David Nabarro | Review of "Not the End of the World" | UN80
Welcome to Bits, Bobs & Big Ideas #17 curated by Tomorrow Is Possible — Your Bi-Monthly Dose of Insight, Ideas, and Impact!
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Remembering David Nabarro
LinkedIn was flooded with tributes following the sudden passing of David Nabarro, a reflection of the deep impact he had on hundreds — if not thousands — of people. Many shared personal stories, remembering him as a remarkable figure: calm in crisis, clear in purpose, and profoundly human in every interaction.
I first met David Nabarro in Egypt during the avian influenza response. Amid the complexity of international coordination, what stood out most wasn’t just his leadership, but his presence. He engaged with everyone - regardless of your title or background —with warmth, curiosity, and respect. It was never performative; he listened, he remembered, and he cared.
Years later, our paths crossed again in the context of food security. I was at the OECD then, and David was — as always — at the center of major global efforts. But nothing about him had changed. He still embodied the rare combination of rigor and kindness, holding space for complexity while remaining grounded in what truly mattered: people.
David had the kind of integrity that made you want to be better —more thoughtful, more collaborative, more principled. He showed that leadership isn’t about command; it’s about connection, humility, and showing up for others with consistency and care.
His loss is deeply felt. But so is his legacy.
Reading in the Dark: A Reflection on Hannah Ritchie’s Not the End of the World
In recent months, reading the news in the morning has rarely been uplifting. It never really is — positive news rarely makes headlines, after all. But lately, the weight of the world has felt especially heavy. So when I heard a podcast raving about Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie. Searching for something — anything really — that could offer a different lens, I immediately went out and bought it…
The book promises a data-driven case for hope in a time of climate despair. Ritchie, a scientist and lead researcher at Our World in Data, presents a powerful narrative: that progress is real, solutions are available, and things are often better than we think. It's a bold, timely intervention in a conversation too often driven by fatalism or denial.
And yet, reading it in 2025 — with so much unraveling around us (or at least that’s the perception we have) — I found myself sitting in a kind of tension. The optimism that anchors the book felt at odds with the daily headlines. Some parts, written just a year ago, already feel distant from the current mood.
Still, what stayed with me — what I truly appreciated — was Ritchie’s core framing:
The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.
All three are true. All three need to be held at once. And that, perhaps, is the most useful takeaway from the book: a reminder that nuance is not weakness, and that hope can be rooted in reality, not illusion. This original statement came from Max Roser, the founder and co-director of Our World In Data. If you don’t want to read the whole book, his article is still relevant (here).
It may not have lifted the darkness entirely, but it gave me a moment of clarity. And sometimes, that’s enough to take the next step forward.
UN80
There has been a flurry of activity around UN80. I am preparing a longer article with some other people on this which should be published in a couple of weeks. In the meanwhile - if you are interested in almost daily updates, analysis and sometimes a bit of satire, I highly recommend you give Ronny Patz or Ian Richards a follow on LinkedIn. They both provide regular updates on the latest…
Quote to reflect on…
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
Niccolò Machiavelli