John Mitchinson’s

Zeitgeisters

Profiles of the people whose ideas are helping to shape the future

PAUL
HAWKEN

Environmentalist

Paul Hawken is a bestselling writer, entrepreneur, consultant, and activist recently dubbed “the intellectual environmentalist” by the influential podcast The Environment Show. If you have even a passing interest in regenerative business, sustainable development, or ways we might reverse climate change, then Hawken is your man: he has been a key thinker and activist in these areas for the last six decades.

Where to Start?

The most obvious place to start would be his 2017 book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. This digested a huge amount of research and pulled together a panel of experts from all over the world to come up with 100 ways to reduce carbon emissions, ranked by their potential effectiveness.

The results were revelatory. Instead of the usual suspects – wind, solar energy, and electric cars – Hawken’s top 10 solutions included better management of refrigerants and food waste, choosing a plant-based diet, and the massive expansion of education for women and girls.

Drawdown is an essential read, but it is a reference book and the work of many hands.

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