For many years now, we have seen how climate change has affected most, if not all, lives. The impact on each person doesn’t necessarily mean that its direct; it could be either through a prolonged change in weather, less crops throughout the supermarket, etc. However, climate change has had a severe impact in recent years: wildfires in British Columbia and California, ongoing droughts in California, floods and hurricanes throughout Mexico, and the depletion of ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctic. These rough changes can be traced back to a single species: humans.

According to various sources, The New York Times being part of the group, Greenland´s ice sheet is reaching a “tipping point”, where past the specified point, the ice sheet cannot go back to its previous state no matter what action. The Arctic, which is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet, is loosing more than 250 billion tons of ice per year. Due to the loss of the ice sheets, sea levels will rice and about 20-80 million people worldwide will be affected by it; and guess what… businesses will be affected too!

During class, we have talked about how companies have approached sustainability in various ways such as Toms with their social model, or Starbucks with their initiative to get rid of the plastic lining. These changes are meaningful and may be something innovative in the market, however, it is not necessary. Radical changes by both consumers and companies need to be made. These changes need to be on a completely new scale; a scale where a reduction in Greenhouse Gasses is meaningful enough so Greenland doesn’t pass the tipping point. “By limiting greenhouse gas emissions we limit warming, and thus also limit how rapidly and intensely Greenland affects our livelihoods through sea-level rise.” “That, it seems, is our call to make.” – Dr. Trusel.

We may think that “Yeah, its okay, we still have time to change things”, or maybe, “Well, companies are trying”… we have reached the point where trying is not enough and there is no more time. We need to try to reduce our carbon footprint to the lowest we can. There is a need to think about the environment with EVERY single activity or decision we do.

Source:

Schwartz, John. (2019, January 21). Greenland´s Melting Ice Nears a “Tipping Point”, Scientists Say. Retrieved from <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/climate/greenland-ice.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage>