Tag: Climate Change

The More Intricate The System

We won’t ‘fix’ climate change.

We might, if we’re lucky,
fix one or two of the issues
caused by climate change.

We might, for example, figure out
how to continue
feeding ourselves
or
how to somehow hold back
the oceans.

But the planet
won’t ever be the same.

Why?

Because the more intricate
a system is,
the harder it is to repair.
And the Earth
is the most intricate system
any of us has ever encountered.
It is so intricate
we don’t have any idea
how all the millions of subsystems
interact.

Hell, we don’t even know
what the Earth’s core consists of.

Plan for irreversible climate change.

And when you’re building systems,
keep them as simple as possible.
Complicated systems
are a b*tch to fix.

Telling The Truth

There was a discussion
online
about word count targets
for stories.

An editor
for a large New York Publisher
shared her preferred word counts
for submitted stories.

Writers jumped on her,
telling her she was being
small minded,
was limiting their creativity,
was censoring their thoughts.

She muted comments on her post
and withdrew from the conversation.

I posted recently here
about building a business
during climate change.

NONE of the people
who contacted me
liked that post.

The environmentalists
told me
we have enough businesses.
We don’t need any more.

The business folks
told me
things like
the world is always changing
and
businesses should be built
for what is happening today
because the future isn’t certain.

I’ll continue to tell
my truth here on client k.
It is one of the reasons
I’m semi-anonymous.

But often,
when we yell at the people
telling us their truths,
they stop sharing their truths
with us.
We lose their insights,
their expertise.

Encourage the people
who tell you their truths
even if you don’t agree with them.

Business Building And Energy Consumption

Electricity in my part
of the world
is currently fairly inexpensive.

That will change
as the world heats up.

One of my main businesses
(writing romance novel)
depends on electricity
for production.
I can’t write
or load books to booksellers
without electricity.

(Sales depend on
my target customers
having electricity also
but that is a post
for another day.)

I’m currently looking into
becoming a little more
self sufficient
regarding electricity
(installing solar panels
and battery backups).

Does your business
depend on having
X amounts of energy
available?

Look into having
a backup source
for that energy.

And investigate
whether or not
you can lower
your energy consumption.

Order Mother’s Day Flowers Now

I ordered flowers
for my Mom
yesterday.
I scheduled them for delivery
the week before Mother’s Day.

Because I suspect
florists will run out
of flowers this year.

Mother’s Day is
the biggest flower delivery day
of the year.
Not everyone has a sweetheart.
Almost everyone
has a Mom.

Supply chains are
still extremely messed up.
Climate change is impacting
flower growing
and flower delivery.
The pandemic is still happening.

Florists also don’t want
to be left
with excess stock.
They have been going
through lean sales times.
They will likely
be cautious when ordering stock.

If you’re fortunate to have
a loving Mom,
order flowers for her now.

There aren’t
any guarantees
she’ll receive them.
Things happen.

But the odds she’ll have flowers
on Mother’s Day
will greatly increase.

Buying Time

A buddy asked me
why I help fund
tree planting.
“Planting trees
won’t stop climate change,”
she said.

And she’s right.
Planting trees, on its own,
WON’T stop climate change.
It won’t offset
the impact of
the big carbon contributors.

But planting trees MIGHT buy us
a bit of time,
perhaps an extra second.

And that second,
MIGHT
make a difference.

Currently, I have a series
that is dying.
Sales are slowly decreasing.

Writing another story in it
won’t stop this death.

What it WILL do
is buy me some time
to think of another series idea.
That new series idea
might capture lingering readers
and attract new readers.

If you haven’t yet found
the next great idea,
consider buying yourself time
to do so
by taking smaller, less innovative steps.

Negotiated Projections Are Goals, Not Projections

The newest IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
report released this week.

The projections
(including, for example,
the expected increase
in global temperatures)
this report presents
are negotiated.

They are negotiated with politicians
who do NOT want bad news shared
during their terms at office.

They are negotiated with business leaders
who, again, do NOT want bad news shared
while they are in those leadership positions.

Most significantly,
they are negotiated with fossil fuel companies
who do NOT want to change
their business models.
At all.

The bad news in
the IPCC report findings,
as a result,
will be EXTREMELY muted.

I dealt with this challenge
when I crafted projections
for new business development opportunities.

I would be told
“We need X return
for this opportunity to be approved.”

I would then reply
that having a target return
is great
but the inputs and the model
would determine the projected return.

I could negotiate inputs,
which would be outlined
in my reports,
but I wouldn’t be negotiating
the projected return.

Because negotiated returns
aren’t based on anything.
They aren’t supported
by the inputs or the model.

If leaders want to
‘negotiate’ projections,
they can make up those projections
on their own.
They don’t need to involve
me
or thousands of scientists.

Negotiated projections
aren’t trustworthy projections.
They are merely goals.

The Cost Of Debating Established Facts

Over 99% of scientists
agree that humans
are causing climate change.

Yet there are still
some people insisting
on having a debate over
whether or not this is the truth.

These ‘debates’ might seem harmless.

They aren’t harmless at all.
They have a HUGE cost.
They delay action.

They delay updating city drains,
for example,
to deal with flash floods.
That will cause property damage
and perhaps death.

They delay installing air conditioning,
as another example,
in long term care homes.
That delay WILL result in death.

Each debate delays numerous actions,
all of which will have a very real impact.

Right now,
you are likely having a debate
about whether or not a fact
is truly a fact.

This could be
whether or not your brand name
is difficult
to remember
or
which social media platform
most of your prospects use
or
whether or not
the red hats you purchased
in 2010
are a great giveaway
today
for your liberal-leaning customers.

These ‘debates’ have a cost.
Accept the facts
and make decisions based on those.

A Scorekeeper Is Necessary

One of Greta Thunberg’s gifts
to the world
is
she is a carbon usage scorekeeper.

She regularly reports
(with help, of course)
on
how we are doing
vs
what we promised to do.

Many politicians
and business owners
hate her for this.

Being a scorekeeper
is a much reviled job.
But it is necessary
if we want to achieve
our goals.

In business,
the scorekeeper job
is often held
by the finance folks
and yes,
they are also
hated for doing this task.

But they are part of the reason
businesses achieve their goals.

We all need a scorekeeper.
If you don’t have one,
assign the task
to someone.

And try
to shelter them
(or compensate them)
from the hatred.

Tell Them Who Is Calling

Buddies tease me
because,
when I call them
on the phone,
I start with
“Hi (X)! This is (K).”

I do this
because I’m humble enough
not to expect them
to guess who I am
using my voice alone
(if they don’t have
caller ID,
and many lower income people
don’t have it
on their landlines).

I also do this
because it saves other people
the additional mental work
of trying to figure out
who is calling.

People are overloaded
with mental AND physical work
right now.

They’re still dealing with
the fallout of the pandemic.
They’re dealing with
the increasing impacts
of climate change.
They are likely understaffed
and overworked.
They have other worries.

They shouldn’t have to worry
about figuring out
who is calling them.

Extend them some grace.
Tell people
who you are
when you call them.
Don’t make them guess.

Funding IS Doing

A climate change activist
asked people on social media
what they were doing
to stop climate change.

I said I donated regularly
to Mote Marine Laboratory
to help them save coral reefs.

I was told
by multiple people
that donating money
wasn’t ‘doing.’

Being business builders,
we know
that’s complete bullsh*t.

Funding projects
is often the most important type
of doing.
It makes everything else
possible.

As Nicole Kidman
noted
about the film industry.

“I knew there were great stories
out there
for women,
but they weren’t being funded
and everyone kept saying,
‘There’s no interest…
they are going to flop’”

Money allows projects
to be completed.

Your funding,
your donating,
your sponsorship
IS doing.
You’re making a difference
in this wonderful world.