This Week in MCJ (4/11/20)
News, help wanted, and other topics of note from the MCJ community.
This Week in MCJ is a free weekly email curating news, jobs, new MCJ episodes, and other noteworthy happenings in the MCJ community.
📨If someone forwarded this to you, sign up!
🙋🏽♀️If you have feedback or items you’d like to include, feel free to reach out.
👂Check out the MCJ podcast
🌳Join the MCJ slack
Hey all,
Another week down, I hope everyone is holding up ok during this crazy time.
It seems pretty clear that with the severity of this crisis and the corresponding economic one, the climate movement is going to be set back a bit in the short term, or at least (understandably) won’t be as top of mind. That being said, the pictures of smog-free cities continue to roll in, and there was even evidence of a resurgence of wildlife outside my home office window. Not to mention this move in Oakland to open up the roads to pedestrians and bikes! Unfortunate circumstances (to say the least), but inspiring to see.
In the medium and longer term, I am a lot more optimistic, as are people like Bill Gates. There is a lot of learning we should hopefully get from managing through this pandemic that is directly applicable to the climate fight, and while these issues are playing out on much different timescales, they do share some striking similarities.
The big fork in the road as I see it is not whether we get back to making the progress we were making or not, as there is no going back. Rather, there is only forwards from here and the choice seems to be whether to move towards becoming a more compassionate, empathetic society that takes care of each other at home and across the planet, or one that slips further into authoritarianism, nationalism, closing off borders, discriminating against those that are not like us, etc. I sure hope we make the right choice, and I feel like that choice may actually be a more important determinant of the progress we make on climate post-pandemic than anything that is climate-specific. This tweet sums it up pretty well.
Now before I get slayed by all the people chiming in that, actually, the tactics matter a lot, let me just say that of course they do! I couldn’t agree more. My point is more that it is the underlying values that our society holds dear that dictates the actions we take over the long term, but clearly the short-term tactics are critical and can’t be ignored.
Regardless of whether we (eventually, I hope) come out the other side with more headwind or tailwind, climate change is a wicked problem, and there is no question all of our help will be needed in addressing it no matter what.
Jason
📼Episodes
Here are this week’s episodes you may have missed!
Episode 96: Elizabeth Muller, Co-Founder & CEO of Deep Isolation
This is a fascinating discussion in which we delve into the decades-long problem of nuclear waste, how big of a problem it is, the nature of the problem, and the best ways to address. Deep Isolation has an innovative approach, and no matter what you think about nuclear power and how much/little you know, you will come out of this episode more informed.
Episode 97: Kurt House, CEO & Co-Founder at KoBold Metals
In this episode, we take a deep dive into the world of cobalt mining, including why we need it, how we get it today, the issues with that approach, and what some better alternatives might be. KoBold Metals is one of them, and also a good example of applying the software/data science that the tech industry does to well to an area that SV rarely goes, like mining for precious metals. I am hoping we see more SV talent applied at these thorny physical world problems going forward!
🤝Sponsor
Interested in becoming an MCJ sponsor? Good way to get some visibility for your org and support our efforts, so we can keep doing this. Looking for a longer term partner that has strong alignment of mission and values, vs selling ads on a per-show basis to the highest bidder. Let us know!
💼Jobs
Here are some jobs shared by members of the MCJ community that we think might be of interest to you.
VP of Operations at SparkMeter in Washington, DC (job description; h/t MCJer Ted Dillon of Clean Energy Ventures)
CFO at Arcadia in Washington, DC (job description)
Interested in sharing a job with the community? Use the button below to let us know, or just post it in #climatejobs in the MCJ slack room.
👉Other Opportunities
Below are some opportunities that fellow MCJers have brought to our attention that we thought may be of interest.
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerators (ERA)
Are you operating an early-stage climate or sustainability startup? Applications are open for the next class of Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerators (ERA), NYC’s leading tech accelerator. Reach out to @lisbethkaufman or check out her blog post to get more info. Apply here: https://www.eranyc.com/apply/
📰Recommended Reading
Below are interesting articles and content that we find interesting or that was recently shared by fellow MCJers.
The New York Times: “The Rising Heroes of the Coronavirus Era? Nations’ Top Scientists”
A nice article about how scientists are among the many heroes of the COVID-19 crisis. It discusses the increasing public adoration and appreciation for the virologists and epidemiologists and their ongoing work, how some are rising to celebrity status, or in some cases being vilified, and the growing public consciousness about the importance of expertise. I am hopeful that this is one of the lessons that sticks post-pandemic, because as many of you know better than me, the climate fight has suffered from some of the same issues with denial, misinformation, and attempts to discredit scientific consensus.
Harvard University: “COVID-19 PM2.5: A national study on long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States”
This is a study that shows the link between increased exposure to air pollution and increased risk of fatality from COVID-19. It’s another reminder of how climate change is an underlying issue that can make the effects of other issues more pronounced, whether it gets “credit” for it or not. (h/t Chris Sacca for the link)
Lisbeth Kaufman: “How to Identify the Next Winners in Climate Tech”
Fellow MCJer, Lisbeth Kauffman, recently published this blog post, arguing that companies developing sustainable products will not only need to ensure they reduce CO2, but also develop products that are inherently superior to those of incumbents.
Eli Etzioni: “The Greenhouse Gas to Watch this Decade”
MCJer, Eli Etzioni, published this piece, discussing the urgent need to curb global methane emissions and the work that his clean tech startup, Symbrosia, is doing to tackle this challenge.
Google: “11 startups addressing global problems…”
Google recently announced the 11 companies it accepted into its sustainability accelerator program, “Google for Startups Accelerator: Sustainable Development Goals.” The company chose startups that “address a wide range of social and environmental challenges, and are working toward at least one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the UN” (h/t MCJer Matthieu Soule)
Bloomberg: “With Humans in Hiding, Animals Take Back the World”
One of the few silver linings resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has been reports of natures return to spaces usually occupied by humans. Amid all the stories of the human and economic toll the pandemic has wrought, this is an uplifting reminder of the natural world’s ability to heal itself and lends hope as the world looks to recover from the effects of climate change.
🏗 Projects from the community
Climate Tech VC Newsletter
MCJer, Kimberly Zou, recently launched weekly climate tech investing newsletter, Climate Tech VC. Covering investments, news, and brief spotlights on entrepreneurs and investors in climate tech, the newsletter is published Sunday evenings.
The Breeze
MCJer Tommy Leep recently launched a newsletter called The Breeze, focused on the latest happenings in climate tech investing.
MCJ Community Ideas
MCJer Nicole Kelner has been putting together various ideas for the MCJ community and is crowdsourcing feedback from fellow members. It’s a great resource if you’re interested in connecting with others to engage on climate-related topics or to collaborate on new endeavors, and/or if you are interested in helping expand (or just getting a peek into the thinking behind) the offerings that MCJ may provide the community in the future to help foster more of this collaboration.
🎟Events
Past
My Climate Journey Chat: Climate Investing
MCJers, Nicole Kelner and Chris Powers, hosted a 30-minute remote panel discussion on the topic of climate investing. If you missed it, Tommy Leep wrote a summary in his weekly Breeze newsletter and a recording of the discussion can be viewed here. You can participate in the on-going discussion in #communitychat in the MCJ Slack group.
Upcoming
Below are some upcoming events we recommend checking out!
None this week - send us your latest climate events, webinars, (virtual) conferences and panel discussions, etc.
Thanks for reading everyone, until next week! As always, feedback welcomed. We are really hoping to grow this into something people look forward to receiving every week and get a lot of value from, and we can’t do that without your feedback and suggestions! Don’t be shy, even if it is harsh feedback it won’t hurt our feelings, it will only help us get better :)
Jason