Hope Is A Verb
We're delighted to introduce our first podcast guest, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the founder of SOLA, Afghanistan’s first and only boarding school for girls. During the Taliban takeover in 2021, Shabana and her team evacuated and relocated the entire school community from Kabul to Rwanda, an incredible feat of courage that ensured the students of SOLA could continue their education.
In this conversation, Shabana shares her memories of growing up under the first Taliban regime and the bravery and resilience of her students and staff during the school’s emergency evacuation in 2021. She gives us a glimpse into daily life on the SOLA campus in Rwanda, the only place in the world where Afghan girls can receive a full education, her plans to empower and educate as many Afghan girls as she can, and why we can’t turn away from those who remain in Afghanistan.
Good news you probably didn't hear about
Branko Milanovic is the world's foremost expert on the subject of inequality, an area he's been studying for more than three decades. Here he is for Foreign Affairs:
Globalization, the argument goes, may have enriched certain elites, but it hurt many other people, ravaging one-time industrial heartlands and making people susceptible to populist politics. There is much that is true about such narratives—if you look only at each country on its own. Zoom out beyond the level of the nation-state to the entire globe, and the picture looks different. At that scale, the story of inequality in the 21st century is the reverse: the world is growing more equal than it has been for over 100 years.
He's not alone. The Cato Institute has released a new index measuring material well-being, lifespan, infant mortality, adequate nutrition, environmental safety, access to opportunity, access to information, and political freedom. Across all but two of those dimensions, it says the world has become more equal since 1990.
Morocco and the World Bank just finished a nine-year project to bring water to the country's most remote areas, especially on the Atlantic coast and in the Rif and Pré-Rif regions. Over a million people have gained access to a potable water supply, either through standpipes or individual household connections. World Bank
Progress continues in the fight against AIDS in South Africa. In 2022, there were an estimated 164,000 new infections, three times lower than the peak of 538,000 in 1999. Deaths linked to HIV are also declining, with around 48,000 in 2022, less than a fifth of the peak of 265,000 in 2005. Medical Brief
A lot of that is thanks to PEPFAR, the largest-ever investment by the US government to fight a single disease. Since 2003, more than 25 million lives have been saved, 5.5 million infants have been born HIV-free, and more than 75% of the 38.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS globally are taking antiretrovirals. JAMA
California is kicking off a statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, providing universal access to free books in the mail every month, including bilingual options, for approximately two million children. The program is currently active in 30 counties in California; this expansion will cover all 58 counties by 2028.
I’m so thrilled at the overwhelming support to make my Imagination Library available to every child in California! Today is an amazing milestone for children and families across the state! We still have a lot of work to do, but together we can inspire a love of reading in children across California that will last a lifetime.
Dolly Parton
What's behind the huge drop in the US murder rate this year? Part of it seems to be a change in policing. 'Crime going up was more than a gentle reminder that there is a place where we need armed guardianship in America and in our world. It’s really about putting officers in positions where we don’t force them to be adversaries.' CSM
Indonesia has met more than half of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with only 20% needing increased focus. Notable achievements include improved access to water and sanitation, safer public transportation, green open spaces, energy efficiency, sustainable industry, reduced carbon emissions, exports of high-tech industrial products, and data availability. Jakarta Post
The United States says it will rejoin UNESCO, the UN's cultural and scientific agency (and pay more than $600 million in back dues) after a dispute sparked by the inclusion of Palestine as a member in 2011. The Trump administration withdrew from UNESCO in 2017. 'It’s an important day for multilateralism.' Associated Press
In 2006, one of the world's biggest NGOs started a project in Bangladesh to treat presbyopia, a condition which makes seeing things up close difficult, which heavily impacts livelihood opportunities. By 2022, over 32,000 community health workers had brought the gift of clear vision to two million people around the country. BRAC
Argentina will no longer require a prescription to obtain emergency contraception, commonly known as the 'morning-after pill,' broadening reproductive rights in the traditionally conservative South American country. 'This removes an important barrier to access.' Reuters
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has given the green light to a bill seeking to decriminalize homosexuality, a move hailed by campaigners as a 'historic development that has created hope towards real change.' CNN
Iceland has become the latest country to ban conversion therapy. 'This is a really important issue for all gay people and a step worth celebrating. There is no cure for being gay and any attempt to do so is violence. It’s so good that the government recognizes it with legislation.' LGTBQ Nation
Since the first same-sex marriages took place in the Netherlands in 2001, more than 30 other jurisdictions have enacted laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry. In 24 of these places where recent detailed statistics are available, same-sex marriages have ranged from 0.4% to 3.4% of all marriages in a given year. Pew
The only home we've ever known.
In 1998, Indonesia initiated a community-based, decentralized approach to protecting its oceans. Over the course of 25 years through several iterations, 20 million hectares has been protected, leading to a 60% decline in illegal fishing in six of seven project districts, a 17% increase in coral reef cover, and the return of long-absent species. World Bank
The New York State Legislature has passed the Birds and Bees Protection Act, a first-in-the-nation bill that will rein in the use of neurotoxic neonicotinoid pesticides ('neonics'). It is the first law to address neonic seed coatings in the United States—far and away the largest and most widespread neonic use nationwide. Clean Technica
In 2021, the city of San Carlos de Bariloche in Argentina had a dismal recycling rate, and its waste site was declared one of the world's 50 largest rubbish dumps. Since then, it's become a circular economy champion, doubling recycling in two pilot projects, and now plans to expand the programme to 55% of the population by 2025. WEF
Giant tortoises are flourishing on the slopes of Isabela’s Alcedo Volcano and other Galápagos islands; conservationists now think Darwin's flycatchers could be making a comeback on those same islands; in Finland, a record number of endangered Saimaa ringed seal pups have been born this year; and in Belgium, seals are making a comeback, too.
The governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, has allowed a land conservation bill that was a top priority for environmentalists to pass into law. The law establishes a goal of permanently conserving 30% of Vermont’s total land area by 2030 and conserving 50% by 2050. Vermont Public
Brazil's government has unveiled its plans to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, using coordinated policy across more than a dozen ministries, strengthened law enforcement, intelligence and satellite imagery to root out illegal loggers and cattle ranching, regularization of land titles, and the establishment of a rural registry. Politico
Recent studies show that small farmers from Senegal to Ethiopia to Malawi are allowing trees to regenerate on their lands, resulting in improved crop yields, productive fruit harvests, and a boost for carbon storage. It's 'dramatic good news' about Africa's tree cover. Yale360
In March 2023, Panama’s Ministry of Environment announced commitments to stop the more than 160,000 tons of plastic that are imported and consumed in the country each year. Single-use plastic will be eliminated within three years, overall consumption reduced by 30% in five years, and within ten years, the sale and import of all single-use and virgin plastic will be reduced by 50%. Oceana
Global efforts to protect the world's ocean have only really picked up in the last two decades. In 2005 there were less 2 million km² of marine protected areas, but since then there has been a huge jump. Today, 29,581,750 km2 is under protection, covering 8.16% of the ocean. Protected Planet
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
We've been saying it for years now. Money talks. The IEA just published its annual report on global investment in energy, revealing that the world saw about $2.8 trillion of investments in energy in 2022, and $1.7 trillion of that went into clean energy. That’s the biggest single-year investment in clean energy ever.
The energy transition is no hippie solarpunk mirage. It’s a huge real change that’s happening to our world right now, and it’s based on technological progress and innovation. Anyone who still doesn’t see the reality of that has their eyes closed and their fingers in their ears.
If you are feeling despair about the fate of the planet, if you are angry with the fossil fuel companies or terrified about the runaway temperatures in the Atlantic, if you have ever marched in a protest or written to your local representative or ranted that the greed of the few is ruining the future of many, then please, take a few minutes to look at this report from the Rocky Mountain Institute.
It will help. We promise.
Wind and solar generated more electricity than coal in the United States between January and May this year, marking the first time renewables have outpaced the former king of American power over a five-month period. 'From a coal perspective, it has been a disaster. The decline is happening faster than anyone anticipated.' SA
China has reached its target of less than half of total installed power coming from fossil fuels. It has hit this goal two years ahead of schedule–50.9% of the country’s power capacity now comes from renewable sources, which it defines as wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear. Reuters
California has passed its target of 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the state's roads. It hit this goal two years ahead of schedule–1.52 million battery-electric, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been purchased through the first quarter of this year. LA Times
A reminder that the energy transition is decentralised. Rooftop solar is growing faster than anyone anticipated–global capacity increased by 49% in 2022. Overall, installed rooftop solar grew from 79 GW in 2021 to 118 GW last year and is projected to reach 159 GW by the end of this year. Yale 360
Colombia has become the latest country to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a group of 168 national and sub-national governments, businesses, and organisations who have committed to phasing out coal power and have placed a moratorium on any new coal power within their jurisdictions. Minenergia
Heat pumps are magic, and one of the key technologies for decarbonization. Last year, heat pump sales grew by more than 10% globally, including by almost 40% in Europe, and in the United States, residential heat pump sales exceeded gas furnaces for the first time, making up 53% of heating system sales. Utility Dive
Around half of Danish households that are currently heated by fossil gas will be switched to district heating by 2028, and the remainder to heat pumps by 2030. Those unable or unwilling to switch 'must change to green biogas, so we can ensure we are free of (Russian president Vladimir) Putin.' The Local
Ørsted, the world's leading wind company, and Vestas, the world's biggest wind turbine maker, have committed to using low-carbon steel and recycled blades for all future joint offshore wind farms. 'There’s no playing defence when it comes to climate change. And no progress without partnerships.' Vestas
The last turbine has just been installed at the 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands, which is not just the first subsidy-free offshore wind farm in the world, but also the largest operational offshore wind farm on the planet. Offshore Wind Biz
EVs don't just eliminate carbon and air pollution, they eliminate noise pollution too. As combustion engines disappear, our built environment will become quieter, and that's a good thing for everyone, because what we now know is that the din of daily life has been damaging our health for decades. NYT
Money is moving into electric vehicles faster than anyone anticipated: spending is expected to reach $129 billion this year, and investment into battery storage will double. Globally, we're on track for enough battery manufacturing capacity to produce 100 million EVs a year by 2030. MIT Tech Review
Toyota–the biggest and most powerful carmaker in the world–has finally overcome its dithering on electric vehicles and is now forging full steam ahead. The company just announced plans for vehicles with over 1,000 km of range, and says that by 2030, it will be making 1.7 million EVs a year. Just Auto
A new 'battery belt' is being created in the United States, a cluster of factories stretching from the Great Lakes to Georgia, doing everything from battery fabrication and auto assembly to battery recycling. In the past year, it's been one billion-dollar factory after another, with Georgia ($17 billion) and South Carolina ($9.3 billion) leading the way. Canary
Indistinguishable from magic
For the first time, phosphates have been detected on Saturn's moon, Enceladus. The discovery significantly raises the prospects that life could exist in the alien ocean, because Phosphorus is the P in CHNOPS, which stands for carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur, the six elements considered crucial for life based on water and organic chemistry. Science Alert
We've known for some time that birds can sense magnetic fields, a sense which could rely on something as simple a gentle tug on magnetic particles or something as complex as a nudge of quantum chemistry. Now researchers have discovered that birds can also switch on this part of their brain when they needed to navigate, and put it back into a dormant mode while resting at stopover points. Science Alert
At an underwater mountain in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists recently drilled nearly a mile beneath the ocean floor and pulled up an unprecedented scientific bounty—pieces of Earth’s rocky mantle. 'Since 1960, we wanted to get a hole this deep in mantle rock. We’ve achieved an ambition that’s been feeding the science community for many decades.' Smithsonian
Chemists can now move single atoms in and out of a molecule’s core. The technique is known as skeletal editing, an umbrella term for inserting, deleting or swapping individual atoms in molecular backbones to accelerate drug discovery. 'It’s almost magical that these changes are now possible.' Nature
Researchers at Harvard have developed a 3D-printed synthetic heart valve that can be produced in under 10 minutes. They tested the prototype in sheep, which successfully regulated blood flow for an hour. Currently, synthetic valves are expensive and take months to produce–the researchers claim this new technique has the potential to overcome both these challenges. IE
A groundbreaking new treatment by the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem has been shown to have a 90% success rate for the world's second-most-common type of blood cancer. This 'unprecedented achievement' treats multiple myeloma cancer, responsible for one-tenth of all blood cancers, and long considered incurable. JPost
For decades, scientists believed that the way our brains are wired defines our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. A new study now challenges this view, suggesting that the patterns of activity in our neurons are more influenced by the shape of the brain–its grooves, contours, and folds–than by its complex interconnections. Freethink
And finally, a safer, easier-to-place brain implant one-fifth the thickness of a human hair.
The information highway is still super
Does your online experience feel simultaneously too small, and yet too big, monolithic and lacking in magic? The Tiny Awards aim to remedy that. "A small prize awarded by an equally-small selection committee of online makers to the website which we feel best embodies the idea of a small, playful and heartfelt web. The award will take the form of an actual, physical trophy and a small cash prize, and will almost certainly result in literally no additional accolades or fame or fortune whatsoever."
Ban smartphones in school. Now.
If you've ever wondered why people like Tucker Carlson, Gary Lineker or Phillip Schofield get so much attention, or why there's been more news about Succession, a TV show, than almost any other story in the world this year, then Janan Ganesh has the answer. The media is self-obsessed, in a way that only a declining industry can be. Financial Times
“When you learn to pick locks, the first and most important thing you steal is your own sense of security." A great piece on the hitherto unknown world of competitive locksmithing. Like everything else, it's been turned on its head by the internet, and in particular, one famous Youtuber who's opened the world (literally) to millions of viewers. “People tend to notice when you say, ‘I can open your front door in thirty seconds.’” Hazlitt
The winners of this year's International Photography Awards.
Take that, Midjourney.
That's it for this edition, thanks for reading. If you get a chance to listen to the podcast let us know what you think, we would really appreciate a review. We'll see you next week.
With love,
Gus and Amy
