Big news in climate restoration!
First major institutions shift toward climate restoration goals
Please celebrate with me!
After 12 years of working to update our society’s climate goals, I’m thrilled to say that we have finally turned the corner. Now there’s no turning back.
Last month, both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Bezos Earth Fund adopted climate-restoration goals. These are the first major organizations to step up to lead us out of the climate stalemate in which we’ve found ourselves for 40 years.
For decades, the world followed the climate goals developed by the United Nations in the 1980s—to stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) levels and prevent human intervention in the climate system. Unfortunately, if we stabilize now, we’ll have a world where GHG levels are 50 percent higher than pre-industrial levels. Levels not seen for 14 million years—from before hominids evolved from gorillas.
In contrast, the climate restoration movement calls for the energy transition PLUS restoring the pre-industrial climate, which proved safe for humanity for thousands of years.
“Restoring the atmosphere” and “Returning GHG…to pre-industrial levels” —welcome words!
MIT introduced their new Climate Project February 8. Their first Mission is Decarbonizing Energy and Industry. The second is Restoring the Atmosphere, Protecting the Land and Oceans.
Sounds normal, even mundane, right? But this simple title and the work to be done under it represent a sea change. MIT leadership is shifting the climate-action paradigm from “avoiding the worst effects of climate change” toward restoring a climate that’s proven safe for humans.
Similarly, the newest Bezos Earth Fund Prize centers on “returning greenhouse gas concentrations to pre-industrial levels.” Wow! They’re acknowledging that restoring a safe climate is both necessary and possible—shedding the mistaken belief that net-zero alone will save us.
So let’s celebrate. And then get back to work restoring the climate so that humanity and the nature we’re part of can flourish.
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Thank you!
Peter Fiekowsky
This is truly exciting, Peter! It is I feel our top priority at this time, the need to expand rapidly to including "climate restoration," or cleaning up our mess by removing green house gases from our atmosphere is going to be absolutely key! I have been in presentations by NASA scientists, been with folks from NOAA and so many others, and I hear again and again that what people need to know is, it is possible to clean up our mess, to remove the CO2 from our atmosphere. When I look to actions and climate focus, it remains so outdated, with our focus continuing to be almost exclusively focused on decreasing emissions and transitioning from fossil fules. Don't mistake me, these things are absolutely vital, but given our current situation and our continued neglect, that even one nation has not met their goals from the Paris Climate accord, we now have a much biggerr issue. The IPCC has reported since 2018 that removing large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere will now be needed to avoid large scale catastrphe. It is so heartwarming to see some big players, MIT and Bezos Xprize, embrace cleaning up our atmosphere and in the case of the Xprize, returning to preindustrial levels of green house gases in the atmosphere. BRAVO!! The conversation moves forward!
Great work Peter keep going the time is now