199: The Perfect Explosion

Give a damn

In November last year, we donated $5,000 to a group in Turkey called Imece to fund the purchase of 100 solar-powered chargers. As soon as the earthquake hit, they sent us a message asking whether they could add the powerbanks to their relief efforts, and of course we said yes. They've been distributing supplies - food, tech, shelter, clothing - and sending us a steady stream of photos from the frontlines, which we're sharing here.

We've also been hunting around for other ways to help. Our main criteria is that 100% of the funds should be spent directly on supplies. We've settled on two organisations. The first is the Karam Foundation, who are providing food, blankets, baby diapers and baby formula in Aleppo in Syria, and Halay and Antakya in Turkey. The second is the White Helmets, a civil response group in Syria who have pulled over 3,000 people out of the rubble, and are now switching their focus to relief and reconstruction. This week's Humankind section is dedicated to them.

We're sending $8,000, meaning each organisation will receive $4,000. As always, it's a drop in the ocean - but for the families who receive that powerbank or pick up a life-saving package of food and blankets, it means more than we will ever know. Thank you so much to all of you for making this possible.

Good news you probably didn't hear about

COVID-19 led to the largest ever increase in global health funding - from $43 billion in 2019 to $67 billion in 2021. A significant chunk is being spent on other health-related areas, like child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS, strengthening national health systems, purchasing supplies (like mosquito bed nets), and treating disease. Think Global Health

Gastric cancer deaths are declining among all Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States, and 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Most countries have seen mortality reductions of between 2 to 3% per year in the last two decades, and the decline has been particularly pronounced in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and amongst men older than 50. Lancet

Health officials in India are reporting a 98.7% decline in cases of visceral leishmaniasis between 2007 and 2022 - from 44,533 to just 834 last year. The disease, also known as Kala-Azar or Black Fever, is the second deadliest parasitic killer in the world after malaria. India says it might eliminate it this year. Times Now

Spain has passed legislation expanding reproductive and transgender rights, and will be the first country in Europe to allow workers paid menstrual leave. Period products will now be offered free in schools and prisons, state-run health centres will do the same with hormonal contraceptives and the morning after pill, and workers suffering debilitating period pain will be allowed to take paid time off. The changes also enshrine the right to have an abortion in a state hospital - 80% of procedures are currently carried out in private clinics. NPR

There's a ton of good news in Tanzania's recently released National Panel Survey. Between 2014 and 2021:

Access to improved sanitation increased from 25% to 40%
Access to clean drinking water improved from 57% to 64%
Access to electricity increased from 24% to 34%
Food insecurity in rural areas decreased from 20% to 15%
Stunting, wasting, and underweight rates for children all decreased
Births attended by skilled birth workers increased from 70% to 85%
Literacy in rural areas increased from 61% to 70%
Primary school enrolment increased from 74% to 82% for boys and girls

Remember when Russia started blowing up Ukraine's electricity system? Well thanks to better air defences and some heroic engineering, it's back up and running. As of this week, there is no deficit in the country's energy system, meaning there is enough electricity for all Ukrainians, 24 hours a day. Euromaiden

A celebration of Valentines Day from our friends at The Progress Network. With each passing year, humanity's crimes against love - bigotry, abuse, class prejudice, racial stigma, rape and forced marriage, have become more culturally abhorrent and legally impermissible. Today, the average child is being born into the most inclusive and tolerant time in human history.

As a general rule, we don't really do traditional 'feel-good' stuff in this newsletter, but this one's too lovely not too share. If you're feeling overwhelmed by all the awfulness, here's a heart-warming story from the Seattle Times, about a woman who was forced to walk to work after her car died, and found $15,000 on the way.

The proportion of people in favour of the death penalty or who think courts are too severe has declined substantially in the United States. A majority of people now support 'second-look' sentencing - where judges are allowed to release prisoners after they've served 15 years. Mirage

The US prison population had declined by 25% since reaching its peak in 2009. Half of the country's states have reduced their prison populations by more than that, including New Jersey, and New York who have reduced prison populations over 50% since their peak. The Sentencing Project

Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it

An absolutely astonishing forecast from Rystad Energy, one of the world's leading energy research outfits, Their analysts are predicting that fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions will peak in 2025, and emissions from power and heat will peak this year. "If the industry can maintain this momentum, global warming of less than 2°C is within reach."

The reason for that? Fighting climate change used to be expensive, but now it's profitable. "In terms of raw global emissions, it is just possible that what could not be accomplished by appeals to future generations, dying polar bears, or the world’s poorest people will be achieved through FOMO." Atlantic

But... but... the minerals! Clean energy really is just cleaner, mining, refining, manufacturing and all. How much cleaner are wind, solar, batteries, electric cars, heat pumps, and hydrogen compared to coal, gas and oil? Significantly. Here’s a neat summary graph from the International Energy Agency.

Europe's experience shows us what's possible. Not only did it manage to avert a crisis last year, it actually turbocharged its green transition, knocking a decade off its decarbonization timeline. It's an 'astonishing success story' — the EU is now settling into a new electricity system paradigm without Russian gas, and with a whole lot more clean power. NYT

The US isn't too far behind. Only 7.5 GW of fossil gas will be installed this year, and 6.2 GW will be shut down, meaning we're close to the point at which we're going to start seeing a decline in gas generation. By contrast, 9.4 GW of new batteries will be installed in 2023, signalling the beginning of the end of the fracking era. Ars Technica

... and then there's this, from the Financial Times:

The Netherlands' pension fund for the care and welfare sector, PFZW, has ditched €303 million in fossil fuel investments from 79 oil and gas companies, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Japan's second largest bank, says it will phase out all exposure to coal mining by 2040.

It's really difficult to overstate how insane China's deployment of clean energy is. Wind and solar output jumped 21% last year to 1,190 TWh, enough to power almost every home in China, and more than Russia or Japan's entire grids. Or how about this - the only national electricity systems bigger than China's wind and solar are India, the United States... and of course, China. Bloomberg

A new study by researchers in California has shown that an increase of 20 electric vehicles per 1,000 people results in a a 3.2 % decline in visits to emergency departments for asthma, and a 0.41 part per billion decrease in NO2. Surprise! clean air vehicles result in cleaner air and healthier people. Electrek

Buckle up for a once in a generation manufacturing boom in the United States. In 2022, over $73 billion in electric vehicles, battery plants, and battery recycling projects was announced, three times as much funding as in 2021.“In some states these are some of the largest, if not the largest, economic development projects in the state’s history.” Clean Technica

As electric vehicle sales in the US soar — rising 66% last year to 810,000 — automakers are getting better at making them, and their cost is coming down. The tipping point when they reach cost parity with ICE cars could arrive this year for some mass market models and is already the case for many luxury vehicles. When was the last time you saw an ad for a car with a combustion engine? NYT

I mean, you'd have to be crazy to drive one of those things.

The only home we've ever known

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell by 61% in January compared to a year earlier. It's the first month under the new government - suggesting something has shifted. In mid-January, Brazilian environmental agents launched their first anti-logging raids with the blessing of Lula, who has pledged to end surging destruction. Reuters

The Djéké triangle in the DRC, home to the critically endangered western lowland gorillas, has become part of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. The protections will secure one of the oldest long-term research sites for the gorillas and the customary rights of 13 local communities to access the resources they depend on. Afrik21

The wood stork may soon fly off the endangered species list thanks to an epic recovery effort in Florida that has increased breeding pairs from 5,000 pairs in 1984 to over 10,000 pairs today. The stork has also increased its range, tripling the number of colonies across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. NPR

Improved protection measures in Kyrgyzstan's Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve have helped increase the population of the Menzbier’s marmot by 30% in the last two years to over 16,000. Conservationists are also reporting more sightings of bears, wolves, lynx, golden eagles and bearded vultures, suggesting the measures are having a positive impact for other species. FFI

Populations of endangered rhinos, buffalo and elephants are rebounding in Uganda. Since 1983, the buffalo population has increased by 77% and elephants by nearly 300%. Eastern black rhinos have rebounded too - after being wiped out in the 1980s, they were reintroduced in 2005 and their numbers have grown to 32. Yale360

The US Department of Agriculture is rolling out almost a billion dollars in funding to help farmers and forest owners implement conservation programs. The 'once-in-a-generation' spend will support planting filter strips and grassed waterways, improving grazing management, restoring wetlands, and practices that protect groundwater and surface availability. TRCP

Call it the Tiger King effect. The Netflix documentary has helped end the same industry it made famous, with the Biden administration outlawing the private ownership of big cats and the public petting of the animals at zoos and sanctuaries. The new law signals the end of 'a warped industry with no socially redeeming purpose, perpetrating great harm.' NYT

A group of 10,000 women in Assam, India known as the 'Hargila Army' have saved one of the world’s rarest storks: the greater adjutant. Traditionally seen as a bad omen, the stork was persecuted to the brink of extinction until a conservationist rallied local women to help transform attitudes to the bird, which has since become a cultural symbol. Guardian

Conservation is all about uniting people and building ownership. I’ve always believed that, if given a chance, women can make a big difference in conservation.
Dr Purnima Devi Barman - Founder, Hargila Army

After 25 years of effort, the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program is gaining momentum with the population doubling from 98 in 2015 to 196 last year. The increase gives wildlife officials hope that they will reach their goal of 320 Mexican wolves sustained for eight years across southern Arizona and New Mexico. Cronkite News

Chilika Lake, the second biggest lake in India, was declared dead in the 1990s, but two decades of conservation work has resulted in a six-fold increase in seagrass and the return of marine life. The project has also changed the livelihoods of two million people: every rupee the government spent on restoration resulted in at least seven rupees of benefits to fisheries, tourism and carbon capture. Mongabay

Indistinguishable from magic

Astronomers have observed a kilonova, the collision of two neutron stars, 150 million light years away, and it defies all expectations. "Given the extreme nature of the physical conditions, with densities greater than an atomic nucleus, temperatures of billions of degrees and magnetic fields strong enough to distort the shapes of atoms, there may well be fundamental physics here that we don’t understand yet.” Guardian

Israeli engineers have created software that allows a robotic arm to watch people doing a task, and then imitate it. The software connects to any camera, giving the robot ‘eyes’ which it can use to emulate any job within seconds. “It takes months to implement a robotic arm in factories, and when you need to change something you need to bring in engineers again. We've eliminated this barrier.” No Camels

Ever heard of sporopollenin? It's the material that makes up the shell of pollen and spores, protecting them from light, heat, cold and desiccation. It's been called the diamond of the plant world - without it, plants would be unable to live on land. For more than a century, scientists have been trying to unravel its mysteries, which have only revealed themselves in the last few years. Quanta

Scientists in San Diego have invented a wearable ultrasound for the heart, a miniature, AI-powered version of a cardiologist's clunky, ultrasonic wand. It's the size of a postage stamp, adheres to the skin, and provides accurate and continuous measurements of cardiac performance, regardless of whether the patient is resting or exercising. Freethink

This sounds like it was made up by an overly enthusiastic futurist - wait for it - augmented reality GPS navigation in a 3D printed smart contact lens. Yep. Apparently that's a thing now. Researchers in South Korea say the breakthrough was printing functional micro-patterns on non-planner substrate. How good would that sound in a sci-fi story? Sci Tech Daily

Or how about this? China has sent ten search and rescue lighting drones to Syria to help with the rescue and aid effort. The drones, powered by a small generator, can light up an area of 8,000 square metres, helping workers carry on operations around the clock. Arab News

The information highway is still super

There's a pretty interesting debate going on in Neoma, an international relations magazine. Bruno Macaes, a former Portuguese politician, says we're seeing the rise/return of the civilization state (think China, India, Russia), which provides a unifying set of ideas for social and political life and therefore a genuine alternative to Western liberalism. His argument is supported by Zhang Weiwei, one of China's foremost political theorists, but challenged by Shashi Tharoor, a prominent Indian diplomat, who says ideas and values are always trumped by identity in civilization states - meaning they will never find a way to allow all citizens to belong.

With so much happening in the generative AI space, it helps to have a trusted guide. For us that's Ethan Mollick, who's been writing really helpful posts about Chat GPT. Two of our favourites are Magic for English Majors, where he equates using a chatbot to casting magic spells (it's an art and a science, produces powerful results, sometimes it goes wrong), and How To Use Chat GPT To Boost Your Writing, where he shows how you can push the AI towards creating something unique and interesting by playing with prompts. If you want to improve your use of Chat GPT, then we highly recommend subscribing to his newsletter.

Science journalist Lucy Jones got really into slime molds during the pandemic, and her praise hymn to them is absolutely amazing. Humans think we're in charge, but slime molds have reigned on Earth for a billion years and we know almost nothing about them. "Iridescent rainbow orbs bursting into tangerine spun sugar. Pearly spheres of goo. Sorbet corn dogs leaning into one another with matching bouffants. Bright yellow blackberries. A bunch of Mr. Blobby’s babies. Golden goblets overflowing with effervescent honeycomb. Opalescent spherules in crinkled sweet wrappers. Amaretti flecked with flakes of soap." Emergence

Humankind

The White Helmets

When the earthquake hit Syria on February 6th, the first responders were a group of ordinary women and men: bakers, tailors, pharmacists, salespeople, and engineers, who rushed in to pull people from the rubble. Despite their different trades, they were unified by one distinct feature: they all wore white helmets.

The White Helmets, also known as the Syria Civil Defence, is a humanitarian group that formed in late 2012 when Syria’s peaceful revolution descended into war. As bombs started destroying neighbourhoods, essential services like firefighting and healthcare were wiped out. Groups of volunteers around the country stepped in to provide an emergency response without proper equipment or medical training but united by their concern for human life.

These frontline humanitarians, who are unpaid and unarmed, have risked their lives to help people regardless of their religion, politics, or even what side of the war they are fighting. In 2013 some volunteers travelled to Turkey for professional training in urban search and rescue and over the years more advanced training has allowed the White Helmets to establish specialised teams and facilities.

In addition to their work as first-responders, these volunteers also provide a range of essential services for communities, from repairing sewage systems and electrical grids, clearing debris and unexploded weapons, and creating awareness about disaster response.

Today the organisation has around 3,000 volunteers and their efforts have saved over 125,000 lives, in addition to the 3,000 people they've rescued in the aftermath of the earthquake. As the rescue effort transitions into a long recovery, these men and women will once again roll up their sleeves to rebuild neighbourhoods and restore hope to broken communities.

We have rescued our own family members, complete strangers, and Assad regime soldiers. Our motto comes from the Qu’ran: Whoever saves one life, it is as if they have saved all of humanity.

That's all for this edition, thanks for reading. We'll see you next week.

Much love,

Gus, Amy and the rest of the team