Why should you KISS sustainability?

I was always taught then when explaining anything to "Keep it Simple Stupid". Or if you prefer "Keep it short and sweet".

Sustainability is a massive, wide, complex topic, so all too often articles and discussion descend into loads of detail and most people just switch off. "It all sounds so hard, I'll just ignore it and leave it to someone else". A completely understandable reaction if faced with thousands of acronyms, forcing, ESG, D&I and executive summaries that run to 32 pages (as the IPCC report does!). 

So given most people can read about 200 words per minute and are happy to spend 2 or 3 minutes reading an article,

KISSing Sustainability is dedicated to covering a variety of sustainability topics in between 400 and 600 words. 

In addition for me Kiss = Love. And I LOVE sustainability. I hope these short articles will help you to love it as well

So let's get going with KISSing Sustainability.

So why do I love (kiss) sustainability? First and foremost because I love my children. "Well so does everyone" I hear you say. Great! Then let's consider why they're the same.

My eldest son hit a milestone recently, he turned 18. The average age of a father in the UK (ONS 2020) is 33. So assuming he has a child when he’s that age that will be 2037. 

So my first grandchild will be 18 in 2055 and my son will still only be 51. 

And if my son works until he’s 68 he will retire in 2072 and my grandchild will still only be 35.

So what the world is like in 50 years from now matters, it really matters. Not just to far-off people in another land (although it does massively to them as well), but to those I love the most.

In the last 50 years (1971 to 2021) Carbon Dioxide concentrations have increased over 27% (90ppm from 326 to 416 if you want the detail). CO₂ causes global heating. If the same absolute increase happens in the next 50 years we’ll hit 506ppm.  

That will mean at least a three degree centigrade hotter planet on average (Yale Edu 2017).

But “surely everyone is reducing their CO₂ emissions” you say…..      well…..     No

The rate of growth of CO₂ concentration is actually still increasing and global CO₂ emissions in 2021 were higher than any year in history (except 2018 & 2019 which they were broadly the same as) despite a global pandemic.

There’s lots of great targets, far fewer plans and even less action.

In a 3^oC hotter world (Economist) one quarter of the world’s population will experience extreme drought for at least one month each year, 35^oC wet-bulb  temperatures (the temperature at which the human body can’t cool itself and so without air con you die) will spread from UAE and Pakistan today to include the Tropics, the Gulf, Mexico and South-East USA, Tens of millions of climate migrants will head for the “developed” world (aka Rich Countries like the UK) and rising sea levels and storm surges will severely threaten the lives of the 10% of the global population who live less than 10m above sea level, including cities like New York.

So because I love my children and want them and my grandchildren to live in a world without this chaos, I love sustainability and want us all to go further, faster.

Across climate change, biodiversity, just transition, social impact and how we govern all of this.

So if you love your children and grandchildren keep KISSing sustainability.

Simon xx