Oct
15
Blog Action Day 2009 – Climate Change
I learned of Blog Action Day 2009 from a tweet my brother made – and since this is the first year of my blogging experience, I thought I’d join in as it’s a topic that I do have some strong feelings about. While I’m pretty sure there will be a lot of pontificating out there regarding this topic, I’m going to keep my comments brief.
Climate change is something that truly intersects both business and personal life, but I think business has a real opportunity to provide the momentum for change in the future. Here’s why: business can give people the reason to make a real change in their lives. The average person probably could care less about climate change in their day to day lives. If you stopped average Joe on the street and asked him what he thought about it – he might feel obligated to say “it’s an issue, I should probably do more,” and then go about his business not making one change in his life to make a difference.
If companies can give all of their stakeholders (customers, employees, etc.) an incentive to cut back on energy use, buy that hybrid, ride their bike more, we’ll see real change happen. And the thing is – it makes real business sense for a lot of companies to do this. Often when you make sustainability or the environment a priority, you force a constraint on decision making that fosters creativity. The end result is more efficient products that either cost less or at least provide savings over the long run. Saving money is an individual’s biggest incentive to make a change in their behavior (even when climate change isn’t their primary reason for making that purchase).
My hope is that business will take the lead. Local business, big business – doesn’t matter. There are ways to help influence change for the better so that future generations can experience the same natural wonders of this earth that we’ve been able to enjoy. Lots of small changes make a big difference over the long run – the key is just to start making them. Now.
