Straight Talk: The Week Climate Tipped

Climate consciousness got a boost this week as two cataclysmic events raised new levels of alarm.  New York Magazine‘s Uninhabitable Earth article whipped up a frenzy of discussion, while the calving of one of the largest icebergs ever recorded to break away from Antarctica demonstrated how the very landscape on which we depend stands to change in coming decades.  Closer to home, our region’s climate and environmental experts link greenhouse gases to poor health and missed economic opportunities.  In this week’s “Sustainability Insider” interview, Rachel Filippini of GASP examines the data behind these causes and effects, connecting climate change to increasing rates of lung cancer and premature death right here in our region.

Whether the public perceives the signals as sensationalism or understatement, what matters is how we respond.  The “I Am Sustainable Pittsburgh” pledge now counts 772 doers who are rising above the fray and getting to work on our sustainable future.  Thanks for that!  All the while, investors increasingly are betting on the business sustainability leaders that are saving money and mitigating environmental and public health impacts via operational and supply chain efficiencies, while increasing their value proposition with customers.  We see this week’s successive concussive blows to climate consciousness not as numbing but, rather, as energizing.  History is watching, and we are reminded that nature bats last.