This resonates with many in the younger generations. These same thoughts echoed in Greta Thunberg’s words when she declared that “we are facing a mass extinction”, denouncing her audience at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York for stealing her dreams and her childhood, to the applause of that same assembly.

What Greta and other individuals and organisations, such as Extinction Rebellion are referring to when they level this criticism, is something inherent to any positive change: Responsibility.

Responsibility, in the sense of being accountable, is greatly lacking in our politics, our policies and our businesses. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was coined as a way to signify Big Business’ steps towards acknowledging this responsibility. CSR is at best, however, a superficial remedy dealing with symptoms only. Responsibility cannot mean diverging some of our income to “do good”, it means to be accountable throughout all aspects, processes, goals and achievements of our businesses. This, in turn, requires a shift in vision.

Popular wisdom dictates that business’ only creed is profit. Consequently, using all measures necessary to achieve this goal is a given and a right. Nature is also a means to that end. Talking about care for nature as a necessary and integral part of a business model was for a long time a laughable proposition. Up to now, many businesses view this as a matter of secondary concern, while for others, it is a direct threat to their profit-making principle.

A shift in vision means a fundamental change in our business philosophy. Such a change, however, takes time – time that we cannot afford. So how do we start, as businesses, to ‘be responsible’? We need to ‘feel responsible’. This feeling of responsibility starts, as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Ecology Group, Owen J. Morgan describes, by viewing ourselves as “caretakers of life itself”. It is only when we hold this view that everything else falls into place: Care for nature and profit-making are no longer mutually exclusive realities.

At the Global Ecology Group, we act as a catalyst for this vision change, by providing working systems and solutions to different industries and sectors, enabling them to make real steps towards ‘being responsible’.

Through innovations like Ennea and the Harvester, GEG’s Research and Development paves the way towards establishing industry practices which bring together the two sides of the responsible-business equation – both reaching business goals and meeting complex environmental challenges. This is our way to build a legacy of symbiosis, where human growth connotes care for life itself.