Have Hope, Make Progress on Climate in 2022

Happy 2022!

It's coming up to 6 months since we launched our first Intro to Climate email course. It also happens to be a new year, so cue the reflection post. Here it is - tadaaaaaaa!

How's it been going?

What started as a labor of love and curiosity - after a gradual build over 4 years of research - to see if it was possible to distill down the complex world of climate science into something in clearer language, has welcomed people from over 50 countries all around the world. Simply beyond expectation.

We've added to that foundational first email course with a breakdown of the IPCC's AR6 report with our Code Red for Humanity course as well as launched Climate Companies to explore what it means for running a business now, and the role of companies in decarbonizing our world (clue = they're crucial).

Keen to break the pattern of making purely educational things we also explored the difference between carbon removal and avoidance offsets in our campaign for Black Friday at the end of 2021. It went super well, reaching so many more people than we expected. It was a lot of fun and an important message we're proud of.

We've met so many wonderful folks along the way that share our way of looking at the world and our ambition. There's truly some remarkable people doing remarkable things on climate out there. If anything we're more inspired to keep going now than at the beginning.

We continue to believe that acting with hope that we all can have an impact. That whether big or small, it all counts. That what we do now will make a meaningful dent on limiting the climate change that we all see around us. That, while doing so it also gives us all the opportunity to redesign our and humanity's relationship to the rest of the world, so it's fit for the 21st century and beyond.

What's Next?

Having spent most of last year immersed in the climate space in a whole new way, the main feeling is that we're collectively starting to gear up for the tackling the root causes of The Climate Crisis like never before. Yes, we could still go faster, though we are going faster than we were. No doubt about it.

Around the world it's felt like an explosion of thought, ideas and renewed focus on decarbonizing our societies as well as limiting (and reversing) the damage we humans have been doing. So much progress in 2021 - in many areas it felt like the pace was picking up. Whether that's decarbonizing our power grids, transportation and workplaces; laws being passed; or being more aware of the hidden carbon in all the stuff we all buy, use and do; or how we include natural restoration in our efforts to reduce or remove carbon emissions.

Of course, this is not going to be a straight line all the time, and not everyone is going to come along willingly - whether that's at country, company or individual scales. That's just the way it is sometimes, and not something to get hung up on. We're doing this. Together. Well, quite a lot of us.

Now, more than ever we feel that to look the size of the challenge in the face and still act, with hope and certainty that we all can have an impact. That this is the best path forward as we continue to race towards halving emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050 (or before, wouldn't that be a great result?!?).

We're very excited to continue to play our role and support others on this mission too. More to come in 2022!

What are you excited about in all things climate this year? Is there anything you would like us to do this year? Let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Have hope, make progress! 💚
Team Zopeful

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