A Season of Hope

All of us are busy at this time of year and daily news is depressing. Thus it is worthwhile to share some of the insights of a recent article by Simon Appolloni, Assistant Professor, at the School of the Environment, University of Toronto. I first became aware of him after attending the book launch of Convergent Knowing, where he outlines the contributions of several key thinkers in the field. Bad news predominates, but we need to pay attention to some good news.

• Solar power and purchases of electic vehicles are increasing.

• Democracy and civil participation in some countries is growing

• Taking action is something that can be learned. As David Orr has said, Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up

• Project Drawdown has done considerable research on the roles of women and girls. When the receive more education, they become healthier, wealthier, and have the ability to manage reproduction. More than 60% of them now finish primary school.

  We need to sort out negative facts and positive ones - and share more of the latter. There is more encouraging news at Project Drawdown.