Our climate, our economy — embrace the opportunity
Ihad the terribly ironic experience the other day of driving to the mountains, ostensibly to enjoy the beauty of our natural environment, and being disgusted by the gray smoke from Western state fires that clouded my mountain view — all while realizing this trip in my gas-powered SUV was contributing to the very thing I found so irritating.
Sure, it’s easy to be smug about my own carbon-contributing practices. I frequently run errands on a bike, my commuter car is a 2003 Prius that gets decent gas mileage, and the Boulder Chamber of Commerce’s Boulder Star is powered by wind energy. Still, if I’m honest, I know my own lifestyle places a significant burden on the climate, with a direct causal link to our overheating planet and supercharged hurricanes thrashing our shores, fires burning our forests, and fish suffocating in our rivers.
The fact is, our planet is suffering and whether you worry most about the environmental, human or economic toll it’s taking, we’re in a race against time to meet the climate protection challenge. How do we know? Boulder-based scientists who helped produce the recent United Nations climate report tell us. I particularly appreciated this line from NCAR scientist Linda Mearns: “The problem has become more serious and there will eventually be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide … You’re not going to be able to get away from it, because it is everywhere.” Yikes!
As a business support organization, the Boulder Chamber naturally focuses on the economic impacts of climate change. One industry I’m inclined to follow for that type of analysis is insurance, as insurance companies ultimately cover the cost of such environmental disasters as you-name-the-fire, flood or hurricane from just the past year. Here’s what one prominent insurer, Swiss Re, found in their analysis: “If no mitigating action is taken, global temperatures could rise by more than 3°C and the world economy could shrink by 18% in the next 30 years.”
We also know there are local economic impacts associated with our own environmentally rooted incidents. Consider the devastating 2013 floods and the fires that repeatedly sweep across our mountain backdrop, threatening lives, but also causing hundreds of millions of dollars in property loss. This doesn’t begin to measure the impact of business disruptions and thousands of individual decisions to cancel vacation trips to Boulder (leading to an estimated revenue loss of $1.43 million in Downtown Boulder for the two critical sales months of November and December in 2013).
It’s entirely dispiriting, except when you consider the opportunity ahead.
There are many approaches to addressing climate change that are worthy of exploration. The Boulder Chamber is committed to considering all of them and welcomes community input on our policies and practices. Please also remember, though, that blunt force instruments that fail to account for business viability likely will receive a jaundiced reception. As the Pedestrian Shops founder and green energy advocate Richard Polk likes to say, “Green is green.” Fundamentally, if we’re thoughtful in our approach, we can switch the economic paradigm and take advantage of business opportunities that our movement toward clean energy and climate protection expose.
Many Boulder companies are already banking on this paradigm shift. Namaste Solar installed over 13,618 kilowatts worth of solar power in 2020, Ball
Corporation is finding tremendous interest in their “infinitely recyclable” aluminum cups, and Scout Clean Energy has financed more than $1.2 billion in renewable energy projects. In our own climate-related initiative, the Boulder Chamber recently integrated the mobility services agency, Boulder Transportation Connections (BTC), into our organization. BTC provides our workforce with convenient commute options that also advance alternatives to gas powered single-occupant vehicle travel. Many companies deploy these services as a cost-saving employee retention tool, while additionally reducing the carbon footprint of their commuting workforce.
Sure, your bike ride to work won’t save our planet. Neither should we wear a veil of guilt for every car trip to the mountains. What we can’t afford, though, is failing to notice the changing climate around us and the need to take actions that help avoid the looming threats to human life, our environment and economy. Instead, embrace the opportunities. It might just get you out of that traffic jam, clear the skies and support your bottom line.