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4 • Green Project Management

Academy of Sciences prefers that term over global warming. The term cli-

mate change has a much broader implication than just a simple warming
effect for the planet. It refers to “any distinct change in measures of climate
lasting for a long period of time.” In other words, climate change means
2
“major changes in temperature, rainfall, snow, or wind patterns lasting for
decades or longer.” 3

The global temperature record shows an average warming of about
1.3°F over the past century. According to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), seven of the eight warmest
years on record have occurred since 2001. Within the past 30 years, the
rate of warming across the globe has been approximately three times
greater than the rate over the last 100 years. Past climate information
suggests the warmth of the last half century is unusual in at least the
previous 1,300 years in the Northern Hemisphere.

There is the nagging question as to whether the climate changes and
warming of our planet are part of a much larger cycle, a warming trend, so
to speak, after a period of cooling, or are something much more dramatic,
more lethal—and something for which we humans can take the brunt of
the blame. Well, IPCC scientists believe that there is a greater than 90%
chance that most of the warming we have experienced since the 1950s
is due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from human activi-
ties. With the panel, a scientific body made up of thousands of scientists
from all over the world, believing so strongly that it is not a natural cycle,
but rather that the climate changes are human-made, and will continue
to happen unless something is done, we, as pragmatic project managers,
might just need to listen. Even if (and we are not advocating this position),
but even if there is an underlying natural warming trend, humankind’s
contributions are aggravating the situation. And even if we choose to dis-
regard this input from subject matter experts (SMEs) and disavow any
belief in climate changes, regardless of their cause, guess what? Even then,
we still have to pay attention because huge numbers of people (the Green
Wave) do believe this and do believe that individuals and organizations
need to be more responsible. Furthermore, these huge numbers of people,
dear cynical project managers, are your customers, your subcontractors,
your suppliers, your sponsors—and they (like it or not) are changing their