I interviewed my colleague, Aneesha Desai, who is a climate activist and engineer.
Q: Can you give us a quick description about who you are and the work you do?
A: I’m Aneesha, and currently I work on a team at Google that does research on climate change. We analyzes data to see where products source their materials from, and help companies to use the data to figure out how to reduce their carbon footprint. I also created an app called Planet Possible, which educates people on climate change and encourages them to take action.
Q: Can you tell us how you initially became interested in working on climate change?
A: A few years ago, I initially became conscious of my non-environment friendly habits, and started to try and offset my carbon footprint by changing my daily habits, like becoming vegan. It wasn’t until the wildfires in Australia in 2020 which made me realize that I wanted to make a bigger impact and decided to join my team at Google.
Q: What are your thoughts on the general public and their idea of climate change?
A: Typically, I see people react in three different ways. The first group are hardcore climate activists, and are very passionate and knowledgable about climate change. The second group are climate change deniers, who don’t believe climate change will impact their lives. And lastly and more commonly, I see people who are aware of climate change, but don’t know where to start making an impact. We found that about 85% of the people make up the last group. Many people care about the problem and want to take action, but lack knowledge about the topic and can’t find ways to participate in the cause. This is what led me to build my app Planet Possible, which educates people on all the industries that contribute to climate change, and gives them ways to reach out to key people to enact change.
Q: What do you think is the most effective way to motivate people to change?
A: Through building Plant Possible, we’ve found that people are most inclined to participate in a rewards-based system, where they are given rewards for their actions. We found that just providing facts and statistics on your carbon footprint does not enact change, and people need more to be motivated to change. This is why we’re pivoting the Planet Possible app to a more rewards-based platform, where people attain points when they offset their carbon footprint.