The Digital Conversationalist

Weekend Reads

#124 Weekend reads – it looks like Australia is stuffed!

A few years ago, my friend Joe Augustin, asked if I had plans to move back to Australia one day, and I said, for my boy’s future, Australia does not look like a great option. Well apparently, I was right – the escalation is here and it’s alarming. Sorry fellow Aussies, but we must face what is happening so we can get ready.

The title that got my attention this week in Phys.org is: Climate change will clearly disrupt El Niño and La Niña this decade, 40 years earlier than we thought. Another ‘decades earlier than expected’ statement, something we will continue to hear. Please see below in the climate section for a link to the article.

Some other headlines to look out for

  1. Extreme weather to strike Australia decades earlier than expected
  2. The great deluge: Australia’s new era of unnatural disasters
  3. Australia is f#cked.

To sum it all up, La Niña is the weather pattern that is the main driver of heavy rain and flooding that has devastated much of Australia’s southeast in recent months (and years). When it switches to El Niño, that weather pattern brings drier conditions and drought to much of Australia. We are currently in a third (unusual) La Niña, so we will have more of the same until it switches.

The name of both patterns, plus the third – neutral – are known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. This is the strongest and most consequential factor driving Earth’s weather, and when we look at extreme weather events all around the world, this is the culprit.

In the recent findings: It found climate change will clearly influence the El Niño-Southern Oscillation by 2030—so in just eight years’ time. This has big implications for how Australians prepare for extreme weather events.

Another piece, in Arctic News: The upcoming El Nino and further events and developments, goes a layer deeper. It states that El Nino is expected to coincide with a peak in sunspots, which looks set to reach a higher-than-expected maximum impact around July 2025. Equally, the impact of the upcoming El Niño could make a difference of more than 0.5°C over the next few years.

Globally, we’re currently at 1.2C warming, but Australia is 1.47C, which makes an additional .5C warming very alarming.

I know this ain’t pretty reading, but to my Aussie friends and family, please understand the risks to you and your loved ones. Work with governments – local, state and national – to get adaptation plans accelerated (it basically hasn’t started) so you can ensure your safety. Really think about purchases big and small, and if you are in the home market, is the home you’re planning to buy safe? Check its insurance status and check with your lender too.

A big part of adaptation is community cooperation and collaboration. Work with your community on adaptation plans – like setting up off grid energy communally, securing water sources if you can and so on. Also, please, plant a garden. We have a global famine on the way, so anything you can do to secure your families future is critical now. Don’t get sideswiped by this please!

I say the governments aren’t ready and they are not. Countries like Singapore have been working on adaptation plans for decades, but most are not looking ahead to the next 100 years at all. During the four extreme weather experiences I had this year, I listened carefully to what the politicians were saying, and every time, they were not speaking the right language.

Here’s a little script I wrote for Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, when answering a question from a journalist, about whether they would heighten a dam wall in Tasmania, when he was visiting after the recent floods.

His response was a little bit of nothing to a very important question, so here is what I think he should have said – and all leaders must now start speaking this language. If they are not, they are not protecting you!

“We are reviewing the entire nations infrastructure, from roads to dams, trains to homes, farms, energy and more. We are going to work out what we need to do to keep Australians safe for the next 50 or 100 years and beyond. Most importantly, we are doing this assessment based on the climate scientists who are advising our government, and to ensure we succeed, our whole country must come together to do the necessary, to ensure we do not experience mass suffering. We have many challenges ahead, including relocating communities who can no longer stay where they are. This is going to be a hard time for all of us, but our greatest chance of success is coming together and doing this together.”

When I’ve talked about Australia as an option to my British husband Steve, he said something interesting: of all the countries in the world, it is the character of Australians that will see them come together and do what is needed to secure their future. He thinks that essential quality – the Aussie spirit – is what will matter in the long term.

I know he is right, and Aussies will shine as they confront these enormous challenges together, but I still don’t think Australia is a potential destination for our family. I haven’t written it off completely, because some other catastrophes predicted in the Northern Hemisphere could change everything (more on that in another post), however until that happens, we’ll be watching, waiting and preparing. I hope you’re preparing too.

Friend’s content and mine

The struggle of conflicting emotions my amazing friend Sha-En Yeo is a big-hearted lady, and this is a really powerful piece on managing our own happiness, when the people in our lives challenge it. Well worth a read if you’re struggling with family or friend dynamics.

An Interview with Natalie Turner, author, keynote speaker & established expat! A really inspiring interview with my pal, Natalie Turner. She is definitely in the #WomenIAdmire category and for anyone thinking of relocating, this is a read that will give you the push you need.

Please do check out The Know Show. Huge appreciation to Joe Augustin and Tim Wade for partnering with me on this, and to Grant Bosnick for stepping in as co-host this week, plus the lovely Bavani Periasamy for being our guest. Her insights on the Malaysian election results and what it means for the country is truly valuable. Great conversation everyone.

Donation time

If everyone gave #just10percent of their time, talent, money or voice, we’ll change the world. Can you donate? Make it a regular donation to the World Food Programme. Or donate to the UN Refugee Program, Medicine Sans Frontier, PowerOf , Kiva.org , Soi Dog Foundation.  It’s a time for giving and taking care of each other.

Content to read

And here’s the content I’ve been reading or watching this last week. Scan the headlines, read the ones that jump out at you, read or watch them all. Knowledge is power, and global knowledge is even more powerful.

Climate crisis

The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion

 

The Great Climate Change Crises Convergence – Watching the World Go Bye

Climate change will clearly disrupt El Niño and La Niña this decade, 40 years earlier than we thought

The Great Deluge: Australia’s New Era Of Unnatural Disasters

Extreme weather to strike Australia decades earlier than expected

Australia is f#cked.

Australia’s temperature has risen by 1.47°C since 1910, climate report says

Drone footage shows deadly flooding in parts of Brazil

Deadly landslide engulfs motorway in Brazil

Global floods and droughts will intensify sooner than expected, studies show

Big Oil PR firm Brunswick is advising UN ‘climate champions’

Record-breaking heat wave in Europe will be the norm by 2035, analysis shows

Learn more about Belonging! – OBI’s Climate Justice Principles

The world votes for “climate hell”

How we can keep global warming below the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal  tks Joanne Flinn

Inside the UK Boohoo warehouse where staff who compare themselves to ‘slaves’ walk 7.5miles a shift in ’32C heat’ – as MP compares ‘disturbing’ conditions to a Victorian workhouse

Fossil fuel recruiters banned from three more UK universities

Tiny aerosols present a big challenge for global warming

Amazon workers use Black Friday to protest working conditions and growing carbon footprint

Qatar promised a carbon-neutral World Cup. Climate advocates call that pledge misleading.

From Gretini to Colapsistas: How Europeans talks about climate change

European Parliament demands immediate EU exit from the Energy Charter Treaty, as S&Ds requested

Melting point: could ‘cloud brightening’ slow the thawing of the Arctic?

Deadly landslide tears through Italian island of Ischia

Are climate targets now pointless?

 

Renewable Energy isn’t Replacing Fossil Fuel Energy—It’s Adding to It

13 Biggest Environmental Problems Of 2022

With 8 Billion People To Feed, Does Alt Protein Need A Rebrand?

Coca-Cola and Unilever: We’re not convinced by plastic credits

To fight the climate crisis, we need to stop expanding offshore drilling for oil and gas

Japanese camera-maker Canon walks back climate targets

Can we finally kill off cheap, disposable conference swag?

Just Stop Oil activist jailed for six months for M25 disruption

Tipping Points Research Makes Urgent Case for Limiting Global Temperature Rise to Lowest Possible

Our House Is Burning: Discrepancy in Climate Change vs. Biodiversity Coverage in the Media as Compared to Scientific Literature

Are we on the road to civilisation collapse?

What are bike buses and why are kids ‘jumping out of bed’ to join them?

Faceless Consumerism

From the Amazon to Australia, why is your money funding Earth’s destruction?

Terra Domus Aeternum

To avert climate breakdown, the vast majority of the fossil fuel industry’s coal, gas and oil reserves need to stay in the ground.

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act makes green hydrogen profitable at scale, Goldman Sachs says

Bring on winter. We’re out of good ideas

Plant-based diet can cut bowel cancer risk in men by 22%, says study

How an Early Oil Industry Study Became Key in Climate Lawsuits

England’s water: the world’s piggy bank

Australian court blocks Clive Palmer coal mine on climate grounds

A Mathematician Who Decodes the Patterns Stamped Out by Life

“Goodbye to them:” Victoria votes to end coal and make radical shift to renewables

‘A Poison Like No Other’ Makes You Think Twice About Plastic

Friday essay: searching for sanity in a world hell-bent on destruction

NVIDIA Is Making a Digital Twin of Earth’s Climate. Here’s an Inside Look

Thin Ice or Why scientists think the planet’s climate is changing

Global politics

See moment Jacinda Ardern fired back at reporter’s question about gender

‘We’re meeting because we are prime ministers’: Jacinda Ardern & Sanna Marin give the perfect answer to a sexist question

Revealed: Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly received £29m from ‘VIP lane’ PPE firm

Brexit has made Britain the sick man of Europe again

Xi Looks Away From Putin Toward West in World Stage Return

China Covid: Shocking protests are huge challenge for China’s leaders

Anti-lockdown protests spread in China as anger rises over zero-Covid strategy

China signals ease in Covid policy after mass protests

Rise of Russia Hardliners Sows Fear In Putin’s Elite

The Authoritarian Right Is Regrouping

Never Trump Means Never

Donald Trump Calls Kanye West a ‘Seriously Troubled Man’ After Mar-a-Lago Dinner

US court strikes down appointment of special master to review Trump records

Scott Morrison: Former Australian PM censured over secret ministries

Bruce Lehrmann: Australia parliament rape retrial abandoned

Business and technology

Elon Musk Taunts Trent Reznor For Quitting Twitter. Wil Wheaton Shreds Musk Back.

CNN informs employees that layoffs are under way – memo

How Spotify’s Wrapped campaign for 2022 came together

Instagram Is Over

Why psychedelics are “freakishly safe”

Social issues and humanity

“Democracy Dies in Darkness’: Super Bowl Commercial (2019)

 

Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder: ‘There are quite a few areas where physics blurs into religion’

Philippines sees a pandemic boom in child sex abuse

The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogma—and a belief in the coming civil war.

Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab hailed as momentous breakthrough

Meet obsessed fans who abused plastic surgery to look like their famous idols

New Surveys Show Burnout Is An International Crisis

Kanye Tweets Swastika, Elon Musk Suspends His Twitter Account

6 Australian schoolgirls arrested for shoplifting at Orchard Road return home to Melbourne tks Liu Yuantai

Soccer Iran tells Klinsmann to quit FIFA job after ‘outrageous’ rebuke of team

Carl Sagan on why he liked smoking marijuana

Will Smith says bottled rage led him to slap Chris Rock at the Oscars

Your Baby’s Developmental Milestones, Weeks  One To Four Thousand One Hundred And Seventy- Three

Japan’s Lack Of Protections For LGBTQ Couples Is Unconstitutional, Tokyo Court Rules

Marianne Williamson: You are enough. Never doubt it. Follow Margie Warrell – she is doing amazing work!

Passion, humour, history

The Notorious Photoshop Troll And His Victims Who Surely Regretted Asking For Photo Edits

Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie dies at age 79

Irene Cara: Fame singer and actress dies aged 63

Leonardo DiCaprio lauds birth of bison calf in Canterbury

Let me know what jumped out at you? Or share with me what you’re reading? I love that!

Cheers

Andrea

Environment education

Three environment resources to help navigate this challenging territory. 1. Knowledge, constantly updating. 2. Individual action and awareness, so we do our part. 3. Resources for those struggling with eco-anxiety. Please share with your community.

Uncommon Courage: an invitation – my latest book

Uncommon Courage is an invitation to be your courageous best self every day. It’s also an antidote to the overwhelm, fear, and rage rolling around the world. But it’s more than a book; it’s an invitation to join an inclusive community that wants to better understand humanities challenges – both global and personal – in order to take courageous action and create a better world for everyone. If Covid19 has given us the time and space to reflect, Uncommon Courage gives us the nudge we need to create lasting change.

You can buy it on AmazonApple BooksBarnes & Noble, Book DepositoryBooktopia, SmashwordsKobo, Gardners, Odilo, Indie Bound, BookShop by BookTrib and Scribd.

Better yet, order it from your local bookstore, so you can #SupportLocal.

You can read the reviews, including a new five-star review on Book Commentary, another five-star review on ReaderViews, a review on BookTrib, and three more on Booklife, another on Book Commentary and Blue Ink Reviews. I’m also collating reviews on my Website too. Have a look and grateful to everyone who has written or recorded one.

Come and join the conversation in my new Facebook Group Uncommon Courage.

Uncommon Courage, the podcast – Apple, Spotify and everywhere podcasts are published.

The Know Show

Check out The Know Show. It’s a fortnightly wrap up of the news!

Climate Courage

A fortnightly conversation on issues that matter to you and I, focusing on the actions we can all take.

 

18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile 

Listed by Book Authority in the 100 Best LinkedIn Books of All Time and 22 Best New LinkedIn eBooks To Read In 2021 and 2022 categories. Grab it today if you want to take your professional presence to the next level! When it comes to LinkedIn, it really is time to ask — can you really afford not to have this book in the hands of every employee?

Connect with me

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