Believe in Sustainability? You had BETTER BE PROACTIVE
Why don't we learn from the mistakes made in the past? Why don't we ever consider contingency plans for possible problems in the future?
Why are we so damn REACTIVE?
It is our blind reactivity - our refusal to think ahead that has led to our massive large scale national problems such as our extraordinarily high rates of unemployment, the fact that our US national debt will overtake our GDP, BP's underwater well snafu - and if that wasn't bad enough we keep finding new oil plums, our big banks that still need to be broken up . . . I could go on.
ForAbdul Nabi Al-Ghadban of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, the lessons from the 1991 oil spill in the Persian Gulf are all too relevant to the Gulf of Mexico spill. "If you have an offshore operation you need to have a good contingency plan in case of spillage, damage, earthquake, or a problem with the pipeline. We learned the lesson that we have to have an action plan -- you have to expect the unexpected."
Michelle Jones, in speaking of her husband Gordon who died when BP's oil rig exploded on April 20th said "allowing punitive damages against companies like BP and Transocean is the only way they may learn."
Really? Is that the only way?
What about us? What will it take for you, me, our families, our neighbors, our employees, our businesses to learn? When will we stop being complacent? When will we stop complaining ONLY when something goes wrong, and not actively pre-creating solutions for potential dangers? When will we start being more proactive?
Raise of hands: how many people knew BP had a deep well in the Gulf of Mexico? How many actually cared that a well of this depth has never been dug before? SOME of us care . . . now. Yup, only some. The rest don't really know too much about it. Funny too, how many are boycotting BP by driving around the corner to another gas station - another company they blindly choose to know nothing about?
Believing in "sustainability" means practicing proactivity. SUSTAINABLE = PROACTIVE
If you're just another one of those ‘adjective users' throwing around random, trendy lingo-of-the-day . . . . if you just sit back, react to your surroundings, wait for someone to legislate you . . . . if you wait for something bad to happen to kill time while awaiting for the opportunity to capitalize on a solution . . . if you're just an overly busy, non-news reading, obtuse, happy-go-lucky chap in your own little world . . . if you spend your time on frivolous things and not learning, growing, educating yourself, or creating solutions . . . if you don't vote . . . then there is nothing "sustainable" about you or your business.
Living day-to-day doing nothing more than reacting to the world around you isn't cute. It isn't sexy. That mindset should not be financially rewarded, tolerated, or blindly accepted.
No REACTIVE people beyond this point!
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