There is barely a day when we do not hear of another climatic disaster. Most people accept that global warming is the case and say we should something about it. All fine so far.
Then when I ask friends what we should do , confusion sets in. We should maybe recycle more, care about biodiversity, stop consuming so much, control those corporations.
Let’s clear the air.
First of all, you by yourself can do little. Give up the car, drink tap water, and eat less meat - I do all of these. But it is only symbolic. I admit wherever I see door open from a public air conditioned building open to the street , I close it. It is a ridiculous compulsion I will one day overcome.
The fight against climate change is a global issue, so only national or even better, international programmes will work and have worked already. Much less can be done on a corporate level - they are governed by the profit motive, and at the town or local authority – they are by their nature limited in their powers. We need to bring in new policies and many will cost the taxpayer very little. Some examples
- Detection and prevention of natural gas and refrigerant leaks.
- housing without parking encouraging residents to use public transport.
- Rezoning land for renewable energy.
- Taxing the purchase of ICE internal combustion engine cars
Some policies will cost more and in Israel we are already in the right direction. Replacing all coal fired power stations with natural gas and renewables, building solar energy plants with storage, and ensuring that all landfills are sealed and capture methane emissions.
In the transport, commercial, and industrial sectors, we just need to adopt technologies which are already successful abroad. The most obvious examples – electric and hydrogen vehicles, and charging systems in the transport sector.
More expensively, we need to spend more on public transport and extend our electricity grid.
I would like to see tax on all cow products but that is not politically possible in the short term.
If you care then what you do next is clear . Tell your politicians what needs to be done. They are the ones who can allocate funds and legislate. Impress on them that you care about it – much of the climate change fight is good legislation and enforcement.
David Waimann is VP Energy at OurCrowd Investments and executive director at five water and renewable energy tech companies. drw@ourcrowd.com
This article is part of a series of more than 20 posts discussing climate policy and technology.
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