Climate Change Archives - Solar Schoolhouse

Join the Drawdown EcoChallenge…Spring into Action with Team Solar Schoolhouse

Greetings! Happy Vernal Equinox (aka 1st day of Spring).

Late last year we wrote about Drawdown – The Most Comprehensive Plan ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming – highlighting the top 100 solutions to reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) and actually reversing global warming. Then, last month in nearby Healdsburg, we listened to author Paul Hawken share about how Drawdown came together, enlisting young scientists from around the world, and focusing on solutions. Very inspiring!

Now, I’m excited to share about the Drawdown Eco Challenge which runs from April 4-25, 2018. This is something that you and your students can explore and be part of this next month. It’s also a way to become more familiar with Drawdown and all the different solutions that can help reduce GHGs and together reverse global warming.

I’ve created Team Solar Schoolhouse and encouraging you and your students (friends & family too) to join Team Solar Schoolhouse when you set up a personal profile on the Drawdown EcoChallenge website. There are a wide variety of challenges to explore and commit to action, from Food, to Transportation, Clean Energy, Women & Girls, Buildings, Materials. Anyone motivated to Spring into Action can join Team Solar Schoolhouse for the Drawdown EcoChallenge.

Win a cool Tshirt with the “Living the Solar Life” design….

Tshirt design. "Living the Solar Life". Top 5 point-earners on Team Solar Schoolhouse will receive a Tshirt. — *“Living the Solar Life”. Top 5 point-earners on Team Solar Schoolhouse will receive a Tshirt with this design.*

Here are some ideas for actions to consider.

1. Ask your School Board to adopt a Climate Resolution. Here in Sonoma County (CA) ~ 7 school districts have passed resolutions in the past few months, thanks to the encouragement of Schools for Climate Action (SCA). I’ve helped with one of these campaigns and was amazed at how receptive the school board was. SCA has several templates for resolutions, and recommended steps to take. Several resolutions also include Climate Literacy component, which the Drawdown resource can help fulfill.

2. Conduct a solar project in your classroom. explore different applications that are using solar energy in the world today. Teach someone else about solar energy. Example – in Glendale, CA, teachers, students, and myself will host the Solar Discovery Faire on April 14th. sharing solar energy activities with the community, and also solar rooftop options for homes. hosted at a school with it’s own solar array. This is all about experiencing and then sharing. It can be replicated at any scale.

3. Food waste – is a big source of greenhouse gases. learn why it’s important to recycle/compost food waste instead of putting it in a landfill. Research composting options with your own local waste company, then share what you find with others.

4. Transportation… is a big source of GHGs. Explore walk, roll, carpool options for getting to and from school or work. Learn about Electric Vehicles(EV), host a EV rally to share options with the community. We just finished a 1500 mi road trip on the west coast in an all-electric vehicle (Bolt) (story to follow). It worked and we were able to charge up along the way. zero emissions!

There’s lots more you can do…..check out the Challenges on the Drawdown EcoChallenge website, and commit to several actions. You can also read more information at the Solutions Page on Project Drawdown. Then share with others.

Step ONE is to JOIN Team Solar Schoolhouse at Drawdown EcoChallenge.

Looking forward,

Tor

Tor- Fast charging the Bolt in Redding CA along the west coast electric highway.(March 2018) — Fast charging the Bolt in Redding CA along the west coast electric highway.(March 2018)

Book Review: Drawdown

Reviewed by Pauline Allen. Rahus Institute-Solar Schoolhouse. 20171129

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming

edited by Paul Hawken, is truly the first of its kind. As an educational tool this book is exceptional. Using mathematical models Drawdown Fellows calculated the impact of the top 80 solutions based on the amount of greenhouse gas reduction and the economic cost/savings.

Combining # 6 and #7 to make Empowering Women the top solution to Climate Change. Education lays a foundation for vibrant lives for girls and women, their families, and their communities. It also is one of the most powerful levers available for avoiding emissions by curbing population growth.

First off, let’s look at the meaning of “drawdown”. Most previous climate change literature tells us that we need to “mitigate” and “reduce” emissions in order to “combat” or “fight” global warming. As Paul Hawken says, “if you are going down the wrong road and slow down, you’re still going down the wrong road.” For the Drawdown team it is important to stop using violent military analogies when referring to climate change and to draw the attention from what we are doing wrong to what can be done. Drawdown refers to the specific goal of lowering carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and bringing that carbon back to earth.

Microgrids: This is the Solar Settlement in Freiburg, Germany. A 59-home community, it is the first in the world to have a positive energy balance, with each home producing $5,600 per year in solar energy profits. The way to positive energy is designing homes that are extraordinarily energy efficient, what designer Rolf Disch calls PlusEnergy.

Drawdown uses language that is understandable to the public, instead of using alienating technical lingo. On the website all the solutions in the book are listed by rank and sector (Energy, food, women and girls, buildings and cities, land use, transport, materials, coming attractions) with references and methodology provided. This means that if you want to have every student in your class research a different solution and report back to the class, all the information is available online! On the website, one can also read about the research fellows— the impressive diverse group of women and men from all over the world that put Drawdown together.

A third of the food raised or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork. Producing uneaten food squanders a whole host of resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital—and generates greenhouse gases at every stage—including methane when organic matter lands in the global rubbish bin. The food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions.

In Hawken’s talk on Drawdown at Seattle Town Hall, he mentions what the Drawdown team found most surprising about the results. Eight of the top 20 solutions are in the food category (including #3 reduce food waste and #4 plant rich diet), while 5 of the top 20 solutions are energy related. But most surprising is that if you combine #6 educating girls with #7 family planning, then empowering women is the top solution to climate change!

Hawken makes it clear that although some solutions have bigger impacts, we need all of them. If people want to take action, they should work on whichever solution they personally resonate with.