In a world where carbon is often cast as the villain, Judy Schwartz sits down with Paul Hawken for an interview that invites us to see it instead as the lifeblood of all living systems. Judith Schwartz: How might humanity’s relationship with the broader living world change if we asked questions like “what does carbon want?” or “what would carbon do?” Paul Hawken: This objectifies carbon as well. We might ask: What do we want? Do we want to live in a world where 60-70 percent of pollinators have disappeared? Did we want a 73 percent reduction in animal life on the planet in the past fifty years? Do we want to see the mantle of Earth, the soil, the source of all land life, obliterated by chemicals? Do we want to pursue bogus technological solutions such as direct air capture (DAC), carbon capture systems (CCS), bio-energy carbon capture systems (BECSS), etc? We might ask ourselves this: there are approximately 8.4 million species and about 3.4 trillion creatures overall on Earth. Do we want to be the only species that dysregulates the atmosphere by destroying the biosphere?
Posted: May 1, 2025