DRM – Disaster Risk Mitigation

In my article on sustainability, I begin with the DJIA story of economic growth because I truly believe that the single most definable driving force in the human sphere is WEALTH CREATION.

Since recorded time immemorial, it appears that the human psyche is driven by the things they OWN. Personal belongings. An extensive amount of research in a wide variety of fields (child development, geography, philosophy, gerontology, psychology, law, and consumer behavior) emphasizes the importance of possessions and ownership in influencing human attitudes, motivation, and behavior.

It is not difficult to understand why as adults, the urge to embrace wealth turned into economic greed worldwide. The same urge that fueled the corporate urge to be successful. It was not enough to compete or even to be #1, it was a focused urge to  dominate any and every market venture.

With that said, that dominance led to explosive stock market numbers and therein began SUSTAINABILITY. To keep shareholders happy, it required laser focus on key market indicators. Revenue, earnings, market share – all became key market indicators that would signal growth and profitability – i.e SUSTAINABLE REVENUE/PROFITABILITY.

Unfortunately, the alarm had not yet gone off for the climate at a scale that would cause an emotional response to do something. It was good to talk about as long as we did not rock the economic balance.

With a mass, the size of the earth, the temperature rose slowly , but rise it did. Industrial development made green zones concrete zones. Exploding populations required more food, more housing, more heating in winters, more cooling in summers. Population migration to suburbia required more commuter access. More roads, more cars, more fossil fuel. Encroachment on agri-bearing properties for expanding communities meant greater transport distances to get to market. More fuel, higher costs.

These facts are not new. What is becoming clearer is our complete lack of understanding just how unprepared we are for any global solutions to address the concept of SUSTAINABILITY.

In my article on sustainability, I begin with the DJIA story of economic growth because I truly believe that the single most definable driving force in the human sphere is WEALTH CREATION.

Since recorded time immemorial, it appears that the human psyche is driven by the things they OWN. Personal belongings. An extensive amount of research in a wide variety of fields (child development, geography, philosophy, gerontology, psychology, law, and consumer behavior) emphasizes the importance of possessions and ownership in influencing human attitudes, motivation, and behavior.

It is not difficult to understand why as adults, the urge to embrace wealth turned into economic greed worldwide. The same urge that fueled the corporate urge to be successful. It was not enough to compete or even to be #1, it was a focused urge to  dominate any and every market venture.

With that said, that dominance led to explosive stock market numbers and therein began SUSTAINABILITY. To keep shareholders happy, it required laser focus on key market indicators. Revenue, earnings, market share – all became key market indicators that would signal growth and profitability – i.e SUSTAINABLE REVENUE/PROFITABILITY.

Unfortunately, the alarm had not yet gone off for the climate at a scale that would cause an emotional response to do something. It was good to talk about as long as we did not rock the economic balance.

With a mass, the size of the earth, the temperature rose slowly , but rise it did. Industrial development made green zones concrete zones. Exploding populations required more food, more housing, more heating in winters, more cooling in summers. Population migration to suburbia required more commuter access. More roads, more cars, more fossil fuel. Encroachment on agri-bearing properties for expanding communities meant greater transport distances to get to market. More fuel, higher costs.

These facts are not new. What is becoming clearer is our complete lack of understanding just how unprepared we are for any global solutions to address the concept of SUSTAINABILITY.