#206 Weekend Reads – ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie’s word of the year

In case you missed it, ‘enshittification’ is the Macquarie Dictionary word of the year for 2024, which is why we discussed it on The Know Show yesterday. Coined by Canadian author Cory Doctorow, the term describes the gradual decline of once-useful services and products into frustrating, subpar versions of themselves.

Naturally, when everything around us is becoming enshittified, the term is being used more broadly – to describe our environment, living standards, politics and beyond. It is very apt don’t you think?

Because let’s look at the environment. Extreme weather events are creating chaos all over the world, and while what happens in the Northern Hemisphere and wealthy countries gets lots of media attention, you may miss what’s going on in the Global South.

Watch this for a round up in Asia

But it doesn’t mention the severe floods happening right now in Northern Malaysia and Southern Thailand.

Here’s a view of Malaysia

And here’s Thailand

Hundreds of thousands of people are affected in all these countries, and there is more extreme weather events happening across the region too. The poorest continue to pay the highest price for the challenges created by the wealthiest.

What else is going on in the environment?

One would think our leaders would be 100% convinced it’s time to stop plastics in its tracks and only allow it for necessary products – like medical. And while we haven’t seen the final agreement from the UN Treaty on Plastics yet, I’m expecting a big Yeah Nah:

Just read the first article. There is a record number of plastic industry lobbyists attending the summit – 220 fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives to be precise! This is the biggest delegation at the talks, with more plastic industry lobbyists than representatives from the EU and each of its member states (191), or the host country, South Korea (140).

Crazy stuff is happening around the world, like Unexplained heat-wave ‘hotspots’ are popping up across the globe. That’s the deadly stuff.

The Atlantic Hurricane season has officially come to an end, where 11 hurricanes in 2024 intensified by 9-28 miles per hour, strengthening over waters made as much as 2.5F warmer due to climate change. According to meteorologists and scientists, Hurricanes Beryl and Milton would likely not have developed into category five storms without the influence of climate change.

Or here: Hurricane winds 18 mph stronger since 2019, study finds – Newsweek

Oh, and that technology promising to remove emissions from the environment, well apparently many climate-stabilization plans are based on questionable assumptions about the future cost and deployment of “direct air capture” and therefore may not bring about promised reductions.

To illustrate the challenge – when it comes to removing CO2 from the air, nature presents “a major, non-negotiable challenge.” The concentration of CO2 in the air is extremely low — just 420 parts per million, or roughly 0.04 percent.

Therefore, removing a single metric ton (tonne) of CO2 from air requires processing about 1.8 million cubic meters of air, which is roughly equivalent to the volume of 720 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Now even the best DAC processes proposed today would consume large amounts of energy — energy that’s generally supplied by a combination of electricity and heat. Including the energy needed to compress the captured CO2 for transportation and storage, most proposed processes require an equivalent of at least 1.2 megawatt-hours of electricity for each tonne of CO2 removed.

An astronomical amount of energy. You can read all about it here. Reality check on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Australia is looking like it’s going to have a brutal summer ahead. Cyclones, fires, floods and extreme heat. Thinking of my family and friends as they face this.

If you want to understand what’s required of us now, read this: There are No Non-Radical Futures – Bella Caledonia

On the geopolitical front, Russia’s economy appears to be in freefall, and Syria has kicked off, with its opposition (or rebels) taking Aleppo after years of truce. It doesn’t look like Russia can come to Syria’s aid because of the war in Ukraine, which means it may have reached its limits militarily at this moment. There’s also rumours the President of Syria, Assad, is in Moscow with his entire family, but Putin isn’t in Russia right now. Has he abandoned his country? We wait to find out.

Certainly very interesting times, what’s next huh? Read more from this selection

Times are definitely troubling, and I know many are sitting in deep fear, so get focused locally and build a strong, resilient community. That is the key right now, community. The other side is, when you act, you step out of fear. It’s the only path that has ever worked for me.

Favorite visual or meme

I’ve been banging on about Black Friday and all the big discount sales days for years. So please, join the protest and put your credit card away, because we need to shrink our impact on this earth. If you’ve got a business, protest by NOT participating in these events, even if you have a sustainable business or service. It must become uncool to be part of these extravaganzas.

Pretty apt for this time but remember, to be in the 1% means having an income around $140,000 and up, so you might be surprised to know you are in this bracket. Sure, you don’t make the same emissions impact as the billionaires, but this is the group that needs to focus on shrinking its impact first. It’s time for revolution and the best thing we can do is consume less of everything! Then we need to get that message out to the world’s 3.8 billion middle class. We change the world from the middle up!

Friends content and my own

If you didn’t have an opportunity to join Joe, Tim and I on The Know Show yesterday, we hope you still have a listen. We really got very deep on the systemic issues we have within our societies that need to be addressed if we really want to overcome. Have a listen and let us know what you think?

Dig into the news

Plenty more to read, listen to 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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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.

Come and join the conversation in my Facebook Group One Billion People with Uncommon Courage.

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18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile

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Are you a Social CEO? The Social CEO: How Social Media Can Make You A Stronger Leader.

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