PLANET PROTECTORS

THESE INNOVATORS ARE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF TECHNOLOGY TO DEVISE CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

- MEGHAN GUNN, NED POTTER

THE LATEST IN A SERIES of dire warnings about the dangers of climate change came this. March when a prominent United Nations panel of experts flagged that the world is likely to pass a dangerous temperature threshold within the next 10 years. Unless countries take immediate, drastic action to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, global warming will reach catastrophic levels by the early 2030s, the widely circulated report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. The likely result: ever-worsening weather disasters and related events-famine, extinction of some plant and wildlife species and the spread of infectious diseases that could kill millions by the end of the century.

There is still time to avoid catastrophe, the experts said, but the window for action is closing quickly. Yet the reality is, few countries are on track to meet their existing goals to address climate change, let alone seem willing to pick up the pace to save the planet.

There is, however, one bright note in this otherwise gloomy picture: Where governments around the world are failing to act or at least act fast enough, individual innovators are stepping up to try to fill the breach. These disruptors are pushing the boundaries of technology in creative ways to find solutions to the climate crisis and other, often related, environmental challenges. And they are often doing so in ways that not only help protect the planet but also make life a little easier, safer and more affordable for the people living on Earth as well.