Insight 1: Data science is extremely versatile
Daniel Cusworth grew up in awe of the weather. He majored at UCLA in meteorology with the atmospheric sciences department, but found his purpose after taking classes on air pollution and the climate. He was excited by the opportunity to bring technical expertise to make a difference with climate change. “I just kept wanting to explore that.”
But still, “Data science [could mean] anywhere in climate.” Dr. Cusworth ultimately chose to use his expertise to mitigate methane emissions because of the potential for short-term impact. Methane as a greenhouse gas leaves the atmosphere far faster than carbon dioxide, meaning that eliminating methane emissions could create a “massive climate benefit” within ten years. He now works as the Director of Science at Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit that pinpoints methane emission hotspots.
Data science is so special because it’s necessary for so many climate solutions and in so many ways. “Making informed decisions with data is absolutely… a critical component of this [fighting climate change],” said Dr. Cusworth. Any solution needs the numbers and evidence from data in order to be developed, deployed, and become successful.
“I see [that] data science… is going that extra layer deeper to provide contextual information about what we’re doing,” And, data science will provide the evidence that many technologies and climate solutions need to get people to “buy-in.”
Insight 2: Climate change can’t be solved with only data science
“Data science equips you with tools, but data science itself is not going to solve these [climate] problems,” said Dr. Cusworth. A great way to level-up is to pair “domain understanding of what’s going on… with the data science.” By having specialized knowledge and the tools to work with data to make sense of the world, you have the potential to make a much larger impact.
One of the worst case scenarios is doing a bunch of great work analyzing data, but no one uses it to do anything useful. By understanding a more specific field you can make sure the data you’re working with is actually useful for fighting climate change.
Insight 3: It’s not just data – building great relationships with other people is essential
While working with data does a great job of providing evidence for where the problems are and how to solve them, you ultimately need “someone going out and fixing something.” That is where building strong relationships with the right people comes in.
Carbon Mapper’s goal is to get data on methane emissions into the hands of people on the ground who will actively reduce or remove those emissions. “It’s about building that relationship” with people who are “the drivers of action.”
“That moves the needle.”
Bonus: Just start
As with a lot of things, “don’t wait for someone to give you permission to start on something.” Besides learning the technical skills of data science, explore the landscape of climate solutions to find where you could make an impact.
“You don’t have to have your trajectory… where you think you fit in the climate ecosystem before you start,” Dr. Cusworth said. “It’s really about finding a door that might be open… an opportunity to contribute somewhere, and taking advantage of that opportunity.”
“You’ll be able to do a lot of good work.”
