Investing for a Net Positive Civilization with Tom Chi, Ep #20

This week’s episode was a lot of fun. Tom Chi is one of the biggest thinkers I’ve encountered in the climate space. He was one of the founding members of GoogleX, leading teams that developed self-driving cars, Google Glass, high altitude balloons that broadcast the internet and much, much more. He also helped build Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo Answers. Tom now teaches and coaches entrepreneurs and is the founder of At One Ventures. Tom’s investment thesis is truly visionary, aspiring to not just reduce carbon emissions, but to create a net positive civilization where humans do more good than harm to nature. This conversation is quite philosophical and we cover a lot of ground, but I’m already finding some practical applications for Tom’s ideas. I hope you find this as provocative and useful as I did. So let’s dive in. 

In today’s episode, we cover:

• [3:23] The future of life on Earth & making the switch from optimism to efficacy
• [6:39] Tom’s medium for creating masterpieces
• [12:40] The different styles of cognition used for approaching climate change
• [16:05] How At One Ventures aspires to create a net positive civilization
• [19:44] Contributing to the health of the planet through new businesses and startups
• [25:15] What is an invention catalyst & how do At One’s investments fit the bill
• [30:00] Investing in biopolymers: Cruz Foam & Simplifyber
• [38:03] What can we do to accelerate a consciousness shift around climate
• [48:02] What if we were to compost late-stage capitalism
• [49:31] The empowerment formula for everyday listeners

Resources Mentioned

• AtOne Ventures
• TomChi.com

Connect with Tom Chi

• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn and Twitter

Connect With Jason Rissman

• https://InvestedInClimate.com 
• On LinkedIn
• On Twitter

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