Why we haven't stopped climate change -- and what to do now — Jamie Alexander — TEDxBerlinSalon

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: there are two powerful but competing forces at play in the world today on one hand the surging wave of companies investors and technologies focused on climate change solutions and on the other hand the incumbent old guard industries that have powered our homes and built our cities but that we now know are incompatible with thriving life on our planet and I think that the work in front of all of us now is to move as many workers jobs decisions dollars hearts and hands from one side to the other as quickly and equitably as humanly possible so we are all now impacted by the effects of climate change in our own lives we feel it in our bones and yet it feels to me like we all keep doing too little sometimes I feel like we're standing by as our home slips away bit by bit with all of us looking at each other wondering if someone else is going to do something about it but we all have a say in the outcome of this story and I think that we have barely begun to tap the levers of influence that we have at our disposal some of them may mean that some of us are a little less comfortable or that maybe we try something new or that maybe we take some more risk but never before has climate change been on our doorsteps and in our homes like this and when it comes to the magnitude and the urgency of this challenge there are very few risk-free options left for the last several years I've worked at the epicenter of climate solutions I've worked with some of the biggest and most influential corporations in the world working to scale climate solutions things like heat pumps LED lighting green steel regenerative agriculture practices and more and that's good and important work but in the capitalist system in which most of us live we are wired to focus on what needs to grow not on what needs to stop and I think that's where the problem lies because in my experience this focus on growth this tunnel vision prevents us too often from seeing the true change that is really required and in my case that led me to resigning from a job that I loved but one in which I was constrained from being too bold or from telling the hard truth that we can't grow our way out of this crisis that our current approaches are not getting the job done in time that new tactics are needed and fast because there seems to be this unsaid hypothesis that all we need to do is grow climate solutions and then somehow the bad the polluting stuff will just magically vanish well guess what in many sectors that's just not what's happening the way I think about it is this imagine that you're having a party at your house and it's been a lot of fun and everyone's had a great time but it's getting late and you're ready for everybody to go home well you can't just open up the front door and expect that everyone's gonna take the hint and walk out you also have to close the back door which I don't recommend doing to your friends but in terms of climate change we need to both open the front door to climate solutions and close the back door to the things that need to stop so here are two examples of what I'm talking about in the US where where I live so first of the transportation sector is a significant contributor to climate change so we think of ride sharing or carpooling as climate solutions so in capitalism what do we do with that information well among other things we created ride-sharing companies like uber or bolt or others but do you think that the existence of these ride-sharing companies has actually led to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions they haven't recent studies show that greenhouse gas emissions from an uber or another transportation network company are on average twenty percent higher than if we were simply to drive our own car so these companies are not taking market share away from personally owned vehicles they're only adding to the pie what about business travel we know that air travel is the single most carbon intensive activity that many people in the global north do so you might think that having access to remote video meeting technology like zoom or Skype might reduce the need for business travel right that would that would be reasonable but do you think that our business travel has has been reduced because of having that technology it hasn't studies show that actually next year were projected to surpass business travel compared to before the pandemic started but now we also have emissions from all of our all of our video streaming now don't get me wrong we need all of this innovation we need the startups we need the big ideas we need these new ventures that have really good intentions but we can't let the road to climate hell be paved with our good intentions because we now know that we can have all the climate solutions products and technologies in the world but they won't necessarily solve the climate problem unless and until they replace their carbon intensive alternatives now I am NOT here to call for a global takedown of capitalism on the contrary I actually think that we can use the tools of capitalism to stabilize the climate just not in the same way that we've been doing it we don't just need more e-bike startups we need fewer personally owned vehicles we don't just need more carbon removal technology we need to stop spewing stuff into the atmosphere we don't just need more renewable energy startups we need an end to fossil fuels so the hard truth is that for some entire businesses and industries that means lights out some businesses and industries need to make a dramatic urgent pivot toward the industries of the future and equip and transition their workforce accordingly or prepare to be phased out now you could say let's let the market sort itself out right say, let's let the market sort itself out, right? We don't have time for the market to sort itself out. We can't just wait and hope that climate solutions will win and that things will turn out okay in the end because time is the most important variable when it comes to climate change. From today until 2030, we need to cut our emissions in half. Our every action now needs to be surgical, precise, and use every bit of influence that we have. So from now until 2030, I'm going to be the best possible operator that I can be within the capitalist system. I want to use the tools of capitalism to help stabilize the climate. How can we do that? First, and most directly, we can leverage our power as consumers. Yes, I know we were all born into systems that we did not create and over which we have very little control. But every bit of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere from now on, makes the problem worse. So every action, how we eat, how we power our homes, how we travel, it all matters. And when we aggregate our influence and our decisions with others, it can create large market forces. I have been in too many meetings with too many business executives who have said something along the lines of this. Well, we'll stop producing it when consumers stop demanding it. But for those of us with the power and the luxury of choice, let's take away that excuse. Second, we can leverage the power of our money. The financial sector is sometimes called the invisible hand of the climate crisis because of the extensive financing that it provides to the fossil fuel industry and to other high emitting sectors. We can engage our banks though. Large US global banks lend as much as 30% of our money, our personal checking and savings to the industries driving the climate crisis. We have a say in that. We can call our banks, ask if they're lending our money to the fossil fuel industry and other high emitting sectors. And if they are, we can move that money to banks that aren't. And there are a lot of them. And tell them why. Through the power of our money, we can stop the blood flow to high emitting sectors and move it to climate solutions. And third, we can leverage the power of our jobs and our networks. We don't need to have climate or sustainability in our job titles to be effective agents of change. Every job is a climate job. In fact, I think that some of the most powerful climate operators actually work under the radar. Because in our current system, there are very real, very powerful individuals with their hands on the controls. Empowered to be able to make decisions that essentially turn the dials up or down on the levels of greenhouse gases that are churning into the atmosphere every second of every day. They're on every city council commission. They're in every corporation. They're in every bank. They're in every state house. They're everywhere. Maybe you're one of those key decision makers. Maybe you're a trusted confidant of one of them or an employee. Maybe you're a janitor in their office. Maybe you teach their kids in school. How can you influence them? What messages would they need to hear? What messages would they need to hear? Connections like this could tip the scale and they could happen anywhere in the unlikeliest of places and could lead to outcomes that we might never imagined. What are we willing to risk to help tilt the world toward a livable future? The risk of this transition cannot just live with the workers who spent their lives in the coal mine or the steel foundry who are watching their jobs disappear. The risk of this transition cannot just live with a cattle farmer who's losing his livelihood, with a Bangladeshi family who risks losing their home in the next cyclone. We can confront this emergency arm in arm with those of us who live in the most comfort and who have contributed the most to the problem taking the most risk. Let's keep adapting. Let's keep switching tactics. If our current approach is insufficient, let's try a new one. Let's stand up for our home in ways that we haven't tried yet, ways that may seem scary or uncomfortable or new. Let's use every bit of our influence, our access, our privilege and our courage to the fullest. And there's strength in numbers. So let's do it together. Thank you.