Climate Change

Deloitte reports 89% of executives agree there is a climate emergency

A Deloitte survey of 2,000 executives to determine their concerns and actions regarding climate change and environmental sustainability found the following:

• 89% agree there is a climate emergency.
• 79% see the world at a tipping point for responding to climate change.
• 88% agree that with immediate action, we can limit the impacts of climate change (only 63% agreed eight months prior).
• 97% indicate their companies have already been negatively impacted by climate change.

The key question is what are they doing about it? Top actions taken include:

• 67% are using more sustainable materials.
• 66% are increasing energy efficiency.
• 57% are using energy efficient or climate-friendly machinery, technologies, and equipment.
• 57% are training employees on climate change and its impacts.
• 55% are reducing post-pandemic air travel

Additional report summaries provide more information. The full report is also available.

Future of Work / The Economy

“The labor shortage has been just phenomenal. Like everybody, we’ve raised wages and given referral bonuses. Those are just table stakes at this stage. But one of the things we’ve really done…is decided we’re really going to take care of our people.”— Erik Frederick, CEO, UNO Restaurants

---

Being rich is better, the moral calculations of a billionaire

On January 30, 2022, the Washington Post published an in-depth profile of Leon Cooperman, one of the 745 billionaires in the U.S. The story revealed a different side of one man’s calculations about wealth and what to do with it.

---

Economist sees positive U.S. economic outlook for 2022

Vertex economist Alan Nevin on February 7, 2022, published his annual 2022 forecast for the U.S. and California. Overall, he sees a positive outlook. Some U.S. highlights:

• Unemployment has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels - then 3.6%, now 3.9%
• The U.S. has almost 11 million job openings, with the economy likely adding to 3 to 4 million jobs this year.
• There has been a substantial decline in net international migration with California, Texas, and Florida accounting for 50% of the decline since 2016.
• It’s time for a reset on inflation, which should drop back to 3 to 4% by year-end.
• As supply chain issues are resolved, and lumber prices return to some form of rationality, housing production will be in the range of 1.7 million units.
• Normalcy will return to the auto industry by year-end.

---

Companies have settled into pandemic modes of operation

A story in the San Diego Business Journal on January 31, 2022, reported three key findings from a San Diego Economic Development Corporation survey conducted in December 2021:

• Companies have settled into their pandemic modes of operation. Revenues and employment have stabilized, driving positive sentiment of San Diego’s current business environment.
• Pandemic-driven challenges aren’t going away soon. Businesses report greater struggles with hiring, retention, and supply chain disruptions than at any other point in 2021.
• Businesses enter 2022 with a renewed level of optimism. The challenge will be in meeting industry’s growth with infrastructure investment needed to sustain it.

Covid-19

After Omicron, some scientists see a period of quiet

A January 25, 2022, story in Science, reports that where many people have been vaccinated or infected, the worst may finally be over. “Not only has the Omicron wave crested in several countries, but its toll has been smaller than feared. And the wave of infections has likely boosted immunity at the population level, which means future waves may wreak even less havoc.”

The Nett Light-Side

Royal Marines use jetsuits to board ship

Check out this the-future-is-now YouTube video of Britain’s Royal Marines flying from an inflatable to a warship using jetsuits.

---

1922 novelist predicted what the world will look like in 2022

English novelist W.L. George predicted what the world will look like in 2022 in a May 7, 1922, edition of the New York Herald. His predictions were reported again on February 2, 2022, in Open Culture. Here are some highlights:

• Commercial flying will have become entirely commonplace, reducing the separation of America and Europe to eight hours.
• Passenger steamers and railroads will have consequently fallen into obsolescence.
• Wireless telegraphy and wireless telephones will have crushed the cable system, resulting in generations who’ll never have seen a wire outlined against the sky.
• Coal will take a distant backseat to the tides, the sun, and radium, and it may also be that atomic energy will be harnessed.
• There will be many women in Congress, a great many on the judicial bench, many in civil service posts, and perhaps some in the President’s Cabinet.

---

Great horned owl live cam

Finally, if you like owls, this great horned owl live cam should fascinate you.