Water, water, everywhere?

Dear Friend,

Last week hundreds of delegates descended on New York City for the first?UN water conference?in 50 years. It was a bit like being at climate events 20 years ago, when companies and governments were just at the beginning of their climate journey: beginning to figure out disclosure, target setting and understanding their associated risks and opportunities.?

WRI’s Director for Water said: “We need a Paris Agreement for water globally, national water plans for each country, and regional water plans for each shared basin and aquifer.” Only we don’t have 20 years to agree targets and implement them for water, because, if climate is the shark, then water is its teeth: water is where the impacts bite first. And they are biting hard:?three billion people already face food insecurity owing to water scarcity, a figure set to grow rapidly without urgent action to safeguard water as a common good now.

Meanwhile, a group of lawyers in England have signed a “Declaration of Conscience” saying they will refuse to participate in the prosecution of peaceful?climate protesters?like Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain. They will also refuse to represent those participating in the development of new fossil fuel projects.

OUTRAGE + OPTIMISM: ON THE CALENDAR

This week:?In Thursday’s episode we speak to an incredibly special guest, Pete Betts, a much loved and well respected member of the climate community with over 35 years’ experience as a civil servant, including 10 years as the Director of International Climate and Energy in the UK Government.

In this intimate and meditative conversation, join our hosts Christiana Figueres , Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson to hear his reflections on a life spent dedicated to climate action and consensus building, what he thinks our focus should be during this pivotal time, and the two critical questions Pete believes are the most important to ask ourselves: am I surrounded by those I love and who love me, and did I make a difference??

Next week:?Tune in next Thursday to hear our hosts in conversation with Jon Alexander , author of ‘Citizens’.

In case you missed it:?Make sure you catch up on our two part mini-series hosted by Tom and Fiona McRaith on "Momentum vs Perfection” as complementary and / or conflicting theories of change for transforming the world. We’ve had some really amazing feedback on the series so far and there’s a rich conversation ongoing right here?on LinkedIn.?

If you liked this ‘dose of Outrage + Optimism’ and haven’t already, do?sign up to our full bi-weekly newsletter?to make sure you’re not just informed about the climate crisis, but also inspired to be part of the changes we all need to make.?

In this week's email newsletter we talk about our direction of travel, the IPCC synthesis report, Christiana's latest article - plus tips from the team.

With stubborn optimism,

The O+O Team

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