What we’re about
WE ARE WORKING TO SECURE A PHYSICAL MEETING LOCATION, NEW INFORMATION TO COME SOON.
This group is meant to work as a type of think-tank focused on discussing realistic recommendations, ideas or strategies for approaching some of the dangers the world faces today.
Each meeting's goal is to propose and discuss possible solutions related to the topic of the month. It is meant to be an informed and stimulating discussion. Let’s see what you can bring to the table!!
1. Once a month, the group organizer(s) will provide a small summary about a specific topic meant to be the focus of the conversation.
2. Those interested will come up with ideas to bring to the table. (please consider that the group will probably include people without your training and therefore you need to be prepared to explain and defend your idea in simple terms)
3. Willing participants will share their recommendations and have a conversation about them with the intention of seeing what others may contribute to them or if they can stand being challenged. NOTE: we all can present our ideas briefly but take into consideration that yours may not capture the attention of the whole group, the idea is to see where the conversation takes us.
Be critical, but polite
Who is this group for?
Academics, creatives, professionals, non professionals, etc
All people are welcome, if you have an idea and know how to defend it using research and critical thinking, you are the type of person we want.
You can come as a listener only if you want.
Be polite
Respect, patience and good listening skills are a must, we come to learn, debate and share, not to fight or insult.
Keep it simple
You can read as much and prepare as much as you like, but at the end of the day, we need to understand each other. Be prepared to answer with non-technical language some basic questions regarding concepts and details that others outside your field or area of interest may have.
Social media
We publish our meetings using the meetup app of course, but we also have an Instagram account where we upload content such as our topic summaries, pictures from meetings, brief descriptions of the most popular recommendations and more.
Insta: @endoftheworldbiogroup
Upcoming events (1)
See all- First meeting [TOPIC: Droughts in southern Europe (Spain, Italy, and Greece)]La Felicità, Paris
This will be our first meeting.
Come prepared for an open conversation about ideas, strategies and their impact in the world.TOPIC
Droughts in southern Europe (Spain, Italy, and Greece)
Extreme droughts and floods hit Italy, Greece and Spain more than most other countries across the globe in the past 30 years, causing many deaths and high economical losses, according to the Climate Risk Index (CRI) published by NGO Germanwatch. More than 65,000 deaths were related to extreme weather events from 1993 to 2022 in the three Mediterranean countries, while economic losses amounted to more than 90 billion U.S. dollars. [source]
The 2022 heatwave was especially severe in these countries.
Spain: The rainfall was 28% less than the expected, affecting olive oil production and leading to the imposition of restrictions for the general population. [source]
Italy: The rainfall was, in average 22% less than expected, also leading to less snow, reduced agricultural yield, and other economic losses that reach the 1.75 billion. Several areas are at risk of recurrent crisis due to insufficient water supply. [Source1, Source2, Source3]
Greece: As the Greek government expands its infrastructure and connects more homes to the water distribution system, the increasing water demand and consumption (+20%-30%) worsens the already great vulnerability of the nation to droughts, with some sources reporting up to a 55% deficit in some regions causing the necessity of severe restrictions for water use. [Source1, Source2, Source3]
Extreme drought in these countries seem to be complemented by extreme rain during the winter season, however, the unpredictability of the rainfall and the damage that floods and droughts cause to the nation result in damage and deficiencies in the agricultural, industrial, environmental and social contexts.
· European Commission, Joint Research Centre. (n.d.). Current drought situation in Europe. European and Global Drought Observatories. https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/european-and-global-drought-observatories/current-drought-situation-europe_en
· Valo, M. (2024, March 19). Prolonged drought takes hold of Mediterranean region. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/03/19/prolonged-drought-takes-hold-of-mediterranean-region_6634622_114.html
· Lialios, G. (2024, December 18). Athens water use surges despite drought. eKathimerini. https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/environment/1256587/athens-water-use-surges-despite-drought/
· Euronews. (2024, July 29). ‘An entire region on its knees’: Italian politicians demand intervention as drought grips the south. https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/07/29/an-entire-region-on-its-knees-italian-politicians-demand-intervention-as-drought-grips-the
· Chenli Xue, Aurora Ghirardelli, Jianping Chen, Paolo Tarolli,
· Investigating agricultural drought in Northern Italy through explainable Machine Learning: Insights from the 2022 drought, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Volume 227, Part 1, 2024,109572, ISSN 0168-1699, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2024.109572.
· Alberto Montanari et al., Why the 2022 Po River drought is the worst in the past two centuries. Sci. Adv.9,eadg8304(2023).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adg8304
· Ribbeck, B. (2025, February 12). Italy, Greece, Spain among top ten countries most affected by extreme weather – report. Clean Energy Wire. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/italy-greece-spain-among-top-ten-countries-most-affected-extreme-weather-report
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