Intersection of passion and math is a sweet spot for solving climate crisis
Recently radioBANG attended NI17, Net Impact’s sustainability conference involving thousands of students. I love to immerse myself in the energy of people united in incorporating ideas of sustainability into their careers and lives, and I enjoy learning which companies are pressing into solutions for global issues.
A highlight was listening to the keynote address by Paul Hawken, editor of bestseller DrawDown The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. Hawken described his impulse for the project that culminated in the book: He said he could not accept the assertion that it is too late to heal the planet; so he asked other scientists for the most effective solutions to stop global warming. He claimed to discover that no one had done this comparative math. So he gathered 200 scientists across the globe, and they did the math with him.
Hawken is definitely a “Do the Math” kinda guy, but that wasn’t his only punchline.
To a mostly young adult audience in Atlanta, he offered this: When one combines micro-finance for women-owned projects, population control through keeping girls in school and out of early marriage, as well as increased prospects for the family of an educated woman, support for women leads as the most effective solution to reverse global warming.
For me, the beauty of that idea is in recognizing the intersection of ecology and social sustainability. No matter how many solar panels, electric cars, vegan diets, and so on, that spring up for humanity’s salvation, if people remain in poverty because of overcrowding and inability to access education, we are unlikely to reverse the physical breakdown of the planet. Culture and poverty are the ball and chain of ecology.
What more appropriate gathering to recognize this truth then a conference for people of wide-reaching interests — not just corporate interests marketing to a new trend, or scientists discovering how to control carbon, or nonprofits with global flair, or Slow Food and Slow Money agenda. Annual conferences exist for each of these perspectives. But Net Impact’s conference, above all others, brings these interests into one shared theme.
This broad-spectrum approach has its downsides (that’s a lot of disposable dishes and big-boy sponsors), but the grand redemption is in allowing open minds to consider how their niche interest serves a far larger perspective. Of the many perennial invitations for conferences appealing to fans of sustainability, this one may best serve people ripe to commit to and share a specific expertise.
This will ultimately be the biggest boost for preservation of humanity and the planet it requires.
The bestseller Drawdown illustrates that some solutions are more impactful than others. People have to do this work. Inspiration is fuel. Beyond the math, following our individual passion for sustainability and understanding our talents is to acknowledge another of many intersections of ecology and social sustainability.
At those intersections we’ll find the best investments for people, planet and profit.
Sonia Koetting is Managing Editor of radioBANG and Solutions in Sustainability, based in Fort Collins, Colo. She is open to ideas and partnerships for advancing news of global good works and college-level challenge opportunities for solutions in sustainability.
