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The late comic George Carlin once said, “You don’t need a formal conspiracy when interests converge.” 

A recent assessment of the educational background of world leaders underscores Carlin’s quip, and it provides at least one explanation for global leaders’ consistent inaction regarding climate change: They all went to the same schools.

The new project by youth campaign group Mock COP found that the 30 top universities in the world have not fostered the leadership skills and civic engagement necessary for our world leaders to navigate the impending ecological crisis.

Entitled "1.5 Degrees," referencing the solemn recommendation from climate scientists that the planet must not warm beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius to prevent catastrophe, the project demonstrates that current world leaders are birds of a feather — an idle feather at that.

Just as Carlin said, the converging interests of world leaders — who share common backgrounds, educations, worldviews, priorities and goals — has resulted in an informal conspiracy of inertia.

Top universities failed leaders, and leaders fail us

“The people with the privilege to study at the so-called ‘top’ universities, and go on to become key decision-makers across society, are being educated at institutions that do not act in the public good and do not ensure their graduates are prepared to lead a more just and sustainable future," the 1.5 Degrees website reads. 

The project includes a ranking that grades the world’s top universities on how their engineering, law, economics, politics and health courses, which are traditionally chosen by decision-makers, align with the actions needed to tackle the climate crisis.

The ranking of top universities includes Yale, Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford Universities, as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Imperial College London. No institution received a favorable grade. MIT, as well as Beijing's Tsinghua and Peking Universities, scored the worst at preparing their graduates for a low-carbon future.

The team of young activists at Mock COP ultimately concluded that the most educated among us are often the worst enablers of climate destruction. They further found that critical courses pertaining to environmental citizenship are “influenced by large corporates working against the advice of the world’s leading climate scientists."

By and large, leaders around the world are consistent in their approach to climate change — they don’t approach it at all. This can’t come as a surprise, though, once the common education factor is acknowledged. For example, Mock COP found that 20 current heads of state attended Harvard University. These schools shape their students’ worldviews, so if world leaders all went to the same few top universities, it is no wonder that they are acting in lockstep.

“World leaders consistently let us down at conferences like Davos, where they have the opportunity to create real, lasting change," said Josh Tregale, a mechanical engineering student and Mock COP campaign coordinator, in a statement — referring to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting earlier this month. "Had our leading decision makers undertaken university courses which effectively taught the facts of the climate crisis and instilled sustainable thinking, then they would understand the urgency and act accordingly. Instead they are uneducated on the facts and unprepared for climate leadership.”

This all adds up to world leaders are well-meaning and inept at best — and ill-intentioned and adept at worst. Neither is very reassuring, but now that the issue has been identified, Mock COP hopes to influence change.

Youth organizers at Mock COP push for curriculum reform to tackle climate change

Mock COP hopes this project will serve to influence curriculum reform and create more of an emphasis on civic duty and environmental engagement at these top universities. If the most exclusive and accomplished institutions begin to prioritize this sort of education, the rest of academia should follow suit. 

The team expects this information to help climate-minded young people decide where to study, as many students may think twice about attending these top institutions after Mock COP’s report.

The planet is not dying from ignorant people making mistakes. It is dying from self-interested, highly educated people making deliberate decisions that prioritize profits over planet. It is time to start teaching the people who have the power to save the planet that saving the planet is not only in their best interest — it’s in their job description.

Image credit: Christian Lendl/Unsplash

There’s good news on the viability of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda, with a new report detailing how the U.S. could potentially come within reach of his 2030 objective to power 80 percent of the nation’s electrical grid with clean energy. Doing so would also meet U.S. targets to halve carbon emissions by 2030, using a 2005 baseline, and further reduce them to 77 percent below 2005 levels by 2035, according to the report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Evergreen Action.

Time is of the essence, however. And not just because of any impending climate tipping points. The current administration isn’t guaranteed a second term. And, as the Washington Post's Maxine Joselow pointed out last week, an incoming Republican president would likely reverse any last-minute changes. Ironically, rushing the conversion may also be the best way to end partisanship over the issue as long-term savings become apparent to businesses and consumers alike.

“President Biden committed to the most ambitious set of climate goals in American history,” Charles Harper, power sector policy lead at Evergreen Action, said in a statement. “Important progress has been made, but President Biden must take bold action this year in order to deliver on those commitments. By ramping up its work to transition the U.S. economy toward 100 percent clean energy, the Biden administration and state leaders can reduce toxic pollution, cut energy costs, create good jobs, and advance environmental justice. Let’s get to work.”

The report lists necessary measures which, based on modeling, could result in meeting the climate goals set out in the president’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) if they are implemented immediately. Researchers say setting new and stringent rules through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act, as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), will be paramount. Other necessary courses of action include making the most of the IRA’s grant programs and tax credits, and promoting stronger state standards on emissions to match federal targets.

“We don’t need magic bullets or new technologies,” Manish Bapna, NRDC president and CEO, explained in a statement. “We already have the tools — and now we have a roadmap. If the Biden administration, Congress, and state leaders follow it, we will build the better future we all deserve. There is no time for half measures or delay.”

The report does not call for an end to new power plants that generate electricity from fossil fuels, but it does recommend that rule changes and emission standards be applied to existing gas and coal facilities as well. The transition away from fossil fuels is thus presented as more of a carrot than a stick situation — with funds from the IRA needed to encourage the expansion of renewables, as opposed to attempting to eliminate the construction of new fossil fuel-based plants. 

The increasing availability and cheaper cost of renewable energy benefits not just consumers, but also the U.S. manufacturers and businesses that rely on all possible savings to remain competitive. The more that can be done to encourage the grid transition to renewables, the cheaper power will be for everyone. In time, then, partisan opposition to renewable energy should wane.

However, it’s important to remember that no type of consumption comes without consequences. Resources must still be extracted to build batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, etcetera in order to power the clean energy revolution. As such, we must be more careful not to create a whole new environmental disaster in the process of slowing the climate crisis.

People in the U.S. use four times as much energy as the worldwide average. Cheaper power runs the risk of increasing total consumption, as seen with the connection between gasoline prices and driving habits. With the impending robotization of multiple industries, increased power usage could be dramatically compounded and raise emissions above current modeling. Therefore, it is imperative that people in the U.S. look to reduce their consumption, in addition to cleaning up the grid. 

Many Americans are already willing to adjust their lifestyles to combat climate change, but they need the tools to successfully lower their carbon footprints. Clean power is a big part of this, but so is a public transportation infrastructure that moves us away from the personal passenger vehicle — electric or not — as the primary mode of transportation.

Likewise, the backlash against remote work doesn’t just dismiss employee needs, but it also ignores the environmental benefits of fewer commutes and climate-controlled office buildings. By looking at the bigger picture, perhaps we will begin to understand that our planet does not have unlimited resources. No matter how we power things, we cannot do so from a thought process of ever expanding abundance with zero consequences. 

Image credit: Alexandru Boicu/Unsplash

Collectively, the senior leadership of corporate America does not resemble the country they are supposed to serve. As a consequence, too many of the mistaken assumptions about people of color still hold sway, making it difficult for people of color to advance in those environments.

Errol L. Pierre, a corporate executive in the healthcare industry, believes people of color must, and can, find ways to turn those assumptions to their advantage.

“If we turn what we think are these weaknesses to our strengths and find value in knowing that being unique is great and you don’t want to be like everybody else, it becomes something that you can leverage to help you grow and to help you distinguish yourself from everybody," Pierre told TriplePundit.

Pierre describes this strategy for advancement and many others in his first book, "The Way Up: Climbing the Corporate Mountain as a Professional of Color," which he intended as a guide to help underrepresented individuals from all ethnic backgrounds to reach their professional goals.

A critical element in countering those assumptions, Pierre told us, is not to hide your background and your unique experiences.

The son of Haitian immigrants, early in his business career Pierre didn’t share much about his life away from the workplace, such as mentioning he attended a Haitian festival because “it was out of the norm and didn't fit in with what the other people were doing.”

"Now, I use the things that I’ve gone through on my path and the nuances of being black in America coming from immigrant parents as strengths,” Pierre said. "If you are in a mid-level position and you happen to have a unique background, a different ethnicity, share your story because you will never be forgotten. If you share your story with an executive that you bump into an elevator or when you meet them on a call, they will remember you. That’s how you differentiate yourself."

Pierre, who is senior vice president of state programs for the not-for-profit health insurance company Healthfirst, said that although it can be daunting, underrepresented people must use their strengths to counter the microaggressions and bias they encounter.

"I remember walking into a conference room . . . with three other white employees to meet with a client, and the client immediately assumed someone else was the lead person," Pierre remembered. "Absolutely, these assumptions turn into one thinking that people will treat you a certain way, not even realizing who you are. These become like 100 paper cuts that add up to pain, dejection and disempowerment, which also leads to people to not even want to try."

Pierre worked on "The Way Up" during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. His initial motivation had been his feelings in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. That motivation shifted as he realized the pandemic was having a disproportionate impact on black and brown communities.

"As stories became more focused on the reasons for these disparities, not just in health, not just in income, but also in corporate America, I thought, 'Well then, what can I do to try to help address it?'" Pierre explained. 

"The Way Up" underlines the problems people of color face in corporate America. Some have said it excludes white people, but Pierre is surprised by that reaction.

Pierre said he has a "whole library of leadership books" that he learned from, but he never saw himself in them. Throughout "The Way Up," he credits white colleagues and mentors who have helped and encouraged people of color to seek closer connections to corporate leadership.

"I was surprised that people would take it that way, that I was excluding white people,” Pierre said. “If they read the book, they would realize I talk about many white people that helped me in my career, so there was no intention to exclude anybody."

More common is the positive reaction "The Way Up" has garnered thus far, with people writing to thank Pierre for sharing his tips for success and for being "vulnerable."

"That's how much it resonates with people, and I’m so glad that it is," he told us. "They felt like they didn’t have a leadership book out there that spoke to them. And the whole intent was to have a leadership book that speaks to people who feel underprivileged, underrepresented, undervalued, and I’m glad it’s reaching that market."

Image credits: Vasyl/Adobe Stock and Errol L. Pierre 

In a first for U.S. carriers, Alaska Airlines announced that it is once again shifting its inflight offerings, abandoning plastic cups in favor of eco-friendly replacements.

The airline will switch to FSC-certified paper cups in the main cabin and reusable glassware in first class. The move is part of a multi-year process to transition away from the airline's five greatest sources of plastic waste, including stirrers, bottles and cups, by the year 2025. 

In the airline's announcement, the managing director of guest products, Todd Traynor-Corey, stated: "This is another important step in our journey to eliminate single-use plastics and an important step for the industry to see how product innovations can chart a course to a greener future."

Alaska Airlines' five-step plan to address single-use plastic

While the switch away from single-use plastic is certainly a positive process, some find the gradual speed at which Alaska Airlines has implemented these changes to be surprising. After all, if the airline can recognize the environmental harm created by its single-use plastic products, it would surely replace those products immediately.

Unfortunately, it isn't so simple for a massive company to re-route its practices toward a more sustainable model. On top of that, the process of phasing out plastic products relies on cooperation and coordination with associated suppliers.

"It requires broad collaboration with our supply chain partners and inflight team to make new products and practices that move us toward a future with less plastic," Traynor-Corey said. "That progress only happens with a deeply shared commitment to care for our environment."

Performative or progress?

The significance of Alaska Airlines' decision remains unclear. When each flight emits nearly a million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it is difficult to celebrate the use of paper over plastic.

"No one at the airline is under the delusion that eliminating straws is a monumental achievement," TriplePundit founder Nick Aster wrote in 2018 in response to Alaska's initial straw announcement. "It's rather seen as an incremental step in a long list of improvements, some bigger than others."

The numbers speak for themselves: Alaska claims that the shift away from using 55 million plastic cups annually, as well as its partnership with Boxed Water to replace plastic bottles, will combine to "eliminate 2.2 million pounds of plastic waste from landfills every year, the equivalent weight of 24 Boeing 737s."

Broader sustainability goals at Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines' five-part plan to phase out single-use plastic is one of the main components of the airline's broader goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

The company is not just concerned with cleaning up its own procedures, and hopes to inspire its patrons to think more sustainably. Indeed, even as the airline takes measures to reduce its own use of water bottles, it also urges guests "join us in reducing waste by bringing their own water bottles to #FillBeforeYouFly."

Beyond plastics, Alaska Airlines frequently forays into new strategies to maximize carbon efficiency, and recently implemented an artificial intelligence navigation system called Flyways AI to further reduce waste created and the fuel consumed by each flight.

Image courtesy of Alaska Airlines

According to the Primordial soup theory, life originated in the ocean. Now, rising marine temperatures threaten mortal peril to oceanic species, and complications to life on land as well. 

Ocean temperatures reached record peaks in 2022, breaking the previous record set a year earlier, a team of researchers reported last week. Indeed, since 2018, scientists have observed record heat levels in the ocean, with each year eclipsing the last.

Since scientists began to document ocean temperatures in the 1950s, their research has revealed a steady rise in ocean heat levels. In fact, in a 2019 special report, researchers with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) wrote: "It is virtually certain that the global ocean has warmed unabated since 1970 and has taken up more than 90 percent of the excess heat in the climate system (high confidence)."

Rising marine temperatures are linked to human activity

Further, scientists believe that humans are directly fueling the "unabated" rise in ocean temperatures.

The IPCC followed up on its report in 2021, outlining how the ocean warming processes it had previously detailed are increasing in frequency and severity. In its 2021 report, the panel declared: "Changes to the ocean, including warming, more frequent marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, and reduced oxygen levels have been clearly linked to human influence."

Effects on marine life

It's easy for humans to say, "if you can’t take the heat, get out of the ocean," but that doesn’t do much for the abundance of aquatic life reeling from endless marine heatwaves.

Coral reefs are perhaps the best publicized victims of oceanic heatwaves. A 2021 study published in the One Earth journal found that the world has effectively lost half of its coral reef ecosystems since 1950. As the coral reefs decline, so do all the life forms reliant on the coral reef ecosystem. One Earth researchers found that "at least 63 percent of coral-reef-associated biodiversity has declined with loss of coral extent."

It is important to note that not all species will be negatively affected by a rise in oceanic temperatures alone. But the effects that rising marine temperatures have on ecosystems will ultimately create negative conditions even for those species that can adjust or even thrive with more heat.

For instance, while whale species are able to adjust physically to rising temperatures, the warming waters are detrimental to whale food sources like zooplankton. So, the change in distribution of these preferred food sources poses a significant threat, and means that whales must hunt more frequently, deeper and for longer periods of time. Meanwhile, warmer waters have altered the development of shark brains.

These changes have profound implications for every living thing in the sea. It is no wonder that the IPCC described the effects of rising marine temperatures as observable "from the equator to the poles."

A ripple effect: How rising marine temperatures affect life on land 

Oceanic life will continue to face the brunt of the consequences of rising marine temperatures, but the heating of the oceans also threatens humanity.

Regions that rely on fish (such as Atlantic cod, salmon, brown trout, and Alaskan pollock) for food and commerce will be especially impacted. And that’s just the tip of the (melting) iceberg.

Just as the water in a tea kettle expands as it heats up, so too does the water in the ocean as it grows warmer. As ocean waters expand, sea levels consequently rise — destroying homes, businesses, and coastal, tourism-based economies.

"Coastal areas will see continued sea-level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion," IPCC researchers warned in the 2021 report. "Extreme sea-level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century."

Some scientists theorize that warmer waters are sending shark species further north in search of colder waters, and that this in turn is leading to more encounters between sharks and humans. In 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that sharks are swimming beyond their typical ranges, following fish populations as they shift northward in search of cooler waters.

Every life form on the planet will be significantly affected in one way or another by this steady rise in heat.

To preserve the various creatures living in the waters that once stirred the ingredients for life itself, humanity must acknowledge its role in climate change and work to mitigate negative effects on the bounty of species in our oceans.

Image credit: Sven Piek/Unsplash