Our planet needs us all - now.

Written By J.W. Postal

EARTH DAY 2021.

At my house, I’ve dubbed Earth Week as Mom week. My Mom was an original 1970s environmentalist. Before it was cool, she taught me about recycling, gardening, plants, trees, birds, nature and all the adventures the outdoors holds. And in middle school, she helped me build a model solar home for science class and my love of renewable energy and future career was born. 

I have been working for environmental causes, at non-profits and in the renewable energy sector since 1990. It’s had moments of hope, public awakening, inspiration and tragedy. The last few years have been especially heartbreaking with our world littered with natural disasters, the growth of extractive industries, the wave of short-sighted politicians and ignorance of so many. 

This spring we've reached a new inflection point. For the first time in history, we have a U.S. President committed to fully embracing the challenge and opportunities of climate change - supported by a consensus of voters, businesses and media. We even have oil and gas companies embracing the future - acknowledging the reality of climate change and their commitment to doing something about it. 

The future is hopeful and now, more than ever, is the time to embrace the challenge and work like hell for all humanity. This is beyond an Apollo Mission or the Marshall Plan, this is World War III and we are all fighting a common villain. 

Together we must rise up, invest, build and transform every facet of our modern world. While a critical and important step, it is not enough to accelerate solar production or electrify transportation. To have a significant impact and impede climate change, we must get to zero carbon emissions in manufacturing, construction and food production as well. 

Past generations loved challenges! They propelled us through the great depression, WWII and the Cold War and put us on the Moon.  Today, I wonder if we are too cynical and too addicted to our social media feeds to protect the one planet we can call home. Are we too lazy? Too self absorbed? Too ignorant to save the place that houses our loved ones. 

If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend Bill Gates' new book, How to Avoid Climate Disaster. It’s a book my mom would have loved. It’s an easy read with a simple to understand policy prescription for all of us. The book does an excellent job of balancing fear, the magnitude of the challenge and the opportunities it all creates. Gates also spends time working through the impact and opportunity of critical economic sectors including food production and manufacturing to see how big we need to go to get to Zero Carbon. 

At Nikola Power, we are building a company to massively scale and deploy renewable energy. Why? Because to make Biden’s plan work, we need an enormous shift to clean, carbon-free energy is key to achieving zero carbon. 

Thankfully, due to the efforts of many over the last two decades, we have clean energy generation technology (wind and solar) in abundance and at lowest cost in our lifetime. Intellect, the Nikola Power end-to-end software platform, aims to deliver the same for energy storage. 

At Nikola Power, we don’t make batteries, but we do make them smarter - making them more bankable, more economically sound and giving all of us the ability to scale faster. At scale, energy storage will help us effectively solve the zero carbon puzzle. 

Intelligent energy storage software is an invaluable asset because it can manage millions of distributed clean energy resources and delivers them to a zero carbon grid. Imagine the impact that could have on reducing (and even eliminating) the carbon footprint of industry, food production, mobility and utility services. Intelligent and innovative clean energy storage is our most powerful weapon in curtailing and beating our current climate crisis. 

This Earth Week, this year - take a page out of my mom’s life story by resisting apathy and making small, positive changes in your everyday life. And invite your family to join in. But I also encourage you to demand big changes from your employers, your retailers, and your government. That’s how we get this done.

If you are in high school, college or just starting your career, think about how you want to spend your working years and how you want to reflect back on your future accomplishments. If you are in the middle of your career or nearing retirement, lean in on those years of experience and uncover new ways you can lead your industry or others to a cleaner future.

It’s time for all hands-on-deck. We need scientists, engineers, MBAs, sales, machinists, labor, educators - all of us to embrace new ways of building, moving, powering our world. It’s now or never, so let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work because future generations are counting on us.

Here are some links to nonprofits and businesses that are working everyday on climate change.  I am on the board and/or involved in all of them. I am so proud of our work, reach out to learn more and to get involved.  

J.W. Postal
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