Issue #11
Hello there! 👋
Welcome to the month of November.
It’s been a very breezy year and it's astounding how time flies.
Here's a pro tip for you:
If you intend to set new year resolutions for 2022, the best thing to do is to start working on your goals from this moment. This will give you a headstart and help you master the new habit or achieve part of the goal before the new year starts.
Today, we’ll be looking at two very interesting topics that has been trending worldwide.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference nicknamed COP26.
The Metaverse and what it’s about.
Now, let's get right into it.
COP26 Holds in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also called COP26 started yesterday, the 31st of October. The conference is being held in Glasgow, Scotland U.K, scheduled to end on the 12th of November.
What's the whole conference about?
The summit is hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with France. The main aim of the event is to limit global warming as 196 parties of the United Nations take urgent action to keep the Paris Agreement. See here.
The goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep a global average temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit) and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
The Attendees
Those present include world leaders such as the co-host of the event, PM Boris Johnson of the U.K., PM Mario Draghi of Italy, President Joe Biden of the USA and President Mohammadu Buhari of Nigeria.
Notably absent are the President of China, Xi Jinping and the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Others attending include climate activists such as Greta Thunberg, NGOs, members of the press and media houses, negotiators and protesters. See here.
The Big Emitters
In order of succession, China, USA, India, The Russian Federation and Japan are the largest producers of greenhouse gas - carbon dioxide.
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson warns that the climate summit is at serious risk of failure as countries are still not promising enough to restrict global temperature rise to target; that is, below 1.5C.
Further stating, “If we are going to prevent COP26 from being a failure, then that must change and I must be clear, that if Glasgow fails then the whole thing fails. The Paris agreement will have crumpled at the first reckoning.”
See here for more details about the COP26 Summit.
The Metaverse and What it’s About
Over the weekend, one of the buzzword that trended in leading social media platforms was Metaverse. No thanks to Facebook's rebranding to Meta. An audacious move that signals Facebook's aspiration to pivot fully into an “extended reality (XR)” company, i.e the combination of augmented, virtual and mixed reality.
In simple terms, the Metaverse is a virtual reality world where players or users can exist digitally and perform everyday actions in the virtual world.
To catch a glimpse of what the Metaverse entails, check out Decentraland for a whole new digital experience.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, as a member of this future “you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents’ living room to catch up.”
Check the video below to watch how Mark Zuckerberg gives a pitch of the Metaverse.
Why is the Metaverse a big deal?
The internet today is often the main entry point for millions of us to access information and services, communicate and socialize with each other, sell goods, and entertain ourselves. The metaverse is predicted to replicate this value proposition - with the main difference being that distinction between being offline and online will be much harder to delineate.
WORTH READING 📚
On Neuropsych: Is social media killing intellectual humility? By Nicole Yeatman.
‘We’re all fighting the giant’: Gig workers around the world are finally organizing - Peter Guest
WORTH WATCHING 📽️
The paradox of unanimity. Should you trust unanimous decisions? By Derik Abbott.
What does reading on screens do to our brains? | BBC
Monday Motivation
"No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anyone but oneself". ~ Virginia Woolf.
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This brief was put together while listening to Crazy Tings by Tems.
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