Happy New Year! Reality means this post starts with some sad news, but the links and ideas are to shed light on where we are and what we can do. The world continues to be amazing in millions of ways.

Waves of Crises

So here we are in 2021, and according to Owen Jones, things in Wuhan are much better than 2020 – which is what we were all hoping for. Sadly in most of the world, and definitely USA and UK, Covid is still out of control, and that is just one of our current crises. 

This cartoon of the waves of crisis was published over 6 months ago, and I’ve seen it in various presentations, and shared it myself before. I wonder if we would need to make the COVID one a bit bigger now…. We could also add a tiny little ripple at the front to represent “politics” and the Capitol Hill incident. On the grand scale of things I wouldn’t class someone who continues to act in the same way they did before as news. It’s attention seeking, again. And hopefully this won’t distract us from the real headline telling us that yesterday, in one day, over 4000 people died of COVID in the US.

Here’s a quote and a link about the climate change wave from this morning : 

Climate crisis: 2020 was joint hottest year ever recorded

I’m a big fan of Degrowth, and alternative economics, so the “recession” wave I like to see as an opportunity. The perfect time to introduce a universal basic income for example. Kate Raworth is a great read to go further into that crisis.

The biodiversity collapse wave is part of what I often refer to as “ecological collapse”. I’ve been trying to influence groups in which I work to always say “Climate change and Ecological Collpase” rather than just “Climate change” to help make this one clear. A wonderful book, to grasp that idea deeply is “Climate, A New Story” by Charles Eisenstein.

I wish my view of the world wasn’t considered so “weird”. I look at products on sale, some of which i buy , and think “Why aren’t you using ethical design in what you do?”

For a lighter look at all these ideas. I highly recommend the podcast “Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts” It is absolutely brilliant: easy, funny and useful. 

Life in Barcelona

Here in Barcelona we are still finishing the “fiestas”. The Kings came with their gifts for everyone two days ago. (Kira commented, “It’s good to ask the Kings for a much as possible because then we don’t spend our money and get poorer”. The values of the normal world are creeping in to her life even though Mummy always says that if we spend money on good things we get richer and create abundance! I speak truth to my child right? There’s enough content for an essay in here.. what lies do we let our children believe?)

The return to school, officially today, has been delayed until Monday. Unlike the absolute shambles in the UK (again), I think everyone will be going back, and staying there. I hold on to the thought that COVID numbers were going down for a while during last term.

We are currently confined to the district where we live – a sensible move as we wait to see where cases increase after our relative freedom over Christmas (we were allowed up to 10 people together, almost anywhere in Catalunya). We are still on a 10pm curfew, shops and restaurants have limited opening times. But I have to say that I fully understand the rules and apart from not travelling away from home our lives are.. well.. pretty normal. Some real positives to end this post:

• Kira has learnt to ride her bike and loves it – so being confined in the city involves lots of enjoying Barcelona by bike which is GREAT!
• I am reading Braiding Sweetgrass. A truly beautiful book to remind us to be present and in love with the amazing nature we have.
• A friend from the UK messaged yesterday and said she was keeping her fingers crossed that we will all be able to attend a small festival together in August. and thinking about it… why not? Outdoor space, camping, and not that many people. Sounds like the perfect COVID friendly activity.. totally possible!