At the Biddeford & Saco Chamber of Commerce, most of our efforts are hyper-local, consistent with our focus on Biddeford and Saco businesses and the regional community. But it’s impossible to avoid topics and issues in the news lately that are national and global in nature.

For example, there is uncertainty and fear right now about the CoronaVirus as we all hope that its profoundly dangerous impact can be contained and mitigated. On the political front, the presidential primaries continue to dominate the news cycle. But perhaps the most important topic facing all of us these days is the global climate crisis.

That the climate is changing, and that it is mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, is unambiguous and established science. If you are unconvinced, a simple web search of governmental data on annual CO2 trends in the atmosphere, average annual temperature changes, and rising sea levels clearly illustrate the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and its impact on the world’s climate. Anyone who maintains that the science on this issue is not yet decided is just parroting the denialist approach that cigarette manufacturers used for years regarding their product’s impact on human health.

We’ve all likely followed these disturbing trends for years, and photos of melting glaciers, record storm surges, and clear-cut rain forests are frightening. There is a lot of disappointment that at a national level, the U.S. is not playing a more leadership role with the rest of the world to tackle the problem. Within our state though, it’s heartening to see the Mills administration take a stand, by committing to having a carbon-neutral economy by 2045.

But how can this 2045 goal be accomplished, given where we are today regarding oil, gas and coal’s dominance in fueling our transportation, heating and machinery needs? Multiple transformations will need to occur in the next few decades to ramp up more renewable energy sources, transition to electric vehicles and heat pumps, improve battery performance, expand recharging infrastructure, and so much more. The investments required will be enormous, but there really isn’t a choice anymore at a global level.

An understandable initial reaction to all this is frustration — why isn’t somebody doing more about this right now? But in reading more about Maine’s goal recently, it’s apparent that it will take a combination of “tops-down” leadership, regulation, and incentives, as well as a “bottoms-up” effort by all of us throughout the area and the state, if we are going to achieve that objective. Regardless of what the current presidential administration is doing about climate change, we can all help right now individually at home and collectively at work.

Beyond the profound social and economic challenges this type of transition will entail, from the Chamber’s perspective of being a resource for businesses, there will be companies that grow and thrive in these transitional times by responding well to these energy challenges, as well as companies that will need to evolve their business model in order to stay successful. As with most technology and innovation evolutions, there will be winners and losers. But the alternative is that we all lose eventually — so it’s best for people and businesses to get out in front of this issue as much as possible.

What are ways we can help now? At a simple level, in our office and at home we can become more energy efficient; we can minimize gas-powered automobile mileage; we can participate in carbon-offset initiatives; and for the Chamber, we can encourage our members to do the same. Maybe the best approach is if everyone does a little bit better a little more often, collectively across the world a lot of positive change will occur over time. It starts here with us; what would it mean for the Chamber and perhaps some of its members to become carbon-neutral? Over the coming months at the Chamber we are going to dig into this more and see what we can accomplish. Look for a status update on our progress later this year.

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