Review of 2022 (article)

2022: hope in turbulent times - 26th December 2022

As the planet endures the devastating impact of climate change, 2022 has also given rise to a range of possible solutions. In nations suffering from droughts, crops like Ethiopia's 'enset' banana, offer a glimmer of hope. Meanwhile, in Europe, hopes are being pinned on seaweed cultivation, a crop almost entirely produced in Asia at present, and an excellent, sustainable source of food.

For the protection of Earth and its ecosystems, 2022 saw the introduction of a UN treaty to reduce plastic waste globally, to be drawn up in 2024. On a smaller scale, Yvon Chouinard – founder of the multinational Patagonia – officially gave away his outdoor clothing enterprise to safeguard the planet and support communities threatened by climate change.

Nature has thrown up some welcome surprises over the last 12 months. The fossilised remains of a 180 million year old sea dragon were unexpectedly excavated in England, to the delight of palaeontologists, and on Canadian soil, the perfectly intact form of a 30,000 year old frozen mammoth baby also came to light.

Meanwhile a new, living species of the oldest vertebrates on earth – the giant tortoise – was found in the Galapagos. And this year, the priceless notebooks of naturalist Charles Darwin, whose Galapagos island trip sparked his theory of evolution, were mysteriously returned to a Cambridge library after having vanished for 20 years.

Joining past, present and future, experts are one step closer to artificially reintroducing extinct creatures. The canine-looking Tasmanian tiger is set to make a comeback through genetic engineering and, on a similar note, it's plausible that there'll be digital twins of humans before the decade's out.

This year, genetic analysis has allowed scientists to make revolutionary strides to improve health. New discoveries in biomedicine have given a lifeline to sufferers of the genetic condition haemophilia B, an illness which impedes blood clotting. Scientists have developed a transformational drug therapy to repair the genetic defect.

2022 was also the year researchers recognised that instead of directly causing lung cancer, air pollution activates dormant cells in the body, triggering a change into cancerous ones. Specialists then isolated one drug with the potential to stop those tumours developing, giving immense hope for the future.

Other momentous events occurred which marked a change from the status quo, such as Pope Francis' Canada visit, where he apologised to indigenous people for the cruel mistreatment of their children at the hands of the church. At Catholic schools, children were compelled to renounce their first languages and cultural heritage over decades, up until the turn of the century.

Another important racial injustice was acknowledged in the figure of the late poet and activist Maya Angelou, when her image featured on the US 25 cent coin this year – a historical first.

2022 witnessed pleas for improvement in lifestyle, as university students uninstalled TikTok to avoid being distracted from their studies, and in China the 'lying flat' or 'tang ping' movement gained momentum among the younger workforce.

Finally, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, millionaires and billionaires joined forces to demand concrete changes from their governments. Their complaint? They wanted global leaders to tax them more, to lessen the ever-increasing gap between rich and poor.