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I’ll admit, I don’t compost or ride my bike everywhere, and sometimes I don’t even recycle everything I could. Some days, I feel like I can’t make a dent in fighting climate change, and it feels overwhelming. However, I’m quickly re-inspired to do everything I can when I think about the potential of my future children waking up to a world as described by Time Magazine:
“It’s 2050, in many places around the world, the air is hot, heavy, and depending on the day, clogged with particulate pollution. Your eyes often water. Your cough never seems to disappear. You can no longer simply walk out your front door and breathe fresh air. Instead, before opening doors or windows in the morning, you check your phone to see what the air quality will be. Everything might look fine—sunny and clear—but you know better. When storms and heat waves overlap and cluster, the air pollution and intensified surface ozone levels can make it dangerous to go outside without a specially designed face mask (which only some can afford).” Source
What does caring for the planet have to do with solving IT challenges? Simply put, we’re more than a tech company. Our company measures success by a triple bottom line: planet, profit, and people. We’ll share more on our client initiatives and how we care for people well later, right now, it’s time to talk about how we are using our business and our platform to inspire others to advocate for our planet.
Human activities from pollution to overpopulation increase the earth’s temperature and change the world as we know it. Check out this video from National Geographic that explains the cause and effect of climate change.
Climate change can directly affect individuals’ physical health. Remember those masks we wore during the pandemic? The CDC advised us to wear those things because we could get sick and die if we didn’t. We don’t want to go back to that due to poor air quality, now do we?
Weather changes mean more intense storms, floods, heavy snowfall, longer and more frequent droughts.
Because of the weather changes, it becomes more challenging to grow crops. We are starting to see the impact beyond the food industry. Currently, we are amidst a semiconductor shortage, which is an essential component of electronic devices, enabling advances in communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation, clean energy, and countless other applications. This shortage is partly due to the pandemic. Still, the lesser headline is because the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., is facing a drought affecting operations. Read the full story here. Supply chain issues like these will lead to increased prices and scarcity across multiple industries.
Because the world is getting hotter, glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising, flooding coastal regions.
Reimagining our world’s future will take a shared sense of urgency from countries, businesses, and individuals.
- Elect politicians who will advocate for our planet
- Learn about the current Paris Agreement and follow the progress of various nations
-Organize a Clean-Up. Partner up with a local organization and encourage your team to bond over a morning of trash clean-up. Great for the environment and team morale. We typically organize these events on weekends.
-Start a Committee. At Ingage, we have a Green Team that educates, inspires, and enables Ingagers to promote environmental sustainability at Ingage and within our home and community. They try to create a culture of sustainability by engaging employees to make small, consistent habit changes that will lead to substantial impact over time.
-Educate. Lunch-and-Learns are a great way to share information. An employee-led our most recent Lunch-and-Learn discussing his geothermal heating and cooling system. He shared knowledge and generated conversation. Learn about what sustainable actions your team is taking and find time and space to share.
-Add 10 minutes to your company meeting’s agenda to hear from your own Green Team. At this month’s all-staff meeting, Ingage’s Green Team shared tips and tricks to travel sustainably since many summer vacations are on the horizon.
-Challenge your team . Every month, the Green Team challenges staff to compete. See examples here.
- Consider giving incentives for completions of challenges. For example, at Ingage, we use Bonus.ly incentives.
-Become a Certified B Corp . Consider joining us in the B Corp community, where people, planet, and profit measure success.
-Local to Cincinnati? Check out the 513 Green Workplace Certification. In July 2020, Ingage received our 513 Green Workplaces Certification by the Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District. The 513 Green Workplace Certification is a sustainability certification that recognizes and promotes businesses in Hamilton County that voluntarily operate in an environmentally responsible manner through sustainable action.
-Donate
-Here is an evidence-based guide on the best places to donate for climate change.
-Advocate. One of the most important things we can do as individuals is to talk about this with those closest to us--family and friends. The ripple effect of education and awareness begins there.
-Find a local organization to get involved with. Here are some organizations in Cincinnati working to protect the environment.
-Educate yourself and others. There are lots of great documentaries and books out there on this topic. Documentaries include The Island President, Chasing Coral, and Islands of Faith. The Future We Choose is a good read outlining what will happen if we act and what will happen if we do not.
We have the opportunity to make a better future if we act together now.