Motivated to Get Things Done!

As I sit at my desk, gazing out the window looking at the powder blue sky, sun shining, and see the green trees waving in the wind, it's an idyllic picture. We have had balmy summer nights of late, though, living in Scotland it is not unusual to have all seasons in one day and minutes apart! 

It's a far cry from the weather that other countries are currently experiencing, from the fires in Turkey to the terrible flooding which countries such as Germany found themselves battling recently. Meanwhile, the fires in California and Australia are still blazing......to me it's quite terrifying.  One thing is for sure, there is no negotiating with nature and its weather systems.

Global warming is a "hot" topic and one that sees the Climate Change Summit being brought to Glasgow in November COP 26.  Country leaders will congregate to discuss, argue, propose, and hopefully agree on a way forward to slow down the destructive forces that continue to threaten the world. This is set up to be one hell of a multi-lateral Negotiation.

This meeting is no different from any other, there are just more people at the table for negotiation, which means more opinions on how to tackle the problems.  As Glasgow prepares to welcome the attendees and their entourages to the Summit, ( around 30,000 of them apparently), we can ponder how they travelled and what carbon footprint they made.  I can only surmise we may not see all the country members at the table but possibly on a video link, this shouldn't alter the meeting or the outcome. In fact, it goes someway to show some countries are at least considering the ramifications of how their actions such as travel can affect global warming.  Note: Aviation accounts for about 2% of overall man-made carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, according to industry group ATAG.

There are many ways that we as individuals can help to lessen our collective impact on the planet. Spend less on the latest thing to wear for one. The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions, and nearly 20% of wastewater. Fashion sucks up more energy than both aviation and shipping combined.

Try changing your diet from less meat to a more plant-based diet as according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, the meat and dairy industry accounts for roughly 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Remember also that companies respond to our demands as individuals, and amongst the positives that have come out of Covid one has been the reduction of travel and our reliance on PJ’s rather than office wear. At Scotwork we have been encouraging clients to run virtual training,by all our 46 country offices since the pandemic started, reducing both our own global footprint and our client’s significantly and we’ve seen an increase in our carefully measured return on investment despite not being in the same physical room as others. This not only provides an alternative option; it could be the future. 

People respond if they have a reward or penalty to change the status quo. Our existing state needs to be changed by a combination of these as the ultimate penalty of an uninhabitable planet may be not far off. Let’s hope that COP26 provides an appropriate balance of these with concrete proposals we can all agree to.

Meanwhile as individuals we should be inspired to put effort into our future.  As the superpowers gather in Glasgow in November, let us pull on our own individual capes and negotiate our own way through the global warming storm.

If you feel moved to make changes to your business, wish to take your new ideas to suppliers and clients but aren't sure of how to put your face-to-face or virtual negotiations into practice, get in touch, we're here and ready to help.