Well, 2020 was an awful year, wasn’t it? Let’s not go through the detail again, but it is easy to feel sad, miserable and generally down at the moment, even if you have been fortunate enough to avoid actually suffering personally from the Covid virus.
Although the news about the Astra Zeneca vaccine this morning is very positive, it has been difficult to look on the bright side at times recently, and it can also seem that following the “procurement with purpose” philosophy is futile in the face of pandemics, inequality, deforestation and so on. But actually, there are some reasons to be cheerful if you look for them, even at this time. As well as the vaccines coming onstream, we can celebrate the following at the end of this tough year. (There is more here from the Sunday Times, behind a paywall however).
Energy and carbon
· As well as the one-off benefits to the environment and reduction in emissions caused by the pandemic, we are continuing to see renewable energy contributing a larger and larger share of total generation. In the first half of 2020, for the first time, Europe generated more electricity from renewable sources than from fossil fuels.
· The cost of renewable energy is dropping rapidly too as technology improves and both economies of scale and innovation drive down costs. In the past decade, renewable prices have plummeted: onshore wind down 70%, solar by 89%. And Hydrogen produced with renewable electricity could compete on costs with fossil fuel alternatives by 2030, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
· There are a number of promising looking projects which may make plastic recycling easier, faster and cheaper. Based on bugs first discovered in Japan in 2016, research in the UK and France is developing enzymes that degrade plastic bottles six times faster than previous techniques. It could be used for recycling within a year or two.
The Natural World
· Blue whales appear to be thriving; a new population has been discovered in the Indian Ocean, and the amazing animals have returned to South Georgia. Scientists observed “unprecedented” numbers there earlier this year, some 50 years after hunting was banned.
· Other conservation efforts are also working well; the number of black rhinos in Africa is now rising, Peru has begun reforesting the area around Machu Picchu, with plans to plant a million trees. And the worlds largest palm oil trader has committed to a “no deforestation” policy, showing that pressure from customers and the large, branded food companies can have a positive effect.
· And in the UK, Red Kites that were re-introduced to the Chiltern Hills in 1989 have done so well (over 1000 pairs now) that my friend Nancy who lives in that area sees them as pests. On “bin day”, the huge and beautiful birds swoop down on food waste in her street – and we have a pair that seem to be investigating the playing fields at the bottom of our garden (in suburban Surrey) as a potential habitat! And who can forget the goats taking over Llandudno during lockdown?
Human rights, equality and diversity
· Sudan’s new government has outlawed the practice of female genital mutilation. Whilst there have been setbacks in the area of equality in a few countries, UNESCO now reckons that we have achieved overall global parity between girls and boys in terms of youth literacy, primary and secondary education for girls and boys. And there has been a 110% increase in women serving in national parliaments globally over the past 25 years, and a 49% rise in women in ministerial positions.
· Africa is officially free from wild polio. Twenty-five years ago it paralysed more than 75,000 children across the continent. Other successes include vaccination against meningitis. In Burkina Faso, a country which reported 40,000 meningitis cases in 2006 and 2007, 12 million people were vaccinated. Since 2010, there have been no new cases of Meningitis A reported among vaccinated populations.
· Whilst there are still problems even in the supposedly “rich” countries like the UK and the US, the world has made huge strides in overcoming global poverty. Since 1990, more than 1.2 billion people have risen out of extreme poverty. Some 9.2% of the people on our planet survive on $1.90 a day or less – but that compares to some 35% thirty years ago.
And of course…
· Democracy in the great country that is the United States seems to have held up to the challenge of a sitting President attempting a coup.
And let’s admire Mackenzie Scott, who is using her divorce settlement from Jeff Bezos in an extraordinary manner. She has given away $6 BILLION during 2020, as she donated to some 380 different organisations identified as serving “communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital.” She researches carefully, but then does not want to interfere in exactly how the money is used, trusting the organisations and their people to spend it wisely.
We can’t exactlymatch that, but we can all contribute towards making the world a slightly better place, even if it is only by recycling when appropriate, thinking about what we’re buying, and supporting good causes where we can. So let’s hope 2021 sees us emerging from the pandemic in a positive manner, and remember that not everything in the world is as bleak as we might sometimes think it is. A happy New Year to everybody!
(Incidentally, the picture used as background above has hung on our wall for 30 years, bought from an art college student exhibition, and titled “Reasons to be Cheerful”! )