The Horizon19 conference held on September 18-19 wasn’t planned so that it would overlap with the climate strike on September 19. But in many ways, the timing couldn’t have been better.
The conference focused on innovations and solutions to the problem of climate change. Knowing that young people were out in protest gave everyone an added incentive.
The climate strike also proved the point Nick Sprague of Braskem made in a session on moving towards a circular economy.
“The most innovative thing is the power of the people.”
Innovation and the will of the people will be key to solving the challenge of climate change, but the conference also made two other important points. We need to view sustainability as an opportunity, and we need to collaborate.
Innovation and Jobs
The opportunity aspect was on full display in the pitch area of the conference, where over 25 companies had a chance to share their innovations. They only had 5-10 minutes, but they made full use of that time.
The pitches covered a wide range of areas, including:
- Better building materials
- New ways of using solar
- Improvements to energy storage
- Analyzing data to help achieve environmental goals
- Ways to charge electric vehicles (EVs)
You can see the full list of companies who presented in the conference schedule.
The energy of the presenters was contagious. You could tell how excited they were about their products, knowing they could be part of the solution for addressing climate change.
But those presenters weren’t the only ones who saw sustainability as an opportunity. That message came through in many other sessions, from the opening discussion about Scaling Up the Clean Economy Transition to the closing session.
We heard about how Rhode Island became the first state to have an offshore wind farm. Governor Gina Raimondo talked about how they were able to achieve that, and her can-do attitude was a reminder of how much people can accomplish when they have a clear goal and mission.
Richard Kauffman, chairman of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, also talked about how renewable energy is the fastest-growing sector of the NY economy.
It’s clear that opportunities abound for clean energy, but it’s not only for those who are college-educated or have a master’s degree. Moving in this direction can provide jobs for tradespeople as well, and it’s important to make that message loud and clear.
Stronger Together
To take full advantage of those opportunities, though, we also need to collaborate.
This was another message that came up multiple times, with the underlying reminder that we’re all in this together, and we can best solve it by working together. This includes the 25 governors who’ve signed onto the United States Climate Alliance, a group of states dedicated to advancing the goals of the Paris Agreement, among other things.
States in the northeast also have the advantage of being smaller and geographically close, which is a natural fit for working together.
One of the collaborative aspects of personal interest to me was hearing Maria Cimilluca, the facilities manager at Northeastern University. NU has changed a lot since I graduated, and it’s now big enough that it takes a lot of work to run it sustainably. Part of Cimilluca’s job is helping to make sure Northeastern not only teaches collaboration and environmental stewardship but models it by doing their part to keep Boston green.
And moving to a circular economy also requires partnerships and collaboration between those who create products and those who manage the waste generated when those products become obsolete. If manufacturers work with waste management groups in different areas to know what can be recycled and repurposed, they can design ahead of time to facilitate reuse.
This includes changing how we use plastic and building materials, but it also involves our food. Cutting down on food waste, by composting and reducing the waste ahead of time, can have a significant impact. It’s also something many people can start doing now.
The Time is Now
That brings me to the last point. Opportunity, innovation, and partnerships are all great talking points, but they’ll only make a difference if we act now.
Everyone who attended the conference knows that we’re at a crisis point. If we had any doubt, those leading and attending the climate strikes made that clear.
And that means we can’t wait for someone else to take the first step. Everyone needs to start working on this now, in whatever way they can.
No one knows for sure what will happen, or if we’ll be able to mitigate the worst of the damage from climate change.
What we do know is that if we see this as an opportunity to innovate and partner with others on solutions, we’ll have a much better chance of giving our children and our planet a future.