Traveling to Fiji in April for my Climate Lab, it seemed like an extravagant excursion, but it was with the explicit purpose of learning from the people there and then giving something back to the global effort on climate change. During our in-class sessions that week, we heard from representatives across sectors with different messages but one clear theme: we’ve got to work together.
Last year a friend told me he was very excited now that he knew he could take his hard-to-recycle plastic to our local recycling company. I bit my tongue, knowing that it was probably too good to be true. At best, those plastics would end up in a landfill, but I had also heard that chemical recycling might be even worse for the environment.
Misconceptions abound when it comes to recycling, and a new technology called “chemical recycling” is being positioned as a major win for recycling hard-to-recycle plastics. No matter their intentions for the future, most chemical recycling facilities are currently turning plastics into fuel to be burned, not recycled plastics to replace virgin plastics. Perception is everything in the court of public opinion, and information matters.
Humans are complex creatures, whether we admit it or not, and we create very complex systems. Teasing apart that complexity is difficult, especially when we bring our own limitations and biases to the table. Successfully identifying the positive and negative impacts of our actions in the world requires a lot of humility, flexibility, and willingness to get comfortable with discomfort… plus some interactive software.
I really loved being able to say that I had never had COVID. Unfortunately, it was one (but not the only) unpleasant souvenir I picked up on recent travels. Catching up on COVID research, I learned that I might have picked up one of the new “FLiRT” variants, which are on the rise, just in time for summer. As always, education and awareness are key.
Limiting or shifting our electricity use benefits our wallets, but it can also help support a more reliable electrical grid and limit the amount of fossil fuels we use to power our homes, which in turn limits climate change. If you don’t know where to start, you’re not alone: some utility companies offer programs to help you save money as you adjust your use.
I recently learned that the global transformer shortage can limit how well we maintain our existing infrastructure and how quickly we can expand our supply with new sources of electricity generation. A constrained supply will impact demand, resulting in negative impacts that range from inconvenient to deadly. Better demand management can ease capacity constraints, but how do we manage that in a fair way?
It’s been a while since electronics lab in college, but upgrading our electric service served as a good refresher course for me. Unfortunately, many people who want to move away from fossil fuel use in their homes often don’t know where to start or even what to ask a potential contractor. I’m hoping that detailing our journey – starting with our electricity upgrade – will help.
I was impressed when I learned about Hawaii’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045, but I was shocked to learn about some unintended impacts of wind energy development on Oahu’s north shore. Hearing from impacted residents was a great reminder that wind energy, like any tool, is not inherently good or bad – it comes down to how it is developed and used.
As part of my year-long climate adaptation leadership program, our cohort is participating in three intensive, in-person sessions at different locations throughout the Pacific. The first week was in Hawai’i, exploring impacts from climate change and adaptation strategies in place across the state. Before we did anything else, we spent some time in the classroom examining priority issues and best practices for engaging local communities.