While the chaos of world news and events continues, and we remain one idiotic decision away from catastrophe, I think it’s important to bring us back to the bigger issues reshaping the whole world – and that is what’s going on in our environment.
Let’s start with food. It is common knowledge that if we see multi-breadbasket failures across the world it will cause a global famine. Now you and I might be OK if we have money, but the poorest will not. The forthcoming El Niño could be that risk, and with fertilizer shortages due to the war on top of that, we can see a very extreme scenario playing out, which might mean none of us are OK!
In this article: 2026 Super El Niño Threatens Global Crops, it concludes that a very strong El Niño is developing and many scientists are predicting it’s going to be a doozy. Its real effects will be felt in the second half of 2026 (lasting into 2027), and it could “rewire” global rainfall patterns in ways that hit multiple major growing regions at once.
What is expected are heavier, damaging rains and flooding in parts of the Americas, and intensifying drought and heat stress across Asia and Australia, which raises the odds of multi-regional crop failures. That combination (weather shocks across several breadbaskets at the same time) is framed as a pathway to sharp global food-price spikes and broader instability, including added risk, because the event would land on top of an already warmer baseline climate.
Essentially, even a “moderate” El Niño would be more disruptive than past events, and this event is being explained using the descriptor Godzilla El Niño.
Of course, it’s not just the havoc the weather will play, we also have a war, creating a classic polycrisis scenario, with multiple risks cascading – Fertilizer crisis hits farmers as Iran war disrupts supply | AP News.
Stronger hurricanes
We’ve seen some crazy typhoons, cyclones and more in recent weeks – though you’d be forgiven if you didn’t hear anything about it. From New Zealand to the US’ Northern Mariana Islands, people are facing more intense storms, as our climate continues to warm – Global warming is making the strongest hurricanes stronger » Yale Climate Connections.
And sea surface temperatures are already at record levels in March (and this is before the real impact of El Niño) – Sea surface temperatures approach record levels in March | Copernicus.
AMOC collapse
This conversation goes back and forth between it’s an impending risk OR it’s a massive risk we’ll see in 2100. This week it came back into the impending risk category – Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought | Oceans | The Guardian.
Too hot for sharks and tuna
Talking about food. We’ve already passed the tipping point for warm water coral reefs, and we should expect a massive acceleration with this Godzilla El Niño on the way. If you think about what this means, coral reef ecosystems will collapse (reefs account for about 25% of all life in the ocean) but in this news, we’re also taking out the top of the food chain as well – Great White Sharks Are Overheating – Inside Climate News – we are so smart, not!
Mozzies expanding
Living in Asia, I’m well aware of mosquitoes and the risks, and it now appears Icelanders will get the “pleasure” of their company – Mosquitoes reach Iceland for the first time as the Arctic heats up.
Kokushobi
A new term in Japan for extreme heat events above 40°C – kokushobi. However, look at those numbers – yikes! In 2025, Tokyo recorded 25 days over 35°C, compared with an average of just 4.5 days. Kyoto logged 52 days above the same temperature, compared with an average of 18.5 days. Read all about it: Japan reveals new name for 40C-and-hotter days after blistering summer.
Beyond climate
It was joyful watching the Hungarians celebrate the ousting of Orban, and if there’s one thing you missed this week, watch this interview with PM-elect Péter Magyar and the state media – The new Hungarian PM just went on state TV to announce the end of state TV and it’s a breathtakingly blistering watch – The Poke.
If you’re wondering how to dismantle an authoritarian regime, I think he’s showing us the roadmap.
Looksmaxxing
If your boys are joining the “Looksmaxxing” movement, you might want to know a little more about it, especially as one of their “leaders” – Clavicular – was rushed to hospital after a suspected overdose.
According to the article, Peters has boasted about injecting testosterone and ingesting controlled substances since the age of 14. Perhaps most bizarrely, he’s championed the use of crystal methamphetamine — an incredibly dangerous drug that, according to the rumor mill, may have been involved with his trip to the hospital — to lose weight.
I wonder if these lads will wake up one day and go, wow, wasn’t I a total wanker? You’d hope so, if they live that long, considering what they are doing to themselves… like smashing their faces with hammers! Crikey, we have hit peak insanity, haven’t we?
Read up: Clavicular Rushed to Hospital in Perfect Illustration of Why Looksmaxxing Is a Horrifying Death Cult.
The downtrodden rise
If you haven’t noticed, violence toward the uber wealthy seems to have started, and Sam Altman has now seen his house attacked twice in a week – Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly shooting at Sam Altman’s house – Yahoo News Singapore. AI is a particular target for this rage, but it’s growing beyond that. Anger is rising, it should concern us all.
The Nerd Reich
If you have time, watch this Diary of a CEO with Ian Bremmer. He has finally cottoned onto the risk that the Nerd Reich pose. Our politicians are no longer in charge, it’s the tech overlords, and we would be very stupid to ignore this risk.
Finale
This is not OK! Inside ‘Online Academy’ Teaching Men To Sexually Abuse Wives. What? Why?
And Rebecca Solnit rides again, always worth a read or listen – The United States is destroying itself | Rebecca Solnit | The Guardian.
Alrighty, I suppose it’s time to get back to the war and all the other distractions taking our eyes off the bigger stories, but the planetary crisis is crossing over into unchartered territory now, and we are not paying attention.
It is time for us to truly recognize the scale of the problem and then we need to act at the scale required. We can do it. We must do it.
Friends content and my own
We didn’t do a show this week because my youngest son, Jax, had his graduation day from high school. We’ve got a month of study and exams ahead of us (wish us luck) but in the meantime, I’ve been building.
One tool I’ve built is Your Daily Dose of Courage — Uncommon Courage by Andrea T Edwards, which is based on my book, Uncommon Courage, an inspiration. I thought some of the insights in the book might help as we travel through these challenging times.
Here’s today’s quote to give you a perspective of what you’ll find on the app, which you can save to your home screen and check in daily. This quote comes from a moment when someone was lovely to me, but at the same time, awful to someone else they perceived as beneath them.
Dig into the news
Something else I’ve been building is a custom news app. Again, save it to your home screen and you’ll have a daily news app, covering English news from across the world. I’ve struggled for years to find the right tool to capture the world’s news, so I am really delighted to get this launched. If you see anything wrong, or want to recommend improvements, I’m all ears.
This news curation tool covers news and thought leadership across all issues relevant to the polycrisis, as well as some light stuff, because we can’t be serious all the time. To get to the news, click through on the image below, and a reminder, this goes back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you. The categories are right on top now as well, so you can dig into whatever issue you’re on top of.
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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The Sh*t Show
The Sh*t Show is a Livestream happening every Friday, where Andrea T Edwards, Dr. David Ko, Richard Busellato and Joe Augustin, as well as special guests, discuss the world’s most pressing issues across all angles of the polycrisis, working to make sense of the extremely challenging and complex times we are all going through, plus what we can do about it. Help us move the needle so we can change the name of the show to something more genteel when (or if) it is no longer a sh*t show.
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.
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.
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