Yesterday marked the 51st celebration of Earth Day and the 6th anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord. Despite the pandemic, EarthDay.org reported that more than 1 billion people in 192 countries participated in Earth Day this year. The theme of this year’s Earth Day is to “Restore Our Earth”. At the heart of this theme is optimism, a critically needed sentiment in a world ravaged by both climate change and the pandemic. The theme of “Restore Our Earth” focuses on restoring the world’s ecosystems through natural processes, emerging green technologies and innovative thinking. As mentioned in our previous blog, The Role of Business in the Climate Crisis, weather globally is becoming more extreme and having a devastating impact on economies around the world
Education & Innovative Thinking:
Reports suggest that climate literacy and understanding the climate crisis are keys to a greener future. Many people know about the climate crisis, however, misinformation spread around the topic has led some to believe in myths perpetuated by fossil fuel companies and politicians alike. Major fossil fuel companies routinely make billion-dollar profits, extracting and distributing oil, gas, and coal. Fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide (CO2) when burnt – and CO2 is the main driver of climate change. Instead of acknowledging the harmful effects of their products and committing to swift and deep reductions in global warming emissions, many of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies have knowingly deceived the public about climate science and policy – and they continue to do so today. Kathleen Rogers, the president of Earthday.org said that “combined with civic education, climate and environmental literacy will create jobs, build a green consumer market and allow citizens to engage with their governments in a meaningful way to solve climate change”.
Innovative thinking is challenging the status quo of fossil fuel reliance. In the past decade alone, we’ve seen renewable energy take centre stage in large part due to innovation of the technologies that make it more efficient and affordable. High carbon fossil fuel energies have been replaced with lower-carbon or zero-carbon alternatives such as natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy sources such as biomass, wind and solar. In transport, we’ve seen innovative technologies that have increased efficiency in vehicles and machinery while reducing emissions through advancements in electricity generation and biofuel in place of fossil fuels.
Ecosystems
Ecosystems, a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment, play an important part in the ongoing climate crisis as they’ve been drastically affected in recent years through activities like deforestation, the introduction of invasive species and most importantly, pollution. The best way for an ecosystem to recover and heal itself is through time. On average, it takes 503 years for a tropical forest to recover according to environmental scientist Lydia Cole in her article, “How quickly do tropical forests recover from disturbance?”. But these forests usually won’t “fully” recover, according to existing research. They can eventually recover to a rate of about 95.5 percent. A recent concern of many scientists is that the rate of biodiversity loss within ecosystems could create impactful food scarcity and restrict access to medicinal plants. There are businesses that are using ecosystem restoration to meet their net-zero goals and are factoring sustainability into their business models and therefore collectively innovating while also helping out communities in need. Our economies are a subset of the natural world. Businesses, families and individuals all depend on services provided by nature and those businesses working to preserve natural resources through sustainability efforts will gain the most as government’s crackdown.
Emerging Green Technologies & What You Can Do:
How can your business get involved? With Earth Day bringing attention to issues surrounding the climate crisis, the spotlight has never been brighter on emerging green technologies, most notably renewable energy. Many advancements have been made in this area to reduce global carbon emissions. Renewable energy has been the main focus that energy is the largest pollutant which in turn has a knock-on effect on the environment. We’ve mentioned in previous blogs renewable energies like solar panels and how investment and innovation over the last decade has led to increased efficiency at a lower cost, as well as environmental and business benefits. New technologies are changing the way businesses operate and the way we live, in favour of a more sustainable future. Investing in these technologies for your business and through your supply chain is a major way you can do your part towards the environment (while saving money too!).
Help “Restore our Earth” and restore your savings by embracing innovation by switching to renewable energy.