Hello folks, this is Gus, breaking into first person like an over-enthusiastic creative writing student, and leaving muddy footprints all over the carpet of our normally pristine newsletter. For the last few months, I've been putting this thing together with the help of the newest member of the Future Crunch family, Amy Rose. You may have already picked up her tracks in the Humankind and Good News sections, she's been an excellent sounding board and an invaluable co-conspirator.
Sammy and I are due to have our second baby any day now, which means I'm going to be handing over the reins to Amy and the rest of the team for a few weeks. I wanted to introduce you to her now, before I disappear. You'll still be getting the same kinds of stories and content, but with a very different voice. It's not happening yet, but when it does I'm sure you'll enjoy the change of tone. I'll let her take it from here.
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Hi everyone, Amy here! For over 15 years I worked in media as a producer across TV, radio and podcasting until I finally got around to finishing a full draft of my novel last year. Working with Future Crunch has not only expanded my view of the world (and at times exploded my brain), it’s also made me feel much more excited about what’s ahead. My grandad was an incurable optimist who waaaay back in the 80s questioned why newspapers didn’t focus on all the great stuff happening in the world and how cool it would be to have a ‘good news’ publication … and now, a few decades later, here I am.
Good News
Mexican women with disabilities will have equal access to protection from domestic violence after the Senate amended the current law to include disability as one of the elements courts must assess when granting protection. The reform is a crucial step forward for women with disabilities who are disproportionately impacted by domestic violence. OWP
A court in Pakistan has abolished the outdated practice of virginity tests on rape victims after human rights activists filed a lawsuit in the eastern city of Lahore. Activists have called it “landmark judgment” against a “demeaning and absurd” practice that will help improve the investigative and judicial process for victims of sexual violence. The judgement could also pave the way for further bans of the practice in other areas of Pakistan. NYT (right click and open in 'incognito mode')
Lebanon has criminalized sexual harassment with a landmark law that penalizes perpetrators with four years in prison and up to 50 times the minimum wage. The new law expands the definition of sexual harassment to “any recurring bad behaviour that is out of the ordinary, unwanted by the victim” and includes electronic harassment. It’s hoped the harsher penalties will serve as a deterrent and lead to broader cultural change. JPost
A court in Japan, the only G7 nation that still doesn't recognize gay marriage, has boosted the campaign to legalize it, after deciding it was ‘unconstitutional’ to deny same-sex couples the right to wed. Judges ruled the government's lack of recognition for three same-sex couples suing for psychological harm was in breach of a section of the constitution that requires equal laws for everyone. Guardian
Nine girls, aged between 7-14, have made legal history in Ecuador after suing the government over the pollution and climate impacts of oil industry flaring in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The court ruled in favour of the girls, who demanded an immediate end to all gas flares in their villages. The judges also noted that eliminating flaring would cut Ecuador’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 24%. Mongabay
“I’m very happy because, finally, justice has been served. We’re going to restore nature, for all the sick children, for the people, for the parents who have fought to stay healthy, for the families that have also kept fighting if only to grow a few crops, for the families who live under the flares and have had to abandon their land.” 10-year-old Leonela Moncayo.
It's official. Renewable energy generated more electricity than fossil fuels in Europe in 2020. Investments into solar and wind resulted in renewables accounting for 38% of the continent's electricity, taking a narrow lead over fossil fuels which generated 37%. This is incredible progress; a decade ago, renewables accounted for just over 20% of electricity. Forbes
Four big financial blows to coal this week. Swiss Re closed a major loophole in the reinsurance market, announcing the end of support for thermal coal by 2040; Citigroup became the first major US bank to rule out supporting plans for coal plant expansions by new clients; French insurance giant Axa will end its insurance policies with the German utility RWE; and HSBC will allow a resolution on exiting thermal coal to be put to shareholders at its forthcoming annual general meeting.
The IEA - arguably the most conservative energy body in the world - says that the global demand for gasoline has peaked, and is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels as efficiency gains and the shift to electric vehicles eclipse mobility growth in the developing world. Their forecast predicts that 60 million electric vehicles will be on roads by 2026, compared with 7.2 million in 2019. WSJ
Electric shockwaves continue to roil automakers around the world. This week, there were announcements from both Audi and Daimler-Mercedes that they will cease development of new combustion engines and adapt their existing engines to meet the EU’s strict emission guidelines. “In terms of products, there is no longer any rational reason to opt for a combustion engine in the near future”.
Thanks to an update by the EPA, coal plants in 12 US states will be required to reduce their nitrogen oxide emissions, a major component of smog. It’s a big win for millions of people in downwind states exposed to dangerous air pollution blowing across their boundaries from upwind coal-fired power plants. The ruling is effective immediately. EDF
The Magpie River in Canada has been declared a living entity and granted legal rights after local environmental groups campaigned for permanent protection. 14 countries now have rivers and ecosystems have won protection with 'nature rights.' The growing global movement challenges the way western legal systems treat nature as property and is being implemented through laws, judicial decisions, constitutional amendments and United Nations resolutions. Reuters
Virginia has become the fourth state in America to ban cosmetic animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics. California, Nevada and Illinois have also signed the Humane Cosmetics Act and hope to reintroduce federal legislation to make the ban standard across the country. 40 countries have now passed laws prohibiting or limiting cosmetic animal testing. Totally Vegan Buzz
Indistinguishable from magic
Carbon dating on massive, fossilized Kauri trees from New Zealand has shown that the Earth's magnetic field flipped around about 42,000 years ago, with cataclysmic effects. The 'Adams Event' (yes, that Douglas Adams) offers a potential explanation for everything from the demise of Neanderthals to the extinction of large animals in Australia, and even humans’ use of red ochre for cave art. Smithsonian
Engineers in Spain have invented 3D-printed construction beams made from recycled plastic that are 80% lighter than steel or reinforced concrete, but just as strong. In addition to being more sustainable and less expensive, the beams are also more versatile, as they are made in small blocks that are easy to transport and assemble on site – reminiscent of Lego. Interesting Engineering
There's obviously something in the water in Spain this week. A bladeless wind turbine, invented by a startup near Madrid, has won approval from Norway’s state energy company. The three metre high cylinders sit on a plastic rod and oscillate in the wind, generating electricity from the vibration. You know where this is going: observers have immediately compared them to giant vibrating sex toy, or 'skybrators'. ZME Science
Researchers in the United States have figured out a way to to turn food waste, animal manure and contaminated water into a commercially competitive jet fuel. Unlike traditional biofuels, which convert wet waste into methane, the new technique converts it into sustainable paraffin. The new fuel not only reduces the CO2 that comes from fossil jet fuels, but also gets rid of the methane that would bubble up from landfill if the waste food was just dumped. BBC
Bioinformaticians from Germany have used AI to successfully identify the molecular signals of Parkinson’s - the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. After analyzing more than 320 billion data points from over 5,000 blood samples, they say they can now use levels of non-coding RNAs in the blood of a Parkinson’s patient to track the course of the disease. Saarland
A team of Australian and US scientists have created clumps of tissue with the same cell types and biochemical activity as early-stage human embryos — a feat that will transform research into early human development. The creations, called blastoids, are not real embryos, but rather cellular assemblies resembling the stage of embryonic development five to 10 days after a human egg has been fertilized. NPR
Israeli biologists have managed to grow the embryo of a mammal outside of the womb for the first time. More than 1,000 mice embryos were kept alive inside a two-part system consisting of an incubator and ventilation system, from day five of development, when they were just a ball of 250 cells, until day 11, by which time the embryos had formed hind limbs and all major organs. Engadget
Information superhighway
Environmental journalist Margaret Renkl reminds us that as much as humans are capable of destroying the natural world, we're also capable of helping it regenerate. She's been keeping a running list of good news as a hedge against despair. "We are a big-brained, big-hearted species, and we are finally waking up. And that’s what gives me the most hope of all." NYT (right click and open in 'incognito mode')
There's now an entire genre of articles where Facebook enlists a sympathetic journalist, and ends up with egg on its face. This time around, it's Karen Hao's turn. After spending months with their AI bias team, she concludes that any good intentions have been steamrolled by the misinformation, extremism, and political polarization caused by the company's relentless desire for growth. Ouch. MIT Tech Review
Ok we admit it. We're suckers for good military journalism. This account in Texas Monthly of the recent 'scoop-and-run' revolution in battlefield medical care is an eye-opener (especially since it might turn out to be a historical anomaly), while over at The Atlantic the author of Black Hawk Down looks at the extraordinary recent success of US Special Ops forces, and laments their inevitable bureaucratization.
Melissa Febos on rediscovering the erotic wildness of her own body. "I understood that you could not live with an open channel to the sublime inside of you; it was impossible to hold on to the collective story of human life with that live cord writhing through you, showering sparks like a downed wire in a hurricane. The channel that connected the wild in me with the wild outside could not be destroyed, but I did my best to seal it." Yale Review
Two excellent geopolitics essays for you this week. Parag Khanna says the most successful model of governance in the world today is neither Western liberalism or Chinese authoritarianism, but Asian democratic technocracy, and David Wallace Wells comes to a similar conclusion via his analysis of the pandemic's global impact: "In Europe, North America, and South America: nearly universal failure. In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: high caseloads and low death rates, owing largely to age structure. In East Asia, South-East Asia and Oceania: inarguable success."
This week's information superhighway is pretty highbrow, so we're rounding things off some unashamed nerdiness. In Tolkien's drafts and writing there's a final chapter that never ended up in Lord of the Rings, ostensibly written by Samwise Gamgee to his daughter, Elanorellë. Molly Knox has turned it into a comic and if you're a fan, well then drop whatever you're doing and read this.
Humankind
Meet Sakae Kato, a 57 year old man who has spent the past decade in Fukushima’s contaminated zone caring for abandoned cats. In the wake of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the area was evacuated, but Sakae refused to leave.
After years of running his small construction company, he was haunted by the number of dead pets he found in the abandoned homes he helped demolish. Ignoring evacuation orders, Sakae converted his dilapidated two-storey cabin into a shelter for cats abandoned during the mass exodus, and made it his mission to care for them, especially those that became infected with the feline leukaemia virus. Over the past ten years Sakae has buried 23 cats in his garden and currently looks after 41 cats and a rescue dog named Pochi.
With no running water or electricity, Sakae collects water in bottles from a nearby mountain stream, uses a paraffin stove for heating, and drives to public toilets. Although his house is falling apart, Sakae spends around $7,000 a month feeding not only his cats but the wild boars that gather around his house every evening. He recently got in trouble with the government for allegedly freeing a wild boar that had become caught in a trap.
Sakae says the cats give him a reason to stay on the land that has been in his family for generations. Despite his family’s disapproval, he believes his life’s purpose is to care for these animals, who he calls his ‘kids,’ and he refuses to leave until the last cat dies. “If humans have trouble making a living, society will take care of them, and provide them social aid. If these kids are in trouble who will take care of them?"
Alright that's a wrap! Thanks for joining us and please, no matter how tempting it may be, don't bring up the skybrators at your next dinner party. Speaking from experience, it doesn't end well.
We'll see you next week.
Much love,
FC HQ
