Bringing on board the skeptics

I am an advocate of climate change, but something that really annoys me is when the 'believers' totally shut down the non-believers.

I spoke at the Mosman Council launch of the clean energy for eternity chapter last night. First of all, what the guys in Bega, in particular Dr Matthew Nott, have done is fantastic. They get climate change, they are doing something about it and see it not as the end of all things, but as the start of a new era in science, technology, and, coincidentally (for their name!), clean energy!

Unfortunately, however, last night was a classic example of violating an individual's right to free speech. After all the speakers had done their thing (me included... I was talking about the impact of climate change on business), a motion was put that the Mosman area adopt a 50/50 by 2020 climate change target. Basically, that the council area would work to reduce consumption of energy by 50 % and increased the production of energy from renewable energy to 50% by 2020. Nice. But as the motion was being put, one individual asked that there be time for questions before the motion was voted on. Fair enough I say. Unfortunately for free speech and fair debate, it would seem this individual was well known to everyone there last night and is, as the Mayor put it, a "regular nuisance".

Be that as it may, not allowing him to ask one single question and speaking over the top of him every time he did attempt to ask a question doesn't help anything. In my experience talking to many businesses, many of whom are very pragmatic and not 100% sure of this thing called climate change, the one thing I have found is that you can actually find common ground. There is a way to help them see the benefit of taking action, or at least understand the concerns of those around them.

Two of the best ways to overcome most business opposition I have found are this: tell them they could save between 15-50% of their annual operating costs with Return on Investment of between six months to three years. Really, it is that simple. They save money, their business makes more money, and they are using less resources that are contributing to the climate change problem. More interestingly is that once they start these things they see quite quickly all the other things they can do and the new markets that exist for sustainable products and solutions. Before you know it, they are full-blown converts... or dare I say it, believers!

The second way is to appeal to their sense of innovation. Tell them that we use technology to power our cars and cities that is over 100 years old... for a modern, innovative economy, and more importantly for a leading-edge, innovative business, what does that say? It says pretty quickly that we aren't that modern or leading-edge or innovative. For all the new technology we have we still use these antiquated technologies. For business... that's the opportunity. Invent better technology! And you can bet your bottom dollar that if they do, they will make a fair fortune from their investment!