We lost Dolly Parton, then Tim Curry, then Yayoi Kusama, and the sad news kept on coming, but it was the shocking event in Nepal and Tibet that really broke my heart. I saw the video below not long after it happened and all I could think was, my word, that’s monstrous.
Warning, this is hard to watch!
Watching people running away at the border crossing between Nepal and China near Gyirong, I thought they could be OK when the first wave hit, but seconds later the whole screen was blacked out, and we know there is no way anyone could survive that.
I haven’t found a link I can share, but there is a ‘before and after’ image going around of the border crossing, and it is completely gone. Only parched earth remains.
Of course, the misinformation and disinformation started to circulate rapidly following this event, but all the experts said we won’t know for weeks, maybe even months. So please, if the experts are saying that, listen to them.
We must learn to WAIT for news. We can never know the true details instantly, especially in a place this high in the Himalayas. That said, one piece worth reviewing is this: Himalayan Disaster: August 2026 Bhote Koshi Deluge – SANDRP.
In the meantime, another extreme weather event has struck, this time in the Andes region in South America. It’s was only earlier today when this news broke, so expect to hear more heartbreak.
Over here in Asia, Indonesia is on fire. Millions are breathing in toxic smoke, and for those of us in the neighbourhood, we know it’s coming our way soon. I’ve lived through horrendous haze experiences in Singapore and Asia, and if you’ve never experienced it, it’s brutal.
The coming months are expected to be terrible for haze and I’m definitely not looking forward to it. As always, the poorest will suffer the most, and in Indonesia, that has already begun. El Niño and haze always come together.
Extreme events are going to be in the news more and more in the coming months and years, especially with the El Niño building towards its peak, which is expected in November-December.
And because this is expected be such an extreme event, we’re not only going to hear a lot more terrible news, we’ll also experience impacts ourselves, with the scale something we’ve never seen before. We know many people will suffer terribly, and everyone will be impacted in some form or another, as the fallout ripples across supply chains, and costs start to rise. The war in Iran will make it even worse.
Please, prepare for this, don’t walk into it blindly. Stock up on essentials now if you can afford to. Take care of those who can’t.
Some Dolly love
I’ve recommended this for years. It’s a brilliant podcast series and not only do you learn more about Dolly’s story, but you get a musical history education from the Appalachians back through time. Truly sensational: Dolly Parton’s America – Podcast – Apple Podcasts
Something else Dolly gave us, perhaps an anthem in our fight for the future?
Your polycrisis Risk Profile
In the meantime, I’m developing a suite of tools to help people navigate the polycrisis, and this week I launched Your polycrisis Risk Profile. Let’s be honest, the polycrisis can feel abstract when discussed at a global level, but its effects are experienced locally. This tool helps you explore how interconnected risks reach the place where you live.
All you have to do is enter your location and you’ll see a local profile across my 8 Categories of the polycrisis™ framework, including climate disruption, biodiversity loss, food systems, health, conflict, economics, and social resilience.
The profiles are built from research and data provided by authoritative sources such as NASA, NOAA, the IPCC, WHO, the World Bank, and other public scientific institutions. Every category links back to the evidence and explains the confidence behind the assessment.
This is not intended to predict the future or reduce complex systems to a single number. It is designed to make the evidence easier to understand, connect global patterns with local experience, and help you ask better questions about the world around you.
I would love it if you could provide local feedback based on your search, which you can do directly in the app. That’s the only way to ensure this is a powerful information resource!
Two other tools
And in case we’re only meeting for the first time, I’ve also launched world news the polycrisis site. It’s updated every day, and you can download it to your phone as an app to check in whenever you have a moment to scan the news. This provides all the major news going on around the world, in English, and it’s what I’m reading/watching/listening too.
There’s also The Overshoot Challenge. Sign up sign up, and let’s all start doing our part. We need everyone everywhere living in balance with nature and healing the damage we’ve already created. We need to try, for our kids and grandkids!
Don’t sink into despair and hopelessness, step into action – both personal and community action! It’s all-in now.
Untangling the polycrisis
What it is, why it matters and what we can do about it
If you’re in Singapore on Monday 5th October and would like to attend my workshop, reach out. This is my third run of the workshop, so prices are very low. You can see below what attendees of the last workshop had to say about the day.
The Sh*t Show is back
I said the The Sh*t Show was going to be back this week, but David is still enjoying his summer, so tune in next Friday, 4th September, and we’re going to take a different approach for the rest of the year, focusing on core topics relevant to the future. Next week we are going to focus on retirement and we’ll look at it from every angle and age group, because the impact on your retirement money is coming, so how do you prepare?
Dig into the news
When you visit the daily news page, remember to save it to your home screen and you can check the news anytime, as it’s updated throughout the day, every day – by a real human, me.
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, it goes back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you. The categories are right on top as well, so you can dig into whatever issue you care about.
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 T Edwards, CSP
Making sense of the forces reshaping our world and what we can do about them
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About me
I help leaders make sense of the polycrisis, the interconnected ecological, social, technological, economic and geopolitical challenges shaping our future, and respond with clarity, courage and practical action.
Through strategic advisory, executive coaching, keynote speaking and workshops, I help organizations strengthen leadership, unlock the power of their people and navigate meaningful change.
I’m the author of Uncommon Courage, an invitation and 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile, co-host of The Sh*t Show, a livestream exploring the realities of the polycrisis and what we can do about it, as well as the podcast, Uncommon Courage.
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