Category: Politics

Today, rising temperatures are causing chaos on our planet. Yet, despite it all, some people are standing up to encourage change that could save us on a global scale. Consider five thought leaders who are making a difference. 

1. Catherine Mckenna

Canadian lawyer and politician Catherine Mckenna once served as the Canadian government’s minister of environment and climate change. Now she chairs a group appointed by the UN Secretary-General tasked with raising awareness about the climate emergency and developing plans to resolve it. 

“We can tackle climate change; we just have to change how we look at things. We have to stop looking at it as a 2050 problem.” 

2. Elizabeth Mrema

Ms. Mrema was born in Tanzania but today lives in Canada. She is also the executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. She is approaching the challenge of climate change differently than Mckenna. She is looking for a biological solution to the problem. 

“I grew up seeing our villages full of trees. But as I continued to grow… the outlook began changing. The bush, the forest I was seeing, you see more holes and spaces, [and] the weather kept changing. And as I speak, even those rivers – when you hear the water flowing in the streams at the backyard – have completely dried up.”

3. Inger Andersen

Inger Andersen is a Danish economist who serves as the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. Andersen has spent most of her career working towards a better world. She spent many of her early years working in Sudan and focusing on famine and drought relief. 

Today, her focus is on the devastation extreme weather is causing people all over the globe. She believes there is an inequity in the suffering and states that justice must be part of the climate change solution. 

“When we know that one in three African citizens have faced water scarcity, then we understand climate inequality, then we understand that those folks who are my neighbors here in Nairobi are producing very, very low CO2 emissions.”

4. Osprey Orielle Lake

Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network or WECAN. This organization works on the frontlines to create change to help sustain the planet. They aim to engage women disproportionately impacted by the climate emergency to take direct action and fight back. They do everything from holding seminars to working on the ground to save the forests. 

“The climate crisis emerged from interlocking systems of capitalism, resource extraction, racism, patriarchy, and colonization. It’s beyond past time to end the tragic cycle of endless economic growth based on sacrificed peoples and sacrificed lands.”

5. Greta Thunberg

This young woman has become a household name thanks to her fight for the planet. Born in 2003, Thunberg gained notoriety for her school climate strikes and bold public speeches. She gave a fiery speech during the 2018 plenary session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference that made headlines. 

“We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive.” 

Together, these thought leaders and many others are working to create a more sustainable planet. 

 

Thought leaders see the world differently than most. They’re passionate, visionary rule-breakers. They’re trailblazing pioneer disruptors that drive change and move us forward. It’s no surprise that they’re also eccentric. What kind of eccentric habits? Here are a few habits of 5 great thought leaders.

Benjamin Franklin: Cold Water Swimmer

No thought leader article would be complete without referencing American Founder Ben Franklin. One of his many quirky habits included daily swims in the London Thames river. He wasn’t alone in his belief that chilled body submersions are healthy. Ancient Greek Hippocrates noted that doing so combats physical and mental weakness. Today’s science supports the theory that a cold shower, swim, or ice bath invigorates the brain by sending fresh blood to the vital organs.

Steve Jobs: The Cryer

Apple founder Steve Jobs, who changed the world, first with the Mac and then with the iPod, turned to tears in times of extreme emotion. Whether out of frustration or happiness, Jobs cried incessantly. He described these episodes as “purity of spirit”. Science tells us that crying reduces stress and leads to greater mental clarity.

Bill Gates: The Rocker

The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, rocks. When Gates is deep in thought, he rocks back and forth in his chair. According to his staff, the pace and enthusiasm of his rocking reflected his passion for the topic. Gates was known to rock, even at Harvard. While never publicly shared, many believe that the rocking strongly indicates that Gates is neurodivergent. His rocking habit, monotone speech pattern, and lack of eye contact all point towards Autism. Many visionaries, from Einstein and Michelangelo to Newton and Tesla, are believed today to be autistic.

Mark Zuckerberg: Solo Outfitter

The founder of the giant social media platform Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, never changes his clothes. Well, he does, but he wears the same outfit daily. You’ll see Zuckerberg sporting the same gray t-shirt, with a hoodie if it’s cold, every single solitary day. Why? Because, according to Zuckerberg, he doesn’t ever want to have to think about making a choice about his clothes. He believes this simple act helps him optimize his time by eliminating less critical daily decisions. His belief is sound, especially for those who lead billion-dollar businesses and have a lot on their minds.

Jeff Bezos: Two-Pizza Rule

Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, is known for many quirky habits—from working at a desk made from a door to insisting that all proposals follow a very specific, short form template. Bezos also adheres to what he calls the two-pizza rule. He never schedules or goes to a meeting where two pizzas cannot feed all attendees. Bezos believes that only with smaller, intimate groups with specific objectives can you effectively move forward.

While each of these thought leaders’ habits could be considered quirky or eccentric, the truth is that there’s a legitimate reason for their seemingly odd behavior. Since each thought leader is historically successful, perhaps the rest of us mere mortals will learn a thing or two from these eccentric habits.

Even in times of peace, it seems that countries around the world still find themselves in an arms race to be prepared for any sort of conflict and defend their nation from attack. With tensions escalating due to conflicts in eastern Europe, defense spending has only been increasing in the past year or so. With that in mind, which countries are the most well prepared in the event of a conflict on a global scale? Here are the five countries that spend the most money on their defense budgets as it stands right now.

5. Russia

Russia is a country that seems like it would be an obvious entry into the top five, though you might think it would be higher on the list. In terms of its percentage of GDP used on defense, however, Russia ranks higher than any country. It was announced that last year, Russia had spent $65.9 billion in defense. Due to the Ukraine War in 2022, expect that number to have a significant increase when the next reports come out.

4. United Kingdom

It might come as a slight surprise to see the United Kingdom toward the top of the list, but despite its size, no country has had more of a global impact. The United Kingdom was already at fourth on the list with $68.4 billion in spending in 2021, and that’s expected to increase quite dramatically when 2022 is wrapped up. “We need to invest for the long term in vital capabilities like future combat air,” former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “Whilst simultaneously adapting to a more dangerous and more competitive world.”

3. India

India hasn’t exactly been involved in many conflicts over the past several decades, at least not on a large scale. However, India clocks in with the third highest defense budget at $76.6 billion. The reason for the increase in recent years is India’s desire to be more self-reliant and join the ranks of the financial elite in the world. Rajnath Singh is the defense minister of India and says that using local infrastructure “will certainly boost the domestic defense industries,”

2. China

Countries like India, the United Kingdom and Russia have some fierce competition in the top five as numbers 6-10 are all very close, but China is a massive leap ahead of India in spending with $293 billion in 2021. That budget isn’t going to shrink anytime soon, either, as China is beefing up their defense to the tune of 7.1 percent over the next year. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said “We will move faster to modernize the military’s logistics and asset management systems, and build a modern weaponry and equipment management system.”

1. United States

You’re probably not shocked to see the United States sitting at number one by a comfortable margin, are you? With a defense budget of $801 billion, it’s not even close. That’s more than the rest of the top 10 combined. Just like China, the US defense budget won’t be going down, either. An increase to $813.3 billion was already approved for next year. With that, the United States and China will make up around 44 percent of the entire global spending on defense.