PROBLEMS & POSSIBILITIES
If we get it right, the world is a lot more green, more full of life. Damaged ecosystems are on the mend. Cycles of water, carbon, and nitrogen are rebalanced.
Click on any of the following titles to view 10 problems and 10 possibilities from each of the named sections featured in the book.
REPLENISH & RE-GREEN
10 PROBLEMS
Approximately 1 million species are at risk of extinction due to habitat loss, exploitation, climate change, pesticides, and pollution.
Up to 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (a gigaton!) are released from degraded and destroyed coastal ecosystems every year.
By 2070, one-fifth of the planet could be essentially too hot for human life.And around one-quarter of humanity (mostly in poor countries) is already dealing with drought.
Over half of the world’s GDP is moderately- or highly-dependent on nature and its services.
Every year an area the size of roughly 20 million football fields is deforested, resulting in roughly 17% of global greenhouse gas pollution. Agriculture is responsible for at least 90% of tropical deforestation.
The industrial food system is responsible for 33% of global greenhouse gas pollution, with roughly half of that from meat and dairy production, which uses more than one-third of habitable land globally.
Industrial agriculture has led to more than 133 billion metric tons of carbon in soil being released. Much of U.S. topsoil has lost 30 to 50% of its organic matter in the last 100 years.
Despite technological advancements, farming productivity is 21% lower now than it was in the 1960s, due to the effects of climate change on weather patterns.
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer alone (112 million tons of it annually) is responsible for 2.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Residential lawn maintenance and landscaping in the U.S. uses nearly 3 trillion gallons of water, 70 million pounds of pesticides, and 3 billion gallons of gasoline annually.
10 POSSIBILITIES
Protecting and restoring ecosystems could provide 37% of the CO2 mitigation needed to stabilize warming below 2°C (3.6°F) by 2030.
Mangroves and coastal wetlands can hold up to five times more carbon per hectare than tropical forests.
Reducing greenhouse gas pollution, ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, and restoring land, could have an estimated $140 trillion of benefit annually—a third more than the entire 2023 global GDP.
16% of land area, and growing, has legal protections. (The UN Convention on Biological Diversity goal is to protect 30% by 2030.)
Restoring 15% of croplands and pasturelands to natural ecosystems could prevent 60% of expected species extinctions and sequester almost 300 gigatons of CO2.
Every $1 invested in restoring degraded forests can generate up to $30 in economic benefits.
Species biodiversity and abundance are on average 11% and15% greater, respectively, inside protected areas than outside of them.
Improving farming practices could reduce greenhouse gas pollution from agriculture by 10%. Every 1% increase in soil organic matter could sequester roughly 8.5 metric tons of atmospheric carbon and hold 20,000 more gallons of water per acre.
Shifting to plant-based diets could reduce greenhouse gas pollution from agriculture by up to 80%.
In reforestation, mixed-species re-plantings hold 70% more carbon than monocultures.
IF WE BUILD IT…
10 PROBLEMS
Buildings and construction account for 38% of CO2 emissions globally—cement manufacturing alone accounts for 8%.
The construction industry is the world’s largest consumer of resources and raw materials. 35% of construction and demolition debris is disposed of directly into landfills.
Development in hazardous flood-prone areas has increased by 122% globally since 1985, outpacing the growth in flood-safe areas.
In urban areas, extreme heat exposure has tripled since 1983, with warming 29% faster than in rural areas due to the dense concentration of dark pavement and buildings.
Low-income neighborhoods in the U.S. have on average 15% less tree cover (62 million fewer trees total) and are up to 4°C (7.2°F) hotter than higher income areas.
Currently, no single U.S. state has sufficient supply of affordable rental housing.
In the U.S., transportation is responsible for the largest share (28%) of greenhouse gas emissions, with cars and light-duty trucks accounting for 57% of those emissions. Globally, transportation is about 20% of emissions.
Manufacturing fossil-fuel-based plastics generates 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and rising. From 1950 to 2022, annual plastic production has grown from 2 million tons to 400 million tons, and is projected to triple to 1.2 billion tons by 2060.
Globally, only 7.2% of all materials are re-used, and only 9% of plastic waste is truly recycled–actually turned into new things.
Data centers in the U.S. consume about 2.5% of the country’s total electricity demand in 2022, and that is expected to triple to 7.5% by 2030.
10 POSSIBILITIES
A circular economy (based on the principles of using less, longer, and again) could reduce the demand for virgin material extraction by around 30%, reduce associated greenhouse gas pollution by almost 40%, and create 6 million jobs globally.
About 75% of the infrastructure that will be in place in 2050 has yet to be built. Building for climate-resilience adds about 3% to costs, but the benefits outweigh the cost by about 4:1.
Nature-based solutions received only 0.3% of overall spending on urban infrastructure, despite costing on average 50% less than gray infrastructure alternatives.
Designing steel structures for disassembly and reuse could reduce demolition-associated energy use by 70% and associated greenhouse gas emissions by 80%.
Building with wood instead of concrete and steel could reduce associated fossil-fuel consumption by up to 19%, and carbon emissions by up to 31%. Reducing the concentration of cement in concrete from 78% to 40% could cut carbon emissions by up to 52% by 2050.
Installing green roofs in urban areas could lower indoor temperatures by up to 18°C (32.4°F), and retain up to 88% of stormwater runoff.
High-speed rail is 3 times faster and 4 times more energy-efficient than driving, nearly 9 times more energy-efficient than flying, and can reduce emissions by up to 90% when powered by electricity.
Use of EVs cut oil demand by about 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023—equivalent to roughly 2% of the global supply—and could cut demand by 12.4 million barrels per day by 2035.
Currently 80% of solar-panel materials by weight (glass, aluminum, silicon, copper, and silver), and over 95% of metals in batteries can be recycled.
Efficiency measures could reduce U.S. energy use and greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2050 and save more than $700 billion.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
10 PROBLEMS
Climate change could cause $38 trillion in global economic damages every year by 2050.
The climate impacts of burning fossil fuels cause around $500 billion in losses every year–from property damage, to government spending on recovery, construction-surge inflation, and power outages.
The gap in GDP per capita between the richest and poorest countries is 25% larger than it would be without climate change.
The richest 10% of the world population owns 76% of the wealth, takes 52% of the income, and accounts for 48% of global carbon emissions. The poorest 50% of the world gets only 8.5% of the income and accounts for 12% of carbon emissions.
Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, 60 banks have provided $6.9 trillion in financing to fossil fuel companies, with the top four banks alone—JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America—providing more than $1.46 trillion.
To reach the Paris Agreement goals, financing for climate solutions must increase by at least 590%—to $4.35 trillion annually by 2030.
Pension funds, which hold more than $46 trillion in assets worldwide, are among the largest institutional investors in fossil fuels. Just 14 public pension funds in the U.S. have a combined $81.6 billion invested in fossil fuels.
Globally, only 1.6% of philanthropy funding goes to climate—in the U.S, only 0.5%. Approximately 70% of U.S. foundation and nonprofit leaders state that they have no plans to divest from fossil fuels.
Nearly 50% of corporations do not have a net-zero pledge, and 58% of global business executives agree that their companies have overstated their sustainability commitments.
Trade associations for fossil fuel-related companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to obstruct climate policy via advertisements, lobbying, and political donations.
10 POSSIBILITIES
Every $1 invested in resilient infrastructure can yield $4 in benefits.
Getting to net zero is a more than $12 trillion business opportunity. In 2023, $1.8 trillion was invested in the clean energy transition, a new record.
Due to the favorable economics of renewables, decarbonizing the energy system by 2050 could save up to $15 trillion.
In 2023, for the second year in a row, banks generated more revenue from environmentally-friendly investing (about $3 billion) than from fossil fuel investing ($2.7 billion)
In 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for 22% of electricity generation in the U.S., surpassing both nuclear and coal. And, globally, for new energy production capacity added in 2023, 86% was from renewables, mostly solar.
Globally, the clean energy sector employed 36.2 million people in 2023, up 6 million from 2019. In the U.S., over 3.3 million people were employed in the clean energy sector as of 2022, over 3 times more than in fossil fuels.
Reforming fossil fuel subsidies and putting a price on carbon could generate $2.8 trillion globally in government revenues in 2030.
More than 1,600 institutions have divested more than $40 trillion from fossil fuel stocks.
Foundation funding for mitigating climate change has tripled, from $900 million in 2015 to more than $3.7 billion in 2022.
In 2023, more than 23,000 companies, collectively worth at least $67 trillion, disclosed their environmental data on greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and/or water use—a 300% increase since the Paris Agreement.
CULTURE IS THE CONTEXT
10 PROBLEMS
Corporate TV news (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) spent only 17 hours covering climate change in the entirety of 2023, across 435 news segments— less than 1% of overall news programming.
Only 2.8% of the 37,453 scripted films and TV episodes released in the U.S. between 2016 and 2020 mentioned climate-adjacent words like solar energy, fracking, sea level, or renewable energy, and less than 0.6% mention the term “climate change.”
The fashion industry is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of industrial water pollution. Textiles alone use nearly 10% of the plastic produced each year.
Americans dispose of about 13 million tons of clothing and footwear each year, of which only 13% is recycled. The average fast fashion garment is worn as little as 7 times before it is discarded.
Roughly one-third of all food produced in the world is wasted, accounting for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Roughly 75% of U.S. public-school science teachers cover climate change, but only devote one or two hours to it per year on average.
45% of the U.S. population does not participate in any outdoor recreation. Americans spend nearly 7 hours per day in front of screens.
In the U.S., the wealthiest 10% are responsible for 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions, with the top 1% responsible for around 16% of the country’s emissions.
Aviation contributes over 2% of global carbon emissions, with the most frequent fliers responsible for 50% of those carbon emissions. Air travel is expected to triple by 2050.
For 1 in 4 childless adults, concerns about a dangerous climate-changed future are a major reason for not having children.
10 POSSIBILITIES
In 2023, 22% of climate segments on U.S. broadcast TV features solutions.
Only 25% of U.S. viewers say they hear about the climate crisis in scripted TV and film. Nearly 50% of viewers are open to seeing more.
If the average number of times a garment is worn before being discarded doubled, greenhouse gas emissions from the textiles industry would be 44% lower.
Approximately 27% of the U.S. population, and growing, has access to food waste composting programs.
An EV can use energy 4 times more efficiently than a gasoline vehicle. Globally, 14 million EVs were sold in 2023 (up from 120,000 in 2012), and the share of EVs on the road is now over 14%.
60% of urban trips are shorter than 5 kilometers, and 25% are less than 1 kilometer. Using a bicycle instead of a car for short trips could reduce travel-related emissions by 75%.
75% of registered U.S. voters agree that schools should teach children about climate change.
For political conservatives and fathers in the U.S., conversations about climate with their children doubled their concern.
Young Republican voters (18 to 39 years old) are significantly more environmentally concerned than older Republicans and are more likely to favor policies to reduce the effects of climate change.
62% of U.S. adults say they “feel a personal sense of responsibility to help reduce global warming,” but 51% say they don’t know where to start.
CHANGING THE RULES
10 PROBLEMS
The national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement put the world on track for around 2.5°C (4.5°F) of warming by 2100, overshooting the 1.5°C goal.
Many of those (already insufficient) climate pledges are not being met. Without stronger climate policies, the planet is expected to warm 3.2°C (5.76°F) by 2100.
The U.S. is responsible for emitting more greenhouse gasses than any other nation, causing approximately 17% of global warming to date, compared to China at 12% and the EU at 10%, and the 47 least-developed nations collectively at 6%.
The U.S., China, Russia, Brazil, and India (the top 5 emitters) have collectively caused $6 trillion in global income losses due to warming since 1990.
Financing for climate adaptation in developing countries is 10 to 18 times below the estimated $194–366 billion needed annually by 2030, and that gap is growing.
Women represent only 26.7% of national legislators globally. There is evidence that gender equity leads to more effective climate policies.
In the U.S., fossil fuel power plants are 31% more likely to be sited in formerly-redlined neighborhoods, resulting in higher exposure to dangerous air pollution for residents.
The fossil fuel industry benefited from $7 trillion in government subsidies globally in 2022 (or $13 million per minute), roughly 7 times that year’s total investment in clean energy.
In the U.S., 22% of people are doubtful or dismissive about climate change, higher than any other country, and 53% support expanding offshore drilling for oil and gas.
More than 8 million registered voters in the U.S., who have environment/climate as their number one voting issue, did not vote in the 2020 presidential election, and more than thirteen million skipped the 2022 midterms.
10 POSSIBILITIES
195 countries, representing 95% of global emissions, have ratified the Paris Agreement, and 98 countries responsible for about 81% of global emissions have set targets to reach net zero by 2050.
The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987 and eventually ratified by all nations, phased out ozone-harming chemicals, and prevented 2.5°C (4.5°F) of warming.
Laws recognizing the rights of nature exist in 30 countries, including Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Colombia, and Ecuador.
33 U.S. states have or are developing a climate action plan, and 23 states plus Washington, D.C and Puerto Rico have official goals to reach 100% clean energy between 2030 and 2050.
8 U.S. states and dozens of municipalities and tribal nations have filed lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for downplaying their role in causing climate change, and for knowingly deceiving the public.
Montana, Pennsylvania, and New York have adopted green amendments to their state constitutions, establishing fundamental rights to clean air, water, and soil, including a stable climate. An additional 15 states are considering joining them.
384 coal plants in the U.S. have been shut down or will be soon. The U.S. is on the path to retire all coal plants by 2030–146 more to go!
The Inflation Reduction Act commits $370 billion to climate—the largest-ever U.S. government investment in reducing global warming. In year one of implementation, 272 clean energy projects have been announced across 44 US states, creating more than 170,000 jobs.
Implementing the Inflation Reduction Act could lead to 81% of electricity generation being clean by 2030, and put the country on a path to reduce emissions by up to 48% by 2035.
Across 125 countries, 89% of people want their governments to do more to address climate change.
COMMUNITY FOREMOST
10 PROBLEMS
Indigenous peoples have been forced out of their historical territories, and onto lands that are more exposed to climate risks like drought and extreme heat.
Air pollution from burning fossil fuels is responsible for 8.8 million premature deaths annually—one in five deaths worldwide. People of color in the U.S. are exposed to 14% more air pollution than White people.
By 2070, up to 3.5 billion people may have to move as the areas where they live become too hot for normal human life.
There is now a billion-dollar weather/climate disaster once every three weeks in the U.S., causing financial hardships for1 in 10 Americans reporting. In the 1980s, there was one such disaster every four months.
Sea level rise could displace 410 million people globally, including 13.1 million people in the U.S. by 2100.
The number of affordable housing units in the U.S. exposed to coastal flooding is expected to triple by 2050 as sea level rises.
White communities hit by hurricanes and floods have received approximately three times more FEMA buyouts per capita than communities of color.
About 36,000 U.S. public schools lack adequate cooling and ventilation systems to deal with extreme heat–and heatwaves are increasingly leading to school closures.
There is a 1% increase in heat-related workplace injuries for every 1°C above 21°C (70° F).
More than 50% of young people globally are worried about climate change and express feeling sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty. Over 45% say it negatively affects their daily life.
10 POSSIBILITIES
Indigenous peoples (less than 5% of the world’s population) manage or have rights to around 25% of the world’s land area, which is home to about 80% of the Earth’s remaining biodiversity.
Immediately reducing greenhouse gas pollution and supporting green and resilient development could reduce the scale of internal climate migration by 80% in developing countries.
Issuing a warning 24 hours before an incoming storm or heat wave can reduce damages by 30%.
11% of Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming, and roughly 75% are hesitant to buy homes in areas with high climate risk.
Removing 1 million U.S. homes from flood-prone areas and relocating residents would cost $180 billion but save over $1 trillion in property damages over the next 100 years.
Over $29 billion in U.S. federal funding has been allocated as part of the Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40% of benefits of federal investments to disadvantaged communities.
Hispanics, Black and Asian Americans in the U.S. are highly concerned about climate (70%, 65%and 65% respectively, compared to 47% of Whites), yet are perceived as being the least concerned.
Cooperatives account for over 33% of the electric utility industry in the U.S., serving more than 18 million homes, businesses, and schools, while supporting nearly 623,000 jobs.
Union representation is higher for workers in the clean energy sector—transmission, distribution, and storage (18%), solar (11%), and wind (12%)—than the private sector (7%).
When advocating for climate action, love for protecting future generations is the biggest motivator, 12 times more popular than job creation or economic growth.