Understanding Climate Crisis
Just the mere mention of ‘Climate Crisis’ can make many of us run for the hills or bury our heads in the sand. They seem to be two very triggering words but they are also such important ones, and ones which we need to start getting more comfortable with and learning more about.
When we speak to companies about their Green Strategy and Framework, so many of them know they need to ‘get better’ or ‘be more sustainable’, but they don’t really know what this means for them, looks like for them, or whether they can really achieve it.
The fear of what Climate Crisis actually means and how it really impacts us in business (and in life) seems to stop us from moving forward and finding solutions.
We can all ‘be better’ and ‘be more sustainable’ if we have more of an understanding of ‘what’ we need to be better at, ‘why’ we need to be better at it, and ‘how’ we can be better at it and more sustainable. We need to have more of an understanding of Climate Crisis.
Why do we need to educate ourselves about Climate Crisis?
As with many important topics, education is the key! If we don’t understand something, how can we react in the right way, or do the right thing, or stop doing the wrong thing?
We need to educate ourselves about Climate Crisis because no one else is going to do it for us…
If we educate ourselves about Climate Crisis then we gain an understanding of the problem we face, and once we understand the problem it becomes much easier to fix it.
The ‘green’ or ‘eco’ snippets of information we pick up in our day to day lives can’t be considered as an education… more often than not these snippets have a hidden greenwashing agenda or marketing slant.
To really get an understanding of what Climate Crisis is, why it is important, what we can do about it, and why we need to act now, we need to actively start learning, questioning, and talking about it.
How do we start educating ourselves about Climate Crisis?
Knowing why we need to educate ourselves is the first hurdle, the second hurdle is to actively start doing it!
There are lots of different ways in which we can start educating ourselves about Climate Crisis. Balance and variety, as with many things in life, are in our opinion, the key to learning.
You aren’t going to become a Climate Crisis ‘expert’ overnight by watching one film or reading one book. There are so many areas, layers, and problems within the huge Climate Crisis headline, that it becomes very easy to disappear down a rabbit hole without realizing.
You can also find yourself stuck in an ‘eco bubble’ echo chamber, with the same negative messaging being repeated over and over, in different ways, so you only ever hear one perspective.
The Climate Crisis impacts ALL of us in some way.
We ALL need to educate ourselves about as much of it as we can, and to do so we need variety when reading books, watching documentaries, films, and TV programmes, listening to talks and debates, scrolling through social media, following inspirational people and so on.
As a bookworm I will always opt for reading books first ahead of everything else, and there is a wealth of books out there, covering so many different areas and issues concerning ‘Climate Crisis’.
A great book to start with for an all round introduction to what Climate is, what damage we are doing, and what we can do, is ‘The Climate Book’ created by Greta Thunberg. As Greta states at the beginning of the book, “To solve this problem, we need to understand it”.
How do we start taking action to help solve the problem of Climate Crisis?
The most important and impactful thing we can do right now to help solve the problem of Climate Crisis is to change our thinking and change our behaviours.
Recognising that we are ultimately damaging our own life supporting systems through the damage we inflict on the planet, through so much of what we have been ‘programmed’ to do in our lives, is a breakthrough in changing our thinking and behaviours.
We need to stop thinking about ‘carbon offsetting’ as a solution and instead cut the carbon we are producing.
As individuals we can’t change cultures, systems, governments, or corporations, but we can start questioning ‘how we’ve always done things’, start openly talking about the issues we face, and shift our ways of thinking.
Individually we can’t compensate or change the wrongdoings of governments, media, multinational corporations and billionaires who got us into this mess.
Sometimes a solution can be as simple as stopping doing something instead of finding a new way to do it! One of my favourite sayings is “if we stop buying the shit, they will stop making the shit”… and this is true in so many ways.
There is no one thing we can do which will solve the Climate Crisis. Ultimately there needs to be structural systemic change across many levels.
We ALL need to understand the uncomfortable truth that we are either sustainable or we are not, there is no grey area here. Sustainability is the goal and we need to all works towards that goal as fast as we possibly can.
‘Being Better’ and ‘Being More Sustainable’ IS achievable for us all, but we need to understand Climate Crisis first before we can understand how we can achieve it.
There is always a better, greener, and more sustainable option, alternative, or solution if you take the time to understand and educate yourself.
For more green, sustainable tips and articles take a look at our other blog posts, or pop over to Instagram and LinkedIn and check out @achievinggreenness where we provide you with the motivation, evidence, and tools you may need to become greener.
If you are a business looking for help to take action, get organized, and get educated and get Green, then get in touch, we offer bespoke Green packages for all your requirements.
