Tweet

More from @PaulEDawson

Paul Dawson 🚢

@PaulEDawson

Jan 30

I only post about climate change, so why am I posting a video of a gate?

Watch the gate carefully.

It's a perfect metaphor for how an incentive system should work. So here's how we can align incentives to reduce emissions! 🧵👇

Think of the gate as being the tap for greenhouse emissions.

The default position is closed. The spring on the hinge exerts a force on the gate, pushing it to shut.

We need to exert pressure on fossil fuel producers to close the taps.

Here's how we do that.

Governments subsidise fossil fuels by $11 million a minute.

Removing subsidies will make fossil fuels compete with renewables, and they will lose.

At the same time as removing subsidies, we need to alleviate the hardship caused by the temporary higher fuel prices on citizens.

Read 7 tweets

Paul Dawson 🚢

@PaulEDawson

Jan 29

Tackling climate change isn't just about averting disaster.

It's also about making the future better than today.

We need an optimistic vision of the future that makes us jump out of bed in the morning excited to put the work in to make it a reality.

🧵👇

9 in 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air, and 8.7 million people die due to air pollution from burning fossil fuels.

Imagine a future where you have clean air no matter where you live.

Transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewables will give us this future.

Governments are subsidising fossil fuels by 11 million dollars a minute.

Imagine this money being spent on health or education or even just given back to taxpayers.

This is what is possible in a world powered by renewables.

So what would you do with your share?

Read 5 tweets

Paul Dawson 🚢

@PaulEDawson

Jan 27

To keep global temperatures rising by 1.5C, we need to cut emissions by 30 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases every year until 2030.

30 gigatonnes = 30 billion tonnes

A car will produce around 24 tonnes over its life cycle

So 30 gigatonnes are equivalent to 1.25 billion cars. 🧵👇

We obviously can't get rid of 1.25 billion cars every year until 2030.

So how do we reduce emissions by 30 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas each year?

The good news is smart folks have figured this out.

If we focus on just 6 sectors, we can do it. 👇

Sector 1: Energy

The energy sector can cut emissions by 12.5 gigatonnes annually. And we don't have to wait for any new inventions!

We can do it by shifting to renewable energy and being more energy-efficient.

E.g. solar panels, wind turbines and LED light bulbs.

Read 9 tweets

Paul Dawson 🚢

@PaulEDawson

Jan 25

The biggest reason we are in the climate and biodiversity crisis we're currently in is:

GDP growth

We are focused on measuring something that doesn't mean what most people think it means.

Let me explain

🧵👇

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product

Essentially it's a measurement of all the economic activity in a country during a given period.

Add up the total value of all the goods and services sold, and that's your GDP.

Almost every country is trying to grow their GDP

The problem is GDP doesn't measure, what's been lost!

Only what's created.

This made sense in World War 2 when we needed to build tanks and aircraft as fast as possible for our survival.

Let me explain how destruction adds to GDP growth 👇

Read 7 tweets

Paul Dawson 🚢

@PaulEDawson

Jan 7

Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year - approximately 1.3 billion tonnes - gets lost or wasted.

Food waste is responsible for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

#ClimateChange #Ship30for30

Learn more...
🧵👇

In the United States, 30% of all food is thrown away each year. In addition, around half of the water used to produce this food also goes to waste.

Losses throughout the entire agricultural, retail and domestic system in the U.S. amount to around US$95 billion a year.

The lost or wasted food in Latin America could feed 300 million people.

Read 11 tweets

Paul Dawson 🚢

@PaulEDawson

Jan 6

A few days ago, I shared my plans for writing more over the coming year. However, I didn't explain why I made these plans.

I think we should be talking more about solutions to climate change and how tackling climate change can improve lives today.

🧵👇

I want to be proactive:

Writing more and engaging more with others is in my control. Some might ridicule my writing and ideas, but others might find them interesting and perhaps inspire them to take action themselves.

We need to begin with the end in mind.

I think this has been missing in the discussions about climate change. There is no doubt that a +2.0C world would lead to more human suffering and deaths. However, this doesn't need to be our future; renewable's can give us clean air today.

Read 10 tweets

Share this page!

Paul Dawson 🚢

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @PaulEDawson

Paul Dawson 🚢

Paul Dawson 🚢

Paul Dawson 🚢

Paul Dawson 🚢

Paul Dawson 🚢

Paul Dawson 🚢

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?