Lessons from New York

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to improve their climate literacy so as to understand the projected impacts from the expanding climate crisis and how to adapt their workplaces in the face of these impacts.

Before we get to that what you are looking at here are road closures in the New York and Newark area caused by a severe weather event causing flash flooding in the wake of tropical storm Ida.

The science has been crystal clear. As the planet continues to warm extreme weather events will become more frequent. Torrential downpours, more powerful hurricanes, intense heatwaves and fires. All this is already happeing in many parts of the world at just 1.1°C of warming.

Can you imagine we pass 1.5° or 2°C. The latest IPCC report warns “unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.”

Back to the area seen here on the map.

“On August 22, Tropical Depression Henri dumped 1.94 inches on Central Park between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., breaking the record for the most rain in an hour in New York City. Ida [broke] that record just 11 days later, dropping three inches of rain between 8:51 and 9:51 p.m. on Wednesday night. The intense downpour caused flooding throughout the city, as well as the first flash-flood emergency ever to be issued in New York City.”

These events are going to become more frequent and more intense. How will your business function with this as the norm?

Business continuity is going to be a key feature of the future of work. The most resilient businesses are going to be:

Those that decouple from fossil fuels
Those that are location independent
Those that can work-from-anywhere
Those that do not rely on daily commutes

Does the above describe your business?