(The following is an English Chinese translation)
15 Young Founders Rethinking Everything (2)
15 young founders who rethink the world (II) Kelly Earhart and the Vista Project, from nonprofits to environmental corporations
Kelly Erhart, 26; Project Vesta
Kelly Earhart, 26, founded a company called Project Vista, whose website is pictured below.
"I wanted to fully focus on solutions."
She follows the credo of going all out and seeking solutions.
Kelly Erhart was environmentally conscious as a kid but made a choice as a young adult: "I wasn't going to let my climate anxiety become apathy," the 26-year-old says. " I wanted to fully focus on solutions."
Born environmentally conscious from an early age, Kelly decided to do something about climate change at a young age and was determined to go all out to find ways to put it into practice and work.
She found her focus one weekend while reading a dense climate report, which noted a particular solution called "enhanced weathering." In short, it encourages a natural process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere when water hits certain rocks.
One weekend, she was reading a heavy climate report when she noticed a method called "enhanced weathering." The so-called enhanced weathering, simply put, is to accelerate the natural weathering process of rocks, using seawater to constantly wash a certain rock, while accelerating weathering, it can also remove carbon dioxide in the air. She realized that this was what she had been looking for.
Seemingly every major report listed enhanced weathering as a crucial tool for reaching climate targets, but nobody appeared to be doing it outside of scientists in labs.
After reading more, Kelly noticed that it seems that every major climate report mentions "enhanced weathering" as an important way to solve the problem of climate change, but that it has so far only remained in the laboratory.
This would become the focus of Project Vesta, which she cofounded in 2019 as a nonprofit and is now a public benefit corporation that has raised $6 million in philanthropy for its side.
She wanted to try. So she turned the nonprofit Vista Project, which she co-founded in 2019, into a full-fledged company. She wants to turn Project Vista into a company that delivers social benefits. She successfully raised $6 million in philanthropic funding.
Erhart had previously cofounded a waterless toilet company, and learned an important lesson there: Even as the world needs many solutions, nothing gets done unless you build a team that's singularly focused in one direction.
Kelly had previously co-founded a waterless toilet company, and she learned some lessons from running that company. There are probably countless ways to solve the same problem, but in fact, few methods can be successfully developed. Why? Because there is no dedicated team.
To that end, she built an impassioned team who identified why "enhanced weathering" hadn't left the science labs: "Scientists aren't entrepreneurs," she says. " They don't take risks, and this is a risky thing."
So she formed a team, and the team members were full of passion. They recognize why the Enhanced Weathering program has not yet made it out of the lab. Because scientists are not entrepreneurs after all, they do not have the risk of business operation and survival, but entrepreneurs have!
Her company secured significant funding so that scientists with a wide range of specialties — who may not normally collaborate — could together research its use.
Now that her company has received a lot of funding, she can invite scientists from all disciplines to study and implement this plan. Scientists across various branches often have little chance of collaborating like this.
This year, Project Vesta launched its first pilot site, where a specific kind of carbon-capturing sand will be spread on beaches.
This year, Vista launched its first pilot to sprinkle a beach with a specific type of sand that helps capture carbon dioxide from the air.
Several more are in the works, with the hopes of one day removing billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. — Nate Hopper
Several others are also in the planning. She hopes that one day what they do will help remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide.
Original author: Nate Hopper; Original:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneurs/15-young-founders-rethinking-everything-from-artificial/432612
Supplement:
Enhanced weathering is a process that aims to accelerate the natural weathering by spreading finely ground silicate rock, such as basalt, onto surfaces which speeds up chemical reactions between rocks, water, and air.
"Enhanced weathering" is a process that accelerates natural weathering by spreading granular powders of silicate rocks such as basalt onto the surface of the material to accelerate the chemical reaction between rock, water and air.
It also removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, permanently storing it in solid carbonate minerals or ocean alkalinity. The latter also slows ocean acidification.
This process also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and permanently stores it in solid carbonate minerals or ocean alkalinity. The latter is beneficial for slowing ocean acidification.