Hi, my name is Katherine Herleman. I am an environmental geologist who is passionate about researching and informing the public about the science, policy, and ethics of the rapidly-changing world of sustainable energy technology research, development, and deployment.

My academic research has led me to consider the far-reaching, sometimes inadvertent, consequences of phasing out fossil fuels as energy resources and phasing in sustainable energy technology. In particular, I am interested in examining and discussing how environmental and occupational health risks may be displaced from the Global North to the Global South as many wealthier countries seek technical solutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by deploying sustainable energy technology.

As we deal with climate change, I believe that developing technical solutions which merely displace known risks to other countries, rather than mobilizing knowledge and resources to design technical solutions which reduce, mitigate for, or altogether eliminate known risks across the product or infrastructure life cycle, is fundamentally unethical. I know we can do better, and I’m reaching out to you here to figure out how we use the momentum of this unprecedented period of energy technology transformation to find better solutions for the Earth and all of its inhabitants.

I see the enormous scale, scope, and severity of the risks posed by climate change as evidence that engineers and scientists not only have an obligation to innovate our energy technology but also to innovate how we design energy technology. Dealing with climate change isn’t just about changing technology. It’s also about critically examining the fundamental assumptions, value judgments, and the culture of engineering and scientific institutions across the entire research and development cycle  which led to this global crisis in the first place.

If we continue to use the same decision-making processes which got us into this mess, it is unlikely that we can design successful solutions which will get us out of this mess. We may result in achieving the intended goal of dealing with some major aspects of climate change  — obviously, this of paramount importance because of the existential risks presented  — but may fail consider other important environmental, social, or economic impacts of emerging energy technologies.

My fellow human beings, now is the time to examine and apply our many hard-learned lessons from this era, and save our global family the enormous grief and resources of dealing with these impacts after the fact. Nothing can hold us back now except the limits of our compassion and imagination.