Ask an Eco Expert: Christina Beckmann, Co-founder of Tomorrow's Air | Environment 911
Carbon offsets are no longer thought to be enough to curb climate change. Meet Christina Beckmann of Tomorrow’s Air, the world's first collective of passionate travellers who clean up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through direct air capture
For Christina Beckmann, co-founder of Tomorrow’s Air and vice president of Global Strategy at the Adventure Travel Trade Association, a sustainable future means fresh air for everyone. While standing on Deception Island (62.93° S, 60.57°W) during the peak of Antarctic summer, she says it felt unseasonably warm—there wasn’t much snow, it was balmy and she had a feeling that something just wasn’t right.
“I was really affected by that day—by the sound of the zodiac going through the brash ice, like this is what a melting world sounds like and feels like,” says Beckman. “I had this visceral sense of this is what is happening to the world.”
The silence of Antarctica can be deafening, yet the sound of glaciers calving and ice changing is an inescapable reminder of our warming planet and oceans that few get to experience.
Beckmann came away from the 2041 ClimateForce Antarctic Expedition hosted by Robert Swan (the first person to walk to both Poles whose goal is to inspire a global climate force) with a sense of urgency—like we have to do something now, we can’t just sit around.
“I’m the kind of person who jumps to action—there’s a lot to be said for people who slowly think out a strategy and execute it—but I came out of my Antarctic expedition thinking, ‘Do something, get some people together, and start moving because the longer we sit around talking and evaluating, the worse this gets.’”
The result of this sense of urgency instilled in Beckman and others on the expedition? Tomorrow’s Air—a way for global travellers, travel companies and destinations to take tangible action for climate change through joining forces with direct air capture carbon removal technology.
Travel notoriously has a carbon problem. Carbon emissions caused by travel on planes, trains, and automobiles have long been ‘balanced out’ by travellers buying into tree planting or purchasing offsets. Those are great solutions, but according to experts, including Beckmann, alone they are simply not enough to reverse the effects of climate change.
Backed by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, Tomorrow’s Air has partnered with Swiss company Climeworks to filter carbon dioxide out of the air and inject it underground in basalt rock where it mineralizes over time and is permanently stored.
Read the full story on Environment 911 here.
