This is the members only edition of Future Crunch, a weekly roundup of good news, mindblowing science, and the best bits of the internet (not necessarily in that order). One third of your subscription fee goes to charity.
Good news you probably didn't hear about
Togo has become the third country in Africa to eliminate trachoma, the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. Significant progress has been made across the continent, with infection rates falling from 189 million in 2014 to 116 million by June 2021. WHO
Goa became the first state in India to eliminate rabies through a three-pronged approach of dog vaccination, human education, and virus surveillance. By 2019 rabies fatalities had dwindled to zero, despite the number of reported dog-bites increasing to 1,430 per 100,000. Gavi
The UN says every person on earth will be covered by early warning systems for extreme weather events within the next five years. Issuing a warning 24 hours before a storm or heatwave has been shown to reduce damage and loss of life by an average of up to 30%. EuroNews
In the wake of the Uvalde shooting in Texas, Canada has implemented a national freeze on the sale and purchase of handguns. The new legislation is part of a gun control package that will also limit magazine capacities. While Canada’s gun homicide rate is less than a fifth of the US, it is higher than other wealthy countries. Reuters
An island in Sydney Harbour will be returned to its Indigenous owners, with the new government pledging $43 million towards restoration. Me-Mel, also known as Goat Island, is a significant part of the Aboriginal creation story of Boora Birra; the Dreaming spirit that created the waterways of Sydney Harbour. The transfer has been decades in the making and is expected to take place in 2026. ABC
A landmark ruling in Mexico has banned random immigration checks that target Indigenous or Afro-Mexicans who are often detained, harassed, or wrongfully deported. It’s an important victory for human rights groups who have spent years in court fighting for the change. HRW
Spain’s parliament has approved a bill that will make consent a determining factor in rape cases. The proposed legislation known as 'only yes means yes,' will free survivors of sexual assault from having to prove violence. The law includes measures such as creating a network of 24-hour crisis centres for survivors of sexual assault and their families. Guardian
From today, Spain is a freer, safer country for all women. We are going to swap violence for freedom, we are going to swap fear for desire.
Irene Montero, Spanish Minister for Equality
The only home we've ever known
Five major nature recovery projects are underway in the UK to restore a whooping 99,000 hectares of land across the West Midlands, Cambridgeshire, the Peak District, Norfolk, and Somerset. The projects aim to tackle wildlife loss, climate change and improve people’s access to nature, especially in city areas. Guardian
Living Lands and Waters, a 23-year old environmental non-profit in the United States, collected over half a million pounds of trash across seven rivers throughout the USA last year. 63% of that waste came out of the Ohio River, a main source of drinking water for more than five million Americans. Ground Truth Project
A victory for wolverines in Montana, with a court reinstating additional protections for the species under the Endangered Species Act. Like other snow-dependent species, wolverines are facing habitat losses due global warming and the protections will help focus resources to save them. Biological Diversity
Today’s decision gives us hope that wolverines could once again roam Colorado’s high country, where high elevation, snowy habitat could help these elusive and fascinating animals survive in the face of climate change.
Megan Mueller, Conservation Biologist, Rocky Mountain Wild
Brazil’s iconic golden lion tamarin, found only in the Atlantic Forest, has been saved from extinction with the population rebounding from 200 in 1977 to over 2,000 today. Local conservationists have worked tirelessly for 50 years to protect natural habitat and bolster the population through breeding programs. Work is now underway to protect the other three species — the black lion tamarin, golden-headed lion tamarin, and black-faced lion tamarin. Mongabay
Big environmental win in California with the end of state-run pesticide programs on public, agricultural, wild lands, and private properties. The government has also announced a $40 million award to support regional initiatives that repurpose agricultural land in an effort to reduce water demand.
A community-led effort to protect turtles in Mohéli, one of the islands of the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros, has inspired the expansion of Comoros’s protected areas from one to six, including three new marine protected areas (MPAs). The country’s first MPA was created in 2001 and is now one of the largest nesting sites for green sea turtles in the Indian Ocean. Mongabay
The Pacific Island state of Niue is creating a marine park to protect 100% of its ocean, an area the size of Vietnam spanning 317,500 km2. The island’s waters are a birthing ground for humpback whales and boast the world’s highest population of grey reef sharks and the katuali sea snake. Niue follows the lead of the Cook Islands which has also committed to 100% protection. Guardian
The ocean is everything to us. It’s what defines us. We have to ensure our reefs and corals remain to provide a healthy ecosystem and continue to create a food source for our people.
Dalton Tagelagi, Premier of Niue
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
Vladimir Putin has done more to accelerate the clean energy transition than anyone in history. 19 European governments have now accelerated their decarbonisation plans, and under the latest national commitments, EU countries will reach 63% of renewables in electricity generation by 2030, up from 55% under previous commitments. Ember
Lloyds has just signed on to a ban on insuring Russian cargoes. Difficult to understate how important this is. Russia is the world's third largest producer of crude, but Lloyds has been the heart of marine insurance for centuries, and you can't export your oil if you can't insure it or the tankers it's carried on.FT
The Greek government has adopted the country's first national climate protection law, requiring all coal fired generation be closed by 2028, and renewables to account for up to 70% of electricity generation by 2030. This is insanely ambitious. The current share is around 40%. Renewables Now
Carbon Brief has a new report showing China’s carbon emissions fell by 1.4% in the first three months of 2022, making it the third quarter in a row of falling emissions. That's the longest emissions decline in China for a decade. Previous declines have been followed by rapid rebounds, but this time could be different...
... because China is now building the equivalent of one coal plant of wind and solar every week. The country is on track to install 108GW of solar alone this year, almost double the 54 GW installed in 2021. Combined with 50GW of wind, that would generate the same amount of electricity as 52 coal plants. Bloomberg
Auctions of US offshore drilling rights have declined dramatically in recent years. With the cancelation of three auctions this year, the number to be held in 2022 will be: zero. Lack of industry interest and ongoing lawsuits were cited as the cause. WSJ
Number of fossil fuel projects added to the US grid in March? Zero. In the first quarter of this year, renewable energy provided 97.4% of new domestic electrical generating capacity, and 24.4% of actual generation. Take a moment to just let that sink in. Solar Power World
Samsung, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, is requiring all its financial subsidiaries to stop investing in coal companies, and Sompo, one of Japan's biggest insurers, says it will stop underwriting new and existing coal around the world. Two really big market signals from where it matters most, southeast Asia.
Volvo has become the world's first manufacturer to deliver a construction machine built using fossil-free steel to a customer. This articulated hauler was handed over on the 1st June 2022 - just nine months after the company unveiled the world’s first vehicle concept using fossil-free steel. Aggnet
Indistinguishable from magic
Hello drone delivery! Walmart customers in Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, Dallas, Salt Lake City and Richmond will now be able to order anything from painkillers to diapers to hot dog buns — 100,000 different products, up to a total of 4kg — delivered by air in less than half an hour for $3.99. "If it fits safely, it flies." Axios
Scientists have invented a super-absorbent gel made from cellulose, plant fiber, and lithium chloride salt, that can suck moisture out of desert air. It's super easy to make (mix, pour, freeze) and one kilogram creates around 13 litres of water, and the materials needed to make it cost under $2. Gizmodo
A US company has just commissioned the largest ever facility for lab-grown chicken and beef. Ten 250,000 litre bioreactors will form the foundation of the cultivated meat facility, with the capacity to produce up to 13 million kilograms of meat each year without the need to slaughter a single animal. Food Ingredients First
Swiss doctors have successfully transplanted a liver that was stored for three days inside something called a normothermic perfusion machine. The machine is designed to mimic the human body, with an internal temperature of 37°C, and flushes out liquid, monitors bile and protein production, and supplies antibiotics and drugs to treat infection. MIT Tech Review
A biotech company in California has emerged from stealth, claiming it can sequence an entire human genome in 20 hours for $100, making it a surprise dark horse in the genetic sequencing race. That price represents a major breakthrough, unlocking sequencing’s potential to unravel the mysteries of undiagnosed diseases, spot early signs of cancer, and better understand human health. Tech Crunch
A 20 year old woman has received a 3D-printed ear made from her own cells – the first ever 3D-printed implant from a patient's own tissue. The new left ear was made from a clump of cells from her right ear, and will regenerate cartilage, meaning it will eventually feel and look like completely natural ear. Telegraph
Off the beaten track on the information superhighway
In March 2021, Al Shabab invaded northern Mozambique, and around 200 expats ended up holed up in a lodge. A stunning morality tale about the waning days of the carbon era. Give yourself some time and space for this one, and buckle up for a wild ride. This is an amazing story. Outside
'Grandfluencers’ Are Sharing a New Vision of Old Age. This profile of a TikTok hype house of retired gay men, plus other elderly influencers, is life-affirming in a way we can't fully express right now. It's not quite a life goal, but we're very, very glad these people exist. NYT
Long time readers know how fond we are of GIFs. Imagine our delight therefore, to hear there's a new version for the Metaverse age, called a Looking Glass Block (LGB?), an image format that lets you peek inside a 3D scene, and is built on web standards so you can view them in modern web browsers. Verge
Derek Sivers has written up notes for all of the 332 books he's read, and just made the whole list public. It's sorted with his best recommendations at the top of the list. Well worth a look, especially since the top of the list doesn't contain any of the usual suspects.
Two of the most interesting subjects in the world - in one place! What happens when you mix artificial intelligence and cricket? You get a kind of Moneyball effect, except it's way more interesting because cricket is an order of magnitude more complicated than baseball. Fifty Two
Cercle Story is a unique film featuring nine amazing artists, from nine stunning locations around the world (deserts, beaches, jungles, mountains) with the idea of recreating a full day from sunrise to sunset around the world. You want to hear world music in 2022? Stick on your headphones and go full screen - this is world music. Youtube
Humankind
Fire with fire
Meet Victor Steffensen, a 48 year old Indigenous fire practitioner, filmmaker, and activist in Australia who is advocating for a return to cultural burning practices to heal our planet and prevent catastrophic bushfires.
Growing up in the rainforest town of Kuranda in north Queensland as a mixed race kid, Vincent struggled to connect to his Aboriginality and always felt like something was missing. His mother's Tagalaka people were from the Gulf of Carpentaria, but their language and culture were lost to him because his nan and her people were sent to missions in the 1920s and disconnected from country.
After failing almost every subject in high school, Victor was 18 years old when he set off for a fishing trip with mates on the Cape York Peninsula and met Tommy George and George Musgrave, two Indigenous elders who would shape his life. The old men were the last of their tribe to hold traditional knowledge, thousands of years of information which they feared would be lost because the younger generations lacked interest. Victor however was a willing recipient. After his mates returned home, he stayed in the small town and George and Tommy’s campfire became his university.
The two men taught Victor how to use fire. Unlike western backburning, Indigenous techniques use a ‘cool burn’ designed to stay below the forest canopy, giving wildlife sufficient time to move out. Determining the ‘right fire and right time’ requires an intimate knowledge of the environment, and careful observation. When Victor first met Tommy and George in the 1990s, Aboriginal people had no role at all in official land management, so the men practiced traditional burning, without permits, to heal damaged land. Despite strong opposition from local landowners and rangers, within two years the scale of regeneration and reduction in bushfires began to spark interest.
For the past 20 years Victor has helped Indigenous communities around Australia and throughout the world recover their traditional fire practices, sharing the wisdom that Tommy and George passed down to him. At their request, Victor recorded their conversations with a camera, documenting their knowledge and practices for generations to come. Today the project is known as ‘Mulong,’ and has been mirrored in other Indigenous communities around the world to preserve the traditional wisdom that may just hold our solutions for a better future.
Climate change means the land is telling us something. Indigenous cultures have been practicing sustainability for thousands of years. There is an intelligence there – all the information we need to create the new wave of a human environmental evolution.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this edition. Sadly we won't be seeing you next week because of work commitments, but will be back the week after that with a new charity partner. It's a good one, we're really excited to share the project with you. In the meantime, hang on tight and don't let them get to you. We'll be back before you know it.
Much love,
Gus, Amy and the rest of the team
