Real Deal #4

Hi and welcome to today’s issue of The Real Deal - the getreal.earth newsletter for people looking for ways to get into climate and energy.

We want to be the resource that makes fixing climate issues accessible.

We’re going to get right into it today. The election is behind us here in the US, and there’s a lot of work to do. Moving on.

I was speaking to a young twenty-something person recently who asked, “How are we supposed to get involved with anything when we’re worried about our next paycheck?”

Makes perfect sense. Hopefully this newsletter and our upcoming solution helps solve that problem.

The Business of Climate - Breaking Things Down

Why is it so hard for people to figure out how to get involved in climate? US Green technology - only ONE SECTOR of the climate/energy economy - is valued at over $6 Billion according to Fortune Business Insights.

(In a nutshell, Green Tech is applying technology to green/sustainable earth solutions)

If you want to, getting involved through what you do for a living or with your investment money or ideas is possible.

What we know from the dozens of meetings, conferences, interviews, discussions, presentations we have seen and attended, and at which we have met many people, is that roles and opportunities exist.

It astounds me to see how many companies and businesses are doing so much good work, generating income and jobs.

An incomplete and oversimplified view of the industry 🙂 

Much of what we’re conveying here might be obvious but I hope you are starting to see that things are not hopeless.

Last spring, we were on a call with Rebecca Pearl-Martinez, Executive Director in Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability.

We were talking about a new phrase (to us) - “climate justice” - and I asked her why tech advancement, science and research breakthroughs, and business development never seem to be all in the right place together at the same time.

Her answer was that the technical term for this was “Convergence,” and that anyone who can solve this will solve a lot of problems. Especially when you consider how much investment money is out there.

(yes I know what convergence means, not in the context of this space)

From my quest for knowledge, and after almost a year, I believe that we have developed a decent layman’s understanding of the big picture. This week I’d like to share this high-level view.

Level Setting

When talking about climate energy, there are two broad (in this case, oversimplified) ways to look at it.

The first is by sector:

• Energy Production - Pretty self explanatory…but how is everything powered? (Have you wondered how your state receives its power?)

• Transportation - How can we make getting around cleaner or more efficient?

• Agriculture/Food - Can we produce ammonia with less carbon or reduce methane emissions and adapt agriculture to produce food in less hospitable (dryer/wetter/hotter) climates?

• Industry - How can factories and processes consume less energy and produce less waste?

• Buildings - How can new and existing buildings become more efficient energy consumers?

• Waste Management - Very broadly speaking, what do we do with stuff we throw out?

The second is by approach:

• Mitigation - What can be done to slow or stop producing carbon (or other waste)?

• Adaptation - How do we make adjustments to how we live and what we build for a changing world?

• Carbon Removal (or Carbon Capture) - How can we apply technologies that exist to reduce carbon emissions and even capture and store or convert it?

• Behavior / Policy Change - Can government or policy play a productive role? 🤔 

Let’s look at different approaches by sector, with examples and logos of companies who work in the space.

All these companies are doing work to improve how we operate on the planet; how we live, consume, and manage waste. And the great news is that there is so much new about it that anyone can network and find ways to contribute.

New startups are making headway every day.

Let me know if you have any questions about this! Just reply - I’ll get it.

In the news

On Monday, 11 November COP29 - the “Conference of Parties” - will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

COP is the premiere event for climate agreements, but it’s really for government agencies to get together and try to hammer out agreements on carbon emissions. It is attended by almost every country, is usually politically charged, and often sponsored and attended by companies who engage in a subversive tactics known as “greenwashing.”

Greenwashing is a business practice of appeasing shareholders through misleading statements about a company’s green practices. Think of the old commercial about oil companies using algae to create biofuels. It never happened, but it sure did make drivers feel better about their gasoline.

This coming week at COP29, this practice should be in full effect. I’m looking forward to hearing from the people I follow and talk to who are going to find out whether efforts to tamp down this behavior are working. I’ll dedicate a writeup to the outcome of the conference.

One other note on COP29 - its effectiveness in progressing the conversations and spreading knowledge are highly regarded. But on the whole, the agreements that have come out of it have not yielded results.

The Election is Behind Us!

Since this week was the election, it seems to prudent to reflect on how fortunate we all are to have power to choose our leadership. I reflected on this on Tuesday as I voted and felt a sense of pride and gratitude. There is no day that I feel more patriotic than on Election Day.

Thank you for reading!