In a post Hurricane Sandy world, the United States of America seems to be slowly waking up to the effects of climate change. Increasingly intense storms and changing weather patterns are just the start of mother nature’s potential rage.
New York City’s Michael Bloomberg is taking direct action by pledging to spend up to $19.5 Billion US Dollars to protect the city against rising oceans and storm surges.
Besides strong leadership from NYC, the corporate business world is also pledging support for dealing with climate change. Proof of this can be seen on ceres.org where businesses have signed up to make a climate declaration. Big Business that supports climate change action, according to ceres.org, include:
- Addidas, IKEA, and Starbucks
- Intel, Ben & Jerry’s, and Levi Strauss & CO.
- The North Face, Ebay, Nike, and many more.
With big name corporate brands supporting climate change action it seems to be a no brainer getting congress to pass something to help alleviate the problems. Some companies like Disney and Microsoft are already preparing for carbon taxes by self-imposing them to preemptively prepare for potential legislation. While other companies are already taking steps to reduce their carbon emissions ahead of possible future legal changes on climate change.
Tuning internal company policies towards an eye for efficiency by self imposing a carbon tax has caused Disney to closely scrutinize energy use and and habits. They have implemented basic cost saving measures by raising thermostats, installing efficient lighting, and turning off lights to it’s normally lit Cinderella Attraction, which have all resulted in reduced emissions.
Source: Gallup
Back in 2007, Google, Gap Inc, PG&E and other local San Francisco businesses pledged to fight global warming.
They said they want to make the San Francisco Bay Area a leader in the fight against climate change. Google has already thrown down cash to offset it’s office use energy by installing 9200 solar panels at its headquarters in Mountain View, California, accounting for 30% of its energy uses. The companies formed a group named the Business Council on Climate Change, in order to attract other businesses to help set an example to the rest of corporate America.
PG&E, a San Francisco based utility, provides electricity for most of Northern California, is committed to help curb global warming by generating half of its electricity from clean renewable sources. The fight is on, and as long as companies like these are leading the way, the people of the United States can make the difference if the government should choose not to.
But even recent hints from the Obama Administration are encouraging from the president’s most recent trip to Berlin where he talked about needing to do more on climate change.
The White House also made a short clip on what to expect for an upcoming speech but also highlights that they are ready to introduce something major to Congress.
(We’ll post that speech here once it hits the Internet.)
…and here it is (must see) via YouTube:
Overall, there are reasons to be encouraged that we are heading in the right direction…and that is good news for all of us.
Tweets from President Obama’s Climate Change Speech (June 25, 2013):
and this a burn towards Climate Deniers:
Another Favorite:
And:
Did you watch President Obama’s Speech? What did you think? I will post the video up as soon as it’s up on YouTube.
