Is this week’s column about my snowboarding pal, Davis Love, III? Even though it is the start of ski season this week, and Davis is an incredibly strong snowboarder, and he really values the mountain and the community here, this column is not about him.
It is about the other D3, the Deep DeCarbonization Draft, a fantasy football-styled competition on a recent show of Greentech media’s The Interchange’s1 podcast. They describe their podcast as “a weekly podcast on the global energy transformation, hosted by Stephen Lacey and Shayle Kann”…which “provides deep insights into technology, markets, projects, company financials, mergers and acquisitions, policy changes, and market data.”2 If you haven’t yet found your way to podcasts, they are available to listen to through the app on your phone, or through online access—most podcasts are free.i
Who doesn’t like picking their team of players in fantasy football? In this episode, Stephen and Shayle pit their wits against each other and pick their teams of best ‘players’ from a list of potential decarbonization solutions. Since so much of the news about the climate crisis has been absolutely depressing recently, this Deep Decarbonization Draft, through a lighthearted gaming way (one steal possible!), reminds us that it is possible to change our future dramatically by prioritizing what already works. As well, there are a lot of other positive things for people’s lives that can come from tackling climate change.
I actually was really, really surprised at what emerged as the key levers, or key ‘players,’ that would reduce carbon the most. In this year’s draft, they used a list from Project Drawdown, which is a nonprofit coalition of scientists and experts compiling data and developing quantified projections. Some solutions come to mind right away, like the ‘LeBron James’ player pick suggested by Shayle Kann, large Solar Farms. My first pick would have been Offshore Wind Farms as they are generating so much power with lower intermittency these days. Some things sound so ‘old-technology,’ but have significant impacts like Insulation, Composting, Conservation Agriculture, and District Heating of buildings in cities. Other technology is still emerging as substantial contributing solutions like Wave & Tidal Energy, Electric Bikes, Smart Glass, Smart Thermostats, Electric Trucking, and Green Roofs. But there are others on the list that may not have come to mind at first; Improved Rice Cultivation, Telepresence (rather than flying to meetings), Educating Girls, Refrigerant Management, Tropical Forests, Reduced Food Waste, Temperate Forests, Walkable Cities, and Indigenous Peoples Land Management. Make your best picks for your decarbonization team, listen to the podcast and read the full ranked list for yourself at www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank. I hope to see you and DL3 on the hill this opening weekend to compare our Deep DeCarbonization Draft teams!
Paid For By Citizens For Kiki Tidwell, Cindy Mann Treasurer.
[1] https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-deep-decarbonization-draft-part-2
2 ibid
3 Just use the magnifying glass to search for The Interchange show on your podcast app
