Managed Retreat Advances

A new report on potentially inundated areas (PIA) shows that, by century’s end, more than 300 million people’s homes will be innundated or regularly flooded by rising seas.

This will likely result in massive instability, millions of environmental migrants (EM), battles over land rights and enormous economic strains over how to pay for any actions taken.

At this point, it’s probably a good idea to keep some galoshes handy.

Vertical Solar: PV Stands Tall

[The first in our 2-part series on vertical solar.]

Upright solar innovations that are radically different from – and take up far less space than – garden-variety solar farms may well revolutionize the industry in the next few years.

Some vertical panels can capture light far longer than horizontal ones, as they can continue to produce power even as the sun is low on the horizon.

As with the image of humanoids learning to stand upright, vertical just might be the next step in the evolution of solar.

The Purpose and the Roller Coaster: An Interview with Andrew Gottlieb

[Adapted from a July 24, 2020 interview ]

Recently, we spoke with Andrew Gottlieb, Founder of the purpose-driven online marketing and branding company No Typical Moments.

The topic was Gottlieb’s other passion, a podcast series called The School for Humanity wherein he speaks with thinkers and strategists from all over the spectrum, with a focus on entrepreneurs and those working on sustainable projects.

He shared some of what he’s learned through interviewing so many interesting people. Here are the highlights.

The COVID Covenant:
No Way We’re Going Back. We’re Going Big!

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world that we are far more vulnerable, unequal, and deeply connected than we realized. Yet it has also proven we can act at speeds, scales, scopes, and levels of coordination and financial commitment we didn’t believe possible.

Now we must now apply the same level of speed, coordination, and courage to tackling the other critical issues we face: the climate crisis, inequality, racism, health care, and more.

The COVID Covenant is an iron-clad commitment to make this happen – to make the impossible possible. We’re not going back, we’re going BIG. Right now!

Who Do We Choose to Be?

Some moments are so terrible and so clear that they spur change and demand action. The murder of George Floyd at the hands of officers of the Minneapolis Police Department is one of those moments.

Justice and equity are simply fundamental values, part of the definition of the world we want. And we need to bring them to life through action.

COVID-19 and the Bankrupting of Nature

We were warned, by Bill Gates and others, that we were unprepared for the next pandemic. Why did we fail to heed these prophetic warnings? Hubris: in this case, the presumption that humans control nature and not the other way around.

The response to this crisis makes it clear that countries, sufficiently motivated, can unleash the full range of human knowledge and expertise to solve problems. The trick that has eluded us is convincing lawmakers and citizens that the climate emergency rivals that of this pandemic.