How independent professionals can cool global warming — it’s time to make a very real difference

by Robert Middleton

(Editor’s note: The following comes from Robert Middleton’s always helpful, always useful weekly More Clients newsletter, and is shared with his encouragement.)

Have you been listening recently to the media, opinion makers,
politicians and your friends lately?

What is currently the hottest issue on the planet?

Global Warming / Climate change.

Just last week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, backed
major legislation to cut back greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by
2020. But if you’ve been tuning in, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Every time you turn on the news, open a paper, magazine or blog
there’s another story about the planet heating up, and what it means
to you. I made up a quick list of things that have caught my
attention recently:

- Al Gore’s must-see movie: An Inconvenient Truth
- The rise in popularity of hybrid vehicles
- Biodeisel and ethanol as alternate fuels
- Vacation spots affected by global warming (Via Magazine)
- A major segment on CBS about global warming
- Record high temperatures across the globe
- Increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes
- More homes being converted to solar energy

The verdict is in: Climate change is real and humans are the cause.
we’re pumping way too much C02 and other greenhouse gases into
the atmosphere. No credible scientist disagrees.

So why the heck am I talking about this in More Clients? Good
question!

Here’s what I’ve been thinking: Since global warming is real and will
potentially have horrific consequences (think Katrina) shouldn’t we be
doing something about it?

And I’m not talking here about daily conservation efforts — buying
that hybrid car, cutting back on your heating bills and recycling.
Sure, you need to do all of those things, but what if you could make
a bigger impact as an Independent Professional?

I’ve always liked to think of Independent Professionals as catalysts for
change. Change in the lives of individuals and change in the life of a
business.

What we do makes a difference.

But what if we focused some of that difference-making energy into
contributing to the end of global warming? What might that look
like? What could you do?

Look, I certainly don’t have a master plan here, but a bunch of ideas
popped into my head. If you like some of them, take them and run
with them. And share some of your ideas on the More Clients Blog.

Sustainable businesses.
A lot of businesses are working towards more sustainability. It’s not
just The Body Shop that’s environmentally aware. Learn more about
this topic and go after these kind of businesses as clients. What if
you could improve the effectiveness of their efforts? I promise you,
they need help.

Inspiring Visions.
In difficult times, humans are at their best. There are visionary people
out there who are taking action. They need support as well. What if
you were the coach or consultant to someone who invented a
battery that could run a car for a week? What if your support helped
them develop it twice as fast?

Living More Simply
My friend and master coach Patrick Summar says to “build your ideal
life and back your business into it.” He notes that making more
money isn’t necessarily going to make you happier. Determine what
fulfills you and build your business around that. Work with clients who
want to streamline their lives/businesses but don’t know where to
start.

Focus on What Matters
In your business, your marketing, networking and interactions, talk
about what matters. In the face of “the end of civilization as we
know it,” a good part of our daily concerns start to look pretty trivial.
If we put some of our focus on more sustainable energy and less
pollution, we’d start to come up with ideas that surprised us.

Be Selfish
Look, my motivations are ultimately selfish. If the polar ice cap melts
significantly in the next few years (which is no longer a far-out
hypothesis) and the oceans rise by 20 feet, nobody’s going to be
buying professional services anymore!

Find Out More
It doesn’t take much research to learn more about this topic and the
opportunities for your professional service businesses. One of the
best resources on the web is the World Resources Institute (WRI).
http://www.wri.org Another good one is the Rocky Mountain Institute: http://www.rmi.org

I highly recommend taking a look at the WRI report “Environmental
Stories to Watch in 2006″ by WRI director Jonathan Lash which
highlights the major issues: http://pdf.wri.org/jl_enviro2006.pdf

I’ve always loved this quote by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” And another: “I must admit
that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an
individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.”

The More Clients Bottom Line: Ultimately it’s you who makes the
difference. Climate change is real. And whatever you can do to
empower those who are working directly on this issue can be a great
contribution to the world as well as to you personally.