Speaker: Joe James, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
How (and why) are you taking action on climate change solutions in, for, and with your community?
Joe James: Hi, I'm Joe James. I'm a climate tech entrepreneur. Who, given the things that he learned as he worked to uplift poor rural communities of color in the past by trying to figure out how to create a bioeconomy there. I've taken that concept and now I'm planting very special fast and large growing bio crops that capture 4 times the amount of CO2 per acre as an equal acreage of pine trees and twice as much as the next best crop that we know. We then convert that plant material into a variety of bioproducts, in which the captured carbon is sequestered either long term or for considerable amounts of time. And we're creating a new bioeconomy as we make those products. So in addition to biochar, we make a bio-based alternative to carbon black filler powder, which can make more sustainable and safer rubber and plastic products. I'm looking forward to expanding our capability. Around the US and even around the world because our process is the most efficient use of land to maximize the capture of CO2 per acre per time period and then convert that uh resulting material into the products that I've described. So I look forward to collaborating with others to expand the reach of our combined remediation, biomass, and bioproduct production process and to take it global in terms of its capability of helping to both combat climate change, to overcome environmental challenges, and to create a new bioeconomy on a global basis. Thanks for this opportunity to share my vision.
Who or what inspires/inspired you to care about climate change and climate solutions?
Joe James: I was inspired to invent my combined remediation, biomass and bioproduct production process. I call it CRBBP process cause that's too many words to say, but every single word is important. It is one of the most cost effective ways of capturing CO2 and converting the resulting biomass into a variety of bioproducts, even as we may also simultaneously be involved in remediating the land and doing other things that are good for the environment. I was inspired to do this because uh I was looking for strategies that would help to uplift poor rural communities of color in the southern part of the US where that poverty and exclusion uh really struck a raw chord in my being. But this highly efficient, most cost effective per acre per time period process has tremendous potential, and I look forward to collaborating with others to fully reach that potential across not only the US but around the world.
