As I sit here writing this blog, the climate that affects us all is changing. Some of these changes are irreversible. However, some of the changes happening to our climate are reversible, and we can make an impact by acting now. It is a choice, but I believe most people are good, and given the opportunity, will choose to help others when they can. So, why should we act now? It’s really as simple as The Golden Rule:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Fast-forward 100 years and consider two different outcomes from choosing to act on climate change. Option one is that we continue business as usual and the world’s climate changes so rapidly that ocean acidification causes crabs to no longer produce their shells sending a massive ripple effect throughout the food chain causing many fish species to go extinct; lands become uninhabitable due to extreme heat and drought leading to displaced people needing clean water and food resulting in increased warfare because desperate people will fight to survive; plastics clog our rivers arteries, litter our beaches and also work their way into the food chain killing sea birds and fishes; and the polar ice caps melt completely causing sea level rise that many island nations will not recover from, as well as much of the world living on the coast. What will your grandchildren have to say about you? I know I would not put my family at risk knowing that I had choice to reverse this outcome. The good news is that we can choose to make a difference on the future impacts of climate change, but the scary version is that much this is happening now!
Option two is that we come to understand that we can choose the world we want to leave our children and future generations, but that choice must be made today! Change starts from within. We have to decide individually that we are going to make better decisions about the world we want to leave our families. For example, when we decide to buy organic, which reduces the demand for harmful pesticides that runoff into our rivers and streams causing dead zones and algal blooms; when we buy local our money stays in the local economy reducing the environmental impact of transportation of goods; when we turn off the faucet while we shave, we conserve our most precious resource; and when we consider the environmental impact of the products we buy before purchasing them we send clear market signals to companies that they should also reduce their environmental impact, then we can begin to affect positive change not only in our lives, but in the lives of future generations.
At Emerger Strategies, we want to leave behind a world where you can still fish for trout because the water is cold and clean, or still find tailing redfish because they are still searching for crabs on a flood tide. We also understand that we, as a business, have to make responsible decisions to ensure that our grandchildren are afforded the same opportunities that we have, which is why we are doing our part by working to achieve the following goals of our Strategic Sustainability Plan:
- Engage both our internal and external stakeholders by creating awareness about issues related to climate change via our website, blog and social media
- Develop partnerships with other businesses and non-profits committed to helping others solve climate change, and other environmental issues
- By 2020 become a Net-Zero business: energy, waste & water
We want to use our business as a tool to solve social and environmental problems and help others do the same. Why? Because we want to change the world and believe it’s as simple as treating others the way we would want to be treated.