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.
Give a damn
We recently heard about a 90,000 person refugee camp in the Sahara, on the western border of Algeria, where residents are using machines to turn plastic waste into furniture and other useful products. The project is being run by Precious Plastic, an NGO who helped set up a recyling center after the UNHCR put out a call for solutions to help with waste challenges. They're now recycling about 180kg of trash a day.
We gave them a call to see if we could help, and they said they would like to buy a third machine that specializes in turning plastic trash into smaller products like buttons and jewellery, which residents can then sell. We're sending them £3,376 to buy the machine, which is manufactured in the UK, and to pay for the shipping to Algeria, where it should arrive in the next month or two. Thanks to all of you for making this possible! We'll update you with some photos and videos when it arrives.
Good news you probably didn't hear about
The Central African Republic has officially abolished the death penalty, and Malaysia has banned it too, handing judges discretion to use a range of substitute sentences for serious crimes. 170 countries have now abolished or restricted the use of capital punishment.
Between 2013 and 2020 China’s air pollution dropped by 40%, which means the country reduced the same amount of pollution in seven years as America did in three decades. Since air pollution is the largest killer of people worldwide, this achievement equates to millions of lives saved. Bloomberg
America’s inequality problem has improved for the first time in a generation. The poorest half of Americans now hold a bigger share of the nation’s wealth than they have at any point in the last 20 years. Some welcome news for 6.2 million workers in Germany too, who will receive up to €400 extra per month thanks to a national increase in the minimum wage.
Thailand has become the first Asian country to legalise medicinal marijuana and allow people to grow the plant at home. While recreational use of the drug remains illegal, the government hopes the new law will boost the wellness and tourism industries. ABC
Did you know that same sex marriage just got closer to being legalized in both Thailand and Czech Republic?
For the first time in 60 years, China’s population is about to decrease. Over the past four decades the population swelled from 660 million to 1.4 billion, but in 2021 it increased by a record-low of 480,000, and is now on course to shrink in 2022. BBC
Over the past decade Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, has reduced its homeless rate by 63% thanks to a radical 'housing first' approach that moves people into permanent accommodation rather than shelters. The city now has a $100 million plan in the works to cut homelessness by a further 50% by 2025. NYT
The number of young people being prosecuted in adult courts in the US has dropped from 8% in 2010 to 1% in 2020, giving tens of thousands of teens a second chance to turn their lives around. The 'raise the age' movement has contributed to the shift which deals with offenders under 18 years old through the juvenile justice system and community-based programs. AP
Regardless of what young offenders are charged with, what works is community-based intervention and letting communities lead reform efforts.
Naomi Smoot Evans, Executive Director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice in Washington
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
Amidst the sound and fury surrounding the global conversation on energy, most journalists are still missing the most important point: solar, wind and batteries are on learning curves, and coal, oil, gas and nuclear aren't. A new analysis of wind and solar farms in the United States for example, has shown that each time the total amount of wind installed doubles, the cost comes down by 15%, and for solar, by 24%.
Incredible things are quickly normalized by this kind of exponential growth. This battery storage site in Texas would have been by far the world’s largest five years ago. Today it’s just another project. It's why almost nobody in America is building fossil fuel power plants any more...
...and why nobody in the world wants to insure them either.
It's why it's no longer newsworthy that an industrialised nation just produced 100% of its electricity from wind for two days in a row. Or that another one has set the most ambitious climate goal in the world, aiming to reach net zero by 2035, and net negative – absorbing more CO2 than it emits – by 2040.
Next Era, the largest power company in the United States, just announced a plan to achieve 'real-zero' by 2045, by building huge amounts of solar and hydrogen. No other utility to date has committed to near-total decarbonization without the use of offsets or carbon capture technology. WSJ
While everyone's attention has been on the US federal government's inability to pass climate legislation, states and governors have quietly notched up an astonishing list of energy and environment wins across the country. A powerful antidote to despair. LCV
China's biggest dam builder says the nation will start construction on more than 200 pumped hydro stations with a combined capacity of 270GW by 2025. That's more than the capacity of all the power plants in Japan, and will be enough to meet about 23% of China's peak demand. Straits Times
Austria just passed legislation requiring all new or replacement heating systems to be renewable from next year. By 2035, all oil and coal heating systems must be replaced by renewable ones, and by 2040 all gas heating systems must also be replaced. People with low incomes will receive 100% of the costs. Kleine Zeitung
Vietnam, a country of almost 100 million people, is undergoing one of the biggest and fastest energy transitions in the world. In the four years to 2021, the share of solar increased from zero to nearly 11%, making it the world's 10th largest solar power producer. Petrotimes
And the next time someone complains about the coming wave of toxic materials from solar panels, or says "what about recycling?" send them this.
Lawmakers in the European Parliament have voted to ban internal combustion engines in all new cars and vans by 2035. The legislation requires carmakers to reduce their fleetwide emission averages by 100% from 2035, with interim steps in 2025 and 2030. Politico
Buick, the iconic American automaker, says it will only sell electric vehicles by the end of this decade. And Chevy just slashed the starting price of its Bolt EV by 27% to $26,595, making it the cheapest electric vehicle in North America.
The only home we've ever known
The global war on waste is ramping up. India is about to kick off the largest plastic ban in the world, America just announced it will phase out single-use plastic in national parks by 2032, saving 14 million tonnes of plastic from ending up in the ocean, and in Australia, efforts to minimise plastic over the past six years have reduced coastal litter by 29%.
Oil drilling in the Arctic’s National Wildlife Refuge is officially bad for business with three major oil companies cancelling leases and five of America’s big banks refusing to fund projects there. The 20 million-acre reserve provides critical habitat for the Southern Beaufort Sea’s remaining polar bears. WaPo
This is positive news for the climate and the human rights of Indigenous people whose survival depends on a healthy, thriving calving ground for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and further proves that the oil industry recognizes drilling on sacred lands is bad business.
Karlin Itchoak, Wilderness Society’s Alaska
The ocean off Gaza is ‘crystal blue’ for the first time in years, after sewage treating facilities stepped up operations to stop untreated sewage flowing directly into the water. It’s good news for the 2.3 million Palestinians who can finally enjoy a swim this summer. Euro News
In the past three years communities on Bangladesh’s southwestern coast have planted around half a million trees, creating nearly 200 hectares of mangroves to act as a natural shield against tidal surges during cyclones. Mongabay
A 25-year study of the monarch butterfly in North America, the largest and most comprehensive assessment of the breeding population to date, has overturned everyone’s worst fears and revealed that the species is actually doing alright, after an average annual increase of 1.36% per year. Global Change Biology
The endangered Bali mynah bird is making a comeback thanks to a surprising partnership between conservationists and local bird sellers. For the past decade approved breeders have been given licenses to breed and sell 90% of mynah offspring if the remaining birds are released at West Bali National Park. AP
Queensland will invest over $24 million into protecting koala populations and habitats.The koala is an endangered species in Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, mainly due to habitat loss. Guardian
A landmark ban on ivory in the UK has gone into effect. The Ivory Act is one of the toughest in the world, with offenders facing an unlimited fine or up to five years jail. It’s hoped the ban will help end the global ivory trade, which slaughters an estimated 20,000 elephants each year. UK Gov
New York has passed a bill that bans pet stores from selling animals supplied by abusive breeders or 'puppy mills.' Under the new law, pet shops are required to collaborate with animal shelters and encourage people to adopt rather than buy pets. California passed a similar law in 2017. NY Post
Indistinguishable from magic
A self-steering ship has completed the world’s first transoceanic voyage of a large vessel using autonomous navigation. The 180,000 m²-class ultra-large vessel Prism Courage completed the 33 day, 20,000 km journey from the Gulf of Mexico to South Korea via the Panama Canal on the 2nd of June. Independent
Last month, a fleet of 50 autonomous street-cleaning trucks was deployed on the roads of the Nansha District of Guangzhou in China, and last week, Hyundai launched a trial service of self-driving taxis in the busy Seoul neighborhood of Gangnam. "The experience was so natural it is almost impossible to distinguish the difference between humans driving and self-driving."
Two big cancer breakthroughs this month. A monoclonal antibody has created 'unheard of' survival times for breast cancer, while a small trial for rectal cancer patients produced 100% remission rates, a 'never-before achieved result' in cancer treatment. This is how progress happens - even it doesn't make headlines. Thanks science.
Japan has successfully completed testing a 330 ton turbine in one of the world's strongest currents, the Kuroshio Current, where it's been harnessing the energy of the ocean and converts it into a steady and reliable source of electricity. The giant machine resembles an airplane, with two counter-rotating turbine fans in place of jets, and a central ‘fuselage’ housing a buoyancy adjustment system. Science Alert
Researchers at MIT have created the first comprehensive functional map of human genes as expressed in our cells. The data from this project, published online on the 9th June and made available for other scientists to use, ties each gene in the human genome to its job in the cell. "This project is yielding huge discoveries almost every day; it's incredibly exciting."
Researchers at the University of Glasgow have designed a robotic hand outfitted with 168 zinc oxide nanowires that act as synaptic transistors, lending the hand touch sensitivity. The electronic skin is able to process stimuli locally without having to send signals to a central computer, improving processing time and data handling—and it is capable of learned responses.
The information superhighway
Beautiful piece from Ezra Klein on why the kids aren't doomed. We couldn't agree more. "We face a political problem, not a physics problem. The green future has to be a welcoming one, even a thrilling one. If people cannot see themselves in it, they will fight to stop it. If the cost of caring about climate is to forgo having a family, that cost will be too high." NYT
There's a Kate Bush revival on right now, and we are so here for all of it. One of art pop’s most reclusive figures has inadvertently found herself with a top-10 charting hit. Is it a fluke or a sign of the times? Who cares. We're just glad a new generation likes her music as much as we did. The Ringer
Kim Stanley Robinson sits down for a chat with Cory Doctorow about his new book, fatherhood, the joys of gardening, and helping kids feel more connected to nature. How could you resist? Two of the greats of our time, talking about the stuff the matters most. Highly recommended. Fatherly
After a decade of websites that all looked exactly the same, web design has finally found an edge again, thanks to an agency called Code and Theory. The new approach relies on a system of 'cards' with a user interface that's relies on each post filling up the screen with a bespoke visual message. This is going to be everywhere soon - you saw it here first. Eye on Design
Catherine Bush thinks the earth needs more aunties, and its hard to argue with her. Aunties are everywhere in non-Western cultures, sustaining an ecology of intergenerational care, wisdom, skepticism, humour and perspective. Somehow though, we've forgotten about them. "Aunties make the world go around and their effort is intentional, hard, committed work." Neoma
Welcome reality check on text to image generators like DALL-E-2, from Scott Alexander. He set out to design a series of 12 stained glass windows depicting the virtues Of rationality, with pretty mixed results. The problem is that as soon as you ask the algorithm to do anything unusual, it degrades the style until it defeats the purpose of the exercise in the first place.
Humankind
The home front
Meet Myrtle Witbooi, a 75 year old domestic worker turned labour activist in South Africa, who has led a five decade crusade to improve working conditions for domestic workers around the world.
Growing up during apartheid, Myrtle moved from her rural hometown of Genadendal to Cape Town in 1962 with dreams of becoming a nurse. Despite earning good grades at school, she was barred from continuing her education due to her colour. With no income and limited opportunities, Myrtle resigned herself to life as a domestic worker for a white family.
Although her employer was fairer than most, Myrtle worked seven days a week for little pay and was forced to live away from her own children and husband. In 1969, she read a newspaper article denigrating domestic workers and it sparked a fire in her to question “why are we different?” Myrtle channelled her frustration into a letter to editor, which to her surprise was published in the newspaper and two days later a journalist knocked on her employer’s door, offering to help Myrtle organise a meeting for other domestic workers to talk about their concerns.
250 domestic workers showed up to the meeting. Myrtle stood before them, as an incredibly nervous 18 year old but she soon found her calling as a leader. With her employer’s permission Myrtle continued holding weekly meetings in their garage on Sundays under the guise of a church committee because domestic workers weren’t allowed to go anywhere but church in the white areas. Over the next decade Myrtle’s mission to improve the lives and working conditions of domestic workers slowly gained momentum.
In 1986, Myrtle’s garage meetings transformed into the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union. For over thirty years she has pioneered ground-breaking protections for domestic workers in South Africa and in 2011, led a global coalition to secure the first international labour standard guaranteeing domestic workers the same basic rights as other workers. Today, Myrtle is the president of the International Domestic Workers Federation which has affiliates across 63 countries, and her fight for justice is far from over.
“We want to be seen as women who are adding to the economy of the world, enriching it. Women won't be free until domestic workers are free. I’m determined to see this change in my lifetime.”
That's all for this week, thanks for reading and more importantly, for making the donation of the plastic recycling machine possible. We're so grateful. Hope you're riding out this storm somewhere safe. We'll see you next week.
Much love,
Gus, Amy and the rest of the team
