Let’s Make Climate Change Fun Again!
Did you know that the amount of carbon in the atmosphere today is more than it’s been in approximately 3,000,000 years? Or that we’re losing approximately 1.2 trillion tonnes of ice from the north and south poles a year–which, to put in perspective, is roughly the same weight as every human-made thing on the planet?
Thankfully, society is starting to respond to the climate crisis: From the Inflation Reduction Act in the US to other federal efforts around the world to initiatives in the corporate sector, change is happening. That’s fantastic news!
But we have a long way to go, and we’ve got a short window in which to turn things around before the future gets really bleak. That’s why we’re here to help empower you to make a difference! Finally, you can take action–no matter who you are or what life looks like for you right now.
We’re launching Hazel, a mobile app that makes it possible for you to combat climate change — and it’s as easy as playing a game. No credit card required.
Join us in solving climate change.
The solution is literally just a tap away.
A little climate change context…
How do we solve the climate crisis? Decarbonization gets all the attention today–and rightfully so. Step one to averting a full-blown climate disaster is to move off of carbon-based fuels (think: oil/gasoline, coal & natural gas) as quickly as possible.
Lots of people are working on this, and the great news is that society is making quick progress–from the explosion of solar-powered electricity generation to electric vehicles to changes in how things like concrete are made, we are making progress.
But (and there’s always a “but”), decarbonization alone isn’t the solution.
Even if we fully stopped emitting all carbon pollution today–a huge if–we still have too much carbon in the atmosphere. And unlike other types of pollution, carbon doesn’t clean itself up in a few months or even a few years. It’s not like in the movies, where the hero stops the evil corporation from polluting the river and then the problem is solved and at the end of the movie the river is pristine again. Even if we stop polluting today, we’ll still have too much carbon pollution in the atmosphere, wreaking havoc on our climate.
As of the start of 2023, we have approximately 418 parts-per-million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere globally.
What’s that mean?
The last time the Earth was at carbon levels above 400ppm was over 3,000,000 years ago. At that time, giant camels lived in a forested arctic and ocean levels were 30 feet higher (well above modern New York, Houston and Seattle). Not a world that we’d recognize today.
If we’re to avoid an unrecognizable future, the challenge is clear — we need to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and do it at massive scale.
That’s the challenge. How do we tackle it?
Let’s Talk Carbon Removal
Removing atmospheric carbon at scales that will have a global impact is a massive challenge. It’s estimated that we need to remove approximately 10 gigatonnes annually, which is an amount of carbon that’s roughly equivalent to ⅓ of the mass of Mount Everest. And we need to do it annually.
The good news is that we have many of the technologies we need to remove carbon–from simple approaches (planting trees or kelp, which remove carbon naturally) to industrial direct air capture & other technologies that pull carbon from the air, the pieces are there.
What we lack is scale–doing enough of it fast enough. And what scale requires is funding. Whether it’s a tree planting project or a new carbon-removal factory, we need to pay for it to build it.
And that’s the current problem–while money is flowing into carbon removal from corporations and governments, the industry needs more. Lots more, if we’re to scale fast enough to reach that 10 gigatonnes goal.
That’s where you and I come in.
Consumers to the Rescue!
The money that you and I spend is insignificant, compared to what governments or businesses can spend. But, consumer spending in total is massively powerful. In the US alone, consumer spending is more than $14 trillion–global consumer spending is five times that. If only 0.01% of that spending went to funding carbon removal — say each of us spent $0.06 a month to remove carbon from the atmosphere — that would be a whopping $1.4B spent on carbon removal.
This would match the amount of current spending–effectively doubling the amount of carbon we’re removing overnight.
If we all worked together, we could solve the carbon challenge tomorrow.
But wait…
But (again, always a “but”), here’s the catch.
Who wants to spend anything on carbon removal–even 6 cents–when it’s a lot more fun to spend it on a Netflix subscription? Or on something new from Amazon? Or on, literally, anything else?
Unless you’re just extremely altruistic–and thankfully, some of you are–this isn’t a purchase that makes any sense. Think about it — that six cents is money out of your pocket, which you could spend on something else. But, unlike buying something else, the benefit of your purchase–the removal of carbon & the increased chance we have a planet to live on in the future–is literally shared with 8 billion other people on the planet (and all future generations!).
100% of the cost for 1/8000000000 of the benefit?
No thanks, I’m good.
(Or maybe you literally can’t afford to spend a couple of dollars on grassroots efforts removing carbon. You care and want to help, but times are tight and you don’t have the funds. You’re just surviving. We see you too.)
This is where Hazel comes in…
We need consumer spending to help meet our carbon challenge and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. But consumers are rational and won’t spend on a product that they don’t directly benefit from.
So what do you do?
At Hazel, we decided to flip the script. What if, instead of trying to guilt you into funding carbon removal, focusing on a sense of responsibility or preying on your climate anxiety, we made funding carbon removal fun? Having fun directly benefits me–whether the rest of the planet benefits or not is irrelevant if I’m personally having fun.
Blinding insight:
People tend to like doing things that are fun.
Sometimes, they’ll even pay for fun. $200 billion was spent globally on video games in 2022.
People will spend a lot on games.
So we built a game.
How Hazel saves the world.
Hazel unlocks consumer spending for carbon removal. This funding we then use to fund project partners who are removing carbon from the atmosphere–from tree planting to regenerative farming to ocean work to engineered solutions. We want to fund everything that has a demonstrable impact because we need all solutions to meet the scale needed to solve the carbon challenge.
Consumers fund carbon removal in Hazel in three ways:
- First, by directly purchasing carbon removal. Through our “Impacts” screen, you can select the level of funding that you want to provide and take direct action to remove carbon. When you do, you earn Hazelcoins, which are a digital currency that you can use in our experience to unlock new rewards in our game experience. Just like purchasing currency in your favorite mobile game, Hazelcoins make your experience more fun. But unlike buying coins or gems in other games, your Hazelcoin purchase in Hazel fights climate change. How cool is that?
- Second, by watching and interacting with our ads, you unlock revenue for Hazel that funds further carbon removal work. Because we spend a portion of our ad revenue on carbon removal, every ad you watch helps save the planet! (In addition to unlocking other bonuses in the game). You’re now saving the planet without spending anything.
- Finally, we’ll be launching a web3 integration into Hazel shortly. This is just a fancy way of saying “when you earn a Hazel asset–like a Critter, or egg–you’ll actually own that item.” Like anything you own, you can give it to others or sell it to others. If you do decide to sell any of your Hazel items, a portion of that sale also funds carbon removal!
Obviously the way to have the biggest impact on carbon removal is through directly funding removal in Hazel. But even if you never spend a dime, just by actively using Hazel, you’re fighting climate change!
But… I don’t wanna.
Is tapping a few buttons every day too much to save the planet? Maybe you’re just too busy to spend a minute playing a game to save your future.
If that’s the case, we’re sorry. We can’t help you.
But, if you’re one of the millions of people worried about the future of the planet, and you’re willing to lift a finger to help save the future, we designed Hazel for you.
Welcome to the solution.
