Tag: Climate Change

If You Can Safely Do So, Go Outside

There are parts of the world
where a human
can’t safely
leave their home today
due to climate change.

This will become
more and more common.

What does this mean
for business builders?

We should think
long and hard
before building a business
that requires
people to go outside,
to leave a building.

If we do build
such a business,
we might wish
to consider
how we could make
inside
an option.

And we should,
ourselves,
today or tomorrow,
go outside
if it is safe
to do that.

We should enjoy
that option
because it might not
always be there
for us.

Go outside today.

But build businesses
that can operate
inside a building.

Prepare For Net Zero

The climate is changing.
That is indisputable.

Rules, laws, customer expectations
will change with it.
Net zero, for example,
will be an expectation
for businesses.

As business builders,
we should be preparing for this.
It is easier to make
these changes gradually now
than wait
and
have to modify everything all at once.

How do we prepare?

Canada is
planting trees
that can survive
in warmer climates
than Canada experiences right now.

If we plant trees
around our business buildings,
seeking to lower energy usage
and offset carbon output,
we should do the same.
Dead trees won’t provide
those benefits.

We should consider
installing solar panels
on those buildings,
adding outlets for electric vehicles
and
rain barrels to capture water,
having natural ground cover
instead of grass,
low usage toilets,
more insulation, etc.

If we need a company car,
we should consider
buying an electric car.
It is better for the environment
and it relays to customers
we’re preparing
for the future.

We should consider
alternatives to single use plastic,
should find
environmentally-friendly alternatives
for our packaging,
keeping recycling rules in mind.

Every aspect of our businesses
should be examined
and modified
so our businesses
have a minimal impact
on the environment.

Net zero, as an expectation,
is coming.
Start preparing for it now.

The Ripple Effect

A recent study
showed
the best way to convince others
to switch to solar
is to install
solar panels on our own roofs.

Those others we’ve convinced
will then install
solar panels on THEIR roofs
and that will influence
more people to invest in solar.

Our actions might seem small,
might seem insignificant
but they have ripple effects.

If we offer paper bags
as an alternative
in our stores,
surrounding businesses
are more likely to offer paper bags
as alternatives.

The businesses surrounding them
are then more likely to offer paper bags
as alternatives.

Our actions have ripple effects.
They are more powerful
than we realize.

Take that great-for-the-world action.
Make this planet a better place.
Leave that as one of your legacies.

Calling Someone A Doomist

The current trend
is to call anyone
who isn’t 100% optimistic
about the future
a ‘doomist.’

The danger to this
is
it shuts down conversation.
It prevents us
from hearing about
not-as-happy situations
and preparing for them.
It stops others
from warning us,
from talking honestly
with us.

And that will cause us
pain
…eventually.

The future isn’t
all sunshine and roses.
Heck, the past wasn’t
happy all the time.

There were
plenty of opportunities
then
and there will be
plenty of opportunities
in the future.

But we won’t be able
to fully take advantage
of these opportunities
unless we know about
and
avoid or minimize
the challenges.

Don’t EVER call
anyone
a doomist.

Building Businesses And The Attack On Women’s Rights

The potential overturning of Roe v Wade
in the U.S.
is yet another step toward
taking away ALL rights for women.

That is clearly the end goal.

This isn’t about religion
or saving babies.

They targeted abortion
because they thought
that was the easiest right
to take away first.
Taking away this right
will set a precedent
and make it easier
to take away other rights.

This is about seizing power,
about ensuring women
can’t vote,
can’t have a say
in…well…anything.

Fight this.
Fight this
with all the energy you have.

It will mean
the difference between
living or dying.
Not only now
but in the future.

With climate change happening
exponentially faster,
for example,
resources will soon become
extremely limited.
Groups of people
who don’t have power (votes)
won’t be allocated
sufficient resources.

It will also, of course,
be impossible,
as a woman,
to build a business
under such a regime.

Our options will be extremely limited
and who the f*ck wants that?

Fight like your life depends upon it.

Because it does.

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.