Please don’t get distracted by claims about Greenland, the Panama Canal, the Gulf of Mexico, and all the madness that is sure to arrive in the weeks, months, and years ahead.
Focus on what needs our attention and support right now: climate issues leading to the devastating fires in Los Angeles (which may be the worst they’ve had in over 30 years), the bitter deadly cold sweeping across the U.S., and the increase in bird flu and Norovirus; social media walking back fact-checking and calling it a win for users knowing it will lead to even more rampant misinformation and conspiracy theories; further restrictions on access to healthcare; continued intense geopolitical wars and unrest all over the world; the ever-growing gap in wealth that has serious consequences, especially for the most vulnerable. There are many more I could add to that list; I’m sure you can add to that list, too.
So how can you keep your focus on what matters most and what you can actually do? Don’t get it twisted. Take care of yourself and your community, preserve your mental health and energy, and do what you can do where you are with what you have. Our collective priority needs to be caring about each other and this planet.
Monument Valley 3, a gorgeous video game with heart, is now out in the world on Netflix. I’m honored to be a Climate Expert for the game. I wrote about it as part of my Master’s program in Sustainability Leadership at the the University of Cambridge. Goethe said, “In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.” I’m grateful that my applied learnings from Cambridge now have the potential to reach the 3 billion people around the world who play video games.
Of course I’m most proud of the exceptional group of talented people who made Monument Valley 3, especially the Game Director and my dear friend, Jennifer Estaris, whom I love and admire so much. May this game inspire all of us to care for each other, our communities, and this beautiful planet we share.
Please download, play, rate, review, and share Monument Valley 3, and let me know what you think! To play, click this link on your mobile device: https://go.ustwo.games/mv3
Hurricanes become especially dangerous when they can spend extended periods of time over warm water. Conventional thinking and history have shown us that when a hurricane reaches land, the land dissipates its strength and the storm, eventually, fizzles. This is why coasts have historically been in greater danger that inland areas. The brown ocean effect changes that.
When land is warm and saturated with water, as happened in Western North Carolina, it acts as something akin to ocean. While it doesn’t typically kick up the wind speed of a storm like Helene, it provides an excess of moisture and heat. Because the ground is saturated, the massive amount of rain can’t be absorbed. This leads to flooding and landslides. The devastation, loss of life, and high number of missing people in Western North Carolina caused by Helene is partially from the brown ocean effect. The heavy rains dumped on saturated land ravaged everything in their path from houses to infrastructure to power and communication lines. There is even footage of a casket unearthed from a cemetery and carried away by the rushing water.
The brown ocean effect can happen anywhere there’s land. As rains become heavier and more frequent from climate change and global warming, it can take hold in many more places. Every land mass can provide ocean-like fuel for a storm.
At the time of this writing, Hurricane Milton is barreling toward Florida. It’s a Category 5 with winds at 180 miles per hour, spinning over the hot waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Stronger than Hurricane Katrina. Even if it weakens, it still has all that water in it that it will drop when it hits land. Also, weakening in this case may be every bit as devastating as wind because it may slow down and pick up even more moisture from the Gulf. The land in Florida is already saturated, as the land in North Carolina was before Helene arrived. It’s a frightening alignment of circumstances.
On Monday night I watched hurricane specialist John Morales get choked up on air giving the news update on Milton becoming a Category 5. These storms are no longer once-in-a-century, once-in-a-lifetime, and perhaps not even once-in-a-season. This may now be our new normal that is anything but normal.
Utilizing the methodology from my University of Cambridge / Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) dissertation, I’m conducting interviews with food retailers, rescue organizations, distribution organizations, institutional food providers, and policy makers to find an unmet need in the market that would help prevent food waste. Today I had my first interview with the largest food rescue organization in NYC. It went very well. I’m excited to continue these conversations and work on this idea.
Solving this dual challenge of food waste and food insecurity is important to me personally as well as from an environmental and business perspective. I grew up in a home that was food insecure and we often didn’t have enough food to eat. We were lucky to have the free lunch program at school. So many are not fortunate enough to have that kind of safety net. My goal with this business is to serve them and protect the planet. If you know someone or an organization I can talk to, I’d love any referrals.
On Thursday night I wound my way through Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. Past industrial buildings, natural gas smoke stacks, and heavy machinery, I found myself at building 269 to celebrate a sustainability milestone in our city.
For 10 years, Billion Oyster Project has used the nature-based solution of oyster restoration to clean the water of the Hudson River to a level unprecedented in the last century. Restored oyster reefs will also protect the coastline from storm surges, a threat the city faces from climate change. To commemorate all their work, and look toward the future, 2,000 guests gathered together this week to sample trays of freshly harvested oysters, enjoy small bites and drinks from over 20 of New York’s best restaurants, and celebrate the efforts of oyster over 50 oyster farmers from all over the country at the organization’s 10th Anniversary Billion Oyster Party — Back to Nature, Back to Health.
New York City used to be the oyster capital of the world, home to half of the world’s oysters. When the Dutch arrived in the 1600s, New York Harbor’s oysters measured up to 10 inches long, the city was known for them, and the oyster industry helped lay the foundation for the city. Liberty and Ellis Islands where the Statue of Liberty now stands and where millions of immigrants landed to begin new lives here were originally known as Oester (Oyster) Islands. New York’s oyster industry ended due to overharvesting, water pollution, and shoreline build-outs from the city’s rapid expansion. The pollution of the river prompted a typhoid scare, and the city shut down oyster farming in 1927.
The book The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky tells the fascinating history of New York’s oysters. The Billion Oyster Project is creating its future. The city’s 220,000 acres of oyster reefs were once homes to whales, dolphins, seals, seahorses, herring, striped bass, and hundreds of other species. Thanks to Billion Oyster Project, they’re on their way to being this home again. Today, the organization has 18 active oyster restoration sites across 16 acres of New York Harbor. Their efforts have restored 100 million juvenile oysters to the harbor. Oysters are starting to reproduce in the Harbor — a clear sign that this once booming industry can be revived and be self-sustaining. Billion Oyster Project’s goal for the next 10 years is to restore one billion oysters to New York Harbor by 2035.
In the past few years, the U.S. has sought to push forward on wind. However, that’s coincided with cost surges, supply chain challenges, high interest rates, permit delays, and opposition from wildlife organizations, local residents, and fishing groups who feel there hasn’t been enough project vetting to ensure safety. Wind’s worries intensified this summer when a 300-foot-long wind turbine blade made by GE Verona collapsed on a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts. Given the state of our planet and the extensive need for energy transition to clean, affordable electricity, our planet can’t afford to wait.
To get U.S. wind on track, we need to employ what I call the 4 considerations of problem-solving in today’s warming world: creativity, collaboration, connection, and climate.
Creativity With surging costs, scare resources in the supply chain, and safety issues of today’s wind turbines, we need to redesign them with materials that are abundant, affordable, and durable. Sounds like a job for recycled plastics to me. Vestas, a manufacturer of wind turbines, agrees. There are many factors to consider in turbine design and what they’re working on right now might not be the right solution. However, it’s this kind of redesign thinking that’s needed given the numerous challenges.
Collaboration Launching a large-scale offshore wind farm is an all-hands-on-deck project. Government (local, state, and federal), finance, design, engineering, marine science, wildlife advocates, and local communities have to rally around it and pool their talents and efforts. Right now, many of these parties are fighting one another and it’s sinking the projects. If we lose the momentum of this moment to the tired us-versus-them paradigm, we may lose the opportunity to make this energy transition before the worst outcomes of climate change find their way to us.
Connection While China has many operating wind farms, ~16% of its wind power has historically gone unused, costing ~$1.2 billion. This is mostly due to a lack of connections to the grid. The energy doesn’t do anyone any good if it can’t reach them when and where they need it. Like the design of the turbines, we may also need to rethink how we connect new wind projects to the grid.
With all these challenges for offshore wind, I wondered if it was worth it. Should we abandon the wind effort and focus solely on other forms of clean energy such as solar? As I listened to energy experts at Climate Week NYC, it became clear that the U.S. needs offshore wind as part of the energy supply mix. Wind is one of the least expensive and most efficient sources of power. Without offshore wind, the winds themselves may disappear altogether. That’s a scenario none of us can afford.
At the summit, I had the good fortune of sitting next to Neal McCarthy, Associate Director of Digital Programs at Oxfam America. I asked him what work he’s most excited about. He told me about the Digital Doughnut model, an excellent example of researchers and practitioners collaborating and building upon one another’s work to create a better world. The irony isn’t lost on me that my most valuable insight from a summit about digital technology came from sitting next to and talking to someone in-person.
Digital Doughnut Model Kate Raeworth developed the theory of Doughnut Economics. The outer ring of the doughnut consists of the ecological ceiling (maintain balance in the natural world that supports life). The inner ring of the doughnut consists of the social foundation (the minimum standards that we need to live a healthy life). The sweet spot, the doughnut itself, exists in the space between the rings where our societal needs are met, and nature’s boundaries are respected.
In their 2022 pilot workshops, Hannah and Alistair worked with digital technology professionals to:
explore a broad definition of sustainability;
look deeper into the root causes of what is going wrong and how the digital technology industry has been culpable in eroding sustainability;
imagine a better future for the industry and actions that the digital technology industry can take to create that better future for all.
The Doughnut Flower The workshop discussions and insights led to the creation of The Digital Tech Industry Doughnut Flower. It shows which social foundations and ecological ceilings were most related to the digital tech industry.
Discussion themes Three main themes were brought up in the workshops. These theme were woven throughout all of the discussions.
Issues around gender/ethnicity, especially pay inequality and exclusion. differentials of pay, but also exclusion were major concerns of participants. These issues were clearly seen by many attendees as essential — and central — to any meaningful discussion on sustainability.
Work culture was a theme, with “toxic” tech culture referred to repeatedly, as well as exploitation and overlong work hours.
Quality of life issues, and in particular our unhealthy relationship to technology that drive addiction to tech and disinformation.
Solutions The workshops then moved to discuss possible solutions. These solutions showcase four solutions of how the digital tech industry can mitigate its challenges and contribute to a more sustainable world.
Stop the relentless consumption/depletion of resources — attention-based revenue is driving the wrong behaviors.
Pointless — and endless — growth is getting us nowhere — the exponential growth bubble needs to burst.
Build things that last and can be reused — the strategy of planned obsolescence only serves shareholders and not society.
Detoxify tech culture — replace with fairness, inclusion and better ways of working.
What’s next Reading through their website, I’m considering how the Doughnut Economics model could be applied to the strategy and operations of any organization in any industry that seeks to make sustainability its foundation. In my own work at Double or Nothing Media, I’m developing a proof of concept for a new company focused on rewilding and in the research phase of developing a food waste mitigation tech platform. How might you use the Doughnut in your work? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has spent the better part of the last decade instituting climate policies that make economic sense and help all Minnesota residents live healthier, happier lives. Let’s dive into what he’s done in Minnesota and how this could help the entire country.
1.) Minnesota is a clean energy leader
Like many states, Minnesota was long powered by coal. Today, 50% of the state’s power comes from wind, solar, and nuclear power, thanks to Walz. It’s one of the fastest transitioning states in the country. In 2023, he signed the Minnesota Clean Energy Bill into law, ensuring Minnesota is fossil fuel-free by 2040. (If you want to see how all U.S. states stack up with their energy sources, check out this cool interactive created by Nadja Popovich.)
2.) Minnesota is a climate policy leader
On Walz’s watch in 2022, Minnesota launched the Climate Action Framework. This plan is preparing the state for climate change impacts, taking immediate and near-term actions to make the state “carbon-neutral, resilient, and equitable.” To-date, this plan has prompted the Minnesota Legislature to approve over 40 climate initiatives across industries including energy, health, agriculture, construction, and transportation.
3.) Minnesota policies connect everyday local concerns with climate solutions
Walz’s simple, straightforward, optimistic, and solution-oriented communication style unites people, makes them feel hopeful, and connects the challenges they face with policy solutions that will directly solve those challenges. This makes him wildly popular with constituents across the political spectrum. People trust him because he’s helping them. This has helped turn Minnesota into a climate action powerhouse. Using his playbook, we could do this for the entire country.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is a powerful climate finance policy in the U.S. that hasn’t gotten enough attention. It effectively leverages blended finance, creating an effective model for future policies. Here’s the deal:
With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Vice President Kamala Harris announced a $20 billion investment in climate and clean energy projects: three under the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund and five under the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator. They will create a national clean financing network for clean energy and climate solutions across sectors, ensuring communities have access to the capital they need to participate in and benefit from a cleaner, more sustainable economy.
Together, the eight selected projects will deliver on the three objectives of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: reducing climate and air pollution; delivering benefits to communities, especially low-income and disadvantaged communities; and mobilizing financing and private capital. As part of this collective effort, selected applicants have committed to the following:
Fund projects across sectors that will reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions
These projects fund net-zero buildings, zero-emissions transportation, distributed energy generation and storage, and the decarbonization of agriculture and heavy industry.
Reach communities in all 50 states, the 6 U.S. territories, and Tribal Lands, with a particular focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities
$14 billion funds low-income and disadvantaged communities that need it most, ensuring that program benefits flow to the communities most in need and advance the President’s Justice40 Initiative
Over $4 billion to rural and energy communities
Nearly $1.5 billion to Tribal communities
Mobilize private capital at an almost 7:1 ratioover the next seven years, with every dollar in grant funds leveraged for almost seven dollars in private funds
This is a significant point because a sustainable world requires private investment. This means $20 billion in U.S. government funding activates an additional $130 billion in private capital from banks, asset managers, and individual investors for a total of $150 billion. (This is known as “blended finance” — investments from different sources are combined to achieve a common goal.)
Fund community lenders and partners who are already working in communities across the country to deliver investments quickly
1,000 community lenders are lending in low-income and disadvantaged communities, including Community Development Financial Institutions (including Community Development Loan Funds, Community Development Banks, Community Development Credit Unions, and Community Development Venture Capital Funds); low-income credit unions, and green banks.
Hundreds of thousands of good-paying, high-quality jobs, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities
Create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, high-quality jobs, supported by a number of local, regional, and national labor union jobs
Vice President Harris has spent her career standing up for people and the planet. She’s not resting on her laurels. She’s moving us forward toward a healthy, sustainable world for all. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is a cornerstone of a set of policies that create economic opportunities while protecting the planet we share.
Before you share one more post on social media about climate doom and gloom, please take a deep breath. And then, please post something else. Anything else.
The goal of sharing climate change stories is to drive actions that will halt and reverse climate change to protect the planet and human well-being. While doom and gloom stories such as alarming statistics (of which there are many, sadly!) drive more sharing, clicks, comments, and engagement on social media than any other type of climate story, the largest research study on the topic recently found they drive the least amount of climate action and do almost nothing to change climate change beliefs or support climate change policies. They actually backfire, even causing people concerned about climate change to take significantly less action than they otherwise would.
How could this be? Doesn’t instilling fear for the survival of our species cause so much alarm that of course we’d change our ways? That is a logical, rational assumption. For many years, this was the prevailing wisdom. If you just show people how much damage climate change can do, they’ll change their behaviors and habits to protect themselves and the people they love. This is why we see country leaders, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, leaders at environment nonprofits, and climate activists all over the world sounding the alarm. This is also why so many of us have posted about the climate emergency so often. It’s also why we aren’t seeing enough action taken at a fast enough rate. These stories depressed and demotivated people right into paralysis.
But if that’s the case, then why is there so engagement on climate stories? The clicks, likes, shares, and comments are through the roof. If there’s so much engagement, why is there not enough action? Being engaged on social media or with mass media isn’t the same as taking action in the real world. These stories have absolutely raised the consciousness around climate change, but they haven’t successfully moved people to physically do something about it. Fear-based messaging is somewhat effective at driving one-time actions. However, most climate action requires behavior, habit, and systems change, not one-time actions so the fear-based climate messages don’t give us the long-term and repeated actions we need.
So, what messages can we share that will drive climate action? That is an excellent question. Research points us to a few options that motivate climate action:
Scientific consensus coupled with a clear call-to-action Sharing the science of climate change, and that the vast majority of scientists agree on it, is critical. However, just providing the science isn’t enough. We also need to give people specific, actions to take. And all the better if we can give them a mix of one-time actions (such as voting) and remind them to take habitual actions (such as buying only the amount of goods we need to reduce waste). And we have to make them as simple as possible to get broad-based engagement.
Appeal to ethics and morality with a clear call-to-action Most people like to see themselves as having strong ethics and values. We want to protect our neighbors. We want to take care of our communities. We want to be healthy and happy, and we want people we love to be healthy and happy, too. Taking care of the planet is a way to take care of ourselves and others, and appealing to our collective nurturing nature makes a difference. And again, give people a clear call-to-action to help them do this.
There are other theories about what may work that need further study. There is a hole in the research about which messages will move people from engagement to action. We desperately need more research on this, so we tell the stories that motivate the actions we need to protect ourselves and all species with whom we share this planet. My master’s dissertation has a few additional findings that I’m excited to share soon, and I’m thinking of continuing this line of research and work because it’s so critical to protecting the health of the planet.
Christa Avampato 