You’ve spent decades leading major climate campaigns, from retiring coal plants to scaling renewables. What first drew you to climate advocacy, and how does carbon removal fit into that journey?
I was raised in a family that has always been socially engaged. My father was a “Renaissance man” who worked in construction and was the mayor of my hometown in NJ. My mom was a public school teacher for more than twenty-five years, one of my sisters is on the faculty at Georgetown, and the other is a speech therapist. My younger brother is an interpreter and also teaches college here in the Bay Area.
Growing up, I loved being outdoors in any way I could, and over time I came to understand that climate change was one of the most important issues of our time. I’ve dedicated my life to having the biggest positive impact on climate change that I can. Carbon removal is an essential part of our climate challenge.
Are there lessons from traditional activism that today’s climate tech and policy leaders could learn from?
Of course! The first lesson that I think may be the most important is that policy matters. That seems simple and obvious, but I’m continually amazed at how many people in the private (clean tech) sector ignore climate policy, and do so at their peril. I also know many well-intentioned and brilliant climate scientists and engineers who, similarly, don’t understand climate policy, don’t follow policy development or try to engage with it, and whose work suffers as a result.
The second lesson is that if policy matters, then politics matters just as much. Here, again, I often see a lack of engagement in both politics and policy from many talented executives, scientists and engineers, which helps opponents of strong climate action to gain the upper hand.
Besides those fairly general points, there are tons of lessons to be learned from activism - good and bad! These include why it’s important to have a clear, compelling and ambitious vision (like a community or state powered by 100% clean energy), why it’s important to highlight the personal impacts of a policy (such as how replacing a coal plant with clean energy will reduce asthma attacks and mercury poisoning), or how essential it is that we show that climate solutions will increase quality of life and often decrease electricity or insurance bills.
What do you see as the most overlooked lever for accelerating climate progress right now?
Carbon removal - seriously! I do think that carbon removal is one of the most, if not the most, overlooked climate solutions available today. Maybe not for supporters of Absolute Climate or the readers of this page, but it’s true that removals aren't fully appreciated by most policymakers, climate advocates, philanthropists and the general public.
I’m confident this will change - growth in the industry is inevitable, in my view - but it’s likely to take a while.
If you could reset the climate movement’s priorities tomorrow, what would rise to the top?
Good question! I’d certainly like to see more attention paid to carbon removals, ideally in a way that keeps the issue as something that both parties can (mostly, I don’t want to jinx it) agree on. I also think there’s lots of innovative work happening legislatively and through the courts to compel large polluters to pay their fair share of climate damages. With insured losses totalling more than $100 billion every year - and growing - it’s outrageous that the only companies not paying for climate damages are those that have done the most to create this problem in the first place. It’s exciting to see Vermont and New York take the lead on this.
What else? I’m excited by the opportunities to accelerate home electrification, and have been inspired by the work of Rewiring America and other organizations in this space. And I’m particularly grateful for the work done by Earthjustice and the many other organizations defending much of the progress that we’ve made thus far on climate and holding the current Administration accountable in the court of law.
Can you share more about why you decided to join Absolute Climate’s advisory board and how you see your expertise helping the company scale carbon removal?
As I said earlier, I think carbon removal is a broadly underappreciated climate solution that will absolutely have to scale if we’re going to live in a climate-safe world. And if you agree that that’s true, then Absolute Climate is a critical part of that work - we have to be clear and precise about what’s being captured and stored in order to build confidence in removals as a strategy and to attract more capital so the industry can scale.
Whenever I meet with the AC team, I always walk away inspired and feeling more hopeful about our chances. I try to surround myself with thoughtful, positive, ambitious and visionary people, and I find Peter and the rest of the Absolute Climate team to be among the best around! I’m glad to help however I can.
