Each day, as I drink my first cup of tea and start to make porridge, I try to find at least five big or small things to look forward to. I write them down. Today I listed:
- More and more daffodils in bud
- The snowdrop clumps seem to grow larger every day
- A new visitor to the bird table – a tiny wren. I haven’t seen one for some time
- A zoom call with friends later
- Cooking a new recipe from a new cookbook
Being a ‘glass half full’ person I always search for the positives in the media. It’s hard, but here are a few.
Covid vaccines
This must be the most applauded achievement of the last decade. To develop a vaccine that protects us from infection or reduces the severity of the virus in less than a year can only be called outstanding. Most vaccines take three or four years to develop, and then have to be tested. Smallpox took ten years. Malaria is not yet there, although it’s close, but that’s after several years in the making. And the scientists developing the Covid vaccines are not stopping. More efficient vaccines are being developed as are modifications to existing ones to deal with the variants.
Diversity in space
‘Europe launches recruitment drive for more female and disabled astronauts. European space chiefs have launched their first recruitment drive for new astronauts in eleven years, with particular emphasis on encouraging women and people with disabilities to join missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.’ The Guardian.
Green energy
Several big car makers, Ford, Jaguar, and others have stated they will not be making any petrol cars after 2030. Most companies will follow.
Electricity. The UK produces over 50% of its electricity from renewables. For some months last year, no coal was burned to produce electricity. It’s likely that within three years all the UK’s electricity will come from renewable sources.
Endangered species
There are many, unfortunately, and due (mainly) to man’s destruction of nature to satisfy his own greed. The good news is there are many projects around the world that are reintroducing to the wild some of the endangered or almost extinct species with success. As each day passes, more projects begin. Take a look at the WWF website.
Coral reef rebuilding
Coral reefs are being destroyed by the rise in sea temperatures due to climate change. Coral is essential to the health and welfare of the oceans’ ecosystem. Without coral most sea life would be wiped out. But there’s a fight-back. Throughout the world several successful projects have regrown and replanted coral. See: Can new science save dying coral reefs?
Rewilding
Across the world, many natural forests and savannahs have been destroyed by humans to grow crops, in the process, depriving wildlife of its natural habit. Rewilding efforts aim to create ecosystems requiring passive management, and the stepping back of man. There are an increasing number of these projects around the globe, Rewilding Britain is one such project.
Man will continue to discover new ways to solve the climate crisis, it won’t be easy, and we don’t have much time, but I’m optimistic and hopeful we’ll succeed. And the same goes for Covid. Medical science will prevail.
~
My recent publications
Life in four stories
All proceeds go to the INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC) to help the most vulnerable communities fight COVID – 19.
Four shorts: two about life, love, and death; one a poignant and disturbing memory that dangles a question unanswered; and one a wild fantasy – plus the first chapter of my latest book, Otto and Frankie.
By buying this book you are helping fund ICRC in its valuable work.
Thank you.
My latest novel, Otto and Frankie, is about a dying man’s fight against injustice, his wife’s unusual affair, and the love from his long-lost daughter.
Otto and his daughter Frankie could not be more different. He’s rich, an acclaimed author, human rights activist, and lives in England. She lives in New York, just about survives from one pay cheque to the next and hasn’t seen or spoken to her father for twenty years. Dutifully reunited by his impending death, she’s amazed to find him a kind and noble man who, while grappling with his wife’s bizarre affair, champions for the world’s forgotten and dispossessed to his last. After Otto’s death, Frankie’s admiration for her father leads her into a dangerous and life changing pursuit.
Nick Wastnage 