Why Climate Change Intervention is WAY Easier than We Think
For those of you that follow me on other platforms, you’ll have seen, heard or read some of my thoughts on the lab grown proteins from firms like #ImpossibleFoods or #BeyondMeat.
I’m a fan of those lab grown protein concepts arriving at that position whilst undertaking a Master of Science in 2004 in which my main thesis focused on global water issues. In that piece of work it became clear that the level of water consumed to produce say 1kg of beef was untenable in a world where starvation persisted and lack of fresh water impacted around 40% of the planet. Even with improvements, that 1kg requires (depending on location and farming methods) between 30,000 litres and up to 150,000 litres of fresh, potable water. For each and every kilogram.
And I’ve worked with both Beef and Dairy producers and with Government agencies looking at biosecurity issues for both crop and animals. I’ve worked with mid cap VC investors and discussed the challenge of Australia permitting cotton to be grown when food producers don’t get access to water. I coined the phrase #FitForPurposeWater (borrowed by a large consultancy a few years later) in which you allocate water to what is the best fit for the quality of that water and best need for that water. And no, ‘highest price on the market’ is NOT a ‘best need’ when determining usage.
I discussed the #EatOrExtract problem about what you can do with your land – you can choose to Eat from it OR Extract out of it but you cannot do both. And once you’ve extracted from it you can never go back to eating from it.
And now there’s another compelling reason why a change in diet is warranted. If we are going to talk about addressing climate change then yes, we need to lower fossil fuel use. We also need to work out how to solve the methane leakage problem.
Solutions are getting a lot clearer and more stark than we think. Recent reports that just 5% of coal fired power plants produce 73% of all CO2 emissions is an obvious ‘no brainer’ intervention. Simply shut them down today. https://lnkd.in/gdZKAZsm
And now we look at the food we eat and the report today that JUST 20 meat and dairy firms produce more CO2 pollution than the entire populations of France, UK and Germany. This is ‘decision time’ that is more glaring. We change our diets away from meat and dairy to ones that are less carbon and water intensive, and we make instant, long ranging and highly impactful decisions for retaining a sustainable platform for human life on this planet. I’m not telling you what to eat. Just don’t say you find climate change too difficult to solve. https://lnkd.in/gQxWaHMC
The Association of Professional Futures is holding its first Virtual Gathering, following the sun from Europe, across North America and finishing in the Australia pacific zone. It kicks off tomorrow and links to the program and registration (it’s only $45 for guests for a program featuring some of the worlds most prominent futurists) You…
Read More >I join Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Darwin radio where we continue our discussion about the future of sex. We consider three main areas in this session – smart phone applications; remote relationships and the combination of haptics and holographics as one the emerging means by which we’ll maintain physical contact. You can download the…
Read More >In this chat with Vicki Kerrigan on radio ABC Darwin we discuss the future of sex. This is the first of potentially three conversations where we look at the increasing reach of technology way beyond current online match making sites, the social pressures driving the use of technology as well as the use of technology…
Read More >There’s been a bit of discussion in recent months about a softening housing market around Australia but I wonder how much of it is more indicative of unrealistic expectations on behalf of sellers? In futures work we think in terms of Assumptions and Expectations and aim to test our understanding and so I offer this…
Read More >Unfortunately it looks like my main email address has been hijacked and has been used to send out a series of spam emails. I’d like to apologise to anyone who has received some junk email purporting to come from ‘desiredfutures’ with a series of html links asking you to go and have a look. You…
Read More >Given the amount of plastic swimming in our oceans and rivers and the volume littering our land, the NT Government is aiming to introduce compulsory returns legislation on soft-drink bottles (as happens in South Australia), something that has apparently raised the ire of bottler, Coca Cola. Although they’ve recently backed away from their initial statement…
Read More >Deciphering the hype from reality with regard to drug use can be a challenge for most of us. Professor David Nutt in the UK has given me permission to post a link to the paper he has co-authored with Ruth Weissenborn that looks at the reality of a comparison of harm caused by two common…
Read More >Vicki Kerrigan and I finished off our discussion about the Future of Clothing on ABC Darwin yesterday. We discussed invisibility style cloaks, singlets that monitor your heart rate and stress levels, runners that capture electricity to power your wearable electronics and a few philosophical questions regarding our ability to deal with stress. The file…
Read More >I’ll be talking with Vicki Kerrigan again this afternoon, this time discussing robotics as in-home carers. I’m due on at about 4.45pm Darwin time which is around 5.15pm on the eastern seaboard. You can listen to the audio stream via the link below http://www.abc.net.au/darwin/programs/webcam_radio.htm?ref=listenlive If all things go well, I’ll record the session and…
Read More >I recently attended a session with South East Business Networks where the CEO of Siemens Australasia provided some great ideas as to where Australian Manufacturing was headed and could go, and indeed perhaps needed to go. What I found most useful from Allan Goller’s perspective was the encouragement for businesses to just get on with…
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