9 Comments
User's avatar
Vianney Mixtur's avatar

I would argue that AI also "won" because of two major breakthroughs, the transformers paper in 2017 and ChatGPT launch in 2022.

What have we accomplished on climate and technological standpoint for the past 10, 15 or 20 years ?

I am still waiting for nuclear fusion ....

As long that we don't have compelling concrete solutions to offer, it's going to be hard to offer a compelling story in climate

Expand full comment
Yoann Berno's avatar

Correct. We need killer apps. Tangible, palpable. Relatable.

Fact is, most climate “killer apps” will probably be B2B. So they won’t make as much noise.

I’d argue that the real B2C climate killer app is to help us live healthier, longer, more aligned, in communities, and reconnect us to the living. Weirdly those stuff don’t feel as relatable as a freaking dark screen app (ChatGPT).

That’s the total contradiction.

Our job is to make those things MUCH sexier and relatable than an iPhone app. For that we need better stories

Expand full comment
Athena Lambrinidou's avatar

Last I remember no one has asked us if we wanted AI. It had been rammed down our throats and in our lives by the minority extremely wealthy control freaks. Climate on the other hand was not adopted because “they” holding the purse strings were not interested. They did not see how they could make their greedy billions from us dealing with that. This has been my experience

Expand full comment
Yoann Berno's avatar

Right. Let's tell the story of an unstoppable new paradigm shift so compelling that the ones holding the purse will fomo into

Expand full comment
Garreth Heidt's avatar

I'm reminded of this section of the great PBS series, "A Brief History of the Future."

https://youtu.be/7FiY-momMnY?si=ikbeocEavv0xgeBa

Expand full comment
Yoann Berno's avatar

Ooh, love that one. THanks for sharing.

Love the comments too:

"Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist." 😂

Expand full comment
Michael Ethan Gold's avatar

Great points. Climate is a crisis. Climate is a burden. We’re the problem. YOU’RE the problem.

No wonder people switch off!

We need more exciting, inspiring, uplifting climate stories. That’s what I’m doing with Climate Swings, my podcast about people working boldly at the frontlines of the climate challenge. I’d love it if you could subscribe and follow so we can get more of these voices out to the world!

Expand full comment
Yoann Berno's avatar

Cool pod Michael. Thanks for sharing. Any episode to recommend in particular as a starter?

Expand full comment
Michael Ethan Gold's avatar

Thanks! The format is similar across every episode so it really depends on which subject area you’re interested in. Kamal Kapadia, co-founder of Terra.do, is a great speaker and has a genuinely quirky story so that one definitely sticks out for me: https://open.substack.com/pub/climateswings/p/from-the-worm-lady-to-leading-a-climate?r=2ihx7f&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Expand full comment