From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Many studies have shown and said that consumers would rather choose a sustainable product or service from a transformed business over others.
It has been said that we went to the moon to explore the moon, but while we were there, we looked over our shoulder and discovered Earth. Seeing the Earth in that perspective upgraded the firmware of all our brains, of everyone's subconscious. Those missions sparked Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency, a comprehensive Clean Air Act... So much activism came from seeing that there's no hint of anyone coming to help us from somewhere, that we're here by ourselves on one planet.
We can't only rely on consumers making individual choices. If you switched your energy to someone who told you they are selling you 100% renewable energy, that's great, but it doesn't shift the energy system to renewables. You need to have energy markets that are designed to encourage investment into renewable energy.
If you speak to heads of states and corporations about the costs, that will be incurred to protect the environment, they will never invite you again. If you come and speak their language about job-creation and profit, they will welcome you with open arms and tell you to start implementing.
We've lost our relationship with ourselves; and that is all-encompassing because without a relationship with ourselves, we can't then have a relationship with nature, with each other and the planet.
Without any major adjustments to our conduct and behaviour, we will see the unravelling of an informed civilisation.
By the middle of century, the temperature and humidity in parts of the world will be so high at parts of the year that the human system will not be able to cool itself, you are effectively being cooked. One of the places this will happen first, with potentially grave consequences, is the Arabian Peninsula- disrupting Hajj.
We advocate for a 'feminist moonshot' approach, symbolized by the dandelion. The dandelion, a resilient flower and weed found on all continents, symbolizes our efforts. Despite its reputation as a nuisance, it's a plant I've grown to admire for its beauty, deep-rooting ability that rejuvenates the soil, and its edible qualities. Its seeds, spread by children, represent the spreading of our positive narrative towards a cleaner, healthier, more equitable world.
These unprecedented floods demand unprecedented assistance.
People find that you don't have to go around managing the maintenance of a building with a tool belt anymore, you can go around with an iPad. You've still got to operate buildings, but our buildings have to be technically oriented as we're challenging them to be greener. So, how do you go from a tool belt to an iPad?
We are the first generation that through its neglect could destroy the relationship between humans and the planet, and perhaps the last generation that can prevent dangerous climate change.
The first thing to do for our ecology is not to use less electricity, it's to cease buying things that are not useful.