Quarterly Update— Aligning Our Work With Project Drawdown
Things happen in barns, food is produced and stored, pumps are repaired, biomass is recycled and composted, tools are engineered, plans are prepared, solutions are found, and the Next Rung Technology team meets for our quarterly get together.
Next Rung Technology was founded on the principle of developing and promoting the health of the planet through the implementation of sustainable processes and developments. The goal of our quarterly check-ins is to reflect on this mission, ensuring that it permeates everything we do, and that every project holds true to these values. A large portion of the discussion that happened in the barn during this particular meeting revolved around Project Drawdown.
Project Drawdown is an organization formed with the mission of helping “the world reach “Drawdown”— the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping catastrophic climate change — as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.” Project Drawdown accomplishes this by understanding current sources of carbon emissions and comparing those emissions to the existing natural sinks that capture and store carbon. The discrepancy between the two is the carbon that remains in the atmosphere, the carbon that organizations such as Project Drawdown, and other sustainable action companies, are targeting to reduce, and ultimately diminish to zero. The approach is multi-faceted, but can be simplified into: reduce sources, support sinks. In other words, not only do we have to control carbon emissions, we must also improve the health of our land, oceans and freshwater habitats.
Project Drawdown has developed a very comprehensive framework for climate solutions. The framework considers all carbon sources and organizes them into distinct sectors, evaluating in each sector and sub-group the potential for emissions reductions.
Using the same color-coding system as the “Drawdown Framework for Climate Solutions”, Next Rung evaluated all the projects we have been involved with, and what solution they target. Every single project fits firmly in at least of one of these boxes, directly advancing solutions that draw down greenhouse gas emissions and bring into existence technologies that empower sustainable growth for the world.
Thinking critically in this way about our work it is clear that we embody this mission, from our commitment to driving forward sustainable solutions with our partners, to our own personal organic gardens and solar panels, planting trees and practicing regenerative agriculture, biking to work in the snow and investing in other carbon offset opportunities when biking is not an option. It is our goal to promote and disseminate the work of Project Drawdown so that we all together can make positive strides for the health of our planet.
