Good news you probably didn't hear about
Heart disease is responsible for one in every five deaths in the United States. However, at a conference hosted last month by the American College of Cardiology, researchers revealed that between 1999 and 2020, the rate of deaths from heart attacks fell from 87 per 100,000 people to 38 per 100,000 people, and racial disparities narrowed by nearly half. This is astonishing news. Despite setbacks caused by the pandemic, the risk of death from America's biggest killer of people has more than halved since the beginning of the 21st century.
Bhutan has become an Open Defecation Free country, and the WHO just certified Azerbaijan and Tajikistan as malaria-free, following a sustained, century-long effort to stamp out the disease by the two countries. Seems like an appropriate moment to share this (best 90 seconds you'll spend this week):
Scotland’s pioneering policy of putting a minimum price on alcohol has been linked to a 13% drop in the number of deaths from alcohol consumption and hundreds of fewer hospitalisations every year. “Minimum unit pricing was introduced to save lives, and this latest report shows it is doing just that." Guardian
Malawi and Kenya are making significant progress on family planning. Around 60% of women in both countries are now using contraceptives, up from 15% in the 1990s for Kenya and just 7% in Malawi. Contraceptives, including implants and intrauterine devices, are now widely available, including for the majority of populations living in rural areas. Exemplars
Teenage pregnancy among girls aged 15 to 19 in the Philippines has fallen from 8.6% in 2017 to 5.4% in 2022. This is good news for a country with one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the world, and comes off the back of last year's landmark ban on child marriage. The Star
Earlier this week, after a year of intense debate, Malaysia's parliament voted to remove the mandatory use of the death penalty, abolish natural-life prison sentences, and cut down on the number of crimes eligible for capital punishment. Human rights groups have hailed it as a major step forward. BBC
Slip, slop, slap. A new study shows there's been a significant reduction in skin cancer in people below the age of 39 in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. "It's a really exciting thing to see the statistics coming in to show that all the hard work that schools, communities have been putting in, has actually paid off." ABC
Some more good news from the United States. Voters in Wisconsin have won a major victory for reproductive rights, New Hampshire has stopped further restrictions on abortion access and instead passed legislation to protect it, Missouri is making period products free in schools, Maryland has strengthened transgender rights, Minnesota is making itself a safe refuge for transgender people, Kentucky just legalized cannabis, and the first over-the-counter opioid-overdose treatment is now available across the nation.
The strongest democracy in the Americas isn’t the United States or Canada, but a small nation of three million people. Free and universal education, public health care, strong unions, and a solid social security system reflects its ethos of nadie es más que nadie—nobody is worth more than anybody else. It now has the largest middle class in the Americas, making up more than 60% of the population.
Brazil's Ministry of Indigenous Affairs is restoring sovereignty and bringing justice to Indigenous communities. Following the removal of tens of thousands of illegal miners from the lands of the Yanomami, the federal government is deploying healthcare services, food and relief. 78% of children with severe malnutrition have already gained weight.
Women's share of board seats at Britain's 350 biggest listed companies reached 40% for the first time in 2022. Just over a decade ago, 152 of the country's biggest companies had no women on their boards at all. Today, they all do, and the vast majority have three or more. Still a long way to go, but it's progress. FTSE
And finally, Keynes would be so pleased.
The only home we've ever known
A new marine protected area in Patagonia will safeguard an important feeding and breeding area for endangered blue whales. Spanning 100,000 hectares along the Gulf of Corcovado, the protections are also good news for humpback and sei whales, South American sea lions and two species of threatened albatross that frequent the area. Mongabay
The newly designated Utco Private Conservation Area in Peru will protect 3,060 hectares of Amazonian dry forest. The region is an "epicentre of biodiversity" and home to 20 species of critically endangered flora and almost two dozen species that are found nowhere else in the world, including the yellow-faced parrotlet. Amazon Fund
Two big wins in Ecuador. A new conservation area in the El Oro province will protect water sources for over 85,000 people as well as the habitats of dozens of threatened species, and a court has stopped a copper mine in the Intag Valley, following a successful campaign by the community to invoke the "Rights of Nature" embedded in Ecuador's constitution in 2008.
The critically endangered West African lion is making a steady comeback in Senegal’s Niokolo Koba National Park. Since 2011, conservation measures have bolstered the population from 15 to over 40 lions and are raising hopes for a species that has a wild population of only a few hundred lions in total. Good News Network
The world’s first large-scale shark rewilding is underway in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago. ReShark is raising endangered zebra sharks from aquariums and aims to release 500 of them into Indonesian waters. Marine reintroductions are tricky business, but experts think the plan will work… which means zebra sharks may be just the beginning. Nat Geo
It’s such a milestone. This is such a hopeful, momentous moment.
Nesha Ichida, Indonesian Marine Scientist, ReShark
Wet wipes containing plastic will be banned in England as part of the country’s plan to improve its waterways. In 2021 around 90% of wipes contained plastics which don’t break down and are the biggest cause of blockages. Although the ban is scheduled to come into force next year, stores like Boots and Tesco have already stopped selling plastic-based wet wipes. BBC
Canada is making its largest investment ever in protection for its fresh water. The government just committed $650 million over ten years for the Fraser River, the Mackenzie River, Lake Winnipeg, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Simcoe, the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. The funds will be used for monitoring, restoration, preventing harmful chemicals and reducing algae blooms. CBC
The US Department of the Interior has pledged to tap into Indigenous knowledge and restore large bison herds to Native American lands. $25 million has been allocated to transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge management agreements with tribes. Previous conservation efforts helped bison bounce back from near-extinction in the late 1880s. PBS
When we think about Indigenous communities, we must acknowledge that they have spent generations over many centuries observing the seasons, tracking wildlife migration patterns and fully comprehending our role in the delicate balance of this earth.
Deb Haaland, Interior Secretary, United States
A New York investment firm has launched a $400-million bid for oil concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with plans to turn them into conservation projects. The concessions include areas of critically endangered gorilla habitat, tropical peatlands and swathes of the planet’s second-largest rainforest in the Congo basin. Guardian
Let us prove that we have an alternative to oil exploration and provide a way to centre the economy around nature conservation instead of destroying them for extractive industries.
Matthias Pitkowitz, EQX Biome CEO
After disappearing over a century ago, oysters are making a comeback along Brisbane’s coastline, with three million oysters thriving on baskets built by volunteers. 4,000 baskets were positioned across a 19-hectare site in five-metre-deep water. Within 12 months, sturdy clumps of oysters formed, attracting millions of other animals such as crabs. Phys.org
The UK beaver revolution continues. After a 400-year absence, an estimated population of 50 beavers has set up home on local riverbanks in Somerset and Wiltshire. It’s suspected the beavers may have escaped from licensed reintroduction sites, and their presence will support other wildlife and boost ecological restoration. NHM
India is celebrating its 50th Anniversary of Project Tiger. The project launched in 1973 with nine tiger reserves. Today, there are 53 reserves across 18 states, covering more than 75,000 km2, encompassing 2.4% of the country's land. “We have 1.4 billion people living here, and the human population has doubled since 1973. Given all this pressure, I would say this is a huge achievement,” CSM
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
Adam "Polycrisis" Tooze on the global clean energy transition: "Meanwhile, there is absolutely no sign of any retreat by investors from renewables, rather the reverse. Far from falling back in love with gas, oil, and coal, the world clearly realized in 2022 that fossil fuels are an expensive and fickle trap." Foreign Policy
Four major energy technologies have emerged on Earth in the last six decades: nuclear, gas, solar and wind. Each of them took many years before they contributed one exajoule to global energy supply. After that though, guess which two have grown the fastest? Bloomberg
South Korea's government and biggest companies are planning to pour $422 billion into computer chips and electric vehicles. Three South Korean giants, LG, Samsung and SK On, just committed $31 billion to remake the city of Pohang, famous for its steel industry, into a global hub for batteries and EVs. “Pohang needs to find something new.” Bloomberg
The United States is rapidly approaching a milestone in its clean energy transition. In 2011, coal capacity peaked at 318 GW. By the end of 2026, that number will have been cut in half. That milestone could come even sooner, following the EPA's recent announcement that it's tightening its rules on pollutants from coal-fired power plants.
Transmission is the most important piece of the clean energy puzzle that nobody's talking about - as the Economist says, hug pylons, not trees. So it's great to see the news that California is investing $9.3 billion into 46 transmission projects across the state, enabling huge quantities of solar, wind and batteries to be brought online. PV Tech
Why is that important? Because the United States now has more clean energy waiting to be added to the grid (~2,000GW) than the installed capacity of its entire power plant fleet (~1,250 GW). Amazing how much can change in a decade, right? Berkeley Lab
Outside of China, the global pipeline of planned coal plants shrank again in 2022, with Vietnam leading the way. The big question now is what happens in China. Does it use all that new coal capacity, or do the plants end up as stranded assets? If you've been reading this newsletter for a while, you can probably guess the answer.
Last week, Australia passed its most significant climate legislation in a decade, forcing coal mines and oil refineries to cut emissions, the first time pollution reduction has been written into Australian law. After years of inaction, there's a palpable sense of relief here and newfound optimism about the future of clean energy.
The European Parliament and EU ministers have struck a deal on a flagship law to cut emissions in the maritime sector, marking a major step forward for the bloc’s plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Under the law, hailed as the most ambitious maritime fuel legislation in the world, ship emissions will be reduced by 2% by 2025 and 80% by 2050. Euractiv
In the last four weeks, the world's largest maker of electric vehicles has launched new models of its cars in Thailand, Jordan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Electric vehicle sales in the United Kingdom reached record highs in March this year, marking the best month for sustainable powertrains in the country's history. Out of 287,825 new cars sold, 46,626 were battery-powered, an 18.6% jump compared to the same month in 2022. Reuters
This hasn't really been covered much in Western media, but did you know that on 1st July, China will be imposing new vehicle emissions standards? Millions of petrol and diesel cars may become unsaleable overnight, pouring rocket fuel onto the already-growing electric vehicle revolution. Don't feel too sorry for the automakers either—they've had years of warnings. The Driven
California has been granted legal authority to require that half of all heavy-duty truck sales in the state be fully electric by 2035, an ambitious standard that goes beyond federal requirements. The approval of the new rule will have a major impact beyond California and paves the way for other states to follow suit. CNBC
BUTWHUTABOUT ALL OF THE MININGS AND MINERALZ!!!!!!!
Ok, for the last time people, here we go. Digging up shiny metal to make stuff? Good (not perfect). Digging up black rocks and dinosaur juice and setting them on fire? Bad.
Indistinguishable from magic
Tech journalist Virginia Heffernan visited TSMC in Taiwan, the company responsible for making 92% of the world's advanced chips, and what she found there astonished her. "While humans have been busy over these six decades with our political anguish, and our wars, we have also created a universe inside our universe, one with its own infinite intelligence, composed of cryptic atomic switches, enlightened with ultraviolet and built on sand." Wired
Scientists in Texas have used the James Webb Space Telescope to identify the earliest known black hole, at the centre of a galaxy formed just 570 million years after the universe began. It's a good demonstration of how much more powerful the JWST is. Hubble had previously identified the galaxy but had not been able to discern what was inside. Live Science
A bandage fabric made from shrimp shells is saving lives in Ukraine. The bandages, made by a company in the UK, are coated with a compound known as chitosan that's extracted from shrimp and then purified. When it comes into contact with blood it swells into a gel. "It's been saving a lot of lives, thousands of them." BBC
Introducing the crew of Artemis II, the first crewed moon expedition in five decades. They'll be taking off in November 2024 on a ten-day voyage around the moon, potentially further than any other human has travelled in history, and paving the way for Artemis III, which will put humans back on the lunar surface. Does this mean we're allowed to be excited about astronauts again? CNN
The US FDA just gave its first approval to a biotech company to begin testing an in-vivo gene editing drug based on CRISPR. This means that the genetic edit takes place inside the body—the doctor infuses it into the patient's arm, and from there the gene-editing instructions find their way to the proper organ (in this case, the liver). Big moment. Investors.com
Researchers from Israel have created a robot the size of a single biological cell, inspired by biological "swimmers" such as bacteria and sperm. It has the ability to move around the body autonomously, or when controlled by an operator, using both electricity and magnetic fields, and it can identify and capture a single cell, opening the door to a vast array of applications. New Atlas
Nature: the original and best kind of magic. Australian researchers just did a review of 28 studies on "nature prescriptions" and showed they provide genuine, proven health benefits. Patients experienced reduced blood pressure and less depression and anxiety. "Contact with nature, and trees especially, is really good for strengthening mental and physical health across our lives." UNSW
The information highway is still super
Remember how when ChatGPT was launched, everyone was having a minor freak out about what it meant for education? Well, things have changed. After having a bit of time to get their heads around it, educators are starting to shift the way they teach. It reflects a wider shift in the role of teachers, who are no longer gatekeepers of information, but facilitators. For many, generative AI offers a golden opportunity to move beyond the old zombie modes of learning. "There’s still some fear. But we do our students a disservice if we get stuck on that fear.” MIT Tech Review
Amanda Ripley has written a really great piece in the Washington Post on a key element that's missing from modern-day journalism. "Traditional news coverage, I had slowly come to realize, was missing half the story, distorting my view of reality. It frequently overlooked and underplayed storylines and dimensions that humans need to thrive in the modern world—with the three most notable elements being hope, agency and dignity." Not surprisingly, we loved this.
Nature writer Annette McGivney says that bees can demonstrate sophisticated emotions resembling optimism, frustration, playfulness and fear, experience PTSD-like symptoms, recognize different human faces, process long-term memories while sleeping, and maybe even dream. She argues that it's time to realize that creatures without a backbone should have rights too. “These unique minds, regardless of how much they may differ from our own, have as much justification to exist as we do.” Guardian
Humankind
How to mend a broken world
Meet Dianna Beresford-Kroeger, a 78-year-old botanist, biochemist and climate visionary who has compiled a master plan to heal the planet: a living library of tree DNA, inspired by an ancient Celtic prophesy she learned as an orphan.
Born in England and raised in Ireland, Diana was 11 years old when her parents were killed in a car accident. She was taken in by her bachelor uncle, a noted chemist and scholar, and her summers were spent with her great-aunt Nell, a medicine woman, who taught her the ancient ways of Brehon law. These teachings viewed trees as sentient beings, plants as medicine and prophesied that “the world would be in very bad shape” at our current time. Dianna was told she was the very last child to carry the Celtic wisdom forward.
When she entered university to study botany and biochemistry, Dianna was keen to put her ancient lore under the microscope. The more she studied, the more she confirmed the deep symbiosis between plants and humans. In 1966 she went to America to explore the impact of nuclear radiation on biological systems and then moved to Canada to study plant metabolism before commencing work as a cardiovascular research scientist in 1972. Dianna’s scientific career connected her love of trees with healing the human heart.
In the early 1980s, Diana felt a deep calling back to her ancient childhood teachings. She left academia “to take the knowledge of the ivory tower down to the people” and started writing books to translate the power of trees to heal ourselves and the planet. Her work inspired the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a small group advised by Diana, that handpicks the world’s "grandmother tree" species to reproduce and to replant them wherever their eco-function will be most effective against climate change and pollution.
Her legacy will be a living library of the global forests that will continue to heal and preserve our planet for generations to come.
We have to pick up where we left in destroying the world. We have to put it back together. The bio plan is to take each little part of your world around you—be it a pot on a balcony, look after that—look after the trees, look after your street, look after the people of the street. That will actually save the planet.
That's all for this edition, hope you enjoyed it.
Unfortunately we won't be able to put next week's edition together because Gus will be in Vancouver, and at the pointy end of rehearsing for TED. Our apologies in advance, we hope you understand.
With love,
Gus, Amy and the rest of the FC team
