At Sustainability Leaders Network we support, amplify and strive to increase the impact of on-the-ground climate solutions within our network and with key partners. As a society grappling with climate change, we often focus primarily on the daunting levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and/or strategies to curb the quantities we emit. While these are essential in order to stop the production of atmospheric pollutants, we still need to do more to solve the climate crisis we face.
Looking further into strategies for a better future, Project Drawdown changes the thought process regarding climate change. The innovative minds at Project Drawdown have shifted attention and research to focus on climate solutions; the organization builds upon standard emission abatement tactics by detailing 100 science-based solutions highlighting methods to reduce greenhouse gas levels from the atmosphere itself.
We at SLN are increasingly working within the framework Project Drawdown provides because we have found it to be an easily accessible framework that people can readily engage with. In our pursuit of easy-to-grasp, digestible, and replicable education strategies in the space of climate change, we are excited by the ways Drawdown highlights climate solutions in an organized, outlined structure. Project Drawdown is a research-driven organization that has become a premier resource for strategies to “drawdown” greenhouse gas levels as they exist in our air today. They strive to combat climate change with safe, equitable education campaigns and inventive research practice. With the resources Project Drawdown produces, they outline attainable strategies with positivity and optimism. Rather than balking at the threat of changing conditions, Project Drawdown shifts the conversation into a promotion of innovation, empowerment and hope.
As leaders in sustainability at any level, we can learn together and strive to push one another to heighten our action against climate change. The Drawdown team is developing into a tremendous resource for climate advocacy and extensive interdisciplinary learning. In fact, in February 2020, Drawdown published an updated assessment of their climate solutions with plans for regular, rigorous improvements. With these principles, and the educational curricula being developed by Drawdown, we can support a more uniform path forward towards a sustainable society.
In this recent update of the framework for drawing down greenhouse gas levels, Project Drawdown uses the analogy of a bathtub; this comparison is one of the favorites the systems thinking visionary, the late Donella Meadows:
Imagine the atmosphere as a bathtub overflowing, as the water continues to run. The primary intervention is clear: turn off the tap of greenhouse gases by bringing emissions to zero. In addition to curbing the source of the problem, we can also open the drain somewhat. That’s where nature plays a vital role: absorbing and storing carbon through biological and chemical processes, effectively draining some of the excess out of the atmosphere.
With this in mind, Project Drawdown emphasizes their research to designate three focus areas through which the tap can be turned off, the drain opened, and those dependent on the bathtub empowered. By
- Reducing Sources,
- Supporting Sinks, and
- Improving Society.
Project Drawdown’s solutions create a comprehensive path towards sustainability.
Within each of these overarching themes lies the entire collection of climate solutions Project Drawdown has analyzed. From renewables, to refrigerants, electrification or improved farming practice, the pathways to sustainability through the Drawdown framework are as diverse as they are effective.
The most effective sustainability research is adaptable and inclusive, and by standardizing some of the prominent thinking for climate solutions our education platform can become ever more cooperative. The Sustainable Leaders Network is dedicated to the mission of collaborative, innovative pursuits to reverse climate change; with the framework developed by Project Drawdown we are excited by the momentum it helps create. Strides for a sustainable future are strides for the betterment of us all. We at the Sustainable Leaders Network are in support of Drawdown’s principles, and eagerly move towards furthering climate solutions across the globe.