Vote on the topics you want to hear more about!
Leave a comment (open to all subscribers), and let us know
So the Earth’s Next Chapter Substack newsletter is now a WHOLE week old! Actually, it’s about 10 days old already - so I’m completely pro at all this now. (Not really, but humor me please!)
The first week or so has been about introducing a few topics, and doing a little soft launch. But now, I’m gettin’ all serious. (If you know me, you also know this is highly unlikely, and I am rarely serious….but again, stick with me here.)
One goal with the ENC posts is to dive into a few topics with some regularity, and uncover the hidden gems, or juicy nuggets, or the dark underbelly (?!) I’ll interview people in the field and post audio segments. I’ll pose questions for the collective expertise of the readers to weigh in on. And of course I’ll share my own research, perspectives, or ideas. But the goal is that we’ll explore aspects of our world (cultural or natural) together.
So I would love for you to share your vote (via leaving a comment) on what topics interest you the most (and why!) You can also add a topic in the comments if you don’t see it in the list below. We’ll start with a few topics this year, and then explore more over time. Many of them will overlap slightly (or a lot), so it’s likely that we’ll draw on several more even if we focus on just a few.
Let me know!
By the way, these are in no particular order. And while none of these topics are explicitly about climate science or actions, it is still a big part of my job, so it will be woven through most of these topics, rest assured!
Education
I truly believe that the way we think about and implement education in this century will define how successful we are at solving our challenges and being happy, healthy humans on a thriving planet. There are so many aspects of education to explore - in both formal and informal education - that we will have no shortage of fun and serious issues to dive into.
Food!
My favorite topic at least about three times a day. This topic will include some of the history and culture of food - its power to connect us to each other and to other places and times. It will also include how we farm it, transport it, and consider how to feed around 10 billion people by the middle of this century. It will truly explore local-to-global scales and everything in between. Lots of really meaty (no pun intended) issues, and some brilliant and fascinating people to highlight here.
Conservation, Ecology, and Biodiversity
We face many very big challenges this century in helping parts of the natural world survive and evolve. Climate change is part of this challenge of course, but even without climate change, we are still such a dominant force on the landscape that we threaten many species and habitat. But we’ll also (of course) talk a lot about climate in this topic.
I also want to touch on the human aspect of this topic - the role that wilderness, beauty, and the story of place play in our identity as well as our survival.
Living and Gardening
Bringing it right back down to the household scale, I’d like to explore the small ways that we each make decisions and live life that have impact globally, as well as the reverse - what global changes impact us, in our homes, daily. We’ll explore yard-sized biodiversity, and household energy, what we eat at the dinner table, and how conversations around that table shape our culture, and our future leaders.
Humans
Sure, it does seem as though I could get more specific here, but I’d rather not. So there.
Because…..I want to explore our history all the way to our future in issues of health, culture, biology, politics, and more. If I say so myself, we are a fascinating species (self-absorbed?), and we are the dominant force shaping the planet on which we live. And yet, we have been around a tiny amount of time, relatively speaking. So how can we think about our own species and evolution, as well as our current social organization and institutions, in a way that uses our new status as ‘top dog’ to create a world that works.
(Of course, I will pull out specific aspects of our current way of doing things - like education and food - in most of the other topics, so this topic is more about the big picture)
Science, philosophy, and the pursuit of understanding
How do we know what we know? And how will it evolve? I am very curious about the rise and fall of philosophies, about the way we accumulate and evaluate knowledge, and the role of science versus other ways of knowing. It is so very important in this ‘post-factual’ moment that we stay focused on what we really know and how we share it. This topic will inevitably touch on technology as well….but also….:
Technology
Many of the touted solutions to climate change are technological - from solar panels to car batteries to water purification and carbon capture (for example). But also what role will it and does it play in our daily lives? I want to explore our online lives and how it affects our humanity, our potential, and our exposure to the rest of the world (in good and bad ways). And I also want to explore the inequities of technology as well as how it’s helping us address global challenges.
Work and play, living and experiencing
I’m not quite sure how to describe this topic, but it is about how we use our time and why. We are so busy and distracted that I think we’re missing the opportunity of living. And living doesn’t have to be in competition with creating a better next chapter for all of us - in fact I think our busyness is what’s keeping us distracted from tapping into what that even looks like and what’s important. I want to look at lifestyles and priorities. I mean, I’m middle aged now - this is on my mind!
Let me know what you think!