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The Climate Champions: Innovative Tactics of the Arctic Ice Project Against Climate Change
172 Plays1 year ago
Meet Annette Eros, Chief Executive Officer of the Arctic Ice Project, a nonprofit committed to preserving Arctic ice to mitigate climate change. Learn how their technology, involving the strategic placement of small hollow glass beads over the ice, amplifies its reflectivity, counteracting the effects of warming oceans.
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Transcript
Introduction
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to Green New Perspective, your gateway to a sustainable future.
Guest Introduction: Annette Eros
00:00:11
Speaker
I'm your host, Doonya Raunovic, and today we have another guest from the Kleentech space with us. Please join me in welcoming Annette Eros, the Chief Executive Officer of the Arctic Ice Project.
Overview: Arctic Ice Project
00:00:24
Speaker
The Arctic Ice Project is an NGO on a mission to preserve Arctic ice and combat climate change. Their unique technology involving small hollow glass beads strategically placed over the ice boosts its reflectivity and counteracts the effects of warming oceans. In this episode, we'll explore the science behind this groundbreaking approach, the challenges they face, and the potential impact it can have on mitigating climate change.
00:00:51
Speaker
So join us as we uncover the synergy of science, sustainability, and human determination and discover how the Arctic Ice Project is reshaping our approach to climate change. Hello Annette, and thank you for joining us on Green New Perspective podcast. Thank you. I'm pleased to be here. Thanks for having me.
Significance of the Arctic
00:01:11
Speaker
Can you tell us more about what you do and about the Arctic Ice Project and its mission to slow down climate change?
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So we are a nonprofit and we are committed to stabilizing the global planet. And one of the reasons that we focus on the Arctic is because it plays such an important role in climate change and the rate and really the inevitability of where we end up with this. And for example, what I want to explain is how much of an influence it has on
00:01:47
Speaker
on what could happen in the future. And we know that the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the Earth. And it was only a few years ago that we thought it was warming two times faster. So that rate of warmth is already accelerating and like more than we thought it was. So what I want people to understand is we all know that greenhouse gases are the main contributor to
00:02:16
Speaker
climate change. But we had a recent article saying just last week that ice-free summers in the Arctic are inevitable and that they could happen as soon as the 2030s. And what that means is that in the summers, when the sun is shining 24 hours a day, that there wouldn't be any sea ice there. And if we get to that point, then
00:02:44
Speaker
the Arctic will contribute 25% to global warming. And we're greenhouse gases would be contributing 75%. So it's really the second contributor to this global warming scenario that we're in. And I think a lot of people don't understand how critical of a rule that the Arctic plays in all of this. And years ago, we thought that
00:03:14
Speaker
the melting in the Arctic was a symptom of climate change. What we know now, and with this accelerated rate of melting, what we know now is it's actually contributing to global warming. So when I say the 75%, 25%, it's not just that global warming is making ice melt, is the ice is melting, there's a loop effect that it's getting warmer and it's melting faster, and it's really becoming a major contributor to global warming.
00:03:43
Speaker
And so that's one of the reasons why focusing on the Arctic is so important for people to understand that the role of the Arctic plays is really our most effective heat shield for Earth. Because the role that the Arctic plays is really a natural heat shield by reflecting the solar energy from the sun back into the atmosphere.
Innovative Solutions: Glass Beads and Reflectivity
00:04:10
Speaker
And that's what's supposed to happen.
00:04:12
Speaker
wasn't balanced for years and years before the 70s when we started seeing the effects of all of our emissions. And so the sun is not being reflected into the environment. Instead, it's being absorbed into the ocean. And that is what's making everything unstable. And so the role that the Arctic plays is really we need that. We need that sort of energy to be reflected. And so we need ice to be able to do that.
00:04:41
Speaker
So that's why we focus on the Arctic, because it is so important. And we don't know of anybody else who is focused on the Arctic. And when there's such a critical role that it plays, that's a problem too. And there's a lot of groups that are focused on ocean, things like that. But specifically in the Arctic, that ice really goes away. And we're not going to have much to work with. So we're at a critical point. And when we say the 2030s,
00:05:11
Speaker
That could be 10 years away. This is our lifetime. This is no longer future generation. This is us. And what kind of technologies is the Arctic Eye Project developing in order to slow down the climate change and Arctic Eye smelting? So sea ice, let me talk about the properties of the reflection. So sea ice typically reflects 30% to 80% of sunlight that hits it.
00:05:39
Speaker
we call this the albedo effect. And it's really a critical function, which I mentioned, reflecting that solar energy back in the atmosphere. So ocean water, on the other hand, absorbs 95% of sunlight. So the more sunlight that gets absorbed by the ocean, then the more the earth forms. So if we lose the Arctic sea, that cycle continues and it accelerates. So the goal of to increase the albedo effect would help the ice
00:06:10
Speaker
reflect more of that energy. And we particularly are concerned about young ice. So we consider young ice to be ice that's less than a year old. And that young ice absorbs more than old ice. So we think about the old ice in the Arctic and it's, you know, meters and meters thick and it's, you know, it's blue. It's been there for years and years that has a lot more reflective properties than young ice. And young ice,
00:06:37
Speaker
in the summers when the sun's 24 hours a day. We're in that period right now where the sun won't set again until August in the Arctic. So it's that when the young ice is really vulnerable because it's got that sun beating down on it. It hasn't been around long enough to get those reflective properties. And so we believe that our solution
00:07:04
Speaker
can help with that reflective. And what we want to do is take really small glass beads that are hollow and they're made of silica. So it's the same thing that sand is made of. And they're smaller than a circumference of a piece of hair. They're really, you know, it's like fine dust almost. But they have really high reflective properties and they can reflect the sun up to 60%.
00:07:30
Speaker
So the concept is to spread a thin layer of these small glass beads over strategic areas of the Arctic, and then it can reflect more sun and protect the ice from melting, and particularly that young ice. So if that young ice can survive through the summer and then get stronger and more reflective properties over the winter when it's a lot colder and things, then it's got a higher chance to survive year over year.
00:07:58
Speaker
By protecting that ice, we can reduce the rate of ice melt and slow down the effects of climate change. So we really believe, we have proof of concept on this and we believe it's one of the most promising climate mitigation efforts around. And to date, we know that we can slow the rate of change and we can do it safely, controllably and really cost effectively.
00:08:23
Speaker
especially when you look at the cost of not doing anything, which we're seeing some of those play out in the real world right now, just how many catastrophes are hitting different areas of the globe. Yeah, I've read somewhere that actually your project and scientific research offers an opportunity to buy up to 15 more years for the world economies to decarbonize, right?
00:08:48
Speaker
Right, so what we believe this is a really great solution and one of the tools that we need to try climate change, we don't see evidence right now that our solution can reverse climate change, but we do think we can fill its effects enough by reducing the contribution that the Arctic is playing with global warming. We do believe that we can buy 10, 15, 20 years, keep that Arctic ice and
00:09:18
Speaker
And perhaps what we're hoping is, you know, going away in the summers is not inevitable. If we can get out there and start doing this, then we can keep it and we have something to work with. But slowing down that rate of melt is going to be critical to us, just at that point where, you know, we really need more tools in our tool belt to help us with the time that we're on.
Safety and Environmental Impact
00:09:42
Speaker
And right now, so the reason, the way we can calculate those years is our research right now is focused on two things. It's focused on safety and it's focused on efficiency. So I mentioned that we have proof of concept, but what we're doing, we're doing climate modeling and we're also, you know, where we're doing simulations of the best place, how much, you know, how much of a layer it needs to be on the ice and the most efficient ways to places to
00:10:12
Speaker
and deploy it. And when we do that modeling, those computational simulations really help us understand how this can work, and then where we can get the most efficient deployment. Because the idea is, the less we can use to get the effects, we want the better, right? And deploying across the whole Arctic isn't realistic either. There's a lot of space up there. And then the safety factor is,
00:10:41
Speaker
to make sure that when we introduce this product to the Arctic environment, that we're not harming the environment in any way. We know that if there are unintended consequences to what we're doing, then we're creating a whole other round of problems. And that's what we're living in right now, really, is this world where unintended consequences have led us to this.
00:11:07
Speaker
if we could prove to ourselves and the scientific community that this is safe in the environment, then we can be more confident in doing this and really getting the support we need behind it. So right now we're focusing on exotoxicology studies with the food chain, essentially, in the Arctic. And we worked our way up from microorganisms up to now we're looking at fish. And so far, it appears to be quite safe.
00:11:35
Speaker
And it's thrilling because, you know, as soon as something indicates that it's not, then we've probably got to look at what we're doing and look at another alternative. So it's really promising that we've got both this effectiveness and safety, and those are two things we need to move forward. So our ultimate demonstration of this would be moving out of labs into field testing where we can find the details.
00:12:01
Speaker
But that would be the next step once we get to a point where we believe that data supports the safety. And then we'd move on to permits and funding and other partners and things that when we get to that, to actually field testing in the real world environment.
00:12:16
Speaker
Yeah, I have to say I was telling my friends that I'm doing an interview with you and explain to them what your project is. And they were like, they were amazed. But they asked me how are they planning to place those tiny silica beads? Yeah, that's a great question. And we don't have the
00:12:37
Speaker
the exact solution to that right now. But part of what we want to make sure that we do is we're not taking a bunch of fuel burning airplanes and crop testing this, you know, across our tickets. We won't need to do it in a way that is eco-friendly. And so we've got some ideas. We've actually had some think takes working on our behalf and things. And we know that there's some electric ships that are being manufactured in Norway. And so one of the ideas is to take those as close
00:13:06
Speaker
you know, to our deployment area as possible and then possibly use drones or things like that to actually go, you know, get the product and deploy it. But we are going to make sure that our deployment measures are safe as well and eco-friendly because, again, you know, if you're trying to solve one thing but creating other problems and, you know, just becomes that feedback loop, that's not good for anybody.
00:13:33
Speaker
So that's something we're working on. We're working on a five-year technology plan. We're a few years into that right now. And that's part of what we'll start working on now is really, how can we do this? And there's a lot of work being done on efforts to do things that are using electric and that aren't harmful. And I think every year that goes by, which we know we're in our ace against high,
00:14:04
Speaker
every year that goes by, we have fewer options on what those deployment technologies could look like. So we're all in that balance of we're moving forward with technology, but we need to act and we need to get this out.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah. Also, when I started to work on the podcast, I learned that from, well, my guests from the clean tech biotech space, that one of the most important things is actually collaborations between companies, startups, NGOs within the
Collaboration and Partnerships
00:14:42
Speaker
industry. So I have to ask you, have you had the opportunity to collaborate with other organizations or partners to achieve your goals?
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think you realize, I think that this climate community is very collaborative. And I think that's because we know there's not going to be one magic solution to all of this, right? So sharing each other's knowledge and information. And I think that's an important factor to all of us being successful. And so we do take a collaborative approach to our work. And we actually made a shift a couple of years ago from doing the research ourselves. Honestly, you know, we were doing this here.
00:15:20
Speaker
understanding that we can be quicker and get the right, you know, experts involved if we form partnerships. So, for example, our lab research that's being done for safety, we're working with Sintef Norway, and they are Arctic experts, and they're right there in Norway. And we know that working with them, we can tap into their expertise, we can tap into all their knowledge,
00:15:50
Speaker
further faster. So so that that was a strategic move in our part and they've been fantastic partners. And then we also likewise we work with organizations that right now we did all of our we did we actually work with NASA Ames to to use their supercomputer time which they donated to us which that's that's a very expensive proposition. And so they did this for us. And so we've got
00:16:16
Speaker
other groups than that are are using that data to come up with these these bottling scenarios that we're doing. And so, you know, just keeping that that in kind use of the supercomputers cheat for us. And then we work it out for our experts in helping us figure out what all this data means and play out different case scenarios. And then our science is also led by a group of volunteer experts. So there are we call them our scientific advisory board.
00:16:46
Speaker
And they're made of scientists and Arctic experts from around the globe that sit in with us on a regular basis to look at what's going on, what's the data telling us, what we should be looking at, what we should be asking for, what's next. And so when we look at our scientific technology plan, they're a key factor in how we move forward.
00:17:11
Speaker
I think that's really important that people are volunteering their time to help us with our work and how we move forward. And then, you know, we've got donor organizations throughout the globe. One in particular is called Spectrum Impact, and they're out of India. And they've underwritten some of our studies with the data. And, you know, they're investing in quite a few things for some of these
00:17:39
Speaker
global warming, climate change solutions, and we're really lucky that we're part of that. And then to date, we've really been funded by community organizations and individuals locally. And it's about spreading the word and getting people involved with what we're doing. And if we don't have funding, we can't do what we're doing. So if we're a nonprofit, anything we raise goes back into the
00:18:06
Speaker
research and eventually the field studies and things that we're moving toward. But, you know, we're here in California and in Silicon Valley and there's a lot of people that really care about this. And so we've been lucky that they, you know, individuals have been funding us and some foundations and things like that. So that kind of collaboration is really important. And, you know, as we continue and we do get information from other folks and, you know, just getting out there and sharing
00:18:35
Speaker
information about what we're doing and people, you know, you should talk here, you should talk there. And we need more of that. We definitely need more collaborators. And, you know, when we get into the political space, when we get into our field testing, too, you know, when we decide where that's going to take place, then we know we need to get those local communities involved. We've got to tap into the knowledge of the indigenous communities and and make sure that we're creating the best case for
00:19:03
Speaker
success really and it's going to take those kind of collaborations to do so. So we'll keep moving forward with partnering with people and hopefully have continued success with people wanting to be engaged with what we're doing.
00:19:20
Speaker
Yeah, I have to.
Public Perception and Awareness Challenges
00:19:21
Speaker
I can only imagine what kind of obstacles and challenges you guys had while presenting this new technology that is probably sounds a bit vague to people who are not within are not in the clean tech space. Some of the people are well, okay, we talk a lot about climate change, but it's still a new new issue.
00:19:43
Speaker
We talked about it a lot, maybe in the last 10 years, globally. So can we talk about those challenges and about the messages that you're using to present your projects and your research? Yeah. I think that the idea is simple.
00:20:06
Speaker
Right? You know, put something on top of the ice, it's gonna help it reflect better. You know, you can think of mirrors, you can think of all kinds of things, right? But then when it gets to how do you really do it and what are the effects? You know, I think that some of our success stories have been around, you know, with the novel concept. So in a way people are like, oh, wow, I've never heard of that. And there's, you know, kind of this interesting draw into tell me more, which is good. I think the fact that we have proof of concept
00:20:35
Speaker
You know, it's taken us quite a few years to get where we are right now and, you know, figuring out, you know, all the layers of information you have to do to get to the proof of concept was one thing, but being able to say that, hey, we know it works, you know, it works in really small field studies and, you know, private property and things like that. We do think that right now that we're the only,
00:21:04
Speaker
group focused in the Arctic. So, you know, that's it. That's a burden in a way because people, you know, there are things that people are focused on carbon sequestration and, you know, other things. And those are kind of where people are putting their energy and their money. So we come in and we say, oh, you know, we're doing this in the Arctic. We want we need we need support. And it's like, oh, we fund all these things. We don't fund anything in the Arctic, you know. And so that's been a challenge for us because
00:21:34
Speaker
People aren't aware of how the important role of the Arctic plays in what we're doing in our survival, really. And I just think that that was a big surprise to me, is just how much we have to work to get people to understand that this is an important part of our solution, is the Arctic, really. Not saying just what we're doing, obviously, this is hopeful.
00:22:03
Speaker
but people need to be focused on what's going on up there. And just that, you know, that our modeling, you know, people who had the time, we could show them that our modeling work suggests that ice preservation and growth over time has such a generalized cooling effect on not only Arctic, but the whole globe, you know, to all those things that we're looking at with weather patterns
00:22:32
Speaker
more turbulence in the skies and, you know, crazy sea currents and, you know, all of that, that's all happening because the generalized heating in the Arctic. So it's really critical. And I wish where people understood that. So, you know, are you planning to maybe do some kind of education to raise awareness and prioritize climate action in the Arctic?
00:23:03
Speaker
That's part of what we do anyway. If we're going to keep getting funding, then we have to educate people on why what we're doing is important. So bringing them along the way, I think we've got part of our team that's always focused on creating small videos or messaging or sharing other articles that have been out there and helping people understand. But I think we're all facing some of that dread
00:23:32
Speaker
you know, of another thing we keep time and time are hearing, you know, these effects effects of climate change and what it means a lot of transition. And, you know, as humans, we're we're protecting our psyche and our and our, you know, behaviors day in and day out and just it's tough, you know, it's things are going to get worse. And here's why we got to do this. But, you know, the biggest way people can help us and, you know, it's
00:24:02
Speaker
It's true and I, is to help fund what we're doing. And when we look at how can I help, you know, we can all drive electric cars and recycle our plastic bags and, or use paper, reusable, you know, like all these kinds of things and compost and all the things we do in our daily behavior to help the environment. But if you want to, you know, really feel like you're doing something, I do think this is something that I know a lot of the people that are involved with us do because it's hopeful
00:24:30
Speaker
It's like, I can do something today that can take place in the next year or two that could really make a difference for my kids and my grandkids and really have an impact on what's going on. And I think people feel good about helping us and contributing to our science. So to me, that hope and that is not some solution that's gonna take place 10 or 20 years from now. It's kinda like, this is rather immediate when we're looking at what we're doing.
00:25:01
Speaker
Hopefully, that's appealing enough that we can keep raising enough money to keep on track. The more money we raise, the faster we can go, too. Because of the way we're structured now, where we can have simultaneous research and things going on, the more money we have, we can really move. This five-year technology plan can become a three- or four-year technology plan. We can just get out there and do our thing.
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah, I have to add one of the reasons we started this podcast was because we were a bit anxious because of that all doom and gloom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we wanted to share some success stories and people who are making positive impact.
00:25:43
Speaker
talk about climate change. So yeah, I'm also I'm hoping that people are going to change their perspective. And yeah, maybe invest in in what you guys are doing, or some other startup startup NGOs, companies that are developing climate positive technologies. But I have to ask you one more question, since we are a marketing agency, has marketing helped you to spread your messages? And if yes, in what way?
00:26:12
Speaker
I think marketing plays, you know, it's as important as the science that we're doing because as I mentioned, people need to understand how important the project is in climate change. And that's how we get funding really is educating people on what we're doing and then hoping they respond. And we're continuously educating people, not only on what we're doing, but, you know, real interesting things that are coming out in climate change and stuff. And I think we're, we've actually,
00:26:43
Speaker
shifted some of our resources to marketing too. So we're not just a scientific organization. We have to marry that with helping people understand and educating what's going on. And not only to help what we're doing, but people just need to understand. And I do think, as I mentioned, that we contain a little bit of message of hope. And we were talking about why you do this podcast. It's good for people to understand that there are people that are working on this. And it was even interesting
00:27:12
Speaker
We had a fundraiser a few months ago and we had a group of volunteers that were there that were, they were high schoolers and it was great. We had, you know, like a dozen volunteers helping us, but we also had all these funders who were more mature and, you know, and kind of in that stage of life where they have some excess resources and they can help us with funding, right? And they were energized by each other saying, you know, so these more mature funders were like, wow, look at these youth
00:27:40
Speaker
youth group that's here and they're helping us. And then the younger people were like, look at all these older people that really care about what's going on. Because I think that a lot of the younger generation thinks, you know, everybody's just left SMS and nobody cares, you know. And there are a lot of people that care. And I think just it's part of that, hey, bring this together. You care. We care. Let's just get this done. Let's do that together.
00:28:03
Speaker
And so we're not that fact of we're not alone and other people care. That was really powerful. And not only did we raise some money, but we came together as a community of like-minded people coming from different spaces that were like, oh, I'm so glad you're here.
00:28:19
Speaker
you know, thanks for being here. And I think that's all important, you know. Yeah, you mentioned, you also mentioned that you have some educational videos, I suppose, text blogs. Where can people find those? So we're, we're just getting better with that. And we're on our website, and over the next couple, we're arcticiciseproject.org. And there's, you know, if you want to go nitty gritty, our white papers and our manuscripts and things are published around there. But I mean, we're trying to simplify
00:28:48
Speaker
some of those messages for the general audience. So that's part of our marketing strategies to make things a little easier to be rejected and understanding and not use all the scientific, not technological vocabulary and things and just bring it into our everyday lives. So it'll be on all of our social media. It'll be on our website. And I think we're gonna see our social media really becoming more engaging and interactive.
00:29:17
Speaker
We've got a really talented young graduate who has her specialties, digital media. And so we've invested in that and know that that's important as part of our marketing strategy.
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that. We had a huge success with our digital marketing strategy. So I believe that you guys are going to do the same. Good. Yeah. So my next question was, how do you communicate your mission and purpose of how that has changed? But I believe you also gave us the answer that now you're moving towards digital and simplifying your language, right?
Future Goals and Funding
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, it goes beyond that a little bit because really our goal is not to deploy this ourselves. So our goal is to get this to a point where it's understood, it's easily explained and it's kind of tied up in a bow and we can hand it over to somebody that's got the type of scope and resources that we don't. So we're talking about military or some nation state or consortium of nation states to deploy this over 10 or 20 years.
00:30:31
Speaker
So that's a multimillion dollar prospect every year. But as we mentioned, it's much more cost efficient than the crisis that would happen if we don't do this. So our communications and our partnerships are going to need to include policy and collaborations on that different kind of scale as you get different types of people.
00:30:57
Speaker
to be interested in what we're doing. So if that's politicians or military or international groups that can help us understand and accept what we're doing and be confident that what we're doing is safe will be the next. So our target audience is going to change over time a little bit. And I actually learned something really recently, which I thought was important. And I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the US,
00:31:25
Speaker
you know, climate is a little bit of a charged word. And, you know, there's some political people that just, you know, bring up something about climate, you know, you're going to have people that are going to be like, oh, you know, we're not going to go there. But I was talking to somebody that, you know, if you translate some of this climate change and technology and things into vocabulary around security, then it becomes something that they need to pay attention to in politics.
00:31:55
Speaker
And so I think that's another level of collaboration we're going to have to look at is how do we translate this into measures or or studies or papers where politicians are going to look at this and say, OK, yeah, this is this is a security issue. This is something about, you know, keeping our nation safe. And I think that's interesting, too. So as we move forward with our.
00:32:18
Speaker
journey, you know, we're learning more about how we have to communicate about what we're doing to be successful in our ultimate goal to get this deployed. So our target RDS is going to change. Our collaborations are going to change. And I also think that, you know, geoengineering has kind of gotten this negative connotation to it as well. And
00:32:45
Speaker
We like to look at ourselves as a climate restoration solution, but there's just a lot of people that are afraid of geoengineering and what it's going to do to all these other things. But what we don't realize is the world we're living in now is a product of geoengineering. All these things that we've done in the world have screwed up the way the earth operates, and we're living with those consequences right now.
00:33:15
Speaker
at least if we're moving forward with stuff and we're looking to be safe and we're looking at how to do this, it might technically fall under the geoengineering category, but we're being thoughtful about it, which is things that we're doing 20, 30 years ago, we're being thoughtful. We were just doing, this is good, this is gonna be good for our bottom line at our company,
00:33:38
Speaker
conveniences for this or that, and it's just about being more thoughtful with what we're doing. I would add transparent as well. You are right. Exactly. Yeah, which is important. Yeah, exactly. And we will share our data. We're not about keeping it just to ourselves. Let's say this works. And then where else can we apply this that can have exponential benefits as well?
00:34:06
Speaker
And if it doesn't work, you're searching for new solutions, which is also promising, I have to say. We're living in this era of greenwashing. So I personally am really excited when I see that startup company, NGO is actually investing their time into transparent communication. So. Right. And another thing that these are unintended consequences that we're
00:34:33
Speaker
we're figuring out is something we need to market more. And so if somebody's following us, they're going to realize we're going to start talking about this a little bit more. But these, we call them HTMs, hollow glass microfears, are what we use. But they actually can help with the pH balance of the ocean and with carbon sequestration. So those are kind of
00:34:58
Speaker
buzzwords, you know, and things that people are investing money in. I think if we talk about that a little bit more than just the solar radiation management, then we could be more successful in getting more collaborations and more funding. So, you know, really demonstrating the properties that this has once it, you know, potentially melts and gets into the ocean and some of that.
00:35:20
Speaker
My last question would be, what are the future plans and projects that the Arctic Ice Project has in store to further its mission and impact? Some of them you already mentioned. It's really to keep focusing on this because it has such promise and our research is telling us that it appears to be safe and so until we
00:35:47
Speaker
hit something that becomes a barrier for us to keep moving down this path and bring people along with our progress, obviously. And this five-year technology plan is going to take about 20 to $30 million for us to execute. So it's no small task to raise that amount of money. And again, the sooner, the better. If we can get more money quicker than the overall cost goes down,
00:36:14
Speaker
we get something out there quicker, we can, you know, we all know faster is better when it comes to deploying, but obviously safety is key too. So I just think that because we're the only ones focusing on this, we'll stay focused in the Arctic. We hope that this solution comes to fruition and that we start really reaping the benefits of all these efforts that have been happening. And then just to, you know,
00:36:45
Speaker
Not to be doom and gloom all the time, but I was really surprised when the article came out a couple weeks ago saying loss of the Arctic ice in the summer is inevitable. And it's like, wow, this should be top level news. Every aspect in here, instead, we're hearing about politics and other things going on. And that's frustrating. And I just think that
00:37:14
Speaker
the dual focus on education and actually getting our research done. That's a lot for us to be doing right now when we need the funding to do it. And I think we've got a good focus. And I think too that just the message of hope, that this is a relatively quick thing that could happen and the progress gives me hope. It's one of the reasons that I spend my time doing this because
00:37:44
Speaker
I think it can't really have tremendous impact across the globe. I know people know this, but climate change doesn't affect people equally across the globe. And there's people that haven't done anything to deserve the consequences. Not that anybody deserves any of this, but I think it's up to some of these larger nations that are contributing to this more to come up with the solutions and to make sure that we're looking at some kind of
Equitable Climate Solutions
00:38:12
Speaker
equity and how this hits people and just that this can have a global effect, I think, feels good to be focusing on something that can make an impact as soon as it's deployed.
00:38:27
Speaker
Thank you again for your time and this lovely conversation. And I really wish you all the best with your project. Thank you. Yeah, I'm rooting for it. Me too. Thanks for having us and for helping us explain why this is so important. No problem. That's what we do here. Thank you. We wish you much more success too in the good news out.
00:38:56
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. Like I said, I love this positivity within the Clinton biotech nature tech space. So that thank you once again.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:39:30
Speaker
Thank you for watching or listening. Another episode of Green Your Perspective, a podcast series dedicated to sustainability. So if you like our content, if you like our interviews and guests we're bringing here,
00:39:42
Speaker
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