Electric Muscle Car, The Arctic Is Not Alright, Monarch Butterflies, and More!

Hey climate heroes! Welcome to The Climate Roundup, where we round up the change, er the news about climate and the environment. As part of the Gen E community, we thank you for making climate action part of everyday life. (Reading this newsletter counts!)

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In Pop Culture:

💪⚡️ This week I’ve been loving the new commercial from Dodge for their Charger Daytona. They’re taking a different approach to marketing their EV, and it’s fresh, sassy, and fun. Watch here. Also, they’re right to claim the title for “the world’s only electric muscle car”, especially after Ford completely dropped the ball on their electric Mustang. Calling that thing a Mustang is blasphemous. No offense to any Mustang Mach-E owners out there, all offense to Ford.

Your Philanthropy At Work:

🦜 One Earth Conservation is offering two free “learning journeys” next year. Explore biodiversity from a parrot’s perspective, and learn about Nonviolent Communication and the Five Natural Intelligences to connect with ourselves and other species. Learn more here.

In Enviro News:

🧊 The Arctic tundra is now releasing more carbon dioxide than it stores, which means it’s now a source of emissions rather than a sink. The latter is a key natural mechanism to absorb the warming gases in our atmosphere, and keep things in balance. So what’s happening in the Arctic is a frightening change for our climate system. NOAA released their Arctic report last week, and it makes me wonder what will happen to reports like this in the next four years. Here are some of the findings: the last nine years are the nine warmest on record in the Arctic; all 18 of the lowest September minimum ice extents have occurred in the last 18 years; Arctic migratory tundra caribou populations have declined by 65% over the last 2-3 decades. The Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average. The TLDR of every report like this year after year is that we have to stop burning fossil fuels. What will it take to listen?

🤳 TikTok’s carbon footprint is likely bigger than Greece’s.

🏃‍♀️ 18% of Americans have had to flee their homes due to extreme weather. The occurrence of these events will increase as our planet warms. Here’s how to pack an extreme weather go-bag. (Yup this is where we’re at, folks.)

✊ Climate activists are shifting their focus from the federal level to local and state levels in order to continue progress on the clean energy transition and fight for environmental protections. Can’t stop, won’t stop!us sales figures too. A potential driver could be that people want to cash in on the federal EV tax credit, courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act, before Trump kills it.

🦋 The monarch butterfly is on its way to being listed as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act, pending a public comment period and final decision from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It’s been a long road to get here, as conservation groups first proposed this designation for the beloved pollinator back in 2014. Monarch populations have drastically declined due to loss of habitat, insecticides, and warming temperatures, so fingers crossed they get this win for its associated protections.

❄️🦊 In the year 2000 there were only 40-60 Arctic foxes left across Norway and Sweden, and none in Finland, where they used to thrive. They were driven to near extinction from hunting for their fur. But a program to breed and release these beautiful creatures back into the “Fennoscandian” region has increased the population to around 550, with the goal to hit 2,000 foxes, a number researchers hope will be enough for the foxes to sustain themselves without human intervention. Read more about the effort and to see photos of these cuties. It’s nice to see positive humans-helping-wildlife stories.

Climate Books To Read

📚 Looking to escape into a good book this holiday season? Here’s a list of 12 climate and environmentally-themed books published this year, all on the more positive end of the spectrum, including two cookbooks.