The Drawdown Ranking
I think I've harped on about the book Drawdown in a few earlier posts so today I'm finally going to start digging a little deeper into the solutions it proposes for averting a complete climate crisis.
First up - the ranking. At the back of the book, the authors have listed 82 solutions to our global warming problem. They're listed in order of the ones that will reduce the most carbon in the atmosphere. For those who are curious, here's the list:
Refrigeration
Wind Turbines (Onshore)
Reduced Food Waste
Plant-Rich Diet
Tropical Forests
Educating Girls
Family Planning
Solar Farms
Silvopasture
Rooftop Solar
Regenerative Agriculture
Temperate Forests
Peatlands
Tropical Staple Trees
Afforestation
Conservation Agriculture
Tree Intercropping
Geothermal
Managed Grazing
Nuclear
Clean Cookstoves
Wind Turbines (Offshore)
Farmland Restoration
Improved Rice Cultivation
Concentrated Solar
Electric Vehicles
District Heating
Multistrata Agroforestry
Wave and Tidal
Methane Disgesters (Large)
Insulation
Ships
LED Lighting - Household
Biomass
Bamboo
Alternative Cement
Mass Transit
Forest Protection
Indigenous Peoples' Land Management
Trucks
Solar Water
Heat Pumps
Airplanes
LED Lighting - Commercial
Building Automation
Water Saving - Home
Bioplastic
In-Stream Hydro
Cars
Cogeneration
Perennial Biomass
Coastal Wetlands
System of Rice Intensification
Walkable Cities
Household Recycling
Industrial Recycling
Smart Thermostats
Landfill Methane
Bike Infrastructure
Composting
Smart Glass
Women Smallholders
Telepresence
Methane Digesters (Small)
Nutrient Management
High-Speed Rail
Farmland Irrigation
Waste-to-Energy
Electric Bikes
Recycled Paper
Water Distribution
Biochar
Green Roofs
Trains
Ridesharing
Micro Wind
There are actually 6 more solutions listed after that, but they all have N/A as their total atmospheric CO2-EQ reduction (GT) so I haven't included them here. To find out what they are, you'll have to buy the book...
Over the next few posts, I'm going to elaborate a bit on the solutions that are most applicable to us as individual consumers and also have the most positive impact in terms of reducing carbon in the atmosphere. I'm most interested in the simple changes we can make that are actually effective, such as number 3 and 4... Reduced Food Waste and Plant-Rich Diet.
So you're telling me we can solve the climate crisis by cutting meat from our diet and not wasting food? Can it really be that simple?! Quick, go make a salad! And, er, use that veg that's about to go off...
