Bread is not a commodity
and mosquito-borne diseases are spreading in Europe
Dear regenerators,
I have heard many millennials say that the current state of the world is due to “boomers”, people born between 1946 and 1964, who made a lot of the decisions that directed Western society into the deepening climate crisis we are currently immersed in.
This week, we share the story of Willem van Aalst, a boomer who focused his life on making money until he made a significant shift to focus his energy on nurturing the Earth that nurtures him, proving there is hope for all of us. Scroll down to read more.
🗞️ In Climate News
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🦟 Mosquito-borne diseases spreading in Europe due to climate crisis, says expert
🇧🇷 Afro-Brazilian communities fight a rain of pesticides & the company behind it
🇮🇳 Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
🌳 A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
🇵🇪 Deforestation haunts top Peruvian reserve and its Indigenous communities
🇮🇩 Indigenous community fights to save its lands on Indonesia’s historic tin island
📈 Cool Trends
♾️ eco-story
Bread is not a commodity
Willem van Aalst worked in finance.
“I met a commodity trader with EF Hutton. I thought his lifestyle was interesting and exciting, so I decided that’s what I want to do.”
His career began with an internship in Chicago, which led to work as a correspondent at the European Options Exchange in his hometown of Amsterdam.
“I spoke French fluently, so I was responsible for selling seats on the exchange to French speaking countries.”
Although he enjoyed his job, Willem missed the USA and wanted to return. Eventually, an opportunity emerged through a training program with Bankers Trust.
“It was a lot of fun, I spent time in New York where I met my wife Kathryn in 1980. We were engaged in 1981, and we got married in 1982 in New Orleans, which is where she grew up.”
After the training program, Willem was offered a job with a posting in either Jakarta or Amsterdam. Again he chose to return to his hometown, this time to be close to his father who was sick with lung cancer. After his father passed, Willem left his role with Bankers Trust, enrolled in a MBA, and eventually took a job in London where he moved with his growing family.
“Kathryn was pregnant with Sasha, my daughter” — she also gave birth to two sons, Nicholas and Philip — “and we lived in London for the next 12 years. I worked for Smith Barney first as a bond trader and salesman, and then with Salomon Brothers, where I was a bond salesman to Dutch and Scandinavian insurance companies, pension funds and the like.”
Willem was then offered a job with Lehman Brothers.
🌏 The Culture Column
📺 What we’re watching: Nomads of Benin – Driven Away by Drought
📸 Profile of the week: @sustainableandjustfuture
📖 What we’re reading: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, by Merlin Sheldrake
🤯 Shocking fact we learnt this week: We already need the same as 1.75 Earth-like planets to support the rise of the global consumer class… and counting.