Category Archives: Writing

Xi Jinping started 2019 with a series of major speeches on risk. Hundreds of senior officials from across China were summoned to Beijing to hear his message: destabilisation and turbulence are on the horizon. Officials were warned to watch out for “black swans”—events that are unforeseen and take us by surprise—and “grey rhinos”—events that are highly likelyContinue reading “Will millennials be ready to lead the world in 2040?”

A central lesson of the Covid-19 pandemic for environmentalism is that it needs get more serious about risk. The pandemic has proven a classic example of a systemic shock: a health crisis graduated into a financial crisis, an economic crisis, a social crisis, a political crisis and so on. Last year, worsening environmental shocks metContinue reading “Covid has shown us the consequences of not taking systemic risk seriously”

The editorial on climate change and biodiversity published in over 220 health journals in September had two main demands: keep global temperature increases below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to avoid catastrophic damage to health; and accept that this can be achieved only by rich countries making bigger cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and transferring substantialContinue reading “COP26 and Health: Some Progress, But Too Slow and Not Enough”

World leaders will be glad to see the back of another year of complex problems. The pandemic and its impact on health, the knock-on effects on labour markets and the recent surges in demand for goods as restrictions have eased are huge problems that together have disrupted the delicate choreography of global trade. Meanwhile, a summer ofContinue reading “How can future leaders prepare for an environmentally-destabilized world?”

On Monday 6th September 2021, 229 health journals from across the world began publishing an editorial calling for world leaders to take emergency action to transform societies and limit climate change, restore biodiversity, and protect health. I was a co-author and coordinated the editorial. It is likely unprecedented across three dimensions: never have so many journalsContinue reading “Coverage: joint editorial from 200+ health journals on climate change”

Wealthy nations must do much more, much faster  Lukoye Atwoli, Editor in Chief, East African Medical Journal; Abdullah H. Baqui, Editor in Chief, Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition; Thomas Benfield, Editor in Chief, Danish Medical Journal; Raffaella Bosurgi, Editor in Chief, PLOS Medicine; Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief, The BMJ; Stephen Hancocks, Editor in Chief, British Dental Journal; Richard Horton,Continue reading “Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health”

Planet on Fire featured in exalted company on Ann Pettifor‘s list of the top 10 books for a greener economy in the Guardian. Check out the list here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/02/top-10-books-for-a-greener-economy-ann-pettifor-green-new-deal

The adults claim to be back in charge. In a time of Covid and COP, what a difference it makes. Relief and excitement are growing in equal measure as world leaders move beyond the chaos of the Trump era and talk up their commitments to acting on the environmental emergency. But a profound question hangsContinue reading “Climate targets won’t meet themselves”

Flora Parkin reviewed Planet on Fire in the LSE blog: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2021/05/04/book-review-planet-on-fire-a-manifesto-for-the-age-of-environmental-breakdown-by-mathew-lawrence-and-laurie-laybourn-langton/

A recent report painted a terrifying picture of our coming future: within decades, for every 1°C increase in the global temperature, a billion people will be forced to live in unbearable heat. Without change, we are on track for catastrophic global temperature increases of 3.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. This crisis isContinue reading “10 things you can do to change everything and combat the climate crisis”