The biggest climate and nature stories of 2021

And wishing you all a happy 2022!

The beach of the island Schouwen-Duiveland (photo: Alexander Verbeek)

The last hours of 2021 are ticking away. What a year it has been for anyone following what’s happening on the rapidly warming but still beautiful planet. It was the second year that the pandemic ravaged worldwide, and it was another year without the progress we need on climate action.

But there was also good news in 2021 about the healing of the ozone layer, increased use of renewable energy, or expansion of protected nature areas.

I won’t spoil your last day of the year by describing to what side this balance between the bad and the good news is tilting, but one thought that occurs to me is that for me, there have been so many beautiful moments this year. I shared some of them in The Planet newsletter, and I may write more about it soon. But after a year of non-stop working, I reduced my work a bit these days, and for now, I will spend the last day of the year meeting friends and combining ‘oliebollen’ with champagne, which the readers of this newsletter have by now learned about (here) as a Dutch end-of-year treat.

Yesterday, I co-hosted a podcast with Alister Doyle, where we both looked back at the positive and the alarming developments of 2021.

You can listen to that podcast here.

I wish you all an excellent, happy, and healthy 2022!

Alexander

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