“I believe we can be the generation that meets the needs of everyone while leaving the environment in a better state than we found it.”
Hannah Ritchie
I’m excited to tell you about a book I just read that lit my brain on fire…more so than any in recent memory. “Not the End of the World” by Hannah Ritchie is a fresh look at our world how we can make it better.
Dr. Ritchie is a scientist with Our World in Data. In her new book, she brings data to life to describe our environmental problems and how we can solve them. Along the way, she also challenges popular assumptions about sustainability. The term sustainability is thrown around a lot these days, and often implies we need to suffer now to protect resources for the future. This book tells a different story.
A fresh look at our world
Clearly, have urgent environmental problems – like climate change, pollution, and feeding everyone. But the book lays out the case that the solutions will actually make our lives better. It’s entirely possible to meet everyone’s needs, both today and in the future. In other words, we can live well while still protecting the world for our children and grandchildren.
Dr. Ritchie considers herself a “pragmatic optimist”. Before the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, the world was hurtling toward climate catastrophe. Since then, policy changes and innovation have helped slow our warming trajectory. We are not on target yet, but she says we still have a path to avoid the worst consequences.
When it comes to climate change, one reason for hope is simple economics. She says “soon the low-carbon pathway will be the cheap one”. In many cases it already is. The cost of clean energy will continue to plunge as technologies improve, and this trend will only accelerate. Another encouraging sign is in 2023, the US total carbon emissions decreased while our economy grew.
What can we do?
One takeaway is we need a system-wide shift away from fossil energy. This may seem like it’s out of our hands, but we can each influence the big picture by who we vote for, what we buy, and how we spend our time.
So, what about our individual choices? This part may raise a few eyebrows. Our choices do matter, but Dr. Ritchie says we tend to spend our time worrying about the wrong things. If a lot of us dialed in on a few key changes, it would really move the needle.
Based on the data, here are the things that make the biggest impact on our personal carbon emissions (in descending order):
- What we drive – choose a smaller car
- What we eat – cut back on beef, eat more plants (the carbon emissions tied to beef are so high that a heavy beef-eater switching to chicken and/or fish makes a bigger difference than a chicken-eater becoming a vegetarian!)
- How we travel – limit long-haul flights
- Where our energy comes from – buy clean energy when possible
Here are some things the data shows we think make a big difference with our emissions, but really don’t matter much (key point – these choices may matter for other reasons):
- Plastic recycling
- Eating local or organic food
- How we wash and dry our clothes
- Plastic vs. paper bags
Essentially, we have a lot of work to do, but a sustainable world is within reach. The “doomers” who say it’s too late are a distraction. To the contrary, these problems are fixable, and we can all be part of the fixing. If you are feeling hopeless, overwhelmed, or paralyzed by our rapidly changing climate, this book is a great antidote. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.