Shownotes

(1:45) Introducing Norman Crowley

(12:18) Separating climate change from other agendas

(19:39) Predicting how the energy landscape will change in future decades

(26:48) Three areas Cool Planet Group is focusing on

(29:10) Norman’s opinions on alternative civilization settings

(32:45) The importance of galvanizing innovators in the younger generation

(37:36) Norman gives advice to his younger self

Links

Caleb Talley

Jeff Amerine

Matthew Ward

Norman Crowley 

Cool Planet Group 

Quotes

“People just want to live their lives.  They don’t want to be constrained, and they don’t want to hear about what they can’t do.  They want to hear about what they can do.” (12:04)

“There are people in Bangladesh dying because water levels are rising, right?  And then that has nothing to do with the fact that you would like rich people to be less rich, right?  And it’s really dangerous tying both of those things together, because when you tie both of those things together you alienate whole swathes of the population.  And then poor people in Bangladesh drown because you’ve got some other agenda.” (14:16)

“Find a way of becoming wiser earlier, right?  And then trust yourself once you are becoming wise.  None of us are perfectly wise, but find a way of listening to and trusting yourself.”  (40:29)

The Irish Tony Stark on a Mission to Save the World

Over the last two decades, climate change has evolved into a hot-button issue, often dividing the right and left. Some people make rash generalizations about people who believe in climate change, such as this person is a tree hugger who wants everyone to live in tents, farm for food, and walk everywhere because they believe climate change is real. Many people have a list of assumptions about others’ political views based on their opinions on climate change.  That person is a democrat, they think climate change is real, or that person does not believe in science because they are a republican.  If you believe climate change is real, you are also a socialist that hates business.  If you think climate change is not real, you hate the earth, and you do not want your grandkids to see polar bears.

Obviously, these statements are extreme, but climate change has become quite a polarizing issue. Norman Crowley, CEO of Cool Planet Group, believes that climate change should be separated from the left-wing agenda. According to Crowley, climate change is too often roped in with other, more extreme, issues the left wants to emphasize, making it difficult for the right to get behind a solution for the changing climate.  

“There are people in Bangladesh dying because water levels are rising, right? And then that has nothing to do with the fact that you would like rich people to be less rich, right? And it’s really dangerous tying both of those things together, because when you tie both of those things together you alienate whole swathes of the population. And then poor people in Bangladesh drown because you’ve got some other agenda.” (14:16)

For Crowley, climate change is a much more complex issue than generalizing it with the left agenda. He believes people are resistant to climate change solutions because those solutions are associated with a society in retrograde, focusing on things people should longer do. He sees a more effective solution in prioritizing the benefits of cool inventions that also offer solutions to climate change. One of his projects that practices this is fixing up old hotrods and having them run on electricity. While some would say that this makes the car less cool, Crowley ensures that it will only benefit from its new energy source.

“When people go, ‘you can’t beat the sound’…I’ll give you that, the sound is very nice, right? But sit in one of our cars, right? And it’s all over. Like when you take a Stingray from 200 breaks to 1,200 breaks, it’s all over. There’s no discussion at that point if that’s a good idea or not, of course it’s a good idea!” (16:37)

According to Crowley, our culture must encourage the younger generations to become inventors and innovators. By promoting innovation, we will create climate change solutions that do not limit what we can do but open up our possibilities even more.