The climate impact of shop-from-home

Read Time: 2 minutes, 19 seconds

Hi! This is Climate Tech Today, the newsletter that highlights the solutions, companies and innovators that have a fighting chance at making a significant dent in the fight against climate change.

We are rational optimists. We believe in the ingenuity of our fellow humans to save the planet, but we evaluate those humans and their ideas with data.

In this week's email:

• Amazon's emissions: The climate cost of e-commerce.

• Piu-piu: NASA has laser beams that fight deforestation.

• Interesting finds: Psychology can help us deal with climate change and visualizing rising temperatures.

AMAZON REPORTS AN 18% INCREASE IN EMISSIONS. WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN?

Amazon reported a year-over-year 18% increase in emissions. This comes at no surprise given the spikes in e-commerce demand during 2021.

Seems bad. But, how bad? Headlines on this topic have been frustratingly clickbait-y. No doubt, we need to understand the trade-offs of convenience and climate impact. Yet, the picture presented by the headlines is incomplete.

Did e-commerce also reduce emissions from consumers driving to the store? Are delivery routes more efficient than people driving separate to the store? Is shipping tons of goods to houses worse than shipping those goods to retailers? It’s a complex equation. I don’t have the answer. But, it behooves us to be more curious about the full picture

NASA IS SHOOTING LASER BEAMS AT THE EARTH TO HELP FIGHT DEFORESTATION

It can be hard to see the literal forest from the literal trees. Keeping track of changes in what can be enormous landmasses is an enormous challenge. For those tasked with forest restoration, a detailed and comprehensive picture is key.

Enter the Framework for Ecosystem Monitoring Website (FERM). A tool developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. FERM relies on satellite imagery to show users changes in forests over time. One of the data sources powering FERM is NASA’s Global Dynamic Ecosystem Navigation System (promise we’re almost done with the alphabet soup). NASA shoots laser beams from the International Space Station to the forests. These beams help to map forests in 3D, measure heights, density, and even carbon content.

The coolest part is that this tool is accessible by anyone. Check it out.

How much can this help?

Tropical forest restoration ranks 5th for potential carbon impact in Drawdown’s list of climate solutions. Thanks to NASA's laser beams, those working on reforestation have a powerful tool to help make their work more effective

QUICK BURSTS

• U.S. Climate Bill Stays Alive: The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which has $369B earmarked for climate-related initiatives. The bill is now heading to the House of Representatives. If passed it’s estimated to cut greenhouse gas levels to 40% below pre 2005 levels by 2030.

• Australia’s Bill Passes: The House of Representatives in Australia passed legislation that is similarly estimated to cut greenhouse gas levels to 43% below 2005 levels.

• UK Startup 51–0 raises £400,000 for its carbon reporting platform. The company aims to help companies in the UK and EU spend less time on reporting so they can actually take on decarbonization efforts.

INTERESTING STUFF

• Food for thought: Psychology has an important role to play in dealing with and acting on climate change.

• Spiraling to +1 degree: NASA’s Climate Spiral visualizes how temperature anomalies have changed since 1980. I don’t know how there are still climate-change deniers with this type of data.

MEME OF THE WEEK

Thanks for reading! See you next week!