Tag: Climate Change

For Their Health

A buddy in the the travel business
told me
they are seeing an increase
in bookings for vacations
for ‘mental health reasons.’

The world is a mess.
People are under
a lot of stress due to that.

They are searching
for ways
to decrease that stress.

Does your product/service
decrease stress?

Does it offer an escape?
Does it take some of the workload
off people?
Does it make their lives easier?

Stress that
in your marketing material.

Encourage prospects
to buy your products/services
‘for their mental health.’

There’s a growing need
for that.

Value Your Soil

We’ll all super busy
building our businesses.

I completely understand that
as I am in the same hectic state.

But while we’re focusing
on our businesses,
we should ensure
we’re not f*cking up
other assets.

Like the soil
around our businesses
and homes.

Top soil depletion
is a serious issue
now and in the future.
It is as serious
as lack of water.

Which means
it is an asset
that is appreciating in value.

Consider building your top soil.

Add a layer of leaves
to it
in the autumn.
Keep it covered
with grass and other plants
year round.
Stop using pesticides.

It is as simple as that.

And, for f*cks sake,
don’t pave over it
(or install plastic grass
or other harmful coverings)
if that is at all possible.

Your top soil
is an asset.
Value it.

The Cost Of Climate Change

According to a survey
completed by KPMG,
nearly 60%
of Canadian small-
and medium-sized businesses
have been directly impacted
by extreme weather events
thus far
in 2023.

54% saw a substantial increase
in their costs.
44% reported direct losses
in revenue.
51% experienced supply chain disruptions.
45% said their facilities were damaged.
And 41% had to relocate their operations
or move to alternative facilities.

THIS is why
climate change is a business building issue.

THIS is why
I talk about it here
on client k.

The extreme impacts
of climate change
are merely beginning
world-wide.

If we want to be successful,
especially long term,
we have to prepare for this.

Doron Telem,
national ESG leader
at KPMG in Canada,
states

“To address the new reality,
companies need to have
business-interruption plans
at the ready
and will also require
stronger, more robust
climate resiliency
and adaptation plans.”

Climate change is a business issue.
Address it.

Allow People To Change Their Minds

Recently, a high profile media person
spoke openly about climate change.

Instead of celebrating
this strong addition
to the cause,
many climate change fighters
criticized this person
for not speaking about it
earlier.

With this kind of response,
why the f*ck
would anyone change their stance
on climate change?

They are now getting hate
from the climate change denier side
and
they certainly aren’t getting love
from the climate change fighting side.

They are alone.

Which is a position
many people fear.

Allow people on your team
to change their minds.

Especially when
that is for the better
of everyone.

Wishing To Be Wrong But Preparing To Be Right

I hope to be wrong
about climate change
and about COVID.

Being wrong
is the best case scenario
and f*ck,
I want that best case scenario
to happen
so f*ckin’ bad.

But I’m preparing
to be right.

I’m preparing for food shortages.
I’m preparing for mass disability.
I’m preparing for floods.
I’m preparing not to have
the ability to write books
or expend a lot of energy
running the business.

If I’m wrong,
and I hope
I WILL be wrong,
I’ll have extra food.
I’ll have extra funds.
I’ll have a business
that almost runs itself.

There’s no significant downside
to preparing.
But there is a significant downside
to not preparing.

Hope to be wrong
regarding the dire predictions
but prepare to be right.

If Problems Go Away

A scientist posted
about how many people
think ignoring a problem
will make it magically go away.

That’s because
for many people
that is exactly what happens
…for them.

Someone else,
likely someone like you or me,
puts in the hard work
and fixes the problem.

All the other people
have to do
is mention it IS a problem
for them.

They complain to the manager.
(That manager might be the general internet
or their spouse
or some other person/entity.)

And that manager fixes it.

The challenge we’re seeing
right now
is there are a lot of problems
to fix
and
not enough people fixing problems.

If your problems
go away
without you having done anything
to fix them,
someone else is doing
that work.

Problems
don’t magically
fix themselves.

Waiting For Someone To Save Us

We read these stories
all the time.
People ignore
evacuation notices
and
then they expect
other people
to put their lives in danger
to rescue them.

And in the past,
they HAVE done that.

But in the past,
there wasn’t a labor shortage.

There wasn’t an ongoing pandemic
causing every organization
everywhere
to be constantly
understaffed.

There wasn’t a voting population
who were now okay
with a certain percentage
of people dying.

Times are changing.

We can’t assume,
in the future,
someone else will save us
or our families
or our businesses.

Act accordingly.

Not Believing In Reality

Every candidate
for a major US political party
recently
stood up and said
climate change wasn’t real.

Much of the US
is on fire
or in severe drought
or under water.

A five year old
could tell you
something was wrong
with climate.

Sane leaders
know climate change is real also.

When leaders say
they ‘don’t believe’
an obvious problem
is ‘real’,
they’re saying
‘I don’t plan
to ever help you
with that problem’.

And often
the full message is
‘And I will likely make
that problem worse.’

Don’t expect help
from leaders
who refuse
to ‘believe’ in a problem.

We’re on our own
with those leaders.

A Person To Blame

Some people are blaming
arsonists for the wildfires
all over the world,
instead of the real culprits
– drought and climate change.

That doesn’t surprise me.

Many people look
for a person or a group to blame
for their problems.

And they want promises
that person or group
will ‘be dealt with’
i.e. punished.

That prospect makes them happier.

A business building buddy,
knowing this,
blames all the problems
customers come to her with
on Stanley.

Stanley made that change
in their favorite product.
Stanley set that return policy.
F*ckin’ Stanley, always messing up.

No one in the company
is named Stanley.
He is a dummy target
for both customers and employees
to curse,
a name to give
when the customer demands one.

Cursing Stanley makes them happier
and it makes them more likely
to remain loyal to my buddy’s business.

People often
are looking for a person
or a group to blame.

Do your best
to ensure no real person or group
is harmed.

Accountability And Climate Change

When 1.5C was set as a target,
world leaders knew
what we’re seeing today
– the fires, the floods,
the excessive heat, the crop failures –
would happen.

(They also believed
we would lose
all of the coral reefs.)

Leaders felt those losses,
the disasters
and
the deaths were acceptable.

Today, youth
are suing governments
and winning

And they SHOULD win
because the climate disasters
we’re experiencing today
were a deliberate choice.

Governments
should be held accountable
for that choice.

As business leaders,
we should also
expect to be held
accountable for our decisions.

That is part of
leadership.