Give a damn
We're really pleased to introduce you to our newest charity partner, School for Life, a nonprofit that builds schools and empowers local communities in Uganda. Among their many programs is one on menstrual hygiene, a key issue that prevents girls from attending class. Each additional year of education can raise a girl's future earning power by up to 25%, so helping them stay in school makes a big difference in stopping the cycle of poverty.
Thanks to your subscriber fees, we're sending them $7,500 to distribute 2,500 reusable menstrual hygiene management kits. These kits are a tried-and-tested solution in a place where modern sanitary pads are unaffordable, and will be made by their in-house tailoring program, providing employment and upskilling opportunities. School for Life ran this program last year, and it made a measurable difference. This donation will help them run it again this year, at an even larger scale.
Good news you probably didn't hear about
UNICEF says there were 16 million fewer stunted children in India in 2022 than in 2012. The prevalence of stunting—the result of poor nutrition in utero and during early childhood—fell from 42% to 32% during the last decade, and India’s share of the global burden declined from 30% to 25%. Times of India
Fatal heart disease in the United States dropped about 4% a year between 1990 and 2019. It's still the country's leading cause of death—but during the last three decades, the mortality rate for women has fallen from 210 to 66 per 100,000, and for men from 442 to 156 per 100,000. This is an astonishing decline, and it could have been even greater if not for an increase in obesity. American Heart Journal
Lawmakers in Ghana have passed a bill that prohibits the naming, accusing or labelling of another person as a witch, with offenders facing up to five years in jail if found guilty. 'It's going to bring about a serious mind shift, correct a lot of ills in our society and I'm confident that we are building a better society for ourselves.' TRT Afrika
Shootings in New York are down 26% this year, and the murder rate has declined by 11%. In fact, the first seven months of 2023 have seen a decrease in five of the seven major crime categories. And yet, in a poll last month, four in ten residents said they’ve 'never been this worried about my personal safety.' Hmmm, any guesses as to why there's such a big perception gap? NYT
When was the last time you heard any news out of Mexico that wasn't about migrants, drugs or crime? How about this: between 2020 and 2022 the number of people living in poverty in Mexico declined by 8.9 million and average household incomes increased by 11%, thanks to a new national minimum wage and the provision of social programs.
Air pollution in Europe continues to fall, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency. Between 2005 to 2021, particulate emissions fell by 27%, and emissions of sulphur dioxide fell by 80%, even as GDP increased by almost 50%. Thirteen of the bloc's member states have now met their respective 2020-2029 targets.
In 2012, India introduced a set of rules that restricted tobacco content in movie theatres and on television broadcasts. Now it's become the first country to regulate tobacco on streaming platforms—serving as a model to other countries for adapting advertising regulations in the digital age. Think Global Health
Individual cigarettes in Canada will now carry warnings such as 'poison in every puff.' The measure, the first of its kind in the world, is one of the new regulations coming into effect this week that will see far tighter controls on the tobacco industry. It's good news. Tobacco kills almost 50,000 Canadians every year. Guardian
The recent slowing of deforestation is part of a broader wave of progress in Brazil. Lula’s administration is close to finalising a major tax reform, FDI and agricultural productivity are rising, grain exports are filling the gap created by Russia's food terrorism, renewable energy investment is increasing, and solar is rapidly growing. Economist
Oman recently passed a new labour law that increases paid maternity leave from 50 to 98 days, guarantees one hour per day of nursing for one year from the end of maternity leave, and explicitly states that termination of employment due to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding is considered arbitrary. Migrant Rights
There's a revolution taking place in the understanding of endometriosis, a disease of the reproductive system that affects the same number of women as diabetes, yet receives 5% as much funding. 'Women’s health is starting to get more attention, and that’s about time. It’s slowly coming together.' Guardian
The only home we've ever known
This one's going to be controversial, but if accurate then it's very, very good news. According to Dutch researchers, who looked at over 20,000 measurements worldwide, the extent of plastic soup in the world's oceans is closer to 3.2 million tons, far smaller than the commonly accepted estimates of 50-300 million tons. NL Times
Eight countries—Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela—have agreed to protect the Amazon, pledging to stop the world’s biggest rainforest from reaching 'a point of no return,' and laying out a 10,000-word roadmap to promote sustainable development, end deforestation and fight the organised crime that fuels it. Al Jazeera
More on the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni national monument established in northern Arizona last week. The protected area encompasses 4,045 km2, split into two regions, one near the north rim of the Grand Canyon and the other near the south rim. The designation protects the area against all future mineral claims and has strong bipartisan support across the state. Outside Online
Loved this story. A sprawling network of irrigation canals across Spain, created by the Moors 1,000 years ago, are being excavated and brought back to life to adapt to climate change. Over 100 km have now been uncovered, with many more to come. 'Some farmers who were 80 or so were crying because they thought they would never see the water flowing again.' NYT
Pepsi and Walmart are collaborating to help North American farmers adopt regenerative agriculture practices across two million acres of farmland over the next seven years. Nestlé has also pledged £1 billion for regenerative agriculture across its supply chain and has committed to sourcing 50% of key ingredients from regenerative agriculture methods by 2030. Food Service
This way of farming is really sexy.
A flourishing movement of 1,000 'Indigenous Guardians' is redefining conservation in Canada. Five years ago, there were 30 programmes. Today, there are over 120, across every province and territory, and they have over 500,000 km2 of proposed protected areas under consideration, rooted in Indigenous laws, governance and knowledge systems. BBC
For more than a decade, the Chumash tribe have led a campaign to create a marine sanctuary off the California coast. Now their vision might be nearing reality, as over 18,000 km2 of ocean could soon become the largest national marine sanctuary in the continental United States, as well as one of the first federal sanctuaries spearheaded by a Native American tribe. NPR
A project in the Netherlands will restore the Markermeer, one of the largest freshwater lakes in western Europe, by constructing islands, marshes and mud flats from accumulated sediment. Over the last 20 years, the ecosystem has deteriorated dramatically with water plants and fish struggling to survive and birdlife declining by over 75%. Natuur
Remember that stranded oil tanker in Yemen? Over a million barrels of oil have now been removed, averting disaster. Almost all the oil is now aboard a replacement tanker, preventing a 'monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe.' Guardian
Ocean conservation efforts are starting to pay off in the United States. Shark populations are slowly rebounding off the country's coasts after decades of dramatic declines; in Florida, sea turtles have set a record for new nests; and Oregon has extended restrictions on Dungeness crab fishing to protect humpback whales from becoming entangled in crab traps.
The South African government has finally announced fishing restrictions to halt the decline of the Cape penguin, following years of activism from environmentalists, and in Kenya local fishing communities are increasingly starting to establish their own no-take zones, known as tengefu (Swahili for 'set aside').
San Francisco is now at the forefront of global efforts to recycle wastewater from commercial buildings, homes, and neighbourhoods, following a 2015 law that required all new buildings of more than 100,000 square feet to have on-site recycling systems. There are now 48 circular water systems in operation, and 29 more projects being planned in the city. Yale360
Hope Is A Verb
Meet Christine Figgener, a marine biologist who sparked a global movement against single-use plastic in 2015, when her YouTube video of a turtle having a straw removed from its nose went viral. In our conversation, Christine shares her journey from growing up in an industrial town in Germany to running conservation programs in Costa Rica, where she first fell in love with leatherback turtles over 17 years ago.
Reflecting on the eight years since her video 'accidentally' fuelled a global debate over ocean pollution, Christine talks us through her transition from scientist to storyteller and activist, and what it takes to save a species on the brink of extinction and in the face of climate change.
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
In a development that should give everyone hope, a group of young people in Montana has secured a court victory that rules citizens have a constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment—and that the state’s failure to consider climate change when evaluating new projects was causing harm. A big crack in the dam, setting a historic precedent for hundreds of similar suits in the future. PBS
Most European countries are now on track to hit their 2030 solar installation targets way ahead of schedule. Twenty-three countries will get there by 2027, meaning millions more tons of emissions saved each year than predicted. 'To be honest, we've never been very good… our most optimistic predictions have nearly always undershot the market.' Politico
Happy first anniversary to the Inflation Reduction Act. There's been a flurry of articles to mark the occasion. Our favourites are from Time (which looks at the global impact); Canary (kinda wonky); Politico (red states versus blue states); and of course, the New York Times, which has this headline (but you knew this already because you read this newsletter).
The second quarter of 2023 saw 92 GW of solar capacity installed globally, 55% of which was in China. Rethink, one of the few energy research institutes that accounts for learning curves, predicts that global solar installations this year may reach 360 GW, or potentially even higher. That would be more than a 50% increase from the total installations in 2022.
Indian Railways has dramatically cleaned up the country's railway system. About 18,065 km of rail routes were electrified between 2014 and 2020. In the year 2000, only 24% of railway routes were electrified, increasing to 40% in 2017 and 65% by the end of 2020. Statesman
China is building insane amounts of stored hydro to increase the flexibility of the power grid and accommodate growing wind and solar power. As of May 2023, it had 50 GW of operational pumped-storage capacity and an additional 89 GW under construction. Developers are seeking approvals or financing for an additional 276 GW. Clean Technica
Quiz time. What's better than utility-scale solar? Solar on flooded former coal quarries. And what's better than floating solar? Solar on trash heaps. One of the biggest solar farms in the UK is about to get switched on, and it was built on top of five million tons of trash on a landfill site half an hour outside central London.
Industrial policy FTW. Last week the German government passed the budget for its flagship climate and transformation fund. Aiming specifically at building renovations, industrial decarbonisation and charging infrastructure, it will provide €212 billion between 2024 and 2027. That is a LOT of money. Euractiv
India's emissions intensity has fallen 33% in 14 years thanks to renewable energy and reforestation; wind power capacity has reached 43GW; and solar capacity is now 70 GW, with another 55 GW currently under construction. That puts India fourth in the world for total renewable capacity and on track for its 500 GW target by 2030.
CBA, Australia’s biggest bank, just released a landmark fossil fuel financing policy that rules out project finance for new oil and gas extraction and for expansions of existing projects. Australia makes an outsized contribution to climate chaos as a top-three export petrostate, alongside Saudi Arabia and Russia. This is a big deal. Climate Energy Finance
More good news from Australia. A quarter of Queensland’s energy is now being generated by renewables, and the state is on track to hit 50% within seven years. Queensland is Australia’s biggest coal producer and the country’s biggest carbon emitter. Guardian
One of the less appreciated benefits of a global clean energy transition is that it leaves less wiggle room for murderous Middle Eastern dictators. A recent article in the Economist details how Latin America might become this century’s commodity superpower. Here's one to look smart at the dinner table—do you know which country is home to the world's largest lithium mine?
Another cheat sheet for you. This time, it's a list of clean energy solutions that will actually work. Thanks to Michael Barnard for this.
⚡ Overbuild wind, solar and batteries: we're going to need a lot (just as well they're cheap).
🗺️ Build continent-scale grids and markets: move electrons from where they're generated to where they're needed.
⛲ Build pumped hydro and other long-term storage: not as urgent as everyone thinks, but we will need to fill seasonal gaps.
⚙️ Fix industrial processes: electrify heat, use electrochemistry (hydrogen and biogas where necessary), capture CO2 from limestone.
🌳 Stop cutting down trees, and plant new ones: they buy us more time, draw down carbon, and make the air cleaner.
🌾 Change agricultural practices: regenerative and low-tillage farming, reduction of nitrogen fertilisers, precision agriculture, crop genetics.
❄️ Eliminate HFCs: the biggest bang for our buck—they're thousands of times worse than CO2.
🪨 Price carbon aggressively: it works (and seriously, enough with the fossil fuel subsidies).
🔴 Ignore the distractions: nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture, air-to-fuel, fusion, any 'miracle tech.' We already have all the solutions.
Indistinguishable from magic
Did you know that NASA is planning a mission to the largest metal-rich asteroid in the solar system? The spacecraft will be ready for launch in less than two months and will make a six-year journey to Psyche, an asteroid that's three times farther from the Sun than Earth, has a diameter of around 226 km and is made mostly of nickel and iron. Ars Technica
Apparently Waymo didn't get the memo that self-driving cars are dead. The company just opened up driverless rideshare in Austin, its fourth North American city, and in San Francisco it has started offering around-the-clock driverless rides to paying passengers. Naturally, one of the first things people have started doing is having sex.
Apparently Neal Stephenson didn't get the memo that the metaverse is dead. This is a really interesting interview with the guy that created the term in the first place, looking at his work with Lamina1, covering everything from blockchain-based payment rails to snow crafts and the impending adaptation of Snow Crash. FastCo
What happens when you get an algorithm to make the components for a car or a drone and then 3D print them? You get structures that are 40% lighter, just as strong, and look like they were grown, not designed. The maker of the world's fastest production car is now diversifying into aviation, 3D printing wings for drone makers. Ars Technica
Google has used AI to help airline pilots choose routes that avoid creating contrails. A group of pilots flew 70 test flights over six months using the predictions and were able to reduce contrails by 54%—the first proof that commercial flights can verifiably avoid contrails and thereby reduce their climate impact.
Researchers at the University of Connecticut have crafted an incredibly strong yet lightweight material made from self-assembling DNA and a thin, flawless coating of glass. The resulting structure is five times lighter and four times stronger than steel. 'For the given density, our material is the strongest known.' Sci Tech Daily
We don't know what around a fifth of our genes actually do. Geneticists at Cambridge have nicknamed this the Unknome and are now trying to figure out what it's for, in the hope that these mystery genes could hold the secret to fixing developmental disorders, cancer, neurodegeneration, and more. Wired
Engineers at Johns Hopkins have developed nanoscale tattoos—optical elements and electronics that adhere to live cells—in a breakthrough that puts researchers one step closer to tracking the health of individual cells. And in the UK, researchers have used nanoscale scaffolding to grow retinal cells using a technique called electrospinning.
The information highway is still super
Whither the replication crisis? Over a decade has passed since scientists realised many of their studies were failing to replicate. Today there's a lot more awareness about the issue, but have attempts to fix the problem actually worked? Stuart Ritchie investigates (tldr: we know how to do science better now, but most scientists still aren't using the tools available to them). Asterisk
A lot of people are into Walden Porn.
Y'all know we're suckers for anything about submarine cables. Here's a great article from CNET about the hidden network of garden hose-sized cables, laced across the cold, dark contours of the ocean floor, that transmit sights and sounds at the speed of light through strands of glass as thin as your hair, but thousands of kilometres long.
Presenting the top 25 finalists in the kids category of the USA Mullet Championship. Don't say we don't bring you the good stuff.
"One of us is an archaeozoologist who studies ancient animal remains. The other is a Lakota scientist who specialises in ancient horse genomics and is an expert in Indigenous Oral Traditions about horses. Together we created a large team of scientists and scholars from around the world, including those from Pueblo, Pawnee, Comanche, and Lakota nations, and set out to see what archaeology, Indigenous knowledge systems, and genomics together could tell us about horses in the western United States." The Conversation
We are all done! Thank you to all of you for making this week's donation possible.
It might not seem like much compared to the bigger charities out there, but we try hard to find places where this money makes a real impact. You're helping to make a genuine difference, in your own small way, just by being a subscriber to this newsletter. We are so grateful.
We'll see you next week.
With love,
Gus and Amy
