I believe that most of us are disappointed that the Copenhagen Climate Change conference did not deliver more then the so called Copenhagen Accord.
This outcome in my opinion will have an effect on the Sustainability professional and movement as a whole.
Todays post is about the key questions everyone in the Sustainability movement now needs to be able to answer and what a possible way forward could be from my point of view. There are more questions to answer on a more detailed basis obviously but I believe everyone working or participating in the Sustainability sector will have to find answers to and draw consequences from these following questions.
Key Questions we now need to be able to answer
1) What credibility does the Sustainability movement have left now that the bare minimum consensus was reached in Copenhagen and not much to follow up on?
2) What are the next steps to tackle Climate Change? Should we just simply wait and trust in our leaders to come up with a solution? We are always saying that we have little time left to slow down Climate Change. If we will have reached the tipping point at around 2015 what will our time line be now?
3) How much do we want to rely on our politicians to get us out of this mess we are in?
The possible way forward
I am a practical and forward looking person. So what is our way forward realistically?
Lets put it this way. We have no other choice but to work constructively and with as many people as possible to find a way forward now.
Now you might say: ”Yes sure, we have done that before and it did not work.” My answer to that would be. that we have not tried hard enough. We need to do more, be louder and more professional to include as many people as possible to spread the word, make a difference and help others to be more confident to understand us better and support the Sustainability movement.
We simply have not been effective enough to work together across different professions and cultures to get through to the key decision makers that still have the last word.
Radical Activism will not help
Another aspect of our possible way forward is that radical activism will not help the progress of the Sustainability movement and the goal to slow down Climate Change. Many people I have talked to expects more radical activism now since in the the eyes of the radicals the result was an absolute disaster.
Working constructively is the only way to reach these key decision makers and nothing else. This is what we now need to figure out together over the course of the next months and then build up to the next key decision point in our quest to make the world a better place.
I am very positive about this and our future as a whole but we where unsuccessful once and we need to make sure that we are successful next time and all work together to promote Sustainability and slow down Climate Change.
Picture Credit: blue_quartz
Todays post will be a rather short one as I am still in the States but back in the UK on Monday.
After last weeks stronger focus on CSR this weeks focus in the news I saw was more on environmental topics again. Less corporate news but more reports and opinion. Especially on Climate Change. All in all has it been an interesting week. I do not really have a clear favourite this week. I like then all. So take your pick.