Turning Off The Tap: Why Small Steps Won't Solve Climate Crisis, with Niklas Kaskeala

The NatureBacked Podcast

Climate activist Niklas Kaskeala, founder and chief impact officer at ImpactOffice.Earth, highlights the urgency of addressing climate change and the role of corporate responsibility in fostering a sustainable future.

Kaskeala emphasizes the need for businesses to move beyond traditional sustainability practices and focus on creating positive impacts, questioning existing business models and advocating for broader societal change.

Takeaways

• Kaskela has over 20 years of experience in sustainability.
• Protect Our Winters mobilizes the winter sports community against climate change.
• Climate change poses an existential threat to winter sports.
• Sustainability should focus on creating positive impact, not just minimizing harm.
• Businesses need to rethink their models for a sustainable future.
• The climate crisis has already crossed several planetary boundaries.
• Traveling to ski resorts contributes significantly to emissions.
• Companies must take ownership of their entire supply chain emissions.
• Corporate sustainability should not be a box-ticking exercise.
• The safe limit for CO2 in the atmosphere is 350 ppm, which we have exceeded decades ago.

"We've gone way beyond the point of the safe limit, but what are we doing every day? We're adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Each and every one of us, each and every company. So even if we miraculously stopped emitting today, we would still have a huge issue with too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," Kaskeala said.

"It's like having a bathtub. If the bathtub is the atmosphere and the water running in there is the carbon dioxide, we've had the tap on for centuries, decades, and the water is already overflowing. It's so high up that it's flowing over the edges of the bathtub. So our solution can't be just to turn the tap off by 5% this year, 5% next year. It'll just contribute to the problem even more. We need to close it, but then we also need to remove the plug and drain the excess water out," he said.

The episode was first aired live from the Impact Day event in Tallinn.

Kaskeala was interviewed by Fiona Alston.

Since the recording in October, Kaskeala also co-founded The Activist Agency

The episode cover picture was made with Designer. Powered by DALL·E 3.

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