One Month in Hell, the Price Both Humans and the Planet Pay, Plus Tiny Rays of Light: Biodegradable batteries and Flying Cars (at Last)

Grüezi! I’m Adrian Monck, and welcome to this LinkedIn newsletter featuring seven things that caught my attention.

Also this edition – hotter than last July – the world keeps warming up, and the bravest thing you’ll see this week.

Sharing is caring – Please share this newsletter!

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1️⃣ One Month in Hell for Ukraine #standwithukraine

Watch its president speak (in English from 1’35”)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy risks his life to be out in the open. He’s not asking us to risk ours, just to come out today and support his people’s struggle.

What is at the heart of that struggle? The single best explanation I’ve read is by Allan Little, a former BBC reporter who has seen much and wears the experience lightly:

• This is a war between two conflicting conceptions of the rules by which international relations should function – Helsinki versus Yalta.
• At Yalta in 1945, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill carved post-war Europe into ‘spheres of influence’ – Eastern Europe to Russia, the West to the trans-Atlantic alliance that would rebuild Europe’s democracies.
• Helsinki describes a Europe of independent sovereign states, each free to choose its own alliances. It grew out of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and gradually evolved into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Ukraine’s defenders are fighting for Helsinki. Putin has sent his troops in to impose a modern version of Yalta.

Last week I shared the extraordinary reporting of Mstyslav Chernov who stayed in Mariupol to tell the world about the city’s pain. This is his must-read account of how he escaped.

Alex Gabuev spent his career tracking Vladimir Putin as a business reporter in Moscow. His fascinating observations on the man are worth your time.

Like many of us Putin is strongest and smartest when he takes advice, and weakest and most foolish when he relies on his own instincts to make decisions.

If you want to understand more about the war’s progress, this Aussie general has a good review.

Remember, this was Ukraine’s capital a month ago...

⏭  Also under threat from the war: global food security.

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2️⃣ One Month Spent Trying to get Children out

People are still trying to escape.

⏭  The war has led to worldwide needs for humanitarian support.

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3️⃣ Putin’s War Isn’t Just Dirty When it Comes to Killing People

It’s also dangerous when it comes to destroying the environment.

⏭ It could also disrupt supplies needed for the energy transition.

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4️⃣ Climate Change Hasn’t Taken a Holiday

This NASA imaging shows what’s been happening to the world’s temperatures.

⏭   This might help: harnessing energy from ocean waves.

5️⃣ A Smart Printed Power Source on Paper

Biodegradable batteries that you can bury when they burn out.

⏭ Also impressive: new ways to put plastic waste to good use.

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6️⃣ The Flying Cars We Were Promised!

Kind of... ugly though. Like a giant paracetamol.

⏭  More real life sci-fi: The UK is considering a solar power station in space.

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7️⃣ You and Your Neighbours are Unarmed, Facing Soldiers

What would you do? Watch what these men did. And, yes do turn the sound up.

⏭  No confrontations on our book club podcast.

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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!

Best,

Adrian

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RIP the inventor of the GIF.