Snowballing sustainability

It might seem difficult to believe as we career into a maelstrom of Christmas-related activities and commitments but, over the final days of 2023, there will be time and space for most of us to reflect upon our lives to a greater degree than normal.

I think this is the case irrespective of the degree of importance we individually place on the Christmas festival; quite simply, life largely slows to a halt over the holiday whether one is a year-round church goer with a wardrobe chock full of festive jumpers or an unshakeable atheist with an aversion to consumerist excess.

Fittingly, this final edition of Optician for the year includes a look back at the major news stories within optics during 2023 (In Focus, pages 6-7). My experience of covering optics is that significant issues tend to come to prominence in a fairly stately fashion; often building up momentum over years before snowballing and forcing change in a relatively short space of time.