Global Climate Change is Not a Theory,
and We All Need to Act

Quite a number of our yogurt-eaters have written to express support for Stonyfield's efforts to reduce our own CO-2 emissions, and thus limit our contributions to climate change. However, a few have written to express skepticism about whether the idea of global warming is fact or fiction.

First, let me disclose that my undergraduate studies back in the ‘70s focused on climate change. I studied under some of the nation's and world's leading climatologists, several of whom have published extensively on this topic. Certainly there were more questions than answers back then, but today scientific studies and the world's climate scientists leave no doubt that human activities, notably the burning of fossil fuels, have contributed to a global temperature increase that is completely inconsistent with any historic and natural patterns. Climate scientists point out that in the past 5 years, the average global temperature has risen 0.2 degrees Celsius—100 times higher than has ever been recorded for such a short time frame.

While there are ample published studies supporting this conclusion, one recently announced investigation is notable for its conclusive weight, its appearance in Science Magazine (probably the world's most prestigious scientific journal) and because it was conducted by a 10-nation team. The evidence comes from the world's deepest ice core drilled at a site called Dome Concordia in East Antarctica. There, levels of carbon dioxide, the principal "greenhouse" gas that drives global warming, are 27 percent higher today than at any point in the last 650,000 years. In fact, the study clearly shows that the rise in CO-2 levels coincided with the Industrial Revolution.
This trend is absolutely expected to continue. It will do so indefinitely until humanity reduces burning fossil fuels and invests in reforestation and other activities that will capture and sequester atmospheric CO-2. Until then, we will see dramatic changes in coastlines, storm ferocity, species migration, agriculture and, probably, all aspects of life on earth.

We can all take steps to address this threat, but our first should be to learn about the problem.

• The Environmental Protection Agency’s own website will walk you through state-by-state consequences of the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.
  
  
• The United Nations says greenhouse gas build-up will cause more storms, floods and desertification and significantly raise sea levels by 2100. Leaders worldwide are urging the United States to finally join them in trying to curb this global threat .
  
  
• California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 7 states in the Northeast (including our New Hampshire home base) have broken from federal policy, creating mandatory controls on businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  
• Mayors of more than 150 cities ranging from Los Angeles to Atlanta have pledged to move their communities toward the greenhouse-gas reductions laid out by the Kyoto Protocol.
  
  
• Finally, Ford Motor Company has issued a first-of-its-kind report addressing the business implications of climate change, carbon dioxide emissions and global energy concerns. "We see climate change as a business issue as well as an environmental issue and we're accelerating our efforts to find solutions," said Ford’s CEO Bill Ford.
  

Whether or not you accept these proven scientific studies and believe the peers who review and approve them for publication, there can be no question that human activities release billions of tons of CO-2 each year from fossil fuels that were previously underground. And, whether or not you agree with the vast majority of the world's scientists that this process is dramatically impacting the globe's climate, there is no doubt that the introduction of these gases to our atmosphere cannot be devoid of consequences.

It is Stonyfield's and my position that it is not fair for one generation to burden the next ones with problems, challenges or costs that could have been avoided. We owe our children and future generations the opportunity to enjoy the same richness and bounty of this Earth that we have inherited. It is the responsibility of those of us who live today to do whatever we can to give future generations this opportunity.

Thomas Jefferson said it best (Sept 6, 1789):

"Then I say the earth belongs to each…. generation during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence."

Throughout 2006, we will endeavor to share hopeful and positive actions that we can all take to reduce our climate footprint, and we will report on Stonyfield's own progress. We founded our company with the belief that it is possible to produce delicious yogurts that are better for you and for the planet, too. We deeply believe that it is entirely possible to create and operate a successful business that provides benefits to consumers, family farmers and employees and their families today, while also respecting the rights of generations yet to come.