Answering the Big Origin-Story Questions

Welcome, friends!

If you’ve found your way to our first blog post, you might already know that my sister is a university professor who teaches counselling students. A few years ago, she asked me a question that made me realize I needed to step up in a new way: “What can I tell my students who are struggling with climate distress? How do I help them navigate the fear, grief, and uncertainty?”

I had spent years working in climate tech, learning the engineering, economics, and policy behind net‑zero solutions. But I realized I had never translated it into something people could actually use. Saying, “We know how to solve it; we just haven’t chosen that path yet,” wasn’t going to help her students - or anyone else - feel grounded or hopeful.  And it certainly wasn’t going to help them take action.

That was the moment I knew we needed to build something new – something that could gather the insights of experts around the world and turn them into guidance we can all act upon.  Because the need is so much bigger than my sister’s classroom.  Surveys show that while most people want more climate action, many remain disengaged because they “don’t know where to start” or “find the problem too big.”

Possible by Design is a new nonprofit dedicated to making climate and sustainability solutions understandable, hopeful, and actionable.  And we get lots of questions about this new nonprofit, but the top five are always the same: Why this? Why now? Why a nonprofit? Why will this be different? And why do you have hope?

So here we are - excited to answer them in our first post.

1. Why this?

I came to climate tech as an aerospace systems engineer eight years ago. Despite caring about nature and keeping up with global news, I was almost completely ignorant about what was happening to our planet. (My colleagues might say “painfully so,” and they’d be right.)

But I had the good fortune of learning from experts around the world who patiently answered every question. As the fog lifted, a picture emerged that I couldn’t shake:

• We understand the climate science. The debates are settled; scientists are sounding the alarm.

• We understand the engineering. Innovators have already developed the solutions we need to live well and sustainably — and they’re getting better and cheaper.

• We understand the economics. Deploying today’s solutions would raise the cost of most products by only about 2% to avoid leaving pollution to future generations.

• Capital and policymakers are ready. Many are waiting for public support to move.

• But we’ve done a terrible job explaining all of this. Experts (myself included) haven’t made the solutions understandable or actionable.

This last point breaks my heart. How did we leave young people - all people - without hope when we already know how to solve this?

None of this makes light of the complexity ahead. The global energy‑and‑climate system has thousands of moving parts, and it will take decades to build what we need. But experts are working hard on their pieces of the puzzle. At Possible by Design, we want to help bring the whole picture together and translate what the world already knows into insights and action.

2. Why now?

I’m a mom, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be among the roughly one billion people living on Hans Rosling’s Level 4. With that privilege comes responsibility.

Since German engineer Alexander Radke published his stylized version of Ed Hawkins’ warming stripes in 2019, I’ve kept the image on my desktop. It’s a simple visualization of possible futures for global temperatures and a daily reminder that our choices matter.

When I joined Carbon Engineering in 2018, the world had many “do our best” solutions but no affordable “remove the rest” solutions deployed at meaningful scale. I spent eight years helping build one of those missing pieces, and I loved the work and the people. But that solution is in good hands, and I realized I might make a bigger difference now by helping put the whole puzzle together.

So why now?

• My sister keeps asking, and I owe her answers.

• Thousands of people have asked me, “I care. What can I do?” Many want to take personal action; some want to advocate. I haven’t had the time to put together good answers - until now.

• I’ve built some tools worth sharing. I’ve read thousands of expert articles and I’ve done hundreds of net‑zero presentations, testing explanations with everyone from high‑school students to policymakers. Each time, I wove their feedback into the next version.

Sometimes the audience would say, “That makes sense. Why doesn’t anyone explain it like this?” One time (and this is perhaps my favourite) a student told me I must be wrong about the feasibility and relative affordability of climate solutions because, if it were true, “old people like you would already be doing something about it.” The logic was sound (as was the age categorization). So we went through the math together. When the students saw it, they got understandably frustrated at the lack of global action — and then asked what they could do to help.

I still remember what it feels like to be outside the circle looking in. And I’m still a systems engineer - I understand pieces only when I first understand the whole. People have been incredibly patient in teaching me the science, technology, chemistry, biosphere, geosphere, policy, economics, and feasibility behind our options. And where climate change fits into the broader planetary system.

Today, I want to pass that clarity forward.

At Possible by Design, our primary target audience is the person who says: “I’m here, I care, and I have five to ten minutes a week. What’s really going on, and what can I do?”

If that’s you, hang in there. We’ll be serving up carbon‑lowering and money‑saving answers.

3. Why a nonprofit?

I’m a taxpayer, and I’m fortunate to live in Canada, where we require net zero by law. I want governments to set science‑aligned rules and then let markets act efficiently; it’s the fastest and fairest path for taxpayers.

So why aren’t we there yet?

• It’s a complex problem with an even more complex solution space.

• Until permanent carbon dioxide removal (CDR) arrived, we didn’t have a complete solution set.

• Most people in the climate space are also in business, which is fine, but it means they’re focused on the value of their piece, not the whole.

Healthy skepticism is essential. When someone is selling something, I assume they want me to buy it — that’s how business works.

This is why we chose a nonprofit. Canada has strong nonprofit governance rules, and most importantly, we have no commercial interest. We’re not selling anything. We just want the puzzle solved for the benefit of our world and future generations.

We’re volunteers with donated time and funds, adding our shoulders to the flywheel and collaborating with good folks across the world who are already trying to push it in the right direction. Our goals are clarity, agency, and progress. We’ll be transparent about what’s behind our recommendations, and we’re data nerds - in addition to providing links to expert resources, there will be a spreadsheet or ten that we’re happy to share if we haven’t already.

4. Why will this be any different?

Time will tell. But we hope that by offering a fresh, bottom‑up view of the whole system, we can unlock easy actions people can take today.

Some actions cost a little more. Some are free. Some save money. Some are incredibly simple - like composting tissues and advocating for carbon footprints on product labels - and understanding why they matter can unlock adjacent actions.

We believe in starting small, and that every molecule counts. That means every carbon dioxide molecule we don’t add to the atmosphere and every one we permanently remove.

Whether you choose Awareness, Action, or Advocacy, you’re part of our A Team. We appreciate you!  And we’ll start sending thank‑yous soon from our Planetary Action Atlas.

5. Why do you have hope?

Many reasons.

Energy

Deep thinkers like Vaclav Smil, Myles Allen, Johan Rockström, and Hannah Ritchie have studied and written about the forces that shape our lives, what we consume, how we pollute, and how we can live within Planetary Boundaries. Their work gives us a factual foundation for clear‑eyed planning.

After eight years in this field, I know the path ahead is a choice — not a limitation of engineering or economics.

We have abundant cleaner-energy options:

• Solar: “The amount of sunlight that strikes the earth's surface in an hour and a half is enough to handle the entire world's energy consumption for a full year”.  This isn’t to say that this is the best way to get all of our cleaner energy – it would be a huge lift to connect all of the production and demand centres – but it helps us start to see that we are not resource limited.

• Nuclear: A proven, relatively safe, essentially unlimited source of cleaner energy.

• Wind, hydro, geothermal, CCS, and BECCS: More tools in the cleaner-energy toolbox, deployable as local resources allow.

Human Ingenuity and Collective Action

We’ve cleaned up global systemic harms before - together. And often at higher incremental cost than what’s needed for climate action.

A few examples:

1. Catalytic converters.  By pairing this clever technology with internal combustion engines in the 1970s, we dramatically reduced toxic air pollution and prevented millions of premature deaths.

2. The Montreal Protocol. Heralded as the most successful environmental treaty in history, the world came together in 1987 to phase out ozone-depleting substances and the ozone layer is healing.

3. Water treatment. One of the greatest public‑health achievements ever, eliminating waterborne diseases and helping extend life expectancy by decades.

4. Waste management. Quiet heroes of public health and environmental protection, these systems prevent disease, reduce pests, protect groundwater, and keep cities livable.

5. Recycling. Keeps valuable resources circulating and reduces pollution.

6. Composting. Prevents methane emissions and enriches soils.

7. Removing lead. From products like gasoline and paint was a massive neurodevelopmental victory.

Most of these happened in my lifetime. I remember the outrage - “too expensive, too hard, too disruptive” - and I remember how quickly those fears faded once people understood the benefits and the small incremental cost on the products they enjoyed.

Solving for net zero will seem obvious too. Net zero is not a moonshot, it’s a budgeting choice. And it will get easier over time.

Permanent Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)

Permanent CDR is the final piece we’ve been missing, and there are already many pathways to do it.

Permanent CDR:

• Gives governments confidence to regulate all sectors

• Provides a backstop to the cost of solving each sector

• Lets us go beyond net zero and remove the trillion‑plus tonnes of CO₂ already warming the planet

It’s how we get our planet onto Radke’s lower track - sending global temperatures in the right direction.

Conclusion

Long first blog post - thanks for hanging in.

We believe climate action isn’t about sacrifice. It’s about smart design, small costs, and collective agency. With today’s knowledge and existing solutions, if we wrap our arms around the whole problem, we can see the way forward together. Some things will need a shift, but in most cases we just need a small nudge. 

Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” We think it’s possible to live well and sustainably if we design it together - Possible by Design.

If this resonates, please share it with someone who needs a bit of hope today.

We’ll be here with more resources soon!  Take care, and see you in the next blog post.