Why We Stink at Tackling Climate Change
Howdy! I work fighting climate change, and I guess it&#x27;s that time again for a what-can-you-do-about-it post :)<p>So what can you do about it?<p>You can get a job fighting climate change! Solar, wind, batteries, and EVs are now competitive against fossil-based incumbents, so now the biggest issue is scaling them up. That means tons and tons of problem solving, which means great software and engineering jobs and startup opportunities!<p>If you think about it, the switch to renewables means we need to deal with situations where the sun isn&#x27;t shining and the wind isn&#x27;t blowing, yet still keep the lights on. That means you have to build in a ton of storage and load control and electrify as much as you can (transportation, heating, etc.). All that new infrastructure needs to have good communication and analysis, which means software! Something like half of the impact of the energy transition will be done through software optimizing the deployment and operation of clean energy assets.<p>I&#x27;ve posted about this many times[1], so please check out my previous comments on links for finding climate impact work. It&#x27;s mostly about (A) browsing sector-specific conferences and looking at the expo and speakers&#x27; companies for ones that interest you, and (B) showing up to energy meetups just to meet people working in the space. If you&#x27;re in the bay area, I run a calendar of all the clean energy-related events (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bayareaenergyevents.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bayareaenergyevents.com</a>), so I encourage you to just start showing up :)<p>My favorite climate change joke is, &quot;They say we won&#x27;t act until it&#x27;s too late... Luckily, it&#x27;s too late!&quot;<p>Why not turn the fatalism and anxiety you feel into a paycheck?<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=15127154" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=15127154</a>