A few weeks ago I told you what you need to know about our sea level rise situation. I just added an analogy to it because I like putting things in perspective – so these monumental numbers actually mean something to us. I wanted to start this week by sharing it with you since it packs a punch.

Context: In the sea level rise article, I wrote that we’ve already locked in over 7 feet of eventual sea level rise. And in the “extreme” scenario, we could have 7 feet by 2100.

Here’s the analogy:

7 feet of sea level rise is like the ocean swallowing up 4 California’s or 7.5 UK’s worth of land around the world.

(Put another way – it’s like the world losing as much land as every state on the East and West coast of the US combined.)

This is how much land around the world goes underwater with 7 feet of sea level rise 691,123 mi² (1.79 million km²).

…So, yeah. We’re in dramatically redrawing world maps territory.

Let’s do our best to slow that trend as much as possible.

Eliminating GHG emissions faster = more time to adapt to the consequences of climate breakdown and more time to innovate our way towards a better future.

Which leads us to a fun little thought experiment:

IF we were a rational species and declared a climate emergency today – if everyone magically agreed to actually start eliminating greenhouse gas emissions ASAP, these would be the first 5 things I think we should do.

Top 5 Actions to Eliminate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

1. End fossil fuel subsidies and put a HIGH price on greenhouse gas emissions.   
2.  Fix democracy. Get money out of politics. (We created government so it could serve us – the people, not corporations and fossil fuel millionaires.)
3. Invest heavily in carbon sequestration and other sustainable technologies research. (We need to figure out how to remove carbon from the atmosphere at scale.)
4. Reforest instead of deforest. Regenerative agriculture rather than degenerative agriculture. Strengthen rather than destroy nature, biodiversity, and the web of life upon which we are a part of and depend on.
5. Utilize the power of crowdsourcing to get to net zero emissions as quickly as possible. Harness the collective intelligence of people everywhere to help all levels of society (local, state, country, corporate, individual, etc.) become sustainable. Unleash the power of the crowd and combine it with guidance from experts such as Project Drawdown to facilitate and accelerate society’s transformation to sustainability.

(What would you add or subtract? What’s your top 5? I’d love to hear what you think!)

As you may have noticed, a lot of this requires a top-down approach. So we need to get those at the top to start taking action. But to get those at the top to act requires a groundswell from the bottom-up to make them do it.

(Think: Gandhi leading the Indian Independence movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Suffragettes, etc.)

That’s why the Fridays For Future, Sunrise, and Extinction Rebellion movements are so exciting. They are pushing society towards the moment of an all-hands-on-deck mobilization; towards the moment when we actually start to treat the climate crisis like the true emergency that it is.

We are all influential. We all have a role to play in getting that moment to come sooner rather than later.

Reminder: According to the experts, here are some of the top things you can do to help those five most effective outcomes happen sooner:

• Speak up – break that climate silence!
• Get the right people to represent us in government.
• Hold your existing representatives accountable.
• Collaborate. Organize with others to eliminate emissions. Join a movement!

It’s not limited to these actions obviously. You’ll know how you can best contribute after thinking through your unique experiences, skills, connections, and resources. We can all contribute in different and important ways.

But, generally speaking, doing these things will get us to that moment of mass action much quicker. And then we can start using the power of the market, innovation, and collective action to solve humanity’s #1 threat.

So personally, I believe that moment of mass action is inevitable and I’m doing what I can to make that moment come sooner.

Crowdsourcing Sustainability is a big part of that. But I’m really building Crowdsourcing Sustainability to facilitate and accelerate the transition to net zero once that moment of realization has come. It’s meant to tap into the power of people everywhere and organize our ideas, actions, networks, resources, skills, and experiences in a way that maximizes our collective intelligence to help solve humanity’s biggest problem.

If you want to help bring that vision to life, keep reading, keep sharing, keep following your heart on this critical mission, and please reach out if you want to learn more or get involved.

Hope you have an amazing weekend!