How is global warming affecting the business climate?
Green is the new black, so to speak, when it comes to world matters.
The world is in a constant state of evolution. While clearly the changing condition of our planet will continue way past the end of intelligent life, we can find comfort in the fact that it will come full circle once again.
In the news age, Al Gore’s recent visit to Manila is now pre-historic. Nevertheless, he still brings an updated version of the same message he presented almost 30 years ago when no one was looking. Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth is an eye-opener to many and as time passes it becomes more than just a scare but an everyday reality.
Let’s stop fooling ourselves and accept the fact that there are no coincidences in life. Everything is connected. Global warming is now ferociously accelerating as our oceans absorb more heat, causing ice caps to melt faster. Continued carbon emissions reduce the ozone layer, and these tectonic shifts in our climate lead to a greater occurrence of natural disasters and volatile weather conditions.
It violently threatens our food security and the natural order of things. This is happening while we continue living our daily lives, watching our favorite TV shows, chugging down those soft drinks, and heading to the mall to check out those new pairs of sneakers.
It’s like living in one of those disaster movies like 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow where the world is on life support and we don’t even know that we’re pulling the plug. This calls for some soul searching and definite changes. While the flat-lining of the world is inevitable, let it have a peaceful and profound end. Hopefully, a long time after our great-grandchildren have tasted their first apple.
I’ve never been an environmentalist or a tree hugger. I’m a capitalist and on entrepreneur by nature. I’m a shameless fan of Gordon Gekko. However, in the sequel, even Gordon Gekko reveals a much softer side.
There is soul in capitalism. If the world is melting, so are the hearts of diehard capitalists. This is no longer just about the environment, but the quality of life that we want to lead as human beings. As the moneymen in a world that breathes in Benjamins, it’s time to put our money to good use.
This case is well illustrated in the documentary Food, Inc., which makes a compelling case for how big business has one motivation: pure profit. The pure-profit motivation has led to the unspeakable production of meat and vegetables. These include ripening tomatoes using ethylene gas, or mass-produced chickens in overpopulated coops leading to bacteria-infested poultry meat, even after being dunked in chlorinated baths.
Look at your fridge and see that each egg, carton of milk, frozen chicken and even your greens have been molested into some mutated form of “food” that can actually cause more harm than good. They cause diabetes, obesity, and in severe cases, death. The lax handling of these food materials and creating unnatural versions of our basic dietary needs — favoring quantity over quality — has led to E. coli, salmonella and other dangerous bacteria from fecal matter.
Food, Inc. goes on to say that big business controls the food delivered to our plates, and they have enough money to lobby for policies that favor the incumbents, and use regulatory agencies to close down small farmers. All the while spending billions of dollars on advertising and marketing to condition the minds of mass consumers into believing a false image unimaginably different from reality. Clearly we have lost our way and the system we have built has failed us. It concludes that “we” have the power to change this. Each penny we use to sustain the body, we must also use to nourish it. We should only eat and support foods that are grown using sustainable and good practices.
While the conclusion may be a bit New Age for most of us, the message is clear: we must individually and collectively act.
If this is the vision of what the world should be and how its citizens operate, then we must strive to consume products from those companies and individuals that believe and work towards that vision. In a capitalistic society, where big business, at the very least, influences the regulatory framework and shapes our consumption habits, it is only by changing how we choose to spend that we effect change in the system. Entrepreneurs also play a key role by challenging established big business.
As entrepreneurs we have the power to create a seismic shift. Entrepreneurs were born to create solutions for everyday problems. We bring ideas to life. This is the time where life is more than an idea; it’s a way to save ourselves and in doing so save the world. How we spend is a reflection of the kind of world we want to live in. Respect the body and we start respecting trees, the ocean, and eventually the ozone layer. It starts from what you put inside and the result eventually resonates to the outside world.
Maybe this is when little ideas and changes can change profit-driven businesses in a big way. Show them what you want and they won’t have a choice but to give it to you.
