Introduction

Parchment’s story serves as a cautionary note to businesses to know the impacts that their products and services have on their surroundings, whether those impacts are on water, climate, workers, or the greater community. Climate is often framed as a single issue, but it is multifaceted, touching on virtually all aspects of our operations and our lives. Climate impact is tightly bound to the systems we currently have that make so much of economy and lifestyle possible. The profit motive—or at least the motive to thrive while providing a needed good or service—is the force that keeps businesses in business. Rather than have climate and profit be oppositional—as has so often been the case in the past, because of inadequate business strategy—we need to harmonize. The path to profit must go through dramatic climate action.