The change wrought on Europe by the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be profound and long-lived. How exactly the offensive will play out is difficult to predict but large scale civilian bloodshed and an ensuing refugee crisis is possible, if not likely. The regulatory system must change to encourage a more ‘nature positive’ economy. What the pandemic has changed and what it hasn’t. Love changes everything – evolution has made sure of that!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Timothy Garton Ash, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will change the face of Europe for ever
(The Guardian, 24 February 2022)
A sober account and call for action from one of Europe’s greatest historians. “In the early fog of a war that is just beginning”, he sees four things Europe and the rest of the west need to do. (1) Secure the defence of every inch of Nato territory, especially at its eastern frontiers with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, against all possible forms of attack, including cyber and hybrid ones; (2) Offer all the support that we can to the Ukrainians, short of breaching the threshold that would bring the west into a direct war with Russia; (3) The sanctions imposed on Russia should go beyond what has already been prepared; (4) We must be prepared for a long struggle. It will take years, probably decades, for all the consequences of 24 February to be played out (free access – reads in 7-9 min).
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Michael Kofman and Jeffrey Edmonds, Russia’s Shock and Awe
(Foreign Affairs, 23 February 2022)
On the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, two American military experts describe how Moscow’s use of overwhelming force against Ukraine might pan out. Now that the full-scale invasion has taken place, a quick and decisive initial phase could morph into a dragged-out insurgency featuring a great number of refugees and civilian casualties. “The scale and potential for escalation of such a conflict are difficult to predict, but they would likely produce levels of violence unseen in Europe since the 1990s, when Yugoslavia tore itself apart” (metered paywall that may require prior registration, reads in 7-8 min).
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Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Echandi and Frances Seymour, How our economy could become more ‘nature-positive’
(World Economic Forum,14 February 2022)
A theme close to our heart and at the core of our good4nature prize and related activities. The global economy stands to gain from nature-positive policies, which, if implemented, could generate an estimated USD10tr in new annual business value and create 395 million jobs by 2030. For that to be possible, the regulatory and business environment needs to change (free access – reads in 5-6 min. The full report is HERE).
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Jen Schwartz, Introducing 21 Ways COVID Changed the World
(Scientific American, March 2022)
This article introduces a collection of stories to reflect on how COVID has already changed our world, as well as how our world has been resistant to change. The past two years have been full of incongruities, paradoxes and absurdities. Just one to ponder: scientists delivered a super-effective vaccine faster than anyone thought possible, but many countries around the world have low vaccination rates because some people think of the vaccine as a weapon of oppression, if not a literal weapon. The most striking fact: pandemic didn’t bring us together, but it did show us what we most need to change. Read on (metered paywall, 3-4 min).
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Brian Gallagher, Love Is Biological Bribery
(Nautilus, 14 February 2022)
This is an interview with Anna Machin, an evolutionary anthropologist who studies the genetics and neurochemistry of love. She discusses how much love leaves noticeable and widespread traces of its impact on us: “Love is so important that evolution has seen fit to engage every mechanism in your body to make sure you’re as close and bonded as you can be.” Fascinating throughout and with great explanatory power that explains why “love is blind”, lust is an unconscious emotion (that takes place entirely in the limbic area of our brain), the way in which we use love to manipulate others and much more (metered paywall – around 10 min).
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