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In honor of Pride Month, the Global CO2 Initiative is excited to be able to feature Isaias Hernandez, an educator and creative devoted to improving environmental literacy through content creation, storytelling, and public engagements.
Isaias is more commonly known by his moniker, Queer Brown Vegan: the independent media platform he started to bring intersectional environmental education to all. His journey to deconstruct complex issues, while centering diversity and authenticity, has resonated with a worldwide audience. He also collaborates with other leaders from the private and public sectors to uplift and produce stories of change for his independent web series, Sustainable Jobs and Teaching Climate Together.
Isaias is based in Los Angeles, working as a full-time content creator, public speaker, and dog daddy.
As he focuses on sustainability broadly and not carbon capture and utilization specifically, he posed questions to the Global CO2 Initiative, instead of us asking him questions.
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Carbon capture technologies are inspired by nature. Can you share with us how these technological advancements will provide a future in removing tons of carbon?
Indeed, nature removes carbon dioxide from air and water for various reasons. Plants, for example, use it in photosynthesis to produce anything from wood to fruit; animals can use it as building materials to produce shells, e.g. in mussels. Natural decomposition of certain rocks can bind CO2 as carbonates. Technologies can similarly take out CO2 from the environment and use it to make products. If done right, it can be far more productive with less space and time than what nature requires.
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The CO2 that was added to the environment through excessive human activity, mainly combustion, can be harvested and used to make products that otherwise would be made from petroleum, natural gas, or coal.
Even if we magically stopped all emissions tomorrow, there would still be too much CO2 out there for a long time. It is the developing world where people often suffer more from the impacts of climate change. We owe it to the people there to take action. Removing CO2 is imperative.
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Instead of burying captured CO2 underground, we need to learn how to maximize using the carbon from the captured CO2 to make products. Using carbon from captured CO2 to make products will help make carbon removal more affordable compared to underground carbon storage. This will provide the best help to people who are the hardest hit by climate change and will hopefully help improve their standard of living.
Long-lived products (e.g. concrete) will help to reduce the CO2 levels in the environment and short lived products (e.g. clothes or soap) can help us to create a circular carbon economy without the need for fossil fuels.
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What are the benefits of carbon capture technologies, especially when meeting sustainability goals for our corporations, local governments, or our democracy?
First and foremost, carbon capture technologies allow us to harvest carbon for products that would otherwise have to be made from fossil carbon. Biomass is another source of non-fossil carbon, but we do not have enough biomass to meet the world's needs for carbon products. Some manufacturing such as cement and steel production are so hard to decarbonize that they may never be completely decarbonized. Therefore we need to capture their emissions.
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The goal overall is that globally, we achieve a stable balance between carbon emissions and carbon removals. That is how the carbon economy can reach sustainable conditions.
It would be unethical to ask less developed communities to stop making houses or stop heating their homes in order to reduce emissions. The Global North already enjoys a high standard of living. We cannot ask the Global South to stop developing because the Global North has polluted too much when developing its current standard of living. There is no ethical way to radically reduce all emissions. Given that some emissions will need to continue happening, capturing the CO2 and making products with it enables us to
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- Help all communities enjoy a better quality of life.
- Decrease our dependence on fossil sources of carbon for our products.
- Clean up the atmosphere and fight climate change.
- Provide a way to make money while doing all of the above, so that the process is not so much of a tax burden compared to capturing CO2 and storing it underground.
Making products out of CO2 can help developing nations to grow their economies with the latest, most environmentally friendly technologies, which will both accelerate the world's transition to carbon neutrality and fulfill more developed countries’ obligation to help them grow.
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How do we know CO2 carbon capture is safe?
We cannot know that carbon capture and handling is 100% safe. Nor can we know that driving, flying, cell phone usage, etc. is 100% safe, yet most of us continue to embrace those activities. Any technology or activity has risks, but one needs to weigh the risks of each against its benefits.
There was an accident in 2020 when a CO2 pipeline burst in Mississippi and led to local damage and temporary health issues for dozens of people in a nearby village. While not directly related to carbon capture technology per se, it underscores the importance of planning carbon capture carefully and monitoring how the CO2 is being handled so that we can avoid transporting it as much as possible!
We should never unquestioningly accept risk from human activity, but the scope of the world’s CO2 problem necessitates urgent actions. To put some perspective on the issue, nearly 40,000 people die on American roads per year, while the number of deaths due to climate change is expected to reach 250,000/year based on WHO estimates.
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What degree do you need to be able to work in your field?
We need to develop, build, and operate a new industry and that requires skills and talents at all levels. As such, it really is an opportunity for everyone who is willing and able to work.
This field will need people with extensive specialized training (e.g. people who perform assessments or design engineering systems), but it will also need people with practical skills (e.g. people who can operate equipment and understand how production works). For some positions, it will be helpful to have a Ph.D.; for other positions, a high school diploma is fine.
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What advice do you give to young people to be able to enter your specific field of work?
The number of job opportunities have already increased and we note that this field will grow even more rapidly in the near future. Try to learn about it now, if not through formal training like classes, perhaps through reading about it or watching videos. Figure out where you might fit best and how you can get there.
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Do you see a future in which building carbon capture technologies is a top priority?
Yes. In fact, the only way there can be a sustainable future for everyone on the planet includes BOTH emissions reductions AND carbon capture and conversion. It doesn’t make any sense to argue about which climate change fighting strategy is most important. They are all important. We need everything everywhere all at once.
The trade off is not between picking different climate change fighting strategies. The trade off is between employing all possible strategies as soon as possible or not surviving.
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Renewable Materials Conference (Hybrid)
June 11-13, 2024
The world’s largest conference on chemicals and materials based on biomass, CCU or chemical recycling happens next week in Siegburg/Cologne (Germany) and on-line.
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Keep in touch
We want to hear from you! Is there something or someone that you would like to see featured in a future issue? Let us know!
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