From Cereal to Climate: Why information is vital for informed decisions

We need information. Without information, how can we make decisions? We certainly cannot make informed decisions if we don’t have the information available to us to understand the choices we make in our decisions.

This is true in every part of life, from deciding what cereal to buy, to what school to send our kids to, to our views and decisions about the changing environment around us.

I read an article this week about the Great Lakes in Canada/USA. The lakes are the largest freshwater system in the world. Usually, they are covered in ice over the winter months with as much as  91% coverage in February. However, there was only 3% ice coverage in February this year.

So what, you might say. And maybe, here in Australia, who cares, you might add.

My point is that this is an example of the changes in our environment, the impact of which is yet to be determined. What is clear is that there will be an impact and the ecosystem of the lakes will change. 

The water temperature will rise sooner, the fish eggs that are protected by the ice will no longer get that protection, and oxygen won’t reach as low into the depths of the lakes, which in turn will reduce plankton numbers. Fish that feed on plankton won’t have the food supply they need, and their numbers will fall and so on up the food chain. The lakes will be buffeted by winter winds with shorelines eroding and the winds pushing sediment into harbours making them shallower and hazardous for boat access.

You see, you can’t deal with one thing in isolation. Every part of the world we live in is intertwined and even small changes will have an impact.

We’re not immune from changes in Australia. We know the impact drought has on our farmers and food production, we have seen the devastation wrought by floods and bushfires. Every time these weather conditions occur, the environment has to re-adjust to regain equilibrium again. More often than not the result is not the same. Native animal populations are reduced and in some instances, decimated, and plants and tree species struggle to regain a foothold. I don’t like to think about the bugs and reptiles (because I don’t like them), but they too are an integral part of the ecosystems in which they live and their populations may or may not be able to recover.

Ultimately, we need information. We need to have sufficient information to make informed decisions. Part of that process is the requirement for large corporations to report their greenhouse gas emissions. Over the next few years, those large corporations will be seeking carbon reporting data from their suppliers to meet their reporting obligations.

Now is the time to start reviewing your accounting records to make the necessary changes to ensure the ease of preparation of your carbon emissions reports in the future.

We are proud to advise that this article was written by the team and not produced by AI.