The unemployment and consequent recession heaped on our economy by the pandemic and the mounting climate crisis has us all facing new priorities. From a strictly business standpoint, we must redefine our values, create new jobs and survive these existential threats. The climate crisis is not a spectator sport. Whether we do it now or wait for more chaos, we will be eventually forced to take action.
Just the Beginning
We have all seen what national inaction on the pandemic has done to our health and our economy. Imagine what another year of inaction on climate change will do to our safety, infrastructure, food supplies, and environment. According to Bill Gates, it will be like having a Covid crisis every 10 years …or less. Since we must ultimately address climate change in a big way, and since we must re-employ folks laid off by the pandemic anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone?
Supply and Demand
What does recovery look like? We think it looks Green! We will need workers to build, install, and maintain green power generation. We will need workers to build, install, and maintain fire, flood, and drought mitigation. And we will need workers to build, install, and maintain new forms of transportation. The list goes on to include better methods of food production, better forms of distribution, and better and more efficient building materials. Talk about jobs!
And what about demand for these new products and services? They will be driven by ever-increasing climate disasters and ecosystem collapses. Talk about demand!
Be Part of the Solution
We advise our newly laid off clients to pick out a small piece of this new economy and make a business out of it, the sooner, the better. The labor is there and the market is growing.
Where we live in California, climate change has made us all rethink the whole idea of centralized power infrastructures. The sheer cost of building and maintaining aerial high tension transmission lines has resulted in regional monopolies. It used to be the most efficient way to produce and distribute power. But now, with climate change, and the increasing instances of fire caused by faulty power lines, drought and 90 mile-per-hour winds, it’s not only obsolete, it’s downright dangerous!
Changing of the Guard
This rethinking is not exclusive to the power companies. It applies to other types of old-fashioned infrastructures including water, sewer, and land lines. The market for alternatives is being built on the ruins of these monopolistic infrastructures.
For instance, the houses of the future will have to produce their own power, be insulated from the elements, withstand high winds, be above the flood lines, turn their waste into energy and fertilizer, grow their own food, and be fire-resistant. These are just a few of the requirements necessary to survive the new climate. There are literally thousands of opportunities for new businesses in the Green Economy. People won’t be just considering these new products and services; they will be demanding them …for their own survival.
We want to inspire folks, especially young people, to anticipate and satisfy these new demands in these dark times. We want to encourage them to be part of the new Green Economy. It’s the only road to sustainability and recovery anyway! Now, get back to work (safely)!
