A year ago, in May 2016, after years of climate activity and months of reflection, Global Climate Change Think & Act Tank was born. What started out partly from a willingness to learn more about climate change, but foremost out of a deep concern for our global environments, the nature, and sustainability in general, has now become an active (social media) movement involving professionals and people from all kinds of industries across our world.
Climate change, environmental protection, and sustainable economic development are core factors affecting businesses, corporations, organizations, individuals, and thus societies holistically. In today´s world, none of us can afford ignoring climate leadership as a core value, and as a long-term competitive advantage, as well as an investment, in business practices across industries AND in our personal lives. Instead of denying the truth about the long-term negative effects caused by human behavior and unsustainable ways of conducting business/living our lives, we must embrace change not only in business practices, but in our everyday lives. Holistically. We already know HOW to do it. It is only a question about a willingness to embrace positive change, improve our ways of consuming, living, and conducting business. Of course, inter/national climate policies and regulations do have a significant impact, whereby local/global politics plays a significant role. Although, at the core of climate leadership, societies consists of smart individuals – the driving force to all change.
Climate leadership and taking responsibility for our environment belongs to EVERYONE. No individual can outsource his/her personal responsibility, wherefore we are all responsible for taking action and committing to changing our societies into sustainable places to live, now and in the future.
97 % of all scientists agree upon the fact that climate change, as it occurs in today´s world, is caused by us human beings. According to NASA – Global Climate Change – Vital Signs of the Planet, the evidence for this is fact-based and relevant. The (future) consequences of human caused climate change are yet partly unknown, although climate change in today´s world has already caused: sea level rise, global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, declining Arctic sea ice, glacial retreats, extreme events, ocean acidification, and decreased snow cover – to mention a few! How these changes affect life upon Earth, unless we take action and implement necessary changes, is to some extent yet a question mark.
According to The UN Migration Agency and based upon climate research, the number of climate refugees could rise up to 200 million by 2050. As per today, the UN Refugee Agency estimates that more than 22.5 million people have been displaced due to climate and/or weather-related events in the past decade. And, the number is continuously growing. Without hesitation, these are unsustainable facts and numbers.
With a reference to Adger,W.N., J.M. Pulhin, J. Barnett, G.D. Dabelko, G.K. Hovelsrud, M. Levy, Ú. Oswald Spring, and C.H. Vogel, 2014: Human security. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L.White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 755-791. , climate change affects human security in a wide variety of ways, including food security, displacement, migration, mobility, inter/national conflict/s, critical infrastructures, state capacities, and geopolitical issues.
Climate leadership, including the necessity to act upon climate change and driving change that concerns all of humanity, must be taken seriously by everyone. It is not enough to have local/regional/national/global policies and regulations . Businesses, creating innovative solutions, are the true sustainability ambassadors, together with aware consumers/individuals.
ACT NOW – become a supporter of our global movement – Global Climate Change Think & Act Tank:
GCC Think & Act Tank on LinkedIn
GCC Think & Act Tank on Facebook
Climate Leadership by Global Climate Change Think & Act Tank
https://www.slideshare.net/annemariayritys/global-climate-change-think-act-tank-72400257
Anne-Maria Yritys 