Just about one century ago, airships were rising to prominence as the luxury option for long-haul travel. Today, some companies are touting airships as a climate-friendly alternative to airplanes. We may be set to see a renaissance for this slower, more intentional means of travel, but we also need to consider unseen and upstream costs that can still contribute significantly to its carbon footprint.
Is it possible to reduce our resource consumption without abandoning a certain quality of life? The 2000 Watt Society thinks so. I first encountered this group in a near-term climate fiction novel following the lives of people trying to avoid the worst of climate change impacts. A recent trip to Switzerland showed me it can be done better than we’re doing it back home.
For years I’ve incorrectly believed that sheep cheese has a lower carbon footprint than cow cheese because sheep emit far less methane than cows. They also produce far less milk, which balances the scales. In reality, cheese has an extremely high carbon footprint, higher than some meats. For that reason, it seemed like time to reevaluate whether my actions are still aligned with my values.
We use AI for countless tasks in our daily lives, but different activities have different carbon footprints. Analyzing and creating content uses a lot more energy than a simple internet search, and we’re relying on AI for more of that over time. That isn’t good for our brains or the environment, especially since we’re building more fossil fuel-powered data centers to meet growing demand.
Physics, cooking, energy efficiency, and public health: so many of my passions are the ingredients of this blog post about our new induction cooktop. Magnetic induction cooking equipment has recently been getting cheaper, more accessible, and more popular, but it has long been safer, cleaner, and more energy efficient than the conventional alternatives, such as gas flames and electric coils.
It’s not the end, but it is an end. The final debrief of our year together in the Climate Lab was bittersweet and carried with it intentions to pay our lessons forward into the world – collaborating with each other, if possible. For my part, I want to continue bridging gaps in knowledge and perspectives to co-create more equitable solutions to the climate crisis.
We’re taught that recycling is a good thing, and doing it makes us feel responsible. In reality, there are serious limitations to recycling’s benefits when it comes to certain materials, especially plastics – even begging the question if new processes, such as “chemical recycling” are even possible. Unfortunately the plastic industry is banking on our trust, including when it comes to “recycling” fabrics.
Affordability often comes with a price somewhere in the supply chain. In the case of instant noodles, it could be deforestation for ingredients and oil extraction for packaging long before the noodles hit the store and/or adverse health outcomes long after they hit the stomach. Nevertheless, this invention was an unexpected marvel that buoyed the Japanese economy and still supports disaster relief efforts worldwide.
As our time in the Climate Lab came to an end, we began thinking about what we had learned in the program and how to apply it to our work moving forward. My lessons from Japan highlighted the value of broad perspectives that hold room for a variety of ideas. I hope to use this concept to help build bridges across unlikely groups.
Travels with the Climate Lab took me to Okinawa for the first (but hopefully not last) time. This Japanese prefecture (and former kingdom in its own right) is an absolute melting pot of cultures, disciplines, and functions in society. For someone who is regularly trying to break down silos in my own work, I was thrilled to see what lessons Okinawa had to offer.