Sal Brzozowski believes every job is a climate job

Sal Brzozowski believes every job is a climate job

The inaugural class of Columbia Climate School is graduating.celebrateState of the Planet is publishing a series of stories highlighting students and teachers involved in climate and society programs. Read more of our classroom day coverage here.

Sal Brzozowski, 29, goes straight back into the climate movement. They started their careers in tech theater, making wigs and costumes, then moved to salon hair because “surprise, surprise—it’s really hard to work on Broadway.” They decided to jump into the climate because they discovered that when everyone was sitting at the table This exercise works best when you’re on the side.

Sal’s journey taught them: “Everyone can make a difference in the climate movement, even if you feel or look unprofessional, even if you don’t have a science background, even if you’ve changed careers 3 times.” Their unconventional background Has become their superpower while connecting with previously disengaged communities.

We met on Zoom in early February to discuss the need for an interdisciplinary, all-hands approach to climate action amid the background noise of barking dogs and Super Bowl commercials.

Can you describe the moment you realized you had to go after climate?

I’m listening to Dr. Kate Marvell [a climate scientist and Columbia Climate School professor] On the Ezra Klein Podcast, she’s explaining how crazy it is to delve into climate physics with students from different backgrounds. She started listing the background types of people who were on the show, and she said, “We even have a couple of theater students,” and I just turned on a light bulb and was like, “Oh. Well, I can do it!” I Called my dad and asked if I was crazy, and he said, “That’s the least crazy thing you’ve ever done.” Within two months, I applied and got accepted.

Where do you fall in the climate movement?

I enjoy working at the intersection of science and policy.My specific passion in the climate movement is [related to] carbon management. Thus, reducing carbon emissions and capturing existing carbon dioxide concentrations from the atmosphere. I work on building decarbonization and large-scale energy decarbonization, and I also work on promoting new carbon capture technologies through policy advocacy.

For those who may not know what that is, what is decarbonization, and what is carbon capture?

yes! So decarbonization is the process of removing carbon waste from our…everything. From our society, from our economy, etc.At a large-scale energy level, this looks like expanding renewables and phasing out fossil fuels [power] plant.

Carbon capture, on the other hand, is the removal of existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Even if we stopped all emissions today, the current atmospheric concentration just reached 420 parts per million as of a few days ago, and science tells us that the safe level is between 320 and 350 parts per million. So even if we stopped emitting everything today, we would now be seeing the catastrophic effects of climate change. And it will only get worse. We will not stop emitting today.

Carbon capture works in several different ways. Point source capture, which is more in terms of mitigation than actual carbon removal. Point source capture is basically like hooking up equipment to boilers, power plants, basically stopping emissions before they get into the atmosphere, and then you do something with those emissions.

There’s also direct air capture, which takes in ambient air and sucks carbon dioxide out of it. One of the benefits of this is that because carbon dioxide is a pollutant, you can improve your indoor air quality, health and mental acuity by reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the indoor air we breathe, which I think is fantastic.

What is the role of communication in policy development?

Communication is everything policy making, because if lawmakers don’t know what you want to pass and why, they won’t pass it. If voters don’t understand legislation, then they won’t support it.

I don’t know if you know this, but lawmakers are not experts in carbon removal. So when we have a 30-minute meeting with the legislator’s office, we have 30 minutes to give them a crash course on what carbon removal really is, why it’s good, and why our bill is good too. So, repeat this in 30 minutes, you really have to have the communication skills to effectively spread the science.

What do you think are the problems in communicating climate to audiences who may not be familiar with it?

One of the biggest problems is buzzwords, acronyms and jargon. When you speak in jargon and acronyms, you’re turning people away for not using a language they understand.

Another challenge is buzzwords. So, the media really likes to choke catchphrases down the throat and run after them until they no longer make sense, and that’s what happens so often with the word “net zero.” So our job is to help people understand context.

this is a big problem. What does the climate movement need?

(sighs) Too much. It needs so much. Well, it needs more people.

Every job is a climate job. I bring this up because we need people in every space, every community, every type of job, constantly talking about climate change with their colleagues and bosses. We need people to put pressure on employers to improve the energy efficiency of their office spaces to support efforts that help tackle the climate crisis.

What do you think this has to do with your own journey back into climate space?

I realized that I could no longer sit there and do nothing. I realized the climate movement needed more people, and I thought, “Well, I’m alone! And I’m not in the climate movement yet! Why not F?” So, I did. I wish more people did the same.

What role does privilege play in advocating for climate policy?

Unfortunately, privilege makes certain types of people have a bigger voice based on the background they come from and how they look. But privileged people, myself included, can use it to draw attention to work, effort, and discourse, who may not have received the same amount of praise or attention.

I think it’s not just something we can do, it’s a huge responsibility on all of us. Just stopping emissions is not enough. We also have to make up for the injustices of history.

What would you say to someone interested in joining the climate movement but not yet radicalized and don’t know where to start?

just do it! We will radicalize you.

How do you deal with the scale of the climate crisis and the scale of your personal impact?

I don’t. I have always been anxious.I think find a niche where you can make an impact and trust that other people in your community are looking for their niche [is key]. I try to find stories about people who are working on a solution so that even if I can’t provide a solution, I can at least have peace of mind thinking about someone else and working on it.

How do you talk about the climate in the social realm?

I never shut up about climate. I’m not my most radical friend, but I’m a lot of people’s most radical friend.I try to make sure I have a lot of friends in the field already doing this work so we can talk about our climate grief together and we can all roll our eyes and see how anxiety can be caused don’t look up used to be. But if all my friends are already climate activists, I’m not really changing anyone’s mind about anything, am I? You can’t preach to the choir forever.

So, I do try to make sure to talk about it with my friends outside of the climate space, and I also talk about it when I’m still working in the hair salon. Every client of mine knows that I went to graduate school on climate change and I teach them what they can do and why they should care.

Most of my clients appreciate it, it’s like a value-added service to get free education about climate change while getting a haircut.

Suzie Hicks is a student at Columbia Climate School MSc in Climate and Society program.