Positive, Timely and Engaging: A Review of Paul Hawken's Drawdown

Book Cover
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication Year: 2017
ISBN: 9780143130444

A New Book Ranks the Top 100 Solutions to Climate Change

Despite increasingly urgent warnings about the need to curb greenhouse gases (GHGs), humans emitted 36 gigatonnes of GHGs in 2016, equivalent to 14.4 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. This staggering amount was 2.3 per cent more than the previous year. Currently, a lot of the conversation is about stabilizing the increase in global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius, but we still see this as a chaotic world, not as a goal that we actually want to strive for. When we read scientific books on climate change, the emphasis has always been on fear, dread and gloom - it is not hard to become convinced that we are in trouble and that there is not much that we can do. There have been many solutions proposed in the past, but previous books remained too focused yet fragmented.

Then, like a breath of fresh air, comes the book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawken. Not many books on climate change have a constant tone of positivity and courage, but this one does! It focuses on the possibilities instead of a dreaded inevitability. Taking the form of an encyclopedia, Drawdown is comprehensive and reliable collection of carbon-reduction solutions across various sectors. The 2015 Paris Agreement set out the lofty goals that were agreed upon by almost all of the world's governments. The book is the nuts and bolts of implementing those goals. So, its release could not come at a better time.

The top 80 solutions are already being carried out around the world. They are broken into seven categories: energy; food; women and girls; buildings and cities; land use; transport; and materials. The solutions are ranked by the total number of gigatonnes of GHGs that they would be able to avoid or sequester from the atmosphere over the next three decades. In addition to rankings, the solutions are presented alongside their implementation costs and operational savings, relative to business as usual. The book is persuasive in its arguments for why and how each solution should be put into practice. It also includes discussions of the challenges that we are up against and the success stories of communities and governments that have implemented these solutions, making the book credible and informative. The remaining 20 solutions are in a separate category called Coming Attractions. These are ideas and technologies that are considered to be still in the development stage or are not yet fully proven, like smart grids and marine permaculture.

It is no surprise that Renewable Energy is in the top 20 on the list--second is Wind Turbines - Onshore; eighth is Solar Farm; 10th is Rooftop Solar; and 18th is Geothermal. Controversially, nuclear is also included. In fact, it is ranked 20th because arguably, it can reduce carbon dioxide by 16.09 gigatonnes by 2050. What the project cannot predict, however, is the life-cycle cost that considers the potential risks associated with accidents. Hence, it is up to us to decide whether this solution with 'regrets' should be utilised. One solution that never made it onto the final list at all is biofuels. Twelve of the list's top 20 solutions involve food and land use. This explains why the largest contribution to carbon dioxide drawdown over the next 30 years is not energy (246.14 gigatonnes) but food (321.93 gigatonnes). Did you realise that about a third of the food raised and prepared globally is never eaten and that meat-centric diets produce one-fifth of global emissions? Accordingly, Reducing Food Waste and shifting to a Plant-Rich Diet scored the 3rd and 4th on the list respectively. Silvopasture is the 9th solution, but this might be something new in many people's vocabulary, including mine.

Perhaps more revealing and fascinating is the fact that Drawdown lists a social solution that many scientists and environmentalists often ignore: empowering women and girls. In the book, Family Planning and Educating Girls are split into separate categories, but even divided, they were ranked as the 6th and 7th solutions. The logic is that educated girls have more control over their reproductive lives and are thus instrumental in curbing population overgrowth. What the book does not highlight, however, is something more staggering. If these two were combined, it would become the number one drawdown solution in the world.

But what is the number one solution? Well, it sounds so mundane that it is also surprising. It is called Refrigerant Management. This involves reining in hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) because they are 1,000 to 9,000 times greater in capacity to warm the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. If HFCs were phased out quicker than already mandated by the international agreement, and if the disposal were carefully managed, Drawdown estimates that 90 gigatonnes of carbon equivalent can be avoided.

But what about solutions for designing, planning and constructing buildings and cities? Interestingly, they fell relatively far down the list. Those relevant to Asian region include Insulation (312st); Alternative Cement (36th); Building Automation (45th); Walkable Cities (54th); Bike Infrastructure (59th); Green Roofs (73rd); Net Zero Buildings (79th); and Retrofitting (80th). Building with Wood and Living Buildings are listed in Coming Attractions. Drawdown also lists building technologies such as LED Lighting for Household and Commercial (33rd and 44th) and Smart Glass (61st). These expensive solutions are effective, of course, but they are more suitable for developed economies. The 'real' solution for buildings in most part of the Asian region is still designing with natural elements like wind and daylight. Absent from the book is blue-green infrastructure at an urban scale. More greenery and clean water will do much for how a city is used by its inhabitants.

One of the aspects that I really appreciate is that the solutions described are both technological and lifestyle changes. According to Hawken, they are "no regrets" solutions because they "lead to regenerative economic outcomes that create security; produce jobs; improve health; save money; facilitate mobility; eliminate hunger; prevent pollution; restore soil; clean rivers; and more". Drawdown's solutions are not only practical and measurable, but they are also multi-dimensional and inclusive, and can be carried out by everyone.

To sum, it is a great book and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The book is engaging, beautifully laid-out, easy to understand and not densely footnoted, making it an immensely readable volume for all readers. For that very reason, I believe it will inspire practical application for any organisations (from any sectors) that are interested in reducing their impact on climate change. The clear message of Drawdown is to move out of denial or despair and into hopeful action fuelled by real possibilities. The question is whether we will do what we can do -- a question that only you yourself can answer.

Author's note: This review article was published in FuturArc magazine by BCI Asia Construction Information Pte Ltd. It is posted here with the publisher's permission. 

For full citation: Shari, Z. (2018). Positive, Timely and Engaging: A Review of Paul Hawken's Drawdown, FuturArc: The Voice of Green Architecture in Asia-Pacific, Vol. 58 (Jan-Feb 2018): 68.