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12 PalletCentral • July-August 2022 palletcentral.com 12 PalletCentral • July-August 2022 palletcentral.com ENVIRONMENT By Preston W Blevins, CPIM-F, FBPICS, CIRM, CSCP Do You Remember the Old Expression "IT'S JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG?" All enterprises, independent of size, need to embrace the vision for a carbon-free (or neutral) economy. A n analogy is often used to help someone understand that a problem is a much larger or more complex than it appears. e tip of the iceberg is a symptom; the rest of the iceberg is the cause of the problem. What caused the sinking of the Titanic wasn't the tip of the iceberg but the massive part of it below the waterline. e tip of the iceberg is a good analogy for the current climate warming situation. Drought, fires, floods, and elevated air and sea temperatures are symptoms; the root cause is excessive Green House Gas (GHG) emissions generated by humankind. The Problem Unfortunately, many of the materials created to form the foundation for our current society are significant GHG emitters: cement, plastics, ammonia (fertilizer), carbon-based fuels, steel, and many others. When these materials were invented, the negative impact they would create wasn't fully understood, and significant innovation was required to develop them. Society must now collaborate across all its parts and generate an intensive innovation cycle to create carbon-free or carbon-neutral products and processes on a tight timetable with a sense of urgency. A Sense of Urgency Needed Another innovation cycle must also be implemented to reduce water consumption; fifty percent of globally available blue or drinkable water will be consumed by 2030. is is important because of the carbon-water-food connection. Everything must be kept in sync because of this tight relationship. Earlier, there was a mention of a tight timetable. A specific milestone date of 2030 has been established. is date is the result of decades of analysis and research by scientists. Meeting this date requires a concerted effort among all sectors of an economy. e goal is to keep the average global projected temperature rise to 1.5C (2.7F) to minimize the damage to coastline communities, farmland abandonment to drought, city retrofitting, loss of electrical generation, infrastructure relocation, and water refugees. iStockphoto.com/the-lightwriter

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