Anti-GHG NGO launches (Terraset)
Plus, 15 money-winning climate tech pitch decks, 17 satellites measure flood risk, becoming bitter or better, avoiding "thinkwashing"
Good morning, folks.
In today’s 3-minute read, we’ll cover these 5 nuggets below — as delicious as fresh conveyor belt sushi in the small coastal Japanese town I used to call home. 🍣
Climate Startups & Investment
#1 — 🚀 We launched a new anti-GHG NGO called Terraset
#2 — 🌊 Flooding is the forgotten winner of a terrible award [podcast]
#3 — 💰 15 money-winning climate tech pitch decks
Productivity & Living the Good Life
#4 — 🤔 Are you becoming better or bitter?
#5 — 😵 Beware of “Thinkwashing”
I hope you enjoy it!
Chris
#1 — 🚀 We launched a new anti-GHG NGO called Terraset.
A perfect marriage — High permanence carbon removal + tax-deductible donations.
That’s the focus of our new 501(c)(3), Terraset.
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Background
We have to suck GHGs out of the sky.
For centuries.
Period.
A 2021 study in the journal Nature Climate Change noted the carbon pollution already in the air is expected to increase global temperatures to about 2.3 degrees Celsius (almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit).
This devilish phenomenon is called “committed warming.”
As our Terraset launch blog notes…
We need to throw everything at climate. Policy, corporate action, venture capital, philanthropy — we need it all.
Climate philanthropy has attracted more attention and capital lately, which is great.
But at less than 2% of total giving, it can do so much more.
And a small percentage of that already small amount goes to carbon removal, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said is crucial in limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050.
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Who is involved?
Early donors include Tim Ferriss and Segment co-founder Calvin French-Owen.
Initial donor recipients include carbon removal companies like Heirloom and Charm.
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Who’s on the team?
Alex Roetter — General Partner at Moxxie Ventures (investor in climate, health, and AI); Former SVP of Engineering at Twitter, President at Kittyhawk, and software engineer at Google
Yours truly
Erzsi Sousa — Interim Director; Former leadership roles in branding and product at Google and Stripe
Rockstar Duke University and Stanford University students — Emily Zhao, Nick Valby, Kevin Biehl, Saif Ali Nasr, Griffin Rodkey Clark
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Learn more
Donate (arigotou!) — Choose your support level
Submit a carbon removal project for consideration — Intake form
Volunteer (yes!) — Tell us more about yourself
Read more about us in the press: Protocol, Axios, Climate Tech VC, Carbon180, CarbonHerald, Chronicle of Philanthropy
#2 — 🌊 Flooding is the forgotten winner of a terrible award. [podcast]
How does this tagline sound from a VC-funded startup?
“Leverage 17 optical and radar satellites, down to 30 cm resolution, to track any flood around the world in near-real time.”
Want to learn more?
Check out my podcast with Bessie Schwartz, Co-founder & CEO of Cloud to Street.
Cloud to Street is the leading flood mapping platform designed to protect the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities.
By harnessing global satellites, advanced science, and community intelligence, they monitor worldwide floods in near real-time and remotely analyze local flood exposure at a click of a button.
Their mission is to ensure that all vulnerable governments finally access the high-quality information they need to prepare for and respond to increasing catastrophes.
In addition, she is…
A Strategist — Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Fellow — Echoing Green Climate
Research partner — Data-Pop Alliance, a global coalition on Big Data and development created by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, MIT Media Lab, and the Overseas Development Institute
In this episode, we talked about the following:
Why flooding is the #1 most impactful climate-related natural disaster
The relevance of her work to the recent flooding in Pakistan, leaving ⅓ of the country underwater
The history of their company 10 years ago in partnership with Google
The difference between information and motivation to make the right decision
Their business model of aligning incentives to help insurance companies underwrite more policies that accurately capture flood risk
The need to invest in climate adaption — which BoA estimates to be a $2T market in a few years — and not just climate mitigation
How they use 17 satellites, stratospheric balloon imaging, and drones to measure every square foot of the earth every day
What parametric flood insurance is a breakthrough for climate risk management (75% of all flood losses are uninsured!)
And lots more
Hope you enjoy it!
And give Bessie and Cloud to Street a shoutout on LinkedIn or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people.
#3 — 💰 15 money-winning climate tech pitch decks
Read ‘em and weep tears of joy (or of green envy).
These co’s raised millions of dollars using these slides.
Infinited Fiber Company
Ubiquitous Energy
Space Forge
Sylvera
Sourceful
Framework
Pledge
Juicy Marbles
Canvaloop
Klima
Vly
Climatiq
Toucan Protocol
HelioRec
Sheru
#4 — 🤔 Are you becoming better or bitter?
Life can be a bitch.
Or a blessing.
And given humanity’s negativity bias, it’s often easy to focus on the former.
By analogy, consider this here post to be a fire alarm at 2:00 am in the morning.
Time to clean the metaphorical crap out of our eyes, stumble outside of your hotel, and (instead of moaning about the late hour) hug somebody nearby, thankful that it was just a drunk 21-year-old’s prank.
(Yes, this happened during our vacation out West this summer.)
More literally…
When life serves us up the dish of the day, maybe we could ask, “What can I learn?” instead of “What did I lose?”
(Btw, I’m talking to myself here.)
#5 — 😵 Beware of “Thinkwashing.”
You’ve heard of “paralysis by analysis,” right?
Now, meet its ugly cousin, well described in this Wired article.
‘Thinkwashing’ Keeps People From Taking Action in Times of Crisis:
What is it?
A combination of willful ignorance of existing knowledge, policy perfectionism, and an all-or-nothing position on the role of technology in society.
It is not a helpful contribution to the discourse or an essential injection of skepticism.
It’s a way of obscuring the basic fact that “complicated” intellectual questions can often be answered, at least in part, by straightforward moral imperatives and a pragmatic approach to the future.
So what do we do about it?
It’s so hard to distinguish from virtues like healthy skepticism and due diligence…
The answer lies in techno-pragmatism, a merging of the philosophy of pragmatism (which states that the reason we think is not merely to describe but ultimately to predict, test, and act) with the churn of technological innovation.
Given that risks are inherent, but action is essential, the world would benefit from carefully studying new technologies in small trials or specific communities, instead of needing every new device to prove itself on a global scale.
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.
Chris
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Chris Wedding
Founder @ Entrepreneurs for Impact
Climate CEO peer groups | Podcast
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P.S.
I’ve got two open seats in the climate CEO peer groups I run. If you have interest, drop me a line here. Today’s 34 members represent $10B in market cap or AUM. Great humans, too!