A Conversation with Paul Hawken: Carbon, Culture, and the Work of Regeneration
Techies Go Green recently hosted a hybrid Q&A with environmentalist and author Paul Hawken, live at the GEC and online. The session brought together technologists, sustainability leaders, researchers, and community members to explore carbon, climate action, and what real change actually requires.
The response was strong, with more questions than time allowed. Paul stayed on beyond the session to engage, and the remaining questions were later shared with him and answered in writing. What follows is a curated selection of those exchanges.
Note: Several questions were answered live during the session. A full recording is available on request.
Q&A with Paul Hawken
Rakesh Rayapureddi (Research Scientist):
Do you worry that today’s AI race is pulling civilisation further away from a life-centered understanding of carbon and ecology? And what would it take for emerging technologies to align with the regenerative worldview you describe?
Paul Hawken:
The short answer is yes. Various technologies are pulling us away from living systems, even the ones that promise to fix, heal, and amend. Technologies that heal and restore the Earth must begin with that commitment and work upstream to understand the cause, not just the symptom of loss.
Andrew Sheehan:
What value do you place on collective knowledge sharing and storytelling to drive momentum, especially given your view that lack of momentum is holding us back?
Paul Hawken:
This cannot be emphasized enough. Societies can be changed by force, which is where we are now, or by commitment, community, coalitions, and common bonds. Human civilization has tried both, and only one works.
Shiena Connolly:
How did we get here? And what needs to stop, cease, or die so that we can move toward a regenerative future?
Paul Hawken:
Every mode of thinking that causes suffering for people, plants, and creatures needs to be examined and seen for what it is. The morality of giving more than you take is ancient. The practice and understanding of that principle are being overwhelmed by what is called the Kali Yuga.
Sarah Blake:
Which will have the most impact: businesses reducing carbon footprints or changing hearts and minds in local communities?
Paul Hawken:
That is an easy question. The latter, indisputably and overwhelmingly. Carbon counting, even thinking in terms of footprints, is what you do when you don’t know what to do. That is why I immediately followed Drawdown with Regeneration.
John Barcroft:
What are your views on Net Zero by 2050? Is it too long-term or based on outdated models? unities?
Paul Hawken:
My view of Net Zero is that it is a fantasy. What does it mean? Net zero carbon emissions presume all energy will come from renewables. About 19 percent of the world’s energy comes from electricity. Even if we converted all electricity to renewables, we would still be miles away from net zero.
Concrete, steel, shipping, chemicals, mining, and materials are not produced by renewables. We never transitioned away from wood or coal. We added energy sources on top of existing ones. Wood and coal use are at their highest levels in the 21st century. I suggest reading Jean-Baptiste Fressoz’s More and More and More.
Gary Byrnes:
Do you think hemp is a viable way to rebalance our relationship with carbon?
Paul Hawken:
Go for it, except biofuels. The land needs to be fed. It is not, or should not be, a source of ethanol or diesel. The land needs to be fed.
Jean Cushen:
Many top leaders are committed to sustainability but struggle to bring their full leadership teams along. What are effective leaders doing that can be emulated?
Paul Hawken:
The top leaders I know have their corporate shoelaces tied together, which hobbles them. They do the best they can, if they care at all. Those who do care struggle.
Change cannot come from the top. The world is not a top-down system. That is why corporates fail at this, and why the COPs have failed. COP 30 could not even pass a resolution to phase out fossil fuels.
Closing reflections
What emerged from this conversation was not a checklist of actions or a new set of targets, but something deeper and more unsettling: a challenge to how we think, measure, and organise our efforts. Paul Hawken consistently returned to the same themes, relationship over extraction, community over control, living systems over abstractions.
For Techies Go Green, the session was a reminder that technology alone is not the answer. Culture, mindset, and moral imagination matter just as much, if not more.
If you would like access to the full session recording, please contact the Techies Go Green team directly.