We’ve barely even started Climate Workers Anonymous and I’m already receiving such challenging and intriguing pieces of feedback, and so many submissions. Thank you to everyone who has participated to date and taken time to share something real with this project.
A friend of mine wrote me right before I recorded this episode and mentioned that he wanted fewer hot takes and more stories, and emotional content beyond anger. It set me to thinking about anger and how I understand its usefulness or lack thereof.
Anger can be a legitimate response to the unfairness of external results. It can be something pointed inward to something that needs psychological and/or spiritual attention.
If Christian, anger at others can be the ethical equivalent of murder. Jesus takes the old laws here and makes it so much more demanding:
21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
— Matthew 5:21-22, King James Version
If Buddhist, anger points to thwarted desire, and the need to eliminate that desire.
Or, anger can be sublimated sadness. What might be tears may start as fury. Sometimes people need to work their way through the anger to get to the well of despondency below. In climate, this is often a deep disappointment that we just cannot get our act together as a species. It is hard living with that fact. When I get past my own anger, what is down below is a plaintive child earnestly yearning for all of humanity to live well together and to treat one another with the kindness, patience, and mercy. We could have that world. And yet, we have chosen something so much worse. These thoughts point me to the puzzles of akrasia, and what causes us to choose something inferior as though this is all we might have, deserve, or just be capable of.
That simpleness is deceptively difficult to reach. I think it’s actually the point of this passage from the Gospel (not to be too Bible-y today, but if the shoe fits…)
18 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
— Matthew 18: 1-4, King James Version
Earnestness and simplicity are so jarring that I spent a decent chunk of time being wowed by just how simple John Green ’s book Everything is Tuberculosis is in a recent Reversing Climate Change episode.
While we are seeing a lot of submissions that have the cut of anger about them, that’s okay. Anger isn’t a false emotion. Suppressing it isn’t the answer. But I do think we want to process through anger into what lies beyond.
This is not to discourage anger in your submissions—that likely needs to be expressed. But I would encourage you not to stop there. Feel what is beyond anger. Try to talk about that. Send me of your experiences in working through anger and accessing a different part of your relationship to climate.
If you do experience sadness and struggle with anger, go the opposite direction! Maybe you have been pushing your anger down. But it’s okay to be angry about climate and the direction of the world. You can share that here too. Perhaps this didn’t come through as strongly in the audio version of this episode, but we need you to feel those feelings that have been inaccessible or difficult to express as well. That is equally a part of this.
It isn’t exactly clear what the ultimate shape of this project will be. If you have an intuition that you should send something in, please do. Don’t let my prompts prevent you from saying something true. If I am able (and I really do try to pass along all of the submissions), I will help you say your true thing.
Submissions
Warning: these submissions are anonymous and unverified.
Even with all the BS in the carbon removal industry, I do believe deep down that society will one day achieve net-negative emissions each year. Even if it's a small amount, and even though there will be unfathomable and irreversible damage to the planet in the meantime, the cumulative impact of this across centuries will be beneficial.
Our main challenge in some ways is to figure out how to prevent this promise from being used in any way to deter mitigation. With some emotional maturity, I think that's possible, but many people disagree.CDR is not bipartisan for a good reason
I don't think the unit economics of e-fuels will every really pencil but I'm also worried about the risks and harms from continuing business-as-usual use of fossil fuels paired with carbon removal. But will electrification, efficiency, and demand reduction be enough for net zero? Sometimes, I just don't know and feel like it's not knowable and that we need to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But that approach creates ripe conditions for fraudsters... Grrr
Consolidation in climate tech will be healthy. Founders will need to put their egos aside for a more peaceful process, however.
I think a lot if not most of the proposals being put forward right now to reform corporate carbon accounting standards are really just a race to the bottom and dilution in disguise. And I'm not sure the people promoting these changes would even be able to realize if this is the case.
Many folks I work with (across sectors in corporate climate strategy) are understandably concerned about about rising temperatures. Yet many of those same people escape from the city to the countryside for a break from the heat, while their investment portfolios grow through holdings in real estate, construction, and infrastructure that are doubling down on urban development with a hint of "green" that checks a few ESG boxes.
Where's the climate science newsflash about pavement and urbanization as major causes of both warming and flooding? When I raise this with my climate colleagues — who are hyper-focused on carbon accounting, and not yet ready to question the logic of their paychecks — I'm teased as a climate denier.
But to me it's like accounting and reality broke up a while ago and everyone forget they ever had a relationship.mCDR researchers insist that open, transparent data sharing is critical to ensure that field trials are conducted safely and responsibly. But you know who actually digs up this data and stops to ask about it? Undergrads. Business developers. Engineers. Not the oceanographers and biogeochemists who are often the loudest voices of concern for potential negative impacts.
That’s a real problem. We need real leadership to understand how mCDR is developing and to drive consensus on how it should be done— and that can’t come from the scattered workshops and slow publishing that is comfortable to marine scientists.I'm tired of the fake concern for the planet from most people in the CDR/ climate space. I worked for [a climate tech market intelligence company and the C-suite and marketing leadership kept flying between major cities without a care in the world about emissions.]
They gave a f*** about emissions. They started the company because they had the skillset to build such a platform. Period. There was no love for the planet there.
Similarly, CDR developers rushing to NYC/London climate week by taking a flight is ridiculous!!
You are contributing to the very problem you are trying to avoid/remove.
I also get it that meeting in person is needed but I think people should participate in local chapters instead.
Linkedin is rife with people trying to show that they are participating in these events like its a cool thing, like going to an exclusive invite-only party or something.
Point 2 from the anonymous feedbacks you received is very true. We are all screwed. I'm in fact buying a house in a city which has a river nearby so that when a drought hits, I might have some water for my baby. Ugh!!
Accidental Modest Mouse was indeed accidental, but coincidentally, I saw they just released a new album for the first time in a while.
Elder millennials, RISE UP.
Also, stay tuned for an episode of my other podcast, Reversing Climate Change, which will soon feature a fuller exploration of the Bhagavad Gita.
