141: A Purpose Worth Living For In A Post Pandemic World

This week I want to make a change to our usual interview format. Instead, I want to talk about the issue of climate change. Whatever your perspective on the causes few will deny that dramatic and potentially irreversible changes are occurring that threaten humanity’s existence on the planet. We're now well into the fourth quarter of this tumultuous year. With news around our tiny unseen enemy still in abundance, and as we focus on addressing the immediate Covid-19 pandemic, we must not lose sight of the more significant existential threat: our climate crisis. The urgency to build on the much-cited 'We're all in this together' sentiment cannot be overstated. If we are to avert a climate collapse, now is the time to start a new contagion, one that spreads a radical and positive change in consumer and corporate behaviors. Behavior change is hard, but we should take inspiration from positive societal shifts that have emerged in recent months: 1. Covid-19 and our sheltering in place demonstrate that most people can, individually and collectively, on a global scale, radically change our way of life, sacrificing what once seemed sacrosanct.  2. The collective spirit of resistance and rage, ignited by the death of George Floyd and spate of other racial injustices, demonstrates the power of people to unite and confront the status quo.  3. The rapid collective action by some corporations, businesses, and brands in changing their marketing, operations, and supply chains to battle the pandemic prove business can be on the right side of race history. However, Covid-19 has not only exposed the deep and systemic social, economic, educational, racial, and technological inequity; it's also directly impacted our progress to achieve the UN's seventeen sustainable development goals (SDG's). As UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently stated: "As Member States recognized at the SDG Summit held last September, global efforts to date have been insufficient to deliver the change we need