Every problem is an opportunity. The climate crisis is a planet-full.

Tl;dr: Dump the problem porn and get to fixing.

Ok, I’m just going to start with a rant that’s going to end up explaining my thesis about climate solutions and how I arrived with such missionary zeal at the concept of “everybody in the pool.”

It’s shorthand for the idea that with a challenge as big as the climate crisis, we need every single possible solution, from the mundane to the mighty, and it’s also a declaration that I am not here to entertain your list of can’ts.

For those of you who are new here (Welcome! Thank you!), I should tell you now that I am extremely, relentlessly, and almost ruthlessly focused on solutions.

It might be because I spent so many years as a journalist pointing out problems; it might be that my northern plains and Montana work ethic biases toward action over whining (take time to whine instead of work and you might just die out there in the field, goes the family lore). Whatever. Doesn’t matter. The point is that it is so easy to get bogged down in problems that we not only ignore solutions, we reject them. And I hate that.

So, in the relentless and ruthless pursuit of solutions to the climate crisis, I’m taking aim at some of the fallacies we love to use to support what I call our “problem porn.”

One of these particularly pernicious fallacies is this:

The thing we have now is the only thing we’ll ever have.

This PPF (Problem Porn Fallacy) comes into play a lot when we talk about electrification, for example. “Well, we can’t plug everything into the grid all at once, we simply do not have the grid capacity!” “Well, we can’t transition everyone to EVs, there’s no charging infrastructure and it’s always broken!” (I’m looking at you, Joe D.)

The PPFs frequently veer into near-comical tautologies: “We can’t build a domestic supply chain for lithium, nickel, or other metals because we don’t have one yet!” “We don’t have any other battery technologies so we will never have any new battery technologies so we should probably give up on the battery technologies we have now!”

Or my absolute favorite, applicable to almost any topic in the climate conversation: “Well, this thing isn’t a silver bullet, it seems to need to be combined with many other things in order to be effective, so probably we just shouldn’t do it at all.”

Thanks, Eeyore. Keep steppin’, will ya, big guy? We have work to do here.

Point: The thing we have now is the only thing we’ll ever have.

Counterpoint: Solutions can and will develop in parallel.

Serious people who don’t have random Eeyore asides in their newsletters understand that as but one example, if you want two-thirds of all vehicles on the road to be electric by 2030, say, you are prepared to acknowledge that yes, in fact, a lot of things will have to happen to get us there.

And it’s there, in the “a lot of things will have to happen,” that the opportunities lie.

Every problem—or challenge if you prefer, let’s do that, it’s more hopeful. Every challenge is made up of component parts. Each of those component parts is not another problem! It’s an opportunity for storytelling, for innovation, for transformation, for invention. The components are what make a problem solvable! You don’t have to tackle the whole thing all at once. You just have to tackle the part you’re good at, that you can do, that is possible for you or your company or your firm or your agency, and you are part of a collection of solutions that, when combined, lead to really significant change.

Just as one example, this is the process I used to get to the idea that a narrative podcast series about batteries and battery technology would be a fun listen (spoiler: it actually was). I kept hearing that one of the key components of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the “energy transition.”

Explainer time!

Wait, I just came up with a name for the explainer part. This is so exciting! Let’s call it:

The Shallow End

Where were we … ah, yes. Here’s a good definition from S&P Global:

Energy transition refers to the global energy sector’s shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption — including oil, natural gas and coal — to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, as well as lithium-ion batteries.

Let’s say the energy transition has three primary components, with lots and lots of smaller ones beneath:

1. Stop burning fossil fuels to produce energy as soon as possible

2. Expand the use of renewable energy like solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower

3. Start using electricity, which is rapidly becoming comprised of more renewable energy, to power more things that currently require coal, oil, or natural gas

That’s what people mean when they say “electrify everything.” That means cars, yes, but it also means getting off natural gas heating and cooling (this means those electric heat pumps you hear so much about lately). It means electric stoves and induction ranges; electric water heaters; clothes dryers.

(End explainer.)

So, again, each one of these components spawns a flood of components beneath and yes, each one of those things needs a solution, and that’s ok, because there are a lot of us building companies and making purchase decisions and owning buildings and organizing in communities and running for office and whatever it is that contributes to these components.

These are systems, and they require systems-level change, but systems, collectives, whatever you want to call it, are all made up of components, and each of those components can be tackled by someone, somewhere.

Back to the podcast idea as an example of this sorting process slash thought experiment. So, “energy transition.” Check. “Electrify everything.” Seems big. What do we need to do that? Renewable energy: also a big topic. What are some of the parts of “renewable energy” that are interesting? Oh, energy storage—we’ve always needed to store energy, but renewables in particular have this issue of “intermittency:” the sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow, and power needs aren’t always consistent. So you need to store energy and distribute it when it’s needed. And how do we currently do that?

Batteries. Oh, and that’s interesting, because batteries are also the key to electric vehicles. Ok, so batteries are a big deal. Cool.

Hey, so, what’s the deal with batteries, though? What do we need to make those? Seems like the only ones we make are lithium-ion, right? Yep, right. All right, so lithium. That’s a big deal. Same stuff as the medicine? (Actually, yes!) Where does it come from? Oh, ok, Australia, Chile, and Argentina? We need lots and lots more? Wait, there’s a whole bunch in Southern California and the process of getting it involves also generating geothermal energy and it’s happening in like the weirdest wildest place on the planet where it’s not only technically difficult but there’s a fascinating history of extraction and failed economic development and this could be a really big opportunity?

Wait so also, the other way we get lithium is to dig it out of the ground and there’s a big mining operation in Nevada that could provide us with a lot of lithium but is caught up in a lot of controversies because, well, no one really likes mining?

And boom. From a reporter’s perspective, what you have here is a bunch of really good stories.

From an investor perspective, you have a lot of questions like, “Which startups are trying to get lithium out of brine in the Salton Sea and elsewhere, because that seems like a big opportunity!” (Answer: Lilac Solutions).

From a startup perspective, you might say, “I know these scientists said we’re going to be using lithium for batteries for decades because it’s a big basic science challenge to figure out some alternatives, but, well, I’m a damn genius and I refuse to believe it, I know there’s something better out there.” And then you get Form Energy, which makes batteries specifically for energy storage that uses, instead of lithium, iron, and air.

You might even say, “I do not know how to invent an all-new battery technology, but I do know a lot about renewable energy demand, and so I’ve put together a team to create software to efficiently distribute energy from grid-scale batteries.” Thus, Wattmore.¹

I know some of these things are new, and that to sum up this 12-part series and e-book on how virtually impossible (per the author) the energy transition is going to be, “scaling is hard.”

It is hard! Nobody said it would be easy! Yes, we have to uncover the facets of the challenge in order to tackle them, and reporting on “the problem” of this or that transition can be a good way to uncover the opportunities (I’d prefer a slightly different framing, however). And I’m annoyed and exhausted by how many of these things start and end with, “Given things as they are right now, we can’t get to a new place.”

First of all, again, don’t assume we have to work with things as they are right now, and that nothing new will ever be developed or invented. People are creating things around brand-new technologies all the time (look no further than AI or CRISPR for things that did not use to be possible a few years or even days ago).

Second, in order to effect a large change, some magical thinking is required. A boss or CEO or founder or President of the United States who wants to get something done has the job of saying, “I want this outcome.” The details, in large part, are up to the organization. You’ve picked great people, as a leader, whose job it is to divvy up the component parts of the problem, figure out who’s best to do what, and go get it done.

The common version of this script, at least in the movies, would be to say, “I don’t care how you do it, just get it done.” That’s not quite the right approach either: we should care how things get done, if only because it will be more efficient. It is important to counter things like this, from this piece (paywalled) in The Information, about whether subsidies are really all that useful in helping transition a country toward EV adoption.

Side note:

But anyway. Per this piece:

The Inflation Reduction Act, which lays out subsidies for the EV and battery sector, seeks high pay for those working in the industry and aims the gains at slices of the population that prior economic booms have left out in the cold. It also seeks a sharp cut in greenhouse gas emissions. [Carnegie Mellon economics professor Lee] Branstetter is skeptical. “Is it really really more important that a firm have apprenticeship programs for traditionally disadvantaged groups, or better that they be able to build the damn stuff and build it well?” he said.

You might be thinking that my ruthless-solutions brain would be all for this point of view. Except that when you break down the component parts of the energy transition, you discover that we’re like tens of thousands of electricians short of where we need to be to actually “build the damn stuff and build it well.” And that hey, if you want to find and train a whole new skilled workforce, you should definitely look within traditionally disadvantaged groups because you need everybody. in. the. pool.

So yes, if you can’t do one without the other, you do both, and bonus, if you do both, you actually get things done and give people good jobs so that the energy transition is a good thing and not just a win for rich people. I just cannot sometimes with this idea that equity is like a do-gooder handout. It’s economics, ding-dong.

Ok sorry, I got back to ranting for a minute.

Anyway. I am hopeful. I believe in human innovation and invention, while being cognizant of human absurdity and illogic. I believe capitalism is deeply flawed and also that it’s the greatest incentive system humans have ever created. I believe systems change occurs through activism, awareness, and economics, and also, that collectives are made up of individuals, so every single level of solution helps. This is how a drop becomes a flood. Or as my grandmother might say, quit whining. There’s work to do.

Already in the pool:

More reading: MIT Technology Review has a roundup of startups and other companies working on new battery technologies and recycling, plus the research that’s being kickstarted by the Investment Reduction Act. Of particular note: QuantumScape (public) and SolidPower: solid-state lithium batteries that last significantly longer, cost less, and also explode less.

More reading: The 10 most innovative energy companies in 2022, from Fast Company.

New funding:

Australian startup Novalith raised $23 million for technology that uses carbonated water to extract lithium from ore (currently, this is done using molten sulfur, which I learned all about in this episode of How We Survive)

Texas startup EnergyX got a $50 million injection from GM to more efficiently extract lithium from brine in big salt flat operations like the ones in Argentina and Chile. (Learn more about lithium and brine extraction in this episode.)

1. Note: I am not an investor in any of these companies and I promise I will always tell you if I am!