Crew Commentary
Page 5
Our Earth Walk
This is a unique time. COVID-19, as the coronavirus is formally called, has the whole world’s attention – as a health and an economic crisis. People are being asked or ordered to stay home. This is in addition to our shared experience of Climate Change. Remember that? And, this month, April, is the 50th anniversary […]
A Look Inside Ocean Plastics Recycling
There have been several articles published lately about our broken recycling systems and how we might fix them. I knew about the manufacturing and consumer portions of the cycle, but little about the supply chain, wholesale and retail portions. So I decided to find out. I interviewed Bill Davis, founder of BeachNecessities.com, an online […]
Our Climate Crisis Demands Cooperation and Collaboration
Climate is an unusually broad topic — the causes, impacts and solutions require expertise across vastly different subjects. We tend to solve problems in a linear, hierarchical, siloed fashion. We disassemble complex systems into discrete modules that are easier to understand. That leads to specialization and a separation between disciplines. If we examine the problems […]
Recycling is a Sham
The things we are separating and putting into recycling bins are probably not being recycled. Recycling validates waste and it is a faux solution to the complex waste crisis we have designed ourselves into. Systems Thinking recognizes that everything is interconnected. Solve a complex problem with a simple solution, and we inevitably cause other […]
Climate Reputation Management
The impact of climate change is increasingly hard to ignore. According to the 2020 Global Risk Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), environmental threats are now the dominant global risk in terms of likelihood, taking the top five spots on the list. The effects of climate change are well-known and difficult to overstate. The pressure on […]
The Road Not Taken
I ran across a music video on YouTube last night. It was produced in 1987 by an Australian band named Midnight Oil. The song (you may remember it) is “Beds Are Burning”. It resonated with me because of the recent fires in Australia. It seems eerily prescient now. “How do we sleep while our […]
Building Community Climate Resilience
Local communities come together to recover from disasters. It is human nature to help when we see others in distress. We’ve all seen it dozens of times. Strangers pitch in together and lift a car that has pinned a woman. People go door to door after a hurricane to find those who need assistance. The […]
Climate Resilience – Infrastructure
As climate change impacts become more severe, cities and communities are seeking to become more resilient. One obvious place to start is infrastructure (roads, bridges, water treatment facilities, etc.) that are designed to last fifty years or more. If we can make our investments in infrastructure resilient to the impacts of climate change, they will […]
Climate Resilience Requires Global Cooperation
The one factor most likely to affect how well we endure a global crisis is the quality of our cooperation and collaboration. A great deal depends on whether we exhibit pro-social attitudes and responses, or we panic and blame. We must recognize that we’re all in this together. By cooperating and collaborating, we can salvage […]
Climate Resilience is Key to Avoiding Collapse
“Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change creates new, or alters current, climate-related risks. We can take steps to better cope with these risks.”1 Humanity has a lot of problems. Climate change, political […]
