Hello and welcome to…Issue #003!

Reading Time: 2 mins.

TL;DR: Two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal #13 (Climate Action) & Goal #15 (Life on Land), provide a foundation for the development of my book. Last summer, an independent body of scientists reported that "the world is far off track" of achieving the SDGs. One intervention to accelerate transformation is "expanding protected areas to 40-50 percent of terrestrial areas by 2050", but how do we do it?

“The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.”

— Rachel Carson, Writer, Conservationist

Welcome to my corner of the world!

I’m glad you’re here!

2030 Agenda.

In September 2015, the international community "adopted a historic decision on...a set of universal and transformative" sustainable development goals: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Two of the 17 Goals provide a foundation for my book's development: Goal 13 (Climate Action) and Goal 15 (Life on Land).

Are you looking for a summary? Here's a high-resolution infographic.

Here's another high-resolution infographic.

• ...and here's a good overview of what happened in NYC during Climate Week (Sept 2023): What Climate Week Tells Us About COP28

• ...and if you're not familiar with what COP is or what they do, check out this great blog: COP 101: An Introduction to International Climate Negotiations

Science-driven Transformation.

Last summer, an independent body of scientists reported progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda. Unsurprisingly, they found "the world is far off track" and that "without an urgent course correction and acceleration," humanity and the world's fate are in dire trouble. Yowzah! Equally noteworthy, the report identifies "science-driven transformations urgently needed" to make progress toward the 2030 Agenda.

One intervention needed to accelerate transformation relates to Goals #13 & #15: "expanding protected areas to 40-50 percent of terrestrial areas by 2050." Renown natural scientist E.O. Wilson, in his 2016 book Half-Earth: Our Planets Fight For Survival, supports the idea:

“To those who feel content to let the Anthropocene evolve toward whatever destiny it mindlessly drifts, I say, please take time to reconsider. To those who are steering the growth of reserves worldwide, let me make an earnest request: don’t stop, just aim a lot higher.”

Suppose you buy into the premise that we need to make quicker headway in addressing the climate crisis and biodiversity loss and that conserving half of the Earth is the best mitigation strategy we have to do so. In that case, the next logical question is: "How do we do it?"

Stay tuned.

An Invitation

If you think you have something to offer to the conversation and would like to be a guest on our pod, drop me a note at: info@lcdinstitute.org and put "Guest" in the subject line.

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Until next time,