NY Climate Week, Task, Chicago River Swimming, 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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Pop Culture:

🪾 Episode 1 of the new HBO miniseries, “Task”, might just be a perfect hour of entertainment, if you’re me. Crime drama, check. Philadelphia Phillies references, check. Emotional depth, check. Intentional emphasis on nature, check. And oh yeah, birding, check. I bring up this show because of its nature casting. It’s got incredible forests and it incorporates the hobby of birding with satisfying detail. The show has a somber tone, with the two main characters each dealing with deep traumas and life-altering emotional pain. Perhaps that they both live in heavily wooded areas – something of a rarity in our overdeveloped and bulldozed habitats – offers some semblance of peace to their lives as they struggle to carry around their dark burdens. I always notice when a show or film makes a point to bring nature into the plot. I wonder how many other viewers notice this too? In “Task”, the forest, with its beauty and serenity, is as much a significant character as the supporting human characters. If you’re like me, and you appreciate an emphasis on nature boosted by beautiful cinematography, give ‘Task’ a shot. Not to mention, it stars Mark Ruffalo, who is a verified modern environmentalist.

🍳 Speaking of Mr. Ruffalo, his activism was in the news recently as the lone celebrity standing up for our health when it comes to toxic forever chemicals in cookware. Certain celebrity chefs, notably with their own cookware product lines or endorsements, spoke out against a California bill banning PFAS from cookware. The chefs want to keep these forever chemicals in production, because they are the non-stick element of non-stick cookware. Sorry to say, but these are some of the chefs prioritizing other interests over human health: Rachael Ray, Marcuss Samuelsson, Thomas Keller, and David Chang.

Environmental News:

🏊‍♀️ The Chicago River, running through the city of Chicago, is now swimmable for the first time in nearly 100 years. Jealous.

⚡️ Tesla joined the side of reason, responding in opposition to the EPA’s move to repeal the endangerment finding, which allows the agency to regulate emissions from power plants and tailpipes. Federal regulations on pollution from vehicles obviously benefit Tesla and its emissions-free products, but more importantly, they benefit all life since we all deserve clean air.

🇨🇴 Colombia announced it will host a new international summit next year, focused on phasing out fossil fuels. This is a welcome addition to the annual UN climate conferences (COPs), which are increasingly ineffective at making countries take real climate action, evidenced by last week’s second skipped deadline by two thirds of countries to turn in their homework outlining their action plans to reduce emissions by 2035. A fresh coalition of countries serious about ending fossil fuel use feels very timely.

💰 Rob Walton, of Walmart founder family fame and former Walmart CEO, has gifted $115M to Arizona State University to create a new School of Conservation Futures. Students that enroll in the program will learn to be future leaders in conservation. Walton said “We need nature to survive. We need clean air, clean water and food that is healthy. All those things come from nature. Ultimately, I’ve made this a priority.” Yes!

🏭 This map shows you where super-pollution is coming from, near major cities. It’s pretty wild, as it shows pollution plumes shooting upwards into the air from specific sites, like refineries and mines. Find out if you’re in a super-pollutor zone. Ya know what would eliminate this atrocity? Wind and solar.

️🚘 Used EVs are the fastest-selling segment of the US car market. Consumer perception about used electric cars hasn’t caught up to the reality that both their batteries and tech outlast expectations. Used EV prices now rival used gas guzzlers, making this a smart time to buy, affordably.

NYCW:

Against the backdrop of Trump’s climate-denying, too-stupid-for-print hour-long rant to the UN General Assembly, and the disappointment of China’s newly announced pledge to reduce emissions by only 7-10% by 2035 (though it’s something, and many think they will outkick that coverage), was New York Climate Week. Nearly 100,000 global citizens, businesses, companies, and governments gathered IRL and virtually in over a thousand events spread across the Big Apple. And this, my friends, was an overwhelmingly positive experience. The movement to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis is stronger than ever. Perhaps that fact alone can inspire hope, because even if planetary and political trends are moving in the wrong direction, there is still a strong current of interest, influence, and money moving across all sectors and into all flavors of climate solutions.

Some personal highlights for me were seeing Gavin Newsom speak passionately about the importance of pushing forward on climate work, and seeing some of my favorite climate journalists at the New York Times interview world and business leaders. I met Rainn Wilson, aka Dwight from “The Office”, who is a big climate activist, and I saw him narrate a beautiful story he wrote about his love for nature. And our Gen E events drew wonderful people doing incredible work for our planet, while allowing us to connect with each other as we walked through nature and shared a journey through sauna and cold plunge. I’m inspired, and feel ever more connected to our shared mission of bringing our one shared home back to health.