We know what we need to do...

Nobody puts sustainability in the corner – There is only one topic this week

You’ll hear and read lots, or perhaps not, about the IPCC Synthesis Report AR6 or basically the latest big report on climate change from lots of very clever scientists. Does the report tell us anything new? Well unless you’ve been complexly incommunicado for the past five years, then no. The planet is getting hotter, and the impact of human activity is understood and believed by all apart from a few that refuse to believe the science in front of them for personal or political reasons.

We’re seeing more extreme weather events, more millions of people at risk and many billions impacted by the changes we’re seeing across the amazing planet we call home. Climate migration (people being forced to move due to the changing climate patterns), food security and the very way of living that many people and communities have followed for millennia are at risk.

The 1.5C target of warming over the levels seen before the industrial revolution has almost been cast around as some sort of defence against what we are now seeing. We’ll be ok, we’ve got the 1.5C target, it’ll be ok, we’ll just make sure we hit that. Well, much like a road speed sign indicating a maximum of 70mph, it’s meaningless if we all speed past at 100mph. The target, like speed limits on roads, is going to be exceeded. The new word in this publication is overshoot. We need to make sure we fall back as quickly as possible after we overshoot. So, we drop out speed when we see a speed camera up ahead? But perhaps the accident has already happened, perhaps the lack of braking distance at that speed has led us to crash into the back of the car in front, the car behind us has gone into us and so on.

The damage caused by our actions has impacted many even though they may well have been following the speed limit. It’s the same of course with our changing climate, many countries that have emitted very little over the course of their development are suffering because of the actions and now inaction of developed nations.

Will this report make people change their behaviour radically? Will it see businesses deliver fundamental change to get to net zero emissions? Will it see governments recognise their responsibilities to support nations beyond their borders? It would be awe-inspiring to believe we’ll see substantive change, to see change coming at us at a speed as rapid as the change we see in the climate.

My fear and I hate myself for feeling this way is the limited media coverage, the sense that people are saying ‘oh yes another report’ means we simply won’t see the change we need to see.?

The time for talking is over, the time for action is now. I believe there are enough people out there that want to make a difference to educate others and to make change happen. Do it, don’t talk about it. I talk too much and I’m sure many would agree. I’m pivoting to deliver more change as well as more words (if I lost my words, it would be akin to losing my children so they’re not going anywhere). Do or do not, there is no try as the eloquent Yoda would say.

Sustainability: Do we care? Yes, I care. Yes, you care. Yes, we care