“When the San Francisco Bay Area mandated shelter-in-place March 16, it created a natural experiment for UC Berkeley's Ron Cohen, who had established an inexpensive pollution sensor network in local neighborhoods. The sensors showed carbon dioxide emissions plummeting 25 percent in the subsequent six weeks, mostly because of a 48 percent drop in traffic. Networks like this -- soon to be emplaced in Glasgow -- can track greenhouse gases and progress toward lowering them, including the impact of electric vehicles.”

“We’re believers that there’s no comprehensive solution to climate change without major changes to the agricultural system. There will be multiple unicorn-level outcomes as companies begin reshaping the $7 trillion food industry while removing gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere. For those startups and investors fortunate enough to remain standing now, the ag industry just got a lot riper for disruption.”

“It is very clear that only a joint view of organic carbon and nitrogen management will provide the synergies needed to address both food security and climate change. These goals can only be delivered in an effective way by working from the ground up, starting with those who manage the land and providing the site-specific and dynamic information systems that allow a systems view of soil health management. In our opinion, only a joint platform to address the carbon-nitrogen nexus in soil health management will accomplish that.”

“Alternative, market-based risk models are cropping up in parts of the country to better assess the risk and deploy fire- suppression resources where they’re needed most. When the risk is accurately assessed, it should incentivize more prescribed burns, timber harvesting, and installation of fire- resistant materials on homes and other buildings. But even then, it is challenging because most often reducing the fuel load is out of the hands of the home or business owner.”

omborg makes the argument, as do we, that climate change is real and should be taken seriously. What is not justifiable are policies driven by alarmism and fear. Instead, we should promote pragmatic policies such as energy R&D, innovation, adaptation, and infrastructure investment.

“This alarmism is not only false but morally unjust. It leads us to make poor decisions based on fear, when the world not only has gotten better, but will be even better over the century.”

“NBS can help cushion the impacts of warming, but not sufficiently to allow any relaxation in the ambition or urgency of meeting emissions reductions targets.”

“One such company, Soil Carbon Co., based in Australia’s New South Wales, claims that by tailoring communities of microbes that live within farm soil, humans can potentially turn back the clock on human emissions while producing better crops.”

“That’s a large discrepancy, especially given how much domesticated livestock is already contributing to climate change. Livestock make up 60 percent of all the mammal biomass on Earth, and livestock industries are responsible for more than 14 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.”