Years ago, environmentalism was a niche occupied by people dressed in Birkenstocks and ponchos. Graham Hill founded Treehugger in 2004 to make sustainability sexy, appealing, and comprehensible. Hill described it: “Treehugger is the definitive, modern yet green lifestyle filter.”
Now we are in the middle of a climate crisis and Hill has built The Carbonauts, a different kind of lifestyle filter, where he and his team teach carbonauts-in-training how to reduce their carbon footprints and lead a low-carbon lifestyle. Their mission, as it was with Treehugger, is to help people understand what to do in a confusing and scary world.
This last question is a major topic of debate, whether individual actions matter, whether we should pursue personal change or system change. Why bother, when you often hear that 100 companies are responsible for 71% of carbon emissions?
Hill notes the urgency of the situation and tells Treehugger how these actions can change social norms.
This—how actions influence others—is an important point Treehugger writer Sami Grover discusses in his new book “We’re all climate hypocrites now.” Grover writes:
Grover also speaks with climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who lives a low-carbon lifestyle, and describes how it leads to a better understanding of the bigger issues:
The timing of this project couldn’t be more auspicious, given there is growing consciousness and awareness of the problems at hand. They are not academic as they were 10 years ago but are immediate and threatening. There is a desire and willingness among many to change, but they don’t know what to do.
Hill tells Treehugger:
Given that I recently spent a year putting my life through a giant carbon calculating spreadsheet and writing a book “Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle,” I was intrigued by a free one-hour course led by Hill and former Treehugger editor Meg O’Neill, to teach people how to use a carbon calculator. The pitch:
Hill conducted the course personally and was impressive, entertaining, on top of the material. Frankly, having lived inside a calculator and tested them all, I thought I would be bored given that it was all stuff I knew; I wasn’t for a second. The others in the course skewed older.
Hill tells Treehugger who the audience has been to date:
The Carbonauts also offer a 5-week course covering, logically, The Big Five, with the late-night TV pitch: “EASILY REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT BY 20-40% IN THE FIRST MONTH AND JOIN MANY OTHERS THAT EVEN REACH CARBON NEUTRALITY!”
This sounds like a diet ad, but it is important stuff. The next report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was recently leaked to The Guardian, and will include calls for personal reductions:
That’s all of us in the developed world. Hill tells Treehugger that this is doable, and maybe not even so hard. “We have most of the knowledge and technology to get ourselves out of this mess. We just need the will,” says Hill. “And believe it or not, a lot of the things we can do in our own lives aren’t that heavy of a lift! It starts with us. Individuals have the power to make changes in our own behaviors and homes. The world needs more people who step into this power. Every person who does take a step toward creating the bright green future we know is possible.”
So once again, Hill has positioned himself at the inflection point, once described by Intel’s Andy Grove as “an event that changes the way we think and act.” People were littering the streets of New York, so he came up with a porcelain “We are Happy to Serve You” cup. He founded Treehugger with its ironic, in-your-face name at the birth of the blogosphere with a new way of selling sustainability. Too tough to totally give up meat? Become a weekday vegetarian.
But The Carbonauts may be his most ambitious and important project. People need to change. Many people want to change. People don’t want to be depressed and miserable about the crisis ahead, they want to believe that it can be fixed and that they can help. The Carbonauts is a great place for them to start this journey.
