How to Fix the Climate Crisis

For most of us, thinking about the mammoth scale of the issues surrounding our global climate is overwhelming.?Can our attempts to “fix” this climate crisis even make a dent in the problems we face? How can the world work together in a cohesive way towards improving the conditions of life on earth?

What is the “climate crisis”?

Earth’s climate has been shifting and transforming life on this planet for millions of years.?We can define a “climate crisis” when life on earth is negatively affected and even jeopardized.?A hurricane, in theory, is only a disaster once it comes towards land and wreaks destruction to life.

Fixing the climate crisis is not only about trying to fix the climate itself.?Trying to fix the climate itself by way of mitigation is critically important, but has limitations.?Contributing scientists to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in my interview series in the Manila Times reveal that even if we halt all fossil fuel use today, there will likely still be a 30-year lag (at least) due to the residual effects of atmospheric pollutants already present in the atmosphere.?Fixing the climate crisis is about coming together to minimize the “crisis”—the deleterious effects of changing and extreme climate conditions to life on earth.

Climate change will "fundamentally reshape life on Earth in coming decades, even if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions."

-The IPCC

Over the last 15 years working with academia, governments, non-profits, and businesses, it became clear to me that an ecosystem of cross-disciplinary stakeholders innovating and working together is required to bring about lasting and effective change.?Here is a framework which I developed and used to help the world’s most vulnerable regions from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia in adapting to climate change and turning great ideas into attainable reality.?

The Climate Solutions Ecosystem

Step 1:?The Data

To help fix the climate crisis, first and foremost we need access to accurate, reliable, and large amounts of data. ?This data can come from satellites, sensors, buoys, citizen scientists, and other platforms operated by governments, academia, NGO’s, and the private sector in providing valuable facts about our climate and monitoring it on a continuous basis.??

Step 2:?The Models

Scientists around the world can then ingest this data to construct models that simulate potential future states of the climate.?Scientists can also learn from the data various dependencies and what could be causing different climate conditions.?Climate models can be back-tested against reality to determine their accuracy, and recommendations can be drawn based upon these models.??

Step 3:?The Impacts

Once climate projections have been made from climate models, then real-world implications can be drawn, where experts analyze the risks upon our lives, countries, and economies.?These impacts over time can include climate effects upon biodiversity, our infrastructure, public health and disease propagation, food and water scarcity, energy security, migration, and economic inequality among a host of other impacts.

Step 4:?The Plans

Planners and solution-builders draft ways to handle these risks from a local and municipal level all the way up to a global scale. Plans can range from climate mitigation (helping to cut emissions) to adaptation (helping communities become more resilient to climate impacts).

Step 5:?The Funding

All around the world, solution-builders are architecting innovative blueprints for climate solutions, but the hindrance towards implementation generally lies in funding sources or mechanisms.?Budgets and financiers play a critical role in determining what plans get implemented, enabling climate plans to be catalyzed and accelerated.

Step 6:?The Implementations

On-the-ground implementations involving the community deliver solutions to the people.?Climate solutions can be tackled by large enterprises such as governments and big corporations, whilst with a bottom-up approach, quantum leaps in progress can also be attained by the startup community and smaller groups in developing ground-breaking innovations that can scale and make significant improvements in our world for generations to come.

Step 7:?The Policies

Policymakers formulate standards to help maintain action and accountability, promote international collaboration and solutions sharing, and draft agreements to bridge the understanding that one country’s actions affect another in this intertwined system of global-scale climate feedbacks.

Step 8:?The Communications

The media and institutions raise awareness and train future leaders on what’s been accomplished and what’s yet to be done.?Accurate and clear scientific communications, training, and advocacy all work in concert to raise consciousness about sustainable practices to steward our earth and inspire our communities.

Fixing the climate crisis is not about any one treaty or any one big magic solution.??

Creating global change is all about a myriad of smaller ecosystems doing their part to contribute towards the wider scope of alleviating the climate crisis.?We can all be a part of the “Climate Solutions Ecosystem” which requires everyone from scientists to investors, politicians to teachers, and large corporations to startups contributing their expertise and resources in making this world a greater place for generations that follow.?Coalitions are vitally important, making sure that the realms of academia, government, non-profits, and businesses do not operate in isolated silos, but in integrated systems with a flow of ideas, solutions, and mutual support.

What are the needs of tomorrow?

Climate solutions are in its infancy, and the future needs of the world will involve, at minimum:

• Better data for smaller localities and microclimates at varying timescales from seconds to years
• Better technologies that enable us to process astronomical amounts of data at lightening speeds to meet real-time needs
• More scientific research into feedbacks and more accurate models with greater insights into drivers of extreme weather and climate enabling more targeted and longer term planning
• More development in sustainable solutions, like ways of getting rid of plastic from our oceans or restoring our coral reefs
• Better, more transparent funding mechanisms and investment to empower climate solutions
• Better education in math, science, communications, as well as entrepreneurship and diplomacy to equip the next generation with the tools that they need to be successful
• Better communications to encourage dialogue and debate, de-mystify science, and help the public work together constructively
• Greater collaboration and coalition-building among scientists, businesses, governments, non-profits, and communities to create freer flows of knowledge, information, and opportunities within a global ecosystem

What are your thoughts on fixing the climate crisis? How can this Climate Solutions Ecosystem be improved? How can you be an important part of the solution? Share your thoughts and insights in the comments below!

#climate #climatescience #climatesolutions #climatetech #climatechange #climatemigitation #climateadaptation #energy #oceans #biodiversity #policy #startups #innovation #community

About the Author:?Ria Persad studied mathematics and physics at Harvard, Princeton, and Cambridge Universities. Her experience in climate modeling began at Lawrence Livermore Lab’s Supercomputer Center in 1991. Persad was a Space Scientist at NASA and has worked on major Wall Street trading floors. Persad is the Founding CEO of StatWeather, ranked as having the #1 climate technology globally by Environmental Business International (EBI). She collaborates with NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information and their academic research partner CICS-NC to advance environmental intelligence.?Persad received the Highest Honor from the Society of Women Engineers and Citations from the U.S. Secretary of Energy and the U.S. Senate on Scientific Achievement on original scientific contributions. Persad has been recognized by Platts Global Energy Awards as one of the top 7 global Lifetime Achievement leaders and was the International Power-Gen and Renewable Energy Woman of the Year. She has served as President of the European Chamber of Digital Commerce specializing in emerging and disruptive technologies and was the creator and moderator of Digital Future Boardroom, televised by CNNMoney Switzerland.