A conversation with Steve Oldham, Chief Executive Officer of Carbon Engineering Ltd.
Steve Oldham is Chief Executive Officer of Carbon Engineering Ltd. (CE), a Canadian-based clean energy company. CE is focused on the deployment of groundbreaking Direct Air Capture technology that captures carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere so it can be stored deep underground or turned into clean transportation fuels.
Steve brings more than 20 years of executive experience to CE’s team, stemming from previous positions in technology, robotics, and aerospace sectors. He has played a lead role in a number of ‘Canada firsts’ in technology commercialization, including the first robot performing brain surgery, the first commercial radar satellite, robots that clean the inside of nuclear reactors, and satellites that service and repair other satellites. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Birmingham in England.
This conversation comes at a time when the pandemic has hit us hard and it has grabbed everyone’s attention. Still, climate change is perhaps the most pressing challenge we must face as a species. We touched on very interesting topics, including Steve’s trajectory, his vision for the long term and how Carbon Engineering impacts positively in it, the cost of addressing climate change today, and much more!
It is an honor to introduce to you, Steve Oldham.
---
Website - https://carbonengineering.com
TED Talk - How to pull the plug on climate change | Steve Oldham | TEDxPortland
Awesome Keynote by Steve - Turning CO2 into Fuel | Carbon Engineering CEO Steve Oldham
--- Highlights ---
(3:00) Steve’s trajectory.
(5:15) How does Steve remind Himself that his endeavor is one that will be fruitful in the long haul?
(7:35) How does Direct Air Capture work?
(10:38) Once Carbon Engineering captures CO2 from the air, could we reuse it to fuel our cars or airplanes?
(11:51) Could we remove too much CO2 from the atmosphere?
(13:15) Putting CO2 back under the ground - - is this dangerous?
(15:20) How can Carbon Engineering disrupt the world in a non-disruptive way?
(17:27) What are some of the biggest challenges that Carbon Engineering is facing?
(19:19) How much would it cost us to address climate change today?
(23:00) How can we all become involved in this project?
(25:55) Closing remarks.
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If you find this episode interesting, don't miss out on new conversations and subscribe to the podcast at any podcast feed you use, and leave me a review. Also, consider sharing it with someone you think might enjoy this episode.
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--- Credits ---
Our New, Awesome Music by Joe Lyle. More info can be found at https://joelyledrums.com
Hosted, Produced by Alex Levy.
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To what extent
do we have free will?
0:00:14.639,0:00:18.800
Why does climate change feel ideological?
0:00:19.199,0:00:23.519
Will genome data collecting test the
limits of surveillance?
0:00:23.519,0:00:28.160
Is it possible that our intuition has
been hacked?
0:00:28.160,0:00:32.239
This is Through Conversations Podcast,
where curiosity
0:00:32.239,0:00:37.120
goes from the human genome to the cosmos.
We'll talk with the most brilliant minds
0:00:37.120,0:00:40.160
that focus on answering all of these
questions,
0:00:40.160,0:00:48.320
and many more. This is Alex Levy
hope you enjoy the show
0:00:57.520,0:01:00.800
hey everyone! I am very excited to share
with you
0:01:00.800,0:01:05.119
my conversation with Steve Oldham the
chief executive officer
0:01:05.119,0:01:09.840
of Carbon Engineering a Canadian based
clean energy company
0:01:09.840,0:01:13.840
Carbon Engineering is focused on the
deployment of groundbreaking direct air
0:01:13.840,0:01:17.680
capture technology
that captures carbon dioxide directly
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out of the atmosphere
so, it can be stored deep underground or
0:01:21.360,0:01:26.560
turned into clean transportation
fuels Steve brings more than 20 years of
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executive experience to carbon
Engineering’s team
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stemming from previous positions in
technology robotics
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and aerospace sectors he has played a
lead role
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in a number of Canada firsts in
technology commercialization
0:01:40.560,0:01:43.600
including the first robot performing
brain surgery
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the first commercial radar satellite
robots that clean
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the inside of nuclear reactors and
satellites that service
0:01:51.119,0:01:55.520
and repair other satellites Steve holds
a bachelor's degree
0:01:55.520,0:01:59.680
in mathematics and computer science from
the university of Birmingham
0:01:59.680,0:02:03.200
in England this conversation comes at a
time
0:02:03.200,0:02:06.560
when the pandemic has hit us hard and it
has grabbed
0:02:06.560,0:02:11.039
everyone's attention still climate
change is perhaps the most
0:02:11.039,0:02:14.640
pressing challenge, we must face as a
species in the long term
0:02:14.640,0:02:18.959
we touched on very interesting topics
including Steve’s trajectory
0:02:18.959,0:02:22.239
his vision for the long term and how
Carbon Engineering
0:02:22.239,0:02:27.360
is impacting positively in it the cost
of addressing climate change today
0:02:27.360,0:02:31.599
and much more it is a great honor
to introduce to you
0:02:31.599,0:02:36.800
Steve Oldham hey I’m here with
Steve Oldham in this edition of through
0:02:36.800,0:02:41.360
conversations podcast
and climate change has been in
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our minds for a long time but right now
even the current crisis with the
0:02:45.280,0:02:49.599
pandemic it seems to be
off the sides so I’m very honored to
0:02:49.599,0:02:54.080
have you here in my podcast Steve
it's a privilege to be here and thank
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you very much yes thank you
and I would like to talk with you about
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tell me about yourself
how did you become interested in climate?
0:03:04.159,0:03:07.200
change and how
how's your trajectory been unfolding
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until today
sure, so as you can probably tell from my
0:03:11.040,0:03:15.280
accent I’m
British I come from Manchester
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and I moved to Canada in 1996
starting off as a software engineer and
0:03:22.720,0:03:24.879
then I
the first part of my career was actually
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in space
working on satellites and
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financing large satellite programs which
are expensive require a lot of money
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and I worked at a company called
McDonald that while
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doing that for best part of 20 years
the opportunity to move over to carbon
0:03:45.440,0:03:48.879
engineering
came to me I was asked if I would be
0:03:48.879,0:03:52.720
interested
in applying for the position and as soon
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as I looked into the company
and what it was doing and the mission
0:03:57.200,0:04:00.720
of the company it was really clear that
this was something that
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I just had to do I have I have
kids
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I look around and I see the growing
but
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silent impact of climate change all over
and I think my generation
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and the generations before me we have a
responsibility to pass on
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the planet in just as good a state as we
found it and
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climate change and you can
look at the
0:04:28.720,0:04:34.479
the parallel of the coronavirus
climate change is crept up on us unaware
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if you like
but will have a massive impact on us
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way of life
so, when I saw what Carbon Engineering
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could do
it was just a no-brainer for me to
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to take the position and try and do my
best to bring the
0:04:48.720,0:04:54.479
bring the technology to market wow
and yes, as you mentioned climate change
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is
some sort of crippling normalcy right we
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don't see
or we still haven't seen the immediate
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impact as
as a pandemic that we're
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seeing right now everyone's in our
in their homes and that's one of the
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biggest challenges right working in
climate change so
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how do you remind yourself that your
endeavor is one
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that is for the long haul how
are you keeping?
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a mindset to bring yourself into work
every day knowing that your work is
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will become fruitful in the long term so
that's a great question I’ve never
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been asked that before
so, I think I
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one of the key things so if I if I take
a step back when I when I joined the
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company
the company was not particularly
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well known and the technology was not
particularly well known
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and one of the top priorities that I had
was to increase the public awareness
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of what we do at Carbon Engineering and
how the technology could benefit climate
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change so
we have done a lot of work in the in the
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public relations domain
we've done ted talks we've done lots
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of articles we've
done videos we've really worked on
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education and
so, the reason I’m saying all of that is
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because it's through connections with
people like your podcast and the people
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who go see the ted talks the people who
comment on our YouTube videos
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and the people who come to us and say we
we really appreciate and recognize what
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you're trying to do
so that allows all of us in the company
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to stay focused on that inside our
building
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we have a notice board where we
pin up
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letters emails notes that we get from
people around the world
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who've seen what we're doing and
want to send a message back
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so that really helps us with the
long-term focus
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this is a long-term project
it's something that will take a
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good amount of time to bring to a truly
global
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impact but things like that the
interaction with people
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really helps wow that's
an answer I didn't expect to hear
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because for
for me it seems that on this side of the
0:07:10.160,0:07:14.880
of the conversation or in the inside as
you are in Carbon Engineering it seems
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that
collective action is one of the
0:07:17.680,0:07:21.440
things that has
the biggest the biggest take on
0:07:21.440,0:07:24.880
how
do we deal with climate change and just
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listening that you have feedback from
people
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it's encouraging for me as well and
going
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into the long term so
talk to me about the specifics
0:07:37.199,0:07:40.400
of direct air capture how does it
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work and
if I’m right now in Mexico City the
0:07:43.840,0:07:46.240
altitude is very high would it be the
same
0:07:46.240,0:07:49.919
efficiency here than in Miami for
example
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yeah so let me let me maybe start
right at the top level about why direct
0:07:54.160,0:07:56.479
I capture why does it make a difference
so
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director capture pulls co2 directly out
of the atmosphere
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and we hear a lot of talk about we
have to control emissions
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and that is important we do have to stop
emitting
0:08:08.720,0:08:14.240
but it's really hard for every
single source of co2 emissions on the
0:08:14.240,0:08:17.840
planet
to be stopped it's very hard to collect
0:08:17.840,0:08:22.000
all that co2 from
literally billions of separate emitters
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so, what directive capture does for you
it gives you a tool to stop any emission
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from anywhere on the planet at any
moment in time
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by pulling the co2 emission back down
from the atmosphere again
0:08:35.279,0:08:40.719
so, for example if we decide I
I won't pick on a particular country but
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if we decide that we can't
decarbonize the use of fossil fuel in a
0:08:44.399,0:08:47.680
particular location
because there's no other alternative
0:08:47.680,0:08:51.120
sources of energy there and the people
in that community need energy for their
0:08:51.120,0:08:55.279
way of life
instead do direct air capture and
0:08:55.279,0:08:58.080
eliminate that carbon footprint by
capturing it
0:08:58.080,0:09:03.040
afterwards so that's the fundamental
value of direct air capture
0:09:03.040,0:09:07.040
any emission anywhere on the planet any
moment in time
0:09:07.040,0:09:10.959
including yesterday's emissions and the
day before and the day before that we
0:09:10.959,0:09:15.519
can clean all of those up
and there's really no other technical
0:09:15.519,0:09:19.440
solution that allows you to do that
electric cars are fantastic but they
0:09:19.440,0:09:24.160
don't decarbonize
airplanes or agriculture or steel making
0:09:24.160,0:09:28.560
it's just one source of emissions that
they decarbonize
0:09:28.560,0:09:31.920
so that's the fundamental value of
direct air capture
0:09:31.920,0:09:36.480
there are two types of technology to do
that in the world
0:09:36.480,0:09:41.600
one is to use a solid absorbent where
you absorb co2 into some kind of solid
0:09:41.600,0:09:46.240
think of like a sponge
yeah then you replace the sponge
0:09:46.240,0:09:49.519
our technology is to use a liquid a
chemical liquid
0:09:49.519,0:09:54.399
rely on chemical reactions and then we
regenerate the chemicals that we use
0:09:54.399,0:09:59.760
as we go about the process so we
don't have to replace the sponge
0:09:59.760,0:10:03.680
and just to come back to your
question about location
0:10:03.680,0:10:07.519
co2 in the atmosphere is uniformly
spread
0:10:07.519,0:10:11.680
so, it really doesn't matter if we locate
a plant in
0:10:11.680,0:10:15.279
Mexico City or in the middle of the
Sahara Desert
0:10:15.279,0:10:20.000
fundamentally with atmospheric winds you
you're pulling the same amount of co2
0:10:20.000,0:10:27.279
to a non-into a non-significant factor
it really doesn't matter wow that's
0:10:27.279,0:10:33.200
very encouraging to hear and
as you say creating liquid from co2
0:10:33.200,0:10:36.640
sounds very
very futuristic like I imagine
0:10:36.640,0:10:40.720
star trek
doing that not using it for
0:10:40.720,0:10:46.399
gasoline for example so how
how does it work I can use co2?
0:10:46.399,0:10:49.040
to fuel my car
is that being that feasible with carbon
0:10:49.040,0:10:53.279
engineering so now
what you so fundamentally when some
0:10:53.279,0:10:58.240
once we've captured co2 from the air
you can combine it with hydrogen and
0:10:58.240,0:11:03.279
when you combine co2 and hydrogen
you make a hydrocarbon and hydrocarbons
0:11:03.279,0:11:07.040
can be
kerosene that's jet fuel it can be
0:11:07.040,0:11:12.560
diesel it can be gasoline
so, when you make that fuel from
0:11:12.560,0:11:17.680
atmospheric co2 you're essentially
recycling its carbon footprint
0:11:17.680,0:11:21.760
because the co2 was pulled out of the
atmosphere in advance
0:11:21.760,0:11:26.720
when you drive your car, you produce co2
and it goes into the atmosphere there's
0:11:26.720,0:11:31.279
no way no way for it to come back
what we do when we make fuel is, we take
0:11:31.279,0:11:35.519
your co2 emission
in advance make a fuel and then when you
0:11:35.519,0:11:38.320
drive your car
you put the co2 back and we pull it back
0:11:38.320,0:11:42.959
and make more fuel again
so, it becomes a circle wow
0:11:42.959,0:11:49.760
and I’m trying to just because
if I’m being fully disclosed here, I’m
0:11:49.760,0:11:53.200
such a big fan of you and carbon
engineering I’m just trying to play
0:11:53.200,0:11:57.360
devils abdicate for a second would it
be possible to
0:11:57.360,0:12:00.959
take too much co2 out of the
environment is it
0:12:00.959,0:12:04.160
would it be negative to take too much?
co2
0:12:04.160,0:12:10.480
I mean so too to remove
enough co2 to just bring us back to sort
0:12:10.480,0:12:16.399
of a one-and-a-half-degree scenario
is a colossal amount of co2
0:12:16.399,0:12:20.800
so, we shouldn't kid ourselves about the
scale of the problem
0:12:20.800,0:12:24.000
so is it theoretically possible that we
could remove too much
0:12:24.000,0:12:29.760
co2 sure but it would require
an enormous number of plants running for
0:12:29.760,0:12:32.560
many
years and one of the good things about
0:12:32.560,0:12:36.000
direct air capture is if you think
there's a negative
0:12:36.000,0:12:40.880
impact you just turn it off you turn the
machines off
0:12:40.880,0:12:44.800
and you stop the problem so unlike
0:12:44.800,0:12:48.639
some of the solutions proposed for some
of the more
0:12:48.639,0:12:52.399
adventurous solutions to address climate
change things like
0:12:52.399,0:12:57.920
using volcanoes putting
chemicals into the atmosphere those are
0:12:57.920,0:13:02.079
things you can't reverse
you get that wrong and you're stuck with
0:13:02.079,0:13:05.040
it
whereas direct air capture you can turn
0:13:05.040,0:13:08.639
them off
yeah that's amazing and that's a
0:13:08.639,0:13:12.959
great point
so, one of the things besides
0:13:12.959,0:13:17.440
using it for to mix it with hydrogen and
use it for jet fuel
0:13:17.440,0:13:21.760
is to put it beneath our
surface as the same way as we
0:13:21.760,0:13:24.959
we've taken out of the surface now we're
trying to put it back in
0:13:24.959,0:13:28.480
are there any risks with it or is it
just
0:13:28.480,0:13:32.160
some natural thing that happens in
nature
0:13:32.160,0:13:38.240
co2 should be inside of the earth
so, I mean so it's a very good
0:13:38.240,0:13:42.880
question a very relevant question
so yes, there is co2 already
0:13:42.880,0:13:46.480
underground in certain locations around
the world as a gas
0:13:46.480,0:13:50.560
it's trapped there in a geological
formation for example
0:13:50.560,0:13:55.279
so, we know that we with the right
geological formations can store co2
0:13:55.279,0:13:59.040
underground
but you wouldn't do this for example I’m
0:13:59.040,0:14:02.399
in here
I’m here in British Columbia in Canada
0:14:02.399,0:14:07.839
we're in an earthquake zone
so, you wouldn't sequester co2 as a gas
0:14:07.839,0:14:12.160
in British Columbia’s coast because of
the danger of
0:14:12.160,0:14:16.000
potentially an earthquake so
the most critical
0:14:16.000,0:14:19.040
thing to understand is you have to
choose the right location
0:14:19.040,0:14:23.120
to put co2 back underground again once
you've done that
0:14:23.120,0:14:26.399
there has never been to the best of our
knowledge as a company
0:14:26.399,0:14:31.199
a single safety incident that has
resulted from putting co2 underground
0:14:31.199,0:14:34.480
so, it's all about choosing the right
location
0:14:34.480,0:14:37.839
in the united states the department of
energy has done a survey
0:14:37.839,0:14:43.360
of just the us and the locations where
co2 be put underground
0:14:43.360,0:14:47.600
and they've calculated that there is
enough capacity to store a hundred years
0:14:47.600,0:14:54.160
of the entire planet's emissions
just in the united states wow so storage
0:14:54.160,0:14:58.160
is not the problem
if we do it correctly and in the right
0:14:58.160,0:15:03.040
places
wow that's the data that I didn't
0:15:03.040,0:15:08.880
wow 100 years’ worth it's amazing
it's difficult to wrap my head
0:15:08.880,0:15:12.800
around
the fact that we can I would say
0:15:12.800,0:15:16.160
engineer our way to solve this
problem and one of the
0:15:16.160,0:15:19.760
biggest issues or one of the biggest
arguments
0:15:19.760,0:15:23.839
against this from my end when I try to
talk with people about climate change
0:15:23.839,0:15:26.480
and the
feasible solutions are there is this
0:15:26.480,0:15:30.320
resistance to
innovation right there is we don't want
0:15:30.320,0:15:36.240
our lifestyles to be disrupt
so, I know that one of the biggest
0:15:36.240,0:15:39.680
feats of Carbon Engineering are that it
doesn't do that so could you elaborate
0:15:39.680,0:15:43.519
on how
does Carbon Engineering disrupt in a
0:15:43.519,0:15:48.560
non-disruptive way the market
yeah so, you've obviously heard me say
0:15:48.560,0:15:52.079
that I like to refer to ideology as a
non-disruptive
0:15:52.079,0:15:56.320
disruptive technology yes and what do I
mean by that so I mean
0:15:56.320,0:16:00.240
it's a disruptive technology because it
has the capability to make a
0:16:00.240,0:16:05.199
really material impact on one of the
biggest challenges we face as a species
0:16:05.199,0:16:10.880
right now, which is climate change
however, I say it's non-disruptive why
0:16:10.880,0:16:14.079
because for example it's going to take
us
0:16:14.079,0:16:18.240
a long time to move off fossil fuels
that is the hard
0:16:18.240,0:16:22.560
reality of the situation there'll always
be some people who say we should
0:16:22.560,0:16:26.880
immediately abandon fossil fuels but
fossil fuels drive our economy
0:16:26.880,0:16:31.360
they drive the health of our people they
drive the development of new nations
0:16:31.360,0:16:36.320
we can't just instantaneously replace
them with renewable energy so
0:16:36.320,0:16:39.680
how do you decarbonize while continuing
to use
0:16:39.680,0:16:43.920
energy and fossil fuels well you clean
up the mess afterwards
0:16:43.920,0:16:47.839
and that's what direct air capture does
it pulls the co2 back down puts it back
0:16:47.839,0:16:51.759
on the ground again
so that in my view means that our
0:16:51.759,0:16:57.680
technology is non-disruptive
so we can continue to use fossil fuels
0:16:57.680,0:17:01.600
while giving ourselves the time to move
to renewable electricity
0:17:01.600,0:17:06.319
and decarbonize at the same time so it's
a non-disruptive destructive technology
0:17:06.319,0:17:10.319
yes, I love the way that you put it and
it's great to listen to it
0:17:10.319,0:17:16.839
and for every listeners to hear you
say it and disruptive that's a word that
0:17:16.839,0:17:22.319
disrupts if I may say that
and one of the big things that I keep
0:17:22.319,0:17:26.240
asking myself is
a company such as you as yours and you
0:17:26.240,0:17:30.960
know being a co2 in such a
a great company what are some of the
0:17:30.960,0:17:35.360
unknown unknowns that you think of
while trying to implement this
0:17:35.360,0:17:38.000
technology in the world and in the
future
0:17:38.000,0:17:42.400
so, I think the number one thing
and I say this to anybody who
0:17:42.400,0:17:45.760
comes to our company to talk
about
0:17:45.760,0:17:49.840
investing into it or something similar
the biggest challenge
0:17:49.840,0:17:53.120
is the recognition that we need to have
as a planet
0:17:53.120,0:17:58.400
that there is a cost to climate change
and if there is a cost to climate change
0:17:58.400,0:18:02.640
there is a value
to remove carbon from the atmosphere and
0:18:02.640,0:18:06.720
if there is a value
we should be prepared to pay for it and
0:18:06.720,0:18:10.720
that is hard for us to take
as all collectively why I would
0:18:10.720,0:18:14.880
spend money today
to solve a problem that will occur in
0:18:14.880,0:18:19.679
the future
so for us we have no business
0:18:19.679,0:18:23.679
and we will be out of business if people
don't recognize
0:18:23.679,0:18:28.559
that it is worth paying to address
climate change
0:18:28.559,0:18:31.600
so that is the biggest thing that keeps
me awake
0:18:31.600,0:18:36.559
every single night you will always have
a segment of the population who doesn't
0:18:36.559,0:18:40.000
believe climate change is real
you'll always have politicians and
0:18:40.000,0:18:44.080
policy makers
who are seeking to save money today and
0:18:44.080,0:18:47.840
cut budgets today
but I go back to a fundamental thing you
0:18:47.840,0:18:51.200
know I said at the start of the
conversation I have children and I think
0:18:51.200,0:18:55.440
our generation has a responsibility
you talk to parents you talk to
0:18:55.440,0:18:57.760
grandparents and they always say the
same thing I do
0:18:57.760,0:19:01.600
anything for my kids but we're not
willing
0:19:01.600,0:19:05.520
to turn over a certain amount of our
current income to solve this problem in
0:19:05.520,0:19:08.160
the future
so that our kids have the same world we
0:19:08.160,0:19:13.280
have it's crazy
we have to make the decision to do that
0:19:13.280,0:19:17.039
yes, I absolutely agree and echoing what
you said
0:19:17.039,0:19:21.919
that that brings into my to my mind your
ted talk and you mentioned GDP
0:19:21.919,0:19:26.320
spending and how
how much of that we spend on
0:19:26.320,0:19:30.160
Christmas for example which is I think
three percent correct me if I’m wrong
0:19:30.160,0:19:34.480
three to four percent
yeah when we were looking at how to try
0:19:34.480,0:19:39.120
and find a way to make people
understand that the amount of money you
0:19:39.120,0:19:42.480
need to make a material impact in the
fight against climate change we looked
0:19:42.480,0:19:44.720
at
various things that were roughly the
0:19:44.720,0:19:48.480
same amount of money
and Christmas the money we
0:19:48.480,0:19:52.880
spend on coffee
the money we spend on alcohol those
0:19:52.880,0:19:55.520
types of things and
and of course, I’m not suggesting to
0:19:55.520,0:19:59.039
anybody we should cancel Christmas or
people stop drinking coffee
0:19:59.039,0:20:02.640
but I’m trying to make people aware
of the fact that
0:20:02.640,0:20:06.000
it's really not that big a deal and
again
0:20:06.000,0:20:09.280
look at the current virus governments
around the world
0:20:09.280,0:20:15.360
correctly have immediately mobilized
and spent money on addressing this
0:20:15.360,0:20:18.880
problem
a similar amount of money would address
0:20:18.880,0:20:23.280
climate change
well but because we can't see it today
0:20:23.280,0:20:26.799
because it's in the future and it's not
threatening us now like the virus
0:20:26.799,0:20:32.080
threatens us now
it's not happened yes and
0:20:32.080,0:20:35.440
that that's the biggest problem
that's the biggest problem and I
0:20:35.440,0:20:38.880
and I share it with you, and I
don't have kids
0:20:38.880,0:20:43.919
now I and I don't plan to have them
anytime soon but I do
0:20:43.919,0:20:48.000
I do think of there is no better way of
spending my
0:20:48.000,0:20:51.520
time here on earth than trying to make
it was better
0:20:51.520,0:20:55.520
or as equal as I received it
for me it's a it's a different context
0:20:55.520,0:20:59.280
than
your generation or our past generations
0:20:59.280,0:21:02.880
but doing something in accordance
to that is
0:21:02.880,0:21:08.240
is something that I look up to and
it's one of the biggest difficulties in
0:21:08.240,0:21:10.799
the human mind try to wrap our hands
around that
0:21:10.799,0:21:13.840
our children will we would like them
to
0:21:13.840,0:21:17.679
to flourish in an earth that they can
have the decision between
0:21:17.679,0:21:22.080
spending their time on a Christmas
eve or spending their time having a beer
0:21:22.080,0:21:24.000
with their friends but climate
change
0:21:24.000,0:21:28.960
threats every single part of our lives
and that's one of the biggest
0:21:28.960,0:21:33.360
insights that I’ve had without solving
climate change there would be no
0:21:33.360,0:21:36.400
cost of opportunities to do anything
else right
0:21:36.400,0:21:39.440
yeah and I think I think we
are
0:21:39.440,0:21:44.159
reaching a tipping point in recognition
that we have to do something about
0:21:44.159,0:21:48.000
climate change
public awareness the flight
0:21:48.000,0:21:52.000
shaming
everything Greta Thunberg has done
0:21:52.000,0:21:54.640
the
government studies by the united
0:21:54.640,0:21:58.640
nations the IPCC
and others all of these things are
0:21:58.640,0:22:02.159
building more and more awareness
you're seeing companies like Microsoft
0:22:02.159,0:22:06.080
and amazon committing to be net zero or
even net negative in the case of
0:22:06.080,0:22:08.720
Microsoft
you're seeing governments around the
0:22:08.720,0:22:11.280
world starting to say we will be net
zero
0:22:11.280,0:22:17.840
by 2050 what you haven't seen yet
is the plan to get there it's great to
0:22:17.840,0:22:20.000
set a target
but then you've got to put a plan in
0:22:20.000,0:22:26.640
place so I’m hoping that's the next step
and I hope that as people look
0:22:26.640,0:22:30.080
at the impact of the virus
and we all say god I wish we'd spent
0:22:30.080,0:22:35.280
more money on
setting up investigations into
0:22:35.280,0:22:40.080
into into viruses and how to prevent
them and we all wish we had that
0:22:40.080,0:22:43.200
capability in advance
we need to do the same thing on
0:22:43.200,0:22:48.559
climate change we need to set it up now
yes, and one of the biggest
0:22:48.559,0:22:52.880
arguments of the causes from this virus
has been climate change
0:22:52.880,0:22:57.039
accelerated and it's not just a it's not
something that
0:22:57.039,0:23:00.720
it's impossible to think of right there
there are legitimate threats to
0:23:00.720,0:23:05.520
to the way we live in and climate change
solving it can address many of those
0:23:05.520,0:23:09.120
and you mentioned people and you
mentioned citizens so
0:23:09.120,0:23:13.520
what can citizens do to help policy
makers become more aware of this problem
0:23:13.520,0:23:16.000
and
and big companies how can we all
0:23:16.000,0:23:20.159
become involved
so, I think again it's a great
0:23:20.159,0:23:22.960
question
I think there’s two things first of
0:23:22.960,0:23:26.159
all is awareness
get educated there are
0:23:26.159,0:23:29.840
solutions to climate change
not just technologies like ours
0:23:29.840,0:23:32.880
there are a whole
suite of technologies that can make a
0:23:32.880,0:23:37.039
significant difference
and then the second thing is we
0:23:37.039,0:23:41.919
collectively as a society
we need to make carbon footprints like
0:23:41.919,0:23:45.679
I’ll choose drink driving
drink driving is
0:23:45.679,0:23:52.400
totally socially unacceptable these days
and 20 30 years ago, maybe a
0:23:52.400,0:23:54.960
little bit further that
it wasn’t people would go to
0:23:54.960,0:23:57.760
the pub or restaurants and then drive
home
0:23:57.760,0:24:01.440
now it is socially unacceptable we need
to make
0:24:01.440,0:24:05.200
carbon footprints socially unacceptable
so, for example
0:24:05.200,0:24:08.320
writing to your the brands that you like
and use
0:24:08.320,0:24:14.159
and saying I won't buy your brand
anymore unless you become carbon neutral
0:24:14.159,0:24:19.360
and growing the pressure on on companies
and then governments as well through the
0:24:19.360,0:24:23.520
ballot box
and through advocacy those are the
0:24:23.520,0:24:27.679
things I
personally, believe that companies
0:24:27.679,0:24:31.520
and individuals can make this change
faster
0:24:31.520,0:24:35.279
governments take time you have to wait
for a cycle of voting
0:24:35.279,0:24:38.400
then along comes a government they have
to work through a process
0:24:38.400,0:24:42.320
everything takes time to put policy and
so on in place
0:24:42.320,0:24:47.520
a company like a Microsoft can announce
that they're going to start going carbon
0:24:47.520,0:24:49.760
neutral
and immediately start putting the
0:24:49.760,0:24:52.400
policies in place and the practices in
place
0:24:52.400,0:24:56.320
so, I encourage people to be advocates
for
0:24:56.320,0:25:02.080
requiring the companies, the politicians
the municipalities the cities that they
0:25:02.080,0:25:07.360
work for live for and are part of
and demand that they become net zero
0:25:07.360,0:25:09.600
wow
thank you for your answer and
0:25:09.600,0:25:14.480
just adding
up to that is everyone wants to
0:25:14.480,0:25:19.919
I dare to say that most of us want
progress and want to improve things
0:25:19.919,0:25:26.320
and just addressing these
issues a pressing one and also one that
0:25:26.320,0:25:31.600
as my beginning question with you was
having an eyesight for the long haul
0:25:31.600,0:25:34.240
and trying to
to share with our kids our own
0:25:34.240,0:25:39.760
experiences and my future kids
the ones that I are not here yet it's
0:25:39.760,0:25:42.480
trying to share them
the opportunity to flourish as human
0:25:42.480,0:25:47.200
beings and even though this is
some sort of an invisible threat
0:25:47.200,0:25:50.480
which
I don't believe it is it's
0:25:50.480,0:25:54.240
necessary that we keep
pushing an agenda of well-being for
0:25:54.240,0:25:58.480
everyone so Steve
I don't want to take more time off of
0:25:58.480,0:26:00.880
you is there anything else you would
like to add
0:26:00.880,0:26:05.200
before we wrap up let me just give you
one more example I think it
0:26:05.200,0:26:08.880
I think it's useful to kind of let
people
0:26:08.880,0:26:11.919
think of how to do address climate
change
0:26:11.919,0:26:15.279
and that it's possible and the example
that I that I give
0:26:15.279,0:26:18.960
is part of the ted talk that you
watched is water treatment
0:26:18.960,0:26:23.679
yes, so 100 years ago a
couple of generations back
0:26:23.679,0:26:29.360
water was killing people in cities and
it was a huge health hazard you
0:26:29.360,0:26:32.480
could see it
people next door would get ill and die
0:26:32.480,0:26:37.279
because of color or typhoid
so, then we invented the technology for
0:26:37.279,0:26:40.799
to treat water
and now every government in the world
0:26:40.799,0:26:44.000
with a small number of exceptions and
locations
0:26:44.000,0:26:48.720
provide clean water and all of us as
citizens of the world when we visit
0:26:48.720,0:26:52.640
somewhere we
expect that the water won't kill us it's
0:26:52.640,0:26:56.480
become
a government-provided capability yeah
0:26:56.480,0:27:00.640
well here in the 21st century
it's the air that is going to kill our
0:27:00.640,0:27:03.840
way of life
the atmosphere the climate change is
0:27:03.840,0:27:08.880
going to make a massive difference to us
but we have the technologies to solve it
0:27:08.880,0:27:11.840
so, we need to do the same thing instead
of the water treatment industry
0:27:11.840,0:27:15.279
in the 21st century we need an air
treatment industry
0:27:15.279,0:27:18.640
and we need governments to put that in
place
0:27:18.640,0:27:21.679
and we've done it before we did it with
water was
0:27:21.679,0:27:24.720
everywhere people everywhere on the
planet use water
0:27:24.720,0:27:28.720
we solved that problem we can solve this
one too
0:27:28.720,0:27:33.200
wow well thank you for saying that and
just to wrap up I just want to say
0:27:33.200,0:27:37.200
that
I really look up to you and listening
0:27:37.200,0:27:39.600
that
you're in it for the long haul gives me
0:27:39.600,0:27:43.440
encouragement even though I’m
still young and still in the process of
0:27:43.440,0:27:48.640
getting a career
having people within my circle of people
0:27:48.640,0:27:51.520
who I look up to
you're one of those and carbon
0:27:51.520,0:27:56.320
engineering is as well just a
encouragement that you people give us
0:27:56.320,0:27:59.840
give
people like me to create something
0:27:59.840,0:28:04.159
and work on something bigger than us
which is
0:28:04.159,0:28:07.600
amazing it just I’m very grateful with
you for that so
0:28:07.600,0:28:10.799
thank you thank you Steve well thank you
for your time Alex thank you for your
0:28:10.799,0:28:15.120
interest
and best of luck thanks take care
0:28:15.120,0:28:19.440
if you find this conversation insightful
consider subscribing to the podcast at
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0:28:22.480,0:28:27.600
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0:28:27.600,0:28:31.440
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0:28:31.440,0:28:45.840
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