News story after news story and academic study after academic study confirm that the condition of the environment continues to worsen. The cumulative reaction of the global political class is a giant shrug of the shoulders. Of course, this would be funny if only our future wellbeing as a planet did not rely on something big being done and being done quickly:
“It’s hard to be too excited about what happened to the environment in 2012. Climate change is growing worse. With it comes more deadly and costly natural disasters. At global summit after global summit, politicians are unable to agree on any sort of framework that might help put the brakes on the major alterations humanity is making to the planet.”
In the face of this inaction, the article in the url below summarizes what Co.EXIST feels were the top 14 stories on the environment in 2012. The stories are a mix of maddening inaction, technological brilliance, and individual instances of human perseverance:
“There are glimmers of hope, however. New discoveries in renewable energy and recycling are making us less dependent on fuels and materials that require us to destroy the planet to continue developing. … Since we can’t seem to rely on our government, it’s time to instead put our hope in the engineers, designers, and scientists who are working diligently to find elegant solutions to keep us alive on this planet while still letting us take comfort in the amenities of modern life (and letting more and more people from the developing world have access to them, too).”
The overall lasting impression is positive in the face of what seems to be overwhelming odds created by inertia and intransigence. It is sad that such progressive action is considered exceptional for civilization (rather than the norm) and also that we have to drive ourselves to the edge of calamity to generate such responses:
“It may now be more about designing for resilience in the face of disaster than attempting to prevent the disaster from happening.”
Take care
David
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/
The Top 14 Environment Stories of 2012
By Morgan Clendaniel
December 31, 2012
Co.EXIST
