My Pledge for Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. A day to celebrate the things we appreciate most about our earth - our home. Today is also a day to reflect. I recently read the book by Eckardt Tolle called A New Earth. One of the most inspirational books I have ever read. He explains how learning to be more present in life is the key to more fulfilment. Nature is our best guide. Let’s practice our presence by being present to the beauty of nature - its flowers, colours, sounds and smells. I have been doing this in the last couple of weeks in my garden and it is incredibly powerful. 

I am a father of two small children and I have a strong urge that my children, and all other children across the world, get to enjoy the same beautiful environment in the future as we know it today. While right now we have a more immediate emergency to focus on with the COVID-19 pandemic that is threatening our health systems, social infrastructure and economies, we must continue our endeavours to drastically reduce the damage that we are causing to our planet. We must preserve our environment in its current form. Leading scientists confirm that it is the 11th hour and that this is the decisive decade to end the ongoing exploitation, pollution, and destruction of our planet and its species. 

My eldest daughter, age 4, sees things a little differently. She is very much enjoying the family being so close together for such an extended period of time. But still, the environment is very much at the top of her mind. Three days ago we found a plastic bag in our garden. Tears started to flow down her cheeks and she went to pick it up and bring it to the bin. And even more remarkable for her has been the recent arrival of metal rainbow straws to replace the plastic ones that were still in our kitchen drawers. She had been taught in school that plastic bags and straws kill the beautiful turtles in our oceans. It is a strong purpose in my life to inspire her to largely live a life of service as she grows up. I was not inspired to go down this path in my youth and it is difficult to develop this drive in later years. Something that I am now working on every day, as I have learned that a life of service is not only great for the people you are helping, but it is also for our personal feeling of fulfilment. Preserving our environment is a great place to pursue this purpose. 

How come we haven't found a better way to deal with valuable resources that, in former times, used to be worth a lot of money?

Perhaps you think that this is merely the view of an innocent child that hasn't grasped the complexity of our world's problems. But really, she has. Back in September 2019, Reuters posted a graphic illustration of global plastic pollution. Here is something for the adults then: Every hour 55,000,000 plastic bottles are being bought. In a full day, that plastic bottle pile is half the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. And while you have read my words, nearly 600,000 plastic bottles have been added, only 20 percent of which will be recycled, meaning the majority of the bottles visualised above will end up in the environment, landfill sites, or oceans around the world. How come we haven't found a better way to deal with valuable resources that, in former times, used to be worth a lot of money?

This is just one example of what has been going wrong in the past decade. Our leading scientists agree that if we continue to emit CO2 at current levels, our planet will heat up by three percent by the end of the century. If we have any turtles left to worry about by then, is a cynical question I would rather not discuss with my children. 

When reflecting on this day, mentioning such movements as Fridays4Future is unavoidable. I was at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, speaking to the Chief Sustainability Officers of firms such as Google and Unilever, among others. One of their main challenges is to get the sustainability topic ingrained into the culture of their business and into the core of their brands. It comes at no surprise that CEOs and decision-makers are largely still reluctant to forfeit revenues and profits in the interest of a greater good that is often also not immediately measurable. Matter of fact, one of the greatest powers in making businesses "go green" lies with the kids. In the case of my anecdote, with the kids of CEOs and board members. One of the aforementioned executives told me a very memorable story. One about how his two kids put so much pressure on him by continuously criticising and questioning why he was not doing more, that as a result of this, he put sustainability high up on his agenda for 2020 and subsequent years.

The Covid-19 pandemic is our chance to reflect, rethink, reconsider and reunite in our efforts to do things differently.

Looking at the world during the pandemic, there are many other things that make me feel hopeful nonetheless. The COVID-19 pandemic is our chance to reflect, rethink, reconsider and reunite in our efforts to do things differently. As a good first step, EU ministers and CEOs of top companies signed a campaign last week pleading to rebuild our economies around the Green Deal of sustainable growth. People everywhere cherish the improvement of air quality due to the reduction of CO2 emissions and value nature more now that they are forced to spend their time indoors. The promise of a truly cleaner future is within grasp and it is too promising not to give it a go. 

So, enough with the words. I have promised my daughters to do something for this year’s Earth Day - if they don't understand it entirely now then they will soon. So apart from removing plastic from our homes, I made a pledge: Within the next 365 days, I will reduce my personal CO2 footprint and that of my family and businesses significantly, looking at every angle and finding creative ways of how to become carbon neutral and possibly even carbon positive in the long run. I will be updating you and everyone who follows me on a regular basis. Hopefully, I inspire some of you to adopt a few of the measures as well. Many small steps can have a big impact. Let’s start with the man in the mirror.

Will you join me? #myearthdaypledge