I recently read an article titled Why Insect Populations are Plummeting and Why It Matters.
The article pertains to a recent study showing that 40% of insect species are in decline. A quote that specifically stood out to me was this… “If we don’t stop it, entire ecosystems will collapse due to starvation.”
How as individuals, businesses, and industries can we come together to prevent this catastrophe and the domino effect of others that may follow?
Is it worth trying? Is it even reality?
Are we playing this game so hard (business and life) that we are not noticing that our ship is slowly sinking into the abyss? Or is our ship still floating 500 foot tall and bulletproof? What is reality?
Either way, as business leaders, is there a chance that we could play our games in such a way as to both succeed financially and to ensure the long-term prospects of our progeny? Even if climate change is a hoax, are there ways that we can run our businesses that make the most sense for everyone and everything involved?
For instance, could business and industry come together in an innovative and mindful way to both prosper financially and also curb climate change? Could, for instance, the coal companies that operate in the area where I grew up and still live (many of which are going belly up) begin to install solar farms on their mined properties (these properties seem perfectly suited for this)?
This could happen as easily as a coal company buying a small solar firm and going for it. This would instantly create diversity in their portfolio and give them a fighting chance to make it in today’s tough business climate. It also seems that this would be a post mine land use that industry and agency alike could get behind.
Maybe it would help them win in both business and logic? Maybe it could help them survive in this capitalistic game while also promoting the long-term survival of the planet?
In the same way, could my friends and clients in the oil and gas fields begin putting wind or solar on their properties in a similar move? Many of these firms own thousands and thousands of acres in prime wind and solar development areas.
Business is tough, shouldn’t we pull out all the stops to ensure our future? For both coal and oil & gas, why not hedge our bets?
Awareness, creativity, and mindful leadership are necessary ingredients in order for businesses, people, and the planet to prosper.
Does this make business sense? Earth sense? Or as John Prine once lamented, “It don’t make much sense that common sense don’t make no sense no more…”?