Inevitable Ep 68: Jonathan Foley, Executive Director at Project Drawdown
Today's guest is Dr. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director of Project Drawdown. Project Drawdown is a world-class research organization that reviews, analyzes, and identifies the most viable global climate solutions, and shares these findings with the world. Their book, Drawdown, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and describes the hundred most substantive solutions to global warming. For each one, describes its history, its carbon impact, the relative cost and savings, path to adoption, and how it works.
Dr. Foley is a world-renowned environmental scientist, sustainability expert, author, and public speaker. His work is focused on understanding our changing planet, and finding new solutions to sustain the climate, ecosystems, and natural resources we all depend on.
Foley’s groundbreaking research and insights have led him to become a trusted advisor to governments, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and business leaders around the world. He and his colleagues have made major contributions to our understanding of global ecosystems, food security and the environment, climate change, and the sustainability of the world’s resources. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles, including many highly cited works in Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2014, Thomson Reuters named him a Highly Cited Researcher in ecology and environmental science, placing him among the top 1 percent most cited global scientists.
A noted science communicator, his presentations have been featured at hundreds of international venues, including the Aspen Institute, the World Bank, the National Geographic Society, the Chautauqua Institution, the Commonwealth Club, the National Science March in Washington, D.C., and TED.com. He has taught at several major universities on topics ranging from climate change, global sustainability solutions, the future of the food system, and addressing the world’s “grand challenges”. He has also written many popular pieces in publications like National Geographic, the New York Times, the Guardian, and Scientific American. He is also frequently interviewed by international media outlets, and has appeared on National Public Radio, the PBS NewsHour, the BBC, CNN, and in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Salon, WIRED, the HBO documentary on climate change “Too Hot Not to Handle”, and the upcoming film series “Let Science Speak”.
Foley has won numerous awards and honors for his work, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, awarded by President Clinton; the J.S. McDonnell Foundation’s 21st Century Science Award; an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship; the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America; and the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award. In 2014, he was also named as the winner of the prestigious Heinz Award for the Environment.
Before joining Project Drawdown, Foley led a number of world-leading environmental science and sustainability organizations. From 1993 to 2008, he was based at the University of Wisconsin, where he launched the Climate, People, and Environment Program (CPEP), founded the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), and served as the first Gaylord Nelson Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies. From 2008 and 2014, he was the founding director of the Institute on the Environment(IonE) at the University of Minnesota, where he was also McKnight Presidential Chair of Global Environment and Sustainability. Then, between 2014 and 2018, he served as the Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences, the greenest and more forward-thinking science museum on the planet.
In today’s episode, we cover:
- Overview and origin story of Project Drawdown
- Dr. Foley’s background and experience leading up to his time at Drawdown
- Some of the challenges that come with being a scientist focused on this area
- The nature of the climate problem, and what the scientists have gotten very right
- What kind of leadership will be needed to solve it
- What are the biggest levers to solve it
- Where Drawdown 2.0 fits in, and how it can help
- How Dr. Foley would allocate a big pot of money, to maximize its impact on decarbonization
- His advice for others looking to find their lane to help
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
- Project Drawdown: https://www.drawdown.org/
- California Academy of Sciences: https://www.calacademy.org/
- Merchants of Doubt: https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/
- Naomi Oreskes: https://histsci.fas.harvard.edu/people/naomi-oreskes
- Katharine Hayhoe: http://katharinehayhoe.com/wp2016/
- Michael Mann: https://www.michaelmann.net/
- Montreal Protocol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol
- CAFE Standards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy
- TED talk by Katharine Wilkinson: https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_wilkinson_how_empowering_women_and_girls_can_help_stop_global_warming?language=en
- TED talk by Chad Frischmann: https://www.ted.com/talks/chad_frischmann_100_solutions_to_climate_change?language=en
- Climate Take Back Program: https://www.interface.com/US/en-US/sustainability/climate-take-back-en_US
- Citizens United: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_(organization)
- Mary Robinson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Robinson
You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant