbon in our Stuff” is about how much is hidden in our everyday lives and it’s mostly not through an active choice we individuals are given. Making choices is easier than you’d think with a little bit more info.
• Pt3 — = “WTF Can I do?” it’s such a huge topic this translates it into something human-sized that we can all play a role in + explores what the crucial next 5–10 years might bring us all.

It’s designed so you’ll have a practical understanding of where we are, what’s coming next & the stuff it’s possible for us to choose or influence. All things explained. It’s the shortcut we wish we’d had.

Whether you’re just getting started or have been following along for a while, there’s going to be something in it for you.

You can make a meaningful contribution and have impact! Much more than we’re sometimes led to believe. Let’s all imagine the party we’ll have when we make solving this happen 🎉

If you’d like to learn a little bit more about it, and the path ahead, we’d love you to join us.