Meeting the moment – Actions against climate change
I don’t know about you, but I found June’s heatwave pretty scary. It felt relentless and sapping and troubling. All across the UK, we saw records for high day time and night time temperatures tumble as things heated up.
The average temperature in my village in France was around 36 degrees at 650m above sea level. We haven’t had the worst of it here, with much of central France suffering record breaking temperatures above 40 degrees for multiple days. The heatwave continues to spread across Europe as I write.
The often unspoken truth is that climate change made the heat more intense.
Temperature change chart from Show Your Stripes
In this report from Carbon Brief they lay things bare. “Climate change is unequivocally to blame”, noting that the scorching temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” 50 years ago. This wasn’t 1976, it was hotter and more widespread.
These record temperatures have tangible real world impacts. 2000 deaths have been attributed to the heatwave in France and Spain.The UK suffered travel issues, hospitals were overwhelmed by increased demand and critical hospital infrastructure struggled to cope.
Travel disruption and iced treats
Beyond the most serious impacts, there were implications at a human level. At Wholegrain, the team suffered from WiFi outages attributed to the intense heat and missed events at London Climate Action Week, but bonded over heat and thunderstorm interrupted sleep patterns and which frozen treats were best to keep you cool. For my money, Georgie’s choice of a Vimto pyramid won, mainly because they give off nostalgic “Jubbly” vibes.
As the heat abated, conversations turned away from frozen snacks to more important things. This article was meant to be a round up of the LCAW events that our team attended, and our clients were involved in.
The heatwave changed all that.
During discussions this week, the topic shifted to how people and companies might take action in the wake of the heatwave. It’s important to remember that this wasn’t just another hot few days. More episodes like this are likely to come. How can we use our agency to take meaningful action?
Taking action
Our first suggestion is to attend a screening of the National Emergency Briefing on Climate as a number of our team have. The film is a powerful reminder of the challenges we face but also that action is possible. Not only do the solutions to the climate crisis already exist, but they need implementation.
You can find public screenings in the UK here.
For workplace screenings, Business Declares can help facilitate these events. Contact samantha@businessdeclares.com to discuss.
As well as a workplace screening, there are a number of other actions businesses can take.
Becoming a business member of Business Declares is a great place to start. Alternatively your organisation could throw its support behind the BCorp Better Business Act, a campaign to amend the Companies Act. The campaign asks the government to amend Section 172 of the Companies Act to legally empower UK businesses to balance the long-term interests of people, planet, and profit. Signing up to support the campaign triggers a letter to be sent to your local MP
If you work in the creative sector, you could join Wholegrain and thousands of organisations and individuals in taking the Clean Creatives pledge. Climate change is scientifically proven to be caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuel companies have long known of the risks their operations pose. Despite this, they have lobbied hard to hide this knowledge and delay action.
Pledging not to work for the fossil fuel industry helps the world take a step towards de-carbonisation.
If you work in the digital sector, you can support this move in another way. The Green Web Foundation is campaigning for the decarbonisation of the internet. Their Fossil Free Internet report on Data Centers is eye opening and shocking. Thankfully it offers three solution pathways to improve things and support the other initiatives listed in this article.
Start small, think big
Whatever you do, the important thing is that you can do something. Small steps can quickly add up to become major changes. At Wholegrain we’ve been working towards a more sustainable digital industry for over a decade. It’s never felt more important than it does now.
If you’re feeling inspired, keep an eye out for our next blog. We will cover some of the amazing work that our clients do and how you can get involved.
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