About

Hi there, I’m Cody. Climate depression, grief and anxiety can weigh heavily on many of us, casting doubt over our future world and what it may hold. I’ve struggled with this since first learning about the ecological crisis in college, when I was 18 years old.

Back then, global warming was more theoretical. Now, it has arrived, most visible to me in the massive fires that erupt each year in my home region of northern California, in the heat waves rippling across our once mild summers, and in the declining rains drifting towards drought. I imagine that you, too, have seen the impacts in your corner of the world.

There came a point in college where I’d heard enough about the problems. From the heaviness and depression that learning about the ecological crisis heaped upon my young mind, I began to yearn for solutions.

Looking at our advanced modern world, it was hard to believe that we were simply helpless to avert catastrophe: we had radically reshaped the world into modern civilization, why couldn’t we harness our ingenuity, tools and technical leverage to create a renewable, resilient and regenerative future?

In class, we continued to study in great detail both the scientific and cultural aspects of humanity’s environmental problems. I sought out solutions on my own, slowly building out an index of real life projects, technologies and practices, and I began to ponder how these many tools and practices could be deployed using an integrated approach to best tackle our complex problems, for which there is rarely a single solution.

For example, consider looming freshwater scarcity in the American southwest:

We can’t practically desalinate enough water to supply cities like Las Vegas, L.A. and Phoenix. But the forecast is chronic drought, declining snowpack in the Rockies and increasing population in the region, so neither can we rely purely on water conservation and more efficient use. Thus, by themselves, none of these approaches are sufficient.

An integrated approach would: (a) shrink demand through conservation measures + (b) use every drop more efficiently + (c) expand supply via desalination, air to water harvesting or regional water transfer by pipe from the midwest.

Solving for Earth is my project exploring how we can best employ the diverse set of tools at our disposal to solve for an overheating climate, resource depletion and ecosystems collapse. As used here, “Solving” is about a process for determining the best approach to a problem, not about having all the answers.

Thus, this project is based in the research, exploration and conceptualization of prospective solutions, and is based on either existing projects, proven concepts or rigorous academic research.

I hope it will provide you with a grounded sense of inspiration, and shine a light on the variety of great work being done by people across the world. Over the years, the only thing that has helped me with climate grief and anxiety is figuring out what we can do about it.

Thanks for reading,

Cody M.