Climate change resources
I’ve spent several months trying to understand climate change and the current state of mitigation strategies. These are some resources that I’ve found helpful.
Staying positive
Positive climate-related newsfeed
General climate change education
Intro to the concept of stabilization wedges
Interactive demonstration of how different levels of climate change can affect us
Making our electricity grid “smart”
Climate change symposia at MIT
Tipping points we may encounter
Tech-specific resources
A fantastic overview of the ways people in tech can help
A journey through the climate crisis, told through a diverse set of articles
Report on ways that technology can fight climate change
A blog post about largely non-professional approaches to fighting climate change
Y Combinator’s climate-specific page
Finding a job
A post on finding relevant companies, and an associated open database of organizations fighting climate change
Step-by-step guide for the job search process
Places to look for jobs:
- https://climate.careers/
- https://techjobsforgood.com/
- https://www.splashwithdolphin.com/
- https://www.cleanenergyjobslist.com/
- Startup jobs on AngelList; can filter by industry
- Look at the portfolios of VC firms that focus on social impact
Industries with most software jobs:
- Tons of options:
- Energy use optimization (for both businesses and consumers): smart buildings, smart motors, energy tracking tools
- Renewable energy (mostly solar): installation design, management systems, financing/insurance
- Food: reducing waste, robotic farming, ML for farm operations
- Transportation: electric buses and fleet vehicles, charging infrastructure
- Just a few options:
- Grid/microgrid optimization
- Reforestation
- Technology development (these tend to be less software-focused): battery development, engineering cleaner industrial materials, direct air capture
- Female empowerment: microloans, improving birth control availability
Sort of related
Should we use less violent language when talking about climate change?
While this article on facing extinction is immensely depressing and I don’t entirely agree with its assumptions, I like this quote about blame and anger related to climate change:
In a recent blog post, writer James Kunstler proposed a pithy theory of why humans chose each step of our path in history: “It just seemed a good idea at the time.” We plunged forward with each new way of doing things, each new invention, because it made life easier at the time. There was no intention to destroy ourselves.
…
As theoretical physicist Peter Russell mused in a podcast conversation with me in 2016, “What if we saw ourselves as a cosmic flame blooming in the universe and coming to its natural end?”
What if we forgave everybody everything?