Everything is a lot right now! Including the IPCC Climate Report published yesterday. I hope you’re doing okay. Starting right now and for the next 1.5 hours, join our live Discussion Thread for We Can Fix It subscribers by clicking the link below- I’ll be answering your questions (via text) and look forward to hearing what’s on your mind and where we go from here. Kim
Hi everyone! What climate questions are on your mind- from the climate report (or the headlines) yesterday, your plan for 2022, or anything else? I'm here to answer them and also excited for you to meet each other! Drop your questions below. :)
Hi Kim and everyone else here tonight, my question to all of you; how do we communicate what we know tand understand from the IPCC-repor, to as many people as possible and more importantly, how do we communicate the urgency to Swedish people since we have a general election in September?
SUCH a good question Anna! In general for climate conversations-- it's about establishing connection, trust and respect first, asking questions and seeking to understand before you're understood. No one wants to hear a lecture (even if we're tempted to launch into the stats keeping us up at night!!). I can really recommend checking out Climate Outreach, they have a short guide to talking about IPCC specifically here:
Hi Kim, your book has really gotten me back into engaging with climate issues much more intensely than during the past years!
I am part of the team that facilitates the national Austrian climate assembly - such a complex and interesting process. And gaining quite a lot of press coverage, which is awesome.
However looking around I wonder every day why people and politics don’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation we are facing. As for politics: Our national goal is to be climate neutral by 2040 - but measures taken so far are not able to deliver carbon neutrality in 18 years. As for people: many care about sustainability and climate, but then take a 2 week vacation including a transcontinental flight.
Why do you think there are such big gaps between the ambitious sounding politics/people and their real world actions?! (And I also have these doubts about my own ambitions and real world behaviours)
"Why do you think there are such big gaps between the ambitious sounding politics/people and their real world actions?! (And I also have these doubts about my own ambitions and real world behaviours)" Amen to that Johannes!
Wow, that's amazing Johannes-- I'm so glad to hear you're working to support the Austrian climate assembly, such an important process and they're lucky to have you!!
Honestly I struggle with these same questions myself. The situation is similar in most countries, where even the ones with pretty good (could always be better) climate goals do not have the policies in place to meet them, and it's not seen and felt as an urgent problem.
I think as citizens we can hold politicians to account - at public hearings, in the media, at demonstrations- you promised X, you're only delivering 0.3X, that's not good enough. And we need to recruit more people to Team Climate who are vocal and engaged and actively working on these issues-- despite such hard work by so many, we have not yet reached a critical mass.
What do you all think?? what can make urgency and the measures needed to reduce emissions feel real and important and doable?
I sometimes wonder if there isn't some kind of "first mover disadvantage" at work here - insufficient role models of people who others look up to doing "shock therapy" on themselves, and demonstrating this as a good life. Look at how Zelensky in a moment of extreme crisis was able to move EU leaders to tears, and get them to see that passive inertia, and incremental sanctions were insufficient.
Thank you, I am (considering the state of the world). I hope you are well too! Unfortunately I have to leave no (catching a bus, after a long day at work). Take care!
Your book advocated for 3 things: a plant based diet, abstaining from flying & driving. Those are hard, but certainly achievable. I'm already 1000% more mindful of those 3 areas of consumption, and have already reduced my usage of animal products & flying. Question: what are the next 3 highest impact things we can do today?
Thank you Dave for reading and putting into practice! I would next focus on the financial and political actions in Chapters 10 and 11-- you can get a refresher from the TL;DR (too long, didn't read) at the end :)
The group Third Act (thirdact.org) is sponsoring a "Banking on our Future" initiative to pressure several large US banks (Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America) to discontinue funding fossil fuel projects. I thought their approach was interesting - if these banks don't act to stop funding fossil fuels, Third Act's supporters will close their bank accounts en masse.
Third Act says: "The point of this campaign is to highlight the critical role of banks in the truly existential crisis of climate change and pressure them to stop lending money to fossil fuel companies and projects."
Let's wait and see what Kims says, but my guess is: switch to renewable energy, check what your pension (and bank) are invested in, and ... (don't know about the third one, but it isn't recycling that I know). Have I done my homework Kim? Update: Vote for politicians that do the right things and support green organisations! Those are my guesses :-)
Kim, I live on the shores of the Great Lakes in the States, a place that feels more precious by the day. What does the report say about water? What would you have me paying attention to? Who has the best campaign and messaging? I honor you, your work, your approach.
Hi Bridget, and thanks for joining! I made a beautiful visit to the Apostle Islands when I lived in Madison for grad school-- it's a very special corner of the world. For specifics on sectors and regions, I suggest you have a look at the regional fact sheets (2 pages): https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/about/factsheets and the chapter on water.
Honestly I am not an expert on water, but the first group that comes to my mind is The Nature Conservancy. WWF also works with habitat conservation and restoration. And I'm sure there are locally-focused groups for the Great Lakes themselves-- please share what you find so I can share with others!
Hi, Kim—hope you are keeping well in these crazy times. Thanks for a great book (finally arrived at the Kamloops library at my request), and thanks for your continued clear communications. Question: you've probably heard of Citizens' Assemblies on Climate. Are you aware of any being used at the municipal level?
Hi Gisela!! Thank you for ordering Under the Sky We Make to your local library-- that's a high-impact climate action :)
As a matter of fact YES I have a small study underway assessing the proposals made by citizens assemblies at the municipal level. Have not had time to write it up so if you're interested let's talk more offline! But the TLDR is-- it's very important to start with an ambitious focused question, eg, how should Kamloops reduce emissions 10% per year for the next 5 years? Many cities have had vague questions and I've been disappointed with their non-ambitious proposals. One good one to check out is Brighton & Hove in the UK. Let me know what you think!
Thanks, will do. My city has finally put into place a Community Climate Action Plan (not perfect by a long shot, but better than anything we've had before, so... progress), but there is no budget attached. Councillors (quite rightly, IMHO) fear for their futures if they speak out too boldly, suggesting that the public is not yet willing to spend a lot of tax dollars on this. I'm looking at ways to engage citizens more deeply to generate more buy-in and more impartial climate action advocates. I've read Rebecca Willis' excellent book, but need more on the municipal side as I advocate for this.
I totally relate here in Lund!! Agree that engaging citizens to generate political will and legitimacy is really key to ambitious climate policy. Keep me posted on what you find!!
Hi Kim, Thanks for writing your lovely book, Under the Sky We Make. I've found it very well-written, comprehensive, and motivating, and have told others about it. It has given me a better framework for thinking about climate change and for being able to digest the main points of the new IPCC Climate Report. I only wish that climate scientists and many of us in the general public could more effectively convey our sense of urgency about climate change to elected officials and energy company executives.
How should we be thinking about how the SCOTUS is hearing, deliberating and ruling on Climate Change and Environmental Policy related cases ? What should we be communicating to our local legislators to make sure that policies continue to support programs and outlooks towards fixing our situation?
It's so concerning that there's a US Supreme Court case that could remove the US Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate CO2! For specific advice on US energy politics and campaigns, I recommend you follow 350.org, Sunrise, or Evergreen Collaborative-- they have good policy briefs here https://collaborative.evergreenaction.com/policy-hub
Hi Johan! There was no mention of lifestyle emissions directly in the Summary for Policymakers- though a lot of focus on inequity, disproportionate impacts, marginalisation, and colonialism which implicitly recognises the hugely unequal distribution of wealth and emissions, including from lifestyles. I expect that the next IPCC report in April will have a focus (and perhaps even a full chapter?) on "demand-side" and personal emissions which will be new, and welcome!
Okay it's time to wrap up for today-- thank you all so much for joining, I loved hearing from you from around the world. Please take care and keep up all the good work you're doing-- I find it so encouraging to hear about and it really does make a difference. <3
Hi Kim, thank you for this chance to check in (and for your book, which I'm slowly making my way through)! I think it's helping me feel more able to at least confront the news, but finding actionable solutions continues to be a struggle. Just in terms of my own personal carbon impact, I've run a couple of online calculators (in particular the one at Berkeley) which make it look like my household of 2 is emitting about 30 tons of carbon per year, which--yikes. Per the calculator, over 5 tons is coming from natural gas alone--I live in Wisconsin, we have a gas furnace, apparently electric furnaces are inefficent and heat pumps don't work well when it gets really cold? We have only one car, which I'm hoping to replace with something electric, ok. We have family on both coasts and are probably flying two or three times a year right now--I wonder what you think about Amtrak vs. flying (since most of their trains are still running on diesel, I thinkWe eat vegetarian many days and have removed most red meat from our diets...still working on cheese... All our electricity (supposedly) comes from renewable sources via our electric utility. But even if we got rid of the natural gas, car fuel, and air travel, it seems as if we'd still be far above the necessary threshold. It feels really daunting to try to figure out how we could ever reduce our emissions to maybe 3 tons a year. And that's just us. This feels really whiny even to me, but...I wonder if you have any words of advice.
Welcome Valerie! I'm really heartened to hear you say Under the Sky We Make is making you feel more able to confront the news, that's a big step. I hear you on making drastic lifestyle changes feeling daunting. For personal emissions, I'd say take it one step at a time. Start with your biggest source of emissions, which is probably flying, and creatively brainstorm ways you could cut your flights in half (can you combine trips, stay twice as long?). More concrete tips here https://wecanfixit.substack.com/p/pre-fire-dread-phase-out-fossils?utm_source=url and in Chapter 9.
That said, do your best, but after you've cut what you can, pour your time and energy into your other 4 climate superpower roles and don't get stuck on only consumption- make sure you're doing what you can as an investor, employee, role model and citizen (https://wecanfixit.substack.com/p/your-top-5-climate-superpowers?utm_source=url). Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, it's worth doing what you can!
Hi, Valerie! I'm currently working with my city on a project to promote electrification, and to reducing barriers to heat pumps is a biggie. Cold climate heat pumps (higher capacity for colder climates) DO exist, but they are under-utilized for a number of reasons: contractors don't know anything about them, and if homeowners ask about them, they are quickly rerouted to a new fossil-fuel furnace.
All this to say that electrification needs advocates, and if you have the energy to push a bit on this, it could pay dividends for your community (and all of us).
Of course, Kim's advice is excellent. Pick something you're interested in, and do what you can.
Thank you so much, Gisela, this is really helpful! The issue with contractors/HVAC company knowledge/expectations seems like a big one--I've noticed a lot of their websites also say that electric furnaces and water heaters are much less efficient than gas, but I suspect there's more to know there as well.
Unfortunately, the more we know about what makes up the bulk of our carbon footprint, the harder it gets to reduce to target numbers without some serious personal sacrifice. There is a point where I think "what's the point". But that is on my bad days.
I'm right there too. Sometimes it's like "welp, our mere existence is bad for the planet!". But on the other hand, the mere fact that we're here, are eager to learn and do something, and increasingly more (I think) about it can hopefully have a positive, enlightening effect to those around us.
Hi Kimberly, thanks for answering our questions. I found this Substack at the right time (yesterday)! I read your "A climate scientist explains why it’s still okay to have kids" article this morning and found it very insightful. The impacts of climate change weigh heavily in my decision to bring a child into this world. I'm wondering if your thoughts on having children have changed with the most recent IPCC report?
Hi Carly and welcome! So glad you're finding this community helpful. So many people are wrestling with this question right now, and there are so many different ways to think about it-- ultimately I feel that decision comes down to what's in your heart. SOOOO much more to say about that but maybe I'll suggest a few resources-- Gen Dread by Britt Wray (Substack and her forthcoming book which is focused on this question); Parenting in a Changing Climate by Elizabeth Bechard which is really lovely; and I write about my own take in more depth in Chapter 5 of Under the Sky We Make. Good luck!
I hear you - I was thinking yesterday that maybe I shouldn't have had kids. Not because they take a big toll on climate but because I will stress for the rest of my life about the conditions for the rest of theirs...
Erica, that is so heartbreaking. I hear you. You are not alone and that is SO tough. I can really recommend Parenting in a Changing Climate, it really resonated with me (even as a non-parent!). The author is a former fertility coach who starts encountering lots of clients worried about the life their kids will have-- she navigates it with open eyes really beautifully.
I feel your pain, Erica. My kids are just entering their "parenting years", and the conversations we've had show that climate anxiety is playing a role in these tough decisions. The only consolation I can offer is that humans are resilient, and the ones born tomorrow won't know what they're missing (literally). For example, I don't mourn for the dodo bird in the same visceral way I fear for the few mountain caribou left in my region. Since happiness is subjective and very much relative, there will still be joys awaiting them, amidst the turmoil ahead. Humans adapt. (That's not to say we shouldn't do everything possible to prevent the worst of climate change from becoming a certainty).
Interesting point Gisela-- some of the data on shifting baselines backs this up (though I find it very sad!). Recommended reading for a pretty good life after catastrophic climate change: New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
If you are interested in climate action AS a parent, the Parents For Future movement (which I’m part of) is a space to connect with other parents navigating these questions & all the emotions that go with it.
I’ve seen Kimberly also point to Climate Outreach’s work a couple of times - we had a write up published today of some research we did with them on parent climate activism: https://climateoutreach.org/parents-case-study/
Oh thank you so much for this Rowan-- really great encouragement for parents to get involved in climate action! And I will check out the parents case study, thanks for the link!
Erica, as a parent and now grandparent, I find myself feeling so much angst for their future. But being a parent has been one of the most meaningful things I have done in my life. And in the early years, I told myself, they were my social, political action. My hope was that they would become the love, the peace I wished for the world. And they are two amazing souls, out in the world now. They also have a lot of resilience. And clarity about who they are. It surely is a balancing act, to have a vision for our children and the world...and yet to hold their's and the world's future loosely...with a belief, that human transformation will come, is actually on it's way, now. Even if the way is not all clear to us. It's good to be with all of you today.
I feel deflated. Seems we are still more on track for 3 degrees and the chapter on what that will mean for the lifetime of kids born today was pretty sad reading. I feel for the climate researcher that are going on "strike".
I hear you Erica. (For those who haven't seen, there's a suggestion for climate researchers to not publish more work and to strike until the world acts on existing knowledge-- see https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17565529.2021.2008855). The report yesterday made clear that business as usual is heading to a very bad world. More and more people though are waking up to the urgency to reduce emissions-- the good social tipping point is getting closer, we have to keep pushing for that instead of the bad climate tipping points!!
That's a good point. I agree, there is a social tipping point. The USA is further from it then Sweden (and central states like Utah are much, much further from it than California!) but still.
Ok my biggest problem (report or not) is flying. My family is spread across the world. I've spent my life exploring. I can't get on board with the idea of not discovering the world (no, still no trains from California to Sweden or Australia) and not having my kids discover the world while at the same time, there won't be much world left to explore if we don't stop flying. I'm currently skipping on conferences (presenting on Zoom) and business travel but I really feel like the connection is suffering because of it. Meeting people on zoom vs live is not the same thing. It's my achilles heel and I am getting nowhere.
I hear you! Reducing my flying was something I avoided for a REALLY long time. And research shows it's often the "last to go" even among committed environmentalists. So you're in good company. :)
I was also paralyzed by the idea that I could not imaging giving up flying completely (after having moved to Sweden for work with my parents and many close friends in California). I started with deciding "I do not fly within Europe" in 2012, which set me off on a path of flying much less-- down more than 90% from where I was at my peak. I have found lots of ways to explore and discover without flying (which I think is a great experience to cultivate with kids), but the loved ones on other continents is really tough and I do still fly to see family about once a year. I write more about this in Chapter 9 of Under the Sky We Make.
Kim's words on this topic a few years ago have led me to place limits on my flying, without making a commitment that felt unattainable. I set myself a goal of "family necessity" only. I no longer fly for holidays. The end result is that I haven't flown in several years at all.
All of us will struggle with this to different degrees because of our existing privilege (this is only a problem for a small subset of the world's population!), but I can't say it's been a hardship discovering the beautiful places closer to my home that I likely wouldn't have bothered exploring if I were still flying to far-off places.
I struggle with this too. Committing to not flying means committing to never seeing certain parts of the world. This includes Japan, where my brother lives.
I hear you Carly (and wrote more above on this!). I do want to say though that my friend Charlie (who originally inspired me to start flying less) has traveled around the world without flying, including to Japan, so it can be done! This might be a fun challenge and adventure to research... :)
Hi Kimberly, I think that at this time we need to state that getting off fossil fuels is acutely necessary both for climate and security reasons. As long as dictators like Putin can cash in on our gas and oil dependency to drive their wars we will not be able to fix the climate in time
I agree Bo, well said! It was notable that in the press conference yesterday, the IPCC scientists did not name fossil fuels, but Guterres and Taalas were very clear and strong about the harm from fossil fuels. I hope that the remaining 2 IPCC reports coming out this year will name the "elephant in the room" (fossils) in the summaries for policymakers.
Bo, I like that reasoning! People who don't listen to the climate argument might pay better attention to the security argument, and I guess it doesn't matter what motivation people (and states) have to cut their emissions as long as they cut their emissions. Imagine a world where we are not buying gas and oil from opressing countries but instead use locally produced energy (supporting local economies and communities) <3
Ooof, good question Denise, I am not sure tbh! There are clear ratings for mitigation eg Climate Action Tracker that converts national climate pledges (NDCs) into their Paris grade for the temperature targets. But I'm not aware of a similar effort to rate adaptation. One clear message from yesterday is that adaptation is severely under-invested in (even more so than mitigation, ack!) and under-included in climate plans, so I'm not sure if there are databases or evaluations of adaptation. If anyone is aware of resources, please include them in a reply!
Hello Kim, thanks for your great Twitter thread yesterday. I had a qu about the regional aspect of the report. Debra Roberts said in the press conference that it is different this time compared with the 5th assessment. I wonder if you could talk a bit about that.
Hi Denise, thank YOU for all you're doing! I haven't had the chance to go through all 3,000 pages of the new Working Group 2 report yet, but for the Physical Science report from August, there were helpful 2 page fact sheets by region that boiled down the key impacts expected. There's also an atlas. I think IPCC is trying hard to make global results regionally relevant and actionable where people live and governments can make decisions.
PS. Everyone, check out Denise's Substack and podcast The Zeroist!! :)
Thank you! I have another question - also from the press conference. One of the co-chairs said: "Adaptation strategies might have to be revised constantly." This surely is quite new, no? It sounds also like something that no government is actually ready for - and also it casts a whole new shadow on "managing risk". Given how cautious the IPCC language tends to be, this one seemed quite noteworthy?
Yes, I think a new conclusion from this report is that we have evidence that adaptation is both patchy and often maladaptive-- only some places/sectors/groups are adapting, and those that do often use strategies that unintentionally make things worse (the example they gave was seawalls instead of wetlands for flood control). The report emphasises the need for flexibility and monitoring-- I agree this is a challenge to business as usual and we need better political processes and arrangements to make this work.
Hi Mallorey, I think it's a good step! The key is then using the relationships you build with your fellow citizens and politicians to hold the politicians to account to implement effective policies to act like it's an emergency. I think it can be helpful to point to, in order to motivate increased policy ambition.
I was amazed to see this sentence: "Several developing countries rejected draft phrasing which portrayed migration as an option for adapting to climate impacts, and the link was dropped in the final summary." Does this mean that migration is now close to being a policy-level adaptation strategy? that's quite distressing.
Hi, based on the adaptation options in the report, what type of climate interventions a traditional development NGO (not focused on environment) should prioritize, especially from a climate justice perspective?
Great question Lubna! The report really emphasises the 3 kinds of climate justice-- distributive (who pays/benefits, across people/countries/generations); procedural (who decides and participates) and recognition (engaging and considering diverse cultures and perspectives). Following fair processes that centers those who have historically been left out is a key practice. Recognising the value of local, traditional, Indigenous knowledge - doing a lot of listening before suggesting or applying a solution, to be sure the development actually solves local problems. Educating and empowering women and girls is a key climate action (and key for a better world) so I think that's an important aspect. Does that make sense for your context?
Definitely. At IM, we work with some of those groups (eg. women, girls, indigenous communities). Regions prioritize rights-holders based on their local power analysis & needs. So we do have a good base to start working. A question facing many NGOs now is to whether to continue mainstreaming or be bolder, have specific funding for community based climate activities though it is not our primary area of work.
What do you think also about the responsibility of northern NGOs in lobbying for equity in climate financing (eg. Loss & Damage Facility). This is work we need to do in Europe and richer countries. I’d love to invite you for a strategic consultation and plan an activity together. We are in biking distance 😊
In another forum I heard one of the authors talk about not using capital L, to make sure use of ‘losses and damages’ in the report is not confused with the political concept. Sooooo careful…. We can’t talk about climate justice without L&D or reparations. Let’s chat more soon! I’ll reach out - but first ordering the book. Thanks for this QnA session! 😊
The most important message I think was the last sentence of the SPM and in the press release- "Any further delay in concerted global #ClimateAction will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable world."
Scientifically, what was important was showing that some impacts are irreversible above 1.5°C, even if humanity manages to later reduce temperatures again (as some "overshoot" scenarios propose). This makes emission reductions of about 10%/year or more in rich countries extremely urgent.
Thanks for joining Carolyn! SPM B.6.1 says: "Additional warming, e.g., above 1.5°C during an overshoot period this century, will result in irreversible impacts on certain ecosystems with low resilience, such as polar, mountain, and coastal ecosystems, impacted by ice-sheet, glacier melt, or by accelerating and higher committed sea level rise " :(
Hi Nina, it's so scary and heartbreaking to see the people of Ukraine suffering. War is of course terrible for people and also bad for climate-- the military is a big emitter. In addition to the climate benefits, transitioning to local renewable energy to replace fossil fuels would lessen conflicts and political pressures to support undemocratic regimes. I also worry about climate getting "crowded out" of the news and attention and policy focus-- we have to work to keep climate on the agenda alongside other crises that need attention and care.
Agree, I noticed that the IPCC report was a full scroll page down from the war news on NYT. At the same time, I think this really brings another problem of fossil fuel reliance to the forefront. We don't want to support these authoritarian regimes that produce much of our oil and gas!
Hi everyone! What climate questions are on your mind- from the climate report (or the headlines) yesterday, your plan for 2022, or anything else? I'm here to answer them and also excited for you to meet each other! Drop your questions below. :)
Hi Kim and everyone else here tonight, my question to all of you; how do we communicate what we know tand understand from the IPCC-repor, to as many people as possible and more importantly, how do we communicate the urgency to Swedish people since we have a general election in September?
SUCH a good question Anna! In general for climate conversations-- it's about establishing connection, trust and respect first, asking questions and seeking to understand before you're understood. No one wants to hear a lecture (even if we're tempted to launch into the stats keeping us up at night!!). I can really recommend checking out Climate Outreach, they have a short guide to talking about IPCC specifically here:
https://climateoutreach.org/communicating-ipcc-impacts/
And a longer guide on their website called Britain Talks Climate which has really clear guidance on climate conversations-- https://climateoutreach.org/britain-talks-climate/
Hi Kim, your book has really gotten me back into engaging with climate issues much more intensely than during the past years!
I am part of the team that facilitates the national Austrian climate assembly - such a complex and interesting process. And gaining quite a lot of press coverage, which is awesome.
However looking around I wonder every day why people and politics don’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation we are facing. As for politics: Our national goal is to be climate neutral by 2040 - but measures taken so far are not able to deliver carbon neutrality in 18 years. As for people: many care about sustainability and climate, but then take a 2 week vacation including a transcontinental flight.
Why do you think there are such big gaps between the ambitious sounding politics/people and their real world actions?! (And I also have these doubts about my own ambitions and real world behaviours)
"Why do you think there are such big gaps between the ambitious sounding politics/people and their real world actions?! (And I also have these doubts about my own ambitions and real world behaviours)" Amen to that Johannes!
Wow, that's amazing Johannes-- I'm so glad to hear you're working to support the Austrian climate assembly, such an important process and they're lucky to have you!!
Honestly I struggle with these same questions myself. The situation is similar in most countries, where even the ones with pretty good (could always be better) climate goals do not have the policies in place to meet them, and it's not seen and felt as an urgent problem.
I think as citizens we can hold politicians to account - at public hearings, in the media, at demonstrations- you promised X, you're only delivering 0.3X, that's not good enough. And we need to recruit more people to Team Climate who are vocal and engaged and actively working on these issues-- despite such hard work by so many, we have not yet reached a critical mass.
What do you all think?? what can make urgency and the measures needed to reduce emissions feel real and important and doable?
I sometimes wonder if there isn't some kind of "first mover disadvantage" at work here - insufficient role models of people who others look up to doing "shock therapy" on themselves, and demonstrating this as a good life. Look at how Zelensky in a moment of extreme crisis was able to move EU leaders to tears, and get them to see that passive inertia, and incremental sanctions were insufficient.
Yes, I agree, we have to hold them accountable! Even great politicians aren’t able to deliver though, as it seems.
Hi, Johannes!
Good day Gisela ✌🏽🤗
Hej Gisela and Hej Johannes! Nice to see some LUMES alumni here <3
Hello! Hope you are well!
Thank you, I am (considering the state of the world). I hope you are well too! Unfortunately I have to leave no (catching a bus, after a long day at work). Take care!
Thanks for coming Amanda, and for your tireless dedication to sustainability students!!
Hej Hej - hoppas du mår bra! <3
Mycket (eller åtminstone så bra som det går när världen är upp och ner)! Hoppas du också mår bra! Ta hand om dig :-)
Hi Kim,
Your book advocated for 3 things: a plant based diet, abstaining from flying & driving. Those are hard, but certainly achievable. I'm already 1000% more mindful of those 3 areas of consumption, and have already reduced my usage of animal products & flying. Question: what are the next 3 highest impact things we can do today?
Thank you Dave for reading and putting into practice! I would next focus on the financial and political actions in Chapters 10 and 11-- you can get a refresher from the TL;DR (too long, didn't read) at the end :)
Hi Kim and We Can Fix It friends,
The group Third Act (thirdact.org) is sponsoring a "Banking on our Future" initiative to pressure several large US banks (Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America) to discontinue funding fossil fuel projects. I thought their approach was interesting - if these banks don't act to stop funding fossil fuels, Third Act's supporters will close their bank accounts en masse.
Third Act says: "The point of this campaign is to highlight the critical role of banks in the truly existential crisis of climate change and pressure them to stop lending money to fossil fuel companies and projects."
(Sorry I missed the live chat, Kim!)
Thanks KJ, divesting from banks is a great action to support! I divested from Bank of America 5 years ago for this reason-- see here for more. Even more powerful to do it as part of a campaign! https://wecanfixit.substack.com/p/dont-be-fossil-fooled-celebrating?s=w
Let's wait and see what Kims says, but my guess is: switch to renewable energy, check what your pension (and bank) are invested in, and ... (don't know about the third one, but it isn't recycling that I know). Have I done my homework Kim? Update: Vote for politicians that do the right things and support green organisations! Those are my guesses :-)
Haha A+ Amanda, good job!! :)
Kim, I live on the shores of the Great Lakes in the States, a place that feels more precious by the day. What does the report say about water? What would you have me paying attention to? Who has the best campaign and messaging? I honor you, your work, your approach.
Hi Bridget, and thanks for joining! I made a beautiful visit to the Apostle Islands when I lived in Madison for grad school-- it's a very special corner of the world. For specifics on sectors and regions, I suggest you have a look at the regional fact sheets (2 pages): https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/about/factsheets and the chapter on water.
Honestly I am not an expert on water, but the first group that comes to my mind is The Nature Conservancy. WWF also works with habitat conservation and restoration. And I'm sure there are locally-focused groups for the Great Lakes themselves-- please share what you find so I can share with others!
Hi, Kim—hope you are keeping well in these crazy times. Thanks for a great book (finally arrived at the Kamloops library at my request), and thanks for your continued clear communications. Question: you've probably heard of Citizens' Assemblies on Climate. Are you aware of any being used at the municipal level?
Hi Gisela!! Thank you for ordering Under the Sky We Make to your local library-- that's a high-impact climate action :)
As a matter of fact YES I have a small study underway assessing the proposals made by citizens assemblies at the municipal level. Have not had time to write it up so if you're interested let's talk more offline! But the TLDR is-- it's very important to start with an ambitious focused question, eg, how should Kamloops reduce emissions 10% per year for the next 5 years? Many cities have had vague questions and I've been disappointed with their non-ambitious proposals. One good one to check out is Brighton & Hove in the UK. Let me know what you think!
Thanks, will do. My city has finally put into place a Community Climate Action Plan (not perfect by a long shot, but better than anything we've had before, so... progress), but there is no budget attached. Councillors (quite rightly, IMHO) fear for their futures if they speak out too boldly, suggesting that the public is not yet willing to spend a lot of tax dollars on this. I'm looking at ways to engage citizens more deeply to generate more buy-in and more impartial climate action advocates. I've read Rebecca Willis' excellent book, but need more on the municipal side as I advocate for this.
I totally relate here in Lund!! Agree that engaging citizens to generate political will and legitimacy is really key to ambitious climate policy. Keep me posted on what you find!!
Hi Kim, Thanks for writing your lovely book, Under the Sky We Make. I've found it very well-written, comprehensive, and motivating, and have told others about it. It has given me a better framework for thinking about climate change and for being able to digest the main points of the new IPCC Climate Report. I only wish that climate scientists and many of us in the general public could more effectively convey our sense of urgency about climate change to elected officials and energy company executives.
Thank you for your extremely kind words Walter, I'm so glad you've found the book helpful and honoured you're sharing it with others!!
I fully agree about struggling with conveying urgency-- something I'm feeling too. Please see the comments below by Johannes on a similar note.
One good starting point: this advice from Climate Outreach about communicating IPCC https://climateoutreach.org/communicating-ipcc-impacts/
How should we be thinking about how the SCOTUS is hearing, deliberating and ruling on Climate Change and Environmental Policy related cases ? What should we be communicating to our local legislators to make sure that policies continue to support programs and outlooks towards fixing our situation?
It's so concerning that there's a US Supreme Court case that could remove the US Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate CO2! For specific advice on US energy politics and campaigns, I recommend you follow 350.org, Sunrise, or Evergreen Collaborative-- they have good policy briefs here https://collaborative.evergreenaction.com/policy-hub
Thank you so much for this reference!
It's crazy, right?
So Crazy
Hi does the IPCC Report elaborate on lifestyle emissions?
Hi Johan! There was no mention of lifestyle emissions directly in the Summary for Policymakers- though a lot of focus on inequity, disproportionate impacts, marginalisation, and colonialism which implicitly recognises the hugely unequal distribution of wealth and emissions, including from lifestyles. I expect that the next IPCC report in April will have a focus (and perhaps even a full chapter?) on "demand-side" and personal emissions which will be new, and welcome!
hello Johan
Okay it's time to wrap up for today-- thank you all so much for joining, I loved hearing from you from around the world. Please take care and keep up all the good work you're doing-- I find it so encouraging to hear about and it really does make a difference. <3
Thank you! This was fun and very informative
Thanks Denise for joining and for your good questions! I'm going to look into climate adaptation rankings!
Thanks, Kim and everyone!
Thanks for joining, Carolyn and everyone!
Hi Kim, thank you for this chance to check in (and for your book, which I'm slowly making my way through)! I think it's helping me feel more able to at least confront the news, but finding actionable solutions continues to be a struggle. Just in terms of my own personal carbon impact, I've run a couple of online calculators (in particular the one at Berkeley) which make it look like my household of 2 is emitting about 30 tons of carbon per year, which--yikes. Per the calculator, over 5 tons is coming from natural gas alone--I live in Wisconsin, we have a gas furnace, apparently electric furnaces are inefficent and heat pumps don't work well when it gets really cold? We have only one car, which I'm hoping to replace with something electric, ok. We have family on both coasts and are probably flying two or three times a year right now--I wonder what you think about Amtrak vs. flying (since most of their trains are still running on diesel, I thinkWe eat vegetarian many days and have removed most red meat from our diets...still working on cheese... All our electricity (supposedly) comes from renewable sources via our electric utility. But even if we got rid of the natural gas, car fuel, and air travel, it seems as if we'd still be far above the necessary threshold. It feels really daunting to try to figure out how we could ever reduce our emissions to maybe 3 tons a year. And that's just us. This feels really whiny even to me, but...I wonder if you have any words of advice.
Welcome Valerie! I'm really heartened to hear you say Under the Sky We Make is making you feel more able to confront the news, that's a big step. I hear you on making drastic lifestyle changes feeling daunting. For personal emissions, I'd say take it one step at a time. Start with your biggest source of emissions, which is probably flying, and creatively brainstorm ways you could cut your flights in half (can you combine trips, stay twice as long?). More concrete tips here https://wecanfixit.substack.com/p/pre-fire-dread-phase-out-fossils?utm_source=url and in Chapter 9.
That said, do your best, but after you've cut what you can, pour your time and energy into your other 4 climate superpower roles and don't get stuck on only consumption- make sure you're doing what you can as an investor, employee, role model and citizen (https://wecanfixit.substack.com/p/your-top-5-climate-superpowers?utm_source=url). Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, it's worth doing what you can!
Hi, Valerie! I'm currently working with my city on a project to promote electrification, and to reducing barriers to heat pumps is a biggie. Cold climate heat pumps (higher capacity for colder climates) DO exist, but they are under-utilized for a number of reasons: contractors don't know anything about them, and if homeowners ask about them, they are quickly rerouted to a new fossil-fuel furnace.
Here are a couple case studies, done in Minnesota. https://www.mncee.org/cold-climate-air-source-heat-pump-field-assessment. A few years old, but they are some of the more in depth case studies I've seen.
All this to say that electrification needs advocates, and if you have the energy to push a bit on this, it could pay dividends for your community (and all of us).
Of course, Kim's advice is excellent. Pick something you're interested in, and do what you can.
Thank you so much, Gisela, this is really helpful! The issue with contractors/HVAC company knowledge/expectations seems like a big one--I've noticed a lot of their websites also say that electric furnaces and water heaters are much less efficient than gas, but I suspect there's more to know there as well.
Thanks for that link Gisela! And I agree- it's so helpful to have people advocating for fossil-free throughout the world and our lives!
Unfortunately, the more we know about what makes up the bulk of our carbon footprint, the harder it gets to reduce to target numbers without some serious personal sacrifice. There is a point where I think "what's the point". But that is on my bad days.
I'm right there too. Sometimes it's like "welp, our mere existence is bad for the planet!". But on the other hand, the mere fact that we're here, are eager to learn and do something, and increasingly more (I think) about it can hopefully have a positive, enlightening effect to those around us.
Hi Kimberly, thanks for answering our questions. I found this Substack at the right time (yesterday)! I read your "A climate scientist explains why it’s still okay to have kids" article this morning and found it very insightful. The impacts of climate change weigh heavily in my decision to bring a child into this world. I'm wondering if your thoughts on having children have changed with the most recent IPCC report?
Hi Carly and welcome! So glad you're finding this community helpful. So many people are wrestling with this question right now, and there are so many different ways to think about it-- ultimately I feel that decision comes down to what's in your heart. SOOOO much more to say about that but maybe I'll suggest a few resources-- Gen Dread by Britt Wray (Substack and her forthcoming book which is focused on this question); Parenting in a Changing Climate by Elizabeth Bechard which is really lovely; and I write about my own take in more depth in Chapter 5 of Under the Sky We Make. Good luck!
Thank you for answering my question and thank you for suggesting these resources. I really appreciate it!
I hear you - I was thinking yesterday that maybe I shouldn't have had kids. Not because they take a big toll on climate but because I will stress for the rest of my life about the conditions for the rest of theirs...
Erica, that is so heartbreaking. I hear you. You are not alone and that is SO tough. I can really recommend Parenting in a Changing Climate, it really resonated with me (even as a non-parent!). The author is a former fertility coach who starts encountering lots of clients worried about the life their kids will have-- she navigates it with open eyes really beautifully.
Sounds like a good read, thanks.
I feel your pain, Erica. My kids are just entering their "parenting years", and the conversations we've had show that climate anxiety is playing a role in these tough decisions. The only consolation I can offer is that humans are resilient, and the ones born tomorrow won't know what they're missing (literally). For example, I don't mourn for the dodo bird in the same visceral way I fear for the few mountain caribou left in my region. Since happiness is subjective and very much relative, there will still be joys awaiting them, amidst the turmoil ahead. Humans adapt. (That's not to say we shouldn't do everything possible to prevent the worst of climate change from becoming a certainty).
Interesting point Gisela-- some of the data on shifting baselines backs this up (though I find it very sad!). Recommended reading for a pretty good life after catastrophic climate change: New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Interesting. I'm reading Ministry for the Future with my book club next month.
If you are interested in climate action AS a parent, the Parents For Future movement (which I’m part of) is a space to connect with other parents navigating these questions & all the emotions that go with it.
I’ve seen Kimberly also point to Climate Outreach’s work a couple of times - we had a write up published today of some research we did with them on parent climate activism: https://climateoutreach.org/parents-case-study/
Oh thank you so much for this Rowan-- really great encouragement for parents to get involved in climate action! And I will check out the parents case study, thanks for the link!
Erica, as a parent and now grandparent, I find myself feeling so much angst for their future. But being a parent has been one of the most meaningful things I have done in my life. And in the early years, I told myself, they were my social, political action. My hope was that they would become the love, the peace I wished for the world. And they are two amazing souls, out in the world now. They also have a lot of resilience. And clarity about who they are. It surely is a balancing act, to have a vision for our children and the world...and yet to hold their's and the world's future loosely...with a belief, that human transformation will come, is actually on it's way, now. Even if the way is not all clear to us. It's good to be with all of you today.
I feel deflated. Seems we are still more on track for 3 degrees and the chapter on what that will mean for the lifetime of kids born today was pretty sad reading. I feel for the climate researcher that are going on "strike".
I hear you Erica. (For those who haven't seen, there's a suggestion for climate researchers to not publish more work and to strike until the world acts on existing knowledge-- see https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17565529.2021.2008855). The report yesterday made clear that business as usual is heading to a very bad world. More and more people though are waking up to the urgency to reduce emissions-- the good social tipping point is getting closer, we have to keep pushing for that instead of the bad climate tipping points!!
That's a good point. I agree, there is a social tipping point. The USA is further from it then Sweden (and central states like Utah are much, much further from it than California!) but still.
Ok my biggest problem (report or not) is flying. My family is spread across the world. I've spent my life exploring. I can't get on board with the idea of not discovering the world (no, still no trains from California to Sweden or Australia) and not having my kids discover the world while at the same time, there won't be much world left to explore if we don't stop flying. I'm currently skipping on conferences (presenting on Zoom) and business travel but I really feel like the connection is suffering because of it. Meeting people on zoom vs live is not the same thing. It's my achilles heel and I am getting nowhere.
I hear you! Reducing my flying was something I avoided for a REALLY long time. And research shows it's often the "last to go" even among committed environmentalists. So you're in good company. :)
I was also paralyzed by the idea that I could not imaging giving up flying completely (after having moved to Sweden for work with my parents and many close friends in California). I started with deciding "I do not fly within Europe" in 2012, which set me off on a path of flying much less-- down more than 90% from where I was at my peak. I have found lots of ways to explore and discover without flying (which I think is a great experience to cultivate with kids), but the loved ones on other continents is really tough and I do still fly to see family about once a year. I write more about this in Chapter 9 of Under the Sky We Make.
A wonderful resource to give courage and inspiration to fly less where you can is https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tj1Ohzx7g_6oGLFKzhNJLx57Yt009zdR/view
Kim's words on this topic a few years ago have led me to place limits on my flying, without making a commitment that felt unattainable. I set myself a goal of "family necessity" only. I no longer fly for holidays. The end result is that I haven't flown in several years at all.
All of us will struggle with this to different degrees because of our existing privilege (this is only a problem for a small subset of the world's population!), but I can't say it's been a hardship discovering the beautiful places closer to my home that I likely wouldn't have bothered exploring if I were still flying to far-off places.
I love this approach Gisela-- thanks for sharing!!
This is a really hard one for me, too!
I struggle with this too. Committing to not flying means committing to never seeing certain parts of the world. This includes Japan, where my brother lives.
I hear you Carly (and wrote more above on this!). I do want to say though that my friend Charlie (who originally inspired me to start flying less) has traveled around the world without flying, including to Japan, so it can be done! This might be a fun challenge and adventure to research... :)
Hi Kimberly, I think that at this time we need to state that getting off fossil fuels is acutely necessary both for climate and security reasons. As long as dictators like Putin can cash in on our gas and oil dependency to drive their wars we will not be able to fix the climate in time
I agree Bo, well said! It was notable that in the press conference yesterday, the IPCC scientists did not name fossil fuels, but Guterres and Taalas were very clear and strong about the harm from fossil fuels. I hope that the remaining 2 IPCC reports coming out this year will name the "elephant in the room" (fossils) in the summaries for policymakers.
Bo, I like that reasoning! People who don't listen to the climate argument might pay better attention to the security argument, and I guess it doesn't matter what motivation people (and states) have to cut their emissions as long as they cut their emissions. Imagine a world where we are not buying gas and oil from opressing countries but instead use locally produced energy (supporting local economies and communities) <3
Yessss, completely agree Amanda - there is way to little attention to the enormous outflow of money from local economies due to
Paying for fossil energy.
Kim, I wondered - who or which govts are actually doing a good job on adaptation today?
Ooof, good question Denise, I am not sure tbh! There are clear ratings for mitigation eg Climate Action Tracker that converts national climate pledges (NDCs) into their Paris grade for the temperature targets. But I'm not aware of a similar effort to rate adaptation. One clear message from yesterday is that adaptation is severely under-invested in (even more so than mitigation, ack!) and under-included in climate plans, so I'm not sure if there are databases or evaluations of adaptation. If anyone is aware of resources, please include them in a reply!
Hello Kim, thanks for your great Twitter thread yesterday. I had a qu about the regional aspect of the report. Debra Roberts said in the press conference that it is different this time compared with the 5th assessment. I wonder if you could talk a bit about that.
Hi Denise, thank YOU for all you're doing! I haven't had the chance to go through all 3,000 pages of the new Working Group 2 report yet, but for the Physical Science report from August, there were helpful 2 page fact sheets by region that boiled down the key impacts expected. There's also an atlas. I think IPCC is trying hard to make global results regionally relevant and actionable where people live and governments can make decisions.
PS. Everyone, check out Denise's Substack and podcast The Zeroist!! :)
2 page Fact sheet for Europe from yesterday's report: https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FactSheet_Europe.pdf
thanks, that is really useful
Thank you! I have another question - also from the press conference. One of the co-chairs said: "Adaptation strategies might have to be revised constantly." This surely is quite new, no? It sounds also like something that no government is actually ready for - and also it casts a whole new shadow on "managing risk". Given how cautious the IPCC language tends to be, this one seemed quite noteworthy?
Yes, I think a new conclusion from this report is that we have evidence that adaptation is both patchy and often maladaptive-- only some places/sectors/groups are adapting, and those that do often use strategies that unintentionally make things worse (the example they gave was seawalls instead of wetlands for flood control). The report emphasises the need for flexibility and monitoring-- I agree this is a challenge to business as usual and we need better political processes and arrangements to make this work.
What are your thoughts on campaigns to get climate emergency declared?
Hi Mallorey, I think it's a good step! The key is then using the relationships you build with your fellow citizens and politicians to hold the politicians to account to implement effective policies to act like it's an emergency. I think it can be helpful to point to, in order to motivate increased policy ambition.
Thought I'd share this article on some of the language battles at the final approval session of the summary for policymakers - https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/02/28/revealed-how-rich-and-at-risk-nations-fought-over-science-of-climate-impacts/
I was amazed to see this sentence: "Several developing countries rejected draft phrasing which portrayed migration as an option for adapting to climate impacts, and the link was dropped in the final summary." Does this mean that migration is now close to being a policy-level adaptation strategy? that's quite distressing.
Hi, based on the adaptation options in the report, what type of climate interventions a traditional development NGO (not focused on environment) should prioritize, especially from a climate justice perspective?
Great question Lubna! The report really emphasises the 3 kinds of climate justice-- distributive (who pays/benefits, across people/countries/generations); procedural (who decides and participates) and recognition (engaging and considering diverse cultures and perspectives). Following fair processes that centers those who have historically been left out is a key practice. Recognising the value of local, traditional, Indigenous knowledge - doing a lot of listening before suggesting or applying a solution, to be sure the development actually solves local problems. Educating and empowering women and girls is a key climate action (and key for a better world) so I think that's an important aspect. Does that make sense for your context?
Definitely. At IM, we work with some of those groups (eg. women, girls, indigenous communities). Regions prioritize rights-holders based on their local power analysis & needs. So we do have a good base to start working. A question facing many NGOs now is to whether to continue mainstreaming or be bolder, have specific funding for community based climate activities though it is not our primary area of work.
What do you think also about the responsibility of northern NGOs in lobbying for equity in climate financing (eg. Loss & Damage Facility). This is work we need to do in Europe and richer countries. I’d love to invite you for a strategic consultation and plan an activity together. We are in biking distance 😊
Oh interesting! I think NGOs have a key role to play in Loss & Damage-- pushing polluters for financial responsibility. You may have seen that this was a topic in the press conference yesterday: https://twitter.com/KA_Nicholas/status/1498275336395571209?s=20&t=H2-BjkNYlCo71MlvrgOXdQ
I'd love to talk more about this! :)
In another forum I heard one of the authors talk about not using capital L, to make sure use of ‘losses and damages’ in the report is not confused with the political concept. Sooooo careful…. We can’t talk about climate justice without L&D or reparations. Let’s chat more soon! I’ll reach out - but first ordering the book. Thanks for this QnA session! 😊
Thanks for joining!!
Hi Lubna, very off topic: cool to read from you here, this is Johannes from Austria, I used to be a Lund flatmate of Maria
I ofcourse remember you Johannes. Happy to bump into you here! I’m back in Lund, working for a Swedish NGO. 😊
What is the most important aspect of the new IPCC report?
The most important message I think was the last sentence of the SPM and in the press release- "Any further delay in concerted global #ClimateAction will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable world."
Scientifically, what was important was showing that some impacts are irreversible above 1.5°C, even if humanity manages to later reduce temperatures again (as some "overshoot" scenarios propose). This makes emission reductions of about 10%/year or more in rich countries extremely urgent.
Kim, can you elaborate on which impacts are irreversible above 1.5 C?
Thanks for joining Carolyn! SPM B.6.1 says: "Additional warming, e.g., above 1.5°C during an overshoot period this century, will result in irreversible impacts on certain ecosystems with low resilience, such as polar, mountain, and coastal ecosystems, impacted by ice-sheet, glacier melt, or by accelerating and higher committed sea level rise " :(
Hi, how is the war in Ukraine affecting the climate and the transition to sustainability?
Hi Nina, it's so scary and heartbreaking to see the people of Ukraine suffering. War is of course terrible for people and also bad for climate-- the military is a big emitter. In addition to the climate benefits, transitioning to local renewable energy to replace fossil fuels would lessen conflicts and political pressures to support undemocratic regimes. I also worry about climate getting "crowded out" of the news and attention and policy focus-- we have to work to keep climate on the agenda alongside other crises that need attention and care.
Agree, I noticed that the IPCC report was a full scroll page down from the war news on NYT. At the same time, I think this really brings another problem of fossil fuel reliance to the forefront. We don't want to support these authoritarian regimes that produce much of our oil and gas!
Especially the economic fallout we may see globally if this continues...