The Real Deal #3: Life's Roadmaps

I asked to get be laid off when I was 33 years old. (Spoiler - my employer happily obliged.)

I had three kids at home and no fallback plan, no roadmap. Reckless. Stupid. Ill-advised. Emotional. I am thinking about writing a whole other post about this later…but here’s the short story:

I was not enjoying what I was doing (cost accounting) or the role itself. I wanted to make a change. Later, following my old job-seeking playbooks, I got a job offer in the same field, which I accepted and later declined the morning I was supposed to start.

I decided that I cared so much about doing work I wanted to do that it was “now or never” time for a change.

It was a leap of faith, and I don’t know if I’d do it again if I had a “do-over.” I would not, in those circumstances, despite it being the right decision in the long run. I’ve had a great career so far and done well, but I had to make tough decisions in order to get there.

Now, I am doing it again with this newsletter and getreal.earth - but this time, with intention and with a roadmap. 😏 

We want to help people find their places in creating a sustainable future.

But the pioneers before us in climate and energy have all kinds of knowledge and skill and experience, and we are building a platform to leverage all of them for those that don’t:

A roadmap.

Like myself, starting a career change without a plan all those years ago, what seems to be missing for people when getting involved in this space is this roadmap. It’s the wild west.

• Do you need a job and want to get involved? There are jobs in climate tech and energy.

• Do you have money to invest or donate? There are companies with great ideas looking to apply their knowledge.

• Are you interested in solving a local problem? There are organizations to work with and efforts to join.

• Do you want to create an effort to solve a problem yourself? There are people who want to help and make a difference all around you.

• Are you looking to learn about issues? There are experts everywhere.

• Do you have a great idea? There are investors who would help out.

Getreal.earth will make the journey to change easier for anyone interested in finding ways to get involved.

I’ve always loved that quote because it’s a kick in the ass. Whenever I read, I stop, look around, and “get busy.” People who want to get stuff done don’t always need reminders like this, but as the saying goes, “whatever it takes,” right?

What you’ll find me saying in this newsletter, often, that there seems to be a gap, a lack of awareness, about “how to get involved in climate and energy.”

I’m here to tell you that we have seen that this is not the case. The opportunities are there. It’s as if this roadmap to achievement has been torn up and spread around…people in science and tech and business and climate law and policy…they all have the pieces.

Investing in, working on, volunteering for, or researching something you care about and making a difference? IT’S POSSIBLE.

When the science, technology, and business/investment communities all get together and create solutions, the opportunities are there. But they can provide the bread crumbs and even the road map for your involvement.

See? Roadmaps…

News from the “Field” - A Hurricane Expert’s View on Helene

What follows is an example of a man of science who convinced me that he has lots to offer business and tech leaders. He has a deep understanding of a big part of the roadmap — what will happen if the world keeps warming up.

Cary Mock is a climatologist, geologist, and Professor in the University of South Carolina’s Geology department. He wrote an insightful article (one of which I referenced last week) about the multi-state impacts of Hurricane Helene.

Here’s a quick, paraphrased and summarized overview of our talk.

Please note: This is my first interview and I have been dreading this moment. Here goes…

Cary’s article is about the uniqueness of Helene and the devastation it wrought across the southeast… specifically six states he discusses. His main points:

1. The Saffir-Simpson scale we use to classify storms with the familiar categories one through five is proving to not be enough. He suggests that, in addition to rating based on wind speeds, which is what the Saffir-Simpson scale uses - storms should also have easily-understood ratings based on storm surge and rainfall.

2. Helene was was highly risky in all three areas. It’s fast ground speed (30 MPH) enabled it to maintain high-velocity and damaging winds through South Carolina and Georgia, and the storm was still very wet by the time it reached the North Carolina mountains.

3. A warmer world is feeding these storms and while they may not happen more frequently, the ones that happen will have all the fuel they need to be more damaging, more often.

I found Professor Mock to be unassuming and approachable. “I’m new at this,” I told him. He didn’t seem to care - he just talked about what he knew. I felt more than welcome into the conversation by him.

Here are some key questions I asked him with paraphrased responses (I did not record the conversation):

Me (TB): Given that you are a professor in a major university, what are you seeing today about the level of engagement from young people? Do they ask you questions about what can be done? If so, what do you say to them?

Cary Mock (CM): Not too many students come to me after class or anything and ask questions. There is a student-run group who does their own thing, running fundraisers for storm victims and other events, for example. But students do not typically come and ask about what they could do. The great thing is that they just do it and I typically get involved when asked.

TB: When do you think the conversation will start to shift from reaction and recovery to more proactive efforts, like adaptation and mitigation.

CM: I don’t know if it will. All these different COP conferences they don’t seem to come up with anything. All the biggest nations and emitters of CO2 — US, China, India, Australia, Canada — have their own approaches. Until you get them all on the same page, nothing’s really going to work.

TB: I spend a lot of time reading about this — why do you think the average person doesn’t get involved? What would you suggest to a person who wants to get involved?

CM: The best thing a person can do is act on the local level and get involved in any way that makes sense for them. Any real progress will be made by political leaders and policy makers. The focus on mitigation and adaptation can only happen at the government level. People have to make their own choices.

Professor Mock is a good example of a researcher and instructor who has a lot of information that is informative and insightful, but not understood by enough people.

It’s probably too late to stop these storms from intensifying. But what about what is happening now in Asheville, where they’re treating the reservoirs a second time and trying to get thigns “back to normal?”

What professor Mock was talking about was how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. How to warn people with a better storm rating system and be better prepared.

What we need to do is “get busy” building and creating and making changes happen through industry and business.

What Professor Moss needs is some business, tech, and others to help him with the roadmap so that people can learn to help.

I’d love to solve this problem… create roadmaps for people to find each other and accomplish things and do their own problem-solving.

I hope you’re enjoying this newsletter. My mind is filled with thoughts about all of this and sometimes they overlap and conflate and I need to step back and rethink how to MAKE MY POINT. I thank everyone who reads it and really, really want any feedback you can provide. Just hit reply…I’ll get it. And…I’ll get it.

As always please forward this email to anyone you know who wants to get involved.

Peace and Gratitude.

NOTE: Please forward to anyone who you know who may be interested in how to get into climate and energy!