Real human beings behind numbers in spreadsheets

When was the last time in a corporate strategy review meeting, or a government agency 30 year plan, when somebody said: “Remember, those either are or will be REAL humans behind those spreadsheet numbers. Not abstractions.”

Climate changes impact life – hard to disagree. Reports and projections both fanciful and scientific are thrown around, disputed, plastered over digital devices and ‘believed’ true or false. That argument is for another day or era.

Too often, human beings behind numbers in spreadsheets and theoretical models are also ‘rendered abstract’. But real human beings are already starting to not only be impacted, but forced to plan whose ‘home’ will be protected, and whose not … homeland death committees.

The Marshall Islands per an article in Grist this week are just such people. I find it incredible! First, I can’t imagine facing these issues without some level of panic. Second, their commitment to saving something for the future, not their future, but the country’s homeland’s future. Third, they are actually making a plan, taking action (not avoidance, reflection or denial).

Role models in a most tragic situation …