ESP Biography



JOHN GAGE, BC '86 Bio, software, climate solutions advocate




Major: Not available.

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: Not available.

Picture of John Gage

Brief Biographical Sketch:

John worked at Sun Microsystems for 20 years and Oracle for 10, helping roll out the infrastructure for the internet for most of his software career. Then his Boston College undergrad Biology degree work came back to haunt him as he learned more about climate change. After doing a deep dive into the problem, he joined Citizens' Climate Lobby's grassroots volunteer effort to help create the political will to enable Congress to pass effective and fair bipartisan legislation. He is CCL's NH state coordinator, presents at local and national conferences, and teaches at MIT ESP events to help others learn how to take effective climate action.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

Z15930: Help Solve Climate Change! in Spark 2024 (Mar. 16 - 17, 2024)
We know the technical changes needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce human-made greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and reduce CO2 in the air below 350 ppm by 2100. The cheapest, fairest, and most comprehensive way to address the underlying climate pollution problem is to fix the market's failure to account for the costs of pollution in prices with a three-part solution called Carbon Fee and Dividend. The fee makes it powerful, the dividend makes it equitable, and associated border adjustments will push our price around the world. Congress can move the world halfway to achieving its 1.5˚C warming limit goal with one piece of legislation. This will fundamentally change incentives throughout the US economy, so there is strong resistance from those who profit from the status quo. Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help address the most significant existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes, we can! Each of us can take effective action in this pivotal moment in humankind’s history, just as people in past generations achieved women's suffrage, civil rights, and gay marriage through collective action movements. Ordinary citizens advocating together for change is our last, best hope to avoid climate catastrophe. The CFD Movement has begun (bit.ly/cfdmovement-origin). Let's get started right now!


S15674: Help Solve Climate Change! in Splash 2023 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2023)
We know the technical changes needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce human-made greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and reduce CO2 in the air below 350 ppm by 2100. We also know that pollution should not be free, but climate pollution is still free in most countries. The cheapest, fairest, and most comprehensive way to address our climate pollution problem is to fix the market's failure to account for the costs of pollution with a three-part solution: 1) Charge a steadily increasing carbon fee on fossil fuel production to price climate pollution as it enters the economy, 2) Give the money collected to the third party that is being harmed (all households equally), and 3) Use border carbon adjustments to protect US businesses and push the carbon price around the world. A strong carbon price signal will incentivize efficiency, innovation, transition, and drawdown. Giving the money collected to households will protect family purchasing power and let us achieve the high price needed. Complementary policies are also necessary, but this is our best first step. It sounds so easy! What's preventing us from doing this? Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help solve the most significant existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes, we can. Each of us can take effective action in this pivotal moment in humankind’s history. Ordinary citizens advocating for change is our last, best hope to avoid climate catastrophe. Let's get started right now!


Z15290: Help Solve Climate Change! in Splash 2022 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2022)
We know the technical changes needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce human-made greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and reduce CO2 in the air below 350 ppm by 2100. We also know that when pollution is free, we get too much of it. Climate pollution is still free in most countries. The cheapest, fairest, and most comprehensive way to address our climate pollution problem is to fix the market's failure to account for it with a three-part solution: 1) Charge a steadily increasing carbon fee on the production and import of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), 2) Give the money collected to the third party that is being harmed by the pollution (all of us), and 3) Use border adjustments to protect US business competitiveness and push our carbon price around the world. This price signal will incentivize energy efficiency, innovation, transition, and drawdown. Sending the cash back to households will protect family budgets and support a high carbon price. Complementary policies are also necessary, but Carbon Cash-Back is our best first step. It sounds so easy! What's preventing us from doing this? Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help solve the most significant existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes, we can. Each of us can take effective action in this pivotal moment in humankind’s history. Informed citizens advocating for change is our last, best hope to avoid climate catastrophe. Let's get started right now!


H14981: Help Solve Climate Change! in Spark 2022 (Mar. 12 - 13, 2022)
We know the technical changes needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce human-made greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and reduce CO2 in the air below 350 ppm by 2100. We also know that when pollution is free, we get too much of it. Climate pollution is still free in most countries. The cheapest, fairest, and most comprehensive way to address our climate pollution problem is to fix the market's failure to account for it with a three-part solution: Put a steadily increasing price on climate pollution when it enters the economy, Give the money collected to the third party that is being harmed (all households equally), and Use border carbon adjustments to protect US businesses and push our carbon price around the world. A strong carbon price signal will incentivize efficiency, innovation, transition, and drawdown. Sending the cash back to households will protect purchasing power and let us achieve the high price needed. Complementary policies are also necessary, but this is our best first step. It sounds so easy! What's preventing us from doing this? Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help solve the most significant existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes, we can. Each of us can take effective action in this pivotal moment in humankind’s history. Ordinary citizens advocating for change is our last, best hope to avoid climate catastrophe. Let's get started right now!


H14705: Help Solve Climate Change! in Splash 2021 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2021)
From climate science we know the technical changes that are needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and drawdown CO2 in the air to 350 ppm well before 2100. From economics, we know that when pollution is free we get too much of it. Climate pollution is still free in most countries. Economists say that the cheapest and fairest way to address the problem is to put a steadily increasing price on climate pollution when it enters the economy, give the money collected to the third party being harmed (all households equally), and use border adjustments to push our price around the world. A strong carbon price signal will incentivize efficiency, innovation, transition, and drawdown. It sounds so easy! What's preventing us from fixing this? Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help solve this, the biggest existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes, we can. Come find out how, and take effective action in a pivotal moment in the history of mankind. Ordinary citizens advocating for change is our last, best hope to avoid climate catastrophe. Let's get started right now!


Z14444: Help solve climate change! in Spark 2021 (Mar. 13 - 27, 2021)
We know the technical changes needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and reduce carbon dioxide in the air to 350 parts per million before 2100. We also know that when pollution is free, we get too much of it. Climate pollution is still free in most countries. The cheapest, fairest, and most comprehensive way to address our global climate pollution problem is a three-part solution: 1) Put a steadily increasing price on climate pollution when it enters the economy, 2) Give the money collected to the third party that is being harmed (all households equally), and 3) Use border carbon adjustments to protect US businesses and push our carbon price around the world. A strong carbon price signal will incentivize efficiency, innovation, transition, and drawdown. Sending the cash back to households will protect purchasing power. It sounds so easy! What's preventing us from doing this? Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help solve the most significant existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes, we can. Each of us can take effective action in this pivotal moment in humankind’s history. Ordinary people advocating for change is our last, best hope to avoid climate catastrophe. Let's get started right now!


Z14149: Help solve climate change in Splash 2020 (Nov. 14 - 15, 2020)
From climate science we know the technical changes that are needed for a relatively safe climate future: reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 and drawdown CO2 in the air to 350 ppm well before 2100. From economics we know that when pollution is free we get too much of it, but climate pollution is still free in most countries. Economists say that the cheapest and fairest way to address the problem is to put a steadily increasing price on climate pollution when it enters the economy, give the money collected to the third party being harmed (all households equally), and use border adjustments to push our price around the world. A strong carbon price signal will incentivize efficiency, innovation, transition, and drawdown. It sounds so easy! What's preventing us from fixing this? Is it possible to break the logjam and save ourselves? Can any of us do anything to help solve this, the biggest existential crisis human civilization has ever faced? Yes we can. Come find out how, play a Kahoot, and take action in a pivotal moment in the history of mankind.