Climate Corner: Your money’s no good on a dead planet

I’ve met quite a number of wealthy individuals over the years who, when presented with viable solutions that can solve some of our most difficult planetary challenges, squint and ask, “But how much is that going to cost?”

Let’s table that question for a second.

There are incredible thinkers out there who are working in a number of different areas to ensure there is a healthy future for planet Earth. Once a year, I’m fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the XPrize’s Global Brain Trust workshop. If you are not familiar with the XPrize, they run international competitions designed to inspire and empower humanity to create a better world with infinite possibilities. Two of their well-known prizes are the Ansari XPrize and the CarbonX Prize, which recently awarded winners an astonishing $100 million USD.

It doesn’t matter where the Brain Trust workshop is held: participants willingly forgo leaving the conference rooms where we hunker down thinking, ideating, considering, rethinking, laughing, and reconceptualizing, all day, all night. And we couldn’t be happier. It is a selfless group, the members of which don’t care about fame, fortune, or even making connections (although that does happen organically). It’s about the mission: imagining the future and how we can get there. For people like me, this couldn’t be more entertaining and rewarding.

The Brain Trust has specialists focusing on seven different domains, or focus areas: Biodiversity & Conservation; Climate & Energy; Deep Tech; Food & Water & Waste; Health; Learning & Society; and Space & Exploration. My domain is Climate and Energy, but I definitely snuck into some other conversations, about Food & Water & Waste and Deep Tech. From where I sit, all the domains are intertwined with climate. Everything is.

While I can’t yet share what we discussed, I can tell you that there are about 50 potential prize concepts of XPrize ideas with only a few that advance from the internal competition this fall. And more importantly, I can tell you about why this matters. Our world is facing some seriously alarming challenges right now. Several are existential threats that are beyond our control, but climate change is actually not one of them. Climate is a problem that we can absolutely solve.

How, you ask? There’s essentially two answers: money and desire — but mainly money.

According to a report from last December by ClimateWorks — a global platform for philanthropy to innovate and accelerate climate solutions that scale — climate philanthropy receives under 2% of total global philanthropy. What’s it going to take to make protecting our Earth, and the eggshell layer of atmosphere that sustains it, to be seen as a worthy cause? Many people say it has to be more tangible, more fun, more understandable, more urgent, more emotionally connectable, more sexy. I agree that humanity has lost touch with the planet we live on and the fragile natural balance. So let’s get it back.

There are thousands and thousands of organizations protecting, regenerating, replacing, reimagining, and actively pursuing a future sustainable earth. In June, I’ll be announcing 10 winners of the Keeling Curve Prize on the TED stage, and they are all showing excellence in climate leadership.

One former winner of the Keeling Curve Prize makes sustainable aviation fuels from agriculture waste, woody biomass, and municipal waste streams. Can you imagine in the near future being able to fly using sustainable aviation fuels from waste?

Someone who owns several planes recently asked me, “What’s that going to cost?” and my answer is, “What does it matter? Your money is no good on a dead planet.”

So here’s one last idea to ponder: How about we spend the money needed to keep this planet alive?

Column originally published in the Aspen Daily News.