DRAWDOWN, Part 1
Paul Hawken, author and activist, edited the book called Drawdown in 2017. His journey began in 2001, when he started asking scientists and environmental experts what we needed to do to reverse global warming. But the answers to his questions were too complicated. No one had a list of what to do and how much it would cost or save us to do it.
So, in 2013, Paul decided to create Project Drawdown “to identify, measure, and model one hundred substantive solutions to determine how much we could accomplish within three decades towards that end.” (Drawdown Origins, page x.) He and his colleagues — 75 researchers and scientists in 22 countries — came up with the 80 best ways we can reverse global warming, including a ranking of each solution by its emissions-reduction potential and the total incremental cost or savings to implement each solution. The remaining 20 solutions don’t have measurements or costs associated, yet, but are grouped under the heading: Coming Attractions. The measured solutions are categorized into seven different sectors, as follows:
- Energy: e.g., solar farms, wind turbines, wave and tidal,
- Land use: e.g., bamboo, perennial biomass, forests and wetlands,
- Food: e.g., waste, plant-rich diet, regenerative agriculture and composting,
- Transport: e.g., electric vehicles, mass transit and high-speed rail,
- Materials: e.g., household and industrial recycling and alternative cement,
- Women and girls: e.g., education, family planning and women smallholders,
- Buildings and cities: e.g., insulation, green roofs, walking and cycling in cities.
As you can see, there was no ‘silver bullet’ solution to the problem of global warming. “But what have women and girls got to do with Drawdown?” you may ask. Well, just think back to the time of the pioneers in Canada and the U.S., when women had to figure out how to feed their family, while their men cleared land, hunted, trapped or earned money to buy tools. Women were resourceful and grew or gathered fruit or vegetables, with their children, close to home. They were fully engaged in the development of their family and the community. It hasn’t been that long since Canadian and American women and girls began to get a public education. In some parts of the world, they still can’t get an education or deal with the family finances, although they may wish to. Forty percent of the researchers and scientists in Project Drawdown were women.
We are at a point where, as Paul puts it, “we can see global warming not as an inevitability but as an invitation to build, innovate, and effect change, a pathway that awakens creativity, compassion, and genius.” (Drawdown Origins, page xi.)
If you can’t find Drawdown at a local bookstore or on Amazon, it’s at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library. I’ll warn you, it looks and feels like an encyclopedia! Initially, you’ll be able to read the introductory pages and some solutions which grab your attention. Then you’ll want to put it down and ruminate on what you’ve learned to see how those solutions might fit into your life. Last June, I introduced Drawdown to you and wrote about bamboo. Next week, I’ll write more about Paul’s journey.
Fiona