Save the World

Welcome to the Save the World wiki. If you're reading this, it's because you are convinced, that we need to find a solution to the crisis facing our environment. Tomorrow's heroes are the people that tackle climate change today.

There is a LOT of info out there on climate change. And with all that info comes many perspectives on what we should do about it. For example, climate author and tech giant Bill Gates believes the single biggest thing we can do is find a way to create reliable clean electricity. Climate activists and authors Christiana Figureres and Tom Rivett-Carnac believe the most important thing to do is to enact legislation. Environmentalist and author of the bestselling book Paul Hawken believes empowering women is the greatest thing humans can do, as female leaders have consistently shown a dedication to solving the problem. And author Naomi Klein says we have to tear down capitalism, whose unfettered growth has polluted our planet, to ever have a chance at stopping global warming. All of these points overlap in interesting ways. But if we're to come up with a plan together, we need to address the issue that faces us the most, RIGHT NOW.

The Problem

We can naturally work our way back from the original problem to figure out what the problem is, and the first step in solving it.

1. The planet is warming, because we're adding greenhouse gases into the air, and we're destroying natural habitats that take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. We need to reverse these practices. We already have many solutions to do this, but we'll need a lot more.
2. These solutions broadly come in the form of legislation, technology, and lifestyle changes. Enacting them will require massive shifts in how we do things.
3. Severe shifts in the ways societies operate only happen when the public is convinced they are necessary. This movement requires an effective communication strategy to get the public to push for change.

The Solution

This wiki outlines the elements required for this movement, in the order we need to tackle them. Here they are:

1. Communication. How do we effectively communicate that we need to tackle climate change? It needs to be convincing enough that the public demands we create legislation, develop technology, and make lifestyle changes.
2. Civic action. Now that people that care about the problem - how can they convince their leaders to do something about it?
3. Legislation. Now that we have leaders who are ready to face the problem, what laws do they need to pass?
4. Technology. Now that the legal framework exists for getting to net-zero emissions, what technologies need to be developed, and what can we start using today?
5. Lifestyle. Now that the government and private industry are contributing to the solution, how can individual lifestyle changes help?

I want to stress that starting with number 1 on the list above doesn't mean we can't do all of these things at once. Certainly, we want leaders pushing climate change legislation now. We want entrepreneurs and engineers developing zero-carbon technologies now. And we want people to make changes in their lifestyle now. But none of it will work unless we get public opinion on our side - so our time, talent, and treasure should be spent FIRST on convincing people to care.