Column: Business is motivated to protect environment; Nature Conservancy playing role
June 09, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
By John Torinus | Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Not only do many business people believe that climate change will increasingly damage the environment and economy, they are acting more quickly on solutions than their counterparts in the public sector.
… temperatures have risen 1 degree centigrade over the last 100 years, and that they will rise another 2 to 4 degrees by 2100, depending on our behaviors. That would give Wisconsin a climate akin to what Missouri has today. The state would lose its northern boreal forests. It would lose its trout and pike that like cold water. Our lake levels would drop by 1½ to 4 feet by the end of the century.
Trustee Bob Taylor, retired CEO of Erie Manufacturing Co. in Milwaukee, observed that business executives see no downside to taking action to slow emissions that create greenhouse gases. If the scientists are right, reduction efforts will keep the increase to 2 degrees instead of 4. If the scientists are wrong, no harm is done by cutting emissions.
The combination of climate change and the range of challenges facing the Great Lakes has drawn the Nature Conservancy to a dramatic shift in its strategy. For most of its history since it was founded in 1951, the organization concentrated on land and water protection. It has used science-based methods and non-confrontational tactics to become the biggest conservation organization in the world.
But now its leaders have decided that saving habitat for a diverse range of species can’t be done without addressing climate change and large system planning. So it is mounting a 10-year campaign to make a difference on a global scale.
Fortunately, one of its target projects is the Great Lakes basin. The Nature Conservancy already is working on pilot projects for Green Bay and Lake Ontario, where it plays the role of catalyst, pulling together all the organizations doing work to analyze, understand and take action on issues such as lake levels, water quality, invasive species and even the patterns of migratory birds that use the basin.
The deep concern about the future of the Great Lakes, exaggerated by the effects of climate change, will have more ramifications for the Milwaukee region than many others. The Milwaukee 7 region has laid out some ambitious goals to become the center of freshwater sciences, including a new college and doctorate program in that arena at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
