Review of 2022 (part 1)

Early in 2022, the cause of women's rights was headline news in several countries. In Afghanistan, women's voices travelled the air waves, providing an increasingly rare forum for connection and education in the wake of Taliban restrictions. And in Scotland, campaigners sought justice for women condemned to death as witches centuries earlier, simultaneously drawing attention to accusations of witchcraft being used as a means to oppress women today.

Zoe Venditozzi: "There are still people across the world, generally vulnerable, often women or old people that are being accused of witchcraft."

Action on environmental issues took its own local forms, with projects in Africa seeing the rehabilitation of local flora and fauna. The replanting of mangroves along a Kenyan estuary shoreline is healing ecosystems which had suffered from deforestation and land degradation due to decades of overuse by humans. Meanwhile in Liberia, chimps formerly the subject of laboratory experiments, received rehabilitative care in the wild.

The regeneration of marine ecosystems in Thailand's Phi Phi bay, decimated after years of heavy tourism, came through combining tough restrictions with tourist education.

Sirithon Thamrongnawasawat: "We show the tourists what is the impact, what is the biodiversity, what is the relationship between your behaviour and the impact to the corals."

War returned to Europe as people in Ukraine witnessed the Russian invasion of their country. Bombing precipitated another refugee crisis, with over 7.8 million people fleeing to neighbouring countries for safety. As war raged in Europe, in Africa, food prices soared and supplies dwindled, as Ukraine and Russia account for much of the continent's cereal staple imports. Coupled with spikes in oil prices down to the conflict, skyrocketing prices have hit the world's poorest the hardest.

Julius Adewale: "Cost of production, it has increased immensely. So, they have to come together and also increase the price of bread by 40 percent to what it was before. A common man, that has not even eaten, you no expect him to buy bread or a loaf of bread for 700."

With resources scarce, zero waste innovation explored ways in which fashion, cosmetics and design industries could reduce their environmental impact. In popular culture, picking up sewing became a way to take up arms against the impact of consumerism and fast fashion. London-based zero waste company UpCircle is successfully producing beauty products with all natural ingredients by relieving neighbourhood cafes of their used coffee grounds. This bid to promote zero waste is also pushing boundaries in art and design's adoption of waste materials.

Gemma Curtin: "So, people are looking at the waste that's around them. And designers are thinking, what can we do with that? How can we help the environment by using these materials."

Half way through 2022, US news mirrored global concerns for sustainability and women's rights. Environmental activist Rob Greenfield demonstrated the environmental burden of the American diet, wearing his trash for a month and sparking conversations with passers by.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court removing women's constitutional right to abortion, overturned its own 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling. In response, people in the US took to the streets and, like women in Afghanistan, took action to reclaim lost rights.

Kamala Harris: "This is the first time in the history of our nation that a constitutional right has been taken from the people of America. And what is that right some might ask. It's the right to privacy."

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