Hello! Welcome to another edition of the Restored newsletter.As you may have noticed by the small hole in your inbox last week, it’s been a busy couple of weeks here at Restored and we didn’t have time to get a newsletter out last week.
In that time we’ve released two episodes! As such, we have a lot to talk about.
How to scale up
Last Wednesday brought Episode 7 of the Carbon Removal Show. Tom and Emily discussed how we take carbon removal from tens, hundreds of thousands of tons a year to the gigatons we require to limit the worst effects of climate change.
Emily’s thoughts
Last week’s episode sees Tom and I exploring the rise of the carbon removal industry and asking, how can we achieve the growth we need quickly, effectively and justly? At one point I declare that “we need an industry that rewards innovative, scalable solutions that are viable on a financial, environmental and social level …and we’d like it all in the next decade, please.” To which Tom, with more than a hint of sarcasm, replies, “We’re not asking for much then, are we.”
Well, are we?
Frankly, my answer has to be an unwavering “no”.
Is it going to be easy? Silly question. Listen to the episode and tell me what you think.
Is it going to be worth it? Well, I don’t think that’s really the point either. I think it’s our only option.
We know that we need scalable innovation: we just aren’t going to be removing at an effective scale otherwise. We need to be removing billions of tonnes a year by 2050, remember. And as for the triple bottom line of people, planet, profit, is there one of those you’d be willing to shortchange? Would you be able to sleep at night knowing that your efforts to save the environment were making life harder for the most disadvantaged societies on Earth? Is it even worth it if your overall climate impact ends up being negative? And in this capitalist system, how do you expect to keep it all running if you’re not generating revenue?
As for the time frame, that’s on us. We’ve had a few too many decades of burying our heads in the sand and all that procrastination is finally catching up with us. It’s time to knuckle down. We either aim for the full carbon removal wish list or we… nope, can’t think of an alternative. We just have to do it.
Last week’s guests
Thanks so much to our wonderful guests for Episode 7:
Patricia Silva from the Carbon Removal Centre
Brennan Spellacy from Patch
How we think and speak about carbon removal
This week saw the release of Episode 8 of the Carbon Removal Show. This is all about the public perception of carbon removal; how do we encourage its widespread adoption without allowing it to be used as an excuse for polluting companies to carry on with business as usual?
Emily’s thoughts
This week’s episode explores how we can boost public perception of carbon removal. Taking into account the shady history of carbon offsets, the legitimate trust issues that that history has left us with, and the worryingly low levels of public understanding of this field, carbon removal PR certainly needs a boost.
But, why?
No, seriously. If I wasn’t working on a podcast on this very topic and clearly fully invested myself, would I really care about the public opinion of carbon removal?
You see, the thing is, I didn’t get very far into learning about all this before I was convinced that collectively we needed to be talking about this much more than we were. So convinced in fact that I started working on a podcast about it so that I, at least, could talk about carbon removal all the time. I found out that it was essential, difficult, but possible. And that’s all I needed to know.
Yes, but why should I care about this? Does my voice even matter in all this?
Probably, yes. And maybe, no.
Yes because if we want to do this right (which we really really do) it has to be a democratic process. By definition, that means that every voice matters. The reality of a democratic process may look a little different to the ideal scenario but we should still definitely aim for that ideal scenario.
Beyond that, as we discuss in this week’s episode, public opinion fuels market interest and political interest, and when it comes to public opinion of little known technologies, every voice counts. Our guest, Dr Emily Cox, makes the comparison with nuclear energy. Think of all of the debates and protests that have taken place around new investment in nuclear power. No matter which side of the subject you fall on, the large-scale engagement means that this topic is on the public radar and policy makers take that into account.
Then, what if your voice doesn’t matter?
It’s true that politicians could just decide to overrule the court of public opinion and power ahead with their own agenda. As much as I am in favour of political support for carbon removal, I hope it doesn’t happen with complete disregard for public perceptions. We’ve talked at length about the systems approach that is needed in the development of this field and pushing ahead without some level of public buy-in just feels unsustainable. Or, worst case scenario, ultimately destructive.
In any case, whether you like it or not, we need some form of carbon removal over the coming decades in order to start healing our atmosphere from the pollution we continue to create. But I suppose that’s just my opinion.
This week’s guests
Thank you to our guests for Episode 8:
Dr Emily Cox at Cardiff University
Tom Mansfield from Pale Blue
And finally…
We’ve only got one more episode to go in Season 1 of the Carbon Removal Show. Thank you for all of your support so far, we’ve learned so much and we’re pretty proud of what we’ve made!
Thanks as always to Patch for sponsoring the show.
See you next week,
The Restored.cc team.