This is not fine. (via KC Green)

2. Key takeaways 🔑

The funny thing about this report is that it—essentially—presents 0 brand new information. It's the same old song, different chorus. But people are freaking out because the level of confidence has moved from "high" to "very high." 

Here's what you need to know:

1. Humans are unequivocally to blame for climate change. 🌈
2. We aren't going to keep the global average temperature increase below 1.5°C by 2040. 🌡
3. Extreme weather events are going to become extremer and frequenter. 🌪
4. Sea levels are going to rise. 🌊
5. Mother Nature can't keep up. ❤️‍🔥

There's a ton of truth bombs in AR6. But I'm focusing on just these five because they're among the most important. The following five sections will unpack these takeaways, and explain why you should take them seriously. 👇

3. Humans are to blame 🌈

"It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred." — IPCC, on the end of the world

I'm not one to play the blame game. But I'll make an exception today. 

First though, can we all appreciate that this report uses such strong language to describe who's at fault and why.

They drop the word "unequivocal" like it's going out of style. Which is great. So much of the discussion around the climate crisis wussy-foots around the fact that humans are messing things up in a real way. 🙊

Global temperatures have increased by 1.1°C since the 19th century. And social apathy, addiction to fossil fuels, and obsessive consumption (among other things) are to blame. In other words: modern civilization is at fault.

Ok ok ok. Humanity isn't totally to blame for the 1.1°C increase. Natural forces are responsible for 0.1°C of that. 

Humanity's Finger Prints

Scientists have been accurately pointing the finger for decades now. But now climate change modelling and technology has advanced to the point where they can see human finger prints all over the crime scene. 

Imagine this.

The year is 1988. You're presenting your case against a notorious serial murderer. You are 99% sure you know the suspect is guilty. Every single piece of evidence points to this fact. Proximity, motive, and 100 other things indicate they are one guilty sombish.

You state your findings, but the court finds insufficient evidence.

Over the next 26 years, the murders continue. And you can never seem to prove your case despite a small mountain of proof.

Finally, fingerprint technology advances to the point where you can nail this psychopath. You find their finger prints all over the most recent crime scenes. You can finally show—unequivocally— who killed all those people. 

You go to court. One last time. You present your case. Feeling vindicated, but also hollow—so much harm has been done already...

The Court finds in your favor.

Yesss. Lady Justice, thy bounty taste sweet. ⚖️

But then it all comes crashing down. The Court knows they're guilty, but they decide not to do anything about it. The judge doesn't feel like the threat is imminent to them. And one of their favourite lifestyle bloggers said the serial killer is a hoax, so they aren't too worried. 

Your whole career feels like a sick joke. 🤢

Such is the life of a climate scientist sounding the alarm on the climate crisis. Doubted for decades. And now, ignored. Despite the advancements of the latest generation of climate change tech and modelling to the point where we can confirm humanity's finger prints all over the crime scene. 

Are We Equally to Blame?

When I say we're to blame, I mean it. But some of us are more to blame than others. 

Since the industrial revolution, 100 companies have accounted for over 71% of carbon emissions. On a practical level this makes sense. Fossil fuel has powered the post-industrial global economy. It's hard to imagine civilization would be where it is today without it. 

But at some point, we, as a society, need to kick this crippling addiction before it's too late. 🦵

Several decades ago, some people had inklings that burning fossil fuels was harmful. But the producers themselves actually knew. And just decided to keep plodding along. Business as usual.

The largest fossil fuel burners on earth have been in the loop on human-made climate change since the early 80s (see graph below).

But instead of doing something productive about it, companies like Exxon and Shell silenced their scientists and spent millions to muddy the waters. Instead of investing in a solution, they spent mightily to hide the problem. They funded organizations and individuals who actively blocked climate change solutions and spread misinformation. 😶‍🌫️

Just a little ol' chart created by Exxon in 1982 that forecasts human-made global warming.  (via The Guardian)

4. Practically No Chance on 1.5°C  🌡

The IPCC Report thinks our odds of hitting the Paris Agreement goal of <1.5°C by 2040 are teeny tiny. So even with big, bold changes we're still going to see some disastrous effects of climate change within the century. But technically there's still a chance, right?

Chapter 4 of the report plots out 5 emissions scenarios—called 'Shared Socioeconomic Pathways' (SSPs). 

In all five scenarios, averaged surface air temperatures still exceed 1.5°C by 2030. But even though we aren't going to hit that goal, we should still be motivated. Because as the two graphs below show, the future can be wildly different/horrible.

The five scenarios contemplated by the IPCC are labeled SSP1-1.9, SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5. 

SSP5-8.5 means that we keep emitting at a similar rate (i.e. no change) and SSP1-1.9 means a substantial, rapid, concerted effort to achieve negative emissions by 2050. 

 5 different scenarios for CO2 emissions within the century. (via AR6 WGI Summary of Policymakers)

First, the good news: SSP5-8.5 isn't likely because we're in the midst of a big shift away from coal. Coal still has a grip in some areas of the world, but it's on the way out. So the worst case scenario isn't too likely. 😅

But before we all give each other butt pats and back taps, it's also worth mentioning that SSP1-1.9 is unlikely as well. In that scenario, every country in the world would average a drop in CO2 emissions of 25% by 2030 and 50% by 2035. 

137 countries are currently aiming for carbon neutrality—most by 2050. But according to the IPCC, the current methods of achieving these goals aren't enough. 🙅‍♀️

The Report essentially says we're going to end up somewhere between SSP1-2.6 and SSP3-7.0.

To get an idea of what that means temperature-wise, have a gander at the table below. 👀

The variations in temperature we may see depending on our greenhouse gas emissions this century. (via AR6 WGI Summary of Policymakers)

Worst case scenario, we get a 5.7°C increase in temperature by century's end. And best case, we get 1.0°C. 

But it seems more likely that we see between 1.3°C and 4.6°C.

At this point you may be wondering: "What's the big deal..? It's just a few degrees."

What's the big deal? It's just a few degrees.

The world gets 1.5°C warmer by 2030...so what? 

And 4.6°C warmer by 2100...big whoop?

Before we dig into the answer, I'd like to share an observation.

Scientists do a bad job of communicating monumentally important information to the general public. This Report is a prime example.

At 4,000 pages, I can't imagine more than 6 or 7 people in the entire explored universe actually read it cover to cover. The contents of AR6 are real and devastating. But it may as well be in Cyrillic script because it's so dense with scientific jargon. 

The average North American reads at a 7th grade level (which is a problem in an of itself). And they probably expect a lot more memes and gifs than what AR6 is giving us. But, gotta give them credit for releasing these reports with accompanying summaries. Even so, I doubt many people read/understand the 40 page synopsis. 

end rant 😤

The energy needed to warm the entire earth by 1.5°C is unfathomable if you have any sort of grasp on thermodynamics.

Most people—like yours truly—don't.

So we don't even try to fathom. We can't even pretend to fathom.

Instead we employ a much simpler frame of reference: the range of temperature we've personally experienced. 🥶↔︎ 🥵

The average person knows what a difference of 10°C feels like. Because the temperature where they live probably changes a lot more than 10°C on an yearly basis.

So if you tell that person to be afraid of a 1.5°C temperature change, then they're probably not going to wet their wellies. 💦

But average global temperature means average across the entire globe for the entire year. Which smoothes out how dramatic the change would be felt in many areas of the world over the course of a year. Where you live might feel marginally different, but elsewhere in the world it may be 9°C or more.

Such temperature swings can easily melt all the ice in the Arctic, or wipe out entire species. 😵

For reference, you may find it interesting that just 22,000 years ago the world was an average of ~ 4°C colder than now. 

And you may find it particularly intriguing that 22,000 years ago the earth was what same may call 'cold.'

Like ice age cold. 🥶

Brrrr (via Giphy)

There's a phenomenal graph by XKCD that cleverly shows how drastically each sliver of temperature impacts the face of the world. Sadly, it's way too big to be copy pasta'd entirely here. So visit XKCD.com if you want to see the whole thing.

A global average temperature of -4°C meant an ice age. So if it gets a few degrees warmer, then what does that mean for you and me?

Keep reading to find out. 😄

Each vertical line represents 1°C, with the centre being 0°C.  (via XKCD)

5. Extremer, Frequenter, Weatherer 🌪

Human generated greenhouse gases are warming the planet. Which directly increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. And pretty soon we're going to be asking ourselves whether we can weather this weather together!

We've already begun to see anomalous weather events as a result of the 1.1°C temperature increase since the Industrial Revolution. And because of the vast improvements to data collection and modelling, scientists are more confident than ever that these 'freak events' are directly linked to human activity. 

I live in Vancouver. Around 6ish years ago, we started experiencing prolonged periods of smog during the summer. Usually around August. A phenomenon that's since come to be known affectionately as Smaugust. 🌫

The smog sometimes graces us for several weeks each year. Impacting our air quality, and generally making life just a little bit worse. 

The smog comes from worsening forest fires that keep getting out of hand. Last year (2020) we enjoyed the world's worst air quality for several weeks. The smoke was so thick you could cut it with a knife and butter it on your toast. Yum!

And this year, we got to experience another fun, new phenomenon known as a 'heat dome.' 🥵

A heat dome happens when a wild, wavy air stream pinches off a towering loaf of slow moving air onto an unlucky piece of geography. 

A wild wavy airstream appears. Purple = hot. (via CBS)

When this massive body of air gets 'stuck' it heats things up in a big way. Particulates from cars, smoke stacks, and miscellaneous pollutants get caught up too. Which adds smog to the mix and makes things even hotter as heat gets trapped. ❤️‍🔥

Basically, it's like someone slapped a giant lid on our cook pot, and left us to stew in our own juices.

Lemme tell ya, it was hot. 🥵

Folks like me in Vancouver only had to deal with it for a handful of days. But it unleashed some real devastation in other areas in British Columbia and the Pacific North West. It was so hot and dry that the entire province became perfectly primed for forest fire season. 🔥

Forest fires rampaging Lytton, BC after temperatures reached 49°5C (via CNN)

And forest fires there were. More than you could shake a stick at. 

We've experienced over 1200 forest fires in British Columbia since April 2021 (and the summer's not even over). That's roughly 2x the 10 year average for forest fires.

Many paid the price during this summer's heat wave. Between the heat dome and the forest fires that followed, thousands lost their homes and 580 people lost their lives.

All told, over 1000 people lost their lives in the PNW/BC because of the unprecedented heat dome that's meant to be a 1-in-1000-year event.  

As the world heats up, the IPCC predicts these sorts of events will become a lot more common. And a lot more intense. 🔥

It's Not Just Where I Live

The world all over was hot to trot in July 2021. ☀️

Jacobabad, Pakistan hit 52°C. The human body can only withstand that temperature for a few hours before succumbing to hyperthermia. 

The world's coldest town—Oymyakon, Russia—hit 32°C. I'm no scientist, but that's not very cold—that's not very cold at all. ⛄️

As it happens, July 2021 was earth's hottest month on record. 🌡

At our current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, these kinds of temperatures are going to happen a lot more frequently. 

(via Giphy)

It's Not Just Heatwaves

So far I've only discussed weather events I've personally experienced. But far worse things have happened all over the world. Unfortunately, in addition to annual temperatures 'too hot for human life to handle,' we can expect the recurring occurrence of some other fun stuff too. 

The IPCC predicts—with high confidence—that the world will experience:

• monsoons ⛈
• droughts 🔥

• cyclones & hurricanes🌪
• deforestation 🌲
• complete melting of the Arctic sea ice and permafrost 🧊

To name a few.

Joy.

What's important to consider is that even tiny incremental increases in global temperature will produce statistically significant weather extremes. And relative to today, the changes we can expect in the intensity and frequency of weather extremes would roughly double at 2°C and quadruple at 3°C. 

So increasing temperatures just means we're going to see wild weather. Right...?

Watch out younglings.

6. The upward motion of the ocean 🌊

The IPCC report predicts the sea level will rise by ~ 1 meter. No matter what. Under every plausible emissions scenario the world's oceans will rise, with no prospect of reversing for centuries. 

Wait a minute. Why is global warming going to cause the sea level to rise? 🤔

Great question. Lemme 'splain.👇

When it comes to hospitable planets to set up shop, we really hit the lottery. The earth's ability to regulate temperature and provide a liveable environment for so many creatures is beyond human comprehension. 🤯

Bajillions of stars had to align (metaphorically) in order for earth to be such a wonderful place to live. ⭐️

Planet earth hooks us up with sublime energy regulation. This is great because of the disparity in solar gain relative to heat radiation at different regions around the globe.

• At the equator, the solar gain in temperature is greater than the heat radiated back into space.
• At the poles, the solar gain in temperature is less than the heat radiated back into space. 

And the planet—without even being asked—takes energy from high concentration locations near the equator and shuttles it to the South and North Poles. Amazing. 🌏

It'd be a shame if one of earth's species had to go and f*ck things up. And no...I'm not talking about geese. 

Humans keep producing unprecedented amounts of greenhouse gases. As a result more and more heat gets trapped in the atmosphere. Instead of radiating back into space like it's supposed to.

So these human-made greenhouse gases have become a ceiling of sorts for energy. Which has an overall heating effect.

The equator will only heat up a little bit (relatively). But all that excess energy that's trapped by greenhouse gases still needs to go somewhere. So the earth keeps shunting energy from the higher concentration equator to the poles via ocean and wind currents. 

This means that Santa's house in the North Pole is going to see a much more drastic increase in temperature than 1.5°C to 2°C. More like 5-10°C. 

Do you know what's at the poles?

Ice. Ice. Baby. 🧊

5-10°C increases in temperature and ice aren't exactly friends. 

Big increases in temperature means mass swathes of ice will melt. The Report predicts the Arctic will be 100% ice free at least once before 2050. 🙀

And, as you may know, melted ice turns into water. Water that goes into the oceans. Which causes the oceans to rise.  🐋

I Ain't Scared of No Sea Water

"I've been to the ocean. If it creeps up a metre then what's the problem? Rocks get covered and there's less space on the beach. Good riddance. Never liked the beach anyways. Always get sand in my nethers." — Average Jo, on the end of the world. 🙅

Unfortunately the average Jo—like me—has a hard time of grasping why even a metre increase in sea level is significant. Again, we reach for past experience to frame our understanding of the potential problem. Which isn't helpful when it comes to imagining something on the scale of a global increase in sea level. 🏝

Higher tides aren't problematic in lots of places. But it's devastating to others.

For one, 10% of the global population lives just a few metres above sea level. As the water makes its way up, it threatens homes, communities, and livelihoods. 🌊

Also, it just so happens, coastal erosion, inundations, storm floods, contamination of freshwater reserves/ food crops, and displacement of coastal wetlands cause billions in damages every year. 

Oh someone please think of the economy! 

According to AR6, coastal flooding (the likes of which might happen only once every 100 years or so) will occur on an almost yearly basis. 🐠

One last sea level fun fact to ponder from the Report is that over the next 2000 years, the global mean sea level will rise by:

• 2 to 3 m if warming is limited to 1.5°C,
• 2 to 6 m if limited to 2°C, and
• 19 to 22 m with 5°C of warming, and it will continue to rise over subsequent millennia.

Great. Waterworld, here we come! 🦈

Save us Kevin Costner! (via Hollywood Reporter)

7. The Planet Can't Keep Up 🥀

Mother Gaia has been doing her darndest to regulate the excessive amounts of pollution we keep creating. But now we've advanced to the point where we essentially need 1.7 earths. 🌎

I mentioned earlier that the earth tucks away 56% of our emissions. It manages this feat of earthly alchemy with three hiding places: the atmosphere, ocean, vegetation.

Of the 56% the earth currently handles, 46% is accumulated in the atmosphere, 23% is handled by the oceans, and 31% is taken by vegetation (i.e. trees). 🌳

By the by, do you know what 'Earth Overshoot Day' is?

It's not exactly worthy of a parade. It's the day each year where human impact on the planet outstrips the earth's natural ability to handle it.

On July 29, 2021, the earth accepted 56% of our crap, and said "I can't do this no more." Next year it will be even earlier. 🗓

If we keep polluting at our current rate, the earth's ability to handle our sh*t will continue to dwindle. The fraction of emissions taken up by vegetation and sea will decrease. So there will be more CO2 in the atmosphere. Which will further compound global warming. 

Joy.

There's still worse news too.

The more emissions increase, the more forest fires we get. The more forest fires we get, the more forests we lose. Keep in mind, forest fires themselves release release 165m - 231m tons of CO2 emissions.

So there are multiple scenarios contemplated in AR6 where land-based ecosystems actually become net polluters as more trees burn. 😩

So please, do your part. Stop having gender reveal parties. 

The % of emissions taken up by land, ocean, and atmosphere in all 5 scenarios. (via IPCC AR6)

8. Is There Any Hope? 🥴

"Just a fool's hope, as I've been told." — Gandalf, on the end of the world

The IPCC Report is 100% doom and gloom. And we don't get concrete suggestions from the IPCC on how to mitigate until 2022. Even so, there's a lot of reasons to remain hopeful. 🌈

i. GDP growth is decoupling from CO2 emissions 

ii. Renewable energy—so hot right now

iii. Human ingenuity

iv. Global, concerted effort is possible

i. GDP Growth is decoupling from CO2 Emissions. 👋

The first bit of hope to ponder is the recent breakup between CO2 Emissions and GDP Growth. This relationship seemed productive in the beginning, but turned out to be low key toxic. ☠️

One day GDP Growth woke up and realized CO2 Emissions wasn't the guy she thought he was. All her friends were right. He's a psycho that is legit suffocating her.

GDP Growth is no prize pig herself, but she still deserves better. 💁‍♀️

If we're all being honest with ourselves, this relationship has been heading south for awhile.

"Later tater" via Breakthrough Institute

"Cheerio" (via Breakthrough Institute)

"Sayonara!" (via Breakthrough Institute)

This breakup is far from over though. 

Only 32ish countries have formally managed absolute/relative decoupling. But at the very least it shows that GDP Growth's future isn't tied to CO2 emissions.

We can have our economy, and survive as a species too. 🎂

Just another toxic ex (via Breakthrough Institute)

ii. Renewable energy—so hot right now.

The second piece of the 'feel hopeful' puzzle is renewable energy. It's exploded in popularity in the past 2 decades. And some forms, like solar, have the potential to grow exponentially within the next 2 decades.

GDP Growth has a confession...She wasn't entirely faithful to CO2 Emissions.

See, she's been seeing someone on the side for—well—awhile now.

She thought Renewable Energy was cute at first (not in the good way). He was dorky and kinda 'out there.' Definitely not your typical 'alpha energy.' 🤓

He should have never stood a chance. But GDP Growth has come into her age, and realized that Renewable Energy is truly what the heart wants. He's consistent and doesn't suffocate her like her ex. Most importantly, he's become powerful, and had a total glow up. ❤️‍🔥

As it happens, Renewable Energy is one of the main reasons GDP Growth and CO2 Emissions broke up. 

From pie in the sky to reality

The idea of affordable solar and/or wind power used to be laughable. The outrageous costs and puny energy production were a pipe dream—less than 20 years ago.

But in the last 10 years, renewables have made exponential gains. 📈

Experts predict that renewable energy will be the primary source of power for the United States by 2050. Costing less than $1 per person per day. Now that's hot—not in the global warming kinda way. 

Renewables currently power 28% of the world's electricity. But it's catching on faster than ever. 

What's particularly exciting is the exponential potential of solar power. Less than 2% of the world is currently powered by the sun. BUT solar power has been cost prohibitive until very recently. 🌞

In the past 10 years, solar power costs dropped by a factor of 5. 

Why you should be stoked on solar. (via Ramez Naam)

Costs are dropping so quickly that there's a good chance we'll see prices of 1-2cents/kWh by 2030. One kilowatt hour is enough to power 1200 minutes of cat videos. Amazing! 😸

Solar is already that cheap in some places. Solar power auctions in Abu Dhabi and Portugal were submitted in the past 2 years with costs of 1.35c/kWh and 1.6c/kWh respectively. ☀️

FYI the cost for fossil electricity is between 3-10cents. 

So what does this mean? Solar power production may grow a lot faster than we can predict because costs are declining precipitously as the industry matures. So we could see demand for solar outstrip natural gas and coal by 2035. 🥳

Wouldn't that be neat, hey?

iii. Human ingenuity

Human ingenuity is the X factor that we can't entirely rely on. But we can certainly be hopeful about it. 

As it becomes increasingly apparent that the world is f*cked, we can expect more innovation. 👩‍🔬

Why?

Because human ingenuity is factor of need and greed.  🧮

There's never been a shortage of funds to innovate our way around the climate crisis. But there's been an absence of motivation.

Every year, it becomes a little clearer that humanity is f*cking up the planet. It's becoming apparent to more and more people that we need to do something. AR6 was bad, can you imagine what AR7 will look like if we don't act? 

The idea of spending your life fighting climate change barely existed 30 years ago. Now a significant chunk of the global work force is employed to fight the climate crisis (directly or indirectly). Many of whom actually make quite a comfortable living. 💸

On the greed front, the global elite are beginning to realize that self preservation necessarily implies fixing the climate. And if billions of poors happen to benefit then that's a risk the rich will just have to take. 

Not to mention there's ample money to be made. 🤑

Also, the link between the climate crisis and wildly expensive damages is becoming harder for policymakers to ignore.

"The economy is at risk? Damn. Now it's personal." — Every elected official, on the end of the world

Governments spend billions every year fixing the damages caused by global warming. At some point politicians will realize it's more cost effective to fix the underlying problem instead of slapping band-aids on corpses. 🧟‍♂️

The United States alone forked over more than $600billion in climate change related expenses in the past 5 years. 🇺🇸

And it's going to start costing quiiiiiite a bit more than that. In the event we do virtually nothing about the climate crisis, the United States will need to start spending well over $500billion annually to keep up with the damages caused by rampant weather anomalies. 🌪

These costs are nothing to sneeze at. Oh an people die too I guess. (via NCEI)

The annual climate crisis budget is going to start outstripping the United States' spend on defense. And that's saying something because the United States spends a lot on defense.

Last year, the United States forked over nearly $100billion in climate change damages. And it spent less than $27billion on climate change related solutions. 

hmmmm 🤔

So. We have the need. And greed is almost on board.

What specifically should we be hopeful about when it comes to human ingenuity? To name a few:

• nuclear fusion (less explodey than it's fission counterpart)
  
• fuel cells and hydrogen at a global scale
• booming demand for recommerce (second hand marketplaces)

• tree planting drones
• coral coolers that prevent bleaching
• plastic eating enzymes
• advancing carbon capture tech
• exploding popularity of ESG investing

If I were to elaborate on each of these feats of innovation, then this (already sizeable) article would become longer than the IPCC Report itself. So I'm limiting myself to two emerging areas that you should be pretty excited about: clean transportation and cultured meat. 😆

a. Clean vehicles 🚙

I'm not just talking Teslas. Every mode of transportation is getting an overhaul within 10 years. That's right—the remake of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" is going to be net zero.

Roughly 20-24% of global greenhouse gases come from 'transportation' emissions.

• Cars account for ~ 45%
• Trucks are ~ 29%
• Planes are ~ 12%
• Shipping is ~ 11%

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles 2 is going to emit a lot less carbon than the original. 

The future of transportation will knock out a massive chunk of our global emissions. So the rapid transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is too neat to beat. 🚗

Canada intends to ban fuel powered cars by 2035, and the same may become true for the United States as well.

And EVs won't necessarily be the only option. Aptera makes cars that run on—you guessed it—sweet sunny rays! 😎

Car companies see the writing on the wall. And the largest brands are already aggressively shifting to EVs within the next 5 to 10 years. Even without government intervention, the demand for cleaner transportation will require these companies to make more electric cars. The need, and greed are there.  

• Porsche is pursuing total supply chain carbon neutrality by 2030 and 50% of its estimated sales will be EVs by 2025;
• Volkswagan (the largest car company in the world) predicts 40% of new vehicle sales to be EVs by 2030;
• Toyota believes 40% of its new car sales will be EVs by 2025;

• Lamborghinis will be 100% electric by 2024; and
• Ford projects 40% of its sales will be EVs by 2030.

What about the other methods of transport? 

Global ocean freight may become electric or wind powered within the foreseeable future. And the sky might see low to no emission planes sometime soon as well. 🚢

Electric powered planes and even solar powered planes are becoming increasingly viable modes of transport. That's terrific news for self-conscious, sustainable air travellers. Because air travel is pretty much the least sustainable activity most humans can take part in. ✈️

Wind powered ocean freight. (via Ocean Bird)

b. Cultured Meat 🥩

No—I'm not talking about meat with a degree in art history. I'm talking about lab grown meat that can perfectly replicate livestock meat. No animals involved.  

Cultured meat is still in the early stages. And it wouldn't surprise me if this is the first time you've heard about it. 

What is cultured meat? 

It's lab grown meat made from animal stem cells. The public will no doubt be squeamish about the concept because society hates change. But this is the future. It makes too much sense. 🧬

Think about it: livestock accounts for more than 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions—likely much more than that.

Producing cultured meat nearly eliminates the CO2 and, more importantly, methane emissions from raising and harvesting meat. ☁️

If we transitioned to cultured meat within the next 20 years, we'd reduce 96% of our greenhouse gas emissions from meat consumption. This alone would bring us within reach of our 2050 emissions goals because the global demand for meat is expected to increase 70% by 2050. Not to mention the amount of water and land that would be saved. 

It makes sense from a sustainability perspective, but society and capitalism don't always align with the greenest, cleanest option. But I'm hopeful because cultured meat also aligns with pure capitalism. 💸

And guess what?

The biggest proponent of cultured meat is the meat industry itself. Even Néstle, the world's largest (and arguably most evil) food company is investing in cultured meat. 🐮

Why? 

Because raising, tending, and killing livestock is expensive and an operational nightmare. The prospect of being able to reliably grow meat in controlled conditions is incredibly tantalizing for big businesses who care about their bottom line. 🤤

Up until recently, it was cost prohibitive to sell cultured meat on a commercial scale. But we're pretty damn close now. It used to cost $280,400/kg in 2013. It costs less than $10/kg today. It will become cheaper than livestock meat in the next 10 years. 🍖

Once that happens, there's no way industrial meat suppliers are going to prioritize livestock over cultured meat. Why would they consciously choose to make less money? 

Also, I know compassion rarely plays a role in these sorts of things, but I have to ask. Do we, as a society, really want to continue with the industrialization of livestock? 🐄

There are currently +20billion animals on the planet confined to cages. Waiting to die.

🚨Personal bias alert: when I look at the chart below, something doesn't feel right.

Over 63% of the world's animals are in cages waiting to be food for 32% of the world's animals. (via Yuval Harari's Homo Deus)

iv. global cooperation is possible 🤝

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we're capable of making massive coordinated action (despite half of the population). 

Yes, the pandemic showed us that we can still ship a C+ group project despite a less than desirable group of individuals to work with. 

When we first heard whispers of COVID-19, pretty much everyone ignored it. It took 5 months for the world to really understand the magnitude of the threat.

But within the next 5 months, the entire world took global, coordinated action. Which mitigated what could have been the single largest loss of life event in history to less than 5 million deaths (which is still sobering to consider).

Tim Urban made a chart that visually represents large scale loss of life events. (via Wait But Why)

Some nations reacted far better than others to the pandemic. And it's clear everyone could have done better. 

Nevertheless 2020 and 2021 are still concrete proof that the world can actually come together against a common enemy. 🌍

Climate Change is currently comparable to living through the pandemic equivalent of February 2020. The Climate Crisis is at our doorstep. Now we need to do something about it. 

9. What can you do? 😶‍🌫️

"What can I do. I'm just one person." — 7 billion people, on the end of the world

Before I dive into what you can do personally, I want to explain why I wrote this article.

Researching and writing this wordy SOB took me weeks. It's certainly no AR6—which took 8 years and hundreds of scientists—but still. I could have easily just not wrote it. But I did because I think it might make a meaningful difference. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people will read this. 🤓

After reading the IPCC's findings, I felt deflated and hopeless.

"What's the point. We're f*cked anyways." 🤷‍♂️

It took me a hot minute, but I realized the danger inherent to this mindset. If I'm having these thoughts, then millions of others are definitely feeling this way too. Apathy is what got us into this mess, it's definitely not the way out. 🙅‍♂️

So I decided to write this post because I—just one regular person—can make a difference. I have 3 goals with this article:

1. help people understand the significance of the IPCC Report in terms they can actually understand; 
2. show you there is a lot to be hopeful about so you don't succumb to apathy; and
3. let you know doing nothing isn't an option. 

AR6 makes it clear that every sliver of temperature change makes a big difference. In order to achieve the least warming possible, we need everyone stepping up. Not just on governments. Not just innovators. Not just randomly benevolent rich people. Everyone. 🌎

Entire industries need to die and global consumer behaviours need to change within one long-lived cat's lifetime. 😾

Not only that, we know from COVID-19 that half the population is going to be a collective stick in the mud. So the people who do give a sh*t need to do twice as much heavy lifting. 🏋️

10 Things You Can Do To Personally Make the Future A Little Less Sh*tty 🌈

1. Don't directly fund fossil fuel. ⛽️

You can't escape fossil fuels for now. They're intrinsically linked to daily life in modern society. That said, you don't need to help finance the companies pumping out the stuff. 

Depending on where you're at in life, you may be actively or passively invested in publicly traded companies. If you're serious about the climate crisis, it may be time to divest from any holdings funding fossil fuel. If you're unsure about a fund or ETF, then you should check out asyousow.com. 

2. Stop eating meat—or eat less of it. 🥓

I don't expect people to give up meat wholesale. But it's certainly possible to eat a lot less.

And become an early adopter when cultured meat is commercially available.

3. When it comes to wheels opt for light, simple, second hand, and/or electric. 🚗

Some people need cars. That's a fact of life.

But when you buy a new Land Rover, you personally contribute 35 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Conversely, a new Honda Civic produces less than 15 tons of CO2. And when you buy a used vehicle you're responsible for a fraction of the amount. 

4.  Be mindful of your holiday cheer. 🧑‍🎄

Not to be Scrooge over here, but going all out for the holidays can be one of the worst things you do for the planet.

I know. I love holiday decorations too. But the difference between someone who goes full on 'Santa's Village' and someone with a basic, reusable setup is over 3 tons of CO2 emissions. The big offenders to watch out for are: 

• unwanted presents and wrapping;
• food waste;
• lights; and
• decorations (especially single use disposable).

5. Stop buying so much stuff. 🛍

We need to create a culture around personal accountability for the things that come in and out of our lives. Excessive consumption needs to be replaced with conscious consumption. 

People need stuff to an extent, but it's out of hand. We don't need holiday-specific outfits; 20 pairs of shoes; 100 different kitchen gadgets; and new iphones every year.

Buy fewer, gooder things. And reusable things too. 

6. Try to buy second hand. 💞

No matter what tax bracket I'm in, I'm always going to buy big ticket items second hand. And try to shop second hand for the little stuff too. Whether it's a car, chair, or cast iron frying pan. 

You save tons—literal tons—of CO2 when you purchase stuff second hand over the course of your lifetime. You offset the carbon cost of a new item, and delay the carbon cost of ending another. 

7. Steer clear of new jewelry with precious gems and metals 💍

A single necklace can produce 880lbs of CO2. Extracting gold, diamonds, and precious metals is resource heavy and creates ample pollution. Plus, there's a huge spillover of harmful impacts like deforestation and environmental degradation that occur in the pursuit of these precious materials (not to mention the exploitation of workers).

An easy workaround? Buy second hand or recycled. Also, lab grown diamonds are a thing. So please stop paying 3 months salary for an engagement ring. That was literally an advertising campaign created by De Beers to increase diamond demand.

8. Don't waste food. 🌮

We harp on food waste quite a bit at rü because it's in a category of its own when it comes to pollution and waste. Depending on where you live, food waste could make up roughly 20% of your annual CO2 emissions. That's more than from your fuel and electricity use combined. 

There are so many inputs that go into putting food on your plate. Having it go to waste means a massive amount of energy and resources were expended for nothing.

9. Don't just vote. Promote. 🗳

There are maybe 7 politicians in the entire world who genuinely give a sh*t about the planet. The others care about getting elected. We, as voters, need to not just vote for people who care, but put pressure on elected officials to care.

If you live in the United States, here's how you can contact your elected officials.

If you live in Canada, here's how you can contact your elected officials.

Make it known that the public wants—no, needs—a planet to live on. 

10. Lead by example. 🌱

The little things add up. Little decisions like bringing lunch to work, recycling, turning off your lights, refusing single use, riding your bike, opting for vegan options, composting, buying second hand, etc. These teeny tiny changes have such a profound impact when you add them up macro scale.

And here's the thing, most people and companies don't give a solitary dog turd about the planet. But they do care about perception and the opinions of others.

We are monkey-see, monkey-do creatures. And when enough people do something, more people do it. Sustainability is contagious like that—but only if it's visible. So take pride in your second hand stuff and plant-based meals. Talk about it. Share it.

10. tl;dr

The IPCC Report is no run of the mill, politically influenced soft-science schill. These Reports are the product of hundreds scientists and thousands of scientific findings.

Over the past 3 decades, these Reports have become increasingly bleak. AR6 takes 4,000 pages to say three things hundreds of ways:

• global warming is happening; 🔥
• humans are to blame; and 🥵
• the potential future will be bad or complete sh*t depending on how quickly we act. 💩

The IPCC doesn't contemplate a scenario where the world meets the <1.5°C temperature increase established by the Paris Agreement. And as the planet continues to warm, we can expect some fun stuff.

Extreme weather events like heat waves and cyclones will become more common. Ice at the poles will melt, with the Arctic melting completely by 2050. Sea levels will rise (no matter what we do). And we're far beyond the planet's natural ability to handle all the pollution we're creating. 🌏

That said, you can't lose hope. As things get worse, need and greed will work in our favor. Net zero is possible. GDP growth has decoupled from CO2 emissions thanks to renewable energy and human ingenuity. 🧑‍🔬

Even so, you've got work to do. We all do. The need for personal accountability has never been greater. Don't discount the impact one person can have. 🙅‍♀️

Thank you for taking time from your precious day to read this article. It took me a big effort to put together. So if you know of anyone who you think needs to take climate change more seriously or needs some uplifting, then please pass this along to them. ❤️

Scott

founder

rü supply co. is a Canadian company specializing in reusable bags that help you live your best sustainable life. Our bags are made from GRS Certified 100% recycled trash. And each bag helps you offset thousands of single use disposables every year. Make space, not waste. 

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