# What can a software developer do about climate change?

DevFeed: [What can a software developer do about climate change?](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-can-a-software-developer-do-about-climate-change-20987.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://codewithoutrules.com/2019/09/10/software-developers-climage-change/>)

Author: Itamar Turner-Trauring

Published: 2019-09-10T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Itamar Turner-Trauring](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/itamar-turner-trauring.md>)

Topics: [Software](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software.md>)

Tags: [developer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer.md>), [infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/infrastructure.md>), [policy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/policy.md>), [software](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software.md>), [software-developer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-developer.md>), [us](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/us.md>)

## AI overview

This opinion essay considers what software developers in the United States can do about climate change. It argues that policy and politics, rather than technology, are currently the main bottleneck, and describes the author's involvement in a successful campaign for protected bike-lane requirements in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

## Source excerpt

Pines and firs are dying across the Pacific Northwest, fires rage across the Amazon, it's the hottest it's ever been in Paris--climate change is impacting the whole planet, and things are not getting any better. You want to do something about climate change, but you're not sure what. If you do some research you might encounter an essay by Bret Victor--What can a technologist do about climate change? There's a whole pile of good ideas in there, and it's worth reading, but the short version is that you can use technology to "create options for policy-makers." Thing is, policy-makers aren't doing very much. So this essay isn't about technology, because technology isn't the bottleneck right now, it's about policy and politics what you can do about it. It's still written for software developers, because that's who I write for, but also because software developers often have access to two critical catalysts for political change. And it's written for software developers in the US, because that's where I live, and because the US is a big part of the problem. But before I go into what you can do, let me tell you the story of a small success I happened to be involved in, a small step towards a better future. Infrastructure and the status quo About a year ago I spent some of my mornings handing out pamphlets to bicycle riders. I looked like an idiot: in order to show I was one of them I wore my bike helmet, which is weirdly shaped and the color of fluorescent yellow snot. After finding an intersection with plenty of bicycle riders and a long red light that forces them to stop, I would do the following: When the light turns red, step into the street and hand out the pamphlet. Keep an eye out for the light changing to green so that I didn't get run over by moving cars. Twiddle my thumbs waiting for the next light cycle. It was boring, and not very glamorous. I was one of just many volunteers, and besides gathering signatures we also held rallies, had conversations with city counci