Hello Amanda, and welcome!
I too would like to avert a climate/ecological breakdown. I've followed geosequestration experiments/pilots with interest but none seem to have achieved their goals yet, so I wish you the best in your project.
As for the Qt Creator license issue, it looks like you installed a Commercial (possibly Evaluation) version of Qt? Do you remember which link you got it from?
Anyway, please try uninstalling it, and then reinstall from https://www.qt.io/download-open-source instead. No funds are needed to use Qt under an open-source license, although non-monetary contributions to the Qt community (in the forum of bug reports, patches, community engagement etc.) are always welcome.