First up, my heart is really aching for the victims of the horrific stabbings that happened in Sydney today, as well as all who had to experience this terrible incident. For a country like Australia, this is not the norm, and as an Australian, it’s truly shocking. Soon we’ll understand why this happened and the only positive we can take from this is it seems it wasn’t terrorism. After the recent terrorist attack in Russia, and the warning of threats raised for the Champions League, terror attacks anywhere in the world will only escalate global tension. We can’t afford that.
The other story I wanted to highlight is from the President of Guyana. A short clip has been doing the rounds on social media and in it, he is being interviewed by Stephen Sackur on BBC Hard Talk. Stephen challenged him on a plan to extract fossil fuels and the President came back hard – it’s glorious. I went searching for the whole interview, but it’s not available yet, so instead I found this. Have a watch.
This ties into a trend I’m seeing emerge – the Global South is rising and it’s terrific to see it happen at long last. I’ve lived in the Global South most of my life, and more than 20 years has been in Asia. One of the issues I see all the time is a deep disrespect from Western countries towards this varied and culturally rich region of the world. Kishore Mahbubani talks about this politely all the time, but the President of Guyana was not polite, and it’s about time.
All countries in the Global South are on the frontline of climate change – we are all baking in extreme heat right now – and this is not a crisis created here, it’s a crisis with firm responsibility placed at the feet of wealthy Western nations. And do you know what? Wealthy countries are not doing what they should to help the Global South adapt and get ready for a different climate regime. There is far too much lip service, and it seems people are finally getting pissed – as they should.
If the world wants to overcome the crisis we face, or at least ensure it’s less bad, then investing in the Global South is essential. This includes massive investments in sustainable energy right down to the households, supporting water technology initiatives to ensure the water keeps flowing, helping the regions/countries suffering extreme drought and famine, making sure the medical infrastructure is in place to tackle growing crisis’ (like more mosquito-born diseases, new viruses due to climate change and species migration, etc..), and I could add more.
But the West is not doing any of this, and every financial commitment made at events like the COPs never comes to fruition. Why don’t they understand that if they do not do this, everything will be worse – for them too? More climate migrants landing on Western shores (and we know how well they are treated), more deaths, despair and suffering, more slaves including sexual slaves, but most importantly, MORE pollution, which means we continue to accelerate the crisis. It’s absolutely nuts!!
So, to all the amazing people in the Global South, it’s time to speak up. It’s time to shout from the roof tops. This region has faced centuries of subjugation and pillaging, and it’s now time to break the bonds of the colonial overloads, including corrupt leaders in our countries pandering to the West. It’s also time to stop being so nice and humble.
However, let’s come together as a region and work together. Let’s not allow tensions to rise across this region or the wider world, as we are seeing in Europe and the Middle East, and of course, between the US and China.
Let’s fight for our future, but with peace central to our strategy. It is the only way we can succeed because more war or conflict will just bring collapse closer. We also need to understand that no one is coming to save us, and that means we need to work out how to do this together, without massive financial contributions from wealthy parts of the world.
As climate impacts become worse, there will be no money going anywhere, as each country scrambles to solve their own challenges. We’ve all got to understand this very important truth and get to work solving our own challenges. This is a region with deep experience in hardship, so we can do it and show the world how it can and should be done.
Other news worth checking out, and there’s plenty – really great piece on Disney and a challenge to lead on sustainability, I’ve recently found Indi.ca and it’s always very enlightening, lots of crazy Far Right conspiracy theories around the eclipse (bonkers), the world has been above 1.5C for 12 months now, climate change LOVES disease vectors, and the Great Barrier Reef is suffering – in fact, even though we’re not hearing much about it yet, we should expect news that the entire Southern Hemisphere is bleaching any day now.
A final one for all the mum’s out there. Not only do we get the “gift” of bringing life into the world, it also turns out it ages us, quite significantly too. Awesome!
Friends content and mine
Wonderful to see this interview with Aron Aoja, a climate activist in Uganda doing AMAZING work! Follow him – Why climate change is forcing millions of people to flee | ZOA (zoa-international.com)
Another great interview by Praveen Gupta, this time interviewing Bittu Sahgal, who has dedicated his life to saving tigers – Tiger talk with Bittu Sahgal: “If the forests are destroyed, the tiger will go and if the tiger is wiped out, the forest will be destroyed.” | illuminem
Plenty more to read or watch, so do click through to the reads at the image below, and a reminder, this platform (elink.io) means the articles go back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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