by Environment Team collaborators
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot?" During this time of the year, it won’t be long before we’ll hear the harmonic lament of “Auld Lang Syne” as 2024 slips away. Time does indeed slip by. We enjoy great times with family and friends. We experience trials, joy and tribulations. But through it all, we maintain a connection – which is what we at the Environment Team aim to do through sharing each month in our Global Issues Digest articles. We invite you to join us as we reacquaint ourselves with the “old friends” we’ve shared over the past 12 months.
This year, our sharing has taken you from Porto to New Zealand.
We’ve been reminded that the oceans are an integral part of Nature’s balancing act to maintain a stable temperature which, coincidentally is an ideal environment for human existence.
We have learned a new four-letter acronym (PFAS), which represents a growing menace. Unfortunately, these ubiquitous PFASs have flown under the general public’s radar until recently. However, it’s never too late to change our ways.
We’ve also seen first-hand testimony of how our distant cousins, the South African pachyderms, present a case study in the complexity of conservation efforts.
We encouraged you to notice the fascinating plants in your local environment: you may surprise your taste buds with what you find by foraging or exploring the urban agriculture in Paris. It may prompt you to seek out your own local hidden jewels.
One of the team’s mascots – trees – had the spotlight shone on them from two separate perspectives, in Unveiling Secrets of our Neighbors – Trees and FAWCO Youth Cultural Volunteers 2024: “Rewilding” the Scottish Highlands.
We do not despair! Despite the fragile environmental equilibrium, we launched the year with solutions and resolutions which we find within our reach as citizens willing and able to “do our part.” On a larger scale, we shared insights of how to evaluate whether an international accord is indeed an appropriate solution matched to the task at hand after the COP28 conference in Dubai.
Are our auld friends forgotten? By no means! Feel free to read, rediscover or share our humble contributions to a larger discussion about the world around us. Keep an eye on this spot in the New Year. Until then, Happy New Year from the entire FAWCO Environment Team!
Image from Canva.com
