Judging by the graphics and the number of children interviewed, 2040 is aimed at a younger audience (and specifically Damon Gameau’s daughter), and happily – in no small thanks due to Greta’s efforts – today there is a hungry younger audience to aim at! 

It was sweet and delicate, and solutions-oriented. Phew. I’m all in favour. Of course it’s important to understand and learn from history. But simply focusing on (and moaning about) what’s been just doesn’t help. We need positive messaging that says ‘we’re all this together’ and ‘here’s some projects and ideas that are really working’, so if you and I pull our weight, things will improve. 

A few nuggets:

• Solbox – smart peer-to-peer grids for solar power 
  • You can buy just the box (“SOLbox is a bi-directional DC electricity meter that enables peer-to-peer electricity trading, smart grid management, remote monitoring, mobile money payment and data analytics”) to rent electricity off your neighbour. If you can afford a panel, you can also sell to your neighbours. Dr. Sebastian Groh: 
  • “When we have a decentralised mode of energy, it becomes democratic and much more efficient. 
  • “Provides greater resilience in an increasingly hostile environment, and money stays within the local economy. “We’ve skipped the grid and made our own.”
  • “Governments currently spend $10m/minute subsidising fossil fuels”
  • “Microgrids are currently illegal in some countries”
  • Are there any off-grid small-scale solutions for community energy that we could invest in? Eg power for urban gardens? 
• Marine Permaculture – could we include this in our farming??
• Oberlin College, Ohio Environmental Dashboard – visual representation of resource usage – connecting humans with nature
  • also fosters a community perspective as opposed to an individualised perspective
  • when we ask children using the dashboard about how they felt
• “Number one solution of reversing global warming is empowerment of girls and women
  • 65million girls around the world don’t get to complete their education, and on average those girls will go on to have 5 or more children
  • Access to education, sexual health awareness, and good work prospects leads to women having children later, and fewer children when they do. It’s a form of family planning that’s not coercive 
• Stockholm take residents’ food waste, extract methane from it to power public transport, and give the surplus to farmers for the fields! 
• Helena Norberg Hodge: “When you go beyond the dominant media discourse, and get closer to the ground, you will see everywhere you look, incredible reasons for hope.”