Who’s ready for summer? Based in California, we’re always prepared for an opportunity to go to the beach, but we must confess to being a little nervous this year.

The reason is that, if this year is anything like the last, it’s going to get hot. In the words of the 2001comedy Zoolander’s Jacobim Mugatu, the planet’s temperature is “so hot right now.” In fact, the summer of 2021 was the hottest one in 126 years for the United States. California, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, and Nevada smashed heat records.

Since 1880, the Earth’s temperature has risen by about 0.08 degrees Celsius (or 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit) per year. That rate accelerated to 0.18 degrees Celsius per year in the past forty years.

If we don’t take action to reverse this trend, the temperature on Earth could become “so hot right now” to an even greater degree, with harmful consequences - think drought, melting ice caps, and tropical storms.

Logistics is responsible for a sizable chunk of greenhouse gasses. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, passenger and freight transportation accounted for 29% of total carbon emissions in the United States in 2019.

This estimate includes passenger travel, not just logistics operations, but the fact remains that our industry plays a role in the situation. How did we get to this point?

It starts with the greenhouse effect. First identified in 1896, the greenhouse effect describes how Earth naturally uses gasses in the atmosphere to keep the planet comfortably warm for its inhabitants. This is a good, natural process.

Unfortunately, thanks to human’s insatiable reliance on fossil fuels, we’ve been releasing excess gas into the Earth’s atmosphere and accelerating the process of global warming. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere has nearly doubled over the past century.

With Earth Day right around the corner, we at Able Freight like to use this time to reflect on ways to reverse this trend.

Able Freight's Solution

The good news is that sustainability is becoming one of the most important topics in supply chain management today. Driven by consumer preferences for sustainable business practices, operations executives are looking for solutions to reduce their footprint and leave the planet better than they found it. To give a few examples, within logistics, there’s been a push to switch to electricity-powered vehicles, integrate sustainable aviation fuel, and install scrubbers on container ships.

Sustainability is a topic that’s close to our hearts at Able Freight. We care about the environment and the health of the communities around us. That’s why we’re implementing new technologies and making investments to reduce our carbon footprint.

The Global Carbon Project estimates that, in 2020, global carbon emissions will drop from 36.4 gigatons per year to 34.1 gigatons. Unfortunately, that dramatic drop came about due to lockdowns and a worldwide economic recession.

We believe that sustainability can be attained without compromising the health and livelihoods of people worldwide. According to the Boston Consulting Group, sustainability is becoming the next innovative business practice across the supply chain and serving our customers better by saving the planet? Sign us up!