Episode 176

Private Jet, Flying Airplanes and Transportation Systems

Episode Summary: This episode started as an exploration on the dichotomy between celebrity activism and personal lifestyle choices, particularly focusing on key influencers’ environmental efforts versus their use of private jets.  

It debates whether such actions make celebrities hypocrites or if their broader impact justifies these choices. The discussion also touches on the effectiveness of carbon offsets and alternatives to flying, highlighting the complexities and personal decisions involved in addressing climate change. 

The conversation then extends to systemic issues like transportation infrastructure and personal habits, emphasizing collective action over individual perfection.

Article in the New York Times After Refusing to Fly, Climate Researcher Loses His Job

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang, Jenn Swanson, Tonya Downing and Kristina Horning.

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France. 

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and community Connector, helping people help themselves. 

Tonya is from Durham in North Carolina, she is involved in Personality-driven digital marketing for small businesses in the US.  

Kristina has a background in architecture and engineering. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base is US

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Transcript
Speaker:

Hi, I'm Christina.

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I'm from Prague.

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Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

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Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

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Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

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Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

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Welcome to Carbon Sessions.

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A podcast with Carbon Conversations

for every day with everyone

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from everywhere in the world.

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In our conversations, we share ideas,

perspectives, questions, and things we

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can actually do to make a difference.

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So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions because it's not too late.

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Hi, I'm Christina.

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Hi, I'm Jen.

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Hi, I'm Tanya.

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Hi, I'm Leakey.

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I would like to discuss a very interesting

topic, and this is something that is

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very dear to my mind because I'm a

very, very big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio,

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even since he was on the Titanic.

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I mean, I was young, but yeah,

so I've been a very, very

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big fan of his ever since.

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And the past few years, he is

very well known for being a

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very active climate activist.

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He has a couple of NGOs, I think, and

he raised a lot of money, and he does

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films and documentary on climate change

and environmental issues in general.

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But he has been called out as a

hypocrite sometimes because he

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sometimes flies on private jets.

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And I think it's, I don't

know, is he a hypocrite?

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I don't know.

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I don't know what to think about it.

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And so that's why today we're going to

talk about Private Jet, Lang Private Jet.

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I've been a fan of his since he was in

What's Eating Gilbert Grape when he was

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a teenager, which is an amazing show.

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And then I just watched Killers of

the Flower Moon, uh, two nights ago.

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What a show fan as well.

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And yeah, I wonder about that, you know,

sometimes I wonder if it's safety, if

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it's efficiency, if it's anonymity.

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If it's just easier than getting

stopped 5, 000 times by adoring fans.

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I wonder if there are balances in

the lives of some of these people

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who are climate conscious to offset.

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Um, so I have lots of wonderings,

no answers, lots of wondering.

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Yeah.

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So I, I think about this too, Nikki.

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I think it's a really nuanced conversation

because their safety is maybe in play.

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And.

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Does it even make sense

for them to fly commercial?

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Uh, you know, we see people on

flights bullying flight attendants.

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They're the people that are

supposed to be on the plane.

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Imagine if a celebrity was on your

plane whose political standings

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you didn't agree with or something.

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, not necessarily us that we would

point, but just, you know, you

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could see that somebody that

may be a fear in their mind.

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I don't know.

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Why do we care that some

celebrities fly on private jet?

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Why do we even care about that?

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There's even, I think it's a student or

something, who has um, who has a website

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or a Twitter thread where he tracks the

cerebral palsy's private jet journeys.

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So why do people care so much about

cerebral palsy's flying on private jets?

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I think that they're just, they're in

the public eye, you know, they've got

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a massive boweling, they've got fans,

they've got platforms, social media

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platforms, so they're just very visible.

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, so we kind of look to them, especially

when they're some of the top polluters in

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the world, just with their private jets.

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So I think, yeah, \ there's a

lot of pressure because of that.

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And people care what

they eat for breakfast.

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So that's true.

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I think also it's the climate change

is such a large issue and picking up

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one simple thing that is trackable.

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And that can be shown very easily

through numbers, how much pollution,

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what will happen if we stop that.

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That for people, that's kind of an in

a way crutch, it's like, okay, at least

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I can do something with this big issue.

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And, uh, might be misguided, but, uh,

might be there, okay, at least something.

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At least give out their information.

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So I think it's also a

little bit of the panic.

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What can I do?

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How can I change this?

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But also I think that celebrities have

such a big, immense power of influence

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on people's decision and action

that somehow it's their duty to be.

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You know, to behave and be, be the

right guy and play the right role.

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And so I guess that we expect celebrities

to be perfect in every single way, right?

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But it's hard.

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So this way they're not perfect.

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That way it's like, Oh, they're humans.

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They do something that is not okay.

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And some of them are vegetarian or

vegan and have made other choices.

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Yeah, definitely.

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And, you know, a lot of them

will buy carbon offsets.

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I know that Taylor Swift does, she buys

double the carbon offsets, but that's also

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a very complicated topic, you know, on

if they actually are helping the earth.

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You know, there's, there's different

levels of quality in carbon offsets.

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I read that she could have bought

a single carbon offset for 1.

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50, and so that's likely very

low quality carbon offset.

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So it would kind of be on her to look

at the projects they're doing and

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find high quality project to support.

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Did you explain that with one

tweet, she managed to get 50

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million people registered to vote?

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Yes.

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I think it was during a recent election,

presidential election in the US, and

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she sent out one Instagram post simply

asking people to register to vote.

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And she got 50 million young people

registered, which is huge because there's

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a big worry about them not registering

to vote, the younger generation.

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Maybe also there's, uh, looking at

other artists, how they deal with the

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issues of their travels and concerts.

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And we don't talk much about people

who are trying to manage, uh, all,

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everything that comes to mind.

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With the concert and travel and people

buying tickets and people's behavior

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during the concert and after concert.

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So, like, I think YouTube

does, makes an effort.

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I think there was

Coldplay, uh, in the tour.

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I think it was last year or

two years ago in the tour.

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They have, like, a whole website for,

to, you know, to mitigate the impact of,

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of the carbon footprint of the concert.

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And they have some very funky things like,

you know, um, I think there was a dance

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floor and on the dance floor, the energy

produced by people dancing on dance floor,

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it goes back to the, you know, to the

light and it's, I mean, , it's not a lot

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of energy, I assume, because it's, uh, I

think there's a lot of losses along the

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way and, um, and I think that this kind

of concert requires a lot of energy, a lot

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of lights, but you know, it's a good sign.

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And I think they try to do a lot of things

like, you know, work with a sustainable or

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certified, uh, suppliers wherever they go.

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And they have, um, I think they also

try to have minimal things that they

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have to move from one site to another.

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And I assume that they

don't fly private jet.

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I assume that they buy commercial flights.

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I'm not sure about that, , um, There

are some artists that are doing

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things in the right direction as well.

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There's a whole movement called the

No Fly Movement also, where people,

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artists of all kinds and regular

people are taking alternative methods

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of getting from place to place.

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It's a lot slower, but I

know, you know, Greta Thunberg

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hasn't flown since about 2015.

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I mean, she's a climate activist, but

there are others that have joined that.

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Yeah, I think actually Seth has really

tried to limit his flying, his air travel.

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But yeah, I think with celebrities,

well, with Coldplay, Leaky,

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you're talking about Coldplay.

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I think it's, there's just a lot

of shame around what, you know,

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the carbon emissions that we

all produce and what we can do.

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And so I think it's just good that

Coldplay is showing that they, that

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they care, they understand that

this is an issue and they're trying.

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Um, I think, you know, that, that's great.

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That's all I'm asking.

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There's also alternative

ways of producing a concert.

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I don't know if I mentioned, but

last year I went to an ABBA concert.

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And, uh, and they were

not performing on stage.

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They were kind of holograms.

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They don't call it holograms

because, um, they call it,

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uh, avatar instead of avatar.

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They call it, and so they say it's not

holograms, but to me it's holograms.

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But it, it was really, really

wonderful because it's like

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they're really performing.

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So just think of this, this kind of

concert in various parts of the world.

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And when it becomes mainstream,

you don't need to move the big

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infrastructure from one side to another.

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You know, you just move

the digital part of it.

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Uh, I think this is the

future, could be the future.

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Yeah, it's hard sometimes, I mean,

it's hard to get from one place

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to the next without getting on

an airplane, unless you have many

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weeks to take the time to get there.

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Did you read this article, it was on the

New York Times last year, I think, end

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of last year or sometime, um, in, no, um,

sometime in September, I think, last year.

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about a researcher, a climate

researcher, who is working in Germany.

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He's a researcher for a university

in Germany and he's doing some

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research and has to do some

field work in Papua New Guinea.

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So it's really, really far, somewhere

in between Indonesia and Australia.

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And because he's a climate researcher.

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So he tried not to fly because obviously

it's very difficult for him to fly.

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It's not good for climate change to fly.

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So on the leg from Germany to

Papua New Guinea, he decided

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not to fly as much as possible.

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So he, cars and trains, and I think at

the very end he had to fly twice and

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the whole journey took him 35 days.

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So, , he did everything he could not

to fly, and so it took him 35 days.

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So he did his field work, his research,

and on his way back, he wanted to do the

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same, but his university said, Oh, you

have to be at work by, I can't remember

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exactly, like in a week or something like

that, but because he doesn't want to fly.

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So there's no way he could

reconcile, you know, what he

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really believed in with his work.

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And so the university fired him, and he

said, No, I won't fly because it's um, I

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will be a hypocrite if I keep on flying.

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And the university, it's, it's completely

insane because there's nothing I

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cannot do during my journey back to

Germany, uh, on the boat or whatever.

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I still can't do my research.

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It's not a good reason for firing me.

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So, I don't know what you think

about it, because this actually,

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this article was sent to me by

one of my colleagues for work.

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We do need to fly sometimes, and this

specific colleague needs to fly a lot.

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So he asked me, what

do you think about it?

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So my question to you is,

what do you think about it?

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, that's a very tricky one.

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One of the arguments I've heard

is that the plane is going there

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anyway, and it shouldn't go empty.

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It should go as full as possible.

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I mean, that's an argument I've heard.

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I don't know if that's an excuse.

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If people weren't booking the flights,

would they cancel the flights?

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That'd be great.

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Or what's their threshold?

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It goes by weight as well.

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So is that true that the more

people sitting on a plane, the more

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efficient it is, or is it not true?

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I don't know the mechanics of it.

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I think also would be questioned when he

took all these cars and trains, whatever

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he was Doing, unless he was biking,

what is the print all together in those

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35 days compared to the one flight?

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I thought that would be

interesting comparison.

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My guess is that it

will be lower than five.

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Yeah.

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I don't know because it's so many days.

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I think somebody was looking into

that, not only the footprint of much

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longer journey, but also Looking at

the keeping the old car versus buying

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new car, what's the footprint in that?

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Is it going to balance?

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It's not a simple question to answer.

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A couple of weeks ago, I

attended a three day conference.

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It was all day Friday, all day

Saturday, and half of Sunday.

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And it was a conference that used to

be in person, and it used to be one

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where people flew from all over the

country, well, all over countries to

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join because there were people from

Australia and from India and from U.

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S.

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and Canada.

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Um, it's an international

storytelling conference.

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Since COVID, they've done

everything virtually, and you

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don't have to go anywhere.

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And there were probably at least

a hundred people on this platform.

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And it was, you know, a lot of time and

a lot of effort saved and a lot of carbon

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by everybody coming onto this platform

and doing the conference virtually.

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And I wonder how many Organizations have

found that they get more people able to

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join when they don't have to put out all

the time and the effort and the money to

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travel, something I was thinking about.

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Yeah, I think that they need to rethink

their business model, how they work.

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And actually, yes, maybe they could get

two different kind of participations

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or two different conferences.

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Yeah, because in some, in some instances

or in some ways, I'm, I'm very much like,

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And in real, real life type of person.

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I'd much rather be face to face with

people, you know, snail mail versus

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email, you know, I prefer snail mail.

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Yeah, there's the question of

like, quality of life too, um,

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with everything becoming virtual.

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I just think it's so complicated.

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And it's so emotional.

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I think there's just this tendency

to want to game or like, try to

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reduce it to numbers and like,

Well, if you've done this, but you

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haven't done this, I don't know.

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I think it's such a systems problem

that it's, it's hard for the

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individual to really impact much.

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Yeah, I absolutely agree with you

because, um, the world or people

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expect us to be perfect in every

single way and everything we do.

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And as you said, it's not very fair

to judge people based on one single

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action or something as you do.

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Because the system is not designed

for, you know, um, earlier, Christina

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was talking about, what about if we

have, a flight that emit less carbon?

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The system doesn't want

that at the moment.

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Um, I was just listening to the

financial results of one, the big

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competitor of Boeing, , which is

European, it's called EADS, and

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so they have sold a lot of planes.

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Those old planes, they are not into

new planes because you know, it

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costs them a lot of money and they

don't want to invest in new planes.

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So sometimes we do have to fly.

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I mean, yeah, my family is scattered

all around and I have to fly for work

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because if I don't do that, I will limit

my chances, my ability, my network.

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And also.

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It's like, you know, I'm not

doing a service to me and I'm not

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doing service for the work I'm

doing because I will be limited.

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My circle of influence, you

know, my, my network, you know,

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the people I meet, I talk to.

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And so yes, it's not great, but

sometimes you have no choice, I think.

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Yeah, I think it comes to looking

at are we doing the extremes, no

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flying or flying whenever I feel

like, and maybe coming in the middle.

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And go, okay, how can I plan

my year or my connection?

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Are there any ways not flying

and doing meeting on internet?

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Or is it really important for me to

fly and meet people in person instead

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of going, okay, I'm not flying.

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That's it.

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Or it's too complicated.

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I don't want to think about it.

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I'll fly when I need to and forget.

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Me planning ahead or something.

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So I think coming in this kind of middle,

I said, like shopping, when people

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want to save money shopping, they wait

for some sales or for a certain time

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of the year when they buy big items.

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I think we can do the same

thing with flying and manage.

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It takes a little bit longer, a

little bit focus, but, uh, at least

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we can move towards something.

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That's a really great point

and a great distinction.

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I think just to bring it back to

the celebrities, their air travel,

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I was reading that one person took

a jet 37 minutes, which emitted

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like three tons of CO2, which is an

insane amount, like the amount that

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one person may emit in this year.

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Supposed to, supposed to emit in the year.

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Yeah.

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But I mean, I think that kind of thing,

it's like, what are you doing that?

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I think you're right.

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Kind of planning your year.

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So that limited as much as

possible limit trips like that.

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I know everybody's busy and

it's, it's difficult and hard

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to coordinate everything.

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Gosh, guys, I moved 13 times last

year between four countries in Europe.

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And we did it all my train.

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Yeah.

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It was, I mean.

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It was horrible.

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It was, it was the process of us becoming

Italian residents, but I feel much

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better about that, especially because

Now trains are something that we can

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do all the time and we've gotten rid

of our two cars and we've gotten rid

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of like, you know, a lot of stuff.

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So, yeah, just kind of weighing,

um, and being thoughtful and

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considerate about all this stuff.

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And also I just want to note that the

trains in Europe are electric trains.

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They're not using fossil fuels.

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Are they?

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All?

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I think most of them.

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I know at least in Czech, all the

train tracks have wires above.

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So, I'm assuming everybody

is running on electricity.

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So maybe not, I don't know if they're

all, but I know there's a lot of them.

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Yeah.

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I mean, the, the train system is quite

efficient in Europe, but it's still

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faster and cheaper sometimes to fly.

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That's the truth.

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So maybe in these areas where we don't

have to take ships or sailboats, uh,

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maybe, uh, Making the trains accessible

and making it so they're building

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tracks where you don't need to use

fossil fuels, where it's all electric.

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I feel like infrastructure

is there already.

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And it's not that much

harder to put a few holes up.

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I think that that would be nice.

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Yeah, that would be nice, but I

don't think it's that easy, really.

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Last summer, I bought a book, um,

well, I don't have it here, but it's,

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um, it's a Lonely Planet special

edition for slow travel in Europe.

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And so we looked at it and

we decided to go to Latvia.

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And so according to the book,

the public transportation

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system is very, very efficient.

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And so I wanted to go there by

boat and then train, but it was too

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difficult, so I had to take a plane.

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But I decided that once we're

there, we're going to be car free.

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And, um, I talked to some, to some

people there that I know that I work

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with, and I say, I told them about my plan

of not driving, just, relying on public

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transportation to go around the country.

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And all of them told me that, huh, you

all have , very interesting ideas, but

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think of Latvia, who's been part of

USSR, under invested in infrastructure.

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Think of all that, you know, think

of, don't make your life to harm.

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Uh, it just, it's not that easy,

even though Latvia has been part

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of the EU for some time now, but

it's not that easy to put rails or

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to build railroads and all that.

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It's just.

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It doesn't happen overnight,

it takes time, so.

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Gosh, yeah, and in the U.

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S., I mean, everything's so spread out.

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Yeah.

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There's no, like, real urban centers.

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And I think that, you know, there's this

immediacy of being able to drive your car.

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You can go, you know, you forgot

something at the grocery, you can go

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:

pick it up in 10 minutes in your car.

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:

That's something, like, a growing pain

that we're feeling, is that sometimes when

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:

you don't have something here, it takes

a lot of effort to go out and get it.

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:

Um, it's not immediate, it's

not convenient, so it's, it does

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:

just take a lot more planning.

358

:

, But yeah, like, New York City has a

great subway system, Chicago's is okay.

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:

I lived in Chicago for a long time,

so, I mean, their subway system's

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:

not, not the greatest, but um,

at least, you know, it's there.

361

:

There were times when, uh, stores

were closed on Sundays, and I wonder

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:

that having access to everything.

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:

It, for us, is unusual to wait

for something or plan ahead.

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:

Yeah.

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:

Uh, the rule about that

ended here in:

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:

It was called the Lord's Day Act, and it

was abolished in:

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:

ignoring it anyway, long before that.

368

:

But that was when it wasn't

allowed to be open on a Sunday.

369

:

So interesting.

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:

And now it's just a regular

day of the week almost.

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:

I think banks still sometimes aren't

open, but there are very few things

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:

that are not open on a Sunday anymore.

373

:

But going back to our flying or not

flying, one thing I never do is that

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:

I don't tell people around me that

they are not doing the right thing.

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:

. I don't want to make them feel ashamed

of not doing the right thing because

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:

sometimes it's not their fault because

we're not in their shoes and so

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:

we don't know their circumstances.

378

:

Yeah, I mean, you don't

want to discourage people.

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:

It's like, we're all kind

of just doing our best.

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:

I mean, some people aren't and they're

just completely okay in their ignorance.

381

:

Um, ignorance is bliss.

382

:

But I mean, when people are making an

effort or they are aware of climate

383

:

issues, you don't want to discourage that.

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:

And I sometimes wonder too if there

are ways that big organizations that

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:

send their employees all over the

place can rethink that a little bit.

386

:

Are there ways that you don't

have to fly so much for business?

387

:

Are there different systems that

could come into place that would

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:

allow for people to travel less?

389

:

Even a little bit less would

make a difference, right?

390

:

I mean, yes, uh, I think with COVID,

the lockdowns, it has helped a

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:

little bit because now we used to

riffing twice, a little bit more, not

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:

twice, a little bit more, uh, before

we take a plane for work at this.

393

:

I agree with the missing people.

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:

I mean, being a person.

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:

It really is different, but at what cost?

396

:

Especially with all our families

spread out everywhere now.

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:

You know, it used to be that

everybody stayed in one town.

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:

And you had your grandma and your sisters

and everything right there with you.

399

:

But now, you know, My sister's at

the ER, my Nana's in Tennessee, uh,

400

:

Josh is in Colorado, my husband.

401

:

It's just, it's kind of like hard

to know, you know, how to see

402

:

people and to make it happen.

403

:

I've also changed with globalization.

404

:

So what should we invite them to do?

405

:

I think I'm gonna try to plan

even more ahead and adjust and

406

:

maybe communicate more to ask

people what their longer plan is.

407

:

Um, connect with them in a ways.

408

:

For instance, I have to

travel to Europe from U.

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:

S.

410

:

and so I set it up that I can

see my family on the way there

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:

instead of flying straight there

and then back and back and forth.

412

:

So maybe think in bigger time chunks.

413

:

What about you guys?

414

:

Yeah, I continue to think about do

I have to go there in person or can

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:

I do the virtual option if it's a

conference or something that, while it

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:

would be nice to be there in person,

do I need to be there in person?

417

:

Sometimes the answer might be yes,

but lots of times it's probably not

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:

imperative that I'm physically there.

419

:

I kind of think the same way.

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:

, for work, because sometimes it's not

absolutely necessary to be somewhere for

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:

work, and for my personal travel, for

leisure, holidays, or seeing family, I

422

:

am willing, and actually I'm doing it,

exploring alternative ways of traveling,

423

:

which doesn't require flying, and it's.

424

:

Very fun.

425

:

And, uh, yeah, it just, it, it

requires a lot of planning, really.

426

:

, I'm already planning my, my summer

holiday because I'm planning not to fly

427

:

and do everything by train and boat.

428

:

But the capacity, the capacity

of this kind of means of

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:

transportation is very, very limited.

430

:

So you really have to plan in advance.

431

:

For me, we moved to a location

where we could walk everywhere.

432

:

I, very infrequently take the train.

433

:

Um, there's a tram system

that runs here in Milan.

434

:

We just do a lot of walking.

435

:

And I mean, I know that that's

not possible for everybody, but I

436

:

think running ahead and making sure

that, you know, when you're at the

437

:

grocery, you're thinking long term.

438

:

So that you don't have to

order those groceries in a

439

:

couple of days or run back out.

440

:

Where we're moving to, we're

going to be close to a train.

441

:

It's called the West Coast Express.

442

:

It only goes into town once a day and

comes back out the other way once a day.

443

:

It's not the SkyTrain or the subway

like that we have in the city.

444

:

But it's there, and I think if you get on

it at the right time, it can take you to

445

:

the SkyTrain or the electric train system.

446

:

But it will be a lot closer, because

where I live now, you have to have a car.

447

:

There's not an easy way to get anywhere.

448

:

So we're moving closer into

where there will be some options.

449

:

And one of the hopes is that when

one of our cars dies, our hope is

450

:

that we can get an electric bike.

451

:

For errands and things like that because

it's a smaller town and it'll be, I

452

:

think it'll be easier to get around

and find what we need without having

453

:

to get into a car every single time.

454

:

That's interesting what you said

because I just realized when I talk

455

:

to people, a lot of them , when they

are moving, , before it was job.

456

:

Close to the family, uh, community.

457

:

But now people are starting to talk

about exactly what she said about

458

:

the travel, about ability to walk to

grocery store and to be in places.

459

:

Where they don't have to leave

all the time to live well.

460

:

I cannot even imagine living in

places like that because I've

461

:

always lived in big cities.

462

:

So I cannot imagine a life where I have

to take a car for whatever I need to

463

:

do and like when you say that there's a

train that goes once a day To the city

464

:

center and did you see my face when you

say that if you can get to the SkyTrain?

465

:

Then you can go all over

the place every few minutes.

466

:

It's a normal subway system.

467

:

Well, it's elevated rapid transit So it's

on a platform above and then sometimes

468

:

it goes underground But most of the

time it's above and you can get to the

469

:

airport You can get all over the place

But the other one is an actual train

470

:

like a train track an actual real train

That goes, uh, downtown and it's quite

471

:

good because it goes from quite far

away from Vancouver and takes people

472

:

all the way into the city and it only

stops about four times or five times.

473

:

But once a day.

474

:

So you, you really need to

plan your day very, very well.

475

:

Well it's for, for people who

are working downtown, who like

476

:

commuting to work kind of thing.

477

:

I know, it's kind of old,

it's not as fancy as Europe,

478

:

but Oh, I didn't say that!

479

:

No.

480

:

No.

481

:

I often envy the transit systems there

and how everybody can just walk places.

482

:

In big cities, because if you go

to like small villages in, in lots

483

:

of parts of Europe, it's the same.

484

:

They don't even have trains

or public transportation, so.

485

:

Right.

486

:

Right.

487

:

I just realized that, uh, when you

guys talk about transportation.

488

:

In Europe, it takes about 10 minutes,

5 minutes to go to a grocery store.

489

:

And if I, I'm in Montana right now,

and if I have to go get groceries,

490

:

I would have to walk 4 hours and 10

minutes to get the grocery, which

491

:

would be about an hour on a bicycle.

492

:

I realize, yeah, it's, uh, the

world's for different, different

493

:

experiences, different needs.

494

:

Yeah, but in Europe, you live in the city.

495

:

Yeah.

496

:

Yeah.

497

:

Yeah.

498

:

I think it's a matter of the size

of, um, I mean, it's, it's a,

499

:

whether it's a density, is it a

city or not in a city, obviously in

500

:

Montana, you don't live in the city.

501

:

So it's a different lifestyle.

502

:

Yeah.

503

:

We started with planes.

504

:

We started with private jets and then we

talk about planes and now we're talking

505

:

about commuting, like daily commute.

506

:

Walking for hours.

507

:

On the other side.

508

:

Yeah, but it's good to talk

about those things sometimes.

509

:

Thank you for this conversation.

510

:

Thank you guys.

511

:

Thanks everyone and thanks

for coming to join us, Tanya.

512

:

Yeah, and oh my gosh,

thank you guys so much.

513

:

Bye.

514

:

Bye guys.

515

:

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516

:

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517

:

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Sessions so you too can share your

518

:

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519

:

This is a great way for our community

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520

:

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521

:

If you want to add your voice to the

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:

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:

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:

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:

For more information, to sign up for

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:

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528

:

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529

:

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Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.