Can we stop global warming in the next 30 years? This is the burning question of the 21st century and renowned environmentalist Paul Hawken will use our March What’s Now: San Francisco gathering to give his answer: Yes we can. We can keep the temperature of the Earth from rising past the critical mark of two degrees Celsius and actually draw down carbon out of the atmosphere to reverse the warming by 2050. We're privileged to have the opportunity to host the first public event around the book launch of Project Drawdown.

Project Drawdown has identified the 100 best solutions that taken together could realistically keep us from catastrophe, and, at the same time, create the world we all want to live in. The team carefully measured the 80 solutions that are already up and running and modeled how they might be scaled up and carried out over the next 30 years. They also modeled the possibilities of the 20 solutions that are under development and could soon be utilized – several of which, like autonomous vehicles and the hyperloop, are rooted in the Bay Area. They then ranked all 100 solutions to see which ones make the biggest impact and should be prioritized by investors, city planners, business leaders, educators, and NGOs. You will soon be able to see them all laid out in Paul’s latest book, Drawdown, a beautiful book filled with stunning photographs, as well as play with all the data and models on a new website at drawdown.org.

Paul Hawken, who will lead our conversation, is the editor of the book and the driving force behind the project. Paul is also about as much a manifestation of the San Francisco Bay Area as can be. His family has lived in the region for five generations - his grandmother on a farm where Apple’s campus now stands in Cupertino. Paul is both an intellectual and an entrepreneur who has pioneered the field of sustainability. He is the best-selling author of seven books, including The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, Natural Capitalism, and Blessed Unrest. His book Growing a Business became the basis of a 17-part PBS series, which he hosted. Paul has started several companies in the natural food and sustainability sector, including the garden tool stores that were once a fixture around the Bay Area and other parts of the country: Smith & Hawken, as well as software company Metacode and OneSun Solar.

More about the What's Now: San Francsico Series.

The World’s First Comprehensive Plan to Reverse Global Warming