Digital Unicorn Magazine, December 2019.
- Newest data on environment, greenhouse gases and global warming are alarming.
- From hurricanes to wildfires, damage from global warming has set in.
- Researchers and startups are finding surprising solutions to help in the fight.
The
environmental outlook for 2020 and beyond reads like a horror story. Fueled by
greenhouse gases pouring into the atmosphere, global warming is causing extreme
weather, rising sea levels and profound changes in the earth’s ecosystem,
threatening both humans and wildlife. Meanwhile our oceans are choking on
plastic waste and other pollution.
But
another side to this story shows researchers and startups stepping up to tackle
these challenges, finding creative—and often surprising—solutions.
Environmental
Trends
•
Global Warming. The years 2014 to 2018
were the five hottest in the 140 years since the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration began keeping track, and the rise has jumped since
the 1970s.
• Rising Sea Levels. Data
from the U.S. Geological Survey show that sea levels will likely continue to rise, by as much as 4
to 19 inches by 2050, depending on location. That’s a grave assessment. Nearly
40 percent of the U.S. population lives in coastal areas, and eight of the
world’s 10 largest cities by population are near a coast.
• Extreme Weather. Hurricane activity has increased, as has the number of
droughts and other extreme events, trends that are intensifying with global
warming, reports the U.S. Global Change
Research Program, a federal research effort. The effects are already severe.
The Atlantic Coast is inundated annually by hurricanes that force millions to
evacuate and cause billions in damage. California faces its own disasters
regularly in the form of multiple wildfires that sometimes scortch entire
towns.
•
Ocean Health. Each year some 8 million metric
tons of plastic waste winds up in the oceans, according to a 2016 study by UC
Santa Barbara. At the same time, shorelines and reefs are being destroyed by
development, fishing and other human activities.
A U.N.
report in December put greenhouse gases, which are causing or aggravating these
problems, at an all-time high, and said drastic action is needed to prevent the
worst effects.
The
Search for Solutions
Imagine
turning discarded plastic into cheap fuel, or increasing the whale population
to clean carbon from the air. From researchers to startups, innovators are
offering an array of cleantech solutions. Importantly, interest among
investors, which dried up during the 2008 recession, is back.
In 2016,
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and others launched a
cleantech venture firm with a goal of investing $1 billion over 20 years. The
firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, has already funded 19 companies
globally.
Also
involved are other big names in investment including Bloomberg founder and
former New York City Mayor Michael Boomberg and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.
Their bullish interest has prompted banks and investors to warm to cleantech
startups as well.
One
example is Form Energy Inc., a startup developing batteries for power grids.
Founded in 2017, the MIT spinoff is using sulfur instead of lithium to overcome
a huge obstacle in renewable energy storage: cost.
Its
progress has garnered serious interest, including $40 million in investment in
August from BEV and others. It was BEV’s second investment in the firm.
Some
solutions, though, are less about technology and more about nature. Consider
the oyster. In several spots around the world, projects have been set up to
build new reefs using the shellfish.
Oyster
reefs create living shorelines that hold back storm surges and flooding,
prevent erosion, and help mitigate rising sea levels. The longtime
alternatives, concrete and steel seawalls, are too costly both in dollars and
harm caused to marine life.
Wait,
there’s more. Oysters are also natural water purifiers that clear pollution
from water. A single adult oyster can filter more than 50 gallons of water per
day.
In New
York City, the Billion Oyster Project aims to restore 1 billion oysters across
New York Harbor by 2035. The nonprofit has recruited 8,000 students and 9,000
other volunteers to help, as well as 75 restaurants that provide leftover
oyster shells for use in oyster farming.
To date,
the project says, it has restored 30 million oysters and filtered 19.7 trillion
gallons of water.*
To be
certain, there is no magic pill for our environmental problems. We’re going to
have to change our habits and work hard to build a sustainable future and
battle climate change. But we’ll see magic along the way in the form of
innovation and discoveries in nature. Crisis begets innovation.
Writing Sample John Sailors. This article was written for Digital Unicorn magazine, website debut, Uber Cool Publications.