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Welcome to the 9th 2022 edition of The Nett Report. Our goal is to provide clients and friends with new perspectives and insights in hopes of stimulating creative thinking throughout the year. Feel free to share with friends! Links to all three years of The Nett Report can be found here.

 
 

 
 

The Political Divide

Cost of living increases and inequities could be the economic perfect storm

Sometimes a view from the outside is helpful to understanding where we are. Fabio Andrés Díaz Pabón, a researcher at the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research at the University of Cape Town, provides a thoughtful April 28, 2022, opinion in Al Jazeera. writes that there will be significant global turmoil because of “the combined consequences of the gradual weakening of political representation, decline of the middle class, and rising inequities across the world.” He says the pandemic and war in Ukraine were immediate triggers, but “long before the novel coronavirus emerged in China, millions across the world were already highly vulnerable – having only broken promises of social mobility, economic security, and social protection. People were holding on to void promises of meritocracy and a better future, while slowly being pushed into destitution. So when the pandemic took away the little security they had, they were left with no option but to take to the streets.” He gives examples of the impact of rising prices on elections and political turmoil across the globe, from the U.S. to Sri Lanka. NOTE: Contrary to the opinions of some, Al Jazeera is considered a publication with a “middle or balanced bias using a complex analysis or mix of fact reporting and analysis” by media rating company Ad Fontes Media.

 
 

 
 

Climate Change

Wet-bulb temperatures could arrive sooner than predicted

Wet-bulb temperatures are those where a combination of heat and humidity literally makes it impossible for the body to cool itself through sweating. That condition is deadly. In an April 29, 2022, article in Vice, the publication reports on a research paper that concludes “a wet-bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) is the upper physiological limit … an exceedance of 35 degrees Celsius would be deadly.” The research also says ”climate models once anticipated that these temperatures would not occur until the mid-21st century, but they’re already here, and they’re concentrated in South Asia, among a few other localities (the coastal Middle East and coastal southwest North America).

Solar supply chain issues continue to affect installations

Word that solar supply chain issues are slowing the ability of the U.S. photovoltaic industry to meet demand is just surfacing in mainstream media but has been of concern to the industry for some time. A November 21, 2021, story in WeForum, reported that “supply chain disruptions mean that 56% of worldwide utility-scale solar projects planned for 2022 could be postponed or canceled.” In a March 8, 2022, National Law Review article, the shortages were attributed to:

  1. The Antidumping and Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD) Anti-Circumvention Petition filed by Auxin Solar (related to whether supplies from other Asian countries actually originate in China)
  2. Section 201 Tariffs (on imported crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells)
  3. The Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act and Forced Labor WROs
  4. General Global Supply Chain Issues (likely resulting from COVID-19)
 
 
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Future of Work / The Economy

What it takes to be considered a great employer

Some quotes from Fortune’s CEO Daily, on April 26, 2022, about what it takes to be considered a great employer during the Great Resignation:

“The best bet is that just as workers won’t go all the way back to the office and shoppers won’t go all the way back to physical stores, CEOs won’t go all the way back to pre-pandemic leadership.” Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor at Large, Fortune Magazine.

“Employees don’t want to be employees; they don’t want to work for managers and they don’t want to work for executives. They want to be human beings who work for other human beings." Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco.

“People need to know why they work for your company and if they don’t, they’re not going to work for you very long.” Chris Nassetta, CEO, Hilton.

“In the future, successful companies will do three things with respect to talent. They will be able to access talent. They will be talent creators, not just consumers, unlocking the potential of talent. And they will use technology to complement talent and make employees net better off… Those three things are what great companies have to do in the next decade to be a great place to work." Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture.

“We have to double down on training and officer development and making sure there’s a clear career path for individuals as they go forward.” Brian Cornell, CEO, Target.

Employees want to return to their old jobs

“For many pandemic-era job leavers, their leap did not result in a better experience. More than 2 out of 5 employees worldwide feel they were better off at their old job, finding many of the same issues at their new company with none of the familiar faces and routines. In fact, 1 in 5 have already boomeranged back to their prior company, with millions more open to the possibility of return.” UKG Survey, April 2022.

 
 

 
 

Covid-19

Range of impacts found from Covid-10

Science Magazine, in a well-done 7-minute YouTube video on April 15, 2022, provides an overview of how Covid impacts the brain and other various systems.

We can blunt Covid surges, but herd immunity remains out of reach

This May 4, 2022, article in The Atlantic provides an in-depth look at what we are learning about our resistance to Covid. Estimates of how many in the U.S. have caught Covid range from 60% to 80%. The author says “not long ago, the world was clinging to the hope of herd immunity - to the notion that the population would eventually reach some communal level of protection sufficient to quash the outbreak for good.” Now it appears that “across communities at the local, state, and national level, protection is absolutely not uniform. Which means Americans are trudging along a pandemic path that often meanders—and sometimes doubles back. With protection against serious disease and death stalwart, especially for communities with high vaccination rates, future outbreaks should—broadly speaking—continue to ease in severity. But waves of infection, some big, some small, will keep coursing through the population.”

 
 

 
 

The Nett Light-Side

Humans won’t last another 1,000 years – Steven Hawking

I don’t know whether to consider this February 10, 2022, article in Grunge on the “light-side.” I’ll let readers decide, but it is certainly an interesting and wide-ranging look at our human future. It includes Steven Hawking’s prediction that "by the year 2600, the world's population would be standing shoulder to shoulder, and the electricity consumption would make the Earth glow red-hot."

 
 

 
 

Nettleton Strategies — Helping People to Think

Carl Nettleton is an award-winning writer, acclaimed speaker, facilitator, and subject-matter expert regarding water, climate, sustainability, the ocean, and binational U.S. Mexico border affairs. Founded in 2007, Nettleton Strategies is a trusted source of analysis and advice on issues at the forefront of public policy, business, and the environment.

 
 

 
 
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Nettleton Strategies

P.O. Box 22971
San Diego, Ca 92192-2971
U.S.A.
+1 858-353-5489
info@nettstrategies.com
www.nettstrategies.com

 
 

 
 

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