#31-There is no Planet B: Climate Change is Everyone Business
Climate Change is Real- Earth is producing more CO2 than ever, the glacial ice is melting faster than ever, forest reserves are depleting, air and water pollution is on the rise.
Biden’s take on climate change
US President-Elect Joe Biden, According to his administration goals the US will have the most progressive position on climate change in the nation’s history. Biden has proposed a USD 2 trillion clean energy and infrastructure plan and expressed a strong commitment to rejoin the Paris agreement and a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
There is no business, without a healthy and sustainable planet. Climate change is a much bigger issue than all the problems of the world combined, and hence it requires complete attention and prioritization.
The Point of no Return is Approaching
In Dec 2019, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke at the international climate conference in Madrid. He highlighted that the world’s efforts to stop climate change have been “utterly inadequate” so far, and there is dangerous global warming that could pass the “point of no return.” The U.N. chief highlighted that due to the rising temperatures, more extreme weather is already being felt around the world. There will be more dramatic consequences for humans and other species if climate change prevention measures are not taken seriously.
Business and political leaders have not been prioritizing Climate Change
even after a crisis like Amazon forest fires and Australian bushfires.
The Alarm Bells are ringing loud
- There is no Planet B, Yet: Whether we realize it or not, our planet is one giant ship, and reducing climate-change is everyone’s business. One irresponsible leader of large regions like India, China, the USA, Canada, Indonesia, the EU, Australia, and Brazil can expedite the destruction of the entire planet by placing the economy over a sustainable climate. Multiple political, business, and academic bodies like G20, World Health Organization, and the World Economic Forum has tried to stop climate change. Still, all the announced measures have fallen short of what is needed. For example, India is home to 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities, and still, the government and business leaders have not taken any decision to stop the madness. Just a few days of forced lockdown that happened due to COVID 2019 helped in improving the quality of the air. Forced lockdown is not a sustainable answer. The change will occur when all stakeholders in a business, city, state, country are held accountable for the pollution index.
- Depletion of Earth’s glacier ice: According to a report published in the journal Nature, Earth’s glaciers have lost nine trillion metric tons of ice in the 55 years between 1961 and 2016. Mashable reported that assuming an average weight of a 747 airliner is 735,000 pounds. Then this calculation comes out to around 27 billion 747s worth of ice lost over half a century. Glacier ice helps in reflecting the sun’s light into space; in the absence of a white ice layer, the heat gets absorbed by the earth’s ocean resulting in the water level rise. Projections of sea-level rise by century’s end are between two and three feet. NASA scientists agree that this, in reality, is a conservative estimate. According to extreme scenarios, the number could be as much a six feet by 2100. Every year, the Earth is losing about three times the volume of all ice stored in the European Alps. This loss accounts for around 30 percent of the current rate of sea-level rise as per the research by the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich
- Air and water pollution due to industrial waste and animal toxins:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills approximately seven million people globally per year. The WHO data also highlights that 9 out of 10 people breathe contaminated air. WHO is collaborating with countries to monitor air pollution and improve air quality. It is difficult to avoid the smog hanging over cities and the smoke inside the home. Air pollution poses a significant danger to people’s health and the earth’s climate. Air pollution leads to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, acute respiratory infections, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. About 80% of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed WHO guideline limits, with low- and middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposures, both indoors and outdoors. As of 2020, about 80 percent of the world’s wastewater is dumped — largely untreated back into the environment, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans. Less than 1 percent of the planet's fresh water is accessible for human consumption. The problem will only increase by 2050 when the global demand for freshwater is expected to be one-third higher than it is now.
Am I Just Another Voice?
I want to bring your attention to the topic of climate change. It may sound like an emotional yet logical appeal to the citizens, business, and government leaders. I will like to highlight a grim reality for sure. If we humans continue with business-as-usual, then the human species will not live to see the next century. Few may survive, but life would be worse than death on such a polluted planet.
Dialogues, discussions, and debates that did not result in any improvement have done as much harm to the planet as the complete denial of climate change warnings and unsustainable economic policies. I am mature enough to respect the food and fashion choices of the people; however, it is crucial to educate them to show the bigger picture. Likewise, I also recognize the businesses’ right to produce and sell what is in-demand, but it will be great to see if they are building a business that lasts centuries or only a few years. Climate-change, unless corrected, may not let any business or consumer see the next century and not the one after that.
All that has been written or is being written about strategy and digital transformation is of no consequence if the readers and business leaders do not prioritize climate change over all other transformation initiatives.
It is already very late. We have limited time to correct our course to avoid a guaranteed apocalypse of mass human extinction.
Let’s do everything we can while we still can. Let’s save the planet that gave us everything.
Digital Strategy and Transformation Expert
(Views are personal)
