For a long time, many of the biggest issues shaping our future have felt distant. Food insecurity. Water stress. Extreme Heat. Flooding. AI disruption. Social fragmentation. We usually hear about them through global headlines, political arguments or technical reports. But increasingly, these issues are no longer staying “out there.” They are beginning to affect: - local services - councils - infrastructure - farming - housing - public health - jobs - community stability - and everyday life - A flood elsewhere affects local food prices. A drought affects farming and water systems. Extreme heat pressures hospitals and energy grids. AI changes local economies and employment. Social fragmentation affects trust and resilience. These are not isolated events. They are interconnected systemic pressures that are increasingly shaping local reality. So I’ve started building a new lesson series for Has2BGreen: GLOBAL SYSTEMS → LOCAL REALITY The aim is simple: To help people understand how large global pressures eventually affect local daily life — and what communities can realistically do about it. The lessons are designed to be: - calm - practical - systems-based - emotionally grounded - non-alarmist - solution-focused Not doom. Not denial. Not political point-scoring. Just a clearer understanding of what is changing around us — and how local resilience and agency become increasingly important. The series will explore: • Food Insecurity • Water Stress • Extreme Heat • Flooding • AI & Job Disruption

I’ve just written a review of the documentary Wilding — the story of the rewilding project at Knepp Estate in England. What struck me most is that it’s not really a film about “saving nature”. It’s a film about control, uncertainty, recovery, and what happens when damaged systems are finally given space to breathe again. Unlike many climate documentaries, it avoids panic and moralising. Instead, it quietly asks a difficult question: What if nature already knows how to heal — if we stop overwhelming it? The film also raises deeper questions about farming, economics, land ownership, resilience, and whether modern society has become too disconnected from living systems to recognise what restoration even looks like anymore. I found it thoughtful, emotionally grounding, and surprisingly hopeful without pretending everything is fine. Full review here 👉

We are rested after our last election round and now we start the work for the next one. I am pushing for our focus to be on how we would, if elected, work to reorganise our local government in preparation for the coming emergencies. The National Emergency Briefing made it clear that local communities need to be strengthened to handle the disruptions that will accompany extreme weather and food shocks. It feels strange to talk about this when the world around us goes on as if everything will remain normal, even as we are experiencing record-breaking temperatures in the UK. One sentence from the briefing says, "We are living in the least extreme climate that we will experience in our lifetimes" - in other words, it only gets worse from here. So if that is the case, the tasks of local government need to have an added layer. How does it provide all the services it is responsible for and prepare for flooding, forest fires, food shortages and potentially civil unrest? The current crop is all vying for positions of power - that is their goal, not addressing the crisis before us. My plan is to identify the needs and start putting forward proposals for what we could be doing now that, if in place, we will be grateful for later. One colleague who deals with the aftermath of hurricanes and severe weather in the Gulf of Mexico is saying that if we want to know what our future looks like, visit Tahiti. Note: the link to the video is just one of 10 in a playlist.

People are organising the showing of this film in community centres all over the UK. In November last year, a group of experts delivered speeches about the state of the world as it relates to climate and especially the effects it will have on the people living in the UK. I have watched the original speeches - they can be found here. What will be different this time is watching it with about 200 other people, some of whom will be hearing the news for the first time. Others may know a lot, but the unvarnished truth will hit hard. I am fascinated to see how people react. The truth is dark - it is hard-hitting - it makes the need for real climate action clear and the urgency real. There is only so long that we can keep ignoring it. If we are willing to hear this and act on it we can still mitigate the worst effects. Another aspect will be the debate after it. Our representative (MP) will be in a debate with two others. He has always paid lip service to the issue. If you can, try to get to see it.

@Alexander So , thank you for joining. The last two months have been quiet for her as I have been working hard to help with a local election in the UK - we were aiming to get at least one councillor out of the possible seven districts. We had high hopes of riding the Green Party wave in a local town. But it was not to be. This is a Conservative stronghold - a safe seat. We may not have won, but for the first time, we developed an amazing team. Typically, candidates are left on their own to do the best they can - this time, 40 volunteers came together to distribute leaflets to 6000 households twice. In a rural area, this is not a small achievement. But now that we are past that, I am already back in her working on new sections in the classroom. They will be going live this coming week. So welcome, Alexander. Feedback is always welcome and sought.