Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global WarmingPaul Hawken • New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world. |
Contents
1 | |
Solar Farms | 8 |
Concentrated Solar | 14 |
Cogeneration | 22 |
WastetoEnergy | 28 |
Energy Storage Distributed | 34 |
Farmland Restoration | 41 |
Improved Rice Cultivation | 48 |
Indigenous Peoples | 124 |
The Hidden Life of Trees | 130 |
Mass Transit | 136 |
Electric Vehicles | 142 |
Cars | 148 |
Telepresence | 154 |
COMING ATTRACTIONS | 171 |
Intensive Silvopasture | 181 |
Regenerative Agriculture | 54 |
Conservation Agriculture | 60 |
Tropical Staple Trees | 66 |
Managed Grazing | 72 |
BUILDINGS AND CITIES | 83 |
Green Roofs | 90 |
Smart Glass | 96 |
Retrofitting | 102 |
Coastal Wetlands | 112 |
The Man Who Stopped the Desert | 118 |
SolidState Wave Energy | 187 |
HydrogenBoron Fusion | 194 |
Microbial Farming | 200 |
Smart Grids | 209 |
An Opening | 216 |
Summary of Solutions | 222 |
Drawdown Advisors | 228 |
Acknowledgments | 234 |
Photograph Credits | 240 |
Other editions - View all
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming Paul Hawken Limited preview - 2017 |
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Roll Back Global Warming Paul Hawken No preview available - 2018 |
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming Paul Hawken No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
achieve acres additional adoption agriculture annual areas atmosphere avoided become benefits billion biomass building called carbon dioxide cause century challenge cities climate change comes communities companies conservation continue cooling cost countries create crops currently demand economic effective efficiency electricity emissions energy engines environment environmental experience farmers farms fertilizer field forest fossil fuel global global warming green greenhouse grid grow growth heat human hundred impact improve increase industry International investment land less light living materials means methane miles natural ocean operations organic percent planning plants practices production projects rates recycling reduce renewable require restoration SAVINGS scale shift soil solar solutions storage studies sustainable tion tons transportation trees trillion United urban vehicles waste wind