The Weekend Reads are back after my longest break yet. To do this work every week takes a lot of time, effort and energy, but I see it as a contribution I can make, with the hope of helping you navigate the chaos of news, as well as the crazy times we’re all living through.
If you value this, please remember to share it with your community, or leave a comment – because that activates the algorithms to show it to more people, which means more people see it. Comments are definitely much better than a lazy like! But it’s more than that, it also gives me the boost I need to keep going – so it’s valuable personally. Please, do this for people in your community working hard for all of us!
Since taking a break (which was awesome and I really switched off, well as much as I can), records have been shattered all over the globe – heat, fire, rain, drought, crop loss, and more. We are in climate acceleration now (it started early 2022), and for many, this realization is landing with a thud.
Because of this radical acceleration, many people are sinking into despair (which is a massive risk for all of us right now, the huge number of people experiencing this), but it’s impossible not to go there, as so many are really starting to understand what is really going on in our beautiful world. No question, it’s a brutal reality to face.
All I can say, as someone who has been through what you’re going through, is feel these deep feelings, sink into them, let them wash over you, but as soon as you can, come out of it, because it’s time to get into action. Action is the only path out of despair.
I have six actions we can all commit to
- Learn about it! Yes, it’s overwhelming, but that’s why I publish the Weekend Reads every Saturday, and an annual blog is constantly updated with everything I’m reading/watching/listening to – check it out at andreatedwards.com, because it’s time to pay attention to the information that matters.
- Clean up your own life – top to bottom, go through your home, change your diet, how you clean, the chemicals you use, what you buy, get rid of your car if you can, consciously reduce the waste leaving your home, plant a garden, compost, get a Bokashi bin, holiday locally, check your investments, is your house safe, what about your pension – is it safe AND good for earth, etc… Cleaning up your life is not an overnight job, it takes time and even better if you do it together as a family. We need to shrink our lives and the impact we have on our beautiful earth. We need to do this everywhere all at once.
- Share on social media – share the changes you’re making, show people what you’re doing and talk about why. In-person, especially with families, talk about it and normalize the conversation. It needs to be front and centre now, especially adaptation plans. It really is time to get prepared.
- Get involved – join a climate action group aligned to your values, or get involved in beach clean ups, or any community action that appeals to you. Whatever you enjoy, do it and find like-minded people too. It’s a wonderful way to make new and meaningful friendships, as well as contributing to humanity. Protest.
- Be a community leader – bring your community together and brainstorm how to create shared value, and what you can do together to get ready for the challenges ahead. E.g: collectively invest in solar as grid independence is smart. Why not share cars, tools, and big-ticket items we never use enough to justify owning? Plant a community garden, take care of the elderly and disabled, etc… A great project you can do together is rewild your environment – look back 50 years and plant what has been lost, reintroduce species that have disappeared! If we do it everywhere, what a difference it would make.
- Vote wisely – We need the right sort of leaders to take us through this era, and many of the world’s leaders are not fit-for-purpose. So, we must vote wisely and for people who speak to the real challenges versus the ridiculous divisive rhetoric happening today, or the pandering to big business! Our leaders must bring us together so we can prepare to face our future – together. We must support these leaders too. They cannot succeed if they are under constant attack/abuse. It’s time to build a new world, and the right leaders are critical. Are you a leader the world needs right now?
I am relentless in my message and will continue to be, because do you know what the sceptics and cynics think? They think we – humanity – are not capable of making the shifts we need to make to secure a future.
Maybe they are right, but I’m not giving up and I’m determined to keep getting the message out that we should try with all our might to overcome. Even if we fail while trying, it’s better than the dystopian path too many leaders in the world are pushing us down. We do not want to go there. No strong man can save us, only all of us working together will give us any chance.
We must reject this type of leadership, which is a growing risk globally, and we must speak up about it. These voices are dominating social media and mainstream media, and we cannot let that continue – we need to use our voices, it’s our responsibility to use our voices!
It is time to realise that coming together and working relentlessly to heal our world, is the only path open to us now. Essentially, if we can get the message and lead the charge, the politicians, media, institutions and businesses will follow, because if we can mobilize one billion people, they will have no choice.
Can you help me mobilize #OneBillion?
Here’s all the visuals I’ve been creating on Canva, covering multiple topics around the polycrisis. Feel free to download and use as your own!
Onto the reads, and lots of climate content here.
Friend’s content and mine
It’s coming soon – Singapore: State of Sustainable Fashion – bravo to Susannah Jaffer of Zerrin and everyone involved.
What if AI and Self-leadership had a baby? love this cheeky yet insightful piece Andrew Bryant.
Australian Financial Markets and Climate Change great to read a central bank perspective, from my pal Carl Schwartz.
34 actions to prepare for a heat index that hits unliveable territory my third version of preparing for wet bulb temperatures. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s time to get ready.
Donation time
If everyone gave #just10percent of their time, talent, money or voice, we’ll change the world. Can you donate? Why not make a regular donation to the World Food Programme. Or donate to the UN Refugee Program, Medicine Sans Frontier, PowerOf, Kiva.org, Red Cross, and so many more, including urgent fundraising and those supporting animals, like the Soi Dog Foundation. A fabulous organisation I support is B1G1 – check it out and set up an account. It’s a time for giving and taking care of each other.
Content to read
And here’s the content I’ve been reading, listening to or watching. Scan the headlines, read the ones that jump out at you, read, listen to or watch them all. It’s time to pay attention to the information that matters.
Climate crisis
Just Stop Oil !? Part 3 – 10 Pathways to Post-Growth | Frankly #40 (recommend parts one and two as well – three is the solution part.)
What the fossil fuel industry doesn’t want you to know – worth a watch, Al Gore
A year on, the devastating long-term effects of Pakistan’s floods are revealed
What Boiling Oceans Will Do to Life on Land
Travel disruption set to worsen with climate change, warns government adviser
The world inches closer to feared global warming ‘tipping points’: 5 disastrous scenarios
Hope Won’t Save Us. It’s Going to Get Us All Killed.
The world is burning. Here’s how we stop it.
Climate crisis: Australia must ready for ‘devastating’ regional disruption, MPs told
This July shattered records for the hottest month globally, as heatwaves raged from Canada to Greece
Global heating likely to hit world food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert
Scientists may be on brink of discovering fifth force of nature
Fears over Antarctic sea ice as yearly ozone layer hole forms ‘very early’
Florida’s Record-Breaking Sea Temperatures Are Forcing Coral to Move Ashore
What will happen when the next massive earthquake hits Seattle?
The World’s Biggest Meatpacker is Prepping a U.S. IPO
Meltwater from Antarctic Glaciers Is Slowing Deep-Ocean Currents
Hawaii fires: Maui death toll climbs to 80
Wildfires on Hawaii’s Maui island kill at least 6 as blazes force people to flee
Maui fires: At least 36 killed in Hawaii as flames destroy whole neighbourhoods
Maui resident: ‘We still have dead bodies floating in the water’
Hawaii wildfires burn historic town of Lahaina to the ground
Mike Pence’s Plan to Drill, Baby, Drill
EU passes nature restoration law in knife-edge vote
Canada’s inflation rate is falling, so why are grocery prices still so expensive?
How innovation can tackle the food crisis: A biotech leader explains World Economic Forum Podcast
Tax on airline tickets to rise in France to fund train investments
Turns out there’s another problem with AI – its environmental toll
Responding to Rebecca Solnit’s article in The Guardian on Doomers
Earth Approaches “The Great Dying”
Let’s tell the moodsplainers they’re wrong and then get back to work
Will July’s Record Heat Spur Ambitious Climate Action?
Look at the crisis in the Amazon and understand the stakes: we’re battling for life itself
Most children in South Asia are exposed to extreme high temperatures, UNICEF says
‘Virtually certain’ extreme Antarctic events will get worse without drastic action, scientists warn
A Desperate Push to Save Florida’s Coral: Get It Out of the Sea
Fighting Canada’s Unending Fires The Daily Podcast
‘We’re changing the clouds.’ An unintended test of geoengineering is fuelling record ocean warmth
July’s “startling” heat puts climate change in focus
Australia is killing climate protest. Where’s the solidarity?
‘Double agents’: fossil-fuel lobbyists work for US groups trying to fight climate crisis
UK axes additional inspections on meat imports from Brazil
Typhoon Doksuri: Alarming pictures show floods in China, Philippines
Mid-winter temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius in South America leave climatologists in disbelief
‘Despair is a luxury we can’t afford’: David Suzuki on fighting for action on the climate crisis
Almost 40C temperatures in South American winter heatwave shocks scientists
Vegan diets cause far less climate pollution, study shows. Here’s what to know in Tennessee.
The Long, Slow Death of Global Development
‘Forever chemicals’ found in period underwear, tampon wrappers
How ‘everywhere chemicals’ help uterine fibroids grow
Are we really ready for alternative protein revolution?
Jeffrey Sachs Interview – Regional Challenge. Geopolitics
Fifty-seven swimmers fall sick and get diarrhoea at world triathlon championship in Sunderland
Addicted to diet soda? Here’s the history of its low-calorie secret weapon
Sorry lawn lovers, it’s time to turf out grass tks Willie Wahlin
Extreme weather conditions continue across Europe
Bureau of Meteorology super computer delays ‘very concerning’ ahead of summer
Search on for oil slick culprits as beach clean-up continues
A new investigation exposes the stomach-churning practice that goes into making your bacon
All scouts leaving South Korea camp as storm looms
Mother of UK scout tells of ‘unbearable’ conditions at South Korea jamboree
World Scout Jamboree becomes Korea’s worst nightmare
New oil and gas licences threaten protected ocean habitats
Are humans a cancer on the planet? A physician argues that civilization is truly carcinogenic
The Man Who Literally Wrote the Book on Extreme Heat
‘Glacial outburst flood’ sweeps away homes in Alaska capital
The climate wrecking ball striking food supply
Florida schools ‘hijacked by the left’ turn to anti-climate cartoons
Super volcano study finds CO2 emissions key to avoiding climate disasters
Train derails and roads flood as Sweden, Norway hit by torrential rain
Slovenia floods ‘worst-ever natural disaster’
Wildfires: Hundreds evacuated in Italy’s Sardinia as fires rage in Portugal and Cyprus
‘Politicians will be judged on delivery of net zero strategy,’ UN climate chief tells world leaders
The U.S. Chamber still blocks climate progress
Firefighters battle blaze raging for fourth day in southern Portugal
Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue
Confronting climate risks + sparking climate action
Looming insurance crisis could make the GFC ‘look like a picnic’
Extreme heat is the deadliest natural disaster. FEMA can’t treat it like one
Deadly floods hit China’s major grain-producing region, fuelling food security concerns
Value Change for Survival – thanks Inger-Mette Stenseth
Oil slick places 4,000 rai of corals at risk
How climate change might trigger more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
Climate change is a threat to the planet: We must address it
Scientists look beyond climate change and El Nino for other factors that heat up Earth
What the fossil fuel industry doesn’t want you to know
Iran could burn up in 30 years, and not from a nuclear meltdown
Malaysia scraps Tioman island airport plan amid environmental concerns
France plans 70% ‘supertax’ on fuel for private jets
Ecological transitions and energy transitions
Geoengineering Is Going to Happen
Tory Theresa Villiers had £70,000 of secret shares in oil giant while Environment Secretary
Biden says he has ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency. But he actually hasn’t.
Are we failing to see the wood for the trees on climate risks?
‘Huge’ coral bleaching unfolding across the Americas prompts fears of global tragedy
Fruit is disappearing from Italian orchards due to extreme weather, farmers warn
Ten climate “solutions” that don’t help
Jhony López, protector of the jaguar
Using ‘recycled plastic’ in construction materials may not be a great idea after all
Study suggests rise in global photosynthesis rate due to increase in carbon dioxide has slowed
On the Highway to Climate Hell
Dr Thon calls for greater environmental protection tks Steve Johnson
When it comes to the climate crisis, no man is an island
Extreme weather in Europe: Norway considers more evacuations, Portugal forest fires, Spain heatwave
Hell in the Niger Delta
Global politics
Ukraine war: Russia hits blood transfusion centre, says Zelensky
Election leaves Spain in political disarray with no party having an easy path to form a government
Deadline for coup leaders in Niger to restore civilian government expires on Sunday
Voters in Ohio reject GOP-backed proposal that would have made it tougher to protect abortion rights
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated
US inflation is still on the right track FT News Briefing Podcast
Donald Trump social media post flagged by prosecutors in court filing
Business and technology
Trucking Firm That Got $700 Million U.S. Bailout Declares Bankruptcy
Google Takes a Page Out of Twitter’s Book: Invites Employees to Sleep ‘On Campus’ for a Fee
Peak social media: Building better platforms FT News Briefing Podcast
Russia launches first space mission to Moon in 47 years
Social issues
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Surprises UFC Fighter Themba Gorimbo With New House
Hillary Rodham Clinton: The Weaponization of Loneliness
Here’s What You Need To Know About The Backlash Against Jonah Hill’s Ex
Why the Tradition of Giving Engagement Rings Needs to End
You May Think You’re Immune to Cult Thinking, but We’re All Susceptible
Pakistan passenger train derails killing 30
Bad behaviour at concerts is becoming normalised, experts say
Jamie Foxx apologises and deletes Instagram post
No, the Rich Don’t Deserve Their Wealth
Back WHO sounds alarm as Covid-19 new variant ‘Eris’ cases rise sharply in UK
Dan Wootton SUSPENDED By MailOnline
MailOnline suspends Dan Wootton while allegations investigated
The Irish Light: Woman abused by paper which falsely said vaccine killed her son
Central Florida detective warned 5 people they were targets of child sex sting
Eleven dead after fire rips through France holiday home
‘If I left, I’d have to go without a word’: how I escaped China’s mass arrests
Forty-one migrants die in shipwreck off Lampedusa
Why So Many Americans Have Stopped Going to Church
Samuel L. Jackson Brutally Pinpoints The Kind Of ‘Dudes’ Who Harass Brie Larson
Mason Greenwood: Man Utd to consult with women’s team before announcement on forward’s future
The looming end of cash will fuel conspiracy theories and hoarding
Aussies arrive to provide hotel staff lifeguard training
Kai Cenat NYC riot update, over 60 people arrested
Passion, humour, history
Barbie film hits $1bn mark at global box office
What We Know About the Last Three Hours of Muhammad Hassan’s Life on K2
Lil Tay: Mystery surrounds ‘death’ of teen rapper as father refuses to comment
So what did you read? What jumped out at you? Or share with me what you’re reading? I love that!
Cheers
Andrea
Want to get in touch?
All of my contact information is here on Linktree.
Environment education
Four environment resources to help you navigate this challenging territory.
- Knowledge, constantly updating
- Individual action and awareness, so we do our part
- Resources for those struggling with eco-anxiety. Please share with your community.
- Finally, more than 100 mini-videos on many topics regarding the multiple crisis’ we face. Feel free to download and use as your own. No credit necessary.
Uncommon Courage: an invitation
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 Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Booktopia, Smashwords, Kobo, 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 Facebook Group Uncommon Courage.
Listen in to the Uncommon Courage, the podcast on 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?
Are you a Social CEO? The Social CEO: How Social Media Can Make You A Stronger Leader.
Want to claim your stage? Unleash Your Voice – Powerful Public Speaking for Every Woman
Feedback
Have I done a great job for you? Can you write a reference on my LinkedIn profile or on my Google Business page? If not for me, why not write one for someone else who inspires you or has helped you? Join the #GivingEconomy.