"Did you walk to Hudson Bay?"
03/12/08 14:48
The CBI are urging businesses not to forget ‘green
issues’ during the ‘economic crisis’ and I quote from
The Business Desk.com (North West brand!) :
“Richard Lambert, director general of the industry group CBI said the global economic crisis is not a reason for inaction on climate change.”
This is just one of many such comments that I have read recently. I sometimes feel that we have been hi-jacked by this phrase ‘climate change’. Every aspect of our being seems in some way to be related to ‘climate change’.
Our weather and temperatures are cyclic, at a micro and macro level. Think of the seasons. Last summer was cold and wet, the summer of 1940 was very hot and dry. What is the conclusion? Weather varies and is difficult to predict.
I attended a conference recently where a speaker, talking about activity from businesses on ‘climate change’, told us about his experience watching Polar Bears on the ice at Hudson Bay. He maintained that these bears were at risk due to our behaviour. I don’t think he understood my question: “Did you walk to the Hudson Bay?”
Yes, human activity can impact our climate and we should be careful of our behaviour and its impact on our environment. However, environment means a lot more than our impact on the world’s temperature.
In 1998 and 2001 two books were published in the UK which dealt with ‘environmental issues’: ‘Factor Four’ Weizsacker, Lovins, Lovins. Earthscan, 1998 and ‘the Skeptical environmentalist’ Lomberg. Cambridge University Press, 2001
Factor Four means that resource productivity can grow fourfold which indicates that we can live twice as well but use half as much.
Lomberg provokes discussion about the environment through his challenges to the accepted truths. It must be noted that Lomberg is a statistician and often provokes criticism for his stance.
I was involved in my family business of paper manufacturers in the 1970’s and we have been using ‘waste paper’ as a raw material since the early part of the twentieth Century. I also sold packaging manufactured from ‘waste paper’ in the 1980’s (seen today in all MacDonalds as cup holders), so I have always had a keen interest in the use of resources in business.
We must all understand that if you reduce your unit usage in any business this will impact directly on your bottom line, for all time! I am therefore surprised by recent articles in the press which indicates that the current economic situation will impact adversely on ‘Green Initiatives’.
Go on be GREEN, use less and make more!
“Richard Lambert, director general of the industry group CBI said the global economic crisis is not a reason for inaction on climate change.”
This is just one of many such comments that I have read recently. I sometimes feel that we have been hi-jacked by this phrase ‘climate change’. Every aspect of our being seems in some way to be related to ‘climate change’.
Our weather and temperatures are cyclic, at a micro and macro level. Think of the seasons. Last summer was cold and wet, the summer of 1940 was very hot and dry. What is the conclusion? Weather varies and is difficult to predict.
I attended a conference recently where a speaker, talking about activity from businesses on ‘climate change’, told us about his experience watching Polar Bears on the ice at Hudson Bay. He maintained that these bears were at risk due to our behaviour. I don’t think he understood my question: “Did you walk to the Hudson Bay?”
Yes, human activity can impact our climate and we should be careful of our behaviour and its impact on our environment. However, environment means a lot more than our impact on the world’s temperature.
In 1998 and 2001 two books were published in the UK which dealt with ‘environmental issues’: ‘Factor Four’ Weizsacker, Lovins, Lovins. Earthscan, 1998 and ‘the Skeptical environmentalist’ Lomberg. Cambridge University Press, 2001
Factor Four means that resource productivity can grow fourfold which indicates that we can live twice as well but use half as much.
Lomberg provokes discussion about the environment through his challenges to the accepted truths. It must be noted that Lomberg is a statistician and often provokes criticism for his stance.
I was involved in my family business of paper manufacturers in the 1970’s and we have been using ‘waste paper’ as a raw material since the early part of the twentieth Century. I also sold packaging manufactured from ‘waste paper’ in the 1980’s (seen today in all MacDonalds as cup holders), so I have always had a keen interest in the use of resources in business.
We must all understand that if you reduce your unit usage in any business this will impact directly on your bottom line, for all time! I am therefore surprised by recent articles in the press which indicates that the current economic situation will impact adversely on ‘Green Initiatives’.
Go on be GREEN, use less and make more!