This Week in MCJ (9/19/20)
The importance of optimism and grit.
Hey everyone,
It has never been more clear to me that what we are fighting for is not just about reducing carbon, methane, etc. We are fighting for a way of life that enables vibrancy and abundance, while in harmony with the planet we rely on, and with each other. What we are trying to avoid is widespread scarcity, suffering, instability, disease, and death. It is pretty clear which one is preferable. The upside scenario if we pull together to do the things that need to be done is not just preserving some percentage of the aspects of life that we love, but actually a future that is even brighter than the past. I can envision this future, and I not only feel a duty to pursue it, but I am genuinely excited about it!
But the stakes are high. We are not on the path we need to be on, and there are some vested interests at the top that somehow don’t seem to want us to be. The good news is more and more people are waking up. They are realizing they can’t in good conscience keep their heads in the sand. That’s what happened to me two years ago, I know many of you have similar stories, and it is happening to more people every day. This was reinforced by the multitude of DMs in my inbox in response to this tweet.
This is also what MCJ is all about. Wherever you are on your journey, we are a community filled with people deeply committed to helping address these challenges, and charting a course for the planet and each other that not only averts disaster, but is more abundant and more just than we ever imagined it could be. No matter how dark some days seem outside the walls of this community, within it we are a bastion of action-oriented optimism and hope.
This is a week where it would be easy to throw in the towel. But this is not the time for that. It is the time to dig in as deep as we can, and fight like our lives and futures depend on it. We can do this. We will do this. It won’t be easy, but I’m as optimistic and determined as I’ve ever been. I can visualize the future we are creating together, and I am so honored to be working to bring it about with all of you. Let’s keep that bright future in mind on our darkest days, and use it as motivation to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Jason
📼Episodes
Here’s this week’s episode, in case you missed it.
Episode 122: Tim Latimer, Co-Founder & CEO of Fervo Energy
Fervo Energy is a geothermal energy developer, that has developed technology that is more cost-effective than traditional methods. The company is commercializing technology to develop, own, and operate geothermal assets as a dispatchable foundation to a 100% clean energy future. Its technology incorporates proven cost-effective methods such as horizontal drilling and advanced fiber optic sensing to lower the cost and increase the productivity of geothermal development.
This is the first episode that I've done putting geothermal power front and center, and Tim does a great job in this discussion of providing an overview of geothermal technology. I learned about why it matters, where it is in its evolution, where it needs to get to, and the barriers holding it back. We also talk a bunch about Tim's journey from starting as a drilling engineer, working in the Permian and Eagle Four Basins, to now being laser-focused on thermal technology and the clean energy transition. I really enjoyed this one, and I hope you do as well.
📼Climate Tech Startup Series (CTSS)
MCJ has launched a new series for members, where we feature founders of early-stage companies, sharing their startup’s business and mission. Members can check out our other episodes below and find an updated list here.
CTSS Episode 9: Forerunner with Co-Founders, JT White & Susanna Pho
Forerunner is a startup making floodplain software for governments. The world’s most frequently occurring natural disaster and increasingly exacerbated by climate change, flooding represents an urgent threat affecting human safety and real estate globally. In the U.S. alone, housing is growing faster in flood zones than outside of them; and the potential damage caused by flooding is measured in the trillions of dollars. With many cities lacking “building attribute data” (e.g. first-floor height), Forerunner is providing more robust and multi-dimensional data to improve cities’ flood modeling and resilience planning. Forerunner makes information from local permits more accessible to governments and leverages the data using machine learning to turn it into a comprehensive dataset. Co-Founders, Susanna Pho and JT White, walk me through a company overview and how they’re helping to address the worsening risk of flooding.
👋 Welcome New MCJers!
Below are new members who joined the community and introduced themselves in the past week. You can learn more about them on #introductions, where you can welcome them to the community.
Douglas Onyango: Based in the SF Bay Area, Douglas leads battery manufacturing programs at Rivian and prior to that worked with batteries at Tesla. He’s interested in connecting with anyone interested in the role batteries play in the sustainable energy future.
Delany Bisbee: With a background in ops, compliance and government affairs, Delany is now a design researcher with a passion for UX. She’s interested in discussions around carbon, thermohaline circulation, policy analysis, strategy, and startups.
Mikal Lewis: Leading climate and infrastructure initiatives at the Office of the Governor of Connecticut, Mikal is a recent HBS graduate who is interested in climate investment opportunities.
Liam St. Louis: Having very recently left a political staffer position at the Office of Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, Liam is moving to Spain where he will teach English, while exploring new opportunities in climate.
Aaron Jacobson: A partner a VC firm NEA, Aaron has nearly a decade of experience having focused on investment opportunities cleantech (“1.0”). He’s interested in meeting climate tech entrepreneurs, investors and learning of opportunities to become more politically active.
Anna Giorgi: Working on carbon dioxide removal policy at the Linden Trust for Conservation, Anna has previously worked at the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program and is currently pursing an MS in Energy Policy and Climate from JHU.
A warm welcome to the MCJ Community!
🏗 What You’re Building
Projects and ventures being pursued by fellow MCJers.
Climate Entrepreneur & Investor Mastermind
Entrepreneurs for Impact, led by MCJer Chris Wedding, creates invite-only Masterminds (like a personal board of directors) to support climate entrepreneurs and investors building world-changing businesses. Through peer-to-peer sharing of best practices, the year-long program catalyzes better decision making, bigger thinking, investor savvy, and growth hacking. It draws on lessons learned from $1B of investment experience, startup mistakes, teaching 30,000 students, and 25 years of meditation practice. Learn more or apply to join. A few spots remain for the October launch.
Your Responses Wanted: Sustainability Banking Habits of Consumers
MCJer Ravi Mikkelsen is helping a team of sustainability MBA students do market research for their class around the personal banking habits of consumers and what it might take to get us to move our money out of one of the Big 4 banks. They would appreciate a few minutes of you time filling out this survey.
Climatebase Fellowship
Climatebase is launching the Climatebase Fellowship, a career accelerator to help top tech talent transition into working on climate. Priority applications are due September 21st.
🚆✈️🚕🛵Transportation & Mobility Group
By request from members, a #transportation channel has been created to discuss topics and share opportunities related to the intersection of climate change, transportation and mobility. Members are invited to check it out and join the conversation!
💼Climate Jobs
Here are some jobs shared by members of the MCJ community that we think might be of interest to you. Many of these opportunities and the MCJers who shared them can be found in #climatejobs in the MCJ Slack.
Corporate Entrepreneur at Arbor Day Foundation in Lincoln, NE (job listing)
Software / Data Architect at Terrafuse in Berkeley, CA (job listing).
Software Engineer at WattTime in Oakland, CA (or Remote) (job listing).
Writer at Carbon Switch in (job listing).
Fermentation / Formulations / Microbial Ecology Engineers at Kula Bio in Somerville, MA (jobs page). Check out Ep.100 with Kula Bio’s CEO to learn more about the company.
📰🎧Recommended Reading/Listening
Below are recently published articles and content that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
The Wall Street Journal: “The New Geopolitics of Energy.” (PDF)
NPR’s Planet Money podcast: “Waste Land”
The New York Times: “A Secret Recording Reveals Oil Executives’ Private Views on Climate Change”
The New York Times: “What Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Mean for Global Warming”
🎟Climate Events
As a reminder, we have a MCJ Events Calendar, where you can view and post events for the rest of the MCJ community to attend. When posting an event, please refer to this checklist.
*We’re highlighting a few upcoming events below; please refer to the events calendar for a complete list.*
Carbon Fictions: Rania Ghosn & Elisa Iturbe (Monday, September 21st, 6 PM EST)
Elisa Iturbe, a critic at the Yale School of Architecture and Adjunct Assistant Professor at The Cooper Union, will be in conversation with Rania Ghosn, a founding partner of Design Earth and Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture + Planning. They will explore the role of representation and speculative futures in architecture’s relationship to the climate crisis. This event is hosted as part of Cooper Union x Climate Week 2020 and is free and open to the public. Please register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the livestream on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded.
Future Harvests: Pamela Ronald, Raoul Adamchak & Emma Marris (Wednesday, September 23rd, 6 PM EST)
Pamela Ronald, a plant pathologist and geneticist, will be in conversation with Raoul Adamchak, author, organic farmer and manager at the University of California at Davis student farm. This conversation will be moderated by science writer, Emma Marris. Through the lens of climate mitigation, this talk will explore the science behind genetic modification of plants, new techniques in organic farming, and how these new technologies will have to be applied in the coming decades. This event is hosted as part of Cooper Union x Climate Week 2020 and is free and open to the public. Please register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the livestream on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded.
MCJ Town Hall (Friday, September 25th, 4 PM EST)
We’re hosting our monthly town hall to discuss updates and feedback from the community. If you’ve been following along with the newsletter, you know that much has happened since our last town hall and this forum provides an opportunity to discuss a variety of topics of your choosing with fellow members of the community. This event is intended for MCJ Members; if you would like a calendar invite, please drop us a note.
Climate Changemakers Virtual Fundraising Event (Tuesday, September 29th, 4 PM EST)
Climate Changemakers is hosting a fundraiser for two pro-climate Senate candidates, Theresa Greenfield (Iowa) and Cal Cunningham (North Carolina). As MCJer and Climate Changemakers co-founder, Eliza Nemser, explains, “North Caroline and Iowa are 2 of the top 5 most winnable Senate races nationwide. And if Cal and Theresa win, we basically clinch a pro-climate Senate majority—and humanity is saved! We’re fundraising via GiveGreen, so 100% of funds go directly to the candidates, and contributions are “stamped” as climate-concerned, which demonstrates the weight of the climate vote.” You can learn more about taking part here.
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