Technology: only part of the solution

Garnet: When I was in my early teens, my perception was that there are environmental challenges in climate change, and we need to address that. And the way to do that is to reduce our carbon emissions by installing the renewable energy — solar and wind — that has been around for a long time. And what we need is engineers to implement that technology. I think a different realization evolved quite slowly, over a series of conversations with many inspiring and thoughtful people in my life. For example: recycling is good. But me recycling as an individual doesn’t really do much. If we recycle together and if we inspire each other to recycle, that’s what makes the difference. The action is not the recycling. The action is in the inspiration and changing the habits collectively. It’s about more of a social change rather than a technological change, because the technology does exist, but people aren’t adopting it.

Drew: I was tired of working in oil and gas. There had to be a better way. It was more of a general interest in a really novel thing; we can just turn the sun into the energy we use, and that’s very unconventional and very new. So I wanted to know more. It’s an exciting time to be in this space. And I’m sure if we look back on this in two years, or five years, or maybe one year, everything will have changed, and Newo will have changed. It’s an exciting space to be.

Maroof: I had a background in engineering and math, and I wanted to do something for the world. Not particularly renewables, but climate change, that was my main goal. I looked at programs at NAIT because I wanted to come to Canada, and I took the Alternative Energy Technology program. It kind of opened my eyes, because before that, the only thing I knew about renewables was solar. But when I came into the alternative energy course, I learned there are other options as well, so for me that was a big influence.

Cari: I’m not sure I even had an opinion on renewable energies before coming to Newo. I don’t actively think about technology, maybe the opposite; I actively avoid that area. I do think it’s a space that has enormous creativity and innovation. It’s a space where the people who are drawn to it can do incredible things, and when that’s combined with grounded care is when technology is the most impactful. I don’t think that that’s necessarily my space, but I love that other people are there. Being on the Newo comms team, talking to Garnet, Maroof, Nathan, all these voices help supplement my knowledge, but I was not drawn to the renewable energy industry. I was drawn to Newo, to the non-profit side, the social enterprise side.

Drew: No, absolutely not. Technology solves a symptom, it doesn’t solve the problem. It’s like a medication, and if you don’t treat the underlying cause — which is using energy differently, changing people — then there’s no amount of technology that will fix that.

Cari: I don’t think lack of technology or technological solutions is our problem; a lot of our problems are human problems, they are social behaviours. I think technology can be a tool, but it won’t work without changing our behaviours. If we’re going to make these technological industries the same as everything to come before them, it’s not actually going to change anything. It’s not actually going to be a solution. It’s just going to be the same problem with a different hat on.

Maroof: Can technology solve our problems? I don’t think so. It’s us who need to change to solve the problems. Maybe we’re heading towards the Matrix. That might solve the problem of humanity’s impact on the environment, but it will destroy humanity. Do you call that solving the problem? That’s a contradictive thing. It’s tricky, because what I think is, it’s not the technology, it’s the people who can develop technology that might solve the problem. So I will say yes and no, but it will still be people first, then comes the technology.

Garnet: I think technology is a part of the solution, and it’s often sold as the solution. Something that Newo does as well is recognize that our mainstream society and our conventional culture is interfacing with that technology. On the other side is the new cultural paradigm that we’re creating at Newo, and technology is a part of that paradigm shift. It’s where we can activate, currently. It’s an actionable step that gets us in relationship and talking to people. We’re creating a new cultural paradigm and we’re doing it around solar and energy audits, and the solar and energy audits are good things. But it’s not really the work. The work is that paradigm shift.

Drew: What gives me hope is that the technology is getting better. It is at a level where it’s economical. And so for big business, and oil and gas, and just the world at large, it makes sense on a monetary level, and that’s what drives people to adopt these things. We can deploy it not just for it being good for the environment, but because it makes sense for people and it’s a good saving mechanism. I guess what concerns me is that people get focused on, “We’ve got to make technology better! We need to deploy more of it!” There’s always some pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that’s going to solve all of our problems. And I just don’t think there is. It’s always good to have more innovation, but we don’t lack innovation in the world.

Maroof: When someone says “hope,” it reminds me of the movie Shawshank Redemption. (Red: “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” Later on, Andy: “Hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things. And good things never die.”) I have been told I am an optimistic realist; you have to have that hope, but if I look at the current world, how people think, everything is based on profit. Who I am seeing today in the industry are big oil companies greenwashing their oil bad deeds. For instance, carbon capture technology, which is much hyped, there is this multi-billionaire who invests billions of dollars. Why? Because he knows he will make more money out of it. Today, everything is based on grants, payback, what will I get out of it? And there isn’t that human connection of, “Let’s do it for my neighbours.” “Let’s do it for my relatives.” “I do it for the next generation.” I don’t see that now.

Garnet: I think that my hope comes from the fact there’s good people and there is cultural change that happens within the green-new-building and green-energy industry. And my concern is that cultural change is limited by our current conventional capitalist economy paradigm, and there aren’t enough people really looking for a paradigm shift. There’s a slight cultural shift, which is good, but the whole paradigm shift is still largely absent.

Cari: I don’t know that I look to technology for hope. I just don’t know enough. (Although, if Maroof is concerned about such and such, OK, then maybe I should be, too!) Within my field of awareness, which generally does not include technology or renewable-energy industry specifics, I feel like there are enough problems and there’s also enough hope. I’m not looking to borrow trouble!

Maroof: What’s Newo’s role? People in the industry hear “Newo” and they know our work. One time at an event, when everyone was talking about payback, how much money they’ll be making, what are the greenhouse gas emissions, Garnet gets up and asks, “Is this renewable energy, the new paradigm, changing how we think about things socially?” That’s the change. Why I am at Newo is educating people, because I believe if you educate people, there might be a change. So what we can do is keep working to create a mindset among ourselves and people around us: “This is Newo. They don’t do things normally, they do things differently.”

Drew: Newo’s role primarily is going to be driving renewable adoption in places that might not otherwise see it as quickly — First Nations, non-profits — as well as breaking down barriers with business and being a trusted face in the renewable sector in training, an elder statesman in the industry. Because the industry is growing at a somewhat alarming rate, and there’s lots of different parties involved in it. Newo can be a party that’s been around for a long time, has a good track record, and has been doing a lot of things for a lot of good reasons. I always like to make the joke that I, and I would say Newo to a large degree, we all got into this before there was any money to be made in it. That’s important, right? And that’s what Newo will bring to it. We got into this for the right reasons, not just to follow the money or follow a trend.

Cari: Part of Newo’s role is to be a leader in showing how business can be done differently, within the renewable energy industry, but also beyond. We don’t want to perpetuate consumerist, materialist, more-more-more, growth-for-growth’s-sake ways of doing things. That feels like the antithesis of what we’re trying to do. If we don’t think that technology is the entirety of the solution, then I think our job is to bridge, help it become, or encompass the whole of the solution. Figuring out what we want to take with us and what we want to leave behind feels like a really powerful position, but also a daunting position, one that requires a lot of attention and intention. Whether or not others see us as a leader, I feel like we are, and it’s really exciting.

Garnet: I think it’s to inspire and experiment with that paradigm shift. We openly acknowledge that we don’t really know how that looks, but I think we’re trying and we’re attempting and we’re learning things internally. And people I talk to who are familiar with Newo, they are inspired by what we do and appreciate that we exist, and they’re rooting for us. My good friend Kaz once said something along the lines of, “I guess you have to just live your life as an artistic experiment, and hope to inspire others.” And I think that’s what we’re doing at Newo. It’s an experiment. An artistic, creative experiment. And we do it with as much integrity as we can, and we hope it inspires others.