There is probably no person more suitable to become Warp Institute’s first WIP Ambassador than Rune Westergard.
He is from Korsholm outside of Vaasa in Finland, is the engineer who founded a technology consulting company that exists today all over the world. He has been involved in environmental issues since the 1970s, but always focused on solutions.
– Technology is something that has always interested me, so I trained as an engineer. One summer when I was freelancing, I realized that I could start a tech consulting company, Citec, and that’s what I’ve spent my entire professional life doing.
Today, the company has about 1,000 employees and mainly works with environmental plants and power plants, including CSP, or concentrated solar power.
– I sold the majority of the company a few years ago, am a board member today and have a small stake in the company. Then I am involved in startups in the environment and energy.
Rune Westergard is Warp’s first WIP Ambassador. He provides extra financial support to the nonprofit foundation and advocates for WIP.
WIP stands for Warp Important Person and is a membership where you both contribute to the foundation’s operations and can gain access to a network with an additional 200 WIPs, unique knowledge and the opportunity to participate in events and trips.
❓ Are you also interested in becoming a WIP? Read more and sign up here.
“They should have faith in the future and energy, not anxiety”
Thinking about environmental issues is something Rune Westergard has done for a long time. But when the company was sold off, he got plenty of time left and his commitment increased.
– I read headlines in the media about people’s concerns about climate and environmental issues. What I reacted most strongly to was that young people had anxiety. How can one have anxiety about such things? They should have faith in the future, not anxiety. I was thinking about what I could do, so I wrote a book.
The book, “One Planet is Enough“, points to solutions, but also gives a look back and explains how it is that we have what we have today. It will be a journey back to the origins of technology and the returns from the book go in full to college education.
I was thinking about what I could do, so I wrote a book.
– There are 1000’s of books on how everything goes to hell, so this book points to opportunities instead. The red thread is technological evolution where today we have reached the stage where we have a technological society. We live in a technology sphere.
Technosphere and nature in balance
Most things around us are artificial, created by technology. But it is also this that attracts with nature, Rune Westergård says, and calls for a balance between the two.
– We must understand that progress requires sacrifice. We cannot make ambulances if we do mine metals, but we must do so in a way that does not harm nature more than necessary. We are gone if we destroy the breathing air and our climate.
There are 1000’s of books on how to go to hell, so this book points to opportunities instead.
Much of the book is about not being able to go back and think that we can lean on some kind of natural balance.
– There are two ways to solve it and it may seem like a banal example, but let’s use the example of showering. Either we heat water with energy that generates carbon dioxide emissions and showers less. Or we can heat it with the help of the sun and shower as much as before.
An extension of Hans Rosling’s work
The way forward is clear, at the same time he obviously understands the worry, just look at the facts.
– But I don’t see any other solution to fix this and I think we are in a very good position. We must get rid of fossil fuels, but if we aren’t fast enough, if we do not reduce emissions to meet the 1.5-degree target, there are still solutions. We can create negative emissions in 20-30 years, because then we’ll have the technology to do that.
As a solution-oriented engineer, Rune Westergard wants to spread this mindset. He wants more people to see opportunities and actually get involved in solving things instead of just seeing problems and complaining. That’s also why he clicked directly with the Warp Institute.
– It is essential to spread the message that the world will be better. I read somewhere that there is one positive news for every 15 negative news in the media. So Warp’s message to highlight positive progress appeals to me and is something we must have much more of. In a way, I see it as an extension of Hans Rosling’s work, concludes Rune Westergard.
❓ Are you also interested in becoming a WIP? Read more and sign up here.
You can find Rune’s book at Amazon.
