Way back in 2015 – before Trump, Brexit, Covid or Ukraine - the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the somewhat underwhelming Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The revised set of targets focuses on a similar overall plan to improve the quality of life for all, but with a much more focused agenda.

Is it true that ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’? Remembering back to being bombarded daily with negative statistics for Covid-19 – infections and deaths up, stock markets down – was there any positive take-away from the pandemic? ....

The winter season on the coast of Kenya comes at the same time as Europe’s summer heat. But to call it winter is a misnomer; it’s still short-sleeved balmy weather – both day and night - compared to anything that people to the North might consider their darker months. ....

An enormous mustard-colored elephant appeared in the office doorway, a human beneath its bulk. I knew instinctively I had been had! “I didn’t mean this big Anthony,” I said rather stridently. “Just something small, like all the others.” “Sorry,” he said, without sounding that way. “You didn’t say ... I didn’t realise.” ....

Emma was born on 31st December 2019. She was expected to meet her world in February 2020, but perhaps pushed her arrival forward to coincide with the dawn of Covid-19. By the time she reached her due-by date, Covid was rampant in Wuhan and threatening places beyond China.

In terms of world rankings, most people know about our marathon runners, but not so many are aware that Kenya competes with the best in terms of renewable energies, standing alongside Sweden, Uruguay and Morocco as a world leader. All aim to derive 100% of electrical power from renewable sources within the next decade or two.

Any war is disgusting and repulsive, but the current conflict playing out in Ukraine highlights the futility of warfare more than most. For the first time in decades Europe is host to a major war. Russia, one of the planet’s superpowers, aims to subjugate its neighbour Ukraine: to pummel its so-called brother-state into submission. The result of this aggression is that Ukraine has resisted with all the strength it can muster, backed by the western alliance.

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who inspires action to tackle climate change, has become more recognisable than most presidents. She has the clarity of mind to see our endangered world as if through the eyes of a clear-thinking alien, uncluttered by economics, or ego, birthplace or age. Greta represents youth, a section of our population often forgotten, but one which - in the absence of any other front-runner - has the potential to lead us all towards more sensible policies for a sustainable future.

Sustainable change is a broad church - not always about discarding charcoal and growing trees - it comes in a thousand and one shapes and sizes: people for example. One of the most challenging issues of this 21 st Century is just how we relate to each other; how haves relate to have-nots, historied citizens to traumatized migrants, rich to poor. Do we connect as part of the same tribe, or do we seek out divisions for our own benefit?

Brexit Britain has turned the clock back 50 years to resume preferential trade links with Australia. The deal involves tariff reductions on commodities such as cars and wine, which are destined to travel 15,000 kilometres in opposite directions around our planet. ....

COP26 - the latest version of the annual climate-fest - finished on a decidedly downbeat note ... especially for countries like Bhutan: small, poor, and already suffering the ravages of climate change!

Only a few Kenyans would know that when G7 leaders dined with Queen Elizabeth at The Eden Project, they were surrounded by one of the 21st Century’s most important adverts for sustainable change. Eden was an ambitious millennial initiative which focused on reclamation of an enormous, disused quarry

Sustainable change is all about doing things today, so people can live better tomorrow. And by people, we mean children: my children, your children! Sustainable Change is often termed sustainable development. But these are two words in conflict: development infers growth or expansion, sustainable implies smaller scale and inbuilt harmony – a healthier balance – for the planet ....

Confronting the climate crisis is a major leap for most people; they have other things to think about … like food on the table and electricity bills. I started to reflect on this when a passenger went to throw a plastic bottle out of the car. “No, don’t do that,” I said. “I can use it again at home.” “OK, if that’s what you want,” came the blank reply ...

Covid-19 is a global catastrophe! Nobody of sane mind remains to argue that case. But how does it rate with other pending disasters? What for example, comes after Covid on President Biden’s ‘fix-it’ list? Answer: The Climate Crisis! Some would contend that climate-related concerns should be first on that list, but most people would not see it that way. Why is this so? ....

Our Kenyan coast is a tropical paradise stained by the scourge of plastics, brought in by tide and discarded by tourists: a local reflection of a global epidemic. This plastic menace has grown over recent decades to become the environmental hazard we see today. It reflects an alarming increase in single-use plastics ....