How to save the planet: Four actions for individuals

The world has taken massive strides forward in the last decade. According to statistics from the World Bank and the UN, extreme poverty is currently at its lowest overall level in recorded history, child mortality and youth illiteracy are both down, and global average life expectancy has increased.

In Davos at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting this year, world leaders, CEOs, non-profits and academic heads will once again convene to discuss the state of the world. This year, conversations will aim give concrete meaning to define “stakeholder capitalism, assist governments and international institutions in tracking progress towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, and facilitate discussions on technology and trade governance.”

The agenda is packed meetings around “How to save the planet”, “Society and the future of work”, “Tech for good” and “Healthy futures” – interestingly themes that I have been fascinated by and investigated myself over the past 8 years from my days as a Partner at global management consulting firm, Kearney, and now as the President for Cisco Systems in ASEAN. I am humbled and privileged to have had senior roles in these amazing companies and believe that I can play my own part in saving the planet. As I reflect on the last few years, I wanted to share my own personal views on this topic.

The earth’s physical ecosystems continue to be faced with significant risks like global warming through a rising carbon footprint, reductions in marine biodiversity and overpopulation. I believe that radical changes to our ecosystems can be made by enacting change in four areas:

1)   Alter your own personal consumption

2)   Hold corporates more accountable

3)   Elect responsible government leaders

4)   Make a simple change, yourself, today

Alter personal consumption. Making small changes on what you choose to buy or wear can make a large and positive impact on the planet. For example, thoughtfully choosing what you eat can improve your own health and ensure fragile ecosystems can be maintained to feed a planet with even 10 Billion people. The EAT-Lancet Commission, has identified that the “food we eat, the ways we produce it, and the amounts wasted or lost have major impacts on human health and environmental sustainability”. Ensuring we consume the right food will be crucial for countries to achieve the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Commission argues that a “diet that includes more plant-based foods and fewer animal source foods is healthy, sustainable, and good for both people and planet”. Agricultural land occupies nearly 40% of total terrestrial property on the planet. Food production is responsible for up to 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of freshwater use (it takes 1,700 litres to produce a quarter pounder!). Land conversion for food production is the single most important driver of biodiversity loss. Action: Choose what you buy, eat and drink thoughtfully every day.

Hold corporates accountable. A pivotal shift occurred on August 19, 2019 in the US when nearly 200 CEOs, including the leaders of Cisco, Apple, Pepsi and Walmart agreed to a new definition of the role of business in society. They argued that “companies should no longer advance only the interests of shareholders. Instead they must also invest in their employees, protect the environment and deal fairly and ethically with their suppliers.” This is fighting talk, so citizens and shareholders need to hold companies accountable to actions and their results. I’m proud to be at Cisco where we have ambitious goals to make a measurable impact on people, society, and the planet. Perhaps more important than goals, we have already shown we are well on our way to demonstrating results. In 2016, under the leadership of Tae Yoo and Chuck Robbins, we decided we couldn’t settle for anything less than positively impacting one billion people through our signature programs and social impact grants by 2025. At the end of FY19, we’re excited to share that we have positively impacted a cumulative 469 million people worldwide, putting us at 47% of our goal. Action: Join companies that believe in and deliver positive impact on communities.

Elect responsible government leaders. Governments need to be held more accountable to citizens and to international institutions around climate change or waste management. For example, we have already seen many stories of the effects of plastic in the oceans. One way the government can support the reduction of single use plastic consumption is to enforce tighter regulations around the distribution of single use plastics, like plastic straws. Providing subsidies to small restaurants to purchasing paper or reusable straws can be a powerful signal to the public on the government’s policy stance towards the environment. Financing these small restaurants through the systematic reallocation of fossil fuel subsidies might be an even more powerful signal to demonstrate commitment. Action: Vote only for government officials who make environment goals a priority.

Make a simple change, yourself, today. The field of social entrepreneurship, famously coined by the US-based NGO Ashoka, has now evolved into a global movement. The next evolution of social entrepreneurship by Ashoka is to encourage everyone to be a “changemaker”. With this simple, yet provocative idea, an individual can make a difference. But if all individuals were social entrepreneurs or innovators, this could create a major inflection in the Earth’s sustainability trajectory. Research has shown that most social change agents start young, and once they start young, they will continue to drive social change well into their adult life. Empowering the youth of today to believe in themselves, pick up an idea (no matter how big or small), and take action is one of our most fundamental responsibilities as adults or teachers. Action: get involved in a social change initiative today, or mentor a young changemaker.