Good news for humankind!

From the week of November 13 – 20 2023 C.E.

The United Arab Emirates opens the world’s largest single-site solar farm

The massive 2-gigawatt (GW) Al Dhafra solar farm is 22 miles from Abu Dhabi and features almost 4 million bifacial solar panels. It will power nearly 200,000 homes and eliminate over 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions annually.

Final U.S. Army base stripped of Confederate name as Fort Gordon becomes Fort Eisenhower

The renaming ceremony was the ninth — and final — among Army installations this year, capping a controversial three-year effort initiated by top Pentagon officials in 2020 amid a nationwide racial reckoning following the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

E.U. agrees to restore 20% of its lands and waters by 2030

In order to meet these goals, member nations must restore a minimum of 30% of the types of habitat covered by the Nature Restoration Law that are in “poor condition” to a “good condition” by the end of the decade, with an increase to 60% by the end of the following decade and 90% by 2050.

World’s first commercial-scale ocean thermal energy generator to be built off the coast of São Tomé and Príncipe

The Dominique barge is designed to provide a net output of 1.5 megawatts year-round, enough to supply nearly 17% of the nation’s entire 78 million-odd kilowatt hour energy consumption. London company Global OTEC plans to begin commissioning the project in 2023.

Heirloom Carbon Technologies opens first carbon capture facility in the U.S.

The team behind the project said their newly opened direct air capture (DAC) facility near San Francisco will be able to siphon CO2 out of the atmosphere and store it securely underground in concrete.

Dominica to create world’s first sperm whale reserve

Commercial fishing will not be permitted in the reserve, but artisanal fishing will be allowed, as long as it is sustainable and does not endanger the whales. Large ships will be required to use designated ocean corridors to avoid disturbing the mammals.

Germany approves global minimum corporate tax

In 2021 almost 140 countries agreed to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development deal they are meant to implement from next year to prevent big companies from avoiding taxation by transferring profits to low-tax countries. Germany has now formally implemented that commitment.

The Vatican says transgender people can be baptized

The Vatican, which leads the Catholic Church, has said that transgender people and people in same-sex relationships can be baptized and serve as witnesses at weddings, and trans people can also be godparents as well.

Ohio voters enshrine abortion access in constitution

Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment that ensures access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

New York surgeons perform world’s first successful eyeball transplant

Besides the eyeball, the patient, 46-year-old Aaron James of Hot Springs, Arkansas, also received a partial face transplant and an infusion of donor stem cells to the optic nerve during the more than 20-hour surgery.

The United Arab Emirates opens the world’s largest single-site solar farm (2019 C.E.)

The Noor Abu Dhabi Solar Power Plant located near Abu Dhabi in Sweihan has 3.2 million solar panels with a generating capacity of 1.2 GW. The total project cost was over US$850 million. At the time of its completion, it was larger than all other single-site solar projects in the world.

The United Arab Emirates opens the world’s largest single-site solar farm (2031 C.E. ???)

Once again, the Middle Eastern country makes use of its vast solar resources and open desert to build the world’s largest single-site solar project, this one surpassing a capacity of a whopping 5 GW.

It’s not about the nail

Check out the video above. This basic dynamic, from the perspective of the man, feels a lot like how I often experience the world. I often believe that I see problems clearly and have a good solution. And my solution (or perhaps that pressure or insistence I apply) to fix the problem is often met with resistance or frustration. My wife, friends, etc. often just want to be heard, seen, held, allowed – not fixed.

After years of personal work, the tension still lives on within me.

On one hand, I can see more clearly now that few problems in real life are as tangible and obvious as the nail in the video. The nail is perhaps more emblematic of the man’s false certainty than the woman’s obliviousness and stubbornness. One of my intentions in life is to lead with curiosity. And my perceived clarity often undermines that.

And I see that, like the man in the video, I often deliver my perspective from a place of impatience and exasperation which makes it difficult for others to receive. Another intention I have is to lead with patience. And my exasperation often undermines that.

And yet, while holding all that, it feels important to also acknowledge and honor the part of me that often does have clarity and is willing to risk sharing what I see. Sometimes there is a nail. Sometimes I am seeing something that’s real and worth reckoning with. And the resistance I face in others is not necessarily proof that I am mistaken or am delivering the message in the “wrong” way. Often the resistance is there because I am surfacing something important, but difficult. Sometimes being a true friend, coach, or partner is being the one who is willing to speak to it, even in the face of conflict and tension. And that willingness to do so is part of my genius, part of what makes me me.

I feel committed to letting that part of me out into the world powerfully and without apology. I also know that it acts most powerfully, benevolently, and clearly when it’s accompanied, balanced, and counseled by its friends: curiosity and patience.

Peter Schulte

Leadership Coach

Founder & Executive Director, Spark of Genius

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