False economy What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the

Drawdown
What’s in it for me? Learn how we can solve the 
climate crisis.
If you care about your home planet at all, there’s 
good reason to be depressed and frightened 
right now. From record heat waves to acidified 
oceans, from wildfires to melting ice caps, the 
effects of global warming are materializing even 
faster than scientists anticipated. Despite these 
alarming warning signs, the amount of CO2 
released into the atmosphere as a consequence 
of human activity is steadily increasing. 
Project Drawdown is a coalition of scientists and 
researchers dedicated to changing this equation. 
Using peer-reviewed science and mathematical 
models, their goal is to illuminate simple and 
economically viable solutions that drastically 
reduce, and even reverse, humanity’s CO2 
emissions.
These blinks list some of the most promising 
solutions to global warming, encouraging 
individuals, communities, businesses and 
governments to overcome apathy and take 
action. From tried-and-tested technologies like 
renewable energy to less intuitive approaches 
such as strengthening the rights of indigenous 
people, these strategies will play a significant 
role in saving the planet – while benefiting 
human health, communities and wallets along 
the way.
In these blinks, you’ll also learn

How a vegetarian diet can help save the 
planet;

Which common household appliance is 
a major cause of global warming; and

Why cows and trees belong together.
Global warming caused by human carbon 
emissions is real but reversible.
When Prussian polymath Alexander von 
Humboldt crossed the Baraba Steppe of Russia 
in 1829, he was shocked. In his diary, he noted 
how the intense agriculture of the region had 
depleted the land, desiccating its beautiful lakes 
and swamps.
Humboldt was one of the first scientists to 
acknowledge the negative effects humans could 
have on their environment. He prophetically 
identified deforestation and the “great masses of 
steam and gas” released during industrial 
processes as two major environmental threats. 
One and a half centuries later, in 1975, 
geochemist Wallace Broecker first used the term 
“global warming” to describe the continuous rise 
of the earth’s surface temperature. Today, 
there’s no doubt this warming is real. Scientists 
now predict that temperatures will rise by 4 
degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The 
consequences of climate change include 
wildfires, droughts and sea level rise, which in 
turn will lead to violent conflicts and mass 
migration. 
Much like Humboldt predicted, global warming is 
essentially caused by the “great masses of 
steam and gas” produced by human activity 
such as burning fossil fuels, making cement and 
farming land. These all release carbon dioxide, 
or CO2, into the earth’s atmosphere, thereby 
generating a “greenhouse effect” that leads to 
the warming of the planet. 
Despite a clear connection between carbon 
emissions and global warming, humanity’s 
carbon footprint is steadily increasing. In 2016, 

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36 gigatons of CO2 were emitted. Imagine the 
contents of an Olympic-size pool, and then 
multiply that by 400,000 – that’s one gigaton. 
At this rate, simply slowing or cutting carbon 
emissions will not be enough to stop global 
warming. We need to reach drawdown – the 
point in time at which greenhouse gases peak 
and then start steadily decreasing. 
If we’re to achieve this, we obviously need to 
radically reduce our CO2 emissions. But we 
must also promote processes, such as the 
natural photosynthesis of plants, that decrease 
the CO2 already in the atmosphere. 
Luckily, we already possess the tools we need to 
reverse global warming. Renewable energy, 
forest protection and sustainable agriculture are 
some of these technologies. Newer strategies 
include e-cars, ocean farming and carbon air 
capture. Almost all of these technologies have 
additional benefits: they save money, create 
jobs, prevent pollution and improve people’s 
health. 
In the following blinks, we’ll explore in depth how 
these “no regrets” solutions can cut carbon 
emissions and help us achieve drawdown.