283: How To Survive Being Online
This week's top stories
Aid begins pouring into Gaza
Over 2,400 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip since the cessation of hostilities was announced on Sunday. The truce requires at least 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire. “This is a moment of tremendous hope — fragile, yet vital,” says Tom Fletcher, the United Nations undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. Reuters
Positive outlook for global food production
The world is on track to produce more wheat, rice and soybean than ever before. Yields of staple crops, including corn, are holding steady. Total coffee production is projected to be the third highest on record, sugar is predicted its second highest production year, and pears, cherries and lemons are on track for record production. Hannah Ritchie
Check out the largest protected corridor in the contiguous US
Last week we reported that the newly designated Chuckwalla National Monument helped create the Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor, which spans over 72,000 km2 and stretches almost 1,000 km from Utah to California. Besides bridging crucial wildlife habitats, it also preserves the traditional homelands of dozens of Tribal nations. NPCA
Further signs that oil demand in China is close to peaking
China says oil imports fell nearly 2% year-over-year - the first decline in two decades barring the pandemic. Sinopec, China’s largest refiner, has brought forward its forecast for peak crude oil consumption to 2027 - a milestone that would shake the global economy; over the past three decades, China has accounted for half of all growth in the world’s oil demand. Financial Times
The best thing that Joe Biden did
OK this is pretty wonky - but the impact is very real. In 2021, Congress directed the USDA to re-evaluate the 50 year old Thrifty Food Plan, which estimates the cost of groceries for the country's largest nutrition assistance program. The re-evaluation updated the plan based on modern consumption patterns and prices, resulting in a 21% increase in food stamp benefits for more than 41 million people. Vox
Nine countries eliminated a devastating disease in 2024
Chad got rid of one form of sleeping sickness. Cape Verde and Egypt became malaria-free. Jordan became the first country to eliminate leprosy. Brazil and Timor Leste eliminated elephantiasis, and Vietnam, India, and Pakistan eradicated trachoma, the latter after a 20-year battle: "I can't explain the jubilation on their faces…Many had tears in their eyes to see this moment in their life." NPR
The fastest energy transition in history continues
Solar and wind are being installed at a rate five times faster than all other new electricity sources—including gas, hydro and nuclear—combined. At these growth rates, energy think tank, Ember estimates that by 2032, solar and wind generation will surpass the combined output of coal and gas. Step by step, the outlook for the world’s energy mix is getting brighter. PV Magazine
We're making progress on climate change - but not fast enough
New research shows that the world is on track for around 2.7°C of warming by the end of this century. A decade ago, when we started this newsletter, we were headed for 4-5°C, so this is progress. 2.7°C is still a giant mess to leave to the future though. We're just not moving fast enough. The clean energy revolution is real and accelerating, but the physics of climate change wait for no one.
Wage inequality has declined in two-thirds of countries since 2000
A new report from the International Labour Organisation has revealed that, since the early 2000s, global wage inequality has fallen at an average rate ranging from 0.5% to 1.7% annually, with the most significant decreases occurring in LMICs. Global real average wage growth has started to surpass inflation, with projections reaching 2.7% growth for 2024, the highest increase in over 15 years. ILO
First fully 3D-printed microscope costs just £50
Scottish scientists have created the world's first fully 3D-printed microscope, capable of sub-cellular resolution - clearly imaging individual red blood cells and detailed structures in a kidney sample. Built using open-source designs and common 3D printers, the device can be assembled in under three hours, making powerful microscopy accessible to researchers worldwide. University of Strathclyde
New study reveals AMOC is not in decline
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a system of connected currents in the Atlantic Ocean that moves water throughout the world's oceans, distributing heat, moisture, and nutrients. For decades scientists have feared that melting polar ice sheets would result in the collapse of AMOC, but new research, has found that it has not declined in the last 60 years, and is currently more stable than expected. Phys Org
It's almost unanimous at this point that the Atlantic overturning will slow in the future, but whether or not it will collapse is still up for debate. This work indicates that there is still time to act before we reach this potential tipping point.
Nicholas P. Foukal, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Cambodia’s remarkable progress in water, sanitation coverage
In 2019, Cambodia had amongst the worst levels of access to clean water in Asia, and one of the highest rates of open defecation. Fast forward to 2024, and 87% of the population have access to basic clean water, over 90% benefit from basic sanitation facilities and 51% have access to safely managed sanitation services. Khmer Times
Protection for half a million hectares of Amazonian forests
A new municipal conservation area on the border of Bolivia and Brazil will protect 4,581 km2 of biodiverse tropical forests and safeguard 98% of reptiles, 90% of birds and 80% of mammals found in the municipality of Ingavi. It will hopefully also serve as a crucial source of local development for the 15 legally titled rural communities who live there. Andes Amazon Fund
How to survive being online
Some timely advice here from Mike Monteiro.
The only way to defeat a narcissistic sociopath is to starve them. Protect yourself from their bullshit, of course, but move away from it. Let them have their stage, but refuse to be their audience.
This isn’t easy. It’s especially difficult because capitalism is an attention economy. The New York Times and The Washington Post love a narcissistic sociopath because they generate clicks and clicks sell ads. Social media loves a narcissistic sociopath for the same reason, but it’s even worse. On social media, we’re the ones carrying their water. Trump says something that he knows will get him attention (i.e. renaming the Gulf of Mexico) and not only does it fire up hundreds of media outlets, who now divert attention to this idiocy, but it also fires up tons of people like me and you, who end up reposting his garbage. Some of us because we feel like we’re media outlets (we’re not), some of us because we’re freaked out and freaking other people out justifies our own freak-out, and some of us because we were once bitten by a narcissistic sociopath under a full moon and we want to generate some of those sweet sweet likes in our direction.
The first four years of Donald Trump was a continuous panic attack. I’m not going through that again. You don’t have to either. They’re on stage, but you don’t have to be their audience.
The most accurate ever view of the Milky Way
In 2013 the ESA Gaia mission launched a spacecraft to trace our galaxy’s history and evolution, and it’s been a total success. Over an 11 year period, it’s taken three trillion observations of two billion individual objects in the galaxy, most of them stars, and measured those same objects repeatedly to produce a non-static 3D map that reveals the Milky Way’s kinetic history. Universe Today