Can California Reboot the World?
Can California Reboot the World?
The question on everyone’s mind at Expert Night was not if California would help lead a Resource Revolution in food, water and energy, but when. How we use our natural resources at home and across the Golden State will undoubtedly impact the future of the planet.
Industry leaders shared their views on the coming Resource Revolution at The Battery on April 21st. Watch the full evening here:
Snapshot of a changing planet
We’ve pushed the earth to its limits in the past generation, moving from a climate of abundance to one of scarcity. Jonathan Foley, executive director at the California Academy of Sciences, showed the Battery Powered community what that means for our food, water and energy systems.
“Diets in one part of the world are clearing forests in another,” said Foley. “The climate system of food, water and energy is interconnected. We have to reboot the world.”
Foley’s words came into sharper focus against a backdrop of images of degradation in action. A satellite image of the Amazon rainforest in 1975 and 2003 moved from lush green to brown as plots of land were cleared for cattle farming. Another showed an arid patch of land in Arizona growing perfect rows of iceberg lettuce, transformed by irrigation.
An astonishing 40 percent of all land on the planet is already used for agriculture. For perspective, Foley added that all the cities and surrounding suburbs in the world combined make up just six tenths of one percent of the earth’s land mass. This shift has also caused large-scale changes in water and energy use. Fifty percent of all available water on the planet is already in use, and we’ve seen a 50 percent increase in C0 2 in the atmosphere from food and energy production.
The opportunities for a Resource Revolution far outweigh the risks, however. “For every bit of bad environmental news you hear, there are two good stories,” Foley said. With these shifts already in motion, the world needs innovations in resource management to support a changing global climate.
“Imagine reinventing the food system, reinventing how we get water, our entire energy system... Massive breakthrough solutions are right at our fingertips,” said Foley. “And California’s going to play a central role in this. The culture of reinvention and innovation will start here and transform the world.”
California sets the stage
In the dawn of a Resource Revolution, California can lead innovations that create a more efficient, accessible future for people and planet. Regional experts weighed in on the technologies, policies and programs that are already setting the stage and where Battery Powered’s collective influence could reach the furthest.
It starts with the people of California, said Allison Duncan of Amplifier, the philanthropy team behind Battery Powered. “Our community has the ability to get this done, and philanthropy can help us be more efficient.”
Duncan led a discussion between specialists Ellen Gustafson (food), Lester Snow (water), and Dipender Saluja (energy) to understand where we can gain efficiencies to preserve resources for generations to come.
“I see the link between true cost accounting of our food and access to our food,” said entrepreneur Ellen Gustafson. “Half of all U.S. fruits and vegetables are produced in California. Yet one in seven Californians are hungry.”
Gustafson called for investments to combat hunger and rethink local initiatives like farmers markets, food drives and school lunches to be more inclusive of low-income families, while still serving healthy food. “We have a great welfare system for big corporations,” she said, alluding to the canned soups and boxes of mac and cheese so often donated to food banks or sold cheaply at corner stores, “but it doesn’t meet the needs of hungry residents.”
If California shifts its considerable food resources in a health-conscious direction, we must also address our water and energy use. “We need to break down silos and realize that a policy in place in one area will affect every other,” said Executive Director of the Water Foundation Lester Snow. “We have 300,000 Californians without access to safe drinking water. And at the same time, we hold the technology to create a better framework to track data and make decisions about the water supply.”
Snow said the effects of global climate change mean that “we cannot afford to take years to make a decision.” Data analysis technology can transform the water market to support urban economies, identify high yield crops and test water quality for natural habitat or consumption. And best of all, it can be done cost effectively, scaling from California to the nation.
The same is true of our energy market, said Dipender Saluja, of Capricorn Investment Group. “Distributed energy systems and renewable fuels don't have enough capital investments right now,” he said; “Today in California it's actually cheaper to build a solar power plant than a coal power plant.”
Energy efficient technologies are no longer a high-end or fringe market, he insisted. “This future is for everyone.” It's an industry that creates jobs and spurs economic development wherever it takes hold, while positively impacting water and food production at the same time.
It starts right here at home. The Resource Revolution is upon us in California, and it's up to us to take advantage of this rare and exciting environmental and economic opportunity.
Battery Powered’s Resource Revolution theme continues with Organization Night on May 24th. Learn more about what's at stake for California's food, water and energy systems at https://www.thebatterysf.com/batterypowered/givingtheme/resource-revolution.
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