Post for Episode 4 of the NEW GD Show: 2020 – the good, the weird & the funny
In this annual transition especially, we need to keep our expectations in check. Many want to curse 2020 as the worst year of our lives with all the many losses of precious lives, health, jobs, in-person education, in-person concerts and plays and normal social interaction. We watched the world as we knew it plunge into a global pandemic with the added dimension of one of the most insane and divisive presidential elections in American history.
But if we dig deep, we can hopefully find some bright spots and if nothing else an increased sense of humor. There are countless stories of communities rallying to help families who have suffered painful losses and front line workers who are literally risking their lives to help us all get through — medical teams being the most obvious, but so many others in less glamorous jobs like the cleaners and grocery store clerks.
It’s going to take some time to unravel the mess that was 2020. Let’s be patient with each other and stay focused on the good as much as possible!
I’ve written quite a bit about why I quit making New Year’s resolutions. Time to take my own advice and double down on it this particular year!
Meanwhile, GD Lisa and I decided to focus on only the good, the weird (plenty of that) and the funny for this last show of 2020. Watch, listen, laugh, share, whatever.
Listen to the show here…
or
Watch it here…
the good
We are due to interview David Pogue about his upcoming book: HOW TO PREPARE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE, “a handbook on enduring Earth’s new realities”
Until then, we enjoyed this great video by Mr. Pogue on CBS Sunday Morning about some good climate news…
happy eco news
According to a website called Happy Eco News cites a few good stories for the environment:
- Fungus Found Growing at Chernobyl that Actually EATS Radiation
- Food in the nude – NZ ditching plastic packaging of fruit and vegetables in supermarkets
- India gets out of coal and into renewable energy
- Deutsche Bank Immediately Ends Funding For Oil Sands And Arctic Oil Projects
- China Turns On the World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm
- Indian State Bans All Pesticides. Wildlife, Crops and Tourism Flourish
- U.S. report bumper bee bonanza — Honeybee numbers on the increase in multiple U.S. states
weird times
Monkeys take over a Thai city
Tiger King (WTF?)
Pentagon releases UFO video
Crazy weather – thank you climate change
keeping a sense of humor…
the language of 2020
from an article in Grist by Kate Yoder
New words and phrases we rarely or never uttered before 2020, and some which we are already tired of
Weary of but aren’t going away
- Unprecedented
- Climate
- Global warming
Didn’t see myself saying ever and often
- Pandemic
- Lockdown
- Social distancing
- Respiratory droplets
- Quarantine
Completely new words or phrases
- Doomscrolling
- Covidiot
- Maskne – inducing acne
- Ghost planes n. Planes flying empty
- Anthropause n. A period of diminished pollution following the COVID-19 lockdowns (anthro meaning human in Greek, reminding us how human activity can radically reshape the planet)
- Climate arsonist, n. A person, sometimes orange-haired, who’s figuratively setting the world on fire (thanks Joe)
- Doomer, n. Someone who is convinced the world is headed straight for all-out collapse. Last year was “OK Boomer”
- Ecofascism, n. Oppression in the service of climate action or conservation. Environmentalist’s dark side
- Greentrolling, v. Shaming oil companies on social media
- Net-zero, adj. Offsetting the carbon dioxide you emit by making sure that the same amount gets sucked up by trees, plants, machines, or other things. So many new confusing words about emissions.
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