Under the Sky We Make - Kimberly Nicholas

• Science won’t save us— we will, need to shift from exploitation to regenerative mindset
• Part 1 = facts (brain), Part 2 = feelings (heart), Part 3 = solutions (hands)

Part 1 (It’s warming, it’s us— how we got here)

• Carbon emissions from our daily actions will stay in the air, warming the planet, for at least 300 generations
• Climate = long term patterns of weather in a place
• Must learn to live within the biophysical limits of nature; see limits as opportunities
• Put values at the center of conversations— which are now moral, not scientific
• All part of shift to regenerative mindset… three principles:
  1. Respect and care for people and nature
  2. Reduce harm at its source, not by treating its symptoms
  3. Turn impulse to build to building resilience

Part 2

• Feelings have their own wisdom
• Learned much about grief from death of close friend Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air
• Difference between meaning and happiness- long term vs short term
• Order priorities by looking through the lens of carbon
• Everyone can make a difference in whatever field they are in
• Very anti-solar geoengineering

Part 3

• Acknowledging climate privilege
• Personal behavior change AND policy change are necessary
• Internalizing personal responsibility and seeing other people’s actions are two key factors in inspiring change
• Less cars, less flights, more plant based diets are most important changes
  • Much bigger impact than recycling, reusable bags, etc.
  • Aviation must be reduced to stabilize climate!
• Electrify everything!
• Inefficiency of agriculture (esp. animal agriculture)
  • Land use = main driver of biodiversity crisis, extinctions
  • Fresh water overuse for irrigation, agriculture
• Agriculture = primary source of methane (animals) and nitrous oxide (fertilizers), more powerful greenhouse gases than CO2
• One solution: rewilding
• Economics favor short term benefits at the cost of long term harm
  • Need to incorporate morals into standard cost- benefit analysis
  • Can measure cost of fossil fuels in lives, not just money
• Putting a price on carbon is NOT sufficient to drive necessary change
• Vote with your money
  • Divestment