My name is Dave Borlace. I was born in 1969, just in time to watch the first man walk on the moon (albeit as a babe in my mother’s arms!). Since that time we humans have released trillions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere, resulting in concentrations that are more than 50 % higher than before the Industrial Revolution, and we still consume more than 100 million barrels of oil per day. Those emissions and energy choices have reshaped our climate and economy in ways few of us fully appreciate.

I am not a climatologist or a physicist. I have a BSc Hons Degree in Technology that I gained by studying part-time for 6 years at the amazing Open University in the UK back in the nineties while also holding down a full-time managerial job.

In 2017 I read a book called ‘A Farewell to Ice’, written by Peter Wadhams, Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge. Peter had spent about 40 years studying Arctic Sea ice, both from above through field studies and satellite data and from below on US Navy submarines that employ sophisticated upward looking sonar to determine precisely how thick the ice is in case they have to break through it to surface at any time. In the book, Peter takes the reader through the science of how and why Arctic Sea ice is dwindling so rapidly, and he explains in graphic detail what the consequences of that ice loss will be for the climate and for human society around the world.

That book was my epiphany. It was both fascinating and terrifying.

So, in 2018, after a 30 year career in Retail Project Management, I started making videos in my spare time each weekend, publishing them on YouTube for friends and family in the hope that they would join me on my little voyage of discovery about the climate emergency and what we might collectively be able to do about it. In 2020, having been furloughed during the COVID 19 lockdowns, and thanks to the support of a wonderful group of people all over the world via the Patreon platform, I was able to quit my job and devote myself full-time to the channel.

My work on the Just Have a Think channel is guided by four main principles:

Provide insight.

Ensure balance and honesty.

Inspire behavioural change.

Encourage collective action.

I also try to inject a bit of humour into the content every now and then!

You can watch my 2018 four-part interview with Peter Wadhams at these links -