160 Blogs and Counting
3 years, 10 months, 9 days, 21 hours
12 September 2025
Now I have 4 years. You have 4 years. We have 4 years.
3 years, 10 Months, 9 Days, 21 Hours and 10 Minutes. And counting. Down. Less than 4 years now before the world’s average temperature reaches 1.5 degrees higher than it was before the industrial revolution. Less than 4 years before we may see the irreversible loss of the Greenland ice sheet, the West Antarctic ice sheet, the northern Canadian permafrost and the Australasian coral reefs. Less than 4 years before we start to play chicken with the ability of our world to self-regulate its temperature and remain the exquisitely beautiful, habitable planet that we know and love.
It was Saturday 9 April 2022 when I penned the first of this series, date-stamped 7 Years, 3 Months, 12 Days, 18 Hours, 44 Minutes. My motivation then was the same as it is today, to bring a spotlight onto the urgency of action on climate change. And that isn’t because I think most of you aren’t already alive to the issue. It is because I know the reality of life is we are all really busy, and for some just surviving is hard enough. Unless we are constantly reminded, important things quickly get buried under the avalanche of things which need doing now. I also wanted to set out my belief that whilst all of us have the ability to make a difference, those in positions of power have an outsized ability to make a difference, and hence an outsized responsibility. That includes not just politicians but the leaders of major organisations. Businesses can and should be a force for good in the world.
As this series of writing has continued, week after week, to today more than 160 blogs, it has also encompassed many other topics I consider critical to the future of our planet and society, including nature, gender equality, financial equality human rights, health, conflict, demographics and migration. Ultimately, for me, what matters is enabling a better future for everyone everywhere. All I am asking is that we take moments in our busy lives to step back and think, what would it take to make a difference? What can I do?
I feel as strongly about these issues now as I did when I started writing. Indeed perhaps more strongly, because whilst huge progress has been made across so many fronts in the last few years, still the pace of change is a million miles away from what is needed to secure the future we would all say we would want for our children.
Back in April 2022 I wrote ‘I have 8 years. You have 8 years. We have 8 years.’ Now I have 4 years. You have 4 years. We have 4 years.