Consensus now is that we have a decade to do what needs to be done. Is that a catastrophic problem or a thrilling opportunity?  

First, what needs to get done? Yes, we have missed the chance to keep everything as it was when our parents were children and frolicked in pristine meadows and swam in unspoiled cool waters. Lost glaciers are not coming back, rising waters won’t recede, extinct animals are not waging a comeback.

BUT. Scientists tell us it is NOT too late for us to halve our carbon output by the end of this decade, and strategically create paths to (a) end the burning of fossil fuels and (b) reduce consumption and waste and generally take care of a planet we have been emotionally distancing ourselves from for so long. This can forestall the worst of the projected impact of global warming.*

*For more, please see this key IPCC report (summarized) on the projected difference between +1.5°C and +2°C.

This consensus formed the backdrop of this week’s Global Philanthropy Forum, whose theme was “Facing the Future — a Changing Climate in a Changing World.” It warmed some cold and callused hearts to see the whole philanthropic community gathered (albeit digitally) to discuss a massive existential crisis which, not too long ago, could escape mention in even the most comprehensive global development meetings.

Even more exciting to this attendee was the sense of optimism that pervaded just about the whole proceedings. (Optimism is NOT common in very many conversations about climate change — least of all at this level!)

From the Global Philanthropy Forum, with gratitude. Cute infographics are easy, but these reflected actual flow of ideas.

Right from the top, Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Aaron Bernstein of Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment not only advised a strategic moratorium on “doom and gloom,” but also were authentically not doomy-and-gloomy themselves. Figueres pointed out that, at last, “the economics are on our side,” as zero-carbon energy sources become as cost-effective as burning fossils, and as funders gather to put economic power behind something that has been so underfunded for so long. Bernstein pointed out that climate change is actually one of the rare instances in global policymaking where we actually “understand the problem and we know what to do about it” — a resonant message.

These are some very optimistic perspectives, and they’re welcome, since, as Aaron Bernstein said (and I’m quoting loosely), “it’s almost irresponsible to focus on the problem, on the doom and gloom, because it makes people complacent.” In this, it’s nice to be in the company of such luminaries who have been working for so long not only at developing and promoting solutions to the problem, but also figuring out ways to communicate it — sometimes with very few listeners. Even Bill McKibben, who wrote the agonizing, essential The End of Nature, gets more hopeful every time I hear him, and his 350.org seems to be fueled in large part by hope. He speaks of “cramming the work of four decades into one decade,” but in a tone that conveys he thinks it isn’t impossible.

Some of the projects and perspectives from the conference will inform later posts here, but for now we’ll conclude that the conference was arguably unified in its key take-away message: We have one decade to do what needs to get done — but from a practical perspective it isn’t unrealistic. If we stay focused. 

Yes, we can do it because we need to believe we can in order to do it. But we also have a head start, thanks to so many committed individuals and organizations the world round. And, as this conference illustrated pretty clearly: we’re just getting started. 

This way of attending a conference is a CLIMATE WIN, and it illustrates how we can realistically adjust human behavior to forestall and adapt to climate change. Gone — at least for now? — are the flights, buses, taxis, diesel-chugging boat cruises. At the end of the proceedings, we simply said goodbye and closed the computer. It may not be as good for making friends and late-night brainstorming in the hotel bar, but it is a great time for people who want to attend a fascinating and rewarding conference while simultaneously observing the behavior of honeybees in a blooming California pepper tree. That’s us.