“Where Tech Meets Planet: A Quickstart Glossary for Climate Tech - Curious”

Kate Pond — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 05:13:12 +0000

🌿 Start Here: What Is Climate Tech?

Climate tech refers to technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or help people adapt to the effects of climate change. That includes:

Software for tracking carbon emissions
Hardware like smart sensors or solar panels
Tools that help protect biodiversity and ecosystems
Platforms that connect people to climate action and jobs

But it’s not just for scientists or environmental orgs, it needs designers, devs, analysts, writers, community builders, and dreamers.

🧠 What’s That Mean? — A Tiny Climate Glossary

Carbon Accounting

Tracking how much carbon a product, company, or activity emits.

Think of it like a budget, but for the atmosphere.

Mitigation vs Adaptation

Mitigation = slowing down climate change (e.g. reducing emissions)

Adaptation = dealing with its effects (e.g. flood-proofing cities)

Regenerative

A step beyond “sustainable.” It means designing systems that restore, not just maintain.

Greenwashing

When something is marketed as eco-friendly... but it’s mostly vibes. Learn to spot it.

📌 Communities & Resources

Communities to Join

Job Boards & Learning

Want to listen instead?

Volts

🔍 Where Tech Meets Planet: Examples

Tech Skill	Climate Use Case
Backend Dev	APIs for emissions tracking platforms
UX Design	Interfaces for electric grid visualization
Data Analytics	Mapping climate risks by neighborhood
AI/ML	Forecasting wildfires or extreme heat
Storytelling	Helping people care, not just understand

💬 Let’s Connect

I used to be a park ranger. Now I’m a software engineer building systems that (I hope) make the world a little better. If you're curious, overwhelmed, excited, or unsure, I'm happy to chat.

🌱 Find me at The Pond's Edge
💌 Message me on LinkedIn

Day Zero

Kate Pond — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 23:36:58 +0000

TLDR

ChatGPT o1 prompt: Please create a tldr version

TL;DR
• There’s always a “day zero” when you decide to start (or restart).
• I’m pushing past perfectionism and sharing my first draft, despite initial fears.
• I’ve done this before (e.g., my Ada Developers Academy Capstone) and know I can do it again.
• I spent time setting up a new dev environment with essential tools (Chrome, VSCode, iTerm2, Homebrew, Git, Go).
• I plan to work on a passion project, documenting my daily progress, research, and roadblocks along the way.

Let me tell you more

There's always a day zero. It's the day you decide to start (or start again for that matter).

Today I've decided that I'm not going to be scared of first drafts. I'm going to see how long I can fight the feeling of wanting something to be perfect or near perfect before someone else sees it.

I've done it in the past (see my Ada Developers Academy Capstone journey, and I can do it again.

Deep breath now...

Here's my first, first draft that I wrote over a month ago and never finished or published because I was scared it wasn't good enough

2025-02-17 -
There's always a day zero. It's the day you decide to start (or start again for that matter).

I have of course already started, but this will be the first day I record.

With a new computer, I have spent a number of hours researching how to set-up the computer to be my optimal development environment and been distracted at every step of the way. I could of course ask AI, but I thought it would be fun to browse around dev.to and the internet... following every thread down a rabbit hole. All of that to say that its been a very distracting day.

At the end of the day I decided to just get all the tools I need to start developing, and worry about making a dotfiles repo another day.

Google Chrome
VSCode
iTerm2 w/ ohmyz.sh
ChatGPT
Slack

From the terminal I downloaded

Homebrew [https://brew.sh/]
Git [https://git-scm.com/downloads]

Because I generally program in Go, I also installed Go via brew

brew install go

I'm trying to work on a passion project. From here on out, I'd like to record each day that I do. I'd like to record research that I do, roadblocks that I encounter, and thoughts that I'm having.

2025-03-21 -
And just for the hell of it, I'll have AI clean up my first drafts.

⸻

Here's the ChatGPT o1 version of the above text

prompt: Create a more organized, more entertaining, grammatically correct, and easier to read version of the following text.

Day Zero: Embracing Imperfect Beginnings

There’s always a “day zero.” It’s the day you decide to start—or start over. Today, I’m making a promise to myself: I will no longer fear first drafts. Instead, I’ll see how long I can push through that familiar urge to make everything perfect before letting anyone else see it. I’ve done this before during my Ada Developers Academy Capstone journey, and I know I can do it again.

Deep breath…

Below is my first, first draft—something I wrote over a month ago but never finished or published because I was afraid it wasn’t good enough. Well, here it is, in all its raw, unpolished glory.

⸻

2025-02-17

There’s always a “day zero.” It’s the day you decide to start (or start again). Although I’ve technically already begun, today marks the first day I’m committing to record my progress.

Setting Up a New Computer

I’ve spent hours researching how to configure my new computer to create an ideal development environment, only to get distracted every step of the way. Sure, I could have asked AI for help, but I wanted to explore dev.to and other corners of the internet, following every intriguing thread straight down the rabbit hole. As you can imagine, my day turned out pretty unfocused.

Finally, I decided to do the bare minimum needed to get coding and leave the dotfiles repository project for another day. Here’s my quick start list:
• Google Chrome
• VSCode
• iTerm2 with ohmyz.sh
• ChatGPT
• Slack

From the terminal, I installed:
• Homebrew (brew.sh)
• Git (git-scm.com/downloads)

Since I primarily code in Go, I also added Go:

brew install go

Looking Ahead

I’m working on a passion project, and I want to document each day I make progress—research, roadblocks, and random thoughts. This journal is meant to keep me accountable and remind me that sometimes the hardest part is just getting started.

⸻

So, here we go. I’m stepping into the unknown, embracing my imperfect drafts, and sharing the messy process. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that every journey has a Day Zero—and it’s the most crucial day of all.

DEV Community: Kate Pond