Water Security is a Matter of International Security
Water Security is a Matter of International Security
What you can do to protect water and positively impact climate change
Hi all!
I am going to keep it simple, and leave you with one thought this week. I saw the news that Blue Bottle is testing oat milk as the default option.
“We are now serving oat milk as the default option in your coffee drinks because many of you prefer it and it steams into a beautiful, shiny micro-foam. Plus, oat milk creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than dairy.”
This got me thinking. There is a lot of talk about how we educate and motivate people to care about climate change. How we need fundamental breakthroughs in batteries and storage. How a breakthrough with fusion could change the game. How we need a price on carbon. Look, we should work on every one of those things and many more. They ALL matter! But what if, in parallel, we did something simple, that required no new breakthroughs, no fancy policies to pass, no voluntary behavior change from consumers. What if we simply got more and more businesses in more and more categories to change the defaults?
We have a steep mountain to climb, no doubt about it. And no one solution will be anywhere close to enough. But sometimes there are things ready here and now, staring us right in the face, that are easy to implement and can have an outsized impact on the sneak. If you aren’t a materials science PhD, not an elected official, not a policy wonk, etc and are having trouble finding your spot in the climate fight, maybe go convince the brands you do business with to change their defaults!
Have a great week, everyone.
Jason & Team MCJ
Water Security is a Matter of International Security
by Samuel Ian Rosen
For decades scientists have spoken about extreme weather events as the result of climate change. Well, “climate change has arrived,” and water change resulting from a changing climate will come primarily in two forms — drought and flood. Dilapidated water systems only exacerbate the problem.
Some recent examples include:
Floods in Western Europe have claimed almost 200 people with hundreds still missing.
The Western US is in a historic megadrought and shortage limits loom.
The Great Salt Lake, the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere, is shrinking rapidly. It could become one of the larger dust emission sources in North America.
In Tampa, FL, 600 tons of dead fish washed ashore possibly as a result of the 215 million gallons of leaked polluted wastewater.
An estimated 1 billion marine animals were killed on Canada’s coast from a “Heat dome.”
Water will be at the center of many of the headlines, from rising sea levels to desertification, to drought and famine. It could get much worse with an estimated ~1 billion climate refugees this decade.
Water is personal for me. I grew up on a lake where I swam, fished, and played ice hockey. The lake suffered from season-ending algal blooms during my childhood and rarely freezes over anymore. 9 years ago this fall, Hurricane Sandy hit New York and my experience cleaning up in the aftermath led me to found MakeSpace. Three years ago I took a pledge to never drink a single-use plastic water bottle again after having an epiphany when I couldn’t find a water fountain on Google Maps.
Our current water systems were built during an age of water abundance. Accurate measurement and the actual cost of water weren’t a concern as there was plenty. Cities along the Colorado River, like Las Vegas, became an oasis due to inexpensive, abundant water.
Infrastructure that fueled the rapid development has fallen apart. It’s common for cities to lose 30-50% of their water due to leaks. “Every country faces different types of water challenges and will need to prioritize different tasks to achieve sustainable water management, such as treating wastewater, delivering clean drinking water, adopting stronger water management policies and investing in vital infrastructure” — it could only cost 1% of GDP.
Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations (1776) presented the paradox of the low value of exchange of water. But we have since entered the age of water scarcity. If we don’t accurately value and measure our most valuable resource, what will happen as climate change worsens? It’s a harsh reality: Much more life on Earth will die.
Like many of you, I am an optimist. Solutionists have to be. I believe we have the power to change the world. So what do we do?
1. Invest and rebuild our water infrastructure. Water is one system and it spans almost every sector: agriculture, infrastructure, marketplaces, microchips, smart cities, etc. Wired Magazine recently called water “the next hot investment.” Every dollar invested in water access and sanitation yields an average of $6.80 in returns. ClimateTechVC just featured a column about #watertech’s watershed moment.
2. Demand action from government officials. Bottled water exists because of a failing tap water system. In the US, the EPA has failed to act on drinking water regulation for years. I recommend subscribing to Erin Brockovich’s newsletter and reading Troubled Water by Seth Siegel. Regardless of where you live, start the conversation and demand action with your local politicians about PFAs in drinking water, what corporations in your state pay for water, and the resiliency of your local water systems to weather events. All MCJers are welcome to join the conversation in the #water channel on Slack.
3. Pay the real price of water. Residents of the Western USA in particular will see water restrictions. Shortening your showers isn't going to be enough. Salt Lake City residents paid one of the lowest water rates of major US cities — about half of what New Yorkers paid, a third of what Atlantans paid, and a quarter of San Franciscans. Block pricing is the best mechanism to encourage conservation and democratize access to water to the poor. This is the opinion of the leading water economist, David Zetland. A higher price is an incentive to reuse water, install water-saving hardware devices, and ensure it is a human right. Israel leads in policy and technology and recycles 90+% of water. The US is at 5-6%.
Water security is a matter of international security [1, 2, 3, 4]. I began a vow of silence on July 1st to raise awareness for the global water crisis. As a spiritual person of the Jewish faith, the rainbow is a reminder of the covenant with G-d that s(he) wouldn’t wipe the face of the “entire” Earth clean ever again. May the memories of those lost in recent events be a blessing, and serve as a reminder that we all have the power to end the climate and water crises. If it turns out that the climate crisis is World War III, then I know that We Can Do It!
🎙Startup Series
This week, Jason sat down with Terraformation Founder & CEO, Yishan Wong. Terraformation believes that reforestation is one of the fastest, most efficient, and immediately scalable solutions to address climate change. Its low-risk, politically feasible carbon drawdown solution aims to restore forests at a global scale.
✨Highlights
Community Announcements
📢MCJ is hosting a Reddit-style AMA on How To Land A Job In Climate (7/26 12pm ET to 7/27 7pm ET). Our AMA host will be Janet Matta, Head of Climate Careers at Terra.do. Over the course of two days, join the #janet-matta-ama channel and ask Janet your questions!
Climate Jobs
For more positions and openings, check out the #climatejobs channel in Slack.
Head of People and Senior Head of Customer Launch at Shelf Engine (job listing)
Three Cairns Group (impact family office focused on climate) is hiring a VP of Investments
Controller in the Financial Accounting dept at C16 Biosciences
Product Designer, focusing on building our product design processes and tackling some fascinating UX challenges, at WeaveGrid
Yard Stick PBC is a seed-phase startup on a mission to stop climate change with soil. Looking for a Senior Product Designer
Patch is hiring two senior marketing and growth roles
Two Carbon Financing roles at CarbonCure
Climate Events
For more community events, check out the #events channel in Slack or the MCJ Calendar on Luma.
☕️ Women in Climate Monthly Meet-up (Wednesday, July 28th at 12 pm ET) This is meant to be a safe space for women to discuss, collaborate, and share knowledge about their climate journey and support each other. Email davis.hannah.r@gmail.com for a calendar invite.
🧊Ice Breaker (Thursday, July 29th at 12 pm ET) Hosted by Sarah Adams, meet a fellow MCJer and enjoy several 1:1 conversations with fellow community members. RSVP here!
👋DC Meet-Up (Thursday, July 29th at 5:30 pm ET) MCJers in the DC-metro area are meeting up IN PERSON. Head over to the #dcmetroarea channel for more. RSVP here!
🏫Town Hall (Friday, July 30th at 12 pm ET) For those new to the MCJ Town Hall, this is an opportunity for MCJ to share the state of the community and what it's working on. RSVP here!
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