Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

In 2014 The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina hosted conference on the Water, Food, Energy and Climate Nexus. It played an important role in the discussion in the SDG Open Working Group on the interlinkages between Goals. In 2016 Jamie Bartram head of the Water Institute and I brought together some of the key presentations from the conference into a book ' The Water, Food, Energy and Climate Nexus: Challenges and an agenda for action'. We invited the then Prince of Wales to write the Foreword which he agreed to do. The issues he raised in 2016 have moved even more to the centre of the political agenda. The climate crisis has accelerated and the links between their impacts on food, water and energy are now clear to anyone who is looking. In 2016 the idea of the circular economy was not yet being discussed in the negotiations. In 2022 the new negotiations on a Plastic Convention have it as a central part of the negotiations. His insights into the challenges we f...

  "eXist is a must read for those who want to survive the eXistential Climate Crisis by acting now. Please share with a friend" ELCOME to the 13th edition of   eXist   the monthly e-bulletin of  SUN x  Malta. eXist 13 - August 2022 RIP MIKHAIL GORBACHEV   The former President of USSR who is best remembered  as the man who engineered the peaceful transformation of the USSR and the opening of the Berlin Wall, died on August 30 th , 2022. Less known is the fact that during his incredible life he collaborated closely with Maurice Strong & together they launched the  Earth Charter  – a compact between planet and people. Climate Friendly Travel Services   is a new initiative that is partnering with SUN x  Malta to promote the services of our 30+ SDG 17 Partners in helping develop Climate & Sustainability Action Plans. Its focus is on cities and their tourism communities. Mark Bibby Jackson the General Manager talks about his ...

Guest blog by Jonathon Porritt - Sustainability Campaigner and Writer Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-1990) chaired Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future (1993-96), Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission (2000-2009). Originally published here.    There was nothing in the recent TV series (‘ Big Oil v the World ’ – highlighting the fossil fuel industry’s role in delaying action on climate change) that I didn’t already know. But to see that 40-year record of deception, lies and corruption laid out, so calmly and clinically, reconfirmed my visceral contempt for the companies involved – and for those who led them. War criminals to a man (and they were all men), whose war on Nature will indisputably cause the death of countless millions of people as climate disasters multiply the world over. Which tells you pretty much all you need to know about the unrelenting hyping of all things Hydrogen in today’s energy economy. The fact that this campaign is (predomi...

The 2022 Sustainable Development Report - a little late blog it came out in July. The climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and an increased number of conflicts around the world have placed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in jeopardy, according to The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022, released by the United Nations today. The Report highlights the severity and magnitude of the challenges before us, with these cascading and intersecting crises creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the SDGs, the blueprint for more resilient, peaceful and equal societies. COVID-19 AND ITS CONSEQUENCES According to the latest data presented in the Report, the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the Goals and its effects are still far from over. Global “excess deaths” directly and indirectly attributable to COVID-19 reached 15 million by the end of 2021. More than four years of progressin all...

Who would have believed a few weeks back that the United States was going to pass the largest ever climate bill.  Of course, it isn't as comprehensive as the original President Biden's 'Build Back Better' legislation. I was a huge supporter of the original proposals not just because they did more on climate change but because I was in the middle of writing the book 'Tomorrow's People and New Technology' and it did more to create a cushion to the massive changes we are going to see in the next ten years. As President Biden said in his address to the Joint Session of Congress on April 29th, 2021: "We will see more technological change — and some of you know more about this than I do — we’ll see more technological change in the next 10 years than we saw in the last 50.  That’s how rapidly artificial intelligence and so much more is changing. And we’re falling behind the competition with the rest of the world." Change is happening so fast it adds to th...

Reuters reported that former Grenada climate resilience minister is to be the next Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He will replace Patricia Espinosa (Mexico) who finished her second term in July after the preparatory meeting for COP27.  Previous Executive Secretaries have been Christiana Figueres (Costa Rica 2010-2016), Yvo de Boer (Netherlands 2006-2010), Joke Waller-Hunter (Netherlands 2002-2006) and Michael Zamit Cutajar (Malta 1995-2002) Simon Steill has in additional to being Minister for Climate Resilience and Environment (2018 to 2022) he was Minister for Education and Human Resource Development (2017-2018) and Minister of State for Human Resource Development and the Environment (2015-2017) According to Reuters: "Stiell has been a visible figure at U.N. climate negotiations, often calling for the world's largest polluters to set more ambitious climate goals and to deliver finance promised to vulnerable countries, including small isl...