Welcome to Climate Workers Anonymous, where those who work in climate get to share their anonymous and unverified feelings, experiences, and analysis. Today’s episode has two longer pieces that were submitted.
Before I get into those, I wanted to share an additional reflection about the origins of the show’s name. A friend of mine said it and I cottoned onto it right away, and I didn’t quite make the connection that it might also have to do with my admiration for the Catholic Worker Movement and Dorothy Day, in addition to my respect for the various addiction treatment mutual aid organizations that end in “Anonymous”.
What I love about both organizations is that they don’t use a hierarchical charitable orientation. The addiction groups are run by an ethos of equality, and that all are addicts, and it is addicts helping one another. For the Catholic Worker, their focus is on works of mercy that recognize the inherent dignity and equal worth of all people, and that any of us might just as easily be in a position that needs this kind of help.
This recognition of moral luck renders judgment and hierarchy irrelevant, since it simultaneously encourages us to see ourselves as a fallen sinner as equally as those we “help”, and (if not secular, which many participants in Catholic Worker houses are) to recognize Christ in the “least of these.” The dual nature of humans as both entirely equal and plain, as well as being a locus for divinity to break through everyday reality, is a paradox I like to think a lot about.
Here’s the famous verses about the works of mercy if that’s of interest. Even if non-religious, it is a beautiful passage.
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
— Matthew 25:40-45, King James VersionIdeally, that gives some additional context for why I am attracted to this kind of work.
Here are the submissions.
There's a story in carbon removal that everything is getting worse in the near term. Microsoft pausing, not enough buyers, VC pullback and startup consolidation (politely failing), people leaving CDR and climate for greener pastures, some or all pathways are slower and more painful than expected. For the love of God, when will the holy grail of compliance markets bless us with more demand than we know what to do with? (Demand that is actually in line with what the world needs?!)
I feel it. It's real. And I also see the people who've been through it in the space and, this is the crazy part, decide to double down and support the space, start new ventures, pull more money in. Some of them are doing the hardest part of project development with all their lessons learned. Many of them are making big bets on future demand.
I often feel this is crazy. Are they just true believers who can't let go? People who we appreciate because they're trying to do something helpful in the world but also pity because of their upcoming failure? Or are we just short sighted and cynical, and they will actually make a real difference for the world and a shit ton of money in a decade?
They are certainly right that someone needs to keep global capacity alive and maturing to do CDR. Other than that, no one knows anything about how it will go.
But the hope of the people coming back for a second or third round, having learned some things and trying again means something. The hope of people staking their careers on doing something that matters and not always with financial certainty means something. The hope of all these new ventures that will mostly crash and burn but learn something on the way and pass it on to the next set of ventures means something. And what if we've already hit the bottom?
If I can't predict the future, maybe betting on CDR isn't the worst decision. Maybe it's even a good decision that just feels bad right now.Unrealistic targets for how much CDR can be achieved by certain years are delusional and only serve to drive collective hysteria and feed potential or actual moral hazards. We should greatly adjust our 2050 targets downward to just 2–3 gigatons of novel CDR and focus as much as possible on absolute decarbonization. On this thread, it would be even better for the climate to break out of the paradigm of using CDR to compensate for residual emissions and create a paradigm focused on reducing absolute emission as close to zero as possible while simultaneously scaling CDR not to “allow us to keep emitting” but rather to reverse the damage that’s already been done and that will continue to be done until we do hit zero emissions.
Thank you for listening to and reading Climate Workers Anonymous. Subscribe above, and be sure to subscribe in whichever podcast app you use. An amazing rating and review on those podcast apps does a world of good. Would you please do that for me now? Here’s Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
If you’d like submit your anonymous hopes, fears, or experiences to Climate Workers Anonymous, you can use this Tally survey or email climateworkersanonymous[at]protonmail.com, though I believe the Tally survey is more secure. Do not communicate anything you wouldn’t want a hacker to have access to, including an email address that could be linked to you if you email the account on Protonmail.
Sincerely,
Ross Kenyon
