Think Act Regenerate Leigh Baker

The impact of industry-supported climate solutions is not well recognised. The US ratification of the Kigali Accord is one such example - which passed the US Senate with bipartisan support in late 2022. It was a solution supported by the HVAC-R industry and lobbied for by the industry - and is expected to reduce warming in 2100 by 0.35 to 0.5 degrees Centigrade.



The most powerful place you can take climate action may well be in your own industry. For example, the computer games industry has a powerful role to play - one outlined by Project Drawdown's A DRAWDOWN-ALIGNED FRAMEWORK FOR THE GAMING INDUSTRY.



The more you know about today's wealth of regenerative business solutions, the better your chances of being a powerful change agent.



LINKS

A Drawdown-Aligned Framework for the Gaming Industry: https://drawdown.org/publications/a-drawdown-aligned-framework-for-the-gaming-industry

"The US Senate ratifies international climate agreement in bipartisan vote" by Tim Treuer in The Waggle: https://mailchi.mp/regeneration.org/the-waggle-issue-27-hoflhgby6e?e=33eee9b47f

"The Senate ratified a climate change treaty with rare strong bipartisan support" NPR September 2022:
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/22/1124590392/the-senate-ratified-a-climate-change-treaty-with-rare-strong-bipartisan-support



Original music by Ian Hopkinson of hopkinsoncreative.com

ReGenOmics Down Under is a podcast by Leigh Baker of Balance3 exploring the wealth of climate solutions happening on the ground in Australia and New Zealand, as well as around the world.

This episode explores what the human race already knows about how to reverse global warming – starting with the commercial, scaling solutions modelled and ranked by the independent not-for-profit Project Drawdown in 2017 (and updated in 2020)

Project Drawdown’s findings include:
We CAN reverse global warming – even if we just use the quantifiable, multi-benefit commercial solutions that WE ALREADY HAVE and are already scaling.
NONE of the 80 solutions require further policy change from national governments (while it would help, all the solutions ARE  commercial and  ARE scaling)
79 of the solutions are multi-benefit solutions that make the world BETTER (the only harmful solution of significance was nuclear).
The 80 solutions are WHOLE-OF-ECONOMY solutions that go way beyond electriciy generation and transport to include food, agriculture, construction, education, health and materials.
The high-potential new solutions that they didn’t have numbers for are likely to be every bit as powerful and even more regenerative than what we have now.

The list of 80 commercial, quantified Drawdown solutions can a bit overwhelming, and each one only gets 2 pages of explanation. 

So in this episode we dive in to a couple and see how they’re happening in Australia, with examples from two past Climactic episodes.
Tropical forest regeneration
Insulation

Forest regeneration ranked #5 and #12 on the original Drawdown top 80.   And here’s an example of what a small group of concerned Australian researchers created, told by Jess Panegyres from The Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network

Insulation ranked #21 on the original Drawdown list. We explore the action that one Perth insulation installer began back while Drawdown was still doing their modelling.

Drawdown only modelled solutions where they could find a robust, peer-reviewed data sets – so there are many, many more powerful, existing solutions that aren’t  that well-measured yet – from vortex water processing to cellulose-based building materials.  

So it’s more useful to think of Drawdown as a guide book of highlights rather than a definitive encyclopedia.

We live in a world where most of the mainstream media coverage on climate action is focused on either:
high-level action where big government and big business do big things; OR
low-level actions about consumers using less or spending more on expensive alternatives.

That’s barely beginning of the story.  Those two themes like the pastry layers on a vanilla slice – necessary, but not the main event.  There’s actually a wealth of accessible action when you get out and start looking for problems that need solving and the opportunities they create.

Solving the challenges we face has created a quiet design revolution –  the development of systems and processes that regenerate communities and ecosystems.   It’s a whole lot easier to see the best, multi-benefit solutions when you understand the straightforward principles regenerative design.  

Re-gen-omics Down Under explores the solutions happening and the thinking behind them – so if you’re interested in solutions, learn to find your action opportunities and listen to your gut. 

LINKS
Paul Hawken, founder of Project Drawdown, speaking on Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOTLtrt6OIE

Key pages from Project Drawdown's website (where their open-source finding are published):
Their current list of evidence-based solutions https://drawdown.org/solutions
Their downloadable updates https://drawdown.org/drawdown-review

The Climactic Live episode BZE - Fight for Planet A Panel for the forest regeneration story  https://www.climactic.fm/show/climactic/climactic-live-bze-fight-fo

INTRO

This podcast is called Regenomics Down Under - "Regenomics" is short for Regional Regenerative Economies – and in previous episodes we’ve looked at what’s happening – mostly locally in Australia.

Today’s a bit different – we’re looking at “What IS regeneration anyway?”  and “How can you learn to enable regeneration?”

I interview Kathleen Davies of Ekkremon – a freelance engineering HAZOPS facilitator – who recently finished a course called The Regenerative Practitioner with the Regenesis Group.

We took a deep dive into the practice of regeneration – from regeneration of self to global regeneration.

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LINKS

Ekkremon: http://www.ekkremon.com.au/

The Regenesis Group: https://regenesisgroup.com/

Paul Hawken talking about Regeneration and climate solutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68fY0rSkhRo

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CREDITS

Original music and audio editing support by Ian Hopkinson, Human Hacker https://www.humanhackers.live/blog and serial digital entrepreneur.

INTRODUCTION
Want a materials solution that replaces fossil-based styrofoam with a compostable alternative AND reduces greenhouse gases by turning agricultural “waste” into valuable packaging?

It’s being delivered in Melbourne – by mushrooms. Not the “fruit” that we eat as mushrooms – but the mycellium root system that they grow on.

Today we talk with Amanda Morgan of Fungi Solutions about how they’re turning wastes into beautiful, elegant packaging solutions.

Join us to hear more about the future of myco-materials ...



LINKS

Fungi Solutions website: https://www.fungisolutions.com.au/

Amanda’s Mycellium Made video from Nice Film Co: https://www.nicefilm.co/work/mycelium-made

No More Butts – action for a butt-free Australia: https://nomorebutts.org.au/home

Butt Out Australia – specialist cigarette butt disposal equipment: https://buttoutaustralia.com.au/

Victorian Sustainability Waste Data: https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/research-data-and-insights/waste-data

MYCOmmunity Applied Mycology Lab: https://myco.org.au/

Project Regeneration’s Waste Nothing action list: https://regeneration.org/nexus/wasting-nothing

The Circular Economy in Victoria: https://www.cev.org.au/

Biomimicry innovation inspired by Nature:  https://biomimicry.net/and also https://asknature.org/

Paul Hawken quote on “what you should do”:  https://leighbaker.com.au/what-should-you-do-about-global-warming



CREDITS

Original music and audio editing assistance by Ian Hopkinson, Human Hacker https://www.humanhackers.live/blog and serial digital entrepreneur.

INTRODUCTION 

Do you like the idea of coffee that restores the forests that sequester carbon?   I do. So it was great to talk with Darcy Small, co-founder of Kua Coffee about how his Australian-based social enterprise is collaborating with Ugandan coffee growers to help them respond and adapt to climate change. Darcy tells the story of how a couple of engineering students and their housemates came to start a climate positive coffee business - one that cuts greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and regenerates farming lands and communities in Uganda. 

LINKS

 Kua Coffee: https://kuacoffee.co/   

Sendle Carbon Neutral Logistics: https://try.sendle.com/en-au/carbon-neutral-delivery  

Share Waste Composting: https://sharewaste.com/   

The Commons Coworking Spaces: https://thecommons.com.au/   

EcoTrust: https://ecotrust.org/   

FairChain Coffee Kenya:  https://fairchainkenya.coffee/  

Links between forests and rain: https://theweathermakers.nl/elementor-2250/  

Coffee grounds as valuable materials: https://en.reset.org/5-innovative-ways-recycle-used-coffee-grounds/  

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Michael Porter on “Why business can be good at solving social problems”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iIh5YYDR2o   

Re-Inventing Organisations: https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/   

Ray Anderson of Interface on the first decade of their regenerative business journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kudilj10H4E   

Project Drawdown’s ranked list of today’s commercial climate solutions: https://drawdown.org/solutions   

Project Regeneration action lists: https://regeneration.org/nexus   

Circular Economy resources: https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/   

Biomimicry: https://biomimicry.net/  and also https://asknature.org/     



CREDITS

 Original music by Ian Hopkinson, Human Hacker https://www.humanhackers.live/blog   and serial digital entrepreneur. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/RegenerativeBusiness

In this episode of Regenomics Down Under, we take a quick (ish) tour through the Project Drawdown 2020 review, summarising their action areas and connecting them to actions happening in Australia and around the world. 

We explore quantified, evidence-based solutions for reversing global warming through: Improving society Supporting carbon sinks Reducing emissions Reducing emissions is much more interesting than solar panels and electric vehicles. Currently our global emissions come from:

~25% Electricity Production
~24% Food, Agriculture & Land Use
~21% Industry
~14% Transportation
~6% Buildings
~10% Other Energy-Related Emissions – leaking gas pipe lines and the like 

So reducing emissions covers all those sectors – Food, Agriculture, Land Use, Industry, and Buildings – they all have a role to play alongside electricity generation and transport. There is a whole smorgasbord of commercial climate solutions already scaling – solutions that regenerate ecosystems and communities as well as our atmosphere. A whole heap are happening down under, too.  Here’s an intro to help you find your piece of the action.

LINKS

Drawdown 2020 Review: https://www.drawdown.org/drawdown-review Drawdown 

Climate Solutions 101 – free 6-part video series: https://www.drawdown.org/climate-solutions-101 

Systems Thinking: Understanding and working with human systems is fundamental to climate solutions. Meet some key systems thinkers in this video collection: https://balance3.com.au/meet-the-systems-thinkers/ 

Drawdown report on Education and Health: https://drawdown.org/publications/drawdown-lift-policy-brief-girls-education-and-family-planning 

Oyster Reef Restoration: https://theconversation.com/huge-restored-reef-aims-to-bring-south-australias-oysters-back-from-the-brink-77405 

Reef Credits: https://eco-markets.org.au/reef-credits/ 

Trust for Nature: https://trustfornature.org.au/ 

Seaweed Carbon Capture: https://whatsyour2040.com/marine-permaculture/ 

Food waste statistics: 14 percent of the world’s food is lost before it even reaches the market. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/food-loss-and-waste-must-be-reduced-greater-food-security-and 

Banana ‘waste’ becomes food: https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/membership/company-director-magazine/2019-back-editions/november/this-banana-farmer-is-tackling-australias-food-waste-crisis-through-sustainable-innovation 

RenewEconomy is full of ongoing renewables stories: https://reneweconomy.com.au/ 

TotallyRenewableYack.org.au has been doing amazing things. If you have more listening time, one telling of their story is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y032YVmx-fc 

Biomimicry for smarter technology: https://asknature.org/ 

Circular Economy in Victoria: https://www.cev.org.au/ 

Green steel stories: https://reneweconomy.com.au/another-nail-in-coals-coffin-german-steel-furnace-runs-on-renewable-hydrogen-in-world-first-55906/ ), and a dedicated plant is being built in Austria (sadly, not Australia – yet) https://www.intelligentliving.co/amp/worlds-largest-zero-emissions-hydrogen-steel-plant/ 

The BZE 2018 report on “Electrifying Industry” https://bze.org.au/research_release/electrifying-industry/ 

Aussie entrepreneur like Cannon-Brookes exploring for first mover advantage https://www.manmonthly.com.au/Mike+Cannon-Brookes+looks+to+solar-powered+steel 

Robot ship cleaner: https://smartmaritimenetwork.com/2020/03/16/hull-cleaning-robot-system-introduced/ 

Electric airplanes for cleaner, quieter Australian air travel: www.reneweconomy.com.au/how-this-electric-airplane-could-reshape-regional-air-travel-26533/