I just spent the week talking about climate impact primarily in East Africa and the Pacific islands. I was traveling with an Australian and Kiwi for this conference. Society for International Development's annual conference. Climate was a big topic, right under governance. What surprised me was the lack of companies with innovation and technology. For instance, there are some great tools for water (irrigation and for people) that are quite effective and not as expensive as many think. They were not there. What was there were quite a few tech companies selling AI for proposals and reports. Aid companies have to do a lot of that shit (think TPS reports about Malaria) and it eats up field time. I have an issue with AI in the proposal, planning and solution development areas. I review a lot of them and I can tell what clients use AI. They go for more grants, sure, but their solutions and approach seem to be always the same. There is little in human innovation in these.
I know on this thread we talk about large sized projects (desal, solar, etc.) but there are a lot of small things that can be done. They are not easy and many times take a cultural mind change for the benefiting community. The development world is a great place to begin and test new concepts. Their need is a lot less than the average Americans. There is not any St. Augustine in Darfur, but they do need to grow food. Test these new techs and customize them for small er needs. Solar? A "home" in Kenya wants 2 light bulbs. Don't care about keeping their house at 69 degrees.
The issue I have been asked to focus on is ocean and the impact on the South Pacific islands. Yep, water is rising, but the amount of trash that floats in the pacific impacting these islands is tremendous. Bays so full local fishing is not possible. I see climate like this. Everything impacts something else. So to do these large projects we must increase the supporting infrastructure. Thinking like this sure can keep you awake at night.
Rant over. Was thinking about this thread all week and wish I could have reached out for some ideas.