Give a damn
We recently heard about someone named Felix Brooks-church, who has invented a small machine known as a dosifier, which adds Vitamin B12, zinc, folic acid and iron to flour sold by local millers in southern Africa. It's super simple technology but the impact is enormous, with each machine plugging into local distribution channels that reach thousands of people, adding lifesaving nutrients to the foods they eat most.
Felix and his co-founders have been running an organisation called Sanku since 2013, installing dosifiers in over 800 mills. They've recently expanded operations into Kenya, where they've been overwhelmed by demand. We're going to help. We're sending them $5,200 to buy two dosifiers, which will each fortify food for up to 5,000 people. That money comes directly from your subscription fee. Thank you so much to each and every one of you for making this possible.
Good news you probably didn't hear about
Vox has a great new feature section on progress and optimism. We recommend the pieces by Brian Walsh, on why doomers are wrong about the future, and the amazing Hannah Ritchie, on why optimism is the only thing that works (but only if we assume that progress is not inevitable).
The astounding economic and technological progress made over the past 200 years has been the result of deliberate policies, a drive to invent and innovate, one advance building upon another. And as our material condition improved, so, for the most part, did our morals and politics — not as a side effect, but as a direct consequence.
More than 97% of people worldwide now have some level of immunity against COVID-19, either from infection or vaccination, or a combination of the two. Over 5.5 billion people, almost 70% of humanity, has been vaccinated, easily the largest, fastest and most successful campaign in the history of global public health. Think Global Health
The new World Happiness Report says there was a "globe-spanning surge of benevolence" during the pandemic, with acts like donating, volunteering and helping a stranger increasing by a quarter compared to pre-pandemic times. Contrary to dominant media narratives, the report also says that positive social connections and support in 2022 were twice as prevalent as loneliness.
The global inventory of nuclear weapons has declined by more than 80% since the Cold War, from a peak of 70,300 in 1986 to 12,700 in 2022. Under the Trump administration, the United States stopped disclosing the size of its stockpile, but transparency has resumed again under the Biden administration. FAS
Ghana is including free long-term contraception in its national health insurance program, a move that will allow millions of women to avoid paying out of pocket for implants, IUDs and injections. In Liberia, a new program has cut teen pregnancy in five of the country's fifteen counties by at least half since 2017.
This means long time peace of mind for women, girls and their families with potential positive impact on their health and economic life.
Abena Amoah, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood of Ghana
A human rights court in Latin America has issued a landmark ruling requiring Bolivia to reform its criminal codes to make lack of consent central to the definition of rape and create protocols to improve all sexual assault investigations. The ruling is binding and establishes a legal precedent that could reverberate throughout the region.
Some good news from Brazil, one of the most violent countries in the world, where the homicide rate in 2022 fell to 19 per 100,000 people, its lowest level since 2007 (when the Brazilian Forum on Public Security began collecting data), and a decline of almost a quarter since its peak in 2017. OGlobo
Feeling negative about the United States? Michigan just passed a law protecting LGBTQ citizens, Minnesota has become the fourth state to provide free meals to all schoolchildren, Illinois has become the third state to enact mandatory paid leave, New Mexico has passed a law that prohibits life imprisonment for juvenile offenders, Arizona has pioneered an urban food forest that's become a model for climate action, and California just announced a program to cut the number of unsheltered people by 15% in the next two years.
Oh, and all of those stories are from the last two weeks.
California has announced a plan to transform its oldest prison, San Quentin, into a centre for rehabilitation modelled after Norway's incarceration programmes, which have some of the lowest recidivism rates in the world. It's a landmark moment for criminal justice reform, marking a fundamental shift away from the punitive American system. Guardian
Childhood stunting in Cambodia has fallen from 34% in 2014 to to 22% in 2022. In actual numbers, that's 180,000 fewer children suffering from stunting than eight years ago. The country is also getting a handle on nutrition for older children, thanks to its nationwide school meals programme, which feeds 300,000 children with hot meals every day. Phnom Penh Post
Investment into early warning systems and more resilient buildings has significantly reduced the death toll from Cyclone Freddy in Mozambique. Tragically, 59 people have been killed, but it's a fraction of the 602 killed by the similar-sized Cyclone Idai four years ago. A reminder that as the world develops, it becomes more able to deal with natural disasters. UN
India is experiencing an unprecedented infrastructure makeover that is transforming the ability of hundreds of millions of poor and emerging middle-class citizens to travel, connect to the internet, and access electricity, and removing one of the country's biggest constraints on economic growth. Economist
If it bleeds it leads
Robertson, C.E., Pröllochs, N., Schwarzenegger, K. et al., "Negativity drives online news consumption." Nature (2023)
For a headline of average length, the presence of a single negative word increased the click-through rate by 2.3%. In contrast, we find that news headlines containing positive language are significantly less likely to be clicked on. For a headline of average length, the presence of positive words in a news headline significantly decreases the likelihood of a headline being clicked on, by around 1.0%.
The only home we've ever known
19 billion native seeds will be planted as part of the Klamath River dam removal, the largest river restoration project in American history. Local tribes and environmental groups are busy sourcing 96 different species of trees and shrubs including culturally significant plants like yampah, lomatium and milkweed to plant across 2,200 acres of drained reservoirs. OPB
An Egyptian startup is tackling ocean pollution by turning plastic bags into outdoor paving tiles that are tougher than cement. To date, the company has recycled five million bags and hopes to increase that number tenfold by 2025. It’s good news for the Mediterranean Sea, which suffers from 74,000 tonnes of waste every year from Egypt alone. Reuters
Illegal gold mining is one of the drivers of deforestation in the Amazon, but the new Brazilian government has made stopping it a priority, evicting thousands of illegal gold miners from Yanomami territory, an indigenous reservation the size of Portugal, and restoring the sanctity of indigenous land. Reuters
Chile’s Pisagua Sea will become the country's first MPA to protect not only marine species, but also local artisanal fishing communities who have contributed to the sustainable management of resources. Spanning 181,622 acres, the area’s abundance of crustaceans and phytoplankton makes it a crucial breeding ground for fish, mammals and birds. Oceana
What difference a decade makes. In 2013 the EU and Israel became the world’s first markets to ban cosmetic animal testing. Today, 43 nations have sales bans or restrictions. The tireless work of activists has also turned the retail tide, with big beauty brands like Avon, L’Oréal and Johnson & Johnson banning the practice. Humane Society
The United States has two new national monuments: Castner Range National Monument in Texas, made up of 6,600 acres of rugged canyons and arroyos, and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, comprising a half million acres of the most biologically diverse and culturally significant lands in the Mojave Desert, including 28 species of native grasses and some of the oldest Joshua trees in the country. NYT
People who mistreat domestic animals in Spain will face much tougher penalties following new legislation that has increased potential jail time from 18 months to three years. The law requires compulsory training for dog owners and aligns with the country’s shift in 2020 to recognise animals as "living beings endowed with sensitivity" rather than simply "things." Euro News
For the first time in 26 years, the US EPA has set new legal limits for drinking water to remove six common "forever chemicals." Because these substances don’t naturally break down, they have been linked to liver and thyroid issues, birth defects, kidney disease and decreased immunity. Guardian
The humble push bike is the new king of the road in London. Cyclists now outnumber motorists at peak times in the city's centre, following sustained efforts to encourage cycling and deter car use. Over the last decade, motorists have declined by 64% and cycling has increased by 386%, with an estimated 800,000 journeys a day now made by bike in the English capital. Forbes
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
The IPCC's Sixth Assessment has concluded, the culmination of eight years of work tying together all of the IPCC reports from last few years into one handy summary of summaries. The bad news is that we are not going to keep warming under 1.5°C. After more than a century of insinuating itself into every aspect of humanity's political and economic systems, the monstrous octopus that is the fossil fuels industry has proven stubbornly resistant to change.
Despite decades of increasingly desperate warnings from scientists and years of concerned promises from politicians, governments and banks continue to fund new coal, gas and oil, and emissions continue to rise. The gap between rhetoric and action has become depressingly familiar. Another Code Red is issued, the headlines warn of impending doom, but within a few weeks a crisis that will affect the future of all life on Earth is forgotten as the news cycle moves on.
This time though, something is different. The IPCC will not report again until the end of this decade, but it leaves us with the message that there are now feasible, affordable and effective solutions on the table, something that simply wasn't the case two or three years ago. As climate scientist Bronson Griscom says, "the highway to hell now has exit ramps."
Viewed this way, the report is not just a stark warning but a reminder of what a gift it is that we have the means to start rapidly cutting emissions, putting 2°C within reach. The big question now is where we land. A world where temperatures rise by 1.65°C is poles apart from one where we overshoot by 1.95°C, and the difference will be determined by what happens in the next seven years. Every type of reduction now counts. We fight for every hundredth of a degree and try to remember the prize that awaits on the other side.
Climate change is a planetary emergency, and we shouldn’t forget that there are severe consequences to getting this wrong—and right now, we are getting it wrong by not acting fast enough. But we cannot lose sight of what awaits us if we get this right. We are standing on the precipice of one of the greatest economic transformations in human history—if we can see this through, we will be living in a world that is richer in every sense of the word.
Bronson Griscom, Conservation International
The future will be largely determined by the actions taken by the world's four largest emitters: China, Europe, the United States, and India. Let's have a look at where things stand with all four, in order of importance:
- Lauri Myllyvirta is one of the most respected China energy analysts in the world, and he's got some new data showing that if the country's current plans and ambitions on wind and solar growth are realised, 2024-25 should see clean energy grow faster than total energy demand, causing fossil fuel use and emissions to start to fall.
- Earlier this week marked the Spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, making it a good time to assess how Europe did without Russian gas over the winter. The answer? Successful beyond anyone's expectations. The actions taken over the last 12 months have been, by any measure, a triumph for the future of the planet. Yale360
- In the United States there are now 1,850 GW of clean power projects waiting to connect to the grid. If half of those get built, that would be all the new capacity needed to cut emissions to 50% of peak levels by 2030 and be on a path to net-zero by 2050. Everyone ready for the magic word? Transmission, transmission, transmission. FERC
- Solar and wind accounted for 92% of additions to the electrical grid in India last year, increasing the country's renewable generation capacity by 15.7 GW, a 17% increase over 2021. By comparison, coal capacity additions amounted to less than 1 GW, 78% lower than in 2021. Ember
A two-year, €3-million study by Swedish power giant Vattenfall has shown that offshore wind turbines are far less dangerous than previously thought. Seabirds were monitored at a Scottish windfarm via radar and cameras... and not a single collision was recorded. In news that will come as no surprise to ornithologists, it turns out that birds are smart enough to avoid blades. Electrek
Chubb, the world's biggest property and casualty insurer, says it will no longer provide coverage for oil and gas projects if they cannot prove they have a plan to reduce methane emissions, or if they are located in any of the world’s 284,122 protected areas. Still doesn't align with climate science - but excluding projects on 17% of the world’s land mass is a positive first step. Reuters
In little more than a year, the Inflation Reduction Act has launched an American automotive manufacturing renaissance. Since its passage seven months ago, $40 billion of capital has been invested in 36 new major projects across the EV supply chain, creating an estimated 30,000 jobs. EDF
Since January this year, the price of lithium, the common ingredient in almost all electric-car batteries, has declined by nearly 20%. The price of cobalt, another important material, has plummeted by more than half, and copper, essential to electric motors and batteries, has fallen by 18%. Industry experts say it's because new mines and processing plants are solving shortages sooner than expected. NYT
Indonesia has set aside $455 million to subsidise electric motorcycle sales over the next two years. This is very good news. There are over 120 million fossil fuel powered motorcycles versus around 17 million cars in Indonesia, meaning the electrification of transport will depend primarily on what happens on two wheels. Reuters
Corrections
Also, in edition 200 we wrote that Ghana is seven years ahead of schedule on their 2016 commitment to restore two million hectares of land by 2030. However, Ghana has only restored 628,000 hectares so far, putting them behind, not ahead of, schedule. Thanks to Scott Mcvadon for pointing this out, and keeping us honest.
Indistinguishable from magic
Mathematicians have discovered a single shape that can be used to cover a surface completely without ever repeating a pattern. This practice of covering a 2D space, known as aperiodic tiling, has fascinated mathematicians for decades, but until now no one knew if it could be done with just one shape. "A polykite that we call 'the hat' is an aperiodic monotile, AKA an einstein. We finally got down to one!" Kottke
Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft returned with 5.4g of dust from asteroid Ryugu at the end of 2020. Scientists have now revealed that it contains uracil, one of the four building blocks of RNA, as well as other complex organic compounds crucial for living organisms, lending credence to the idea that the ingredients for life were brought to Earth by space rocks. Nature
Given how much coverage there is on AI right now, we think the most useful thing we can do is highlight each week's most important single development or recommend just one piece you have to read. This week, it's by Bill Gates.
In my lifetime, I’ve seen two demonstrations of technology that struck me as revolutionary. The first time was in 1980, when I was introduced to a graphical user interface. The second big surprise came last year, when I gave a challenge to the team from OpenAI.
Zipline just unveiled its home delivery drone system, proving beyond a doubt that we are living in the future. "The other breakthrough innovation is how easy it is for anyone to teleport goods, using what we call the loading portal. A droid magically appears inside your back-of-house business. Simply open its lid and drop the goods in." The Jetson vibes are strong with this one.
Recent trials of a new therapy for heart disease have shown that an injection of 150 million stem cells from healthy donors directly into a patient's heart results in a 58% reduction in the risk of heart attack or stroke over 30 months, as well as significant reductions in inflammation. “For the first time, we’ve discovered that stem cells can successfully treat the inflammation that causes heart failure." Freethink
Israeli researchers have developed the world's first mRNA single-dose vaccine that is 100% effective against Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for what was historically known as plague, responsible for killing millions during the Middle Ages. The breakthrough paves the way for developing more vaccines for bacterial diseases, especially those caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. IE
In Australia, 450 critically ill babies and children underwent rapid genome sequencing in a trial between 2018 and 2022. On average, it took three days and cost A$15,000 per child to sequence the genome, analyse the results and return a report. An average of A$25,000 per child was saved by reducing the need for other expensive tests and shortening the time in intensive care. New Scientist
The information highway is still super
Dan Wang's annual letter has become something of a fixture in this newsletter; this is the fourth year in a row that we've included it. He's the most insightful observer of China we know, and we're not alone in that evaluation. This year's version, in addition to all the usual stuff you'd expect about lockdowns and surveillance and demographics, also includes a lot about food and mountains - which turn out to be a great combination. It’s long, but really worth a read.
Great article in the New Yorker looking at the research of Dutch psychologist Batja Mesquita, who has built a body of work studying different cultures’ approaches to emotions. It starts from the fact that there are words for certain emotions in some languages that simply do not have faithful translations in other languages. What does that mean? Can those emotions still be universal across cultures, if some cultures don’t even have the vocabulary for it?
It's been a long time since we've made a music recommendation. If you're looking for something to work to, give Hermanos Gutiérrez a try. They're a Swiss Latin instrumental band out of Zürich, made up of Ecuadorian-Swiss brothers Alejandro Gutiérrez and Estevan Gutiérrez, and you can pretty much just choose any album as a starting point - they're all amazing. As Rolling Stone says, "it's music that sings without needing a singer, that's lyrical without needing words."
And finally... we couldn't resist.
“A group of anti-fascists disrupting a white supremacist gathering”
That's it for this edition! Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next week.
With love,
Gus and Amy
