Tag: Environmental Protection

GCC Think Act Tank cover 2019

What if You Had Only One Minute?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

If you had only 1 minute to take action to save the world from the environmental catastrophe that we are heading towards, what would your actions be? What would you be willing to give up on/sacrifice for the cause of saving flora & fauna, and perhaps even human beings?

 

  1. Would you support a sustainable economy based on putting the global ecology before greedy capitalism?

 

  1. Would you reduce or stop flying at all?

 

  1. Would you be willing to stop driving a car, and start using other means of transport (cycling, public transport)?

 

  1. Would you eat less meat? Become a vegetarian? Become a vegan?

 

  1. Would you consume more biological, organic, and fair trade products? And, consume more local and seasonal food products?

 

  1. Would you stop blaming governments, politicians and businesses for being responsible, and be willing to take personal responsibility for your consumption habits?

 

  1. Would you agree that the era of fossil fuels has to be replaced with renewable energy sources as soon as possible, and support renewables by choosing to consume renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels?

 

What else would you be willing to do?

 

Feel free to comment.

 

Anne-Maria Yritys, August 1st 2019

 

 

Why Should You Have to Protect The Environment

Why Should You Have to Protect The Environment?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Environmental Protection, Global Climate Change

Repeat after me:

I do not want to protect the environment. I want us to create a world where the environment needs no protection. Anne-Maria Yritys

Why should you even have to protect the environment? Would it not be much easier to create a world where the environment needs no protection?

How can this be achieved in a world where man leaves a heavy footprint wherever he goes?

In brief: to create an economically more sustainable future for ourselves and for future generations, we must focus upon developing following sectors:

  1. Transition away from polluting and environmentally damaging fossil fuels and sources of energy that involve serious risks for both the environment and overall health => renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, solar energy and wind energy. The global energy sector is the main reason for human-caused climate change and global warming.
  2. Development of cleantech, including the previously mentioned energy sector.
  3. Circular economies, including recycling and drastic reduction of produced waste.
  4. Sustainable agriculture, farming, and fishing practices.
  5. Education => slowing down population growth.
  6. Legislation and taxation that supports sustainable economic development.

Contact me directly for further discussion.

Anne-Maria Yritys May 29th 2019.

 

 

Why We Are Not Taking Climate Action Fast Enough

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Environmental Protection, Global Climate Change

During my studies/research on climate and environmental topics from a wide variety of angles since several years back, I have noticed how much progress has been made around the world in terms of environmental protection, and concrete climate action.

With climate change deniers, resistants, apathetic individuals and those who talk the talk without actually walking their talk, our world has plenty of individuals who actually are fully dedicated in their everyday lives to tackling both climate change and environmental destruction. These individuals take action in their personal lives, create businesses and contribute to/make significant political decisions in terms of protecting our local/global environment without which things could look much worse than they actually are today.

In terms of communicating climate and environment-related topics local and global journalism/media play a significant role; how else would the crowd be informed about any development that is taking place? Well-informed citizens of any country, or people who dig deep into specific topics out of personal or business interest of course know how to search for information through a wide variety of sources, which today is even more simple than ever thanks to the Internet and people around the world having public access to information and reports, many times for free.

Nevertheless, and despite important political decisions and legislative changes in terms of environmental protection, journalism and media have a huge responsibility and lots of power when it comes to bringing public awareness about specific issues, climate change and environmental protection. Anthropogenic climate change and environmental protection are both no new topics.

Those with longer life experience and more years behind them know that specific climate/environmental issues have been discussed for several decades. In recent years, however, there has been a significant increase in climate change and environmental topics brought up by various media outlets. Since the Paris Agreement was signed on April 22nd 2016, most countries on our planet have actually pledged to concrete climate action; some countries with more ambition than others.

The main goal of the Paris Agreement is for all countries that have signed (and ratified) the agreement to take concrete actions in order to stop global warming and to prevent global average temperatures from rising above 1,5 degrees Celsius (34,7 Fahrenheit), since research indicates that even slight increases in global (or regional) average temperatures can and will lead to drastic changes worldwide in terms of for instance food security. The purpose of the Paris Agreement is also to ensure that countries take all possible action to reduce GHG ́s (greenhouse gas emissions), which are found to be increasing the global average temperatures through the warming effect that these create.

The question is, however: Do We Take Climate Action Fast Enough?

In the global energy sector, renewable energy sources (excluding nuclear energy), today account for 25,6 % of the total global energy sector, a vast majority of which comes from hydropower (15,9 %). (IHA 2019). Despite the growing capacity of renewable energy sources worldwide in recent years, energy-heavy sectors such as cooling, heating and transport lag behind and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind today account for 2,1 % respectively 4,6 % of total global energy. (IHA 2019; REN21 2018).

Climate marches and school strikes on behalf of climate action and environmental protection that gather millions of people together around the world of course bring an important message and put increasingly much pressure on both educational institutions and schools, businesses in all industries, and governments/politicians, but the focal point here is to focus upon concrete action, which can be taken on various levels throughout societies: in our personal lives, in businesses, and in terms of legislation.

It is comforting to notice that despite of certain climate change resistance or complete ignorance even among world leaders, major cities around the world and in countries such as the U.S. are committed to taking action and concrete measures to either eliminate or reduce their carbon emissions, including for instance New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Furthermore, research and reports published by IRENA and OPEC reveal how even traditional oil-drilling/oil-producing regions invest into renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

Nevertheless, with a rapid population growth globally and a continuous increase in energy consumption worldwide, environmentally more sustainable solutions are much needed to keep up with the current development in order to meet the demands of the Paris Agreement which aims not only to protect, but in fact to save our planet Earth from complete destruction.

Anne-Maria Yritys 13.5.2019

 

Abu Dhabi desert

The Future Belongs to Those Who Create it

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, Environmental Protection, Global Climate Change, Sustainable Economic Development

With a rapidly growing world population and an extensive exploitation of Mother Earth ́s natural resources it is not to wonder that we are facing a global environmental crisis.

 

What else is to be expected when (rain) forests are being cut down at the current rate? Much of our world’s land area being turned into buildings, skyscrapers or poorly managed farming land.

 

In less than one century, man has managed to destroy most of this planet in what may deceive many human eyes by its architectural extravagance, or go unseen by most of humanity by the amount of garbage and poisons thrown vastly into the environment, including our oceans, around the world.

 

For the future belongs to those who create it; so humanity can only blame itself for the upcoming environmental disaster and catastrophe.

 

Those who created this contemporary industrialized world where our global environment is the currency, are old enough not to have to personally face or live the destruction of our planet.

 

Younger generations, and human children yet unborn, are those who will have to deal with the consequences of all the evil that mankind has done to our planet within the past 100 years alone.

 

The only way to really make a difference is to change from within; to change your personal behavior and consumption habits.

 

When you change yourself, society must follow. Businesses must follow. Legislation must follow. There is no other way than radical change among all of humanity. Otherwise, we will all soon be lost.

 

“Wherever you go, you will always leave a footprint”.

 

Do you know how your personal/business lifestyle affects the environment?

 

If not, find out by using a carbon footprint calculator. You can find one with an Internet search, for instance at WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

 

Moreover, you can calculate your personal/business fresh water consumption. Check out for instance The Friends of The Earth (water footprint calculator).

 

Anne-Maria Yritys 7.5.2019

 

Old aluminium can

Why is Recycling Important?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, Environmental Protection, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Economic Development

Finding museum waste in the forest devastates me. This aluminium can is from a time period when Finland was not yet a member of EMU and did not have the Euro € as a currency, but the Finnish mark.

Finland has been a euro country since 1.1.2002 so this aluminium can has most probably been in the forest for more than 17 years now. I found it in a local forest today.

With a recycling fee on aluminium cans + glass and plastic bottles, it should not be such a hard task to actually recycle. Or, throw waste into a waste bin instead of dumping it in nature.

Aluminium, other metals, glass or plastic is NOT biodegradable materials.

The level of stupidity among human beings does not cease to amaze me.

#recycling #dontthrowyourwasteintonature #environmentaldamage #wastemanagement

 

Why Do We Need a Green Finland?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Environmental Protection, Global Climate Change

According to polls, more than 30% of youth in Finland want to vote green. It, along with the continuous climate strikes among students in Finland, speaks for how concerned children and youth are about the state of the environment. We live in important times.

 

Finland’s parliamentary elections take place on April 14th, followed by European Parliament elections in May, and Finland’s Presidency of the European Council starting on July 1st.

 

Finland aims to act as a role model for the rest of the world in terms of taking action upon anthropogenic climate change and in meeting the targets of the 2015 signed Paris Agreement.

 

Cities are cooperating to find ways of becoming increasingly much sustainable, and Nordic countries have agreed upon increased cooperation to tackle climate change, its consequences and what needs to be done.

 

Contrary to certain attitudes and beliefs according to which it is pointless for sparsely populated countries like Finland to do anything in terms of climate change or in terms of taking climate action, it is a fact that developed, high-tech, welfare countries such as Finland do play a significant role in terms of environmental well-being.

 

Although e.g. China and India are among the most populous countries on our planet, western societies and developed countries contribute more together than most developing countries, with for instance production being outsourced to low-cost developing countries such as India, China, Turkey, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

 

Anne-Maria Yritys 6.4.2019

 

Every Sinner has a Future…

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

Although I live in a country (Finland) where WWF’s Earth Hour every year falls onto a date when it is already so light outdoors that you do not need any artificial lights, I have in my heart and in my mind celebrated Earth Hour for as long as I can recall WWF having started its campaign for spreading awareness about important topics including environmental wellbeing and the protection of animal species, which all are under some kind of threat due to human activities on this common planet that we share.

 

Each year, Earth Hour has been more of an ideology to me:

 

I do not need a separate Earth Hour, because since many years I aim to live in a way that harms the planet as little as possible.

 

That includes cutting down on “luxury” basically to a minimum level.

 

I sold my first (and probably last) car 12 years ago.

 

I have not used an airplane for more than four years. Not for business, nor privately.

 

I have made it my priority to consume more wisely, including my eating habits and the clothes I wear.

 

I only buy what I need.

 

I use as little electricity as possible.

 

I walk or bike most of the time.

 

I clean up the nature around me every day, 365 days a year.

 

To me, real luxury in life is to have awareness, and be conscious of what is taking place around me.

 

I am not saying that I will never again drive a car or fly around the world. That is something I have done already, in my past.

 

There is a saying: “Every sinner has a future, and every saint has a past”.

 

None of us is perfect. We all have our flaws and weaknesses.

 

As human beings, we all destroy the environment. We all consume too much.

 

But what makes a difference are those small everyday choices.

 

Make smarter choices.

 

You don’t have to give up on all “luxuries” in your life, but you can try to make small efforts to improve your way of living and your impact on this planet that we share together, with now around 7.5 billion other human beings, and millions of animal species that suffer from the consequences of human greed.

 

WWF’s Earth Hour is really not about turning off the lights for one hour per year.

 

It is about turning on your inner light for 8750 hours per year, and for becoming increasingly conscious of what needs to be done for the well-being of our environment.

 

Anne-Maria Yritys 29.3.2019

 

Global Climate Change Think & Act Tank

What Do You Know About The Global Renewable Energy Market?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

Worthwhile to notice that IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) is not recognizing nuclear energy as a source of renewable energy.

 

Renewable energy sources include hydropower, marine energy, wind energy, solar energy, and bioenergy: solid biofuels and renewable waste, including renewable municipal waste, other solid biofuels, liquid biofuels and biogas, although much of bioenergy can be problematic for instance since more and more forests are being cut down in order to produce biofuels.

 

Growing (eatable) crops in terms of biofuel production does not make any sense in a world where the vast majority of all land has already been overexploited and has thus suffered from intensive farming, in addition to the fact that immense amounts of forests around the world are being cut down daily just in order to expand production plantations for biofuels. This is very short-sighted, and unsustainable.

 

According to a number of sources, including The Guardian, one football pitch of forest is being lost EVERY ONE SECOND (2017)!!!

 

That makes 31.536.000 football pitches of lost forests worldwide every single year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Needless to say, this is extremely unsustainable, especially if and when these land areas are being used solely for the production of biofuels.

 

Anne-Maria Yritys 5.2.2019.

 

Read more at IRENA: Renewable Energy Statistics

 

Why Are You a Climate Change Skeptic?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change
#ActOnClimateChange
 
As a reminder to all climate change skeptics:
 
Please keep in mind that when discussing climate change today, we refer to anthropogenic climate change for instance through a number of different emissions, much of which end up in our water bodies around the world increasing water acidity, into our forests that are important sources of absorbing emissions and toxins, and everywhere else in our environment. At least nine million people worldwide die each year due to environmental toxins.
 
Moreover, wastewater management worldwide is at a very poor level. Most of all wastewater worldwide ends up back in nature without any kind of treatment. Wastewater treatment in a country like Finland is a worldwide exception.
 
All water bodies worldwide becoming toxic or drying out are examples of how human beings destroy the global environment in addition to the fact that all toxins and emissions are destroying our home planet and causing climate change. Do you want to eat food that has been intoxicated or grown on sick soils?
 
These are just a couple of examples of how the behavior and inconsideration of human beings causes climate change and the average temperature of planet Earth to rise to an unbearable level.
 
If you need/want further examples, please get in touch with me.
 
I witnessed personally how whole water bodies dried out this summer, left with not water at all after the dry period. Finland will not be spared from climate change any more or less than any other country. Despite of our many lakes and fresh water bodies, freshwater scarcity is already a reality which will affect all citizens worldwide. No one on this planet will be spared.
 
The time to act is now. We have no other option than to take better care of our water bodies and our environment, both in Finland and elsewhere in the world.
 
Observing and noting environmental problems is of course difficult if one is completely estranged from nature and used to living in an urban jungle without ever having seen a blue sky or a green forest during one´s lifetime.
 
Or, if one is so used to a polluted environment; how can one distinguish between a healthy and sick environment? Majority of human beings seem to belong to the latter group; with an inability to distinguish between what is healthy and what is sick. It is a skill that has to be practiced. Furthermore, environmental toxins are invisible to the human eye.
 
It is worthwhile to become familiar with nature and the environment, which is our natural living space and reflect deep upon what is currently taking place in our surrounding world
 
Anne-Maria Yritys 1.10.2018.
 
#Ilmastomarssi
 
Muistutuksena ilmastonmuutosskeptikoille:
 
Pitäkää mielessänne, että puhuttaessa ilmastonmuutoksesta tänä päivänä viitataan ihmisten aiheuttamaan ilmastonmuutokseen esimerkiksi erilaisten päästöjen muodossa, joista suuri osa päätyy vesistöihimme lisäten niiden happamuutta, metsiimme jotka toimivat päästönieluina ja kaikkialle muualle ympäristöön. Maailmassa ainakin 9 miljoonaa ihmistä kuolee vuosittain pelkästään saasteisiin ja niistä johtuviin tappaviin sairauksiin.
 
Lisäksi jätevesien puhdistus maailmanlaajuisesti on erittäin heikolla tasolla. Suurin osa jätevesistä päätyy takaisin luontoon ja ympäristöön ilman minkäänlaista käsittelyä. Se, että Suomessa jätevedet puhdistetaan on maailmanlaajuisesti POIKKEUS. Kaikkien vesistöjen rehevöityminen, saastuminen ja kuivuminen ovat esimerkkejä ihmisten toiminnan vaikutuksista ympäristöön. Puhumattakaan siitä, millaiset vaikutukset kaikilla myrkyillä ja päästöillä on ympäristöömme. Haluatko sinä syödä ruokaa, joka on tuhottu erilaisilla ympäristömyrkyillä tai kasvatettu pilaantuneilla maaperillä?
 
Tässä pari “pientä” esimerkkiä siitä, kuinka ihmiskunnan käytös ja ajattelemattomuus aiheuttavat ilmastonmuutosta ja maapallon keskilämpötilan nousua kestämättömälle tasolle.
 
Mikäli haluat lisää esimerkkejä, voit olla yhteydessä vaikkapa suoraan allekirjoittaneeseen.
 
On turha ajatella, tai uskoa väitteisiin siitä, etteikö esimerkiksi myös Suomea tulisi kohtaamaan äärimmäinen kuivuus ja äärimmäiset sääilmiöt jo melko lähitulevaisuudessa. Siitä saatiin jo esimakua tänä vuonna kun monien vesistöjen pinnat Suomessa laskivat jopa 1,5 metriä kuivan ja helteisen kesän takia.
 
Henkilökohtaisesti näin paikoittain, kuinka kokonaiset vesistöt kuivuivat kasaan eikä niissä ollut kuivan jakson jälkeen enää lainkaan vettä. Ei Suomi tule säästymään ilmastonmuutokselta yhtään sen enempää kuin mikään muukaan maa. Runsaista järvistämme huolimatta, maailmanlaajuinen makean veden vesipula on jo nyt todellisuutta ja se tulee vaikuttamaan myös suomalaisiin. Ei siltä säästy tällä planeetalla kukaan.
 
Siksi aika toimia on nyt. Pidetään vesistöistämme ja muusta ympäristöstämme hyvää ja parempaa huolta, niin Suomessa kuin maailmalla.
 
Ympäristöongelmia on toki hankala havaita jos on täysin vieraantunut luonnosta ja jos liikkuu pelkässä asfalttiviidakossa eikä esim. koskaan elämänsä aikana ole nähnyt sinistä taivasta tai vihreää metsää.
 
Tai jos on tottunut saastuneeseen ympäristöön: kuinka sellainen ihminen osaa erottaa terveen ympäristön sairaasta? Suurin osa ihmisistä taitavat kuulua siihen kategoriaan, jotka eivät osaa erottaa tervettä sairaasta. Kannattaa harjoitella tätäkin taitoa!
 
Kaiken lisäksi monet ympäristömyrkyt ovat ihmisen silmälle näkymättömiä eli niitä ei havaitse paljaalla silmällä.
 
Kannattaa tutustua luontoon ja ympäristöön, jotka ovat meidän ihmistenkin luonnollinen elinympäristö ja hieman miettiä, mitä tässä maailmassa parhaillaankin tapahtuu.
 
Anne-Maria Yritys 1.10.2018.

What Makes Someone A Climate Change Skeptic?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

As a reminder to all climate change skeptics:

 

Please keep in mind that when discussing climate change today, we refer to anthropogenic climate change for instance through a number of different emissions, much of which end up in our water bodies around the world increasing water acidity, into our forests that are important sources of absorbing emissions and toxins, and everywhere else in our environment. At least nine million people worldwide die each year due to environmental toxins.

 

Moreover, wastewater management worldwide is at a very poor level. Most of all wastewater worldwide ends up back in nature without any kind of treatment. Wastewater treatment in a country like Finland is a worldwide exception.

 

All water bodies worldwide becoming toxic or drying out are examples of how human beings destroy the global environment in addition to the fact that all toxins and emissions are destroying our home planet and causing climate change. Do you want to eat food that has been intoxicated or grown on sick soils?

 

These are just a couple of examples of how the behavior and inconsideration of human beings causes climate change and the average temperature of planet Earth to rise to an unbearable level.

 

If you need/want further examples, please get in touch with me.

 

I witnessed personally how whole water bodies dried out this summer, left with no water at all after the dry period. Finland will not be spared from climate change any more or less than any other country. Despite our many lakes and fresh water bodies, freshwater scarcity is already a reality which will affect all citizens worldwide. No one on this planet will be spared.

 

The time to act is now. We have no other option than to take better care of our water bodies and our environment, both in Finland and elsewhere in the world.

 

Observing and noting environmental problems is of course difficult if one is completely estranged from nature and used to living in an urban jungle without ever having seen a blue sky or a green forest during one’s lifetime.

 

Or, if one is so used to a polluted environment; how can one distinguish between a healthy and sick environment? Majority of human beings seem to belong to the latter group; with an inability to distinguish between what is healthy and what is sick. It is a skill that has to be practiced. Furthermore, environmental toxins are invisible to the human eye.

 

It is worthwhile to become familiar with nature and the environment, which is our natural living space and reflect deeply upon what is currently taking place in our surrounding world