July 2019.  Climate One with Greg Dalton at the Commonwealth Club of California.

Guests included Jonathan Foley of Project Drawdown, Lois Quam of Pathfinder International, and Kate Brandt of Google.

I wonder whether the American people seem to be so unconcerned about climate because they don’t see the elite or leaders of this country cutting back on their flying.  Jonathan Foley said that flying is only about 1% of CO2 emissions.   Kate Brandt said yes, it was about the same level as energy consumed by data centers.  I think that these numbers are low.  With a smart audience they may be hurting their own credibility. (see the Rhodium report). Even Greg Dalton said that flying is on the rise.

But the main point is not about the numbers that we all throw out when asked such a question.  It’s the attitude.  Yes, Parliament has already declared a climate emergency and Congress may soon follow, but no one really acts like it is an emergency.  The pilots that I talk to don’t seem to think much about climate change.  Most politicians follow the polls.  That is why we need a Flying Sabbath (a NoFlyWednesday) in which all commercial planes worldwide take a day of rest.  It would get many more people thinking and talking about the true emergency that we do have.  The savings to the airlines would be significant too, though the prices would go up. It’s a flying habit, but this issue must get into the public sphere.

It may be that we need to “push” people – people at any level – to address one specific aspect of the climate and help them find something to do about it.  Not everyone needs to understand details of the science in order to contribute to making their local world a more energy efficient place.  Information Games is one such way to push them.

Jonathan Foley and Lois Quam both expressed frustration at the cultural momentum that makes us not talk about issues that need to be addressed.  Here again, Information Games can help provide that push.  More specifically it gives people a structure in which people can talk and question and be creative.

Parallels with the battle against cigarette smoking are only partly useful.  Most smokers wanted to quit. That battle against the tobacco companies was primarily fought in court and still took 20-30 years. Since then, the tobacco companies have moved their target market overseas only to be slowed down – in some cases – by health departments who have kept up to date on the science and on the damage that smoking can do.

Jonathan Foley quoted Amory Lovins: “the stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stone”.   Sounds good, but stones don’t provide the incredible amount of energy contained in a gallon of jet fuel or diesel.  With earth-moving equipment a gallon of diesel can do the work of a hundred people – and much faster.  Plus it keeps us warm and cooks our food that we get shipped in from all over the world. That is what we are up against, not stones.

“Pushing people” does not have to be unpleasant, but it must be a specific challenge or a specific question to a specific group of people.  Whatever results can be further refined by the same teams or other small groups of people.  It is a social learning structure that can accelerate our learning curve.  Much of the work may end up changing ways in which we construct our daily lives and jobs. If that happens, social learning tools can help people see the next step ahead and feel secure when taking it.