2024: The Good, The Bad, and The (Ugly) Things I Learned

Happy New Year!

For many of us, 2024 was a year of high highs and low lows. For me, I experienced some exceptional moments; from witnessing my daughter taking her first steps to reconnecting with old mentors, to facing a loss and continued faltering of my professional career. At the same time, I also deepened my appreciation for the city I was born and raised in, by learning more about San Francisco’s rich history and the Bay Area’s natural heritage. These moments reminded me of the importance of resilience, curiosity, and connection. You can read my year in review post below:

Unofficial Sponsor Spotlight: The Climatebase Fellowship

This year, I had the privilege of being part of the Climatebase Fellowship, which perfectly aligned with my mission to leverage digital transformation in the name of sustainability, tech, and conservation. Their commitment to actionable climate solutions and fostering a network of changemakers has been transformative for my career.

If you’re curious about tackling climate challenges or exploring innovative tech solutions, I highly recommend this program. You can visit them at their Climatebase Fellowship to learn more.

Sustainability Corner: 🎄🐦 Participate in a Christmas Bird Count

As both a participant and field trip leader, Christmas Bird Counts continue to deepen my connection to my community and to conservation as a whole. Despite my “master birdwatcher” status, I’m humbled by how much I still have to learn. My most recent count had me riding a boat on the San Francisco bay counting all the pelagic birds like Surf Scoter, Red-throated Loon, Bufflehead, Scaup, and many many seagulls, and their varied plumages during the count. I’ve written about my experience during a CBC before and I highly encourage you to check it out for context. These events welcome all levels and people can even participate from the comfort of their own home if they want to.

Productivity Tip: 📒🖊️ The Power of the “Brain Dump”

For someone who has been touting all year about how digital tools and doing everything online will replace most, if not all analog services, I can’t say enough about how effective it is to simply write your thoughts down on a piece of paper and do what is a called a “Brain Dump”. This was recommended to me by a career coach, who said it was very therapeutic for her to help her understand her priorities for the day.

How it works: Set a timer for five minutes, grab a pen and notebook, and start writing down every thought in your head on a particular subject without stopping. The key to this exercise is to NOT STOP writing until the timer is done. This exercise is a fantastic way to declutter your mind and identify what the most important thing is for that day. Try it—you might be surprised at how effective it is!

Resources of the Month

• Book: The Ministry For the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. This was recommended to me during my fellowship and I got sucked into it as soon as I started reading it. While somewhat bleak for those who think about the climate, this book is a thought-provoking fictional work that serves as a call to action for climate activists.

• Podcast: Hardcore History by Dan Carlin. I’ve loved this podcast for years. I’ve never heard someone tell such incredible storytelling based on actual historical moments in time. Some of his most standout episodes are on the Mongolian Empire and World War I.

FYI: Moving my blog posts to Substack

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m in the process of transitioning my blog posts over to Substack! This platform will allow me to share longer-form content, including in-depth reflections, sustainability insights, and birding stories, while offering an opportunity for readers to support my work directly.

If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, I’d love for you to follow me on Substack to continue the journey and gain access to exclusive content.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement. Have a happy and healthy new year and I hope to see more of you all in person in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Stay inspired and grounded 🫡

Patrick

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