Project Drawdown

According to CO2-Earth, the current parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere is 419.90. In 2020, it was 416.33.

As these numbers continue to rise, it seems harder and harder to reach a point where we are actually decreasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Project Drawdown was founded in 2014 “to help the world reach ‘Drawdown’ — the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.”

As a nonprofit research center, Project Drawdown works to create climate solutions and strategies for reaching this goal. They have developed a framework with strategies in three categories:

• Reduce sources (the emission-producing sectors);
• Support sinks (the natural or artificial systems that absorb or drawdown emissions); and
• Improve society.

Here are a few exciting and surprising strategies:

• Reduce food waste: “A third of the food raised or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork. Producing uneaten food squanders a whole host of resources-and generates greenhouse gases at every stage.” In fact, food waste makes up about 8% of global emissions.
• Eat a plant-rich diet. Currently, much of the Western world’s diet relies on meat. This reliance on meat produces one-fifth of global emissions.
• Educate girls. “Educated girls realize higher wages and greater upward mobility, contributing to economic growth. Education shores up resilience and equips girls and women to face the impacts of climate change. They can be more effective stewards of food, soil, trees and water, even as nature’s cycles change.”

Drawdown is working to push people, cities and countries to adopt these strategies in order to decrease emissions and create a more equal and tolerant society. These are just a few strategies; find all of Project Drawdown’s strategies here.

The med center is doing a Drawdown Ecochallenge for Earth Month. Check it out here. You also can join the ongoing Drawdown Ecochallenge and continue to take action after April ends.