POSITIVE CORNER #25: When positive decisions have more impact than we think
A recent report from the Sahel highlights an unexpected, sustainably positive development and an important aspect of the ω-dimension of leadership (see below). Following the extreme droughts of the 1960s and 1970s, rainfall has been returning since the 1990s, leading to revegetation.
A key, albeit unforeseen, reason for this is the effort undertaken in Europe and North America since the 1970s to reduce sulfurous air pollution from coal-fired power plants and other sources. At that time, the measures aimed at protecting regional health by preventing smog and acid rain. That these measures would also contribute to the recovery of Sahel rainfall was neither an immediate goal nor a foreseeable long-term effect. However, scientists now assume this unexpectedly positive long-term effect:
"Why the revival of the rains? An assessment published in 2021 by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found "high confidence" among climate scientists that it is a result of strong warming in the North Atlantic, caused by a combination of global heating and a reduction, in Europe and North America, of sulphate aerosols from coal burning, which once created a thin haze that cooled the ocean."
What initially seems like a distant climate story points to a fundamental reality: the world is an interconnected system. Changes in one place can trigger consequences through complex feedback loops that become visible in completely different places.
The ω-dimension of leadership encourages us not to underestimate the " global effects " of local actions. In the case described here, these effects have been scientifically investigated and validated. But even if this were not the case, there is good reason to assume that positive decisions and role models have a more diverse and far-reaching impact than we might think. This is not a call for naive optimism, but rather a plea for confidence and perseverance: In a socially and physically interconnected world, positive decisions have a ripple effect.
In this respect, the ongoing reforestation of the Sahel is a good indication of an important task in the ω-dimension of leadership : consistently making humanely responsible decisions in one's own environment! The impact – near and far, social and physical – often extends much further than we realize.
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