You know how it’s super easy to get sucked into doom scrolling? I mean proper doom scrolling, in which you keep reading headline after headline or post after post about how terrible the world is and how it’s only going to get worse. I follow quite a few climate and environment scientists, and my feed first thing in the morning is enough to take my breath away. (For some reason, they all seem to be in Europe, so they’ve had plenty of time to post before I wake up.)
I’ve learned to limit myself to five minutes of scrolling before I put my phone down. Then I have to make an effort to switch from doom and gloom to optimism, because the world isn’t ending. We have a bright future in store, and there’s an outstanding book that explains exactly why that is.
Hannah Ritchie is a data scientist who analyzes massive amounts of data to find out the current state of the world and how it matches up with previous years, decades, and centuries. She even has a Substack on it: Sustainability by Numbers. In Not the End of the World, she summarizes her findings, which all point to one thing—life has vastly improved for people around the world.
She goes into detail about how far we’ve come in terms of the environment and climate. How far we have to go, yes, but how achievable the transition is. Her analyses show that the current state of the world is the exact opposite of what headlines keep telling us. There’s reason to be incredibly optimistic about the future—but we must keep up the good work to make it a reality.
So for today, all I can do is recommend that you read Hannah’s book. It’s fascinating, informative, and provides an essential overview of where we are now, how we got here, and what’s in store as we move through this transitional phase into what has the potential to be a truly sustainable future. You can buy it1 or check it out from your library. If your local library doesn’t have it, ask them to get it! This is a great way to support authors even when you don’t have the budget to buy their books.
Then tell everyone you know to do the same. Happy reading!
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