Published in Carbon A List·Jan 28What does an ecosystem service cost?And when can you sell it at the antique roadshow? — Happy 2022! I’m kicking the blog off this year with a post I am writing in anticipation of sitting on a panel about “Ecosystem Services and Carbon Markets” at the Beltwide Cotton Conference in San Antonio this week. There’s no way I’ll be able to cover all the nuances of…9 min read
Published in Carbon A List·Jan 28Carbon A List is building a climate hardware storeThe who, what, why, and how of Carbon A List — I want Carbon A List to become a premier hardware store for instigating climate action. It’s almost the beginning of a bad joke. Alas no, just the latest metaphor to describe entrepreneurial ambitions where the hardware store is a place for folks who want to turn their climate dreams into…6 min read
Published in Carbon A List·Jan 28The Peril and Promise of GreenwashingWhy MobileCoin isn’t a carbon negative cryptocurrency and commentary on how greenwashing can be good — Originally published: Sep 17, 2021 Last week I read a headline in Hackernoon, “MobileCoin is the World’s First Carbon Negative Cryptocurrency” and I almost fell out of my chair. This was for three reasons: 1) this is a greenwash (and also not true, on both the “world’s first” and “carbon…Blockchain7 min read
Jan 28So what did you learn from the wilderness trip, Christophe?“So what did you learn from the wilderness trip, Christophe?” asked my friend Max, on day seven of a nine day, hundred mile trip through the Sequoia National Park. “That you don’t need to bring all your dishes at once” I quipped, parroting back a comment he had just said…4 min read
Published in Carbon A List·May 20, 2021When writing the rules for planetary regenerationOn players, coaches, referees, and the audience: a sports metaphor for rule-writing to address climate change. Warning: this is a long post with many layers of metaphors. Michael Lewis’ podcast “Against the rules” inspired me to write this. He is one of my favorite storytellers who artfully weaves together tales…Carbon14 min read
Published in Carbon A List·Mar 12, 2021Observations for healing from our climate conditionI write this for my former self. Someone who upon learning about decarbonization innovations would have his brain screaming “Deploy! Deploy! Deploy! Scale! Scale! Scale!” It still sometimes does. But now I’m aware of this carbon exuberance. …Climate Change7 min read
Published in Carbon A List·Jan 15, 2021Do it, prove it, sell it: my evolving views on carbon accountingTo some who know me, it may come as a shock that I’m moving on from Nori, a start-up I co-founded, that is making it possible to get paid for pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere a.k.a. “carbon removal”. It’s not an easy decision. I’m immensely grateful to all…Carbon13 min read
May 5, 2020Who are the Nori “data managers” and what do they do?Nori is in the business of incentivizing carbon removal. We do this by issuing sellable Nori Carbon Removal Tonnes (NRTs) to “Suppliers”, who are initially US food and fiber producers and have adopted new practices that remove carbon. In the past, we’ve written about how Nori generates a supply of…Agriculture3 min read
Mar 2, 2020Fruits of FebruaryWhat I’m stewing on Living in Tennessee for the month of February was transformative. I was in town for AgLaunch, a program to help start-ups who are bringing new technologies to row crop agriculture. I had some fun road trips, got to sit in on drums in a few blues jams, and realized how…3 min read
Published in Nori·Feb 18, 2020Ecosystem service markets: explained with a fruit metaphorIn the past, I’ve written about how Nori compares to other climate start-ups and blockchain plays, and how Nori compares to traditional carbon markets. This article is for anyone considering selling carbon removal services in the Nori market, and comparing it to other options. What is an ecosystem service? “Ecosystem service” is the term to…Ecosystem Services10 min read
