As part of AirMiners, I get to hear from a lot of people behind the scenes. Stories about finding jobs, sketching new startup ideas, or having a great conversation with another air miner. I love hearing these stories because to me they're evidence of people helping, pushing, and inspiring each other to grow. (video version of this message here).
To get to gigaton scale carbon removal, there's a lot to do in a short amount of time. Therefore, we need things to multiply, and each of these stories is a little piece of a roadmap that can be shared, copied, and cloned a hundred or thousand times over.
That's how we build a new industry faster than ever before to suck billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the sky.
That brings me to the Carbys this year, on Wednesday December 15th at 11 AM PST. Stories inspire action, and the Carbys is all about sharing stories. (Last year was an awards show with voting and nominations, this year is all about stories.) I hope you'll come and share a story.
It's as simple as answering this prompt: "Who inspired you in 2021?". "I was inspired in 2021 by this person, and here's what they did. And heres the effect that it had on me." Your Carby story can be 10 seconds or up to 3 minutes.
Examples -- here's three Carby stories I want to share:
1. I am inspired in 2021 by Ongeleigh Underwood. I first met Ongeleigh through AirMiners Slack and we hopped on a Zoom call after that. From that first conversation onwards I am impressed with how much knowledge she has about the AirMiners community and carbon removal broadly. I'm inspired to see her and Siobhan Montoya Lavender grow the Women AirMiners group and Mentoring Network.
2. Another person who inspired me in 2021 is Jeremy Epstein. I just saw a post on AirMiners slack from Jeremy about how he started a job in carbon removal. A year ago Jeremy was passionate and interested in carbon removal, hosting the #business-model-lab channel, and the AirMiners pitch event where over a dozen entrepreneurs presented their entire startup concepts and ideas. And now he's working full time at the Open Forest Protocol on carbon removal. I'm inspired both by Jeremy's destination AND that he shared his journey publicly on #job_postings.
So those are two examples of Carby stories. Those are kinda long. You can do a 10 second Carby story too...like this:
3. I love Asa Kamer's memes. If you haven't checked out the #memes channel on AirMiners, it's the best. I'm continually inspired by Asa's ability to communicate the biggest ideas using memes.
The purpose of the Carbys is to make visible the invisible, to pull back the curtains on the direct messages, emails, and Zoom calls that no one sees but you. You got help finding a job in carbon removal? Share the story. Got inspired to go back to school by someone else who did too? Share how it worked. Got feedback on a new startup idea that was pivotal? Share your inspiration for those who helped you and the 100 people coming down the path behind you.
That's how we're going to get to gigaton scale carbon removal. Make that pathway you just walked visible to others.
Sign up for the Carbys on December 15 at Wednesday at 11pm 11am PST. If you have a story to share, check the box that says so. You can just come listen and bask in it all too. The sign up suggests $10 per ticket to make the event carbon negative, but you can adjust it to $0 if needed.
This invisible inspiration is the essential foundation for gigaton scale carbon removal. The machines, processes, startups get built on top. This foundation helps us support each other through the highs and lows. This foundation is how we build the new industry for gigaton scale carbon removal.
See you at the Carbys!
I write a weekly newsletter highlighting the AirMiners community and carbon removal industry.
Every week you’ll get insider perspective and community stories from the cutting edge of carbon removal.
The purpose of this newsletter is to accelerate the carbontech industry by speeding up connections, progress, and coordination. It's ideal for people working in carbon removal already, or beginners who want one individual's perspective. People curious about carbon removal are encouraged to sign up and see what sticks.
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