Sustainability 101: The Power of People

I’m a Millennial, so I grew up with cartoons like Fern Gully and Captain Planet. Now that I think of it, maybe this has a bit to do with my ultimate profession - though that may be putting too much stock in the powers of animation. Still, that smog monster in Fern Gully was terrifying as a kid…

I was 6. This guy was horrifying.

The Clean Air and Clean Water acts were a product of the 60’s/70’s and so by the 90’s it was almost a given that being good to the environment was the thing to do. Anyone looking to do otherwise was inherently a “bad guy.” It made for easy story arcs for these types of children’s shows and movies.

What on Earth happened to make environmentalism a radical stance? And what do we do now?

The former would take a very long discussion to address, and would draw in topics related to politics, business, sociology, and human inertia. It’s an article series for another time. However, with all eyes on New York and Climate Week this month, it’s a great time to look to improving the future of our environment.

Working Together

One of the common themes of these 90’s cartoons is the power of people working together to overcome adversity. It’s cliché, sure, but ultimately it’s the tactic that has led to many real-life breakthroughs and improvements. From technology’s evolution to medical breakthroughs, it’s teams of like-minded people and organizations working together that create the most impactful changes.

For a big and frequently intangible concept like Climate Change, it can be difficult to motivate the masses to not only act, but to even care. This is true especially in North America where we have fortunately been relatively insulated from the impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, the incidence of large weather events has been on the uptick, but fortunately this means there’s more motivation at the local level to act on Climate Change.

Around the world there is both top-down (governments setting goals for itself and citizens) and bottom-up (citizens demanding action from their leaders) action being taken.

The Planet Agreed on Something

I would have loved to see the above title as the headline for when the Paris Accord was reached. Today there are so many differences that it is especially notable when the entire world comes together to agree on something. In my lifetime this is the only such time I can remember, and I cannot recall another such event in history.

What is the Paris Accord?

In simple terms, the Paris Accord is an agreement by all countries to work to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. That is all.

In order to do this, each country is tasked with calculating their greenhouse gas emissions, assessing what actions they can take to reduce it, make a plan to reduce it, and every five years to report their progress. It’s up to each country to perform assessments to determine how Climate Change will effect them and their people, where opportunities for improvement exist, and set their own goals for carbon emissions after taking this all into account.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Paris Accord is that it has no “teeth.” It’s entirely up to the individual countries to oversee their own climate change efforts and set a path forward. There is no punishment for setting easy goals or failing to meet ambitious goals. The benefit of the agreement is that these efforts are to be transparent, so the countries show openly what their goals are for the environment, what they are doing to achieve their goals, and how on-track they are to meet them. It’s this very lack of “teeth” that made the agreement so easily-accepted. Ultimately the Paris Accord serves as a signal that everyone around the planet recognizes the danger of climate change to their physical and economic well-being, and will work to stop the worst from happening. It’s a gesture of goodwill and aligned interests.

Our leaders agreed on this and are taking action. How are the general public taking action?

Power to the People

At the time of writing this, there are many climate protests occurring or planned around the world. Young climate activist Greta Thunberg took a sailboat across the Atlantic Ocean to speak to various outlets and lead protests in the USA. Protesters targeted an auto show in Frankfurt and London Fashion Week. There is a massive Global Climate Strike day of protest planned for September 20, which will include workers and students.

The people are making their voices heard, but what do they want?

The goal of the mass movements is the same as that of the Paris Agreement – to rapidly end the use of fossil fuels. However, the young protesters taking to the streets are demanding more accountability and a more rapid timeline than that agreed upon in the Paris Agreement. The rallying cry is “Our house is on fire. Let’s act like it.”

Part of the reason for the Paris Accord’s lax structure is so that politicians could bring the agreement back with them and have it easily accepted in their home countries. There was very little possibility for political push-back or arguments on home soil. It was an “easy win.” The climate strikes are urging politicians, businesses, and the public not to rest on their laurels and to keep pushing for real improvement.

In my prior articles I touched on a few possible worst-case outcomes for unchecked Climate Change. We should be giving our admiration to the young people pushing for further action so that none of us need to live in a future like that.

Climate Week and UNGA

These protests have been ongoing for many months now, but the timing of this massive international protest is strategic. Late September is when the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meets for two weeks in New York City, and Climate Week NYC falls on the second of these two weeks.

I’ve attended the last few years of these events, both UNGA and Climate Week. It’s a fantastic time to be in New York, and this year looks set to be a spark to fuel a fire… or in this case, a drop to start a deluge. Every year there are protests and fantastic debate on the floor of the General Assembly. However, this year I can sense a trifecta of conditions that may lead to action. Climate Change is at the forefront of the public conscious, with the Amazon fires and Climate Strike being ongoing news around the world. Government leaders are invested in the subject as well, with Climate Change taking a front-row seat during last month’s G7 Summit. Finally, large businesses are either taking action or calling for action on Climate Change. From investment companies like Blackrock demanding corporate action to international companies like Unilever making broad commitments, the business world has accepted that Climate Change impacts their financial well-being and are demanding leadership.

I am going to be observing the second half of this month with optimism, and I hope that further guidance emerges from UNGA and Climate Week in order to bring environmental laggards up to speed.

Thank you for joining me for this Sustainability 101 explanation. There is a lot of ground to cover in this series, so please join me for upcoming articles on subjects like climate change and science-based targets, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and solutions like RECs, carbon offsets, and carbon taxes.