Pique Behind the Curtain Vol. 40

A newsletter for those who are interested in climate solutions, media and film production

July 27, 2022

A Bull Market is Bullsh*t Unless it Considers Climate

Hi there! Welcome back to our weekly newsletter, Pique Behind the Curtain. If you’ve come in search of climate content, new film features, and all-around positive vibes, then you’ve come to the right place. If you’re enjoying this, don’t just keep it all for yourself. Please share it with a friend!

Our non-climate-change-induced hot take of the day🔥: the tools to solve climate change already exist.

We have electric vehicles to replace internal combustion engines and renewables on the grid to replace fossil fuels - the missing component, however, is a cheap, high-capacity storage, aka batteries.

Did you know that your battery actually has more capacity? We didn’t. Coreshell can increase a battery’s capacity by 25% or more and still maintain its lifetime. It’s like supercharging storage. By unlocking the highest capacity and lowest cost potential of batteries, this startup is helping to speed up the clean energy transition so that energy solutions can be accessed across the globe in an equitable, cost-effective manner.

Want to learn more? Check back in next week for our micro-documentary on Coreshell.

Climate Change is (Shocker) NOT Good for the Economy

Are we entering a recession soon? Is inflation going to raise the price of my movie theatre snack order (popcorn, blue and red slushie mixed together, and oh-so-fake but still delicious nachos, don’t judge me) from its already dastardly prices to about what it costs to take out a mortgage on a small home?

Perhaps, or perhaps not. Bear market, bull market - it could be an armadillo market and I wouldn’t have a definitive answer for you. I’m not an economist. I’m a climatist. Is that a thing? But what I can share with confidence about the economy is that climate change is bad news for the bottom lines of businesses, individuals, and governments globally.

In fact, in 2021 the World Economic Forum called out climate action failure as the most impactful and second-most likely long-term risk facing the planet, even in a year when communities globally continued to struggle to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

What exactly does that mean? Warmer temperatures, sea level rise, and extreme weather will damage property and critical infrastructure. That could cost businesses and individuals their places of work or their homes, the time it takes for them to rebuild, and certainly their money. The demand for energy will increase as power generation becomes less reliable and water supplies become more stressed. Also, damage to other countries around the world will impact U.S. business through disruption in trade and supply chains. Have I mentioned the risks to human health?

According to the Swiss Re Institute, the largest impact of climate change is that it could wipe up to 18% of GDP off of the worldwide economy by 2050 if global temperatures rise by 3.2°C.

But here’s the good news - that number is a worst-case scenario that would result from a world where no - as in zero - mitigating measures are taken.

We may not be rocking as hard as we need to be (I’m looking at you, Joe Manchin) to meet the standards set by the Paris Agreement, but there is a ton of genuine progress being made every day by bright, big-brained individuals, eco-conscious companies, and other institutions. It’s why Pique Action started the NextNow series - to shed light on the solutions that can help save us. Right now, there are businesses transforming the energy industry by harnessing wave power and the natural heat of the earth. There are companies capturing carbon to make dirty industries cleaner in a number of ways: by taking it straight from the tailpipe of semi-trucks before it can enter our atmosphere, by using it to produce high-demand detergents and soap, even by engineering our soils themselves to become healthier and more fertile.

It would be easy to find a plug for all 31 of our films if I had the word count, and watching them all would probably instill some much-needed hope into your day. Our most pressing climate problems exist in every industry - food & agriculture, consumer goods, transportation - you name it. That means that the solutions exist in all those places, too. While climate change is a major threat to the world economy, climate mitigation and adaptation technology is seeing record numbers of funding that experts predict will only grow.

Money talks, people. Let’s keep that conversation on climate!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/phillipbraun/2021/08/03/why-global-investors-need-sustainable-investing-standards/?sh=25906e5ec057

Check out our TikTok on climate change’s effect on the economy here.

(Genuinely concerned about how to prepare for a recession? It’s a bit outside our wheelhouse, but if you care, so do we. Check out this helpful resource.)

Good Climate News!

This week in good climate news 🌍:

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This… Airport?

I’m pretty sure Reagan’s quote had something to do with a wall, and not at all the aviation field that German workers have recently begun turning into a climate-conscious neighborhood. But then again, I was always more of a science geek than a history buff.

Berlin’s Tegel Airport has been replaced by a new international airport in another location. While some parts of the facility will be reused and converted into commercial space for research and offices for startups, more than 100 acres near where the runway used to sit are being completely reconceptualized. This area will be home to 5,000 new apartments built in a walkable, bikeable, carbon-neutral neighborhood with parks, schools, and stores.

The story is reminiscent of one we told a few weeks ago about how the people of Amsterdam reclaimed their streets. The Schumacher Quartier, as the area has been named, is being planned in such a manner that the streets and squares belong to humans rather than to automobiles. Public spaces will be dedicated to socializing, playgrounds, and peaceful, noise-pollution-free places.

The current plans include wide bike lanes and ample green space. At the edge of the neighborhood, the addition of micro-mobility (i.e., lightweight vehicles like scooters and bicycles that are often available for rent and short-term use in cities) as well as the existing public transit will allow limited access to cars so that those who are disabled, for example, will be able to access their buildings. Beyond that, it’s a car-free zone.

And it isn’t just the roads they’re cleaning up for the climate. It’s the buildings, too. Apartments will be built from locally-sourced wood which both enables long-term CO2 storage and reduces the consumption of environmentally harmful materials like concrete. Once built, it will be the largest group of mass timber buildings in the world.

The design is set to be incredibly efficient with a projected 80% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the average similar construction project. All energy will be produced on-site, including solar and geothermal power. Heat for the homes in the community will be harvested from the heat waste of nearby commercial buildings. Sound too good to be true? Well, it gets even better.

The community will also include what’s known as a sponge city that absorbs rainwater through sustainable urban drainage systems built into green infrastructure. The system helps reduce damage from flooding and inundation. All water ends up getting used - some will go to the green roofs and gardens while the rest will be stored underground. On hotter days when water evaporates, the area gets cooled. On days when the water seeps in, groundwater sources get replenished. It’s a self-contained system built for climate regulation, working as natural air-conditioning in tandem with native deciduous trees.

Oh, and remember the space set aside for startup offices? The commercial area, called the Urban Tech Republic, will be mainly dedicated to technology ventures exploring areas like recycling and mobility streams.

This fall, the project kicks off allocating land and architects will get to work on designing the details with the guidance of residents. The initial buildings, which will consist of student and social housing as well as cooperatives, plan to be completed in 2027.

Who’s to say where you or I will be five years from now - but if The Schumacher Quartier is taking rental applications, I need to get started on compiling my references. Hey, Kip (our nearest and dearest CEO & Founder) … ever consider a work-from-Europe employee?

What We’re Watching, Reading, and Listening to

Searching for more positive climate content? Look no further!