Thanks to Bill Gates for adding photosynthesis to the climate change conversation
Bill Gates made sure that the climate talks in Paris got off to an inspiring start this week with his announcement of the new Breakthrough Energy Coalition on Monday.
The coalition, along with new Mission Innovation commitments by a group of countries to accelerate global clean energy innovation, aims to use technology to solve energy issues. Bill said in this blog post that the primary goal of the Coalition is as much to accelerate progress on clean energy as it is to make a profit.
Most exciting for me? Bill mentions artificial photosynthesis - using sunlight to turn excess CO2 into fuel - as a possible solution.
At last! Mimicking plants!
And that's just the beginning of the solutions we can find from nature's genius as the world looks for ways to stop carbon emissions AND to draw carbon out of the atmosphere. That's what it's going to take if we want to make a meaningful effort in cooling the planet.
Here's the thing: Nature sees carbon as a building block. That's important as we look to take carbon out of the air. Plants use carbon to make sugars, starches, and cellulose. Corals use carbon to build reefs, and mollusks use carbon to manufacture their shells. We can do that too.
But how exactly does nature manage carbon? I narrated a video on Biomimcry 3.8's climate change solutions page detailing the answer. It's hard to watch at times. But it's where we'll find the solutions.
Thanks again to Bill for making plants a part of the clean energy conversation.
General Manger at REVIENT LLC
5 年Some of the not so positive comments lead me to think about Edison and his exhaustive experimentation to find a filament for the first light bulbs.? We are just beginning to? look at nature through the lens of modern scientific tools.? Yes the work is young and the task daunting but the risk of not acting on Climate Change is too great to ignore.? ?I think that the process of natural selection over billions of years is exactly where we need to be looking for both short term and long term survival of our species.? Our global access to information, the speed with which we can develop models and complete experiments all give me hope.? Thanks you Janine for your leadership and mentoring us down this "Road Less Traveled".? ?If we can change minds we can change the World.
Co-Director at Rochester Minnsota Transcendental Meditation
7 年And Columbia Fall’s Algae Aqua Culture Technologies is one of the drivers of the emerging carbon-nation—using Biochar and algae to create prototype soil, while stabilizing carbon in the soil and creating carbon condos for the growth of soil microorganisms and the retention of vital soil nutrients and moisture. See AlgaeAqua.com
Business & Carrier Strategist | Innovation, Creativity and Agile | Creative Mentor
8 年Hi Janine, Biomimicry is amazing inspiration, not just for design (hard) but also for human behaviour (soft). From Chemistry standpoint, photosyntheis shall be seen as the highest expresion of beauty, humans have been too arrogant to only look at it now with aprendiz eyes :-)
Author
8 年A highly important matter, is excellent, this is the human need at the beginning of this era...Thank you Janine
Visionary change leader with deep insight
8 年Excellent