I’m sitting in a Premier Inn in Kent, eating breakfast and preparing for another day on the road.
I’m acting as support vehicle for a close friend who is cycling around the entirety of UK and Ireland. Madness! My responsibilities are varied: driver, navigator, bottle washer, and occasional dispenser of encouragement.
For a few days, I’m slightly removed from normal life.
Fewer emails. Fewer Teams calls. Less endless corporate jargon. Just roads, weather forecasts, energy bars, and the simple question of whether a grown man can really cycle hundreds of miles on determination and flapjacks.
And then, over coffee and scrambled eggs, I read an article about Karachi.
Temperatures above 40°C.
Oppressive humidity.
Water shortages.
Power cuts.
Millions of people living through what is now described as the city’s “new normal”.
It really is an ugly story.
A Tale of Two Realities
There is something unsettling about the contrast.
I am temporarily detached from everyday pressures, following a friend on an extraordinary but voluntary challenge.
In Karachi, millions are enduring extraordinary conditions that they did not choose.
I’m worrying about whether we have enough bananas and electrolyte tablets.
Parents there are worrying about whether their children and elderly relatives will survive another brutal night.
That is not a reason for guilt.
But it is a reason for perspective.
Climate Change Is Here
For years, climate change was treated as a future problem.
Something to be discussed at conferences, summarised in reports, and delegated to sustainability teams.
That is no longer credible.
Climate change is affecting health, infrastructure, productivity, insurance, migration, and social stability.
It is not a niche environmental concern.
It is a defining issue of our time.
Human Endurance
Watching my friend cycle around the UK is a reminder of what people are capable of.
Long distances are covered one pedal stroke at a time.
Headwinds are endured.
Rain passes.
Hills are climbed.
But there is a profound difference between choosing hardship and having it forced upon you.
One is an adventure.
The other is survival.
People, Planet, Progress
This is why sustainability matters.
Not because it is fashionable.
Not because it improves a corporate slide deck.
But because it sits at the heart of what The Third Half is all about.
People. Planet. Progress.
People, because real lives are affected.
Planet, because the natural systems we depend upon are under growing strain.
Progress, because we still have the ability to respond intelligently and responsibly.
The Extraordinary Becomes Ordinary
The line that jars most in the article was simple.
“It’s no longer exceptional.”
That may be the defining phrase of climate change.
Not a sudden apocalypse, but a slow shift in what humanity begins to accept as normal.
In a few minutes, we’ll load the car and head off for another stage of this remarkable journey around the UK.
For now, I’m in a Premier Inn in Kent, slightly removed from reality.
But the reality is still there.
And somewhere in Karachi, families are living with conditions that should never become ordinary.
Well said, I recall Jimmy Carr saying that many of us enjoy showers, which Queen Victoria never had, so we have more than we think and life is less about "stuff". Best of luck with the support duties!