There’s no shortage of news reporting on the conclusion of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“The fourth and final volume of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s giant climate assessment didn’t offer any surprises,” CBS News reported this morning, “Nor was it expected to since it combined the findings of three earlier reports released in the past 13 months …
“Emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, may need to drop to zero by the end of this century for the world to have a decent chance of keeping the temperature rise below a level that many consider dangerous. Failure to do so, which could require deployment of technologies that suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, could lock the world on a trajectory with “irreversible” impacts on people, like altering the male-female ratio, and on the environment, the report said.
“Some impacts are already being observed, including rising sea levels, a warmer and more acidic ocean, melting glaciers and Arctic sea ice and more frequent and intense heat waves.”
“Science has spoken,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in Copenhagen at Sunday’s launch of the fourth and final report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.”
Full CBS News article here. Another from TIME Magazine here. And even one from FOX News that actually differs with the others and presents a case that the IPCC is antiquated and ineffective here.
Now, I know – believe me, I know – this is a hotly contested issue, especially in the United States, which notably ranked last out of 20 of the world’s most powerful nations in polling re: belief that climate change is largely “man-made.” That’s not a debate I get into much, if ever; it rarely results in a positive and productive conversation.
Frankly, unlike the vast majority of people who debate the topic so heatedly with fangs, venom, and verbal baseball bats, I don’t profess to be, or in any way, shape or form imagine myself to be someone who truly knows this stuff backwards and forwards and deep and wide enough to seriously and productively debate the topic. Very, very, very few people are.
Mainly I believe that regardless of the cause and regardless of how imminent the threat is or appears to be, we can absolutely do better, we can make things better.
I embrace this fully, bone-deep, always have, and my perspective is excitingly buoyed by front line professional experience working with brands like P&G and Coca-Cola, personally orchestrating missions on the ground with the UN in hot spot conflict zones, discussing solutions with thought leaders at some of the top universities as well as NASA, and exploring innovations inspired by nature (biomimicry) along with best practices and indeed business opportunities in cleantech (sun, wind, water).
As clichéd as this sentiment might sound to some who’ve become chronically fatigued on the topic or otherwise have differing agendas relative to potential financial loss/gain or which side of the Aisle they figuratively sit on, we owe it to our children, and their children. The adage rings true … “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors – we borrow it from our children.”
Again, let’s make things better.
Seriously, why the (blank) wouldn’t we? In the US in particular, we have a history of priding ourselves – and with every reason and right to – on how innovative we are, what great problem-solvers we are, how we help make the world a better place, and often by applying that proverbial can-do spirit with two scoops of ambition and vision.
We can do it. In fact, we are doing it. Just not nearly fast enough or on a large enough scale. We absolutely should demand more from our world leaders.
I’m rolling up my sleeves … and that’s not a quip that I’m preparing for a heat wave. I’m ready, willing, able, and eager, to do my part. In fact, as much of this site highlights, I’ve already begun.
Above all, I’m quite positive we can do better.
Let’s roll.
[For quick and easy downloads of the reports and fact sheets, I’ve loaded them all up here. Also available here, though not as quick and easy.]