🌎 Borderless Problems Require Interconnected Solutions #019
a call to seek solace in nature
TLDR: Climate change is a borderless problem that requires interconnected solutions. I’m going to a climate leaders’ retreat in Colorado and I want you to come too! (see end of this issue to learn about a reduced price for BIC readers).
Normally I write through an optimistic lens that fundamentally believes technology is a force for good. Today may be a bit more somber. I try to stay away from mainstream news for the most part, but the current events unfolding in Gaza compel me to pay attention. How could I not?
In between moments of trying to focus, I go through my Instagram stories. A friend shares a video of a Palestinian father wailing while cradling his dead baby. The next story is polaroids of fancy dining and lowlight clubbing. Another friend reposts the woman who held up a swastika at an anti-Israel rally in Times Square. Then it’s back to the humdrum of selfies, food, and memes.
I try to enjoy a stroll among the fall foliage that’s started to emerge here in NYC, but I don’t get far. My friend who grew up in Israel shares a long, heavy post that includes “My aunt’s house was hit by a rocket and another rocket hit a building next to my grandma.” I text him “I hope everyone is able to stay safe” while feeling helplessly confused. It seems like everyone is suffering, no matter which side you’re on — If there are even sides to begin with.
The Interconnectedness of Climate
While humans wage war on their fellow neighbor, the planetary challenge of sustaining life on earth persists. The past four months have been called “a summer of extremes” due to record-breaking temperatures. Yet, most days still seem the same. Unless there’s a nearby wildfire, I’m still able to do all the things I want without feeling the effects of climate change. While the short-term symptoms are infrequently felt, the long-term consequences are quite literally existential. You may disagree and say that climate change is already affecting us — which is fair — I am only selfishly describing my life as a privileged American who spends most of his time between California and New York.
Climate change suffers from the boiling frog syndrome; we’re less likely to take action on problems that get worse gradually rather than suddenly. So then — why climate? Working in climate sometimes comes with the urge to justify choosing this abstract global mission over other important problems like education, healthcare, or AI alignment.
I reject that premise. Instead of viewing things as separate, I believe everything is interconnected.
On the surface, it’s hard to see how a war between two countries far far away is relevant to climate change. But I’m not just referring to the current war between Israel and Hamas. Last year, the combination of Russia invading Ukraine and Europe’s heavy reliance on energy imports from Russia resulted in electricity prices tripling.
As droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes result in the total reshaping of the earth’s human geography, billions of people will be forced to abandon their homes. This will have irreversible effects on our food systems, cities, and politics.
In an era of ever-increasing complexity, we try to simplify by deciding between climate mitigation vs. adaptation, individual action vs. collective change, and what we deem as climate-relevant vs. not climate-relevant. These are false dichotomies.
Everything is interconnected.
Climate Change is Borderless
Climate change carries no passport and knows no national borders.
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
The construction of man-made languages, identities, and borders divide us which poses a threat to solving the ecological crisis. There’s a reason why it’s called “global warming” and not “national warming”.
Our planet getting warmer is independent of man-made lines in the sand which we call national borders. Yet, we are still playing zero-sum games. Superpowers like the US and China compete head-to-head and wage economic warfare on each other rather than collaborate on solutions.
While global leaders fight for strategic advantages in critical minerals and scale up local manufacturing capabilities, developing countries are left to bear the brunt. The Global South will disproportionately suffer even though the Global North is responsible for 92% of excess emissions. People in places like India, Africa, and the Middle East will experience more destruction than we do, even though we (the Global North) are contributing to global warming far more than they are.
Yes — we need to rapidly decarbonize the grid, food systems, and the built environment in America. But we also need to play an active role in shepherding smaller, developing countries towards net zero. The bystander effect is especially dangerous at this level of urgency and scale.
Instead of trying to win first place in the race to decarbonize, maybe we should be aiming to make sure everyone is actually still alive to cross the finish line.
Borderless Problems Require Interconnected Solutions
The story of separation is what got us into this mess in the first place. Individuals fending for themselves instead of looking out for their neighbors. Nations prioritizing domestic GDP over international prosperity. We can’t keep living in abstractions that create “us vs. them” conflicts while kicking the can down the road.
You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.
- Albert Einstein
So what does interconnected actually mean? There are multiple levels to consider.
What exactly does it mean if something is “climate”? With the Ukraine war example, it’s clear that seemingly unrelated events have far-reaching ripple effects. Labeling things as “climate” or “non-climate” further disconnects us from an interconnected reality. There is more to climate beyond just carbon markets, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. Inversely, things that appear to be on the periphery like geopolitical conflicts, labor shortages, and supply chain crunches are just as climate-relevant.
Even within the sphere of climate, it’s unclear if the singular goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by reaching net zero by 2050 is optimal for planetary health. A centralized narrative is a tradeoff that prioritizes the global and the abstract over the local and the concrete. A singular quantifiable metric that represents the collective climate effort risks missing the forest for the trees.
There is a danger that the climate change issue occludes other important environmental issues: deforestation, eutrophication, fishery depletion, radioactive waste, nuclear accidents, wetlands destruction, genetic pollution, toxic waste, pharmaceutical pollution, electromagnetic pollution, habitat destruction of all kinds, soil erosion, species extinction, aquifer and freshwater depletion and pollution, and biodiversity loss.
What is the role of the individual in this problem of planetary scale? What is the role of a single community in this global society? What can one country do when there are 194 others? The answer lies in Matryoshka dolls. The world is composed of countries which are just groups of people. If you peel back enough layers, what’s left is just you. Remember that collective change is just a lot of individual action.
The Wisdom of Nature
In a time when so much is at stake and also up in the air, it’s crucial to ground ourselves in what we know to be true. Politicians and CEOs can (and often do) make empty promises, but nature can’t. Nature simply exists. As adults we often take nature for granted as something solely reserved for beautiful views while on a weekend getaway. But as kids we learned just as much from experiencing our first snowfall, rolling around grass fields, and chasing after butterflies as we did in the classroom. It’s time we return back to that childlike curiosity.
Man-made technology brought us chemical fertilizers, computers, and the internet, but when overly relied on, symptoms of overabundance arise. Today, 74% of Americans are overweight, we are lonelier than ever, and life expectancy has declined for the second year in a row. These are just a few examples that show economic growth and wellbeing — both human and planetary — are starting to decouple. Maybe there is something we can learn from nature.
By viewing the world through a human-first lens, we fail to recognize the intelligence that surrounds us.
Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal can only tap into a small fraction of reality’s fullness. Each is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world.
- Ed Yong
The existence of the tetrachromatic mantis shrimp, 9-brained octopus, and 200-eyed scallop humble us in our understanding of the world.
While often reserved for purely inspiration and awe, nature is actually an experiment that’s still running after millions of years. Simulations, A/B tests, and MVPs are no match for the eons of ecological adaptation. What we see today and call “wild” is a product of evolution. Everything is here for a reason. And it’s all interconnected.
Fortunately, since reaching peak emissions in 2007, there’s been a reversal in the right direction. While I am an advocate for innovative moonshots like nuclear and green hydrogen, I can’t help but notice that many climate solutions are drawing on the wisdom of nature. Regenerative agriculture incorporates contour farming and crop rotation which indigenous tribes have been doing for millenia. Enhanced rock weathering is basically just using rock dust to suck CO2 out of the air. Kelp is being farmed in large volumes because they’re a great natural carbon sink. The entire field of synthetic biology is dedicated to engineering living organisms. I also can’t help but notice the similarities between the proliferation of solar photovoltaics today and the worship of the sun god Ra during Ancient Egypt. It took us a few thousand years, but we seem to finally remember the life-giving qualities of the sun.
Returning to Nature
I have learned so much from nature. The jagged majesty of the mountains and the cyclical rhythm of the ocean have taught me some of the most practical lessons in life. After a few chaotic, exciting months in the Big Apple, I’m longing to be back in an environment where I can take a step back.
So much of climate news perpetuates a dire need for constant progress because of the urgency. Speed however, is not the same thing as velocity. Amidst the buzz, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and experience climate anxiety. Sometimes we need to remember why we started in the first place. Sometimes we need to retreat to reorient.
“The times are urgent; let us slow down.” - Bayo Akomolafe
On November 9-10, I’ll be attending A Deep Breath Amidst the Storm: A Climate Leaders’ Retreat in Boulder, CO. As described by the co-facilitators Brooks and Dom, the retreat is an “exploration of what it looks like to step into climate action from a place of alignment, presence and peace — and in mystical, animistic relationship with nature.”
As someone who’s still fairly young in his career and 9+ months into his sabbatical, committing to this type of experience was honestly not an instant yes. However, after talking with Dom and realizing that we may be approaching the climate problem with the wrong frame of consciousness, I decided this was worth the try.
Brooks and Dom have kindly offered Build in Climate readers a reduced price. To join, register here and use code BUILD at the checkout page to save $100. I hope you’ll consider attending and hanging out with me in Boulder! If you have any questions, reply to this or email me.
