Urgent Action Required: How Business Leaders Can Tackle Earth’s Polycrisis for a Sustainable Future

In October 2024, Hurricane Helene hit Buncombe County, North Carolina, taking over 70 lives. Asheville, once seen as a safe haven from climate chaos, is now dealing with severe flooding. Many locals lost everything—homes, jobs, and their sense of security.

This tragedy shows us a harsh truth: there are no places to hide from the effects of climate change. The challenge we face isn’t just about protecting the planet; it’s about ensuring our own survival.

Earth operates like a complex organism, as described by James Lovelock’s Gaia Theory. It has self-regulating systems that have maintained a balance for billions of years, surviving even mass extinctions and asteroid impacts. But we are disrupting these systems faster than ever. Scientists warn that we have crossed multiple planetary boundaries, which threatens the stability that supports human life.

Our consumption is unsustainable—we are using resources at a rate that would require 1.7 Earths. The signs are clear: rising temperatures, acidifying oceans, and erratic weather patterns are not failure signs for the planet; they are Earth trying to adjust to the stress we have caused. The critical question is whether this new balance will allow for human existence.

We are not facing isolated threats; we are amidst a polycrisis where issues like climate change, loss of biodiversity, resource depletion, and social inequality interact and worsen each other. For instance, climate change causes water shortages, which impact food supply, leading to social unrest. Each problem reinforces the others, creating a chain reaction that disrupts life as we know it.

For business leaders, this means no industry is safe. Extreme weather can disrupt supply chains, resource scarcity can cause prices to soar, and social unrest can impact market stability. Companies in technology, agriculture, and energy are all feeling the effects. The polycrisis doesn’t care about industry boundaries—it affects everyone.

Business leaders now have a crucial choice. Every decision has an impact. Using resources faster than they can be replenished and focusing solely on short-term profits can worsen our situation. But this challenge is also an opportunity.

By adopting Sustainable Strategic Management (SSM), businesses can lead the charge toward healing the environment while creating value. Companies that ignore SSM may find themselves out of business as the need for planetary health becomes critical to success.

Look at the insurance companies that are leaving high-risk areas or the tourism sector grappling with disappearing destinations. The manufacturing industry is facing water shortages, and energy companies are struggling to maintain stability during extreme weather. This situation is just the tip of the iceberg, and the need for change is urgent.

Asheville is a stark reminder that no one is safe from the effects of climate change. Cities around the world are facing similar fates—like Paradise, California, devastated by wildfires or Jakarta, Indonesia, sinking into the ocean. There are no safe zones; we all have a role to play in changing how businesses operate.

The time to act is now. The polycrisis affects everyone, and transforming our business practices through SSM is the only way forward. Leaders must embrace this new way of thinking; otherwise, they risk becoming obsolete in a world where the health of our planet is crucial to survival. Our response today will shape our future.

To view our last appearance, please click here: https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-045-11820