The 4 Horsemen of Climate Reality
November 7, 2025
I just spent the last 2 days at the Sustainable Ocean Solutions conference in SF and it revealed the harsh realities of how much work is needed to respond to Climate Change.
I just spent the last 2 days at the Sustainable Ocean Solutions conference in SF and it revealed the harsh realities of how much work is needed to respond to Climate Change. Unfortunately, most of the problems aren’t scientific.
In our attention economy, the conversation about climate change is still dominated by people refusing to accept basic facts. This means the information we’re receiving is garbage, for example Tom Chi at One Ventures pointed out that during the Palisades Fire this year only 1% of those interviewed by the media were actually involved in fighting or preventing fires.
Alas, it’s still pretty hard to get the average person to care about coral reefs, Taylor Swift’s engagement will always be more interesting to most. But there’s a clear opportunity for this century’s David Attenborough to capture a generation’s hearts and minds: Dr Shireen Rahimi showed us how she used viral storytelling on Instagram to mobilize legislation to protect a coral reef in Miami.
Politics moves slowly and politicians are understandably unwilling to risk re-election for unpopular policies. They’re not going to save our grandchildren. That said, we know commercial solutions can work: Tesla is a Trillion dollar company and has driven a global shift towards electric cars. It’s incumbent on founders and investors to focus on technologies that are both commercial and environmental wins for customers.
Enormous outcomes take time but most VC appetite for long term solutions is actually minimal. Elon Musk had to lead and co-lead the first 3 funding rounds at Tesla, even with the car market’s enormous opportunity. We’re doing more deep tech investments for humanity and encourage others to do the same, the potential outcomes are in the Trillions...
I don’t go to a lot of conferences but this one has a dose of authenticity that has kept me coming back. At the end of his keynote, Andri Snær Magnason shared this note he wrote for a monument to a lost Glacier in Iceland.
Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier.
In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path.
This monument is to acknowledge that we know
what is happening and what needs to be done.
Only you know if we did it.
